August 2026

It was exciting to see so many prospective students and their families touring our facilities, exploring study options and taking part in events and activities. There were some excellent new additions this year, including a dedicated program for Aspire applicants, a live broadcast from community radio station Inner FM in the Agora, and tours of our newest facilities, including the Education Practice Lab and Clinical Teaching Building. We also launched our new Bachelor of AI Engineering, developed with industry partners Cisco and Rockwell Automation, whose advanced AI manufacturing software platforms will give students hands-on experience in laboratory classes.

Open Day is a huge team effort across the University. It involves academic and professional staff from our Schools, colleagues from the Library, La Trobe Sport, and Infrastructure and Operations, and the Student Recruitment, Marketing, Digital, Events and Communications teams in the Future Growth portfolio. Thank you to all these teams, and to everyone who has contributed their time and expertise to make Open Day such a success.

Open Days continue across our regional campuses throughout August, with Shepparton up next this Sunday. As we prepare to welcome prospective students and their families, I've been reflecting on my annual dinners with school principals from the communities we serve across regional Victoria. Following gatherings in Albury-Wodonga in April and Shepparton and Mildura in July, I'll be joining principals in Bendigo tonight for an event at the La Trobe Art Institute.

These conversations are a valuable reminder of why our regional mission matters. Whether we're discussing pathways into university, the aspirations of young people, the opportunities and challenges of AI in education, or the skills regional communities will need in the years ahead, it’s clear that regional schools do extraordinary work in supporting young people and their communities.

As a university with deep roots in regional Victoria, we have a responsibility to support our partner schools and strengthen local education. Strong partnerships are essential to our mission to expand opportunity, increase participation, grow the regional workforce, and help more students realise their potential close to home. Hearing directly from principals provides valuable insights into the opportunities and challenges facing their schools, helping ensure our programs remain grounded in the needs and aspirations of the communities we serve.

With that in mind, I'd now like to share some recent achievements and activities from across our campuses.

Research that matters

Following last month’s update on Rainbow Health Australia being awarded $2.1 million by the Victorian Government to lead a project that aims to prevent family and gender-based violence against Victoria’s LGBTIQA+ communities, I’m delighted to share another major achievement from La Trobe’s Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society (ARCSHS). The Centre is leading a consortium awarded $10 million to deliver a national program that will improve access to safe, respectful, and inclusive healthcare for LGBTIQA+ communities. Working with AIDS Council of New South Wales (ACON), Thorne Harbour Health and Portable, the program will establish a national training and accreditation framework for primary care providers and help build a trusted network of inclusive healthcare services.

Congratulations to Adam Bourne and the ARCSHS team on this outstanding recognition of their continuing leadership and commitment to research that delivers real-world impact.

Advancing our AI journey

We have reached some important milestones on our journey to build capability and confidence in responsible AI adoption.

I was delighted to see a strong turnout of industry partners and colleagues at the launch of the La Trobe AI Institute on 22 July. Under the leadership of Managing Director Patricia Haueiss, the Institute will promote the University's AI capability across research, education and industry collaboration. It will demonstrate how AI can help solve real-world challenges, with the launch showcasing powerful examples of AI in action, including Wei Xiang's work with Aglantis on AI-driven smart irrigation, our collaboration with Core dna to explore AI agents in the workplace, and our partnership with Energy Safe Victoria to develop tools that help forecast electrically caused fire incidents and high-risk days.

We have also launched the AI Business Studio, an initiative led by the La Trobe Business School and housed in the AI Institute. Following a pilot this year, more than 1,000 students will support small and medium enterprises to adopt AI over 2027 and 2028. The initiative will provide businesses with practical recommendations and outputs that drive innovation and productivity, while giving students valuable experiential learning opportunities and applied AI capability.

I also attended an excellent forum at our Mildura campus last week that explored how AI can support innovation across agriculture, horticulture and regional enterprises. Presented by the University in partnership with Regional Development Australia, the Mallee Regional Innovation Centre, SuniTAFE, the Mildura-Wentworth Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Mildura Rural City Council, the discussions reinforced the importance of ensuring regional Australia helps shape how AI is adopted, so it reflects the strengths, priorities and needs of regional communities.

Further afield, it was fantastic to see 50 students from 10 leading universities across India take part in the La Trobe x Cisco AI City Modernisation Innovation Sprint presented by the University in collaboration with Cisco and the Australian High Commission in India. While O.P. Jindal Global University was crowned the winner following the two-day event in New Delhi, every team came up with creative and practical AI-driven solutions to address some of India's most pressing urban challenges.

Looking ahead, it’s pleasing to see La Trobe’s AI leadership recognised through invitations to contribute to national conversations about the future of higher education and Australia’s AI workforce.

Our Pro Vice-Chancellor (AI) and Chief AI Officer Phil Laufenberg will join a panel on The AI University at this year’s Australian Financial Review Higher Education Summit in Sydney on 18 August. It is the first time the Summit has included a dedicated session on AI, reflecting the growing importance of AI to the future of higher education.

On 19 August, I will be a panellist at the inaugural National AI Skills Forum in Canberra, presented by the Australian Government’s National AI Centre and the Future Skills Organisation, a Jobs and Skills Council funded by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations. The forum brings together senior leaders from government, industry, trade unions and the education sector to help shape a coordinated national approach to building Australia’s AI workforce.

India connections

India is one of La Trobe’s most important international partners. We have more than 11,000 alumni from India, longstanding partnerships with leading Indian universities, and industry collaborations and commercialisation projects across the country.

We are also founding partners of the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne, which we are sponsoring for a 17th consecutive year in 2026. This year’s festival runs from 13 to 23 August and features more than 130 films in 38 languages, with both in-cinema and online screenings for audiences across Australia. The program also includes a special event at which La Trobe will confer an honorary doctorate on Rani Mukerji, one of India’s most respected and accomplished actors, in recognition of her artistic achievements, humanitarian work, and commitment to using culture as a force for positive social change.

La Trobe's enduring connections with India are also reflected in our commitment to teaching modern Indian languages. We are one of only two Australian universities to offer these programs, alongside The Australian National University (ANU). It was terrific to see our expertise recognised through a Maitri Grant awarded to Ruth Gamble, Ian Woolford and Divya Rama Gopalakrishnan, who will collaborate with colleagues at ANU on a project that aims to build cultural literacy and language capability in Hindi, Punjabi and Tamil across Australian communities.

Supporting success closer to home

It was a pleasure to celebrate the first anniversary of our Broadmeadows Study Hub last Friday, ahead of tomorrow's celebrations in Epping, the other site in our Northern Study Hub network. The network is making a real difference for students across Melbourne's north, with more than 400 registrations during its first year, many being the first in their family to attend university. By providing welcoming spaces to study locally, access learning support and connect with peers, the Hubs are helping remove barriers to educational access and strengthening pathways between Vocational Education and Training (VET) and university through our partnerships with Melbourne Polytechnic, Bendigo Kangan Institute, local councils and community organisations.

Upcoming events

On Monday 10 August, the La Trobe Centre for Global Security is co-hosting a discussion with the Australian Institute of International Affairs (AIIA) Victoria and the Australia India Institute on protecting the submarine cables that underpin communications, commerce and national security. David Brewster from ANU’s National Security College and Samuel Bashfield from the Centre for Global Security will lead discussion at the AIIA offices in Melbourne’s CBD, and you can also join online. Registration details are here.

On 11 August, the University's Eagleworks Innovation Centre is partnering with the City of Darebin and Australia's largest founder community, The Startup Network, to present an event on scaling a creative business. Featuring Joe Blanck, founder of design studio A Blanck Canvas, the event will offer practical insights and networking opportunities for founders and aspiring entrepreneurs. More information is available here.

Finally, the latest exhibition at La Trobe Art Institute (LAI), Actions for Water II, opens on 20 August. Curated by LAI Senior Curator Amelia Wallin and guest curator Sharmila Wood, the exhibition explores water as a vital ecology as well as a site of speculative possibility. A program of talks, tours, lectures and public events will accompany the exhibition, inviting audiences to engage with themes around water, ecology, climate awareness, cultural knowledge and shared resources. Actions for Water II runs until 8 November at LAI on View Street, Bendigo.

In closing

Best of luck to the many colleagues who are working incredibly hard to prepare for Open Days across our regional campuses over the coming weeks.

I'm confident we'll build on the success of our Bundoora Open Day and continue inspiring prospective students to choose La Trobe in 2027. Best wishes,

Theo