Before beginning this blog, I want to say that a ballot (or poll) on same sex marriage (or marriage equality) is one of the worst policy failures I have ever witnessed (up there with energy ‘policy’ and climate change ‘action’). It is less about policy formation and more about an ideological battle within the Liberal/National [...]
We can confidently say we are living in the age of the algorithm. Some of the most influential organisations of our day use secret algorithms that steer us towards what we should read and watch, recommend restaurants and holiday destinations, as well as provide relationship guidance. But what about how we vote? The innovation [...]
Despite 20 years of focus on improving university retention rates, we are still losing one in five of our first-year students. And the release of a new report by TEQSA again reminds us of the challenges of retention. The report highlights that, on average, universities have a 20% attrition rate. This builds on an article by The [...]
I have now been an academic for just over 10 years. It is a job I love, and I have been lucky enough to experience some success. I work with some amazing people, get to sit in a classroom with amazing students, have great colleagues, and for some reason I am yet to fathom, [...]
It is amazing to think that, as The Guardian reported earlier this year, vinyl albums sales now outstrip those of CDs - sales hit a 25 year high. It was not that long ago that people were predicted the death of vinyl - it was seen as 'old technology' that would not survive changing technologies. This has not happened [...]
This week I had the pleasure of launching an exhibition of the work of Lee Hong. Lee is an Australian-Chinese artists who studied at the Central Academy of Art in Beijing. I find Lee’s art incredibly insightful. Below is the catalogue essay I wrote. -- According to Existential philosophers such as Soren Kierkegaard, we as [...]
Brexit, the election of Donald Trump, the re-emergence of One Nation, refusal to accept human induced climate change and the failure of other evidence based policy initiatives such as needs-based school funding and health care. As we see this occurring, Prof. Andrew J. Hoffman from the University of Michigan wars that educators are losing relevance [...]
It has been over 18 months since I was appointed the Dean of Western Sydney University’s Graduate Research School. It is a job that I really do love. But is also a job that can be heartbreaking, as I have seen good students drop out – both within my university and from other institutions. [...]
As the Dean of Graduate Studies at Western Sydney University, there are two areas that tend to occupy my mind: The first is the well-being of the PhD candidates that are part of my university and I feel responsible for; and, the second is the completion rates of these candidates knowing that most of [...]
So here goes – something that I have not written about before but has been on my mind… I just finished listening to a podcast and reading a book titled Stop Fixing Women in which an important point is made very clear: when women do not succeed or do not reach their full potential, [...]
