October 2025

The event was a celebration with members of the Chancellor’s Circle – a group of alumni, staff and friends of the University who have made significant contributions to La Trobe – to thank them for enabling us to continue advancing our vision to be a university where inclusion and innovation produce real world impact.

The evening featured an inspiring panel discussion about our Regional Pathways Program that included a participant in the Program, one of its generous donors, and Cherie Dyde from our Widening Participation and Outreach team, who leads the Program. It builds on a pathways program which began in 2017 at our Albury-Wodonga campus that has now been expanded across all our regional campuses.

The Regional Pathways Program helps students build confidence and assists in their transition from secondary school to higher education. Around 1,000 students have gone through the Program, which has been life-changing, with more than 70 per cent of participants going on to further education. And it’s only possible because of a community of donors – that’s the sort of impact we can have as part of our ambition to be a university for all.

To learn more, please read Cherie’s stirring explanation of the Program’s mission and this terrific case study about a student who has benefited from the Program.

Hearing the panellists talk about the impact of giving was timely because October is Staff Giving Month at La Trobe – an opportunity to celebrate the impact we create together through our Golden Lanyard Staff Giving Program, a program I am proud to personally support.

Through Golden Lanyard, you can make tax-deductible donations to support equity scholarships and other initiatives. Every contribution counts. Small gifts, when combined, create something powerful – and we are on track to award the 100th Golden Lanyard Scholarship in 2026. That’s one hundred scholarships supporting one hundred students experiencing disadvantage who otherwise might not have the opportunity to study at university. What an incredible impact!

I’m delighted to say the University will match every contribution made by staff during October, dollar for dollar. I encourage you to find out more and consider contributing to the Program this month so we can double our impact during Staff Giving Month.

In the meantime, I’d like to share some recent achievements and activities from across our campuses.

Regional ready

La Trobe’s contribution to regional communities was on show on 10 September when our Chancellor the Hon. John Brumby AO presented the inaugural Mallee Series keynote lecture in Mildura. The Chancellor’s talk, The Role of the Regions in Building a Better Australia, explored challenges facing the nation and the opportunities for regional cities to lead the way forward.

The event drew a diverse audience of local leaders and community members, and demonstrated our role in regional thought leadership. It also highlighted La Trobe’s impact across the regions through collaborating with partners and providing an environment to generate ideas and innovation.

Our regional impact will be on show once again later this month when the Governor of Victoria, Her Excellency Professor the Honourable Margaret Gardner AC, visits our Bendigo campus as part of a tour of the city being facilitated by the City of Greater Bendigo. It will be an excellent opportunity to showcase our campus and the investments we’ve made in facilities and programs to support regional skills development, including the new Rural Dentistry and Oral Health Clinical School we launched in August.

Leading lights

It has been great to see La Trobe colleagues recognised for their impact recently.

Lesley Cheng won the Innovator/Entrepreneur Award at the 2025 Women of Colour in STEM Awards that recognises a woman of colour who has developed a novel product, idea or technology within STEM fields. As the Co-Founder and CEO of La Trobe spin-out biotech company ExCelligent, Lesley is driving the commercialisation of an innovative blood-based diagnostic test for Alzheimer’s disease and other brain conditions. And congratulations to Erinna Lee, Vivian Tran, Urooj Raza Khan and Alysha De Livera who were finalists in the Awards, which are presented by STEM Sisters to honour the achievements of women of colour who are pioneering change and driving innovation in STEM fields.

Our Bendigo Head of Campus Marg O’Rourke was named as the 2025 recipient of the Outstanding Achievement in the TAFE and Skills Sector Award in recognition of her leadership in supporting vocational education and training, and championing educational access for disadvantaged communities.

Clare Wright received yet another accolade for her book Näku Dhäruk The Bark Petitions: How the People of Yirrkala Changed the Course of Australian Democracy, winning the Best Non-Fiction Book Award at the 2025 Queensland Literary Awards.

Leanne Ngo won Best Program for Young Individuals in Security at the 2025 Australian Women in Security Awards for her work in creating inclusive opportunities in cybersecurity through La Trobe’s Cybersecurity Program. The Program empowers young women and non-binary people, creates innovative pathways and learning opportunities, and includes strong peer and industry mentoring.

And Sophia Duan from the La Trobe Business School has garnered a nomination for AI Academic/Researcher of the Year in the 2025 Australian AI Awards for her research into responsible AI adoption.

Congratulations to all.

Engagement awards

There’s every chance that more of our projects will be recognised for their innovation and impact next month, with La Trobe programs shortlisted in six of the eight categories in the Engagement Australia 2025 Excellence Awards that recognise exceptional university community-building initiatives across Australia and New Zealand.

All six La Trobe nominations were shortlisted; an outstanding result. We are finalists in the Community Engagement, Student Learning, Indigenous Engagement, Industry Engagement and Leadership categories. Winners will be announced at an event in Sydney on Wednesday 12 November.

Writing Indigenous history

was delighted to see Julie Andrews and Katherine Ellinghaus have been awarded a $1 million grant through the ARC Discovery Indigenous scheme to investigate the role of the Yorta Yorta people in the Goulburn Valley fruit-picking industry, in collaboration with Leanne Miller AM, Chairperson of the Aboriginal-led not-for-profit Outback Academy Australia.

I’m also thrilled that La Trobe University Press is publishing Julie’s book Where's All the Community?: Aboriginal Melbourne Revisited early next year.

The book is a vivid social history that provides insights into Aboriginal mobility, kinship, culture and identity in Melbourne. You can pre-order a copy here.

Health innovation

The University continues to make progress in our health innovation program.

Ing Kong has won a $3 million Federal Government Cooperative Research Centre Project grant to work with Melbourne-based med-tech company Haemograph to develop technologies to prevent air bubbles in medical devices.

And La Trobe experts have been recognised for their work in supporting mental health. Lisa Brophy and Tessa-May Zirnsak from our Care Economy Research Institute were recognised at the Australia and New Zealand 2025 Mental Health Service Awards; and PhD researcher Angela Chapman has been named as the Veterinary Nurses Council Mental Health Ambassador of the Year.

Upcoming events

La Trobe Art Institute (LAI) is presenting a natural dyeing workshop in Bendigo on Sunday 19 October with Quishile Charan, the inaugural recipient of the Artspace Aotearoa and LAI residency. You can register here to join Quishile to experiment with pre-made pigments, eco-printing and natural dyeing, and learn about the cultural knowledge of her ancestors.

On Thursday 23 October, La Trobe Asia is partnering with Asia Society Australia and youth-run not-for-profit Girls Run the World to present a panel discussion on women’s leadership across Asia and Australia. La Trobe Asia research fellow Ambika Vishwanath will be joined by Premesha Saha from Asia Society Australia and Asha Clementi, Founder and CEO of Girls Run the World. You can register here to attend the event at La Trobe’s City campus or here to join the livestream.

The next event in the Industry Innovation Series presented by our Industry Engagement team is being held on Friday 31 October and is an opportunity to connect with research and industry leaders to explore the latest advancements in infectious diseases innovation. La Trobe microbiology specialist Ashley Franks will lead discussion with experts from mRNA tech company Moderna, R&D fund CARB-X, and spin-out company Deftbiotech. You can register here.

In closing

As you can see, it’s been another busy month across the University. Congratulations to the colleagues mentioned above on receiving prestigious grants and awards. It’s especially pleasing to see so many La Trobe women excelling on the national stage – we all share in your success.

Finally, good luck to those teaching the closing weeks of Semester 2 over the next fortnight.

With best wishes,
Theo