Happy Christmas from CVC

 Happy Christmas from Sharynne, Tamara, Kathy, Carolyn and Lorraine

Congratulations to the CVC affilates who have been promoted this year

The 2025 promotions at Charles Sturt University have just been announced. Congratulations to our talented CVC affiliates
Level C - Senior Lecturer
Laura Hoffman – Allied Health, Exercise and Sports Sciences
Jessica Sears  - Education
Lucia Wuersch – Business
Level D – Associate Professor
Leanne Gibbs – Education
Suzanne Hopf – Allied Health, Exercise and Sports Sciences
Level E - Professor
Sarah Verdon – Allied Health, Exercise and Sports Sciences

CVC was profiled in the Vice Chancellor's 2025 message

CVC was profiled in the Vice Chancellor's 2025 message. Thanks for your support VC Professor Leon DVC-R Professor Neena Mitter and all of our CSU colleagues.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9RZDYef80k

 

Multilingual Aspects of Children's Speech Sounds (2nd edition) has been submitted

SUBMITTED 

Today we submitted Multilingual Aspects of Children's Speech Sounds (2nd edition) to Multilingual Matters (it was due 31st December - so we are early!). 

 In the final book there are:

• 95,379 words across 34 chapters
• written by 59 authors from 17 countries: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Cyprus, England, Fiji, Germany, Ghana, Hong Kong SAR, China, Iceland, Iran, Ireland, Singapore, USA, Vietnam, and Wales
• mentioning 151 languages: !Xũ, Afrikaans, Akan, Albanian, Amharic, Arabic (6 varieties: Algerian, Classical, Egyptian, Kuwaiti, Modern Standard, Palestinian), Asanti Twi, Assyrian, Azeri Turkish, Bahasa Indonesia, Balochi, Bengali, Brahvi, Bulgarian, Burmese, Cantonese, Catalan, Chichewa, Croatian, Dagbani, Danish, Dari, Dutch, English (10 varieties: Australian Aboriginal, British Standard, Fiji, Irish, Jamaican, Singapore Colloquial, Singaporean, Singapore Standard, Standard Australian, Welsh), Ewe, Fanti, Faroese, Farsi, Fe’efe’e, Fijian, Finnish, Flemish, French and French Canadian, Ga, German, Greek (Cypriot, Standard Modern Greek), Gujarati, Haida, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi and Fiji Hindi, Hindko, Hmong, Hokkien, Hungarian, Icelandic, Igbo, Inuit, Irish, Italian, Jalapa Mazatec, Jamaican Creole, Japanese, Karen, Khmer, Kikamba, Kikuyu, Kinyarwanda, Kisii, Kiswahili, Korean, Kriol, Kurdish, Laki, Latvian, Lingala, Lithuanian, Luganda, Luhya, Luxembourgian, Madagascan, Malay, Maltese, Mandarin/Putonghua, Melpa, Mirpuri, Ndebele, Nepali, Norwegian, Pacific Island languages and dialects, Pakistani heritage languages, Pawaian, Pitjantjatjara, Polish, Portuguese (Brazilian, European), Potohari, Punjabi, Pushto, Romanian, Rotokas, Russian, Samoan, Sataiki, Scottish Gaelic, Sepedi, Serbian, Serbocroatian, Sesotho, Setswana, Shona, sign languages (5 varieties: American, Australian, British, Danish, Icelandic), Sindhi, Sinhala, Slovak, Slovenian, Somali, Spanish and Granada Spanish, Swazi, Swedish, Sylheti, Tagalog, Tagalog, Tamil, Teke, Telugu, Thai, Tlingit, Tok Pisin, Tongan, Tshivenda, Tsonga, Turkish, Twi, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese, Warlpiri, Welsh, Xhosa, Yolngu Matha, Yoruba, Yumplatok, and Zulu. 
• There is also discussion about the following 34 multilingual pairs: Albanian and Greek, Bengali and English, Cantonese and Greek, English and French and Spanish (trilingual), German and Russian, German and Spanish, German and Turkish, Greek and English, Gujarati and English, Hindi and Gujarati and English (trilingual), Irish and French, isiXhosa and English, Italian and English, Japanese and English, Lingala and English, Mandarin and English, Mandarin and Swedish, Polish and English, Portuguese and English, Spanish and English, Turkish and English, Turkish and German, Twi and English, Urdu and Balochi, Urdu and Brahvi, Urdu and English, Urdu and Hindko, Urdu and Potohari, Urdu and Punjabi, Urdu and Pushto, Urdu and Sataiki, Urdu and Sindhi, Vietnamese and English, and Yoruba and English. 

Thank you to the authors who have undertaken important research that enables us to support multilingual children and their families across the world.

 

We had an Australian editors' meeting yesterday.

Helen Blake, Sharynne  McLeod, Kate Margetson

Helen and I met with Brian Goldstein a few weeks ago when we were in the Washington DC at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) convention. 

Sharynne  McLeod, Brian Goldstein, Christina Gildersleeve-Neumann, Helen Blake

 

Mark Filmer from Charles Sturt University has supported the copyediting of the chapters and we were able to thank him yesterday.

Sharynne  McLeod, Mark Filmer, Helen Blake

Congratulations Sarah B - wrapping up for 2025

Congratulations to Sarah Bartlett on all she has achieved during year 2 of her PhD journey during 2025. Dr Carolyn Gregoric and I had our final supervisory meeting with Sarah for the year today. Recently, Sarah has had a journal article accepted in the American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology and she has had a paper accepted for presentation at the Speech Pathology Australia National Conference. I'm looking forward to working with her in her final year of her PhD in 2026.

 

 

Speech Pathology Australia National Conference submission outcomes for 2026

We have just learned the outcome of our Speech Pathology Australia National Conference submissions for 2026. In the letter they wrote

"This year we received 326 submissions, reflecting a 22% increase on last year. With limited presentation space available, only around one-third could be included in the final program"

While some of our papers were not accepted for presentation - the following papers were accepted:

• Assessing children’s speech in unfamiliar languages: Acceptability of the Speech Assessment of Children’s Home Language(s) (SACHL)
• Resources in 131 languages and dialects: Multilingual minds have unlocked global knowledge about children’s speech
•  Implications of caregiver-implemented intervention for three underserved communities
•  School speech pathologists’ navigation of nine tensions regarding evaluation and eligibility in USA

I am glad that two of my PhD students' papers were accepted.  

CVC is featured in Thrive - CSU's alumni magazine

We are delighted that A/Prof Tamara Cumming and I were interviewed so that the Children's Voices Centre could be featured in the CSU's Thrive magazine (we are both alumni of CSU).

https://issuu.com/csu4/docs/thrive_magazine_november_2025

Planning CVC2026

Our planning for the Children's Voices Conference 2026 (CVC2026) began on 6th November - and has reached the stage of formalising the processes behind the conference.

Today Conference Secretary Dr Carolyn Gregoric and I met with  Annette Tainish (CSU Events), Kevin Ng and Pat McKenzie (FOAE Production Team) to plan the software (e.g., registration, abstract submission), website, synchronous events (launch, keynotes, yarning circles) and other aspects of the conference. What a productive meeting. Thanks team!

Sharynne McLeod, Annette Tainish, Carolyn Gregoric, Pat McKenzie, Kevin Ng

 

 

Asia Pacific International Conference on Speech, Language, and Hearing

Holly McAlister and Sarah Verdon have just returned from presenting papers at the 12th Asia Pacific International Conference on Speech, Language, and Hearing held at the Grand Richmond Stylish Convention Hotel, Bangkok - Nonthaburi, Thailand from December 12–14, 2025. 

Congratulations Holly on presenting your PhD research - and making some good contacts within our region

Celebrating the first year of the Children's Voices Centre (2025)

In December 2024, we learned that Charles Sturt University would fund the establishment of the Children's Voices Centre as a CSU research centre for 3 years (2025-2027). During 2025, we have renovated building 1451 to become The Treehouse, recruited 4 staff (2.6 FTE) and had an amazing year with over 60 CVC affiliates, children, families, professionals, colleagues and friends.

Today we held our last CVC staff meeting for the year followed by a 2-hour celebration with CVC affiliates. During the 2-hour celebration 20 CVC staff and affiliates spoke: Prof Sharynne McLeod, A/Prof Tamara Cumming, Dr Carolyn Gregoric, Lorraine Bennett, Dr Shukla Sikder, A/Prof Kathy Cologon, Dr Leanne Gibbs, Dr Lyndsay Smith, A/Prof Suzanne Hopf, Dr Brendon Hyndman, Dr Lysa Dealtry, Dr Jo Grimmond, Dr Sabrina Syed, Sarah Bartlett, Dr Kate Margetson, Camilla Porsanger, Dr Lucia Wuersch, Alam Hossain, Dr Belinda Downey, and Dr Helen Blake. Congratulations to everyone for your accomplishments during 2025 that have impacted the lives of children, families and communities across the world. Have a restful holiday - to get ready for 2026.

Celebratory pavlova

Starting at the top: Alam, Tamara, Lucia, Lorraine, Belinda and Sharynne on the stairs in The Treehouse

CVC members online

Jo Grimmond's celebration of 2025

Kathy Cologon's thank you

Tamara, Belinda, Alam, Lorraine, Leanne and Shukla

Last CVC staff meeting for 2025

Celebratory pavlova covered in edible flowers

The Treehouse in the sunshine

Emeritus Professor Jo Reid

Coffee with Emeritus Professor Jo Reid was an unexpected pleasure this morning. Jo was at CSU to provide mentoring to a colleague. 

She also mentioned a new book:

Turner, M. & Green, B. (Eds.). (2026). Multilingualism as opportunity: An integrated perspective on English and languages education in Australia. Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Multilingualism-as-Opportunity-An-Integrated-Perspective-on-English-and-Languages-Education-in-Australia/Turner-Green/p/book/9781032767079

Children Draw Health on display at the Bathurst Regional Art Gallery

Our Children Draw Health Global Online Gallery is currently on display at the Bathurst Regional Art Gallery. What a great way to profile our children's voices!

Here is the whole gallery:  https://www.csu.edu.au/research/childrens-voices-centre/research/childrens-health

 

WHO - CVC monthly meeting

 

Sharynne  McLeod, Mél Gréaux, Kathy Cologon, Tamara Cumming, Lysa Dealtry

We had a wonderful meeting this evening to summarize all of the achievements over the past year in our research with Dr Mél Gréaux from the Disability Programme of the World Health Organization in Geneva. Some of the highlights of the year included being accepted into the WHO Global Disability Health Equity Network and presenting our research to WHO meetings in Geneva and Fiji. I was excited to see that the summary of the WHO meeting in Geneva that I attended in November included a photo of me reading the children's insights from our CVC on page 8! 

We have submitted one journal article (under review) and have some of the children's insights available here: https://www.csu.edu.au/research/childrens-voices-centre/research/childrens-health Thanks Mél for your encouragement and support of our research to profile the voices of children with disabilities. We are excited to continue this work in 2026.

Congratulations to my colleagues who have just been promoted

Huge congratulations to my colleagues who have just been promoted. They do amazing work - and I'm so glad it has been acknowledged.

• Professor Jane McCormack
• Associate Professor Suzanne Hopf
• Senior lecturer Lucia Wuersch

It was a pleasure to mentor them on this journey. Hooray!

 

 

Christmas lunch at CSU

Today Lorraine, Tamara and I joined our colleagues at CSU for a Christmas lunch. We enjoyed sharing the event with the CSU Advancement team. They have chosen to feature the Children's Voices Centre on their Christmas card this year! They have been important champions of our work during 2025 and we are very grateful.

Sharynne, Lorraine and Tamara at CSU

Christmas lunch

Christmas lunch

Sharynne and Tamara

CSU Advancement team - Stacey Fish, Naomi, Aimee, Sam Bolt and Justin

Catholic Education Tasmania grant meeting

We had an excellent meeting today to work on plans for 2026 for our data collection. Dr Kate Crowe joined us from Canada (better timezone than Iceland) and it was great to have Nicola back with us.

 

CSU end of year morning tea

What a lovely time of celebration at the end of year morning tea for Charles Sturt University. We appreciated the shout out to the Children's Voices Centre from the Vice Chancellor during the speeches.  I enjoyed catching up with Bruce Andrews (CSU media), Joanne Blatch (CSU Student Success Manager), Dr Nicola Ivory (Psychology).

Joanne Blatch visited the CVC after the morning tea

Dr Nicola Ivory and Prof Sharynne  McLeod wearing Christmas colours

The VC speaking at the CSU morning tea at Bathurst

CSU cupcakes in Christmas colours

 

CSU Town Hall - End of year summary

During the CSU Town Hall for all staff at the University, the Deputy Vice Chancellor profiled the work of the Children's Voices Centre as a highlight of 2025. She mentioned one of our achievements as an inaugural member of the World Health Organization's Disability Health Equity Network. Thanks for your support Prof Neena Mitter. Congratulations to ARC Future Fellow Amy Macdonald and our two new DECRA grant awardees.

The Vice Chancellor also profiled the successes for the year, including that in 2026 staff will be provided with a 40% research allocation. We have had 8,500 graduates in 2025 - and increases in enrollments.

The 2026 research strategic direction is focusing on finding regional solutions with global impact.

Visiting Emeritus Prof Lindy McAllister and discussing research in Vietnam

While in Brisbane this weekend I had a lovely time catching up with Emeritus Prof Lindy McAllister and discussing our collaboration and research in Vietnam. We also shared stories of our colleague Lucy Shanahan who passed away a few weeks ago.

 

APA7

 I am about to have a new PhD student in 2026 - and here is the email I sent to her this morning:

As you begin your PhD next year, please ask Santa for an APA7 publication manual - and engage in holiday reading. I think it’s important to read it from beginning to end. It’s so useful and is used in almost every  journal you will publish in (and your dissertation) The version with tabs is the fancy one. I created my own tabs https://apastyle.apa.org/products/publication-manual-7th-edition (I think you can buy it from other places too)