Southern Cross Matters

You’ll see the same spirit echoing through the description of the clever and enormously effective approach that we’ve taken to our virtual open day events. It is simply not possible to drive the level of engagement that we have seen this year without the dedicated input of a very wide group of colleagues – and it really has had impact. Every positive engagement with our community counts.

In responding so well to the problems we find in our immediate path, we are also in turn laying a sound foundation for our future and providing outstanding people with a basis of confidence to join the University and contribute to the transformative journey we have begun.

I hope that you find this second edition of Southern Cross Matters informative, interesting and inspirational. Thanks to everyone who kindly sent me feedback after reading the first edition. I look forward to your thoughts in response to this edition, and to more of your stories about our University.

“Then the team is constantly working and adapting to restrictions that have been introduced and eased at different times in each state, and across LGAs (local government authorities), facilities and sites,” Professor Nay said.

Beyond Nursing, the Faculty of Health is juggling placements across 10 disciplines.

“We have a great team in the Faculty of Health and our students are committed health professionals and eager to be out on placement,” says Charlie Foxlee, Professional Experience Team Leader.

It’s involved reallocating students, where possible, to placements in their home state to enable placements to continue, working hard to prioritise placements for final year students.

“As a regional university with campuses either side of the New South Wales and Queensland border, we have been uniquely challenged by the pandemic,” says Charlotte Kelly, also a Professional Experience Team Leader.

“Many of our students and supervisors live in the border zone community and it can be difficult to navigate the rapidly changing restrictions in both states. But we are committed to getting our students out on placement and ensuring they can graduate and provide our local communities with essential health care workers.”

As a team, David and Simone harnessed their strengths: David with extensive expertise in the technologies, contexts of design, technology and STEM education, and project-based learning pedagogies; and Simone with experience and expertise in science and technology education and writing secondary school STEM resources.

“What teachers do in and out of the classroom has a lasting effect on their students,” says David.

“Engaging teaching and learning programs not only are effective for student learning, but also inspire students and encourage them to entertain new possibilities. 

“As STEM teachers we aim to empower our students with the knowledge to make informed decisions in an effort to reduce our impact on the environment. 

“The Kombi Conversion Project is a perfect example of how the decision to move away from fossil fuels will reduce our impact on the environment and open up new opportunities for innovation.”

It’s a sentiment Simone endorses.

“When you work together on projects, it enables each person to bring their expertise to the fore and pushes the bar further upwards – creating a rich, authentic and high-quality product. This is what inspires us to do what we do: knowing that we can assist teachers in the work that they do with their students – our collective future,” she says.

So while Australia’s most talked about Kombi hits the roads, young students can hit the books. The 'Southern Cross University Electric Kombi Conversion Curriculum Package' is endorsed by the STEM Industry Schools Partnerships (SISP) program, an initiative of the NSW Department of Education’s Educational Standards Directorate. Since its launch last month, the package has been downloaded or adopted by 46 schools.

And just to add a little more to the #SCUKombi story, engineering students like Max den Exter worked extensively on the project, applying knowledge from his studies to the unique conversion. The technical smarts behind the conversion come from Andy Naughton, of EV Machina, himself a Southern Cross Environmental Science graduate.

It’s been a long road to bring this humble 1976 machine into the 21^st century, but now it’s well and truly on the road again.

Test drive the Kombi Conversion Curriculum Package at iTeachSTEM website or at www.scu.edu.au/kombi

“Their work is of a consistent high-quality. EAL is definitely the leading lab for soil carbon in Australia, if not the world! I intend to keep working with them for soil testing to support the rapidly expanding soil carbon industry,” says Ignatius Verbeek, Managing Director, AgriX Operations Pty Ltd. 

But it’s not just about industry; SCARS has a clear focus on the engagement and support of academics and Higher Degree Research students.

“Our postgrads gain access to world-class analytical equipment that leads to publications, kick-starting their science research careers," says Professor Amanda Reichelt-Brushett, Chair of Discipline (Science) in the Faculty of Science and Engineering.

“Our research teams are able to establish projects that answer important questions about environmental contamination and food safety, which enables us to partner with industry to solve problems.”

People like laboratory trainee Simone Ogg are getting invaluable first-hand experience as part of Certificate III and IV courses.

“I began the traineeship at EAL as a gap year from my science degree and have enjoyed it so much that I’m hoping to continue lab work when I return interstate for university. This traineeship has enabled me to complete my courses at my own pace,” she says.

And Graham Lancaster, SCARS Senior Manager puts it into perspective: “The SCARS model is a realised vision of centralised commercial/research services and infrastructure. This unique structure and success are the envy of other universities.”

“It was actually a really nice dynamic situation with the Session Host asking casually phrased questions sent in from the attendees, so it felt like a conversation; it wasn’t like a pre-structured interview. So, the day went really well with high registration numbers. In fact, better than previous webinar sessions.”

Lucy’s session was among many that featured outstanding results. Overall, the Open Day (for a month) registrations were up 60 per cent on last year, with more than 10,000 visitors to the Open Day platform. As another mark of success, 1,600 people took virtual campus tours and there was a record number of applications for the Open Day scholarship on offer.  

The innovative approach to a conventional event in the recruitment calendar included collaborations with the University Events team under Lena Mager and with Production Services colleagues, along with the University’s digital agency Social Garden. The Future Students team was central to the live webinars and had team members on the phones and online chat until 7pm each night during the campaign.

The Open Day platform included contributions from the Content and Design team with the assistance of the Digital and Marketing teams, championed and co-ordinated in detail by the Future Students team and the whole project led ably by Jemma Neylan and the Partnerships team.