December 2020
This edition of News & View takes stock of a few of the incredible things that we have achieved this year, a moment to recognise the achievements of our colleagues across the new Faculty, an opportunity to offer thanks and well wishes to those who are leaving us, and to pay tribute to our colleagues who will continue their association with UNSW through academic appointment to Emeritus.
Welcome to UNSW Arts, Design & Architecture (or ADA)
This is the name that - following focus groups and consultation - received the most votes when we put it to the poll. Thank you to everyone who participated in this collaborative process and helped shape the identity and name of our Faculty that will carry us into 2021 and beyond.
But before we get to 2021, we all need a break. My plan for the next few weeks is to spend time with my kids, practise surfing, walk Beatrice the Labrador (once her paw mends) and detox from Teams.
Thanks so much for everything in 2020. I wish you all the very best for the end of the year. Have a great break and I look forward to seeing you soon in 2021.
Arts, Design & Architecture Leadership Team
In case you missed the announcement at the end of November, here is our new leadership team for ADA. We started our work together last week at the beautiful Esme Timbery Creative Practice Lab.
We are still in the process of recruiting a Director Education Innovation. Once the appointment is made, our leadership team will be complete.
I want to thank and acknowledge the amazing work of the outgoing leadership teams of Art & Design, Built Environment and Arts & Social Sciences for their guidance and service over many years, and particularly over the last year of change and transition.
Vice Chancellor's Awards for Teaching Excellence
The following colleagues are this year’s recipients of the Vice Chancellor’s Awards for Teaching Excellence in the Faculty of Arts, Design & Architecture. I’m so proud of the continued excellence demonstrated by our teaching staff in a year of rapid and unprecedented change. Please join me in warmly congratulating them on their achievements.
Vice-Chancellor’s Awards for Teaching Excellence
Sessional Staff Category
- Dr Megan Catherine Rose, School of Social Sciences
Early Career Category
- Dr Maria de Lourdes Melo Zurita, School of Humanities and Languages
- Dr Deborah Barros Leal Farias, School of Social Sciences
Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Programs that Enhance Learning
Innovation in Curriculum Design and Pedagogical Practice Category
- Dr Jonathan Bollen, Dr Erin Brannigan, Dr Meg Mumford, Dr Theron Schmidt, Dr Bryoni Trezise and Dr Caroline Wake, School of Arts and Media
UNSW Higher Education Heroes Award
- Associate Professor Dijana Alic, Monica McNamara, Kathy Argyropolous, Ellen Clapin, Tom Richards, Dean Utian and Anjalika Wijesunrendra, School of Built Environment
Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Higher Degree Research Supervision
Supervision - Emerging Supervisor Category
- Dr Hoa Nguyen, School of Education
Student Experience & Support
New scholarships announced
ADA has launched a new suite of scholarships to assist new students to undertake full-time study for the standard duration of the coursework degree program. These scholarships, added to the existing suite, aim at giving our diverse community the opportunity and support required to undertake studies with the Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture.
Indigenous space in A&D
Art & Design and Winangala Gurrugurrubaa students Leilani Knight and Oliver Pike have been working with Claire and David on a project to identify and design a dedicated Indigenous space for the Paddington campus. This will be ready for the start of 2021.
Outstanding achievements and research successes
Dr. Sandy Evans – Artist in Residence
The ten-day Sydney International Women's Jazz Festival (SIWJF) this month featured more than 30 leading female musicians across Sydney venues and clubs, celebrating music from Australia and the world.
The festival announced the 2020 Artist-in-Residence as Dr. Sandy Evans OAM earlier this year. Widely regarded as a leading force in jazz, improvised and inter-cultural music in Australia and internationally, Sandy's creativity and artistry was on display throughout the week beginning with a special digital screening via FB Live of her 2019 premiere of Ahimsa: Mediations on Gandhi
Prof Jon von Kowallis elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities
Jon von Kowallis, Professor of Chinese Studies in the School of Humanities and Languages, was last month elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. This is a significant achievement, recognising the outstanding contribution Jon has made to his discipline, and the high regard in which he is held by his peers in the humanities community, both in Australia and internationally.
Professor Alison Bashford ARC success and Royal Society of NSW honour
Huge congratulations to our Laureate Prof Alison Bashford from the School of Humanities and Languages who has not only been granted $555,576 in ARC Discovery Program funding for her project ‘Antipodean Geology: A Modern History of Southern Hemisphere Earth’ but has also been recognised as one of Australia's most eminent historians for her ground-breaking and transformative historical studies of the biomedical and environmental sciences and has won the Royal Society of NSW History and Philosophy of Science Medal.
Congratulations to Dr. Valentina Bau on her ARC DECRA success
Congratulations to Dr. Valentina Bau from the School of Arts & Media who has been awarded the ARC Discovery Early Career Research Awards (DECRA) totalling $416,530.
The ARC DECRA awards recognise Australia’s next generation of researchers working in key priority areas to grow Australia’s research and innovation capacity.
Valentina’s research investigates developmental communication approaches for young people displaced by violent conflict.
Dr Erin Brannigan awarded ARC Linkage grant
Congratulations to Erin Brannigan from the School of Arts & Media and co-Chief Investigator Rochelle Haley from Art & Design for their ARC Linkage grant award of $392,181 for their project titled ‘Precarious Movements: Choreography and the Museum’ which aims to interrogate the relationship between dance and visual art practices and institutions since the turn of the 21st century, developing solutions for emerging and associated challenges for artists and art workers.
Kari Lancaster and team awarded ARC Discovery Program award
Congratulations to Dr Kari Lancaster and her team at the Centre for Social Policy in Research in Health (CSRH) – Prof Tim Rhodes, Prof Carla Treloar, Prof Martin Holt and Prof Marsha Rosengarten - who have been awarded the ARC Discovery Program award totalling $536,462 for their project ‘Evidence-making and implementing interventions in a viral elimination era’ which focuses on developing new ways of doing implementation science.
Congratulations to Prof Hal Pawson for his ARC Discovery grant
Congratulations to Hal Pawson from the School of Built Environment for his ARC Discovery Program grant award of $291,012 for his project ‘The financialisation of older persons residential parks and rental villages’ which aims to explore and explain contemporary change in the residential parks and communities (PC) and rental villages (RV) sectors, and to set out policy implications, including for housing affordability; housing legal rights; ageing support and care; and financial services consumer protection.
Congratulations to Prof Bill Randolph on his ARC Discovery Program grant
Congratulations to Bill Randolph from the City Futures Research Centre for his ARC Discovery Program grant award of $144,000 for his project ‘The Precarious City: the suburban settlement in an age of uncertainty’ which investigates the disintegration of two interrelated pillars of Australia’s post-war ‘suburban settlement’ – home ownership and income security – and the consequences of this for patterns of urban change.
Dr Veronica Tello’s ARC Linkage grant success
Congratulations to Dr Veronica Tello from the School of Art & Design for her ARC Linkage grant of $338,927 for her project ‘Diversifying Australian Regional Museums’ which works with the Murray Art Museum Albury, situated in Albury-Wodonga, to create a new museological method to generate structural change, training future CALD cultural leaders and prototyping an inclusive museum. The project proposes that regional art museums, embedded in sites with shifting populations, are able to lead structural diversification in Australian art.
ARC Linkage grant for A/Prof Hazel Easthope and team, and Scientia Program review success
Congratulations to Hazel Easthope from City Futures Research her ARC Linkage grant of $143,305 for her project ‘Co-design guide for transforming ageing apartment buildings’.
Hazel has also been invited by SHARPer subcommittee to continue her Scientia Program in 2021.
ARC Discovery success for Prof Chris Petit and team
Congratulations to Chris Petit and his team – Dr Simone Zarpelon Leao and Dr Meead Saberi - from City Futures Research their ARC Discovery grant of $40,000 for their project ‘Sustainable mobility: city-wide exposure modelling to advance bicycling’.
UNSW academics rank among the most influential globally
The latest release from the Meta-Research Innovation Center at Stanford places 43 UNSW researchers in the top 10,000 scientists globally, based on citations received in 2019, the most from any Australian university.
Of the UNSW researchers who rank in the top 10 globally for their discipline, two are from the Faculty of Arts, Design & Architecture, while among the top nine most influential UNSW researchers, three are from our Faculty.
Particularly impressive is Professor Mat Santamouris for ranking first in the world over his career for Building & Construction.
Rewind to #UNSWfromhome
If you missed them, here’s a chance to revisit the #UNSWfromhome series that ran from over four weeks in October and November. Series 2 returned with a fantastic line-up of academics and alumni from Arts & Social Sciences, Art & Design and Built Environment. The second season featured four dynamic online conversations, each rich with diverse thought, debate, and discussion. Take some time to watch your teachers, colleagues and former students in action.
#UNSWfromhome - Conversation 1
Arts graduates & creatives leading our future
#UNSWfromhome - Conversation 2
The Arts, Mental Health and Resilience
#UNSWfromhome - Conversation 3
What is Ecocentrism?
#UNSWfromhome - Conversation 4
Digital Humanities
Drone Futures Seminar Series
Drone Futures brought together leading artists, humanities and social science scholars whose research intersects with the emerging field of drone studies. From the neo-colonial violence of contemporary wars in the Middle East and Africa to the strange histories of unmanned aerial vehicles to activist uses in struggles for justice, this seminar series looked to the past and present to think into the future. By showcasing inter-disciplinary scholarship, it aimed to spark new connections and inspire debate about how to build more just drone futures.
