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.
*****************************
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 specialising 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.
*************************
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.
************************
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.
******************************
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.
*****************
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.
***********
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. ******************
Dr. Berhan Ahmed 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.
*********************
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.
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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
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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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