University of Newcastle's researcher Professor Matt Dun and the Wollotuka Institute were recognised at last night's Australian Financial Review Higher Education Awards, which highlight the contribution that the Higher Education sector makes to Australian life.
The awards are the pinnacle awards for the higher education sector, with the University taking out two of the eight categories - showcasing its standing against the 43 universities across the country.
Emerging Leadership Award: Professor Matt Dun
Professor Dun* was awarded the Emerging Leadership Award, recognising his transformational leadership as one of Australia's leading brain cancer researchers.
After an early focus on paediatric leukaemia, Professor Dun pivoted his research to paediatric brain cancer research and clinical trials in 2018, when his two-year-old daughter Josephine was diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) or diffuse midline glioma (DMG), the most lethal form of childhood cancer.
Quotes attributable to Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alex Zelinsky AO
"Congratulations Matt, you are an inspiration and the achievements of you and your team have already benefitted generations of children and their families.
"Professor Dun has accumulated an outstanding list of achievements having secured $40.87 M n total funding in 12 years, has authored 190 publications, including 99 journal articles and four book chapters and his scientific industry ratings show his work is 780 times more impactful than the average for his field.
"He has also been incredibly generous with his time – in the past six years he has supervised 13 postgraduate students and, inspired by his daughter, he founded RUN DIPG which makes a valued contribution to supporting research and amplifying the voices of families impacted by DIPG/DMG."
Equity and Access: Wollotuka Institute
For more than 40 years, the University of Newcastle's Wollotuka Institute has led the sector addressing the under-representation of Indigenous students in higher education.
Quotes attributable to Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alex Zelinsky AO
"Our University feels a deep sense of pride in our Indigenous commitment. This award is an acknowledgement of the outstanding work of the Wollotuka team, whose decades of work have led us to our position as the leading university in the country for Indigenous education.
"From its beginnings in the 1980s with just four staff, Wollotuka has grown to a team of 52, and today, 5% of our student population proudly identifies as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.
"Thank you to all of the staff who help make Wollotuka the home away from home for so many of our students, and the impact you continue to have on the lives of our students."
The University's Daughters & Dads Active & Empowered Program, led by Professor Phil Morgan was a finalist in the Community Engagement Award category and the School of Architecture for the Master of Architecture program, were finalists in the Teaching & Learning Excellence category.
