ASHA Alfred K. Kawana Award for Lifetime Achievement in Publications

What an honour!

https://academy.pubs.asha.org/2026/07/2026-asha-journals-awards/

July 17, 2026
We’re pleased to announce the 2026 ASHA Journals Awards! As we have in the past, we’re announcing awardees in two categories: (1) The Alfred K. Kawana Award for Lifetime Achievement in Publications and (2) the Editor’s Awards. You can find more information on the ASHA Journals Awards, including present and past recipients, on the ASHA Journals Awards page on ASHAWire.

The Alfred K. Kawana Award for Lifetime Achievement in Publications
This award, named in memory of former Director of ASHA Publications Alfred K. Kawana, recognizes an ongoing history of exemplary publications. Awardees have authored articles in ASHA Journals with significant educational, scientific, or clinical value over a period of at least 10 years. For information on the Kawana Award, including present and past recipients, see the Kawana Award page on ASHAWire.

 

2026 Kawana Awardee: Sharynne McLeod, PhD

Dr. Sharynne McLeod is a Distinguished Professor of Speech and Language Acquisition at Charles Sturt University in Australia. She has received honors from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and served six times on the ASHA Convention Program Committee. She served as an editorial board member ASHA Journals, was the lead author on articles that received ASHA Journals Editor’s Awards in 2018 and 2019, and has received worldwide acclaim for transformative research on communication rights.

She has authored or co-authored 50 articles in ASHA Journals, dating back to 1994. Together, these articles have amassed more than 2,800 citations and have been read more than 700,000 times.

One article, “Children’s English Consonant Acquisition in the United States: A Review,” which she co-authored with Dr. Kathryn Crowe and published in American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology (AJSLP) in 2020, has recently surpassed 300,000 downloads, and “Children’s Consonant Acquisition in 27 Languages: A Cross-Linguistic Review,” co-authored with Dr. Kathryn Crowe and published in the November 2018 issue of AJSLP) has surpassed the 200,000-download mark. These are two of the most downloaded papers from ASHA journals.

Alfred K. Kawana Award for Lifetime Achievement in Publications

https://pubs.asha.org/journals/Alfred_K_Kawana_Award_for_Lifetime_Achievement_in_Publications 

About the Award
Alfred K. KawanaThe Alfred K. Kawana Award for Lifetime Achievement in Publications is reserved for outstanding researchers/scholars who have a sustained history of exemplary publications in ASHA journals. Over a period of at least 10 years, recipients shall have authored ASHA journal articles that are meritorious in terms of educational, scientific, or clinical value, and thus contributed significantly to the discipline. This award is named in memory of the late Alfred K. Kawana (pictured), former director of ASHA publications.

Candidates for this award may be nominated by any member of the Journals Board, which discusses and selects recipients annually. This award is presented at the Researcher-Academic Town Meeting (RATM) of the ASHA Convention, and awardees are acknowledged during the Awards Ceremony.

There have been 25 Awardees (1989–2024) including Ray Kent, Laurence B. Leonard, Lawrence D. Shriberg, Mabel L. Rice, J. Bruce Tomblin, Marc E. Fey, Mark Onslow and Ann Packman, Karla K. McGregor

Scholar GPS Recognition

I received an email overnight to say that my research is #1 in the world for speech pathology (top 0.05% in the field). It is exciting to see four of the top six are from Australia (Deb Theodoros, Linda Worrall, Mark Onslow) and the other two are highly esteemed colleagues from UK and US.

Community Recognition Statement in the NSW State Parliament

Thank you to Paul Toole MP who sent me a letter to say that he had read a Community Recognition Statement in the NSW State Parliament recently. I received a letter and copy of the statement in the mail. I am very honoured that our work has been recognised in this way.

https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Hansard/Pages/HansardResult.aspx#/docid/HANSARD-1323879322-158940 

Legislative Assembly Hansard – 22 October 2025 

Sharynne McLeod 

Mr PAUL TOOLE (Bathurst)—The contribution that Sharynne McLeod has made to research science cannot be underestimated. In fact, the former student at Bathurst West Public School is among the top two per cent of scientists in the world. Sharynne is known and renowned for research to enhance equitable participation for children with speech, language, and communication needs. And now the distinguished Professor has taken on the role of director of a world-first research centre located on campus at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst ‑ The Children's Voices Centre. Its focus is on research with children for children and about children. Adding merit to the initiative is the fact the World Health Organisation has invited Sharynne and her team to create a research project to listen to children across the world about their perspectives, and to remind the world that there are not only children in the world, but they are not only the future of our society, but they are also the present. Congratulations Professor McLeod, your cutting-edge research, based right here in Bathurst, is something you and our entire community should be proud of.

 

International Association of Communication Sciences and Disorders (IALP) Congress in Malta - 24-28 August 2025

I am in Malta to attend the International Association of Communication Sciences and Disorders Congress (IALP https://ialpglobal.org/). IALP is a Non-State Actor in Official Relations with the World Health Organization (WHO) and fosters professional knowledge and exchange of science and services across 55 affiliated societies in 35 countries around the world representing more than 300,000 members.  

During the congress I received the Honoured Member Award from IALP. Over the past 100 years (since 1924 when IALP began) the website lists only 22 Honoured Members and only one from the Southern Hemisphere (Brazil) (https://ialpglobal.org/individual-members-2/). 

The IALP Congress is attended by over 550 people from 58 countries offering 4 keynotes, over 90 sessions (with many papers per session), and 150 posters. One of the keynote speakers at IALP is Dr Antony Duttine, Technical Lead (Rehabilitation), World Health Organization, Switzerland "Telling the Story of Rehabilitation in a Changing World".

 Prof Wiebke Scharff Rethfeldt (IALP Vice President), Dr Antony Duttine (WHO), Prof Sharynne McLeod (CSU)

I have chaired a session and Dr Helen L. Blake and I have presented a paper titled "Unlocking global knowledge γνώση, 认识, إدراك, דַעַת, ज्ञान about children’s speech published by multilingual researchers".  We were honoured to receive this email on acceptance of our paper:

On behalf of the Scientific Committee of the 33rd World Congress of the IALP, we are delighted to inform you that your abstract, titled "Unlocking global knowledge about children’s speech published by multilingual researchers," has been accepted as an Oral Presentation. The Committee would like to commend you on your abstract, which scored among the highest of the abstracts submitted.

I have also attended the IALP Child Speech Committee meeting on Sunday.

IALP Child Speech Committee

The Congress is a fantastic time of networking, learning, and planning new research and opportunities. 

IALP Child Speech Committee meeting - Helen Grech (Malta), Krisztina Zjado (Hungary), Carol To (Hong Kong, SAR China), Joanne Cleland (UK), Sharynne McLeod (Australia)

IALP President, President Elect and Executive Committee Members

Sharynne, Egill (Iceland), Pam Enderby (UK), Carol Westby (USA)

IALP Honoured Member Award

I have just received this welcome news that I will receive the IALP Honoured Member Award from the International Association of Communication Sciences and Disorders (IALP https://ialp-org.com/) – the international association of professionals and scientists in communication, voice, speech language pathology, audiology and swallowing.

IALP fosters professional knowledge and exchange of science and services across 55 affiliated societies in 35 countries around the world. The affiliated societies of the IALP are in North and South America, Asia, Africa, Australia and Europe and represent more than 300,000 members. IALP is a Non-State Actor in Official Relations with the World Health Organization (WHO) https://ialp-org.com/who/.

Over the past 100 years (since 1924 when IALP began) there have only been 22 honoured members and none from Australia or New Zealand (https://ialp-org.com/individual-members/)

1. Prof. Harm Schutte
2. Rev. Sr Marie Montfort de Supple
3. Prof. Dr Nasser Kotby
4. Prof. Dolores Battle
5. Prof. Ewa Sonderpalm
6. Prof. Tanya Gallagher
7. Prof. Gary Weismer
8. Prof. Frantisek Sram
9. Prof. Kyoko Iitaka
10. Prof. Helen Grech
11. Prof. Dr Katherine G. Butler
12. Prof. Bjorn Fritzell
13. Prof. P. Helbert Damste
14. Dr. Andre Muller
15. Prof. Ikuichiro Hiroto
16. Dr. Walter Eltsner
17. Prof. Dr. Herman F.M Peters
18. Dr. Henry C. Jr Jason
19. Dr. Britta Hammarberg
20. Prof. Lilly Cheng
21. Prof. Pamela Enderby
22. Dr. Fernanda Dreux

The Award will be presented in Malta in August.

Honorary Doctorate from the University of Patras, Greece

Today I received the following invitation to accept an invitation to be awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Patras, Greece. What an honour!

We would like to take the opportunity of the ICPLA 2025 conference in Patras to invite you to be awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the Department of Speech and Language Therapy at the University of Patras.

Your contributions to the field of Speech and Language Therapy have been truly significant, and we believe this recognition would be a meaningful way to acknowledge your work. It would be an honor for us to welcome you to Patras and celebrate this occasion together. This would also be a great opportunity to highlight the exceptional work being done at our university in the field of Speech and Language Therapy, showcasing the dedication and progress being made within the department.

Here is a link about a previous recipient of this prestigous honour, Prof. Lucia Banci:  https://www.cerm.unifi.it/news/all-news/305-honorary-doctorate-awarded-to-prof-lucia-banci-by-the-university-of-patras

University medalist!

Huge congratulations to Dr Kate Margetson who just received this email from the Charles Sturt University Office of Governance and Corporate Administration:

It is my pleasure to advise that you have been awarded the Higher Degree by Research University Medal as recognition of your outstanding academic achievement.
 
Only one graduate per Faculty, per year, may be awarded the Higher Degree by Research University Medal. The University Research Committee determines the eligibility and assessment criteria to award a Higher Degree by Research University Medal. Criteria may include details of publications or presentations given during your candidature, prizes or scholarships won during your candidature or attestations of excellence by your examiners.
 
Congratulations on this momentous achievement.

Kate's PhD was titled: Moving Beyond Monolingual Practices with Multilingual Children: Learning from Vietnamese-English–Speaking Children, Families, and Professionals

She was supervised by A/Prof Sarah Verdon and myself. Congratulations Kate! We are so proud of you!

CSU news stories

To end the year, CSU has published two news stories about our work and impact:

• https://news.csu.edu.au/latest-news/new-research-centre-champions-childrens-communication-rights
• https://news.csu.edu.au/latest-news/great-international-impact-recognised-by-top-us-speech-language-organisation

I was interviewed on the local 2BS breakfast radio show this morning. It's always great to champion children's communication and everyone's right to communicate.

American Board of Child Language and Language Disorders (ABCLLD) - Dec 2024 newsletter

I am a certified specialist of the American Board of Child Language and Language Disorders with BCS-CL Certification.

"The American Board of Child Language and Language Disorders (ABCLLD) is a nonprofit Board recognized by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association since 2000 as having oversight of Specialty Certification in the area of child language. Board Certified Specialists represent a cross section of our profession, including those who are in private practice or business; in school, medical, or university settings; and are from geographical areas across the world."

The ABCLLD included my ASHA award in their December newsletter: 

"The ABCLLD is immensely proud of two of our Board Certified Specialists in

Child Language who were named 2024 ASHA Awards Recipients... Each of these Specialists is a fine example of the ABCLLD's mission and the advanced knowledge, skills, leadership, and experience we exemplify in child language. We encourage all fellow Specialists to extend congratulations to both Shari and Sharynne!"

 

RED Award for Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research Group

The  Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research Group won the CSU RED Award for Research. We received the following email:

Good morning,
 
You are receiving this email because you have a team member who has been awarded a 2024 Charles Sturt Excellence Award.
 
The 2024 Charles Sturt Excellence Awards received 94 nominations across our four strategic categories.  The quality of the nominations was high in 2024 and we would like to congratulate not only our winners, but everyone who played a role in the Awards.
 
Log in to RED to see an overview of our winners here: Introducing RED | RED

Kind regards,

The RED Team
Recognising Excellence Daily
Division of People and Culture

Here is the award information

What is the nomination for:
The Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research Group (ECIR) is an inspiring productive research group with global impact. ECIR collaboratively builds research capacity, profile and track record of ~50 early-mid career researchers and higher degree research (HDR) students by providing research mentoring and opportunities via an internship model using co-design and knowledge creation. ECIR increases research capacity for engaging in transformative research regionally, nationally, and internationally through interdisciplinary projects, such as the Children Draw Talking project presented at four 2024 conferences, including the International Conference on Sustainable Development (New York). The bi-annual Early Childhood Voices Conferences (to be held in November 2024) already has 620 registrations from 45 countries and 150 peer-reviewed presentations. ECIR supports members to write grants and publications, present at conferences, apply for promotion and publish from their PhDs. By engaging with ECIR members and activities, early career researchers have competitive CVs ready to apply for promotion and grants.

Why is this Excellence Award worthy?
ECIR has demonstrated sustained excellence in impactful research and support for researchers and HDR students during the Sturt Scheme funding period (2021-2024). ECIR members edited and co-authored 12/18 chapters in the book “Early Childhood Voices: Children, Families, Professionals” published by Springer in 2024 (269 pages). Additional achievements over the past 12 months (to Sept 2024) include books (6 published/in press + 1 proposal), book chapters (19 published/in press), journal articles (28 published/accepted), keynotes/public lectures (10), conference papers (42 presented/accepted), editorials (3), and media (3). During 2024, 2 ECIR members completed their PhD and ECIR members supervised 33 HDR students. Achievements over the past 3 years were recognised in a 2024 CRO impact case study demonstrating impact in policy and practice nationally and internationally, including at the World Health Organization

 

There were four winners in the research category

1. Groundbreaking research in AI and digital health - Dr Mohammad Ali Moni - 

2. Developing and sustaining opportunities for growth in data-science and cyber-security research - Azizur Rahman, Anna Shillabeer, Ashad Kabir, Manoranjan Paul, Philip Charlton, Zahid Islam, Xiaodi Huang, Rafiqul Islam, Michael Bewong, Muhammad Arif Khan, Lihong Zheng, Yeslam Al-Saggaf, Sabih Rehman, Jan Li, Mostafa Dahshan, Tanmoy Debnath, Quazi Mamun, Oliver Burmeister, Terry Bossomaier, Dmitry Demskoy, David Tien, Irfan Altas, Maumita Bhattacharya, Jason Howarth -

3. The Research Productivity Index Project- Samantha Phegan, Josh Kent, Deepa Narayanan, Karen Sinclair, Katie Dunn, John Burns, Helen Stephens, Veera Gogineni, Boram Kwon, Dale Curran, Rory Hock, Emmaline Lear, Lynne Creasy, Latha Bheemaneni, Amanda Shepherd, Samantha Phegan, Josh Kent, Deepa Narayanan, Karen Sinclair, Katie Dunn, John Burns, Helen Stephens, Veera Gogineni, Shyam Mohan, Ben Speirs, Andrew Paul, Simon Eriksson, Jason White, Paul Bristow, Darren Browne -

4. The Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research Group - Sharynne McLeod, Suzanne C. Hopf, Sarah Verdon, Elizabeth (Libbey) Murray, Julian Grant, Carolyn Gregoric, Josephine Ohenewa Bampoe, Sarah Bartlett, Helen L. Blake, Kate Crowe, Jessamy Davies, Lysa Dealtry, Cheree Dean, Laura Delli-Pizzi, Belinda Downey, Tina Du, Jenny Dwyer, Sheena Elwick, Belinda Friezer, Leanne Gibbs, Kasey Hillyer, Laura Hoffman, Carmen Huser, Marie Ireland, Nicola Ivory, Janine Krecko, Linda Mahony, Olebeng Mahura, Kate Margetson, Cathie Matthews, Holly McAlister, Nicole McGill, Anne McLeod, Michelle Milan, Ben Pham, Azizur Rahman, Arifa Rahman, Mehdi Rassafiani, Goutam Roy, Shukla Sikder, Lindsay Smith, Sarah Stenson, Van H. Tran, Kelly Tribolet, Audrey (Cen) Wang, Emily-Jane Woodhead, Cherie Zischke

ASHA Awards Ceremony: Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding Contributions in International Achievement

The ASHA conference held in Seattle this week has 13,005 registrations from 58 countries
https://convention.asha.org/. Tonight I was honoured to receive the Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding Contributions in International Achievement from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) at the Awards Ceremony (https://www.asha.org/about/awards/certificate-of-recognition-for-outstanding-contributions-in-international-achievement/).

CSU News: https://news.csu.edu.au/latest-news/great-international-impact-recognised-by-top-us-speech-language-organisation

Here is some of the text from the 2-page nomination by Prof. Lynn Williams' (Past ASHA President)

Dr. McLeod is a distinguished clinician-researcher whose groundbreaking work on child speech acquisition and disorders in over 100 languages, dialects, and cultures has had a profound impact on children’s lives and has influenced health and education professionals worldwide. Her contributions have been recognized by a number of awards, including ASHA Fellow and Honors of the Association. As a speech-language pathologist and professor of speech and language acquisition at Charles Sturt University, Australia, Dr. McLeod has demonstrated exemplary dedication and leadership in this field...

In summary, Dr. McLeod’s outstanding contributions in international education, publications, and research have not only transformed the field of speech-language pathology but have also had a profound impact on children’s lives globally. Her dedication to advancing knowledge and fostering international collaboration exemplifies the spirit of this award.

I wholeheartedly endorse Dr. McLeod’s nomination for the Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding Contributions in International Achievement. Her unwavering commitment to excellence and innovation makes her a truly deserving recipient of this honor.

 

ASHA currently has over 230,000 members https://www.asha.org/. In the history of the award, there have only been 21 people/groups who have received the award. Here is the list of past recipients (https://www.asha.org/about/awards/certificate-of-recognition-for-outstanding-contributions-in-international-achievement-recipients/). I was particularly thrilled to share the 2024 award with my colleagues from Turkiye (Ahmet Konrot, İlknur Maviş, Seyhun Topbaş). I have worked with Seyhun Topbaş since 1996.

It is wonderful to celebrate both awards with my colleagues from across the world in 2024. In 2021 I was awarded ASHA Honors - but was unable to attend the ceremony due to COVID-19 lockdowns in Australia (https://speakingmylanguages.blogspot.com/2021/11/asha-awards-ceremony.html). I was one of 11  colleagues receiving ASHA Honors in 2021 and was the first ASHA International Affiliate to receive the award since it began in 1944. The CSU News story about my award is here: https://news.csu.edu.au/latest-news/unique-international-honour-for-speech-and-language-acquisition-expert. Here is the video that ASHA created to announce my award at the ceremony: https://vimeo.com/644073807.

Information about the ASHA Awards Ceremony (from the ASHA website) https://convention.asha.org/networking/awards-ceremony/

The Awards Ceremony celebrates the highest achievements and excellence in the professions. Awards presented this evening include the Honors of the Association—ASHA's most prestigious award, which recognizes lifetime achievement—and ASHA Fellows, whose recipients' contributions are the cornerstones of the communication sciences and disorders (CSD) professions. ASHA will present additional awards to honor other members who have also contributed to the professions and to ASHA.

The Annie Glenn Award will also be presented. It is named after the late Annie Glenn, a devoted champion for people with communication disorders. It honors individuals or groups who are champions much like the award’s namesake. This year, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, an advocate for people who stutter and a former college basketball national champion who went on to play in the National Basketball Association will receive the Annie.

Celebrating with colleagues from Türkiye

Congratulations to my colleagues from Türkiye: Prof. Seyhun Topbaş, Prof. Ahmet Konrot and Prof. İlknur Maviş who were nominated by Prof. Kenneth St Louis to receive the Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding Contributions in International Achievement at the ASHA Awards Ceremony. Seyhun and I have collaborated over many years. It was wonderful to celebrate together.

Prof. Ahmet Konrot, Prof. Kenneth St Louis, Prof. Seyhun Topbaş,
Prof. İlknur Maviş, Prof. Sharynne McLeod

ASHA Awards Ceremony rehearsal

Commendation - Higher Degree by Research Thesis / Creative Work of the Year

Congratulations to Dr Kate Margetson who was named in the Charles Sturt University Research Excellence Awards “Higher Degree by Research Thesis / Creative Work of the Year: Faculty commendations: Faculty of Arts and Education”

Stanford University-Elsevier’s ‘World’s Top 2% Scientists'

I have just been informed that I am in the Stanford University-Elsevier’s ‘World’s Top 2% Scientists' list. https://topresearcherslist.com/Home/Profile/794806

Here is the description on their website

"Stanford University's list of "World's Top 2%" scientists is based on a 2% or above percentile rank, or the top 100,000 by c-score (with and without self-citations). This prestigious list identifies the world's leading researchers, representing approximately 2% of all scientists worldwide. It encompasses standardized data on citations, h-index, and a wide range of bibliometric indicators. Researchers are classified into 22 scientific fields and 174 sub-fields, drawing from Scopus data provided by Elsevier through ICSR Lab.
Note: We have used the Excel data from Stanford/Elsevier to make it easy for users to search, but we are not affiliated with Stanford or Elsevier in any way."

I am pleased to see that their website also states: "Note: Inclusion in this list indicates high impact and recognition in the scientific community. Absence from the list does not reflect the quality of one's work." because a number of of my excellent colleagues are not yet on this list. 

Also awarded in 2026 - https://topscinet.com/scientist_profile/McLeod,%20Sharynne%20Lindy/1994/?stype=career_data

ASHA Convention session chosen to be broadcast live

We just received this welcome news about our presentation at the American Speech-Langauge-Hearing Association (ASHA) Convention

Your In-Person Session Has Been Selected for the ASHA Convention Virtual Program

Congratulations! Your in-person, 1-hour oral seminar (listed below) has been selected by the 2024 ASHA Convention Co-Chairs to be live-broadcast as part of the Virtual Program. During the submission process you indicated that you would agree to have your slides and audio broadcast to the virtual platform in real-time if selected. Only 77 sessions were chosen to be broadcast live, with consideration given to the overall strength and value to virtual-only participants and alignment with our 2024 theme, ELEVATE!...The live broadcast is a real-time feed of your presentation onsite in Seattle. Your session will not be recorded and will not be available as an on-demand Virtual Program session after it concludes.

• Topic Area: Global Issues and Practices
• Session Number: 1168
• Title: Culturally Appropriate Assessment in International Contexts: Assessing Children's Speech in Their Home Language(s)
• Session Format: 1-Hour Seminar (In-Person)
• Day: Thursday, December 5, 2024
• Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
• Author(s): Sharynne McLeod, Helen Blake, Kate Margetson

3MT - Kate Margetson - finalist, runner-up and people's choice winner

Congratulations to Kate Margetson who was a finalist in the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition at Charles Sturt University this evening. She was flown to Port Macquarie to compete as one of the seven finalists from CSU.

See CSU News story: https://news.csu.edu.au/in-brief/phd-candidates-present-research-in-port-macquarie-in-three-minutes

Kate won the People's Choice Award ($500) AND runner-up ($750) CONGRATULATIONS!

Kate Margetson presenting her 3MT in Port Macquarie

Winner of the People's Choice Award!

Kate practicing her 3MT presentation

Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding Contributions in International Achievement

I have been informed that I was nominated and will receive the Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding Contributions in International Achievement https://www.asha.org/about/awards/certificate-of-recognition-for-outstanding-contributions-in-international-achievement/ at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention in Seattle, WA in December. The ASHA website states:

The Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding Contribution in International Achievement is designed to recognize distinguished achievements and significant contributions in the area of communication disorders revealing great international impact from their work. ASHA members and non-members are eligible based on their work in one or more of the following areas: international education publications research program development administration service delivery to persons with communication disorders

What a huge honour. I am very grateful to my nominator and the committee who have chosen me to receive this award for doing this work with amazing people around the world.

Award: ASHA Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding Contributions in International Achievement

 I have just learned that I have been nominated for and received the following award:

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding Contributions in International Achievement

https://www.asha.org/news/2024/2024-asha-awards-recipients/

The award ceremony will take place in Seattle, WA, USA in December.

Docfest 2024: Kate and Sarah's presentations

Docfest 2024 is Charles Sturt University's Graduate Research Online Conference https://research.csu.edu.au/research-support/researcher-development/docfest/docfest-2024 

Congratulations to my PhD students:

Kate Margetson competed in the Charles Sturt University Three Minute Thesis Competition (3MT). Her presentation was compelling - and she was announced as a finalist. She will now travel to Port Macquarie for the CSU finals.

 

Tomorrow, Sarah Bartlett is presenting the following paper: 

Online focus groups for understanding caregivers’ experiences following intervention to support their children’s speech and language 

Background: Understanding caregivers’ experiences can assist professionals to promote caregivers’ active engagement to positively impact child outcomes. 

Aim: To explore caregivers’ experiences and engagement of intervention to support their children’s speech and language. 

Method: Caregivers (n=5) who had recently completed the 16-week Target Word™ intervention attended online focus groups to share their perspectives. Qualitative Interpretative Description (ID) methodology was used to understand their experiences. Transcripts of these focus groups were analysed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis. 

Results: Two themes were identified: (1) caregiver engagement over time and (2) caregiver engagement in learning is individual to each caregiver.

Conclusion: Caregivers experienced unique engagement journeys over the course of the program. Professionals can explicitly facilitate participation at each phase of Target Word™ to promote active engagement for learning and caregiver empowerment to support their children’s language growth.

ScholarGPS Highly Ranked Scholars

I just received the following email:

ScholarGPS celebrates Highly Ranked Scholars™ for their exceptional performance in various Fields, Disciplines, and Specialties. Your prolific publication record, the high impact of your work, and the outstanding quality of your scholarly contributions have placed you in the top 0.05% of all scholars worldwide. View your scholar profile and rankings 

Listed below is a summary of the areas (and your ranking in those areas) in which you have been awarded Highly Ranked Scholar status based on your accomplishments over the totality of your career (lifetime) and over the prior five years: 

• Highly Ranked Scholar - Lifetime #2 Speech-language pathology 
• Highly Ranked Scholar - Prior 5 Years #1 Speech-language pathology

I was thrilled to see that three of the five highly ranked scholars (lifetime) are Australian: Mark Onslow and Linda Worrall.