Flinders graduates feature in a recently completed series of Australian Government videos that promote Australian universities by celebrating some of the nation’s inspirational global alumni.

The series, Australian by Degree, was created by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. It profiles standout alumni working at various locations around the world and highlights the contribution of their Australian education to their success, demonstrating how this world-class education has helped them bring new knowledge and innovation to their fields.

The videos are currently being broadcast in the Asia-Pacific region and include a You Tube video with an article on each profile.

Flinders alumna Dr Goh Hsiao Mei, from Malaysia, is among those profiled, whose archaeology PhD was on Cave Archaeology of the Lenggong Valley, Malaysia: A heritage management perspective. She says she chose Flinders because of the University’s excellent foundation in Indigenous archaeology.

Upon her return to Malaysia she quickly obtained work in her chosen field with the Centre for Global Archaeological Research at the University of Science in Penang – known as the country’s cultural heartland.

One of Dr Goh’s first assignments involved re-documenting the unique Tambun cave paintings, which had been vandalised and poorly maintained.

“The whole research focused on re-documentation of the rock-art; with advances in technology we have lots of new software and methods for assessing and documenting rock art,” she says.

Together with acquiring knowledge and technological expertise, Dr Goh attributes her educational experience at Flinders for teaching her about the ‘human side of research’. This has helped her confidently work with teams and partners, and engage with local communities – which for the Tambun project included a number of local indigenous tribes.

Other alumni to be featured in the videos include educator Tum Sisopheareth, who lives in Cambodia and autism advocate and leader, Viengsam Indavong, who lives in Laos.