Southern Cross Matters 2021

This year has had the paradoxical character of feeling very long, but passing very quickly. I am finding it scarcely believable that the summer months have arrived and that we will very soon wind down our work for 2021 to enjoy our very well-earned extended Christmas closedown period.

I think it has been a genuine accomplishment that in such a challenging period of time, we have managed both to focus on getting done the things necessary to sustain the immediate needs of our students and our research programs and to step back from this and reflect on how we will do things better together in future.

As a consequence, there is very strong and gathering momentum around a series of ambitious agendas that are already bearing much fruit and that will be transformative for Southern Cross University in coming years.

A core part of our mission is to serve others. This is deep in our institutional psyche. We look to support the growth and development of our students to maximise their potential and their capacity to positively impact society, just as we constantly seek to discover and unlock the potential of new knowledge. We intend this work to be of direct and enduring benefit to our regions, and understand that part of that impact flows from our role as an institution with deep global connections.

This is what makes our work on the Southern Cross Model and the formation of our Research Impact Clusters so significant. Both are transformational – because they were both conceived of not by looking inwards but rather by asking what our students, communities and partner enterprises most needed, and how we could do more to support the realisation of those needs.   Read more

In the world of teaching and learning at Southern Cross, a virtual clinic is one of new initiatives that has arisen out of response to the impacts of the pandemic.

A Creative Teaching and Learning (CTL) team has collaborated to develop a platform as an alternative to face-to-face consultations for Naturopathic Medicine students.

The virtual production simulates practitioner and patient interactions for diverse scenarios. 

“We wanted to enrich the student experience, and enhance their learning rather than forcing material on to them, to ensure the experience was engaging and meaningful. The focus was on students who are already qualified clinicians looking to advance their practice,” according to Associate Professor Matthew Leach, Deputy Director, Education, National Centre for Naturopathic Medicine (NCNM).

The team originally intended to rent premises in Lismore and set it up as a production studio but COVID put pay to that. So, with some creative thinking, the team came up with the idea of Telehealth interactive teaching.

“The general feedback from students and the workforce more broadly, was that they weren’t prepared or skilled to conduct Telehealth consultations. The idea was to embed this experience into our teaching so that it had real-world application.”

Here’s how it all came together.    Read more

Professor Gillian Gould is on a mission to prevent a system failure that leads to the damaging and sometimes life-threatening effects of nicotine and tobacco on unborn babies.

Alarmingly, 43 percent of pregnant Indigenous women smoke, compared with just 12 percent of the national population.

Gillian joined Southern Cross University in August, lives in Coffs Harbour and brings with her a wealth of experience. Put together the skills of a practising GP, a highly qualified researcher, throw in an Arts Degree, and 15 years’ experience collaborating with Aboriginal services and you’ve got the wherewithal to help pregnant women give up cigarettes.

“Smoking affects an entire life span, from the womb right through to adulthood,” Gillian says.

“Aboriginal women want to do the best by their children, but they are just not getting enough support to quit smoking. They experience multiple levels of complexity and disadvantage. What we are trying to do is build system and individual levels of support, so women are empowered to quit and give their babies the best start in life.”

She currently leads a team of 11 staff and students and has just finished a national randomised control trial to determine more effective strategies to help pregnant women quit.    Read more

It’s a collaboration that harnesses the strengths of both Southern Cross University and Northern Rivers Food in terms of understanding the unique challenges faced by the local food and beverage sector, industry experience and expert academic insights.

 It’s called Business Bites, funded by Investment NSW, is a suite of educational resources designed to help producers, sellers and operators overcome some of the specific issues that have impacted them as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic to build a resilient and prosperous sector on the North Coast into the future.

 “In partnership with the Northern Rivers Food and the NSW Government, Southern Cross University welcomes the opportunity to support local businesses owners to continue to grow and innovate as they navigate what has been a tumultuous operating environment,” According to Vice President (Engagement) Ben Roche.

 The resources are being produced with guidance from local industry and academics from the Faculty of Business, Law and Arts and are aimed at food and beverage businesses at different stages of growth in key identified areas.

To find out more contact: partnerships@scu.edu.au

Dr John Grant has every reason to celebrate.  His recent article about the Moon’s surface was the most read item at The Conversation publication between 8-14 November.

The Moon’s top layer alone has enough oxygen to sustain 8 billion people for 100,000 years has had 860,235 reads to date with two-thirds of readers from the US.

The article has been republished by media outlets around the world including Science Alert, IFL Science, Space.com and Space Daily. The article has also been a hit on social media. It was shared to Facebook from our website 5,800 times, and our Facebook post featuring the article has 71,974 impressions.

The new Vice-President (Students) and Registrar, Brendan Nelson, barely has his feet under his Lismore desk and yet has a shared vision for Southern Cross.

Literally only days into taking over a modified portfolio from Professor Nan Bahr, who has retired, he’s excited by what lies ahead.

 “Large Universities tend to have a siloed view of the student experience and when they are working across a number of faculties it can be very disjointed and disruptive,” says the new VP who arrives at Southern Cross from a strong career with University of Sydney and before that, University of Technology Sydney.

“What I’m experiencing already, is a really shared sense of purpose and vision with the student at the centre and a sense of pulling in the same direction.”

Brendon believes he’s joined a University that’s more connected to its sense of geography and its teaching and researching in areas that have relevance to its communities and its location.

So, what will the student experience be coming out of COVID and online teaching? Read more

The new Vice President (Strategy and Implementation) Jack Williamson brings a truly global view born from regional roots.

Jack takes on the new role designed to boost the University’s capabilities around strategy formulation and execution and transformational change; matters he is very familiar with.

He arrives at our Lismore campus from global consultancy firm, Bain and Company, whom he worked with in London and Sydney, dealing with significant national and international clients. Bain operates in 38 countries, specialising in change management.

Prior to that he completed his MBA with London Business School, while also working with the Bank of England.

Before that he worked with BHP Billiton as a production supervisor, utilising his engineering qualifications gained at both University of Wollongong and University of Newcastle.

“I have worked (at Bain and Co) with key international telcos, consumer and finance companies. Bain deals at a very high level with executive teams,” Jack said.

“I could have easily stayed with Bain and been set for life, but I’m pretty excited to be here.”

So, what will the student experience be coming out of COVID and online teaching?    Read more

If the past year or two has taught us anything, it has been that there is always another surprise waiting. In the face of the tumultuous events through which we have all lived, we adapted rapidly to uncertainty by rallying around the idea that we could not allow uncertainty to paralyse us. By adopting this approach, we took a very considerable burden upon ourselves.

More times than we may wish to recount, we found ourselves forced to write off the precious hours invested in an initial approach and begin from scratch on another. We spent many more fighting our way through mazes of systems and processes in pursuit of solutions that we instinctively knew should have been much more readily within our grasp.

In the face of these and many other challenges, we demonstrated agility, resilience and creativity and delivered remarkable learning opportunities and support for our students and continued to enhance and mature our research agenda.

As the world begins to pivot back to something more closely resembling “normal”, we find ourselves both looking backwards with a view to cementing valuable lessons from our experiences and forwards to the future we wish to build for our University. This process of reflection is timely and important. It offers each of us an opportunity to participate in the generation of the insights that will guide us as we continue to grow and improve and in the clarification of our priorities for the next several years.

That is why spending time in conversation with so many colleagues from across the University has been such a highlight for me over recent weeks. Whilst many different ideas have emerged, three themes have shone through.   Read more

For Professor Anne Graham the “we” rather than the “me” has become a mantra, since establishing the highly regarded Centre for Children and Young People (CCYP) back in 2004.

Anne’s research focuses on the rights, well-being and safety of children and young people (0-25 years) in the key contexts in which they live their lives – family, school and community. She has led more than 70 research projects including seven Australian Research Council-funded studies.

“To help ensure this research is relevant and accessible to those who can best use it to improve children’s lives, we collaborate closely with partners in translating research into summaries, websites, ‘good practice’ guidelines, webinars, professional learning workshops, and education programs,” according to Anne.

Central to this approach is hearing directly from children and young people not only about their experiences but what best supports them when life gets tough.

“This work has actually positioned SCU as the go to institution for research involving children. As a smaller regional Australian university, we are now the leading international voice on how to do this kind of research collaboratively with our long-standing partners such as UNICEF. It requires a ‘we’ not a ‘me’ mindset to achieve this kind of impact.”

Anne has a particular interest in understanding and supporting children to adapt to change, loss and grief in their lives. More than 300,000 children, young people and adults in five countries have participated in evidence-informed education programs she has developed with partner organisation Good Grief at MacKillop Family Services.    Read more

We take them for granted, but without them we’d really be in the dark. We’re talking about the humble electric light.

Illuminating our campuses is a costly business but thanks to some lateral bright thinking, the Property Services team has come up with an alternative way to keep the lights on while saving almost $3 million dollars.

Our Lismore, Gold Coast campuses as well as the National Marine Science Centre at Coffs Harbour are going green by switching to LED lighting. Converting 9000 fittings is a huge logistical task but it’s on track due to be complete by January next year.

It’s a project the Property Services Director, Danika Head, is passionate and proud to be a part of and in doing so she found an upside to COVID shut downs. 

“We kicked off the project in July and one of the beauties of mostly empty campuses is it allows access for technicians to implement the changeover as quickly as possible,” Danika explains.

Her team took advantage of a New South Wales energy conversion rebate of almost $400,000 helping to recoup the project cost in four years.    Read more

COVID-induced delays aren’t stopping sports psychologist, Associate Professor Christian Swann, rolling out the Ahead of the Game mental fitness program globally.

“Movember has been supporting the project from its development at Wollongong University in 2015,” says Christian.

“Now I’m with Southern Cross, they’re covering 10 percent of the cost of my ongoing work as a subject matter expert. That involves overseeing the scientific integrity of the program for each new country that takes it up.”

Ahead of the Game has now been adapted and delivered to five countries, involving 8000 young rugby league players with a focus on improving youth mental fitness through community sport.  It targets both mental health and literacy resilience combining both to underpin overall wellbeing.

Christian believes it’s the most evidence-based program there is in the world and it’s one of Movember’s flagship programs within their children and adolescence stream of work.

“Working with Dr Swann is a vital part of Movember’s approach to ensure that programs like Ahead of the Game remain true to the evidence base as they’re implemented globally,” According to Owen Brigstock-Barron, Movember’s Director, Community and Workplace.   Read more

Distinguished Professor Peter Harrison is now back on the Great Barrier Reef marking the 40^th year of his tireless research into the life of coral.

He’s again focusing on the annual event when coral spawn, in one of nature’s most spectacular displays. If you didn’t already know, Peter is recognised internationally as an eminent researcher, pioneer and expert in the field of coral reproduction and larval restoration.

“We know that coral larval restoration process can be very successful at re-establishing breeding populations within two to three years on badly damaged reef systems. But we need to scale-up that process now to be operating beyond hectare scales and eventually into kilometre scales. Therefore understanding how to take what we know is successful at small scales and re-engineer it into much larger scales is the next phase of the research program,” Peter says.

Earlier this year our University honoured him with a Distinguished Professorship. His work is part of a spectacular audio-visual display at Australia’s Pavilion at the World Expo which opened in Dubai last month and runs until March. 

According to Peter, “It’s been very exciting and an honour to have my research featured in the Australian Pavilion at the World Expo in Dubai. It’s a great opportunity to engage with international audiences about the importance of corals and reef systems but also their fragility and the need for action on climate change as well as active interventions to try and restore some of these foundation breeding corals as quickly as possible.”   Read more

An international report card to be proud of

Academic & University News | Times Higher Education (THE)

The highly respected Times Higher Education 2022 world rankings have registered a big improvement for Southern Cross University’s standing in Physical Sciences.

Southern Cross has moved up more than 50 places to be in the top 250 in the world. Last year we sat in the 301-400 bracket and now we’re in the 200-250 range. The category is based on  Geology, Environmental, Earth & Marine Sciences. It’s ranked using five criteria:

• Citations
• Research
• Teaching
• International Outlook
• Industry Income

“We’ve done particularly well in Citations, Industry Income and International Outlook with the main focus on Earth/environmental and Marine Sciences,” according to our Executive Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering, Professor Nick Ashbolt.

He cites ground-breaking research papers published in leading nature journals and major international team-funded grants, from people like Professors, Peter Harrison, Damien Maher, Bradley Eyre, Terry Rose and Brendan Kelaher to name a few, as helping lift the University’s profile.

“Our consistent track record in securing Australian Research Council (ARC), Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), Agrifutures and Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) funding has certainly played a significant role in where we sit on the international stage.”

A detailed breakdown can be found at: World University Rankings 2022 by subject: physical sciences.

It will come as no surprise to anyone that I am paying particularly close attention to what students who have experienced learning within the Southern Cross Model are saying about their experience of it. Their feedback has on balance been very encouraging but also contained suggestions that will be helpful to us as we continue to evolve and improve what we do.

One thing in particular that has struck me about the way that many students have described their experience of the Southern Cross Model is the sense that they can “see the finish line” in a way they never could in the traditional semester model and how this motivates them and gives them a sense of focus and confidence.

As I have reflected on this, it has seemed to me that one of the deeply challenging issues we face as a group of colleagues is that it can sometimes be very difficult to “see the finish line”. The tasks we have taken upon ourselves are profound, and very often the seeds we sow will not bear fruit for many years to come.

Yet there is a difference between the perfected form and something that though not perfect we can be confident represents a better us. We have taken it upon ourselves to work towards the creation of a University that more comprehensively and authentically engages our students in learning and drives them to greater opportunity and success – no matter their background. And we have taken it upon ourselves to more deeply entwine the vital work we do in research with our educational mission, and in so doing to more purposefully engage with industry and the community to drive impact from that research.   Read more

For Aimee Andersen, an Educational Designer at Southern Cross University’s Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL), supporting academics to deliver outcomes is all about team work.

She is part of a unique, diverse and dedicated team. Together with other CTL specialists such as Digital Designers, Curriculum Designers and Digital Technologists, Aimee partners with Faculty academics from across the University to co-design engaging and innovative learning opportunities for students.

It’s like a developmental engine room – a collegial effort with a shared focus on establishing the deep, active learning that underpins the Southern Cross Model and supports our students to succeed in their studies. It is also one of the areas of priority investment for the University.

"One example is that, working with the academics, we were tasked with creating active learning activities to test students’ knowledge of complex formulas and data analysis using Excel.

“As this type of activity would have traditionally been conducted in class, we needed to create learning opportunities that tested the students' knowledge of complex formulas and calculations with Excel in Blackboard,” Aimee explains.

In this case, the high level of student engagement points to a successful outcome.

Aimee works alongside people like her Digital Design colleague Ellie Magee-Jessup, who took on the challenge of developing interactive learning opportunities for a Scientific Data Management and Analysis unit.

“It involved transitioning from some complex in-class spreadsheet activities to online self-learning activities.

“But collaboratively finding the key objectives allowed us to narrow down a concise but engaging way for students to still explore the concepts,” Ellie says.

Their tailored, interactive solutions have helped keep students engaged with online learning as part of the adaptation to COVID-19 challenges.

It’s something Dr Lachlan Forsyth, Director of the Centre for Teaching and Learning, is proud of.

“It’s been a pleasure to see the new Southern Cross Model emerge through these types of collaborations,” he says.

Out with the old in with the new – it’s really easy to get hooked on teaching in this way.

That’s how Dr Sharen Nesbit sums up what it’s like to teach within the New Southern Cross Model.

Since the beginning of the year, a number of courses have been delivered in the shorter, more focused unit structure of six teaching weeks, and it’s proving to be a winner for both staff and students.

Dr Nisbet’s been teaching in the model since day one.

“It allows teachers to keep the energy levels high. It’s a sprint not a marathon, so it’s a matter of go in hard and go in early,” said Dr Nisbet of her work teaching the Bachelor of Business and Enterprise.

“Previously, a lot of units were quite bloated and overblown. There’s a lot taught that doesn’t relate to the assessments. Students are assessment-focused but they’re (also) time-poor; they’re busy.

“By streamlining the process for students it’s streamlining it for teachers. To me it’s a no-brainer. It’s more interesting.”

Dr Nisbet works closely with the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) team who have been invaluable in designing and delivering specific activities to help with her teaching in an online environment. 

She’s now working on converting other units to the new model.

“My experience has been very positive with the model. It’s really easy to get hooked on teaching in this way. Units are well-curated, well-aligned and they make sense.”

It could be described as riding a wave to success. SURF stands for the Strategic University Reform Fund and Southern Cross has secured $2 million to oversee a new innovative partnership with government, industry and business.

The idea is to create a more circular local economy by reducing production costs, regenerating resources into value-add materials, and enabling the creation of new jobs in the Northern Rivers region.

It’s a pilot program simply called the ReCirculator and will be overseen by Southern Cross researchers Professor Andrew Rose and Professor Dirk Erler.

“Both Andrew and Dirk have track records in the application of circular economy solutions with industrial organics waste emanating from food production,” says Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research) Professor Mary Spongberg.

The pair know their way around the region having recently worked on projects with well-known local food processing businesses.

Based at the Lismore campus, their task will be to deliver four demonstration projects that apply circular economy principles in manufacturing, agriculture and food production.   Read more

What do our Electric Kombi and coastal art have in common?

They were both part of this year’s Swell Sculpture Festival on the Gold Coast from September 10 to 19, that featured 65 large-scale contemporary sculptures installed on Currumbin Beach.

When it comes to sun, sand and surf, a VW Kombi is right at home. These days, restored Kombis are a common sight but ours is a bit different. Southern Cross University students and lead contractor EV Machina converted the 1976 machine to a state-of-the-art electric vehicle on Lismore campus.

The University partnered with the Swell organisers last month to showcase the long distance eco-friendly machine at Wallace Nicoll Park, with student ambassadors on hand to talk to festival-goers about the project and the University. Great exposure considering the event attracted 100,000 people.

The Southern Cross Electric Kombi is rapidly powering its way off the beach and into New South Wales classrooms as part of a curriculum unit package thanks to PhD researchers in the Faculty of Education, Simone Blom and Dave Ellis.

Also on display right next to the Kombi, a sculpture by Southern Cross Alumni Daniel Clemmett.

I reflected in the first edition of Southern Cross Matters on the turbulent period through which we are living and my gratitude to the University community for continuing to work together so ably and with such purpose in the face of such a degree of challenge.

During the intervening month, we have all witnessed further upheaval, including a swathe of additional public health-related directives impacting a number of our research activities, on-campus teaching and skills development, student placements and course compliance requirements.

Further, changes to border control regimes and in particular the hard border arrangements presently in place between New South Wales and Queensland are proving especially difficult for many of us and look set to persist for a considerable period to come.

These are times we will all long remember. They have vexed us and given rise to considerable levels of anxiety and uncertainty. But they have also brought us together and motivated us to find solutions to the problems that we face in common.

I think you will see precisely that spirit shining through in the story on how the Faculty of Health has been keeping pace with rapid and complex changes in their operating environment to ensure  that students can continue to learn, progress and move towards completion.    Read more

It’s a challenge not a crisis.

That is the indefatigable spirit with which the Faculty of Health is approaching the unpredictable and demanding circumstances around border closures and restrictions that are impacting clinical placements.

Southern Cross has more than 2,500 students involved in health placements in any normal year. It is a complex matrix to manage in any circumstance. But even more so when hard border closures stop students from physically attending their placements or lock-downs and changing workplace requirements make it even more problematic. 

Professor Rhonda Nay recently joined Southern Cross as Chair of Discipline (Nursing) and brings with her a wealth of experience. “At this stage it’s a challenge but not a crisis. I think that’s down to the way in which the team not only approaches a difficult situation, but the excellent networks they have to manage it and not panic,” she says.

The team is responding quickly to the often sudden changes, with the primary intention of helping students complete their placements in a safe and meaningful way.

Firstly, they’ve worked with NSW Health and Queensland Health to provide students with access to COVID vaccinations as part of the Phase 1B vaccination roll out and kept on top of the constantly changing workplace requirements as they become more clear for health workers.   Read more

The launch of the ambitious Southern Cross University Electric Kombi Project is now rapidly growing in popularity as a learning resource for school classrooms.

More than just a cool retro-conversion, the Electric Kombi Project has been turned into a series of digital resources covering topics such as renewable energy, the difference between diesel and electric engines, as well as what engineers do and the variety of careers available in engineering.

The Kombi is powered by a suite of 5.3kwh batteries, while the curriculum package is powered by the knowledge of two Southern Cross researchers in the Faculty of Education – Simone Blom and David Ellis.

The package includes a detailed unit map of 30 lesson plans that align with the iSTEM program outcomes and objectives including the iSTEM Process for STEM inquiry.

“We were both excited by the opportunity,” Simone says, “as we could see how it enabled student learning in STEM to be put in the context of a real-life, industry example while also demonstrating how STEM subjects authentically work together in practical application.”

While both Simone and David were busy with full-time academic workloads, the Kombi Conversion curriculum package became a project of passion. Going above and beyond, they completed the lesson plans through a series of evening meetings and weekend correspondence to ensure the resource was developed to a high standard.   Read more

What happens when you bring two highly regarded Southern Cross specialist research groups under the one umbrella?  You structure a more competitive organisation to successfully gain research grants and support our postgraduate researchers of tomorrow.

Professor Les Christidis reckons it’s one of the University’s really good news stories of 2021. He’s referring to the formation of the Southern Cross Analytical and Research Services, or SCARS, and he’s driving the initiative.

Les strongly believes we have world-class capabilities which we are growing.  

“The challenge was to create a one-stop shop for industry. So, we decided to consolidate our Analytical Research Laboratory (ARL) and Environmental Analysis Laboratory (EAL) facilities under the SCARS umbrella to further develop and grow our reputation in the areas of agriculture, natural plant products and geosciences,” Les explains.

“The new SCARS team boasts more than 90 technical and professional staff and trainees who generate almost $9 million in commercial activity. SCARS also supports the research of academics and Higher Degree Research students in the Faculty of Science and Engineering.”

There’s no doubt EAL and ARL are go-to organisations for industry.   Read more

What do you do when you’re not allowed the traditional university Open Day? Put it on for a month, that’s what.

Southern Cross University’s Open Day (for a month) was a 30-day open invitation to prospective students across Australia to visit virtually through a series of live webinars, on-demand presentations, virtual reality campus tours and online chats.

It was one of the most elaborate collaborations across academic and professional colleagues that Southern Cross has seen, and it delivered strong results.

One of the most popular live webinars was in Nursing. Lecturer Lucy Shinners said the revised, all-digital format was a great success. 

“The production team handled it really efficiently with clear communication about how the day was going to progress. We got questions before we started which allowed us to prepare; when I turned up, I was quite confident about everything,” she said.

Lucy explained that the majority of questions from prospective students involved a breakdown of how much time is spent online and on campus, study loads, flexibility and alternative entry pathways.   Read more

Faculty of Health PhD candidate Megan Lee is Southern Cross University's most popular author on The Conversation. Her seven articles have attracted a total of 835,116 readers over the last few years.

Megan’s published articles focus on her PhD research in nutrition and mental health. Megan has also recently published on occupational stress in academia and the impact of anonymous student feedback on academics, mental health and wellbeing.

The Conversation articles are republished globally and Megan’s work has appeared in 53 different outlets in Australia, USA, United Kingdom, Indonesia, South Africa, India and France to name a handful. She’s on the way to becoming a Conversation millionaire!

Welcome to the first edition of Southern Cross Matters. I hope you will find the material in each monthly edition to be interesting, informative and useful.

Each of us brings a particular focus and frame of reference to our work at the University. But what makes life within an institution such as ours particularly rewarding is our shared sense of community, and the impact that our teaching and research brings to the lives of so many each day.

Southern Cross Matters is designed to be a platform that helps us all to stay in touch with key developments, and our many achievements as a University community.

We are moving together through a period of tumultuous change and challenge. This is asking much of every one of us. In these circumstances, knowing that we can continue to achieve excellence whilst we build for the future is important to all of us.

As you read this edition and share it with your friends and family, I hope you are inspired by the story of our recent PhD graduate, Dr Louisa Salmon and her amazing supervisor Associate Professor Gail Moloney. I hope you enjoy learning a little about some of our new colleagues, and why they were attracted to join SCU. I hope you reflect on the incredible achievements of our researchers, in this instance evinced through the work of Brad Eyre and Dirk Erler whose ARC funded projects will make a real impact on our environment and on many of the enterprises that are key stakeholders for this University.    Read more

Dr Louisa Salmon describes herself as a quiet achiever but there was one moment in our recent Coffs Harbour graduation ceremonies that drew loud applause for her.

It was a powerful moment as Dr Salmon had her determination rewarded with a Doctor of Philosophy.

Dr Salmon has cerebral palsy and her thesis focuses on children who have had to overcome disabilities. Titled ‘Social experiences of children with disabilities: resilience, social identity and bullying’ the graduation guests were moved by that very resilience displayed by Dr Salmon in achieving her PhD.

“Working on a thesis for a decade, it was hard to see the end,” she said.

“I am a quiet achiever, but it really was great to be acknowledged for the years of work I put into my studies, along with all the other graduates.” Dr Salmon said.

 Her drive and motivation to achieve excellence was based on the desire to make a difference to the lives of people who have profound disabilities.

She’s thankful of the dedicated support from her supervisors, Associate Professor Gail Moloney (SCU),  Professor Lewis Bizo (UNE/QUT) and Professor Iona Novak (Cerebral Palsy Institute), the University’s Student Equity & Inclusion team, Duncan Blair, and Maddison Norton, as well as her parents, friends and carers.    Read more

Early data shows that the new Southern Cross Model is achieving improved outcomes for students.

To date four courses have commenced under the Model:

• Bachelor of Business and Enterprise
• Associate Degree of Civil Construction (Engineering and Management)
• Diploma of Civil Construction (Engineering and Management)
• Preparing for Success Program (PSP)

On average the latest student feedback on these courses is more positive than feedback on courses in our traditional teaching format. When compared with data from Session 1, 2020, the aggregated success rate in Diploma and PSP units rose from 60% to 78%. GPA rose across all courses.

When asked in focus groups, as part of an ethics-approved research project, students have described the Model as “confidence boosting”, “stress relieving” and “the best workload experience I have ever had”.  

This from a PSP student – “I was relieved because I remember trying to juggle four subjects was hard. So only focusing on two was a big relief.”    Read more

The Southern Cross Model implementation has been boosted through the applied expertise of Dr Liz Goode.

Dr Goode is a Teaching Scholar working in the Academic Portfolio Office (APO) to strengthen and lead Communities of Practice in the Southern Cross Model. She has more than 10 years’ experience in enabling education, working in the University's Preparing for Success Program (PSP) and at the University of Newcastle to support the achievements and successes of non-traditional students.

According to Professor Thomas Roche, Pro Vice Chancellor (Academic Quality), Dr Goode has been an integral part of the University’s move to the Southern Cross Model. She was part of the team that piloted the first courses in the new Model this year, including the redesign of several of SCU College’s PSP units and co-designing and teaching a new academic communication unit for the Faculty of Business Law and Art’s Bachelor of Business and Enterprise.

Together with colleagues in the APO and SCU College, Dr Goode is engaged in a number of scholarship projects that aim to evidence and disseminate the impacts of the Model on student learning, experience and success.

The number of interactions with Southern Cross libraries has jumped almost 30 per cent in the last year.

Since the COVID crisis hit it’s been a rollercoaster ride for library staff and students over the last 18 months. But the pandemic has shown how versatile and nimble staff can be in keeping this vital resource functioning.

First, almost three months of lock down for all but Coffs Harbour, then in July 2020 the University’s libraries at Lismore and the Gold Coast re-opened their doors again with a reduced capacity and strict social distancing measures in place.

Floor plans and work stations needed to be reconfigured to cater for the restrictions and students relied on special kiosks to access library services with an online chat function and precautionary measures like plastic keyboard covers and hand sanitizer provided.

Throughout the pandemic a dedicated band of library staff members have been on site at each campus every day. They continued to provide services, including mail out lending, our online help resources, virtual appointments and video tutorials.

Interestingly there were 9580 chat transactions in 12 months prior to closure, and 12,282 in the 12 months following closure. Additional online ebooks and textbooks were purchased to increase access to all students.    Read more

In July Clare Thorpe joined the University as the new Director of Library Services. Clare has a strong focus on empowering staff to achieve excellence in service delivery in multi-campus and online environments.

Clare brings more than 20 years’ experience in Library services having worked at QUT, Griffith University, State Library of Queensland and since 2017 at University of Southern Queensland. She currently serves as a Board Director of the Australian Library and Information Association.

Clare explains, “I’m a long time admirer of SCU. The SCU Library is known for its innovative campus library spaces and its risk-taking early adoption of new systems and technologies. I am excited to contribute to the SCU model and looking forward to building on SCU Library’s achievements, continuing the digital transformation of our collections and services which we escalated during the pandemic.”

Southern Cross researchers are in elite company with the awarding of two highly sought-after Australian Research Council linkage projects totalling $1.2 million.

Associate Professor Dirk Erler aims to transform meat residue into agricultural soil improver in collaboration with Northern Cooperative Meat Company, QUT, Justus-Liebig University of Giessen, and Department of Regional NSW ($510,507).

The second project, led by Professor Bradley Eyre, in collaboration with University of Western Australia and Healthy Land & Water Ltd, will use new innovative measurements and modelling to investigate nitrogen removal pathways of the coastal zone ($704,711).