Southern Cross Matters

I do hope that you very much enjoy this month’s edition and look forward to ongoing suggestions for areas for future focus.

Warmest wishes,

Tyrone

Dr Dimopoulos began teaching at Southern Cross University in February 2023, when her family relocated from Melbourne to the Sunshine State, and has quickly garnered a reputation among students for her immersive teaching.

“The award recognised my redevelopment of the Family Law Practice Unit into the six-week term delivery and specifically for the teaching of that unit for the first time in Term 5 last year,” said Dr Dimopoulos, whose research and book ‘Decisional Privacy and the Rights of the Child’ (Routledge, 2022) presents a new conceptual model for enabling and listening to children’s voices in decision-making processes.

The student response to the redesigned unit was overwhelmingly positive with 92 per cent overall satisfaction.

Students described the unit as ‘so relevant and engaging’, ‘very practical’, and the ‘best unit at SCU’.

“I updated the curriculum to embed a variety of industry engagement and practical skills development opportunities. I did away with the textbook for the first time in creating a curated online resource library that contained a range of journal articles, videos, submissions to government inquiries, practice directions from the court – resources students can engage with instead of reading a textbook,” Dr Dimopoulos said.

“I also facilitated critical conversation on family law reforms that were happening – the most significant reforms to the Family Law Act in about 15 years in Australia. It was an exciting time to be redeveloping this unit, embedding these law reform debates and challenging students to think about why family law is the way it is and why it's changing. I really value the student feedback, and I try to incorporate it into each new offering of the unit when I teach it.

“Another highlight for me was drawing on my industry connections to create a webinar series for students called ‘Insights from Family Law Practice’. I interviewed family law experts including a family court judge, a lawyer, a barrister, an academic, a family violence advocate, and a mediator, and they answered student questions and gave advice to those interested in practising family law. Students appreciated the exposure to different career opportunities and insights into the profession. It was more impactful than having one guest lecturer, and in the following tutorials we discussed key points from the webinars. 

“I also used the purpose-built hybrid classroom to promote collaboration between online and on-campus students, particularly to have the challenging discussions about law reform debates. Given this positive experience with the hybrid classroom pilot, I was invited to give a guided tour to executive staff from Merrimac State High School, sharing insights into the hybrid teaching experience.”

Dr Dimopoulos’ exceptional teaching in the Southern Cross Model has also been formally recognised by the Faculty of Business, Law and Arts after receiving an overall teaching satisfaction score of 100 per cent for the first-year unit Legal Research and Writing (LEGL1001) in Term 3, 2023.

Dr Dimopoulos recently launched the CHANGE Children's Feedback Tool, a practice output from the ‘Children's Voices for Change’ research project, for practitioners who support children who have experienced family violence to help receive feedback about their service experience.

It is the second significant gift from the Blackmore Family Foundation, with the first $10 million bestowed to Southern Cross University in 2018 to establish the Centre and its activities. 

Since opening its doors in 2020, the NCNM has launched six accredited degrees, taught 280 undergraduate and postgraduate students, and mentored 18 Higher Degrees by Research students. 

It has also pioneered life-changing research into improving outcomes and quality of life for cancer patients. Senior Lecturer and Research Fellow Dr Janet Schloss is one of Australia’s leading integrative oncology clinicians and researchers, leading research in hospitals across Australia into the use of medicinal cannabis alongside traditional treatment for high-grade gliomas, an aggressive brain tumour.

It is this research which inspired a second significant donation to the NCNM during its inaugural giving campaign. 

After losing her husband to lung cancer, Victorian resident Irene Hams bestowed a generous one million dollars towards supporting the University’s integrative cancer research, including integrative treatments supporting immunotherapy and the effects of hyperbaric therapy in cancer patients.

“Complementary medicine and medicinal cannabis can play a major role in assisting patients with cancer via assisting treatment, mitigating side effects and preventing recurrence or metastasis. Donations like this can make a major step in providing the much-needed research we need to know what will work and won’t to help patients with cancer,” Dr Schloss said.

Fifty per cent of the donation will also be used to support NCNM’s research into hyperbaric therapies, which will include supporting a postgraduate doctoral research scholarship. 

“People around the world are increasingly adopting an integrative approach to their cancer treatment, but the research agenda is still very much catching up. It is important for us to research these approaches, not only to help people access the best available integrative treatments, but also to make sure integrative treatments being delivered are safe and effective,” Professor Jon Wardle, NCNM Foundation Director said.

“These gifts really highlight people’s belief in the work that we do. Our work really matters to people, and the support of donors for our work during our giving campaigns is testament to this. As we look into the future, the Centre will be focused on changing conversation around health and making the best of integrative healthcare available to all.”

In a nutshell, this machine uses high-precision laser technology to measure isotope ratios and accurately calculate age at a microscopic scale. It has been a game changer for archaeological researchers such as Professor Renaud Joannes-Boyau.

“By developing such a state-of-the-art laboratory, Southern Cross is in the forefront of this area of archaeological research. It has really changed the way we've been working and has allowed us to make many discoveries over the years. It's quite unbelievable,” Professor Joannes-Boyau said.

The machine has aided in research projects such as ‘Decoding the geochemical record of early human fossils’, analysing fossil teeth from South Africa to reconstruct the behaviour of our earliest human ancestors. 

And more recently, dating the oldest known evidence of cave art in history: 
“Instead of taking a chunk of rock, we mapped the entire surface using the instrument’s laser technology. This allowed us to reconstruct the sample’s entire geochemical distribution. By doing that, we could then select the little layer of just a few microns as close to the painting as possible to determine the oldest age for the painting. And that was the first time in the world someone did it,” Professor Joannes-Boyau explained.

The mass spectrometer has also been used for other fields of research, such as marine and environmental science, analysing shells to determine water pollution levels.

“We cut the shell in half, and then we use a laser to create an image of the structure. As they also grow in bands, we have spatial distribution and can pinpoint exactly when pollution happened.”

Delivered from Germany during the height of COVID-19 in 2020, the set-up of the machine took three weeks and required a specialist from ThermoFisher and many other people to piece it together. 
“We had help from Property Services, many research assistants, and engineering staff, as it was far from easy and straightforward to install. We had to improvise constantly,” Professor Joannes-Boyau said.

A 90-second timelapse of the installation is available to watch on the University’s YouTube channel. 

“We had to take down walls to get the machine inside, and it came in eight or nine different crates. At the time [COVID-19], everyone had to work from home; the lab would have been closed as well, so it was a perfect time for a renovation,” he said.

The mass spectrometer was jointly funded by the Australian Research Council and Southern Cross University. 

Professor Joannes-Boyau discusses his research with student River on the latest episode of the SCU Buzz podcast.

“To be acknowledged for my work with iSISTAQUIT by my local Aboriginal community gives me confidence and joy to be able to implement ISISTAQUIT throughout Australia within the Aboriginal communities,” Ms Hart said. 

Project leader, Professor Gillian Gould expressed immense pride following the team’s local recognition.

“It has given our team a huge amount of encouragement to have our good works noticed,” Professor Gould said.

“Although our project has a national reach, our team works hard to build and maintain respectful and engaging relationships with local communities and services and are always willing to take up any opportunities to better serve our local area.”

A 2021 Australian Government report revealed almost 1 in 10 Australian mothers smoke during pregnancy, however the rate more than quadrupled for First Nations mothers.

Before the iSISTAQUIT journey began, the team’s research indicated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mums wanted to quit smoking, but felt they weren’t receiving enough help.
One major barrier; many health providers reported they didn’t have the confidence, skills and optimism to raise the subject and support these pregnant women in a culturally appropriate way.

Since 2016, the iSISTAQUIT project, and its predecessor ICAN QUIT in Pregnancy, has grown to provide intervention training in 25 health services, with funding secured for a further 100 Australia-wide.

Congratulating the iSISTAQUIT team, Senior Projects Manager Rebecca Hyland said our communities are the experts of their health needs.

“It is a privilege our team is continually guided by our communities in the common goal to be smoke free for our next generation,” she said. 

"The Recovery Hub offers our osteopathy students invaluable hands-on experience, enhancing their diagnostic and treatment skills in a real-world setting," said Osteopathy lecturer Kristy Buist.

This accredited activity counts toward their placement hours, and the experience is highly valued by students. 

One Osteo student, Eliana, shared, “University life has been challenging, and these placements bring some fun and a rewarding feeling. It’s great to put all our knowledge into practice after studying so hard. I noticed that more than 80% of the runners I treated hadn't heard about osteopathy before, so it was a great opportunity to explain that we are not just massage therapists.”

It’s not only the students that benefit from the hub. Half-marathon runner, Callum, went out of his way to leave feedback on the University website about his experience.

“After the half-marathon, I took advantage of the treatment services offered by the osteopathy students from Southern Cross Uni. I want to compliment the students, supervising staff, and the University as a whole for this service. Not only was it an effective tool for my recovery, but the experience and compassion shown by the students were also truly heart-warming,” he said. 

The National Centre for Naturopathic Medicine also contributed to the Recovery Hub’s success, serving over 650 cups of herbal tea designed to support exercise recovery through their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and pain-relieving properties.

And let's not forget #TeamSCU, which was the largest Australian team at the event, with 145 participants proudly running in blue.

The event serves as a testament to Southern Cross University’s commitment to providing real-world experiences that benefit both students and the community. Bring on 2025!