Academics

ACT
     

NSW


Dr Paul A. Iji, a Nigerian by birth, is an Associate Professor of Poultry Science and the Postgraduate Coordinator of the School of Environmental and Rural Science at the University of New England (UNE), Armidale, Australia.

Dr Iji studied in Nigeria, Scotland and Australia.  He worked at Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria for 12 years and also in South Africa before returning to Australia.  In the mid-1990s, while studying for his PhD, he was a Representative of the Association of Nigerians Abroad (ANA) in the Oceania region and an official of the Nigerian Association in South Australia. 

On obtaining his PhD, he took up appointment at the University of Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal) and also worked at the University of Pretoria and Central University of Technology, South Africa over a period of about six years.  He was a founding member and first President of the Nigerian Association in KwaZulu-Natal.  He returned to Australia about 7 years ago to take up his present position at UNE and is currently leading the formation of the African Association in New England. 

Dr Iji heads one of the few groups in the world investigating gastrointestinal function in poultry and other farm animals.  He has supervised and graduated nine PhD students, and currently supervises several postgraduate students, in addition to his teaching and coordinating commitments. 

Dr Iji is the author of a research book, Writing and Publishing Your Research and a children’s book, A Guide for Young Africans Growing up Overseas, both available through Amazon.   He has also published 5 book chapters, and close to 200 journal and conference papers. 

Dr Iji has been an invited Speaker at 15 international conferences in Australia, Africa, Europe and Asia.  He is an excellent mentor of students and has presented seminars on study and writing skills to students in Australia, Nigeria and New Zealand.  He is an Associate Editor of six scientific journals, and also reviews articles for many other animal science journals. 

Until recently, Dr Iji was the New England regional Chairman of the World’s Poultry Science Association; is a Registered Animal Nutritionist, and Member of the Nigerian Institute of Animal Science; Nutrition Society of Australia, and Australian Society of Animal Production, among other professional societies.  Dr Iji was recently offered a one-year fellowship by the Nigerian Universities Commission, to spend sabbatical leave in universities in Nigeria.  



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Mohammed Omar
came to Australia as an Eight year old child. Over the past eighteen years Mohammed has achieved many educational milestones.

He has a BA in History, Politics and Philosophy and a Master’s Degree in Education from the University of Western Sydney speciali
sing in the Human Societies and Its Environments (HSIE) subjects.

While at University Mohammed held various positions within the Student Union on campus getting involved in active political campaigning on campus.

He is currently a Year Adviser and HSIE Teacher at Cabramatta High School in Sydney’s South-West. In addition, Mohammed was the inaugural Chairman of the Horn of Africa Youth Association of Australia (HAYAA) from 2009-2011 as well as the inaugural Chairman of the Sydney Stars Football Club from 2009 till now and an Executive Member of Auburn Sports Club.

On top of all this, Mohammed is the new President of HARDA (Horn of Africa Relief and Development Agency of Australia). Mohammed has a sound track record when it comes to assisting the African and other Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) youth of Sydney through his Youth Outreach Programs.

 
Dr Virginia Mapedzahama is a Senior Research Associate at the  University of Sydney, NSW.

 Virginia has taught numerous courses in sociology at the University of Zimbabwe (Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology) and the University of South Australia (School of International Studies, School of Education and the Unaipon School [David Unaipon College of Indigenous Education and Research]). Her research roles include working as a Research Assistant in the Hawke Research Institution for Sustainable Societies at the University of South Australia and working as an independent researcher on various projects in Zimbabwe and Australia.

Virginia’s current research interests include African women and work, African women's diasporic identities and the work/life interface, work–life interaction, African and black feminisms, cross-cultural nursing and migrant nursing identities.


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Dr Olayide Ogunsiji is currently a lecturer at University of Western Sydney, Australia.

Olayide's current responsibilities include teaching Evidence Based Nursing 1 and Family Health Care: Chronicity and Palliative Care Nursing in the Nursing undergraduate program.

She is the unit coordinator Knowing Nursing. She has experience in teaching undergraduate students both locally and overseas and have worked in a number of clinical areas in Australia.


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Associate Professor, Faculty of The Professions, School of Business Economics and Public Policy, University of New England, Armidale NSW, Australia.

Qualifications

B.Sc Admin (Ghana), MEc, (NE), PhD (NE)

Areas of Teaching

Small Business Management, Small Business Policy

Research interests

Issues in Small Business Management, Women in Business, Psychology of the business owner, planning and performance in small firms, debt and equity finance in small firms, small business policy in developing economies, management and performance issues in small and family business, financial issues in small business and small business policy.



 
Associate Professor Inakwu Odeh
is a Sesquicentennial Senior Lecturer in Rural Spatial Information Systems at the Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, The University of Sydney.

Odeh is the current Sub-program leader of the Australian Cotton Catchment Communities Cooperative Research Centre and the Vice President of Australian Soil Science Society (Inc.) New South Wales Branch.

Odeh was one of the first to introduce the techniques of regression-kriging and the concept of fuzzy set theory to soil science and apply the fuzzy sets theory to mapping the soil continuum as a continuous land surface body.

The total number of his career publications is 103, including 29 in refereed journals, 13  in refereed conference proceedings, 10 book chapters and 16 articles in popular media. In addition he has brought in external grants of over $2.1m since his appointment at the University of Sydney. 


Previously Odeh was a Senior Research Fellow and Research Fellow with the Australian Cotton Cooperative Research Centre and currently an active member of the following bodies:  International Society of Environmental Information Sciences, British Photogrammetric and Remote Sensing Society, British
Soil Science Society, Australian Soil Science Society, and International Union of Soil Science.


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Dr Ndungi W a Mungai is a lecturer at the School of H umanities and Social Sciences, Charles Sturt University, NSW since February 2010.

Ndungi has
taught Human Rights, Social Work Research methods and Social Work Theory and Practice.

His research interests include working with migrant communities, masculinities and human rights.

Ndungi's MSW research was on the needs of asylum seekers and his PhD focused on young Sudanese men settling in Melbourne. He has also participated in a team researching migrant masculinities.




NT

     
   

QLD

 Dr John Asafu-Adjaye

Associate Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland, Australia

Dr Asafu-Adjaye teaches a course in Environmental Economics as part of the Collaborative PhD Programme to students from a number of African universities. This collaborative PhD programme objectives are individual and institutional capacity building, enhancing the relevance curricula, theory, teaching and research to African development problems.

He has held a number of prestigious positions within the University including, Chair, Infrastructure Committee, Teaching and Learning Committee, School of Economics; Member, School of Economics Executive Committee; Member, Management Committee, Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation, Faculty of Natural Resources, Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences

Consultant Economist, Africa Vision 2050, African Development Bank

Researched and wrote a chapter on climate change for the Africa Vision 2050 project. Work involved modelling climate change impacts using a computable general equilibrium model.

Other positions held by Dr Asafu-Adjaye include:

  • Consultant, Westpac Banking Corp PNG Ltd, PNG
  • Consultant Economist, African Economic Research Consortium, Kenya
  • Consultant, ExxonMobil, PNG
  • Consultant, Lae City Water Supply Project, AusAID, Ghana
  • Consultant, Ok Tedi Copper Mine, Government of Papua New Guinea/KPMG Ltd, PNG
 

Dr Yeboah Gyasi-Agyei

is Associate Professor of Hydrology and Water Engineering, Deputy Director of the Centre for Railway Engineering (CRE) and Chief Investigator of the HEFRAIL Erosion Control Project at Central Queensland University (CQUniversity).

Yeboah obtained his PhD in Civil Engineering (Hydrology/Water Engineering) from the Free University of Brussels, Belgium, and holds a BSc(Hons) in Civil Engineering from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana.

He started his career as an Assistant Lecturer at KNUST (1984-1987) before moving to Belgium to pursue postgraduate studies. Between February 1994 and May 1997 he was employed as a Research Associate at the University of Newcastle, Australia. In June 1997 he joined CQUniversity to develop new research directions and establish a team on erosion control of railway embankment/cutting batters (HEFRAIL Project). The HEFRAIL Project has delivered excellent practical outcomes, satisfying the industry partner in terms of solving their problems with a reduction in operational costs. He has prepared erosion control standards for the design and maintenance of QR National embankments and cuttings. HEFRAIL Project technologies have been developed for commercial applications for erosion control on civil engineered steep slopes under the trademark “RAPID GRASS”.

Yeboah’s other research interests include stochastic disaggregation of daily rainfall into fine timescale for hydrological and environmental modelling. His total research income to date is $2.64 million. He has published his research findings in highly respected international journals and has also presented at international conferences. As an academic, he also teaches Water Engineering courses and supervises postgraduate students at CQUniversity. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Engineers Australia (IEAUST) and a Registered Professional Engineer of Queensland.


  

SA

 

Chika is a senior academic at the University of Adelaide in South Australia. He was the Founding Head of the University’s Department of Media from 2002 to 2006.

His professional career cuts across many fields from Stage to Screen and from Policy to Business Leadership and Management. He started his academic career in Nigeria with a First Class Honours in Theatre Arts from the University of Ibadan in 1986.

He is one of Only Two First Class Honours ever awarded in Theatre Arts from the University Ibadan to date. He has a Masters in Media Arts and was also the First PhD graduate in Screen Studies from Flinders University of South Australia.

He has a Graduate Business Qualification in Leadership and Management from Curtin Graduate Business School in Western Australia. Chika is a Fellow of the Governor’s Leadership Institute of South Australia.

He has been teaching and researching in media with specialisations in Media Law and Policy, Creative Industries, Broadcast Radio and Television, and New Media Management since 1988

He has set up and headed three Media and Mass Communication Departments across two continents, first at the University of Papua New Guinea, from 1991, then at Curtin University of Technology from 1997 and now at the University of Adelaide. He has also lectured at Flinders University of South Australia.

He sits on the board of many community and government bodies in Australia including the Mobile Entertainment Alliance, South Australian Certificate of Education subject advisory board, and was on the board of Community Access Television Channel 44 from 2002 -2008.

He is a very active researcher and consultant, and is currently Director of two large research programs: Creative Industries and Virtual African Diaspora:

Creative Industries is a research program established in 2004 through a Commonwealth of Australia competitive Industry Linkage grant. The project investigates the economic potentials of the creative sectors of the economy such as arts, film, television, design, performing arts mobile telecommunications, as well as extrapolate their intellectual property contributions to the economy.

Virtual African Diaspora (VAD) was set up as his contribution to his African roots in order to help preserve the African heritage threatened by western technology and urban migration. The project uses interactive media technologies to investigate ways of empowering Africans through digital storytelling which combines traditional African folklores with digital technologies to create educational and entertainment tools which could be used to inculcate African cultural values, sense of social justice, civic responsibility and equity to African children.

As a result of this project he was awarded the Leslie Humanities Visiting Fellowship at Dartmouth, New Hampshire in 2005, as well as Research collaboration at the Annenberg Centre of Interactive Media, University of Southern California USA to develop some of the techniques of VAD.

He belongs to many international professional bodies as:

·         Associate Editor, Legal Issues, Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization www.rpcg.org;

·         Member of European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA);

·         Vice president of Australian and New Zealand Communication Association of which he was president from 2005-2007;

·         Executive Member, African Studies Association of Australasia and the Pacific;

·         Member of Convergent Communication Research Group;

·         Member of OurMedia (An International Community Media Advocacy and Research Organisation);

·         Member of IAMCR (International Association of Media and Communication Research)

Chika has more than 65 publications in Books, Journals, Government reports, Conferences and Electronic works plus over 15 invited keynote and Public lectures across many continents including a recent public lecture at the Benue State University in Nigeria in June of this year.

He is the Director of an Australian registered consultancy company called Chik Consulting

  

Professor Jonas Addai-Mensah is an Associate Director and a Professor at the Ian Wark Research Institute which is an Australian Research Council Special Research Centre of the University of South Australia (UniSA).

 A Chemical Engineer by training, Professor Addai-Mensah has been senior academic of UniSA for the past 18 years educating Engineering and Science professionals. Over that period, he has also held various university management and leadership positions, including Dean of Research Education and served on various national / international professional body committees & university academic boards.

Furthermore, as a Chief Investigator he has attracted over $20 million in research funding from the Australian government and the minerals industry to solve difficult problems for the sector. Prof. Addai-Mensah also is an active consultant to several multinational companies in Australia, Africa, Europe and USA in the area of minerals and mineral waste processing.

As a part of his service and engagement to the community, Prof. Addai-Mensah has secured over $3 million dollars in scholarships to support 12 African students who are currently undertaking their doctorate degrees in Engineering Science at UniSA. Overall, he has educated thousands of Australian and international students and supervised over 30 Ph.D students in Engineering and Science disciplines.


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Dr Eric "Akin" Adetutu is a highly skilled scientist with over 10 years research experience spanning environmental health, environmental conservation, waste treatment and remediation of contaminated environments. He has extensive project management experience having worked in Africa, Europe and Australia. He has substantial experience in the application of cutting edge molecular tools to resolving environmental issues. He has extensive experience in classical (culture based methods) and molecular (PCR, commubity fingerprinting, functional genomics and metagenomics) microbiology.

Qualifications
PhD (Microbiology), University of Essex, UK, 2005
M.Sc (Microbiology, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, 1997.
B.Sc Hons (Microbiology), University of Ilorin, Nigeria, 1994

Honours, awards and grants
Overseas Research Studentship (ORS), University of Essex, UK (2002-2005).
Best graduating M.Sc student in Microbiology, University of Ibadan, Nigeria (1997).

Key responsibilities

Coordinating and developing new research projects locally and internationally
Training and co-supervision of undergraduate and higher degree students
Providing support in molecular microbiology for research across a variety of fields (Biology, Archaeology and Chemistry)
Writing environmental reports for commercial partners and manuscripts for publication in high quality peer reviewed journals
 
Research and consultancy

Research interests
 
In the School of Biological Science, Dr Eric M Adetutu is part of the environmental biotechnology research group headed by Professor Andy Ball. He has been involved in different studies spanning a variety of fields in science ranging from Microbiology to Chemistry.  He is a trained molecular microbiologist and his expertise is in applying molecular tools to the study of microbial communities in the environment and how these communities respond to natural and human related changes in environmental conditions (function and diversity).
 
His research interests include;
 
(1) Microbial treatment of wastes
 
(ii) Bioremediation of contaminated environments
 
(iii) Microbial interactions with metals
 
(iv) Application of metagenomics in the study of microbial communities
(v) Assessment of the impact of human visitation on the cave environment
 
(vi) Molecular mycology
 

 

Dr. Chi Ndi is a Research Associate within the Quality Use of Medicines and Pharmacy Research Centre at the University of South Australia. He is a Natural Product chemist, who investigates Native Australian Plants in search of drug leads that could be used for other biomedical applications.

His research interests includes the chemistry of natural products, Antimicrobial activity of Australian Medicinal Plants and the Isolation and structural elucidation of bioactive compounds from plants.

Dr Chi Ndi is also the owner and administrator of African Junction.


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Dr Sumbo Ndi is a Research Fellow within the Infectious Diseases and Microbiology Research Group at the University of South Australia.  Her research interests are in the epidemiology, control and prevention of Human food-borne diseases with particular interest in vaccine development.

She is also interested in the epidemiology and mechanism of Antibiotic resistance in animal and human bacteria. Antibiotic resistance is a significant human health issue and there are reports about the link between antibiotic use in food producing animals and the emergence of resistant bacteria in animals which have the potential of being transferred to humans.

Dr Sumbo Ndi also helps with the administration of African Junction.



TAS

     

VIC

Dr Apollo Nsubuga-Kyobe AFAIM, MAHRI, FAFBE, JP.   One of the African-Australians who has made great and significant contributions in community work, academia, research, and teaching; he currently involved in different projects linking Africa and Australia.

He has been involved with a wide range of community based and professional membership activities principally for contributing to the development and smooth management on the issues of the emerging communities especially those relating to African-Australians in Victoria and Australia in general.  He has been (now for three terms) an Executive Member of the Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria (ECCV) (State peak body), a member of the Victoria Multicultural Commission, Hume Regional Advisory Committee (a Victoria Government Advisory body- appointed for two years initially), Chair of the D.H.S Victoria Multicultural Advisory Committee, Board member and Vice President of the Ethnic Council of Shepparton & Districts (Regional).  He has been a charter member of the Brotherhood of St Laurence, Executive Board member of the African Think Tank Inc., and the Public Relations Officer of the Eastern and Central Africa Communities of Victoria (EACACOV, now African Communities Foundation Inc. (AFCFI)   (-State-wide Organisation) as well President of GV African Communities Association and Public Officer/Treasurer of the GV Ethnic Professionals Association (GVEPA). 

He has been Vice President of the African Studies Association of the Australasia and the Pacific Inc. (AFSAAP) for four terms until 2011. Among key AFSAAP’s objectives include: promoting research and teaching of African Studies mainly in Australia and the Pacific and to facilitate contact among scholars and students in the field of African Studies and other related knowledge advancements of various types.  As AFSAAP Vice President he has worked closely with the Presidents, Associate Professor David Lucas 2008 - 2009 and Dr Fernanda Claudio 2010 - 2011 to achieve a number of things for Africans, which include ensuring further advances in African Studies in Australia and the Pacific and creating more links and engagements with Africans, their issues, scholars, and key institutions there.  Refer to the submissions to and outcomes the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence, and Trade: Inquiry into Australia’s Relationship with the countries of Africa. Even though other executive members eluded on the same thing, in the submission, on behalf of AFSAAP, Dr Fernanda Claudio and I we requested developing an African Study Centre in Australia, to which response recommendation 17 of the inquiry committee suggested having the centre be developed, funded, and be located with the Federal Department of Education, Training and Employment Relations.  In 2010 Dr Fernanda Claudio and I helped AFSAAP to enter into a working relationship (contract) with GRM International to undertake professional networking and pastoral care of African Ausaid scholars in Australia.  With further work we become a member of the ‘Australia-Africa Universities Network Group Forum. Generally, I have been among a few of us who are strategically thinking of taking AFSAAP to the next level of developing scholarly or research clusters within it so as to build/create positive links between Africa-centred researchers to the relevant capacities in Australasia and the Pacific. 

The matter of enhancing “African studies in Australia” has witnessed a new development of “Australia-Africa Universities Network Group” which has been formed, led by Sydney and Monash Universities and I am part of the network group.  This is in addition to the increasing formal and informal scholarships’ awards in a range of study fields including: trade and investment, domestic, continental and global diplomatic relations, multilateral and bilateral relations, peace-making, defence & security, good governance, poverty eradication and help to meet Development Millennium Goals, fresh water management and food security, agricultural research, mining and its safety and corporate social responsility issues, capacity building & HR and building other relevant institutions, good political and governance institutions, health promotion, social & economic development, and climate change matters to say the least.   

Apollo currently lectures in International Management the School of Business, Department of Management at La Trobe University and he has taught various courses in Management.  He has researched and published in various journals and books mainly for effective and efficient delivery of settlement services to ‘emerging communities’ and African-Australians in particular.  He is leading teams undertaking major projects in the Goulburn Valley Victoria aimed at minimising wastage in the utilisation of the migrants’ Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs).  This research project also aims to suggest how such KSAs could be used as a spring board for new economic and social contribution to the region and how the migrant communities would subsequently benefit through personal growth, integration and inclusion.  Since 1999/2000 Apollo Nsubuga-Kyobe has lead teams one of them mapped, evaluated, and benchmarked for betterment of the settlement services delivery to the Africans Communities in Victoria. A report was written for DIAC used as a blue print to deliver settlement services.  Apollo’s work has been recognised both internationally and nationally resulting into being listed under “Maquis of Who’s who in the World”, and on similar grounds the Victoria State Government has twice awarded him. 

In 2006 for an Outstanding Contribution to the Community and in 2008 the Victorian Refugee Recognition Record (VRRR) Award and he is also “Justice of the Peace” in Victoria after training as Independent Person called on by police as when needs be.   On the Australian Day 2009, the City of Greater Shepparton (COGS) awarded Apollo with “An Academic Contribution Award to the Community” a recognition of his use of the academic position, research, and community engage to make a significant contribution the GV emerging communities.

He is an Associate Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management, Member of the Asia Pacific Human Resource Institute, Fellow and Executive Member of the Asian Forum for Business Education (AFBE), Editorial Board of AFBE Journal and Vice President of the African Studies Association of Australasia and the Pacific (AFSAAP) and Editorial Board member of the Australasian Review of African Studies, an academic Journal published by the African Studies Association of Australasia and The Pacific.

 

  
Dr Kwamena Kwansah-Aidoo  is the Associate Professor of Public Relations /Marketing and Head of the Communications Academic Group at  Swinburne University, Hawthorn, Victoria.

From 2001-2007, he was responsible for developing, nurturing and providing leadership and direction to the public relations program of the School of Humanities, Communications & Social Sciences, Monash University.

 His expertise spans across the fields of Communications, Media Studies and Public Relations; with a wealth of experience in teaching and curriculum development in these disciplinary areas. 



A /Professor André M.N. Renzaho, PhD, MPH

Originally from the Democ- ratic Republic of Congo, his current positions include:

Director:  Migration, Social Disadvantage, and Health Programs at Monash University;

Executive Director: AfricanLeadership, Learning and Advocacy Group Inc , and

Senior Fellow:  Burnet Institute.

He has previously worked with: the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Concern World Wide, Care Australia, Médecins Sans Frontières, and World Vision International; covering sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Asia and South America.

Awards and Recognition:

  • ARC Future Fellowship award (2012)
  • Heart Foundation CDA award (2011)
  • Ministerial appointment: Dental Practice Board of Victoria (2008-2010);
  • International recognition: Who's Who in the World, 2008 Edition for demonstrating outstanding achievement in  refugee health and for contributing significantly to the betterment of contemporary society;
  • Appointment: Deakin University Human Ethics Advisory Group as well as the Faculty of Health Equity and Diversity Committee (2008-2011);
  • Growing Research Together award, Deakin University (2008);
  • Approved contractor: New Zealand’s International Aid and Development Agency (2004-2011);
  • Ian Potter Foundation award (2002),
  • Australian and New Zealand Obesity Society award (2002)

Advisory committee memberships (or convener) and Expert Panel

* National Health and Medical Research Council’s Postdoctoral Reference Group (2012-);

* World Vision Australia’s AusAID NGO Cooperation Programs Review Committee (2004-2007);

* World Vision International and Canadian International Development Agency Micronutrient and Health Taskforce (2004-2007);

* Nutrition in Culturally Diverse Communities by the Australian Department of Health and Ageing and Eat Well Victoria Partnership (2003);

* Refugee Health Service Model review committee by the Department of Human Services and Western Region Health Centre (2001-2001)

* Refugees and Humanitarian Entrants Research Strategy by the Department of Human Services and the Centre for Culture Ethnicity and Health (2001-2002)

* Partners in Culturally Appropriate Aged Care steering committee by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Services (2002)

* Healthy Eating Communication Strategy-Filling the Gap by Department of Human Services and Royal Children Hospital (2001-2002)

* Maternal and Child Health and Preschool Services Linkage by Department of Human Services (2001-2002)

Editorial board membership

  • The Journal of Internal Displacement;
  • The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health
  • The Health Services Insights Journal
  • The Open Tropical Medicine Journal
Research outputs
  • Three authoritative books (published in New York)
  • More than 100 papers in high impact journals (IF>2.0)
  • Attracted more than $4 million in national competitive grants
  • Regularly writes opinion pieces for the Age, Herald Sydney Morning, and Tasmania Times on African affairs
  • Supervised to completion five postgraduate students

Advocacy success

Embarked on a case against channel 7, 9 and 10 under the “respect for African Australians” slogan with success. ACMA ruled that each of the licensees breached clause 4.3.1 (present factual material accurately) and that ATV Melbourne (Channel 10) and GTV Melbourne (channel 9) also breached clause 4.4.1 (present news fairly and impartially) of the Commercial Industry Code of Practice 2004.

Successful media forum “Spotlight on Stereotypes: Multicultural Communities and the Media’ on 13 May 2010 in collaboration with the Ethnic Community Council of Victoria

Success with the Migrant Women Leadership and Mentoring programs, with 10 women graduating from the program ( funded by the then Brumby Victorian government)






 

 Dr Johnson Ihyeh Agbinya a Nigerian by birth, is an Associate Professor of Remote Sensing Systems Engineering, in the department of Electronic Engineering at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. Dr Agbinya is also Professor Extraordinaire in Computer Science at the University of Western Cape, Cape Town , South Africa and Professor Extraordinaire in telecommunications at Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa.

Dr Agbinya studied Electronic/Electrical engineering at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, Nigeria, University of Strathclyde Scotland and Electronic Communication Engineering at La Trobe University, Australia with expertise in radar sensing systems. Prior to joining La Trobe as Associate Professor he worked as Senior Research Scientist for CSIRO (developing communication systems including voice over IP, biometric and face recognition systems), Research Manager in mobile communications for Vodafone Australia (developing and implementing mobile communication networks and was one of five engineers vested with the responsibility for the design of Vodafone Australia’s 3G mobile communication network) and as senior lecturer at UTS, in Sydney.
His main areas of research interests include remote sensing, sensors, mobile and broadband communications, sensor devices, networks, wireless power transfer and transmission systems.

He has supervised numerous successful PhD and MSc research graduates and currently teaches MSc coursework students and supervises PhD students located at La Trobe, UTS and the University of Western Cape, South Africa.

Dr Agbinya is the author of 7 recent technical books in Electronic Communications four of which are used as University text books in three continents. The technical books include Planning and Optimisation of 3G and 4G Wireless Networks; IP Communications and Services for NGN; Wireless Power Transfer; Emerging Broadband Communications and Applications: Next Generation Broadband Communications; Principles of Inductive Near Field Communications for Internet of Things; Biomedical and Environmental Sensing; Internet Technology In a Nutshell. He has also authored and co-authored more than 180 reviewed Journal, book chapters and conference papers.

He is Consulting Editor in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering for River Publishers, Denmark; Editor of the African Journal of ICT and is on the Technical Program Committees of several international conferences in telecommunications.
Dr Agbinya is founder of the African Journal of ICT and the founder and Program Chair of the International Conference on Broadband Communications and Biomedical Applications now in its seventh yea . He is an active member of the IEEE, African Institute of Mathematics (AIMS) and reviews journal papers for IEEE/IET Journals, ACM Journals and Springer.


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Dr. Berhan Ah
med is a Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Forest & Ecosystem Science Melbourne School of Land & Environment, University of Melbourne, Richmond, Victoria.

He was awarded the Victorian Australian of the Year 2009 and also, received the Meritorious Service in Community Award in 2006 from the then Premier of Victoria, the Hon. Steve Bracks.

Dr Ahmed was an invited member of the Australian government review committee on Adult Migrant English Program ($800 Million budget) Department of Immigration Committee.

He was also a member of the Victorian Government's Refugee Community-Building and Strengthening brokerage initiative, managing $4.7 million in funding in 2006 - 2007.

Dr Ahmed currently serves as a board member of Adult Multicultural English Service, Victoria, and Chairperson of the African Think Tank Inc.



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Dr Jonathan Makuwira is a Senior Lecturer in International Development at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University in Melbourne, Australia. He currently teaches The Political Economy of Aid; Project Planning, Design, Monitoring and Evaluation; International NGOs and Civil Society; and Contemporary Africa.

Prior to his current position, he taught Peace Studies at University of New England; Comparative Indigenous Studies at Central Queensland University. 


Dr Makuwira obtained his PhD at University of New England (UNE), Armidale, Australia in October, 2003. He obtained his B.Ed (Hons) and Master of Philosophy (MPhil) respectively from University of Nottingham, UK.

He has worked for the Ministry of Education in Malawi, not only as a primary and secondary school teacher but also as a teacher educator. He then joined the Malawi Institute of Education in 1990 as a Curriculum Development and Research Officer.

Prior to his doctoral studies he worked for the Council for NGOs in Malawi (CONGOMA), an umbrella organisation for NGOs in Malawi, as a Research Officer. His areas of research include but not limited to: popular participation, capacity building, peace and development education, education and development, poverty alleviation, civil society organisations, comparative indigenous studies and urban poverty.

In 2007 Dr Makuwira was awarded The Carrick Australian Awards for University Teaching Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning. Similarly, in 2010 he was a recipient of RMIT University Teaching Excellence in Higher Education:- For fostering innovation in curriculum development, learning and teaching and linking international development studies theory into practice.





WA

Dr
SAMUEL M. MAKINDA is Professor of Politics and International Studies and the Chair of Security, Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism Studies at Murdoch University in Perth.

He currently serves on the Australian Foreign Minister’s National Consultative Committee for International Security Issues. He is also a member of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific.

Professor Makinda   previously worked with the Foreign Affairs Group in the Parliamentary Research Service at the Australian Federal Parliament in 1980s, where he briefed Members of House of Representatives, Senators, Ministers and Parliamentary Committees on various international security issues, including US-Soviet relations and arms control.

Professor Makinda has been awarded the medal of Elder of the Order of the Burning Spear by the President of Kenya


 
 

Professor Moses Tade is well respected nationally and worldwide for his research achievements in chemical engineering and specifically in process systems engineering. Professor Tade has been appointed Chairman of the Institution of Chemical Engineers in Australia for 2012 and 2013. He is also a Vice President of IChemE worldwide as a member of The IChemE Council.

As the Dean of Engineering, in the past three years he has championed many initiatives, including the Engineering Pavilion Complex and outreach programs to encourage more high school students to study engineering at Curtin University.

In particular, he has secured funding to run the Indigenous Australian Engineering Summer School, a mentoring program that encourages Indigenous students to pursue careers in engineering.

In June 2008 he was the only Western Australian academic recognised in the list of Australia’s Top 100 Most Influential Engineers by Engineering Australia.

Professor Tade has provided the leadership to make Curtin Chemical Engineering to be among top 5 of such Departments in Australia. He has also provided significant support for the successful Chemical Engineering program in Curtin Sarawak, Miri Campus. His extensive mentoring of staff at Miri helped the Miri students to win the McNab Medal for Process Design in 2007.

He was among the four leading academics honoured at CurtinUniversity.
  
Dr Peter Mbago Wakholi is a Senior High School Teacher with the Education Department of Western Australia. Peter is involved with the African communities through Arts Based Educational Research Projects. In his first project, as part of a Masters of Education thesis, the African youth involved in the project examined challenges to their cultural identities and alternative liberatory options. The thesis is available at Murdoch University library.  The Masters project culminated into a book publication entitled:
African Cultural Education and the African Youth in Western Australia: Experimenting with the Ujamaa Circle. Saarbrucken, VDM Verlag.

Peter’s recent project in the community was part of his doctoral studies. It involved organising a festival with young people of African descent in Western Australia. The festival “Negotiating Cultural Identity through the Arts: The African Cultural Memory Youth arts Festival (ACMYAF)” examined ways in which African cultural memory, and the extent to which the arts based approaches benefited the cultural identity socialisation experiences of young people of African migrant descent. The thesis is available at:
http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/7601/

Peter has presented and facilitated at conferences and seminars including a 2-day seminar conference, to academics, teachers and social workers, at Victoria University School of Education and Faculty of AEHD, VU, Melbourne under the Visiting Lecturer Program on African Cultural Education and engaging students of African background through an inclusive curriculum (17-18 April, 2009).

Peter has also served as a member of the Metropolitan Migrant Resource Centre (MMRC) Management Committee in Perth (2006-2008) and became the chairperson to the board in (2006/2007)
Peter has written and published several articles in academic journals and book chapters.

Peter’s research interests include: Parenting between cultures; Ethnicity and the Arts; Arts festivals as a context for negotiating cultural identity; Sociology of schooling towards bicultural competence of African migrant descendants; and Education for Cultural Diversity.

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