Associate Professor Luke Grzeskowiak makes an appearance on a national podcast, while other successes include Flinders staff provide expert testimony to the Royal Commission into Defence and Vetern Suicide, and a new book that examines the rise of Germany from the late-19th century to become a global empire

The Kaiser and the Colonies

A new book from Professor Matt Fitzpatrick (College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences) examines how Germany came to create a global empire. While many viewed Kaiser Wilhelm II as having personally ruled Germany, the The Kaiser and the Colonies: Monarchy in the Age of Empire shows that he was a constitutional monarch with a surprisingly muted role in the expansion of the German Empire.

The Kaiser and the Colonies explores how numerous monarchs around the world who came into contact with the German Empire were central to Germany’s imperial processes. Kings, sultans and other paramount leaders in Africa, Asia and the Pacific  variously resisted and accommodated Germany’s ambitions while charting their own course through the era of European imperialism.

The Kaiser and the Colonies: Monarchy in the Age of Empire is available for purchase on Amazon and Booktopia.

Support for our veterans

Professor Sharon Lawn and Dr Elaine Waddell (College of Medicine and Public Health) have provided expert testimony to the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide about how partners and family members caring for mentally ill veterans are often cast aside by veteran and defence services.

Giving evidence on the third day of public hearings in Canberra, Professor Lawn and Dr Waddell spoke about how the Department of Veteran Affairs services routinely kept family members in the dark, treating the injured person in silo without the support of loved ones. Professor Louise Newman AM also gave evidence about how children of those who suicide wear blame, and that treating a child or teenager for suicide grief counselling was very specialised and complex.

Associate Professor Ben Wadham (College of Education, Psychology and Social Work) has also provided expert testimony earlier in proceedings.

The Royal Commission will release an interim report by 11 August, which will focus on issues requiring urgent or immediate action.

Published and podcasting

Associate Professor Luke Grzeskowiak (College of Medicine and Public Health) has spoken to The Medical Journal of Australia podcast to discuss hormonal contraceptive use following early medical abortion, to accompany his coauthored research letter published in the MJA.

The research letter discussed how the early dispensing of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) after a medical abortion is associated with a reduced likelihood of the need for a second medical abortion.

To read more about the letter, click here. To listen to the podcast, click here.