Engagement
Engagement at the University of Melbourne encompasses the mutually beneficial relationships the institution has with wider society. It connects our teaching, students and research work with communities – locally, nationally and globally – to help us achieve our academic aspirations and create economic, social and cultural value.
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Pathways to Politics
Pathways to Politics Program for Women: addressing the chronic under-representation of women in parliament.
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Made Possible by Melbourne
The Made Possible by Melbourne campaign showcases to the public the world-changing research taking place at the University of Melbourne.
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Street Finance
The Street Finance program is designed to improve the financial literacy levels of high school students in Melbourne by teaching them about valuable financial knowledge, attitudes and behaviours.
The concept of public value reflects the University’s public-spirited ethos. Our activities in this area span our active institutional citizenship, cultural enterprise, outreach to communities of place and interest, and contribution to public policy and debate. United by a shared purpose of creating public value these activities are firmly based upon our academic mission.
Some of our recent activity includes:
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The Policy Shop Podcast
The Policy Shop podcast examines Australian and global public policy challenges, digging deep to find the complexities and details in policy issues that may be missing from public debate.
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Cultural Collisions
The University of Melbourne became a Melbourne Festival precinct for the first time this year for the launch of its biennial event Cultural Collisions.
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Atlantic Fellows for Social Equity
The Atlantic Fellows for Social Equity is a new Indigenous-led program committed to driving positive social change in communities across Australia and New Zealand.
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Carlton Community Crops
More than 70 Carlton residents from 14 countries embarked on a series of horticultural training days to develop their food planting skills at the Burnley campus of the University of Melbourne.
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Pathways to Politics
Pathways to Politics Program for Women: addressing the chronic under-representation of women in parliament.
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Raise the Bar
Raise the Bar Academy is a joint initiative between Athletics Australia and Melbourne University Sport to provide Indigenous school students from around Australia a chance to discover the pathways to studying and participation through high performance sport.
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2017 Narrm Oration
The Narrm Oration, delivered annually since 2009, is the University’s key address that profiles leading Indigenous peoples from across the world in order to enrich our ideas about possible futures for Indigenous Australia.
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Neighbourhood Night at the Museum
Neighbourhood Night at the Museum is an annual arts and music event held by the Ian Potter Museum of Art to encourage interactions with the local community.
Excellence in Engagement – Public Value award recipients:
This award recognises initiatives and staff members that demonstrably enrich the intellectual, cultural, social and economic life of wider society through the academic enterprise. This award particularly recognises exemplary engagement through response to, or influence of, communities of interest beyond the academy, and creatively applying academic resources to create public value.
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Dr David McInnes
The University’s recent celebration, Shakespeare 400 Melbourne, led by Dr David McInnes reignited community interest in the storyteller’s works. From the Australian launch of the new Oxford Complete Shakespeare to the Shakespeare On Film festival in conjunction with the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) and the British Film Institute, Dr McInnes curated a program with something for everybody.
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Associate Professor Jennifer Hayes
The University of Melbourne has the largest and oldest body donor program in Australia, with over 1000 students participating in cadaveric dissection annually. Associate Professor Jennifer Hayes is leading the University’s public acknowledgement of the body donor program through the annual Commemorative Thanksgiving Service.
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Katherine Mack
When she’s not working as a theoretical astrophysicist at the University of Melbourne, Dr Katherine Mack writes articles for media publications, gives public lectures and interacts with the general public through her social media accounts especially via Twitter, where she has over 80,000 followers at the time of writing and is the most followed astronomer in Australia.
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Joseph Lo Bianco
Joseph Lo Bianco wrote Australia’s National Policy on Languages in 1987, the first in an English speaking country. He became the first educator to be elected President of the Australian Academy of Humanities. But it is his pioneering work in finding solutions to conflicts in Southeast Asia through the use of linguistic exchanges that has earned him the Excellence in Engagement – Public Value Award.
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Andrew Robinson
Biosecurity is more than just pursuing Hollywood celebrities for bringing in undeclared animals. It involves a wide range of stakeholders including governments, businesses and researchers to protect our unique ecosystem from external threats. Associate Professor Andrew Robinson from the School of BioSciences is playing a vital role in protecting our agricultural and environmental heritage.
The University is committed to: pursuing research that addresses the social, economic and environmental challenges of our time; forming partnerships and collaborating widely to enrich and apply our research; and actively engaging the public with the impact of our research.
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BioCurate
An independent venture catalyst, BioCurate is a historic collaboration between the University of Melbourne and Monash University to translate drug discoveries to a form which attracts investors or other commercialisation partners, bringing new medicines to market more quickly.
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Pursuit
Pursuit tells the stories of the research, teaching and engagement taking place at the University of Melbourne, offering independent academic expertise with no seasoning added.
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Made Possible by Melbourne
The Made Possible by Melbourne campaign showcases to the public the world-changing research taking place at the University of Melbourne.
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Hallmark Research Initiatives
The Hallmark Research Initiatives enable the University to strengthen and capitalise on its interdisciplinary research strengths, building broader research groups through internal and partner collaboration, to address priority research areas and open up new targeted funding opportunities.
Excellence in Engagement – Research award recipients:
This award recognises an innovative project that demonstrates significant impact and reach in terms of research collaboration and dissemination.
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Dr David Byrne, Professor Simon Loertscher and Mr Gary Steneham
Dr David Byrne, Professor Simon Loertscher and Mr Gary Steneham, three directors of the Centre for Market Design (CMD), utilise their research to influence policy innovation for the benefit of the community. The CMD’s research engages a range of industry and government sectors from the fuel marketplace to the government’s National Disability Insurance Agency, ensuring that the public are a top priority throughout these discussions.
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Alexander Johnson
Dr Alexander Johnson’s interest in plants as a food source began in childhood when he would work with his mother in their garden. The experience fed his curiosity about crops and would result in his lifelong goal to improve upon the nutritional value of staple food.
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Andrew Mitchell and Tania Voon
When Australia became the first country to pass legislation on plain tobacco packaging in 2011, it was heralded as a major step forward in public health. The backlash from the tobacco industry was swift and a number of lawsuits were lodged claiming Australia had violated the norms of international trade. But the country held firm on the legality of its decision, thanks in part to the work of Professors Andrew Mitchell and Tania Voon from the Melbourne Law School.
The University seeks to enrich the student experience through engagement, deepening professional preparation and developing students for lives of leadership and active citizenship.
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Teaching with Cultural Collections
The University’s cultural collections are playing an ever-increasing role in today’s teaching and learning environment as new facilities and programs open up new opportunities.
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Street Finance
The Street Finance program is designed to improve the financial literacy levels of high school students in Melbourne by teaching them about valuable financial knowledge, attitudes and behaviours.
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Public Interest Law Initiative
The Public Interest Law Initiative provides clinical opportunities for Melbourne Law School students to work with the community law partners and learn the trade by working with real clients to solve concrete legal problems.
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Melbourne Ideas
Melbourne Ideas challenges students to create innovative ideas to improve five aspects of student life: employability, campus access, language support, starting at the University, and campus life.
Excellence in Engagement – Teaching award recipients:
This award recognises innovative curriculum that demonstrates significant positive impact through the development of leadership and active citizenship capabilities in participating students and; the impact of students’ work or the course itself on the community beyond higher education.
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Sean Pinder, Paul Kofman and Deborah Jones
The development of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) has revolutionised the way in which universities can reach students and communities around the world. Faculty of Business and Economics staff Professor Paul Kofman and Associate Professor Sean Pinder in collaboration with Deborah Jones from Learning Environments services, have successfully utilised the new platform to attract over 130,000 students from mainly developing countries to enrol in their course, Essentials of Corporate Finance Specialisation, earning them the Excellence in Engagement – Teaching Award.
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The Citizen
Launched in 2013 and led by Walkley-award winning journalist Simon Mann, The Citizen is an independent and innovative teaching platform that publishes research and writing from Master of Journalism students while creating co-publishing opportunities within the industry.