WOW! Today our teams were notified about the 2023 Charles Sturt Excellence Awards
From the Vice Chancellor: "I am excited to announce our 2023 Charles Sturt Excellence Award Winners and Highly Commended are now available to view on RED. Congratulations to this year’s winners and highly commended. Your work has had an outstanding impact on our students, research and the community. We recognise and appreciate your exceptional effort and achievements, which contribute to the success of our University, realisation of our Strategy and living our Values."
**RESEARCH EXCELLENCE AWARD WINNERS: Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research Group (ECIR)
Recognises and celebrates outstanding contributions of individuals and teams who engage in research excellence that contributes to the success of Charles Sturt and drives regional outcomes with global impact.
Research Winners: Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research Group (ECIR)
Names: Sharynne McLeod (Team Lead), Belinda Frieze, Kristen Andrews, Kate Margetson, Belinda Downey, Linda Mahony, Kelly-Ann Tribolet, Laura Delli-Pizzi, Michelle Brown, Olebeng Mahura, Kate Freire, Ben Pham, Carmen Huser, Nicola Ivory, Sheena Elwick, Nicole McGill, Jessamy Davies, Laura Hoffman, Shukla Sikder, Roslyn Cox, Marie Ireland, Lysa Dealtry, Anna Cronin, Jenny Dwyer, Leanne Gibbs, Julian Grant, Sarah Verdon, Audrey Wang, Carolyn Gregoric, Azizur Rahman, Robyn Brunton, Suzanne Hopf, Cheree Dean, Van Tran, Holly Mcalister, Andi Salamon, Sarah Stenson, Kate Crowe, Libbey Murray, Cherie Zischke, Graham Daniel
What the nomination was for:
This nomination is for excellence in research capacity building. ECIR provides an internship model where early career researchers are well supported by more experienced researchers in a wide range of research activities including organising conferences, editing books, writing book chapters, running research projects, analysing data, writing journal articles, and applying for promotion and grants.
Members work collaboratively on projects such as the hosting of the Early Childhood Voices Conference (ECV2022), recent submission of an edited book arising from ECV2020 presentations, and analysis of children’s drawings from across the globe. These joint projects develop knowledge, skills and experience for members to pursue their own research interests.
Why it is Excellence Award worthy:
Not only have ECIR members been very research active themselves, but they have created capacity building opportunities for other researchers, within and beyond the team. Members willingly share with each other for the benefit of all and to grow knowledge about early childhood and conducting research, particularly from an interdisciplinary perspective.
The group brings together Educators, Speech Pathologists, Psychologists, Computer Scientists, Nurses and Physiotherapists who may not usually research together.
Achievements over the past year include journal articles (55 accepted + 16 submitted), conference papers( 59 presented/accepted for presentation +18 conference workshops/seminars etc + 4 submitted), book chapters (29 published/in press + 1 submitted), books (3 published/in press + 1 under contract), and conference proceedings (1 published).
They also have a high level of community engagement with 3 events hosted/training delivered, 22 media coverages, 4 media contributions, social media profile, 5 public lectures/presentations, 19 community consultations. Members are well recognised for their achievements with 3 individual and 1 group awards, leadership/membership of professional associations and editorial boards, invited working party and advisory participants.
They have had 2 PhD completions and 2 PhD submissions by ECIR members and provide HDR support to 17 students.
**SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (HIGHLY COMMENDED): Speech Pathology Team
Recognises and celebrates individuals and teams who engage regionally and globally to drive positive, bold change to deliver resilient people, sustainable environments and flourishing communities, ensuring the delivery of real and impactful benefits for the wider community.
Names: Suzanne Hopf (Team Lead), Linda Wilson, Cyrena Hunt-Madden, Catherine Easton, Alex Spiller, Laura Hoffman, Lisa Brown, Caitlin Slaney, Marijke Denton, Sharynne McLeod, Chris Plant, Sarah Verdon
Nominees selected for collaborating extensively to support various initiatives, including the development of speech pathology services and university programs in low-middle-income countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia, and Fiji. They have facilitated innovative work-integrated learning solutions for global citizenship skills and local community access to speech pathology services. The team has also contributed to HDR enrolments and Australia Awards scholarships for students from Cambodia, Ghana, and Vietnam. Furthermore, they have published professional association position statements and clinical guidelines for culturally responsive speech pathology practice, and their research impact is evident with over 30 publications and presentations in the last two years.
