2021 Vice-Chancellor’s Award winners

This year's Swinburne Vice-Chancellor's Awards recognised and celebrated the remarkable contributions of individuals and teams who demonstrated their commitment and shared purpose to bring people and technology together to build a better world.  

The 13 award categories recognise excellence across Swinburne’s teaching, research and professional areas.

Speaking as part of the live broadcast, Swinburne Vice-Chancellor, Professor Pascale Quester said: “Today’s winners are the people who have put the collective success of the university first, showcasing their united efforts to innovate, create and support our society’s insatiable appetite for technology and the human talent to leverage it.

“Their bold initiatives are redefining our future and contributing to the success of our Horizon 2025 strategy and ambitious moon shots.”

The winners and highly commended nominees are as follows:

Vice-Chancellor’s Teaching Excellence Award (Higher Education)

Individual: Eryadi Masli (Preparing students and scientists to take revolutionary ideas to market)

Team: Ekaterina Pechenkina, Rhonni Sasaki, Richard Oliver, Bryan Cranston, Tanya O’Loughlin, PuiTzan Chan, David Robertson, Brigid Brignell, Carolina Bodin, Nilofa Patel, Josephine Gorham, Emma Dutton, Francis Flores, Dan Truong, Jamie Yeung, Brian Cho (Student Co-Design for Effective Online Curriculum: Reflective Feedback Cycles)

Highly commended: Emily Cook (Stop-motion LEGO® animations for visualising mathematics)

Vice-Chancellor’s Teaching Excellence Award (Vocational Education)

Team: Alexander Ouchtomsky, Brendan Kroon, Christopher Palframan, Dhivyaa Ambikavathi, Etienne Folliot, Jen Leong, Kulari Dona, Leanne Caira, Mabel Luk, Robyn Grunberg, Thelma-Jean Spence, Raunak Oberai (Trashbot challenge: inspiring students to adopt innovative sustainable living solutions)

Highly commended: Maree Gault (Flipping the classroom)

Vice-Chancellor’s Research Excellence Award

Individual: David Moss (Optical kerr microcombs for ultrahigh bandwidth communications and neuromorphic processing)

Team: Christopher Berndt, Peter Kingshott, Baohua Jia, Xiaodong Huang, Rosalie Hocking, Saulius Juodkazis, Guoxing Lu, Andrew Ang, James Wang, Scott Wade, Nishar Hameed, Han Lin, Keng-Te Lin, Samuel Pinches, Surinder Singh, Andrew Boden, Thomas Pattison, Bruno Felipe Andrade Bezerra, Hank Lloyd, Alexander Osi, Minh Nhật Đặng, Nouman Tariq, Sandy (Tzu-Ying) Liao, Wesley Tai, Wenbo Liu, Kritkasem Khantisopon, Martin Eberle, Hannah King, Ashok Meghwal, Bruno Kahl, Duy Quang Pham, Ludwig Wedemeyer, Vesna Stefanovski (SEAM: Leading R&D research impact, industrial outcomes and Swinburne benefits)

Highly commended: Guoxing Lu (Innovative Materials and Structures for Impact Engineering: Fundamental Science That Propels Applications)

Vice-Chancellor’s Research Excellence Award (Early Career)

Individual: Nina Papalia (Building better futures for vulnerable and justice-involved children and youth)

Highly commended: Ali Yavari (Outstanding research and teaching contribution as Early Career Researcher)

Vice-Chancellor’s Engagement Award – Industry Engagement

Individual: Dimitrios Salampasis (Driving Stakeholder Engagement through Global FinTech Thought Leadership)

Team: Blair Kuys, Matt Blythman, Jacqui Savage, Andrew Weeks, Mat Lewis, Ali Bahrman (Centre for Design Innovation product development research team)

Highly commended: Susan Werner, Alisa Katz, Allison Geissel, Deepali Shah, Disha Nayyar, Dora Nicola-Kotsias, Emma Freitas, Heather Baldwin, Tatjana Krulic-Withall, Sue Vlahos, Laura Carolan, Karen McIntyre, Elizabeth Clapp (PD Bytes)

Swinburne Vice-Chancellor Professor Pascale Quester presented the Vice-Chancellor's Awards at the hybrid event.

Vice-Chancellor’s Engagement Award – Community Engagement

Team: Lisa M. Given, Wade Kelly (Connecting Swinburne’s Researchers with Community: The Nerd Nite Melbourne Engagement Initiative)

Vice-Chancellor’s Global Initiatives Award 

Team: Akbar Rhamdhani, Anisa Santoso, Alan Lau (Strategic Initiative for Partnerships and Engagements with Indonesian Institutions)

Vice Chancellor’s Service Excellence Award

Individual: Stephane Shepherd (The Swinburne Early Career Researcher Program 2.0)

Team: Ariba Hanif, Fran James, Ayman Shirazi, Anshal Khawar, Grace Suhartanto, Calvin Li Wan Po, Zoe Tripi, William Erasmus (POP Pre-Orientation Program via Quitch - A Student Partnerships Project)

Vice-Chancellor’s Reconciliation Award

Team: Mathew Jakobi, Jeremy Glover, Diana Swift, David Yammouni, Gertie Brunner, Senni D'Intini, Ekaterina Pechenkina (Resource Development Collaboration: Reconciling Teaching with Indigenous and Decolonising Standpoints)

Vice-Chancellor’s Inclusion and Diversity Award

Team: Jack Wallace, Lucy McNicol, Anna Moscovitch (Unlearn It)

Vice-Chancellor’s Innovation Award

Team: Clare Dyson, Kim Flowers (Adobe Innovation Grant program)

Vice-Chancellor’s One Swinburne Award

Individual: Nick Moore (NICAnimation – a Real Industry Experience for NICA and VET Students)

Highly commended: Evelyn Gan, Jefferson Sim Poh Thong, Irene Chang Hui Chung (Unstoppable quality: Blended audit in the midst of COVID-19)

Vice-Chancellor’s Sustainability Award

Individual: Christina Amanda Chueh Ping Yin (Greening Swinburne students, staff and communities in Sarawak and beyond)

Team: Tania Sabatino, Shana Chong, Marc Weissmann (SA4SI: Swinburne Actions for Sustainability Impact)

Congratulations to all the winners and highly commended nominees of the Vice-Chancellor’s Awards 2021.