The year begins with international recognition for outstanding alumni and education partnerships, landmark Australian poetry, and a curious musical collaboration for this year’s Adelaide Fringe.
Alumni heralded in Timor-Leste
Recent Geography PhD graduate Felix Piedade (supervised by Associate Professor Udoy Saikia and Associate Professor Gour Dasvarma) won Timor-Leste Australia Alumni of the Year Award in 2020 from more than 300 alumni who had returned home to Timor-Leste from different Australian universities since 2001.
The Alumni Award is an initiative of the Timor-Leste Australia Alumni Association (TL3A) with support from the Australian Embassy in Timor-Leste, to celebrate significant achievement of graduates who contribute to Timor-Leste’s development and transfer their skills and knowledge acquired from university studies in Australia to their work in Timor-Leste.
Felix currently holds an important position at the g7+, which is an intergovernmental voluntary organisation bringing together countries that either face active conflict or have recent experience of conflict and fragility – and his award underlines how an Australian university education helps graduates to succeed in an international context.
Flinders’ work in Indian schools wins recognition
Flinders University’s ongoing partnership with Young Men’s Welfare Society schools in Kolkota, India, has resulted in the development of a strong program focus on physical education and the development of mind power. As part of ongoing New Colombo Plan work – provided through Australian Government New Colombo Grants and led by Dr Deb Agnew and Associate Professor Shane Pill, 30 senior students from Flinders’ Physical Education program spent a month each over five years training the students of Bhagawatipur Khelaghar, Young Horizons School and Children’s Foundation School. Their focus was on creating a balance between mind and body using the Game Sense approach. Every small game taught to the children had an objective, to aid their observation, concentration and improvisation skills, depending on the needs and capacity of each child. The students had an opportunity to assess their fitness levels and learn interesting warm-up techniques while communicating directly with their Australian trainers, which gave the students a lot of confidence. These visits also paved the way for valuable inter-cultural exchange between the students and trainers.
Award for landmark Australian poetry
Dr Natalie Harkin’s Archival-Poetics won the 2020 Kate Challis RAKA Award for Poetry, a highly significant prize awarded by the Australia Centre, University of Melbourne. The Kate Challis Ruth Adeney Koori Award, or RAKA, which means ‘five’ in the Pintupi language, is worth $20,000 and is awarded to an Indigenous artist in one of five categories annually, including: creative prose, poetry, script writing, drama and visual arts. The 2020 prize recognised the best poetry by an Indigenous writer published between 2015 and 2020. Archival-Poetics was deemed a landmark piece of Australian poetry by the judging panel. Rooted in archival interrogation and historical reflection, the collection is a critical and timely piece that examines the origins of contemporary Australia.
Emeritus acknowledgement for Professor Miners
Professor John Miners, who was Head of the Department of Clinical Pharmacology at Flinders from 2003 to 2013, has been awarded the title of Matthew Flinders Distinguished Emeritus Professor. The prestigious title recognises Professor Miners’ many years of service to the University, his ongoing academic contributions and his standing within the international Pharmacology research community. His seminal research into the enzymatic basis of drug metabolism has produced an exceptional 297 refereed publications with approximately 20,000 citations and he has been named a ISI Highly Cited Researcher. He was also elected to the Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Science in 2014, joining an elite group of distinguished Australian scientists.
Dean receives distinguished psychology award
Professor Mary Katsikitis, Dean (People and Resources) in the College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, has been awarded the 2020 Australian Psychological Society’s College of Clinical Psychologists Award of Distinction, recognising Professor Katsikitis’ significant professional recognition and achievements in the area of the Australian Psychological Society’s College of Clinical Psychologists. It also recognises Professor Katsikitis’ long term contribution to the area of the discipline and practice of Clinical Psychology through contributing significantly to teaching, research and publications in the expert field of the College; training and development of psychologists prior to and/or after gaining membership of the College and to the practice of psychology in the expert area of the College.
Sounds of Shakespeare reimagined in Fringe event
Flinders literature researcher and author Gillian Dooley features in a unique Adelaide Fringe performance for voice, viola da gamba and recorder of music inspired by Shakespeare’s poetry and plays through the centuries. Included are songs by Renaissance musicians Robert Johnson and Thomas Morley which were probably performed when Shakespeare’s plays were first staged, and compositions for 17th and 18th-century adaptations of The Tempest by Henry Purcell and others.
Gillian (soprano), Garth Rowe (recorders) and Graham Strahle (viola da gamba) convened in late 2018 to explore adapting the music for this unusual combination, using a variety of techniques to suit musical styles as they evolved through the Renaissance, Baroque, Classical and Modernist periods. Songs by later composers such as Haydn, Vaughan Williams, Margaret Sutherland, Dorian Le Gallienne, Eric Gross and Adelaide’s Chester Schultz will also be joined by the world premiere of three sonnets by Canberra composer Michael Dooley, especially commissioned for the group.
Tickets for performances at three venues – Bapea Gallery, Brompton on Feb 19; the Hetzel Theatre in the Institute Building at State Library of SA on Feb 20; and Church of St Margaret of Scotland on Feb 21, Woodville – can be booked via the Adelaide Fringe website.