News
Congratulations to Linda Briskman whose co-authored book Human Rights Overboard: Seeking asylum in Australia has been shortlisted by the Australian Human Rights Commission for the national 2008 Human Rights Award (Literature). The winner will be announced on International Human Rights Day - December 10.
View this link for further information.
Linda Briskman
Congratulations to Dr Paul Arthur as one of winners of Curtin University's 2008 Pro Vice-Chancellor Awards. Paul is a CASAAP member; a Curtin Targeted Research Fellow with the School of Media, Culture and Creative Arts; and Adjunct Research Fellow, Research School of Humanities, Australian National University.
Recently Paul won an internationally advertised Visiting Research Fellowship to HUMlab, Umeå University, Sweden for the academic year 2009/10. HUMlab is one of the leading digital humanities centres in Europe. In September 2008 he was awarded an Advanced Diploma in Leadership and Management by The University of Western Australia Business School/ Australian Institute of Management. Paul is also editor and moderator of the recently launched Web 2.0 Community History Website.
Dr Paul Arthur
Alexey Muraviev is to chair an online Strategic Policy Forum on the international implications of the Georgia conflict. The Five Day War between Russia and Georgia over Southern Ossetia may be viewed as a recent historical event that signifies a new era in strategic relations between major international players. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute in Canberra has invited Dr. Alexey D. Muraviev to chair a Strategic Policy Forum on the implications of the recent conflict in the Caucasus. Dr. Muraviev acted as a principal contributor by providing a major piece for analysis and debate (opening contribution) and concluding remarks. View this link to access the forum, and for further information.
Dr Alexey Muraviev
Outstanding achievements of CASAAP members
A high proportion of CASAAP members achieved excellent results in the the 2007 RPI round (calculated in 2008). Congratulations to all, particularly to Linda Briskman who made it into the university’s ‘Top 50’, as did Richard Nile, who was a Centre member in the reporting year. John Stephens, Suvendrini Perera, Grace Zhang, Bobbie Oliver, Nonja Peters, Yasuo Takao, Jaya Earnest, Stephen Smith, Gina Koczberski, Alexey Muraviev and Dawn Bennett were all in the university’s top 50 for their respective appointment levels. As the RPI is heavily weighted towards research income, for which the science and technology areas attract substantial amounts, this is an outstanding achievement all around.
Jaya Earnest was also recognised as one of the top performing individuals in the recently completed Teaching Performance Index pilot.
Linda Briskman won the Eileen Younghusband Award of the International Association of Schools of Social Work in early 2008. The purpose of the award is to deliver a keynote address at the IASSW conference in Durban, South Africa in July 2008.
Linda Briskman
In mid-2008, Australian Research Council (ARC) College of Experts nominated John Stephens as an “expert of international standing” for the purposes of ARC Discovery Grant reviews.
A/Prof John Stephens
Congratulations to Dr Dawn Bennet who, in the latter part of 2008 was:
- accepted a position on the Advisory Board of the International Journal of the Arts in Society;
- accepted a nomination as a Commissioner for the Teaching and Learning Commission of ISME (the International Society for Music Education), for a six-year term;
- invited to attend the November 2008 world congress of the Association of European Conservatoires in Denmark as representative of the International Society for Music Education;
- appointed a member of the editorial committee for the International Journal of Music Education, the pre-eminent journal in the field; and
- secured a grant with the WA Department of Culture and the Arts to undertake research on the impact and outcomes of the contemporary music Program.
Dr Dawn Bennett
Dr Alexey Muraviev won the 2008 Curtin University R&D Award as Early Career Researcher with the Highest RPI Points for Publications in the Faculty of Humanities.
Dr Alexey Muraviev
Dr Miyume Tanji's book Myth, Protest and Struggle in Okinawa has received a highly favourable review in the Australian Journal of Political Science, 2008, March 43, 1 161-162. Social Science Japan Journal 11 (1) 2008) also described it “as a powerful tome with an equally powerful anti-war message” that should “give readers hope that there is still the potential to challenge - successfully - the hegemony of indiscreet and often inhumane policies made by desk warriors in distant locations”.
Dr Miyume Tanji
George Curry and Gina Koczberski were presented with a commendation award in the 2008 Curtin New Inventors Competition Awards for their development of a new and more equitable payment system for oil palm smallholders in Papua New Guinea. Find out more
Gina Koczberski in the field in PNG.
Professor Graham Seal, CASAAP Director, Professor in Australian Folklore, and Director of the Australian Folklore Research Unit at Curtin University has been announced joint winner of the prestigious 2008 NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY AWARD for his book, These Few Lines: A Convict Story - the lost lives of Myra and William Sykes (ABC books).
Last year, in 2007, Graham was made a member of the ORDER OF AUSTRALIA in recognition of his folklore research and publications.
Professor Graham Seal
Bob Pokrant won the following plaudits upon his contribution of two chapters to J. Hattendorf (ed), Encyclopedia of Maritime History, 4 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
- Hailed as"essential" by Choice
- Described as a "magisterial work" by Navy News
- Winner of the 2008 Dartmouth Medal, the highest distinction in reference publishing
- Named a 2008 American Library Association/Reference and User Services Association (ALA/RUSA) Outstanding Reference Source
- Finalist for the 2007 Mountbatten Maritime Literary Prize
- Named a Library Journal 2007 Best Reference Source
- Honorably mentioned by the Association of American Publishers for this year's Professional Scholarly Publishing (PSP) Awards in the field of Reference Works
A/Prof Bob Pokrant
The Government of India has awarded CASAAP Advisory Board member Neville Roach the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award, which he received from the President of India in Delhi on 9 January 2008. This is an award that is given each year to a few (maximum 15 per year) overseas Indians (the Pravasi Bharatiyas) on the occasion of the annual Pravasi Bharatiya Divas event, which the Indian Government runs to strengthen the links between the Indian diaspora and India. Although the awards commenced in 2002, this is the first time one has been given to someone from Australia. Past winners include Vikram Seth and Shashi Tharoor (also recently, the runner-up in the election for the position of Secretary General of the UN); the President of Guyana; the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago; the former Prime Minister of Fiji, Mahendra Chaudry; the golfer Vijay Singh; the film director M Night Shyamalan (he made the Sixth Sense); the renowned economist, Jagdish Bhagwati; the architect of India's first telecom revolution,.Sam Pitroda; the late astronaut Kalpana Chawla; the Nobel Laureate Har Gobind Korana; and three members of the UK House of Lords.
Congratulations to Dawn Bennett who won a Curtin Targeted Research Fellowship commencing 2008. Dawn joins Miyume Tanji as the Centre's second Post-Doctoral Fellow.
George Curry has accepted an invitation to join the National Committee for Geography within the Australian Academy of Science, effective 2008 - 2011.
In March 2008, Wanning Sun joined the editorial board of Media International Australia, the journal of the Australian and New Zealand Communication Association.
In March 2008, Alexey Muraviev was awarded Curtin University's 2007 Student Guild Teaching Award in the category 'Postgraduate Coursework Lecturer'
Linda Briskman won the Eileen Younghusband Award of the International Association of Schools of Social Work in early 2008. The purpose of the award is to deliver a keynote address at the IASSW conference in Durban, South Africa in July 2008.
In 2007, Graham Seal was made a member of the Order of Australia in recognition of his folklore research and publication.
Jaya Earnest has won a Carrick Institute Competitive Grant 2007 with Dr Jenny Silburn, an academic from Murdoch University in WA.
The Project, titled 'LIFE - Learning Interactively for Engagement: development of an innovative teaching and learning program to meet the needs of refugee students in two Western Australian Universities', will:
- Document the perspectives and needs of refugee students at two Western Australian universities (Murdoch and Curtin University)
- Produce an awareness-raising DVD for academic staff, which together with a resource guide; will increase academics' understanding of the specific pedagogical and psychological needs of refugee students
- Propose policy recommendations to facilitate improved attrition, retention and academic outcomes for refugee students in tertiary institutions.
Jaya Earnest
Anne-Marie Hilsdon has edited and written the introduction for a Special Issue of The Australian Journal of Anthropology entitled "Woman and Agency: Asian Explorations". The AJA is the premier journal in its field in Australia, and ranks highly internationally.
In August 2007, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute published an online Policy Forum on Russia with Alexey Muraviev as Chair and principal contributer. This forum was set up to provide policy advice to PM and Cabinet before the APEC heads of state meeting in Sydney in late 2007.
Follow the link for more information: http://www.aspi.org.au/research/spf.aspx
Dr Nonja Peters was awarded a Dutch Knighthood - Ridder in de Orde van Oranje Nassau - by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands for preserving the Heritage of Dutch Australians. This was conferred in April 2006 in the presence of the Dutch Prime Minister and Ambassador of the Netherlands and the Dutch community.
Dame Nonja Peters
Dawn Bennett has been awarded the prestigious Callaway Doctoral Award for her thesis 'Classical Instrumental Musicians: Educating for Sustainable Professional Practice', which was awarded with Distinction at the University of Western Australia in 2005.