Dear colleagues
This is the final edition of Inside UNSW for 2024. It’s been an incredibly busy and exciting year, celebrating our 75th anniversary, creating our inaugural Societal Impact Framework and developing our new UNSW Strategy: Progress for All. Thank you to everyone who has contributed. Your expertise and unique perspectives have been invaluable in shaping our future and honing our focus on positive societal impact.
As I reflect on the year, I feel immensely proud of the many exceptional achievements that have defined 2024. These successes are a direct result of the exceptional people who make up our UNSW community. As the year draws to a close, I want to take a moment to express my heartfelt thanks for your dedication, hard work and passion. I invite you to watch a video I recorded to say thank you when you have a moment.
Updates on themes from Town Hall visits
I’ve enjoyed meeting many colleagues throughout the year during consultation sessions, at our all-staff Town Hall in August, and at my visits to schools and divisions, which were a useful opportunity to engage and discuss matters that are important to you. I am pleased to share updates on common themes that emerged during the year including campus life and development, proposed caps on international students, the UNSW Strategy, safety and wellbeing, and global issues. I would like to reassure you that the University Leadership Team and I are committed to acting on your insights to make UNSW an even better place to study and work.
I’m pleased to advise that the UNSW Strategy: Progress for All was endorsed by UNSW Council at last week’s meeting. The strategy will be launched formally in the new year and I’m really looking forward to sharing it with you when it is finalised.
An update about the academic calendar is also available in this edition of Inside UNSW.
ACOSS Poverty and Inequality Partnership report
Last week I joined colleagues at Australian Parliament House in Canberra to launch the latest Poverty and Inequality Partnership report, Material deprivation in Australia: the essentials of life. The shocking facts of poverty and material deprivation are highlighted in the report. The report shows, for example, that people receiving JobSeeker are around five times more likely to experience multiple deprivation than the general population.
The Poverty and Inequality Partnership between the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) and UNSW brings together researchers, advocates, community service providers and policymakers to develop evidence-based policies to tackle poverty and inequality more effectively. It is an excellent example of two organisations with a shared mission to create positive societal impact working together towards a fairer and more equitable Australia by informing and influencing policy based on robust research. Read more on the UNSW Newsroom.
Celebrating 2024 UNSW Indigenous Graduates
It was a great pleasure to be part of the 2024 UNSW Indigenous Graduates Celebration last week. Eighty-six Indigenous students graduated from UNSW in 2024, and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting those who were able to attend the event in Sydney.
With increases in Indigenous graduates from STEMM disciplines in 2024, UNSW’s newest Indigenous alumni are the doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, artists and businesspeople of the future, who carry the mission for positive societal impact into local communities and even further afield. Some of these wonderful graduates are already working in jobs and places where they’re having a positive impact, helping to shape a more equitable and just future for all Australians.
UNSW is all the better for Indigenous students’ immense cultural contributions to our University – sharing their cultural knowledge, practice and leadership. I’d also like to acknowledge all the mentors, tutors and community leaders who support Indigenous students throughout their time at UNSW – both at Nura Gili and through our faculties and divisions.
Driving progress for all through philanthropy
I’m pleased to share UNSW has, for the second year in a row, raised more than $100 million through philanthropy in 2024, thanks to the incredible generosity of our donor community. This year marks a significant milestone, with more than $685 million raised over the past decade for vital causes, supported by more than 25,800 donors, including alumni, faculty, staff and philanthropic partners.
What I'm most excited about is the far-reaching impact this philanthropic support will enable, from investing in students through scholarships and reducing barriers to education to transformative initiatives, such as the eradication of cervical cancer in the Pacific. These milestones represent significant progress toward a brighter future for communities around the world.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to these remarkable achievements. Read more about how philanthropy is supporting UNSW’s mission to drive Progress for All in this week’s Inside UNSW.
Program Phoenix update
On Thursday, 5 December 2024 our Chief HR Officer Gemma Martin sent an email to all staff about Program Phoenix, our work to remediate historical staff underpayments and ensure pay confidence at UNSW. I emphasise Gemma’s assurance that looking after our people is our highest priority.
Program Phoenix is ongoing and has been expanded to cover all staff cohorts, in addition to casual academic staff. The University will soon begin making remediation payments following the completion of a review into discrepancies related to minimum pay rates for some staff.
I, and UNSW, sincerely apologise and deeply regret the historical discrepancies. Reviews and enhancements to systems, processes, training and record keeping are underway, with the new Time and Attendance system, mandatory compliance training and a new confidential Employee Advocate portal for staff to raise pay-related concerns all delivered as part of the continuing work.
I would like to thank the many colleagues who are working on Program Phoenix. This is an extensive, high-priority program with staff involved across faculties and divisions. I extend my gratitude to you all.
We will continue to provide updates about Program Phoenix as the work progresses.
Assistive Tech Hub’s oarsome impact featured on SBS News
You might recall my story about meeting UNSW Engineering Student Keira Moran at the 360 Donor Impact in October. Keira and her teammates in UNSW’s Assistive Tech Hub created a device to make it easier for people with communication difficulties in low-resource communities to express themselves.
I’m excited to tell you about another project arising from the Assistive Tech Hub that is having real-life impact. Sydney Community Rowing Club member, Matilda, was born with two fingers on her left hand and until now has only been able to row with one oar, in a crew boat. UNSW Engineering students Shevaani Rams, Emma Su, Fiona Chen and Biruthivi Babu created a custom prosthetic device and rig to enable Matilda to row with two oars and reach her dream of rowing in a single scull boat.
This is an amazing device with great impact and incredible potential to assist more athletes like Matilda. I encourage you to watch or read the SBS News item featuring Matilda and the Assistive Tech Hub students.
Teaching and learning centre stage at EduFest 2024
I had the pleasure of taking part in UNSW’s Education Festival recently. EduFest is our annual symposium on pedagogical challenges, trends and innovations – and it just keeps getting better. This year’s festival featured a stellar program of 13 sessions over seven days that brought together hundreds of UNSW’s learning and teaching professionals to learn from each other and grow as educators.
EduFest was a genuinely UNSW-wide, collegial event, with each faculty and many networks, Communities of Practice and teams from the PVC Education and PVC Student Success portfolios presenting and organising sessions. I was delighted to assist in the awards ceremony, which included the UNSW Teaching Awards, VC’s Research Supervision Awards, Students’ Choice Teaching Awards (read more in this week’s Inside UNSW), PASS Leaders Awards and recognition of a Citation in the Australian Awards for University Teaching. That’s a photo of the award winners at the top of the page.
As I said at the festival finale, UNSW really does have an extraordinary teaching and learning community. Congratulations to DVC Education & Student Experience, Professor Sarah Maddison, PVC Education, Professor Tini Mathies and their teams (that’s me with some of the wonderful organisers, above) for staging such a vibrant, enriching professional development opportunity in EduFest 2024.
Read more on EduFest 2024 in my LinkedIn post about some of the innovative education and student experience programs happening across UNSW.
Extraordinary accomplishments
And last but certainly not least…As I said in the opening paragraph, this year has seen many achievements across the University. As we go into the holiday period, we can see through another burst of awards how the extraordinary accomplishments of our researchers are valued by those outside the University.
- Seven UNSW researchers have received Royal Society of NSW awards. Congratulations to Scientia Professor George Paxinos, Professor Yansong Shen, Professor Jason Sharples, Professor Katherine Boydell, Scientia Professor Jane McAdam, Dr Fei Deng and Linqing Tian on this well-deserved recognition.
- UNSW academics have secured more than $41 million in the latest Discovery Project round from the Australian Research Council (ARC). The grants will support research for 64 ARC Discovery Projects across engineering, science, medicine, law, business and the humanities.
A reminder that the UNSW year-end shutdown begins at 5pm on Monday, 23 December 2024, and the University will reopen on Monday, 6 January 2025. Read more about campus operations during shutdown.
Thank you all for contributing to what has been a remarkable year. Wishing you a relaxing, safe and restorative break, and I look forward to seeing you in 2025.
Best regards
Attila
Professor Attila Brungs
Vice-Chancellor and President
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