Celebrating Department of Nursing Staff Scholarships and Grant Awardees - Q4 2024
Congratulations to the Department of Nursing staff members awarded nursing scholarships and grants this quarter.
The Department proudly celebrates these dedicated professionals, recognised for their exceptional commitment and achievements. These awards will support our nurses in advancing their clinical, academic, and research careers, further strengthening our community of excellence.
Elaine Killeen Continuing Professional Development Scholarship
Sarah Cornish has been awarded the 2024 Elaine Killeen Continuing Professional Development Scholarship from the College of Emergency Nursing Australasia (CENA), the peak professional body that represents emergency nursing.
The Elaine Killeen Continuing Professional Development Scholarship is awarded to eligible emergency nurses who have demonstrated evidence of service to emergency nursing and delivering emergency clinical services in Australasia. Sarah has been an emergency nurse for 22 years and is currently employed as a Clinical Nurse Educator in the Emergency Department at Sunshine Hospital.
This $500 scholarship is designed to assist funding continuing professional development activities/education. Sarah plans to use the scholarship to attend the 2025 International Conference for Emergency Nursing, convened by the College of Emergency Nursing Australasia in Adelaide.
The Elaine Killeen Continuing Professional Development Scholarship was established by the College of Emergency Nursing Australasia in early 2016, in memory of Elaine who was an active member of the College and a long-standing member of the Victorian branch. She facilitated the CENA education program for Victoria for several years and was part of the conference organising committee for the International Conference for Emergency Nurses in 2007.
MDHS Dean’s Education Innovation Grant
A/Prof Snezana Kusljic and her team have been awarded the 2024 MDHS Dean’s Education Innovation Grant of $20,000 for their project: “Is an industry based short course a key to reducing bioscience-provoking anxiety in healthcare programs?”
This project aims to assess content relevance and applicability of the short course, Biochemical Basis for Human Life, and its flexible interactive learning approach to different healthcare programs and diverse groups of learners. It brings together academics and students of three healthcare disciplines – nursing, optometry and physiotherapy. The project will help healthcare students to identify their learning specific goals relating to bioscience concepts. This innovative approach is an important move towards advancing human knowledge in anxiety free educational space which will improve student experience and satisfaction with a flexible curriculum defined by quality, relevance and their mental and overall wellbeing – both of which are aligned with Advancing Students and Education Strategy: 2023-2030 and the University Student Wellbeing and Mental Health Framework (2022).
The MDHS Dean’s Education Innovation Grant aims to offer a valuable contribution to the Faculty’s agenda of advancing interprofessional learning for health.
Partnerships for a Healthy Region Grant
Prof Sanchia Aranda and Amelia Hyatt, as part of a team at The University of Sydney Daffodil Centre, have been awarded the Partnerships for a Healthy Region Grant (PHR) of $13 million by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) for their program: "Elimination Partnership in the Indo-Pacific for Cervical Cancer (EPICC)".
The program, led by Prof Karen Canfell AC, centres on the three pillars of cervical cancer elimination – vaccination, screening and treatment. Department of Nursing, Prof Sanchia Aranda and National Cancer Institute USA, Prof Ted Trimble are the two leads for the treatment pillar of work. Department of Nursing PhD student, Amelia Hyatt, will lead investment in the development of a Pacific Island Coalition for Cancer, which was a recommendation from her Master of Public Health research project.
Sanchia and Amelia are also involved in a cross-pillar program of work to strengthen civil society organisations in cancer advocacy and policy. Activities vary by country but will include Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Vanuatu, Timor-Leste, Solomon Islands, Malaysia, Tuvalu and Nauru. A recent announcement by President Joe Biden on behalf of the QUAD nations to support a Cancer Moonshot for Cervical Cancer in the Pacific, and more investment from the Minderoo Foundation, suggest that the work is gaining significant momentum.
PHR is a $620million, five-year initiative (2022-23 to 2026-27) that aims to support Pacific and Southeast Asian countries to deliver better health outcomes for all, by contributing to more resilient and equitable public health systems with greater capability to respond to health emergencies.
PHR has been designed to align with the needs of the region and support regional and national health priorities covering four key areas: (i) communicable disease prevention and control; (ii) non-communicable disease prevention and control, including mental health; (iii) sexual and reproductive health and rights; and (iv) core public health policy and administrative functions to support health systems.
