2022 Award Recipients
2022 Awards Recipients and Nominees
The 2022 Excellence Awards were held on Thursday 8th December at the Ian and Nancy Turbott Auditorium on Parramatta South Campus. The Excellence Awards consist of three main components, the Vice-Chancellor's Excellence Awards, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research Enterprise and International Research Awards and the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic Learning and Teaching Awards. Following are the full list of nominees and awards recipients.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic - Teaching Excellence Awards
Citations for outstanding contributions to student learning
Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning recognise and reward the diverse contribution that individuals and teams make to the quality of student learning. Citations are awarded to academic, professional and sessional staff who have made significant contributions to student learning in a specific area of responsibility.
Nominees
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Recipients
| Associate Professor Amit Arora School of Health Sciences | 
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| For providing a unique learning experience to students that is innovative, flexible, and responsive using a partners-in-learning framework which acknowledges student needs change and evolve. | |
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| For developing effective, student-centred approaches that motivate, inspire, and engage students as exploratory learners, across face-to-face, online, and transdisciplinary contexts. | |
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| For providing Pre-service Teachers opportunities for personal and professional development through authentic service-learning experiences and curriculum alignment to develop skills and understandings for working with diverse learners in inclusive educational settings. | |
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| For leading an international simulation competition and later teaching a construction enterprise management subject using online learning gamification software. | |
Excellence In Teaching
The University offers four focus areas within the Western Sydney University Learning and Teaching Awards. These focus areas are:
- Excellence in Teaching
- Excellence in Teaching – Partnerships
- Excellence in Teaching – Early Career Academic, and
- Excellence in Teaching – Education for Sustainability
The Learning and Teaching Award for Excellence in Teaching recognises teachers who have made a broad and deep contribution to enhancing the quality of learning and teaching at Western Sydney University. Excellence in Teaching recipients have demonstrated exemplary achievements and have made significant contributions to the Western Sydney mission and to their disciplinary fields.
Nominees
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Winners
GCREDI Teaching and Program Development Team
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Providing a transformative educational experience for all WSU doctoral HDR candidates through authentic research and employability skills training, the Graduate Certificate in Researcher Engagement, Development and Impact (GCREDI) demonstrates a strong, evidence-based foundation of impact and teaching excellence. Codesigned with student and industry stakeholders, the GCREDI scaffolds WIL, research and employability skills to HDR milestones – providing a unique knowledgebase for continued evolution and innovation in researcher development. Candidate and stakeholder feedback, sector-standing, and modelling of the GCREDI by other universities for their WIL and researcher development programs provide evidence the GCREDI is sector-leading in addressing candidate, industry and community needs. | |
The Physiotherapy Team - School of Health Sciences
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Commencing in 2010, the Western Physiotherapy team program is a young, dynamic group who lead a flagship program of the School of Health Sciences. This small team of 6.6 FTE academics and a full-time clinical placement officer pride ourselves on creating a supportive learning environment that emphasises workforce preparation. Uniquely in physiotherapy, our program has a dedicated focus on sustainability which influences our teaching and research to provide an innovative, future focused authentic student experience. This has gained national industry recognition and positions us as one of the most highly regarded physiotherapy programs in Australia. | |
Excellence In Teaching - Partnerships
Winner
Building and Securing Outbound Mobility Programs for the STEM Programs Team
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Outbound mobility experiences (OMEs) provide life-long learning and skill development for university students. A cross-institutional team from the School of Science and Sustainability Education have been working in partnership to lead and deliver transformative education and student experiences through innovative curriculum and proactive engagement within the Asia-Pacific region for 5 years. The recent COVID restrictions to travel have not hindered the teams’ efforts and in 2022, the first online virtual mobility program was co-delivered. The innovation curriculum design, student engagement and development, and on-going pedagogical research from the team will ensure the success of these programs into the future. | |
Excellence In Teaching - Early Career Academic
Nominees
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Winner
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Rocco is an early-career academic and Program Advisor within the Physiotherapy department. He coordinates acute and cardiorespiratory physiotherapy subjects. Rocco adopts a progressive teaching philosophy to cultivate environments that encourage self-inquiry and lifelong learning. He employs state-of-the-art practices including high-fidelity simulations involving roboticised mannequins. Rocco also uses innovative strategies such as ‘singing the science’ to enhance student outcomes. His student-centred approach is guided by industry partnerships, evidence, and ongoing self-reflection. | |
Excellence In Indigenous Teaching
Nominees
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Winner
| The Justice Clinic Team School of Law
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Dr Jenni Whelan and Ms Rebecca Dominguez have developed an innovative, collaborative and interdisciplinary approach to Indigenous teaching in the Justice Clinic of the School of Law. Students work in partnership with Indigenous community agencies and with Indigenous clients on individual clients’ problems as well as access to justice projects, identified and prioritised by Indigenous partners. Through the curriculum of Indigenous lecturers, readings, classes and case and project work and led by Indigenous partners, students learn how they can work to support Indigenous resilience and in their future roles as lawyers in our legal system. | |
Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research, Enterprise and International - Research Excellence Awards
Research Excellence Through Partnership
Nominees
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Highly Commended
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Saeed’s passion is bringing together the remarkable capabilities of ICNS researchers in partnership with other researchers, commercial entities and governmental bodies to tackle important problems faced by society. During his short research career, he has been instrumental in setting up ten separate research partnership projects each aimed at a unique and pressing societal need. His projects have been funded to a total of $3 million ($2 million individually allocated). His research in Neuromorphic vision was critical in the development of the Astrosite system which led to the founding of ICNS. | |
Winner
Lithgow Transition Team
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Since 2018, Associate Professor’s Louise Crabtree-Hayes and Neil Perry have developed and implemented an engaged research platform focused on driving regional University collaboration to address the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The team built on best practice in engagement, working with partners to envisage and establish ‘Maldhan Ngurr Ngurra – the Lithgow Transformation Hub’ in Western’s Lithgow site, as a catalyst and demonstration site for transition to thriving regional futures. The Hub opened in 2021 and was included in the University’s submission to the 2022 Times Higher Education impact ranking, which ranked Western first in the world. | |
Excellence In Internationalisation
These Awards recognise the Western staff who have made a significant contribution to international partnerships, made a significant contribution to global education and international programs or introduced a novel initiative promoting cultural competency amongst students and staff to support and benefit the University and community partners.
Nominees
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Highly Commended
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Associate Professor Wu believes in the importance of internationalisation for both the University and students. She has developed international partnerships that promote inclusive international education, capacity building, and research collaboration with a focus on sustainable businesses and economy, using innovative modes. She has also committed to developing students’ global leadership and enriching their learning experience through using innovative approaches to design and deliver student mobility programs. Stella’s work has significantly contributed to the University’s reputation and influence in the world and students’ cultural competency. | |
Winner
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Dr Simi Bajaj is Director of Academic Program for information Systems UG program, Deputy AD International for the East-Asia region and Senior Lecturer in Computing in School of Computer, Data and Mathematical Sciences. Her current duties include management of Information systems program, unit coordination of Undergraduate(UG) and Postgraduate(PG) coursework, supervising research students, professional development activities, committee representations, international engagement, and mentoring staff. | |
Excellence In Indigenous Research
Nominees
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Highly Commended
The Indigenous Languages Team
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Over the last 3 years, the Indigenous languages team has grown to supervise a cohort of 4 Indigenous HDR students, in active reconciliation. Learning, listening and walking together, the team of 9 Indigenous and 8 non-Indigenous staff has pursued research projects that promote the learning and use of Indigenous languages in the community and at the university. In collaboration with Aboriginal organisations, community groups and other universities, the team has collectively researched and produced new language resources in response to community calls for printed dictionaries, online talking dictionaries, and apps, for children through to older adults, in several Indigenous languages. | ||
Winner
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Dr Scott Avery is a proud Worimi man who is profoundly deaf and is a leading scholar and educator within Indigenous Disabilities research. His work focusses on the complex intersections between Indigeneity, disability, cultural inclusion, and community responsibilities. In doing so, he has key research and advocacy connections with First Peoples Disability Network and has repeatedly represented the rights of Indigenous peoples with disability at a number of United Nations forums, Royal Commissions, and pivotal expert advisory groups. He is the proud author of 'Culture is Inclusion: A narrative of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability’. | |
Vice-Chancellor's Excellence Awards
Leadership Excellence - Academic Staff
Winner
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Associate Professor Brahm Marjadi is a national and international leader in Social Accountability, Community-Engaged Learning, Partnership Pedagogy, and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in medical education and public health. His expertise has been acknowledged with Senior Fellowship of Higher Education Academy UK (2019), Western Excellence Awards in Engagement (2015; 2x 2017), Western Excellence Award in Teaching Partnership (2020) and Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic (2020). His medicine in context model has inspired colleagues locally (Western), nationally (Public Health Association of Australia/PHAA, Council of Academic Public Health Institutions Australasia/CAPHIA) and internationally (The Health Equity Network/THEnet, The Network Toward Unity For Health/TUFH), as reflected in these organisations’ policies and practical actions. His in-depth familiarity with Greater Western Sydney (GWS) community needs stems from 318 community visits and meetings with 207 community organisations since 2014. His international standing is cemented in his 24 conference presentations since 2014 (13 in the past 5 years; 9 of which international) and two practice papers on MiC teaching strategies on genders (2018) and diversity (2020). These presentations have established Western’s global reputation as a leader in best practice. By invitation, Associate Professor Marjadi is the co-convenor of the International Community of Practice for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Medical Education under the auspices of the Association for Medical Education in Europe. After invited speeches at medical education conferences (2020), and an invitation to consult on the drafting of Indonesia’s Medical Education Law (2021). He has been invited by The Network Toward Unity For Health (a peak global body in health education) to develop resources for global equity in publishing. He leads the Western Ally Network as a Co-Convenor (2017-2019); co-established and has been leading Rainbow Western (2020 to date); and initiated and is coordinating “Sexualities and Genders @Western” collaboration between Ally Network, Rainbow Western, Queer Collective, Sexualities and Gender Research, Science in Australia Gender Equity, and Respectful Relationships. These endeavours have resulted in increased profile of Western as a champion for genders and sexualities as evidenced by increased invitations to collaborate in establishment and leadership of community networks to support LGBTQIA+ peoples since 2017. Associate Professor Marjadi lives and breathes Western’s commitment to SDG goals : (Goal 3) Good health and well-being, (Goal 4) quality education, (Goal 5) gender equality, and in particular, Goal 17: partnerships for these goals. | |
Leadership Excellence - Professional Staff
Nominees
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Highly Commended
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Emma Taylor is a person of the utmost integrity and kindness. She is the Mental Health and Wellbeing Clinical Manager and empowers staff to align their work, values, passions and expertise. Emma has demonstrated excellent organisational leadership and innovation through her outstanding work on the revised Western Sydney University Wellbeing and Mental Health Strategy, 2022-2025, providing the foundation for a strengths-based, person centred approach to Mental Health and Wellbeing across Western. Utilising collaborative partnership opportunities, Emma has facilitated the Care Collaborate Connect model across Wellbeing Services, has demonstrated exceptional leadership in designing and delivering needs-based workshops to staff and students across Western, and has worked on the Mental Health and Wellbeing Community Engagement model, consistently advocating for inclusion, diversity and representation. | |
Winner
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Deb Bardon joined Western Sydney University as the Manager of the Maldhann Ngurr Ngurra Lithgow Transformation Hub in early 2021. Deb’s exceptional knowledge of the higher education sector and her passion for community and the values and principles of Western led her to not only grow the Transformation Hub and its impact on the communities of Lithgow, but also that of Western. She has made significant contributions to our work in connectedness and transformation and continues to build strong internal and external networks to ensure this important work continues. | |
Leadership Excellence - Team Award
Winner
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The TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION submission team worked behind the scenes to collate the various forms of information and data from across the University which was submitted to the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings in 2021 for 2022 which led to the University being ranked overall 1st in the world for driving the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s). This information was deftly collated by the listed team members. | |
Service Excellence - Individual
Nominees
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Highly Commended
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Julia is tireless in her commitment to HDR Candidate wellbeing at the MARCS institute, liaising with GRS and other areas of the University to provide a healthy and pleasant research and learning environment for HDR candidates. Her professionalism, positivity, tenacity, empathy and caring approach to the HDR community, along with an eagerness to present the best possible service, makes her easily accessible and dependable for resolving HDR issues. We admire her commitment to the global and local HDR candidates, and in presenting the face of Western Sydney University and the MARCS Institute through Boldness, Fairness, Integrity and Excellence. | |
Winner
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Kim has worked as a Project Officer in the Office of People for over 5 years. She has carriage of numerous projects including the Professoriate Dinner, Academic Development Program and Academic Promotions. Kim has been instrumental in the review and enhancement of the Academic Promotion process, undertaking rigorous analysis which has informed the continued emphasis on equity. Kim has demonstrated her passion for providing excellent service to those applying for promotion, benefiting the University by contributing to the retention of high performing academics and the development of Western’s future leaders. | |
Service Excellence - Team
Nominees
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Winner
Health Cluster Mask Fit Team
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In February 2022 as a direct outcome of a COVID driven NSW Health directive, education providers in NSW became responsible for the provision of Mask Fit Testing for all students undertaking a Health Placement. In response, a group of staff in Health Cluster Schools and Jobs on Campus Students worked collaboratively to establish a multi-campus testing program to ensure that students across the health disciplines including Nursing, Midwifery, Medicine, Paramedicine, Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Podiatry, Speech Pathology, Health Science and Mortuary Practice met requirements for placements. Their proactive and student-centred approach to the challenge demonstrates their exceptional commitment to positive student progression outcomes. | |
Excellence in Teaching - Teacher of the Year
Nominees
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Winner
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Rocco has only recently completed his PhD and has been employed as an Associate Lecturer in the School of Health Sciences since 2018. Rocco is passionate about supporting students and adopts innovative practices to stimulate curiosity an enhance student independence. Rocco incorporates unconventional, but evidence-informed, frameworks such as ‘singing the science’, which have been shown to enhance student engagement and assessment performance. Rocco strives to provide student centred learning experiences, being guided by industry partnerships, evidence, and continuous self-reflection. | |
Excellence in Postgraduate Research, Training and Supervision
Nominees
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Winner
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Professor Gannon is a leader in Higher Degree Research Education who excels in all aspects of her engagement in this work. Professor Gannon’s approach to supervision exemplifies her commitment to being an engaged, respectful student-centred supervisor. At the same time, she is frank in her feedback and consistent in her drive to ensure students produce work of the highest quality. These characteristics of respectful engagement and commitment to excellence are highly valued by the HDR candidates she works with. Many of her HDR graduates go on to be research collaborators or to work as leaders in education. | |
Excellence in Research - Researcher of the Year
Nominees
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Highly Commended
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Professor Zhang is a research leader with strong expertise on Composites Materials and Structures. She develops novel methods and theories, which have advanced the knowledge via 340 quality publications. She develops sustainable and high-performance materials and structures, which have solved real-world problems. She has been awarded funds of $19 million. In 2021, she was awarded funds of $3.5m with an income of $320,000 during 2021 and $294,000 during 2022 . Professor Zhang received multiple awards including the Finalist for the Eureka Prize, and Department of Defence, “Brilliant people, collaborative culture leadership award”. | |
Winner
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Professor Zhonghua Chen has established himself as an international research leader in Agriculture and Horticulture since joining Western in 2011. Professor Chen received a prestigious ARC Discovery Early Career Research Award in 2014 and an ARC Future Fellowship in 2021. He made outstanding contributions to the research excellence of School of Science and Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment in the research areas of plant biology, agricultural science, and protected cropping. He has obtained significant research funding, published a large number of high-quality journal articles, and supervised many postgraduate completions. Professor Chen is an outstanding scientist in all aspects of research. | |
Excellence as an Early Career Researcher
Nominees
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Highly Commended
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Dr Alim is an outstanding researcher in renewable energy and water. His scholarly outputs, including one patent, 36 Q1 articles, and ten conference proceedings, demonstrate his excellence in research. According to Scival, his articles received 1533 citations with a h-index of 16. It is exceptional for an ECR. The overall field weighted citation impact is 1.99. Dr Alim invented self temperature controlling solar roof tiles and household drinking water production units. He published two articles in “The Conversation” on his invention and was interviewed by two national radios. | |
Highly Commended
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Dr Hanckel is a leading early career researcher, having published 19 journal articles, 1 co-edited special issue, 5 book chapters, 1 conference paper, and 10 public reports. A highlight of his work has been securing industry funding through Facebook to undertake a large qualitative study of sexuality and gender diverse young people and social media. His work has had wide media dissemination and policy impact. Dr Hanckel is a successful ARC DECRA applicant with a project that examines how digital health interventions support youth health and wellbeing in Australia and the Philippines. | |
Highly Commended
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Associate Professor Sullivan is an Indigenous scholar with direct links to the Wiradjuri Nation in Central-West New South Wales. As an Early-Career Researcher, her research has expanded substantially, seeing her become a leading scholar in Indigenous Standpoint Theories and Indigenous Research Methodologies, seeking to understand and respectfully create critical intersectional knowledges regarding Indigeneity, gender and/or sexually diverse people’s health and well-being, particularly within higher education. This places her as a leader in her disciplinary fields as she stands at the forefront of highly impactful, innovative, and emancipatory research directions within Indigenous Studies, Queer Studies, and Geography. | |
Winner
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Dr Montayre is an internationally recognised researcher and has an exceptional research productivity; published over 76 papers in the last 5 years; secured competitive grants and a recognised geriatric nursing researcher: 1st in New Zealand; 4th in Australia and in the top 50 worldwide. Jed’s research informed national policies in finding solutions to issues in accommodating the healthcare needs of an increasingly diverse ageing society. Jed led an international team commissioned by the WHO to review age-friendly interventions in rural and remote settings. This work informed WHO’s work on age-friendly interventions as part of the United Nations Decade of Healthy Ageing initiative. | |
Excellence in University Engagement & Sustainability - Student Individual
Nominees
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Winner
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John is an outstanding leader who exemplifies the merit of student partnership, widening participation and diversity in strategy, engagement and governance. He is involved in the Parramatta CBD Provost Committee, Wellbeing Health and Youth Commission, and is a recent scholarship recipient of the Partnership XChange Hub, which involves students in innovative curriculum development. John actively contributes to strategic decision-making, fundraising and student clubs, and his impact transcends disciplines. He collaborates with stakeholders at all levels, including students, academics, professional staff and external partners. John is a mentor, researcher and published author that represents what Western is all about. | |
Winner
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Heimy is an excellent advocate for women in engineering and STEM as well as for Western Sydney University. Heimy actively participated in re-building and representing women in the Western Sydney University Engineers Society. She represents Women in STEM Education and is a student ambassador for Engineers Australia where she has represented the University in national events. Heimy has been featured in the university publication W’SUP for her resilience in the field of engineering, as well as been featured in a national construction podcast, and invited to numerous schools to speak about engineering and the importance of women in this field. She was recently awarded the 2022 Emerging Designer of the Year by Maxton Fox. | |
Excellence in University Engagement & Sustainability - Student Team
Winner
The Indigenous Languages Team
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The Indigenous Languages Team comprises five Indigenous students (2 PhD, 2 Masters of Research, and 1 Undergraduate) who are making change in western Sydney and regional New South Wales through their creativity, inclusion, truth-telling and celebration around Indigenous languages. The students are creating and sharing evidence-based teaching and learning resources -- an ambitious yet sustainable approach reaching thousands of Australian children and adults, Indigenous and non-Indigenous. The team are local leaders in the growing recognition and revitalisation of Australian Indigenous languages, which are central to Indigenous cultures, vital for health and education, and part of all Australians' under-recognised intangible heritage. | |
Excellence in University Engagement & Sustainability - Staff Team
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Highly Commended
School of Education - Partnerships and Engagement Team
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The School of Education Partnerships and Engagement Team is a cross-functional team leading the NSW Teacher Education profession in the delivery of responsive partnership development, highly successful professional experience programs and professional learning for educators and pre-service teachers through the Education knowledge Network and Future Teacher’s Network. Underpinned by a service-based partnership model, they have been responsible for the co-creation of new community programs and professional experience tools and initiatives implemented by government and community partners with Department of Education describing their relationship as open, professional, and trusted and their methods of engagement, effective with a genuine resect for true collaboration. | |
Winner
Writing and Society Research Centre - Public Engagement Programs Staff
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This nomination is for a suite of interconnected initiatives led by staff of the Writing and Society Research Centre: the Sydney Review of Books, Writers in Parramatta, Writing Gender and The Writing Zone. Together these grant-funded programs maximise student and community engagement with diverse writing cultures. They prioritise collaboration with local and national industry partners including SBS Voices, the Australia Council for the Arts and the Copyright Agency Limited, while intensively mentoring developing authors and arts workers from Western Sydney as the next generation of cultural leaders, helping to sustain a vibrant arts economy in the Greater Western Sydney region. | |
The College Award for Excellence
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Highly Commended
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Jeffrey Brown is a highly committed member of the College Team, based at Sydney Olympic Park and supporting over 10,000 English language test takers per annum. Jeffrey steered the unit through the challenging Covid period, diligently scheduling and rescheduling tests when snap-lockdowns occurred, managing staff illness and labour shortages under challenging circumstances, whilst managing the opening of a new test-centre at Hassall St. Jeffrey is closely engaged with the preparation and implementation of the Sydney Olympic Park campus Health and Safety Committee, and is a well informed and supportive team member. | |
Winner
Hyflex Learning and Teaching Coordinators
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This team of Learning and Teaching Coordinators demonstrated excellence in academic leadership, initiative, professionalism, responsiveness, and commitment through their role in The College’s Hyflex Pilot Project in Arts and Business. Each nominee contributed significantly to the successful development and implementation of this project and provided individually targeted and structured support and mentoring within their respective teaching teams. These teaching teams were provided with ongoing professional development activities and afforded multiple opportunities to engage in a community of practice throughout all stages of this innovative student-centred project. This successful project allowed for greater student accessibility and flexibility in their learning. | |
Western Sydney University Early Learning Awards
Nominees
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Winner
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Brooke has excelled in providing children with detailed, deliberate, and intentional teaching maximising learning opportunities for children whilst providing culturally rich learning environments. Brooke is consistently researching ideas for learning activities and uses her knowledge to engage the children and to extend their interests and critical thinking skills. | |
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