Speaking my languages: Day 1: Presentations and meetings at Manchester Metropolitan University

July 18, 2023

Day 1: Presentations and meetings at Manchester Metropolitan University

I am a Visiting Professor with Manchester Metropolitan University from March 2022 to March 2024. Today was the first time I actually visited the university, with previous work being undertaken online across timezones between Australia and UK.

Today, I presented a 2.5 hour session titled "Maximising the impact of your communication research using a Research Wellness Checklist" that was aimed at early and mid career researchers. It was great to have people with a range of research experience and knowledge to share their wisdom and insights.

Next I met Dr Julie Wright, Head of Department, Health Professions and discussed MMU's Good to Great Program. A number of years ago I had been invited to be an international mentor/collaborator for Prof Julie Marshall and the outcome from this collaboration was our special issue of the International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology that addressed the Sustainable Development Goals. We are presenting a seminar on this tomorrow. We discussed how the SDGs are important to all universities, including CSU and MMU.

Later this afternoon we met with Professor Saul Becker (new PVC of the Faculty of Health and Education at MMU) https://www.mmu.ac.uk/individual-profile/professor-saul-becker He is establishing a new Institute for Children’s Futures and has had a long-standing relationship with Australia – including discussing policy issues about children as carers with Julia Gillard when she was PM. At the end of the meeting he shared that a new banner was put up in the Faculty building with the following six words: Research | Education | Training | Policy | Practice | Impact I thought that we were well aligned throughout the conversation – but these six words nailed it! I look forward to further conversations with people at MMU.