New Director of the Office for Research Professor Andrea Bishop has a vision to make Griffith University’s research reputation soar.
“Griffith University already has a significant research capacity and a reputation in the tertiary sector as one to watch,’’ she said.
“I want to be a part of building on this success to help make Griffith one of the most influential research universities in Australia and the Asia Pacific.
“I’m looking forward to supporting the university’s research success in the long term.”
She said research success was recognised through metrics and reputation and Griffith should focus on both.
“The research profile across the institution is variable, as you’d expect for a University with such breadth of research activity.
“As part of Griffith’s research support crew, we’ll be carefully assessing opportunities and working with researchers and research leaders across the University to leverage better outcomes, in line with our strategic priorities.”
The former Director of Research at Charles Sturt University, Professor Bishop has a PhD in physical chemistry.
She gained international research experience before moving to academia and a series of strategic leadership roles in higher education. She also undertook a brief secondment to the Australian Research Council’s Strategy Branch in 2013.
Professor Bishop has a strong, practical grounding in higher education and its administration informed by education qualifications and an MBA. She champions business intelligence in decision-making and has broad experience in driving positive organisational change.
The Office for Research is the University’s provider of research services and research quality development and support.
“We will continue to provide this support by ensuring that the highly skilled professional staff of the Office for Research maintain an outward focus to support and advise our researchers and by building and maintain critical relationships within and beyond Griffith.”
By Kate Van Doore (Griffith Law School)
Following the earthquake in 2010, Westerners flocked to Haiti to “rescue” orphaned and lost children. The “rescue” included the evacuation of children by plane for inter-country adoption and an increase in the number of children placed in orphanages in the following months. The problem that has since emerged is that many of the “orphans” placed in orphanages and sent for adoption were not orphaned at all.
They temporarily suspended any new adoptions in order to protect children. Scandal in Haiti soon erupted when10 missionaries were charged with child abductionafter trying to take 33 children out of the country without permission (as they were not orphans).
Instead of housing lost children temporarily while families were located, orphanages became a permanent solution in Haiti. The problem has only worsened since 2010. Statistics indicate that up to 80% of 30,000 children currently in orphanages in Haiti are not orphans and could live at home with one or both parents.
It is a statistic that is shared by Nepal, which has just suffered an earthquake of 7.9 magnitude. Nepal already struggles with the issue ofunscrupulous orphanage operators. Nepal’s children may become victim to the “rescue” mentality of people meaning well but potentially causing harm in the long run.
So, what can Nepal learn from Haiti and other natural disasters to protect its children in these post-earthquake days?
When disaster strikes, already vulnerable children are put even more at risk. Natural disasters can lead to children being separated from their families. There is a tendency to deal with this situation byplacing children in orphanages.
The researchshows that this action can result in the production of “paper orphans” (children who are orphans through virtue of falsified paper documents only) and canfuel the business model of orphanages.
The Aceh tsunami
Prior to the Haitian earthquake, the international community responded to the tsunami in Aceh in 2004. Unfortunately, it seems that the lessons from Aceh were not learnt in Haiti. In post-tsunami Aceh, there was also a huge increase in the number of children placed in orphanages.
Research showedthat the explosion in aid following the tsunami was a critical factor in the increase in residential care facilities, or orphanages, being established.
The aid poured into orphanages from privately funded non-government organisations as well as domestic and international governments. In that context, 85% of children living in orphanages following the tsunami had at least one parent alive.
It was further determined that in 97.5% of cases the parents had placed their child in the orphanage for education purposes. This indicates other programs focusing on educational support, instead of orphanages, may have produced better outcomes for children.
Nepal learning from other natural disasters
Heeding these lessons, child protection organisations working in Nepal are focusing on ensuring that separated children are quicklyreunited with their familiesand not placed in orphanages unnecessarily.
Agencies have created “Child Friendly Spaces” to help children work through the trauma associated with the earthquake, and also to monitor children that require assistance.
Some child protection organisations have addressed the inter-country adoption issue directly. Children’s charity SOS Children’s Villagesposted a notice on their websiteimmediately after the earthquake explaining why inter-country adoption was not an appropriate option at this stage.
Fortunately, Nepal tightened its inter-country adoption laws in the past few years. There has been no immediate suggestion of relaxing them in order to expedite adoptions, as happened in Haiti.
There has also been a major focus on encouraging people to donate money rather thanrushing to Nepalto volunteer in the aid effort. In the child protection space, the clear message is that orphanage voluntourism, where people volunteer in orphanages in developing countries,is not desirable or required.
Overall, it appears the response to the vulnerable children of the Nepal earthquake is implementing the lessons learnt from Haiti. Prior to the earthquake, Nepal committed tomonitoring and closingunregistered and non-compliant orphanages. The hope is that as aid floods into the small developing nation, this commitment will be remembered, upheld and implemented.
Nepal and its children have a long road to recovery ahead. Let’s hope they, and the international community, are wise enough to implement the lessons from the past in order to protect the future of their children.
Young Australian filmmaker Yolanda Ramke will soon have her feature film script circulated to key industry players in Hollywood.
The Griffith Film School graduate’s film Cargo,which tells of a father’s quest to save his daughter’s life amid a zombie apocalypse, was unanimously chosen as the winner of the inaugural Gateway LA Script Development Program announced this week.
Yolanda says she feels incredibly honoured to be the very first recipient of the prize, which includes a $10,000 cash prize, high level mentoring support with industry professionals from the program, US networking access and a flight to the US.
“I’m also awed and humbled by the calibre of the judges and the staggering number of fellow applicants, which I think speaks volumes for the insane amount of creative talent emerging from Australia,” she says.
“Ben Howling and I have been chipping away on Cargo for two years now and we’ve been blessed to join forces with producers Kristina Ceyton, Russell Ackerman and John Schoenfelder, who all share our passion for this story.
“This accolade is a giant leap for all of us in a hugely exciting direction.”
Yolanda graduated with a Bachelor of Film & Screen Media Production in 2005 and hasworked in a variety of fields on television dramas such as Channel 7’s Packed To The Rafters and Foxtel’s Spirited.
In 2012, her short script Shelter secured Metro Screen’s $15 000 Breakout Fund, with the resulting film going on to screen at the Oscar-accredited Palm Springs International Film Festival & Shortfest, Flickerfest and St Kilda Film Festival.
Cargo began as a short film written by Yolanda, which she co-directed with Ben Howling and co-produced with Marcus Newman. In 2013, it was a finalist at the Tropfest short film festival, and has now had almost 9 million views on YouTube, predicting its popularity as a feature film.
The project also experienced a successful international festival run (including seven Academy Award accredited events), and was nominated for the ‘Best Achievement In Screenplay’ award at St Kilda Film Festival.
Yolanda will now have the opportunity to further develop her material by having it circulated within the industry in the US, two months of complimentary hosting on The Black List, a free evaluation of each script, a complimentary copy of the latest version of Final Draft and phone meetings with the program judges.
Simonne Overend, President of Australians in Film and Co-Chair of Gateway LA Program, says Cargo is well-deserving as the winner.
“We’re really looking forward to helping Yolanda and all finalists make connections in the industry over here, and further develop their international writing careers,” she says.
The judging panel included Bruna Papandrea, Reese Witherspoon’s producing partner at Pacific Standard (Gone Girl, Wild); and US based agent at United Talent Agency Bec Smith, who represents Aussies such as David Michôd.
A scene from the award-winning short film, Cargo.
Australians in Film (AiF), the LA-based Australian entertainment industry guild, announced the news on 1 May.
The AiF network includes producers, development executives, the Board of Advisors and Board Members including Greg Basser, CEO of Village Roadshow Entertainment Group, writer/director Stuart Beattie, Peter Lawson, Executive Vice President of production and acquisitions at Open Road, Tracey Vieira, CEO Screen Queensland, and Ian Sutherland, Producer at Origin Productions.
Companies wanting to reduce their carbon footprint should look at ways to ease the stress and workload of employees, a study by Griffith University researchers has suggested.
The findings show that time does really matter when it comes to closing the value-action gap on climate change.
Two nation-wide surveys conducted by the researchers have revealed that time poor individuals who work longer hours tend to adopt less sustainable consumption practices.
The results suggest that measures to improve the work-life balance that will increase disposable time may foster both the adoption of more sustainable consumption practices as well as the emergence of pro-environment preferences.
The results are found in the paper What time to adapt? The role of discretionary time in sustaining the climate change value-action gap which is forthcoming in the journal of Ecological Economics.
Lead author Dr Andreas Chai (Griffith Business School)
Associate Professor Graham Bradley (School of Psychology)
Professor Joseph Reser (School of Phsychology)
Lead author Dr Andreas Chai said looking at time as a factor was a new way of understanding how people adapt to climate change, as it was commonly believed that money was a more significant factor in contributing to environmentally sustainable behavior.
“It is true that those with higher income tend to buy more environmentally friendly products. But higher income also reduces the tendency to engage in time-intensive conservation practices – such as recycling, turning unused lights off and conserving petrol,” he said.
“For many sustainable consumption practices, it’s more about how you use the goods rather than what you buy. This is where having more time really matters.
“Freeing up time can be an important way to achieve environmentally friendly behavior and address environmental problems. I would like to see companies looking at issues like this.”
Following a very successful four year psychology research program lead by Professor Joseph Reser and Associate Professor Graham Bradley, Dr Chai joined forces with the psychology team, in combining psychological and economic approaches to the problem of climate change.
“We initially found that while most people were concerned about climate change many weren’t taking action,” Associate Professor Bradley said.
“We wanted to look at what was driving the gap, as you would assume that if you were concerned about climate change you would act and if you weren’t then you wouldn’t, but that isn’t always the case.”
Professor Reser said while the overall finding was that Australian respondents evidenced a substantial amount of issue and behavioural engagement, life circumstances and available time still constituted important barriers to pro-environmental behaviour change.
Brisbane Roar’s 2015 AFC Champions League campaign is over after a 2-1 loss to Japan’s Urawa Red Diamonds at Gold Coast Stadium tonight.
Brisbane entered the game knowing only a large victory over Urawa and a win by Suwon SamsungFC over Beijing Guwon in the other Group G matchbeing played simultaneously would get them through to the next stage.
A 1-1 draw between Beijing and Suwon in South Korea meant even a Roar victory would not have sent them through to the knockout Round of 16, as both those teams progressed.
Brisbane pushed forward early and manufactured several half-chances. However, the aggressive tactics left Roar exposed in defence, with Brisbane custodian Jamie Young called into action to save several promising Urawa shots on goal.
The space at the back eventually paid off for Urawa, with captain Kohrogi Shinzoh finishing in the bottom right corner after a through ball left him one-on- one with Young, giving Urawa a 1-0 lead they would hold until half time.
The Red Diamonds buried any hopes of a Roar fightback in the 58th minute, with substitute Muto Yuki scoring with his first touch only seconds after entering the game.
A well-struck goal from Roar striker Andrija Kaluderovic in the 70th minute raised hopes of a Roar revival, however it was not enough to spark a late fightback, with the score remaining 2-1.
Roar interim Head Coach Frans Thijssen acknowledged the need to chase goals left his team shorthanded in defence.
“Our centre backs had to play one-on-one the entire game really, that gave us problems. When you have to play one-on-one strikers can get free and that’s what happened,” he said.
The season-ending loss in the AFC Champions League came just four days after Adelaide United knocked Brisbane out of the Hyundai A-League Finals Series.
Despite the disappointing end, it was the Roar’s best AFC Champions League campaign in three attempts, finishing with two wins — the club’s first in Asia — and a draw.
The Roar will now have a short break before preparations begin for matches against Villarreal CF on Wednesday, 3 June and Liverpool FC on Friday, 17 July.
When Hamish Douglass enrolled at Griffith to study aviation he never expected his father Brett, already an experienced pilot, to enrol with him.
Hamish has enrolled in a Bachelor of Aviation, while Brett has enrolled a Master of Aviation, both through the School of Natural Sciences.
Together sky’s the limit for this father and son team.
While Hamish has always admired his father’s career choice, it wasn’t until he got the opportunity to fly for the first time on his own at 14 that his passion for aviation took off.
“For me it was euphoric, like everything was together and it was all perfect, peaceful and calm,” he said.
“I knew then that that was all I wanted to do. It was an amazing feeling to be up there.
“I went with an instructor — I just really loved it.”
Both Brett and Hamish are in their first year of their respective studies, but they have different reasons for hitting the books.
Hamish is fresh out of high school and keen to pursue a career as a pilot.
While Brett, who has clocked up more than 18,000 flying hours during his 30 year career — 14 years of those as a pilot with Virgin Australia — wanted to extend his experience in aviation and open up new opportunities in the industry.
“I feel it will add another string to my bow,” he said.
“As a pilot, I am already a valuable asset for Virgin Australia, and obtaining a Masters in Aviation will only increase that value.”
Brett’s passion for flying was similar to how Hamish started out.
“I was just fascinated with planes from a very young age and it was all I ever aspired to do,” he said.
“I am very fortunate to have such longevity in the industry.”
Brett said aviation has come a long way since he began his career with the introduction of GPS and other advanced technology systems and safety.
“I always said to both my sons, Hamish and Mitchell, that I would support them in whatever they wanted to do,” he said.
He said he felt very honoured that Hamish wanted to follow in his footsteps
“For me I’d recommend it to anyone, not just for my son as it is such an interesting field,” he said.
“Aviation is an exciting and rewarding career and is an interesting diverse industry. No two days are the same.”
In this ‘Economy in transition’ series, we explore the new economy facing Australia and the opportunities available to help the country shift from a minerals-led powerhouse, to a smart competitor in emerging global sectors. Today, we look at the sectors expected to lead Australia’s “pivot” from mining.
It’s no secret the mining boom is on the wane, but it’s too early to sign the death warrant yet.
Mining, along with agriculture, will continue to be key drivers of growth in the Australian economy — but we can expect to see expansion in other sectors such as tourism, the health and financial services sectors, banking and securities.
Boom times
Australia’s mining boom began 10 years ago, sparked by an extraordinary rise in world commodity prices, arising from strong demand for raw commodities in fast growing Asian economies, most notably China and India.
Commodity prices fell back during the 2008-09 transatlantic banking crisis, but recovered quickly (stoked by very low interest rates set by central banks worldwide) to surpass previous highs. Prices peaked in 2011 at a level comparable to a commodity price spike experienced in the 1970s.
In the past decade, stratospheric commodity prices induced massive mining investment and large increases in mineral exports while creating tens of thousands of new jobs in the sector.
Australia, New Zealand, Norway and, to a lesser extent, Canada, belong to a small group of advanced economies that has significantly increased dependence on commodity exports over the past decade. This group has become more heavily reliant on them than many developing commodity exporters in Asia and Latin America.
Australia’s commodity exports rose significantly during the boom with minerals, fuels and agricultural produce now accounting for around two thirds of total exports. The top three mining exports are iron ore, coal and LNG.
Meanwhile, major imports of goods and services include motor vehicles, overseas travel, telecommunications equipment, medicines, computers and furniture, machinery and capital equipment, with manufactured goods accounting for over half.
The mining boom caused major strengthening of Australia’s terms of trade (meaning the ratio of prices received for commodity exports to prices paid for imports). That effectively meant a rise in Australia’s purchasing power over foreign-produced goods and services.
This was reflected in a strong exchange rate that made imported goods and service significantly cheaper for Australian consumers.
The strengthened exchange rate also squeezed other Australian industries such as the car industry and tourism that have to compete internationally. This downside of the boom was a manifestation of the so-called “Dutch disease”.
According to Dutch disease theory, real exchange rate appreciation worsens the international competitiveness of the economy’s traditional tradable industries, most notably in the manufacturing sector.
The boom was also a source of increased government revenue, primarily via company tax and royalties (as opposed to Rudd government’s ill-fated mining tax which yielded little).
But successive federal governments, on Treasury advice, greatly overestimated mining boom tax revenue by ignoring that tax revenue from contracting industries fell (a la Dutch disease) as the economy restructured.
Ch-ch-changes
In recent years, commodity prices — especially for coal and iron ore — have fallen far more quickly than expected. Falls of some 50% from 2011 highs have signalled the end of a commodity price super-cycle.
Nonetheless, commodity prices are still more than a third higher than when the boom began a decade ago, according to the Reserve Bank’s commodity price index (see graph above). So the once-in-a-generation boom may have passed, but much of mining, now with a much expanded base, is still viable and remains a bedrock industry for the economy.
Many economies with abundant resource endowments have grown more slowly than those without them, a phenomena economists have termed the “natural resource curse”. Compare, for instance, the economic histories of impoverished, yet oil rich, Nigeria and Venezuela with prosperous, yet natural resource deprived, Singapore and South Korea.
Australia has avoided this curse, as have the advanced economy commodity producers mentioned above and some notable developing economies, such as Botswana and United Arab Emirates. The broad lesson is that, regardless of resource endowments, what ultimately matters for economic growth are the institutions and how soundly economies are managed.
What’s next?
What, then, is in store for the Australian economy should commodity prices keep falling?
First, Australia’s free floating exchange rate — still higher than it should be due to insufficiently tight fiscal policy — can be expected to depreciate further.
This would raise export receipts in Australian dollar terms, insulating commodity producers from lower world prices while restoring lost competitiveness to other sectors such as manufacturing, tourism and higher education. In this way, a lower exchange rate would act as a shock absorber for the broader economy.
Second, greater labour market flexibility would help workers transition to newly emerging and resuscitated industries.
Recently signed trade agreements with China, Japan and Korea and one in train for India have focused on removing tariffs on a wide range of products such as mineral and agricultural commodities, processed foods and manufactured goods such as pharmaceuticals and car engines.
These agreements will also create new opportunities for strengthening Australia’s tourism, health services and financial services sectors, and build new market access in banking and securities.
Despite the tapering of the boom, mining will continue to be a mainstay of the Australian economy well into the future. Agriculture is also here for the long haul.
However the industrial landscape will continue to evolve as new international trade opportunities emerge, especially in a range of services industries.
Not only will this allow Australian companies to reach new markets, it will provide households and firms broader access to cheaper and wider range of goods and services.
Read part one of the ‘Economy in transition’ series here.
Following the earthquake in 2010, Westerners flocked to Haiti to “rescue” orphaned and lost children. The “rescue” included the evacuation of children by plane for inter-country adoption and an increase in the number of children placed in orphanages in the following months. The problem that has since emerged is that many of the “orphans” placed in orphanages and sent for adoption were not orphaned at all.
They temporarily suspended any new adoptions in order to protect children. Scandal in Haiti soon erupted when 10 missionaries were charged with child abduction after trying to take 33 children out of the country without permission (as they were not orphans).
Instead of housing lost children temporarily while families were located, orphanages became a permanent solution in Haiti. The problem has only worsened since 2010. Statistics indicate that up to 80% of 30,000 children currently in orphanages in Haiti are not orphans and could live at home with one or both parents.
A child left alone in the aftermath of the Nepal earthquake AAP
It is a statistic that is shared by Nepal, which has just suffered an earthquake of 7.9 magnitude. Nepal already struggles with the issue of unscrupulous orphanage operators. Nepal’s children may become victim to the “rescue” mentality of people meaning well but potentially causing harm in the long run.
So, what can Nepal learn from Haiti and other natural disasters to protect its children in these post-earthquake days?
When disaster strikes, already vulnerable children are put even more at risk. Natural disasters can lead to children being separated from their families. There is a tendency to deal with this situation by placing children in orphanages.
The research shows that this action can result in the production of “paper orphans” (children who are orphans through virtue of falsified paper documents only) and can fuel the business model of orphanages.
The Aceh tsunami
Prior to the Haitian earthquake, the international community responded to the tsunami in Aceh in 2004. Unfortunately, it seems that the lessons from Aceh were not learnt in Haiti. In post-tsunami Aceh, there was also a huge increase in the number of children placed in orphanages.
Research showed that the explosion in aid following the tsunami was a critical factor in the increase in residential care facilities, or orphanages, being established.
The aid poured into orphanages from privately funded non-government organisations as well as domestic and international governments. In that context, 85% of children living in orphanages following the tsunami had at least one parent alive.
Inter-country adoption is not disaster relief. AAP
It was further determined that in 97.5% of cases the parents had placed their child in the orphanage for education purposes. This indicates other programs focusing on educational support, instead of orphanages, may have produced better outcomes for children.
Nepal learning from other natural disasters
Heeding these lessons, child protection organisations working in Nepal are focusing on ensuring that separated children are quickly reunited with their families and not placed in orphanages unnecessarily.
Agencies have created “Child Friendly Spaces” to help children work through the trauma associated with the earthquake, and also to monitor children that require assistance.
Some child protection organisations have addressed the inter-country adoption issue directly. Children’s charity SOS Children’s Villages posted a notice on their website immediately after the earthquake explaining why inter-country adoption was not an appropriate option at this stage.
Fortunately, Nepal tightened its inter-country adoption laws in the past few years. There has been no immediate suggestion of relaxing them in order to expedite adoptions, as happened in Haiti.
There has also been a major focus on encouraging people to donate money rather than rushing to Nepal to volunteer in the aid effort. In the child protection space, the clear message is that orphanage voluntourism, where people volunteer in orphanages in developing countries, is not desirable or required.
Overall, it appears the response to the vulnerable children of the Nepal earthquake is implementing the lessons learnt from Haiti. Prior to the earthquake, Nepal committed to monitoring and closing unregistered and non-compliant orphanages. The hope is that as aid floods into the small developing nation, this commitment will be remembered, upheld and implemented.
Nepal and its children have a long road to recovery ahead. Let’s hope they, and the international community, are wise enough to implement the lessons from the past in order to protect the future of their children.
While travelling in Queensland shooting for a documentary project last week, two Griffith Film School graduates found themselves amidst thousands of motorists trapped in the middle of the Bruce Highway.
Martin Ingle and David Ridley were totally stationary for almost eight hours as floodwaters rose and eventually receded late into the night.
Stuck in the middle of nowhere in the pouring rain with bumper-to-bumper cars of total strangers, Martin says they decided to grab their camera gear and interview the people around them.
“When you are trapped in the cold, wet and dark with nothing to do for hours on end, where does your mind wander to? This is what we wanted to find out,” he says.
“What we found was that as the hours dragged on, a bizarre community began to form among the stranded motorists.
“By10.00pmpeople were sharing cups of tea and walking their dogs as if it was some kind of strange impromptu suburb had sprung to life in the middle of nowhere.”
The short documentary they made, The Big Wet, is now online.
The duo is currently working on Into the Middle of Things, a project that captures their 13,000km across Australia to spontaneously interview total strangers.
Over the course of the year, one interview is released every week online, for free. And the results are fascinating and diverse: with farmers, hipsters, Aboriginal elders, refugees, a butterfly man, a Buddhist monk, a Vietnam vet, a witchdoctor and even a nudist.
The two graduated from the Griffith Film School in 2011 and found common ground working on several projects together during their studies.
An opportunity to learn from world-leading researchers and commentators has drawn Queensland business graduate David Lancaster to Harvard University.
The 25-year-old, who received a First Class Honours degree in Finance from Griffith University, is off to the John F Kennedy School of Government later this year to study a Master in Public Policy.
“I believethe program offersthe right balance betweentechnical training in economics and statistics,andtraining in‘soft’ skills such as leadership,negotiationand communication,” says David, who works with the Reserve Bank of Australia in Sydney.
“These skills will equip me to not only create good policy, but to action it.”
The opportunity to spend two years in Boston came about after David successfully applied for the RBA’s Post Graduate Award, which will cover his tuition in the United States.
“I will learn from some of the world’s best researchers and commentators,” he says.
“The strength of the Harvard brand means the Kennedy School regularly hostshigh-profile speakersfrom around the world.Their talkswillengage me with abroader range of interesting and challengingpublic policyissues, as well as provide me with an insight into how policymakers are thinking about importantproblems.
“These benefits convincedme that studying my Master in Public Policy atthe Harvard Kennedy School wouldgreatly enlarge my ability to contribute to the RBA’s important work here in Australia.”
David joined the RBA’s Financial Markets Group in Sydney in 2011 after graduating from Griffith. He had initially completed a Bachelor of Commerce(Finance, Accounting) before advancing to an Honours program. On graduating, he was also awarded a Commerce Medal and University medal.
Driven by an ever-increasing fascination with economics and the RBA’s role and impact in Australian society, David transferred to the RBA’s Economic Group.
“I have had the opportunity to work with an exceedingly talented and diverse group of people. And like them, I have become increasingly convinced of the importance of economic policy for advancing the public good.
“I found that the more I involvedmyselfin policy debates, the more I wanted to contribute.”
With suitable encouragement from colleagues and the RBA’s supportive environment, David decided to take his interest to the next level. The RBA’s Postgraduate Study Award beckoned.
On learning of his successful application he set about applying to globally renowned Masters programs in the US and the UK. It proved a demanding and involved process that he also had to incorporate into his life’s other focus — last summer’s marriage to Alexandra.
David’s efforts and focus brought their reward last month (March) when he accepted an offer from Harvard University. In August, David and Alexandra will move to live and study in Boston for two years.
“This will involve many big life changes, but we are bothveryexcited to pursue this opportunity,” he says.
“Harvard Kennedy Schoolintentionallyrecruits a global student body. In fact, applications for admission this year came from 137 countries.
“Ieagerly anticipatelearning frommy classmates’diverse backgrounds and perspectives, and meetingmany global leaders of tomorrow.
“I have always appreciated the support that Griffith University provided me and this has undoubtedly played no small part in setting me up to pursue my career interests with passion and confidence.”
