Queensland University of Technology GPO Box 2434 Brisbane QLD 4001 www.qut.edu.au
QUT OUTSTANDING ALUMNI AWARDS Celebrating 20 years 1991–2011
QUT Outstanding Alumni Awards – Celebrating 20 years
1991–2011
I N S P I R E
QUT Outstanding Alumni Awards – Celebrating 20 years
1991–2011
I N S P I R E
Acknowledgements
Produced by QUT Marketing and Communication Department for QUT Alumni and Development Office.
Text Sandra Hutchinson Art direction and design Mia Berkovits
Photography Sonja de Sterke
Additional photography Chris Budgeon, Melbourne (David Moffatt) and Peter Rossi, Highlights Photography, Cairns (Pia-Angela Francini)
ISBN 978-1-921897-05-4
QUT is committed to sustainability. Printed on Envirocare 100% Recycled by Cornerstone Press Pty Ltd, Brisbane
© QUT 2011 17753 CRICOS No. 00213J
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Contents
“Nothing great
was ever achieved without enthusiasm”
Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803–1882
Foreword ... 6
QUT, a leading university ... 7
Chancellor's Outstanding Alumni ... 9
Dr Mick Adams ... 11
Allan Brackin ...13
Dr Cristina Cifuentes ...15
Pia-Angela Francini...17
Dr Dale Gilbert
PSM...19
Dr Amaya Gillespie ...21
Jan Hannant ...23
Professor Robert Hess ...24
Stephen Lawrence ...25
Zimi Meka ...27
Geoff Mitchell
AO...29
David Moffatt ...31
Kevin Perkins ...33
Dr William Robinson
AO...35
Dr Chris Sarra ...37
Heather Waldron ...39
Professor Harvey Whiteford
AM...41
Dr David Wyatt ...43
2011 Outstanding Alumnus — Colin Jensen ...45
Award winners ... 47
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QUT, a leading university
QUT has a long tradition of recognising exceptional achievement.
Following its inception as a university in 1990, QUT established its Outstanding Alumni Awards program in 1991, to acknowledge the contribution of QUT graduates and those of its predecessor institutions. The program recognises exceptional service covering professional, academic and research achievement as well as significant contributions to the community.
An initiative of the QUT Alumni Board, the first awards included faculty recognition for extraordinary achievement and the selection of an overall alumni award winner, the Chancellor’s Outstanding Alumnus. Over the years, the awards have developed to include recognition for the Outstanding Young Alumnus, as well as Special Excellence and Excellence in Research awards, all of which are selected by the Chancellor’s Outstanding Alumni Awards Judging Panel.
Over time, the awards have grown in prestige and popularity and are regarded as QUT’s most significant alumni initiative. The award presentation ceremony attracts a large audience comprising alumni and their families, QUT staff, students and industry partners, philanthropic donors, politicians and government officials.
The awards play a critical role in helping the University engage with the community to demonstrate its learning, teaching and research excellence.
It is particularly pleasing to note that many of the winners continue their association with QUT, lending professional expertise to the governance of the University by serving on QUT Council, on the Alumni Board and supporting the academic and research development program in faculties and institutes. Also, many have provided significant and much welcomed philanthropic support to a variety of projects and programs.
QUT is deeply honoured to have the privilege to acknowledge the outstanding achievements of so many distinguished graduates who reflect and exemplify the outcomes QUT seeks for all its students.
Major General (Ret’d) Peter ArnisonAC, CVO
Chancellor
Professor Peter CoaldrakeAO
Vice-Chancellor
QUT is a highly successful Australian university with global connections and a distinctive reputation for quality courses, outstanding teaching and high-impact research.
QUT enrols some 42 000 students. Our courses are in high demand and
graduates enjoy excellent job and career outcomes. academic programs from bachelor degree to Phd are offered in engineering, architecture and design, business, creative industries, education, health, law, and science and technology. Some 20 per cent of total enrolments are at postgraduate level, and 16 per cent of students come from overseas.
QUT is recognised nationally and internationally for the relevance of its
teaching and research to industry, the professions and the broader community.
The University’s "real-world" positioning is also underpinned by close relationships with employers and professional bodies which provide students with a unique balance of theory and practical skills.
The quality of QUT's teaching has been reflected in the University's
consistent positioning at the top of national awards for teaching excellence and innovation , and the relevance of its courses is underpinned by national and international professional accreditation. during the past decade, QUT has greatly expanded its research and international profile. In 2010 the University was ranked at world standard or above in 75 per cent of its research, assessed under the Australian Government’s Excellence in Research for Australia assessment framework (ERA).
QUT hosts two federally funded cooperative research centres (wound management and engineering asset management) and is a participant in another seven . it has established Queensland’s first Confucius institute and hosts the australian-Canadian Prostate Cancer research alliance, the arC Centre of excellence for Creative industries and innovation, the syngenta Centre for sugarcane Biofuel development, the microsoft eresearch Centre, aussun research lab and the australian research Centre for aerospace automation. Very importantly, QUT also
established several years ago the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation (IHBI), which brings together 400 researchers across the relevant fields in
world-class premises.
Based in Brisbane, QUT has campuses at gardens Point and Kelvin grove in the inner city, and at
Caboolture, north of the city. The Gardens Point campus will be transformed over the next year as a new $230 million Science and Technology Precinct takes shape.
at Kelvin grove, a modern urban village development is integrating the campus with the community, bringing together residential, educational, retail, health and recreational facilities.
Foreword 7
Chancellor's
Outstanding Alumni
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Mick Adams 2010
Faculty of Health / PhD / Class of 2007 education has made a profound difference to mick adams’ life.
as an indigenous child growing up in the northern Territory, dr adams admits he did everything he could to get away from school. at 15 he left.
“yeah i was a bit of a rough head back then,” he says. “i was getting in trouble and i wasn’t living the best life.”
But at 28 dr adams, who was working as a house painter, enrolled to undertake an associate diploma in social work.
This led to securing a job with the department of social security working with aboriginal people throughout the northern Territory.
with a passion to improve the health outcomes of indigenous people, dr adams got a taste for studying and went on to complete three other degrees before starting his Phd at QUT.
His ground-breaking research looked at indigenous male sexual and reproductive health and built on his more than 30 years experience in liaison, training policy and senior management roles in the northern Territory.
dr adams has a vast amount of knowledge and practical experience within indigenous communities. “i have worked closely with indigenous communities and they have come to trust me,” he says. “They know the work i am doing is important and have helped me achieve some really positive outcomes.”
He says his decision to focus on male health needs came about from a meeting with a group of indigenous women while doing a scoping study on aboriginal mental health.
“when i was sitting there talking about mental health and how do we try and address it, we got to talking about their men.
They said too many of our men are dying at an early age, or going to prison because they are angry and not looking after themselves. The women said that if we don’t look after our men we are not going to have any future. without our men we don’t have husbands, fathers or leaders. so they said i should go and work with the men.
“i’ve taken control of my health and i know how to reach men.
you have to ask them to think about why they want to live a long and healthy life. once they can find a reason, such as seeing their grandchildren grow up, it has a positive effect on their life and they start to take charge of keeping themselves healthy. most men say that they want to be positive leaders in their communities and want a safe and secure life for their families.”
since completing his Phd at QUT, dr adams has continued his work with indigenous communities. He still holds positions at QUT as national indigenous Coordinator for palliative care and as a fellow continuing his research into men’s health issues.
The motto i use is “i strive for the best, anything less will not do", he says. “Because i know when i first started studying at 28 i had limited reading and writing skills. i thought i was a bit of a dummy, i knew i had the ability but didn’t think i had the brains. so i took the opportunity that presented itself and made the most of it.
“i always try to lead by example. my previous life, that was my past and i don’t want people to suffer and live the way i did.”
“I strive for the best, anything less will not do.”
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Allan Brackin 1999
Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering / BAppSc(Surveying) / Class of 1981 allan Brackin has made a name for himself in the
business world.
at just 26, the QiT applied science and surveying graduate took a $30 000 gamble and started his own business. within two decades he had turned aag Technology services Pty ltd into one of the biggest australian-owned iT companies listed on the australian stock exchange. after mergers with Volante limited and then iPeX, mr Brackin was heading a company employing more than 1000 staff.
How does a surveying graduate get into the iT business world?
mr Brackin’s passion for rugby league and a “lull in the surveying industry in Brisbane” when he graduated, steered him into a sales position.
while studying at QiT, mr Brackin was a first grade rugby league player for souths. when he finished studying, rather than give away his sporting interest and head to the country in search of a surveying job, he took a position selling surveying instruments for a Brisbane firm.
a couple of years later he started his own business in the same industry.
“surveying then became very computerised, and that is how i became involved in the iT industry,” he says. “To be honest, surveying was a great help for me because surveying is very meticulous, it is an exact science, you can’t be wrong. so i guess in my early business days, i was very process driven, i made sure the money was collected. even though i was entrepreneurial, i had that skill of attention to detail.”
mr Brackin says one of his mottos in life “is you have got to take your opportunities. i was not flamboyant, i guess i just wanted to get ahead. i was very driven to be successful in that area, although i never dreamed it would be that big.”
at the end of 2004 the father of four retired from full-time work to spend more time with his family and pursue the pastimes he hadn’t had time to enjoy such as tennis, squash, golf and mountain trekking. But he also kept his hand in the business world taking on a number of commercial and community Board positions.
“i have a passion for business and i believe i can really help younger guys grow their businesses. Today i am involved in five companies and three of those are very much about mentoring the Ceos, but in all five i think i play a pretty important role in helping them run and grow their business.”
mr Brackin credits his business success to a few key philosophies. “i always believed in controlled profitable growth. we never grew and lost money. a lot of
entrepreneurs go out there and make big revenues and try and grow their business pretty quickly and a lot of them go broke because they can’t control the business. But we never did that.
“one of the other reasons i had success was having outstanding business partners and staff and sharing the rewards and success with them. you can try and keep it all to yourself and get mega rich but one of the most enjoyable things for me was sharing the rewards and success with my partners and our staff.
“i also believe you have to have a win-win attitude. if you can go through life, if you can look for a win-win solution, there will be benefits for everyone.”
“...one of the most enjoyable things for me was sharing
the rewards and success with my partners and our staff.”
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Cristina Cifuentes 2001
Faculty of Science and Technology / BAppSc(Computing), Hons, PhD / Class of 1989, 1990 and 1994 in her free time Cristina Cifuentes enjoys stirring things up
in the kitchen but it is behind the keyboard that she has risen to great success.
The Us-born iT professional, who grew up in Colombia, has proved to be a leader in the world of information technology research and application, breaking new ground in the technically difficult area of computer science.
dr Cifuentes’ interest in iT began with a love of mathematics.
“i was good at maths and i thought what can i do with it? at the time computers were still a very new area, and i guess i was just drawn to them,” she says.
so after starting a Bachelor of engineering and Computer science degree in Colombia, dr Cifuentes and her whole family migrated to australia where she completed her undergraduate degree at QUT.
she then went on to gain an Honours degree before embarking on a Phd which focused on the area of reverse engineering and decompilation – which looks at recovering source code from programs for which the source code has either been lost or is unavailable.
in 1994 dr Cifuentes’ Phd thesis was so innovative that she was overwhelmed with offers to collaborate on further research projects and went on to be granted an australian research Council grant – an outstanding feat for a new researcher.
“i have basically been involved in research my whole career,” she says. “i have worked on different projects in different roles.”
for the past 11 years dr Cifuentes has worked for the same company, originally sun microsystems, last year acquired by oracle, as part of their research laboratories, oracle labs.
“at the moment i am working on a project that is developing technology that will became an internal product,” she says. “what is so great about this project is that i have been involved from the beginning, the conception of the idea, the development of a prototype and, very soon, in what will become an internal product at oracle.”
in simple terms dr Cifuentes’ work is looking for a quick and efficient way to find computer errors, or bugs, in
software. while bug-checkers are not a novel idea, developing techniques that make them run in a practical timeframe and are precise is novel.
dr Cifuentes and her team have developed a bug-checker that removes the easy-to-find bugs quickly, freeing up time to pinpoint the harder-to-find bugs.
“i am very focused on my work but i also like cooking, scrapbooking and playing with my seven-year-old son,”
she says.
“i think my success has probably been due to my
determination. i also always try to be fair with everyone. in my role now i have a team to manage. i have achieved a lot but i am not just fixated on the technical side of sitting behind a computer, it is also about people.”
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2007
Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering / BEng(Mech) / Class of 1994
Pia-Angela Francini
while trading a career as a global engineering executive for the life of an emerging artist may seem extraordinary to some, for Pia-angela francini it’s been a natural and rewarding juxtaposition.
mrs francini was once responsible for more than 22 000 employees at one of the world’s largest global engineering firms and rose through the ranks to become, by age 30, an international leader in the oil and gas industry.
after graduating from QUT with a Bachelor of mechanical engineering in 1994 mrs francini joined schlumberger.
“i started in australia but very quickly worked in various parts of the world as a field engineer, and then manager, in some really extreme environments, both off-shore and on land,” she recalls.
from there a brilliant corporate career took off, as the woman, who would later be named one of australia’s most influential female engineers, stepped up through a range of international executive roles.
from business development and operations management to human resources, marketing and workplace health and safety services, Pia francini distinguished herself at every professional turn.
she oversaw the development of more than 100 research and development programs in new oil and gas technologies, holding several patents, and was globally recognised when she was awarded the Us Key women in energy "Visionary" award in 2004.
at 34, as Ceo of schlumberger australasia based in Perth, mrs francini was responsible for growing the company’s operations in australia, Papua new guinea, Timor and new Zealand.
Today, in a new phase of her life’s journey, mrs francini is using her wealth of experience in business, finance and engineering to pursue what many may consider a new interest, but to her is a long-held passion.
mrs francini is focusing on her creative talents.
“i was very successful in the engineering and business side of the world and was fortunate to do very well at a very young age. But now i am re-connecting with my artistic and creative side,” she says. i actually did best at music and the arts in school, so i see this new stage as a great adventure, a realisation of my childhood dreams.”
working and living in Cairns, and learning from a local production company, the engineering dynamo is now setting up her own sound studio, with plans to tap into both the right and left side of her amazing brain to explore a range of digital creative pursuits including animation, writing ebooks, and music composition.
The recalibration of direction is also allowing time for a fulfilling focus on family. “i am taking one day at a time now, making each of those days count and doing what feels right,”
she says. if i can enhance the human experience through my art, by drawing on my knowledge of technology, then that would be very rewarding too.”
mrs francini is also strongly involved within the QUT community as a QUT Council member and as an adjunct professor and Ceo in residence, working with the Business school and faculty of Built environment and engineering.
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Dale Gilbert 1998 PSM
Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering / AssocDipMechanicalEng / Class of 1971 Today we can breathe a little easier thanks to the work of
dr dale gilbert.
although the mechanical engineering graduate from QiT began his career in an industry not generally renowned for its environmental sustainability, dr gilbert has gone on to make a significant contribution to improving air quality and the health of the environment.
“while i was undertaking my studies part-time i was working in the area of tyre design engineering at the olympic Tyre and rubber Company in Brisbane,” he says. “it was at this company that i gained my love of research and innovation. in my early career at olympic Tyre and rubber, it was one of the most progressive companies in australia.”
However, dr gilbert said the general lack of knowledge about the health effects of working with chemicals and solvents, and the effects of airborne pollution saw his career take a
“healthier” turn.
“while working with the Queensland department of Public works, i started to look at air quality issues in buildings and specifically the notion of ‘sick building syndrome’,” he says.
This interest in air quality and pollution continued and dr gilbert, through a world Health organisation fellowship, went on to lead and encourage national initiatives to address poor indoor air quality and its impact on human health.
He has since been very involved in a number of QUT projects through the University’s international laboratory for air Quality and Health, which looks at monitoring indoor and outdoor pollution levels and the health effects of ultra-fine particles.
“i have been involved in some breakthrough research which has led to the introduction of healthier buildings,” dr gilbert says. “for example, a lot of the work i have been involved with is now part of the green star ratings, which reduces pollution in buildings and focuses on health and safety issues.”
mr gilbert says he is passionate about reducing pollution.
“There is pollution everywhere and my work was very much looking at minimising pollution levels whether it is at home, on the way to work, or at schools,” he says.
while mr gilbert’s research area remains very much a topic of interest among scientists today, he has now retired from that line of work and focuses on looking at technologies and innovation that can make a difference to global warming and climate change.
“i am not a gloom and doom merchant, in fact i am a super optimist and confident that we will solve this problem,” he says. “There are plenty of innovations and research being done that can and are making a difference to reducing greenhouse gases.”
“I am not a gloom and doom merchant, in fact I am a super
optimist and confident that we will solve this problem.”
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Amaya Gillespie 2006
Faculty of Education / DipEd(Sec-Physical Ed) and BEd(In-Service) / Class of 1982 and 1987 Faculty of Health / GradDipHlthSc(HlthEd) / Class of 1986
Zambia is one of the world’s poorest countries and sits in the heart of the region most affected by HiV and aids. one in eight adults in Zambia live with HiV, and more than one million children have been orphaned by the disease. for global health campaigner amaya gillespie, this is her daily challenge, and it is the community she and her family call home.
The Unaids coordinator, who has been stationed in Zambia for three years, is on a mission to reduce HiV infections, increase treatment rates and improve the health outcomes of its people.
it’s a big challenge,” she says. But with more than one million Zambians living with HiV, it’s a challenge she can’t ignore. and the good news is dr gillespie’s work and that of the United nations is making a difference.
“it’s been more than 25 years that we have really known about HiV,” she says. “Today it is a more sophisticated area of work than when we started. in those 25 years there has been a huge international push on the boundaries of what were previously taboo topics. in particular, the plight of women and young girls has been drawn into sharp focus.
“what we have seen in the past two decades is a 25 per cent reduction in new infections, which means that the prevention message is getting out. Prevention is much, much harder than treatment. People get behind the medical model and some would even say that we can treat our way out of this disease – but it is expensive and it overlooks the opportunity of
preventing infections in the first place.”
dr gillespie’s belief in the importance of health education and promotion has taken her all over the world. The QUT education graduate, who has worked with the Un for much of her career, says she has always been drawn to adolescent health.
“when i started it was cutting edge,” she says. “it was the beginning of education systems taking seriously issues like alcohol abuse, tobacco use and HiV. it was seen as something quite risky and there were a lot of battles to be fought about these issues.”
The absence of reliable data and the lack of understanding of the health problems affecting young people fuelled dr gillespie’s interest in research. “Just because some behaviours are illegal, does not mean they should be ignored,”
she says. “By studying the behaviours doesn’t mean we condone them, we are trying to work out how to reduce the behaviours and the harm or the impact of the behaviour.”
dr gillespie’s career has included positions with the United nation’s Children’s fund (UniCef). in 1999 she moved to new york to manage UniCef’s HiV/aids programs as a senior adviser for HiV Prevention and young People. five years later she was seconded to geneva as the director for the Un secretary-general’s study on Violence against Children.
“working with people and how they think and what motivates certain behaviours and how to prevent the most harmful of these has always been my area of interest,” she says.
“People say prevention is not rocket science, but i say it is much harder.”
living by the motto coined by mark Twain that “supposing is good, but finding out is better,” dr gillespie has been able to travel the world to experience first hand diverse cultures and deal with a wide range of challenges. and she intends to continue to push for public health solutions.
“People say prevention is not rocket science, but I say
it is much harder.”
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Jan Hannant 1991
Faculty of Education / CertTeach(Sec-Home Economics) / Class of 1955 as Jan Hannant reflects on her life, it is easy to see why she
was awarded the inaugural QUT Chancellor’s outstanding alumni award.
ms Hannant spent much of her life as an educator, starting off as a teacher before being promoted to some of the highest ranks within the Queensland education system.
although only a teen herself, ms Hannant began her teaching career as a secondary school teacher. “in those days you could get a junior teacher’s scholarship so you could train to teach after completing junior school,” she says. “so i started teaching very young and then i did my senior studies at night, because i wanted my senior certificate.”
in the early 1960s ms Hannant transferred as a lecturer to the Kelvin grove Teachers College, which was run by the education department. it wasn’t an easy job for someone so young, which is why she packed up and spent a year travelling in the UK and europe. “in that year i really matured and when i returned, i came back to the teachers college and i happily settled,” she says.
But by then ms Hannant had caught the travelling bug and applied and was granted study leave to go the United states, where she completed a master of science degree. on her return home, she visited a teaching friend in africa, where she toured schools in malawi, mozambique, Zimbabwe and Zambia.
with a wealth of education and life experience behind her, when ms Hannant arrived back in australia she was recruited to work as an inspector with the education department, a position she held for more than a decade.
following a restructure, ms Hannant was offered the prestigious position of regional director of the south-west region based in roma. as the regional director ms Hannant introduced a principal swap program with new Zealand. “i discovered that at many of the very small rural schools we had young teachers who had been classroom teachers in metropolitan schools and all of a sudden they found themselves as the principal and only teacher at these small rural schools, which were the centre of the community,”
she says.
“what we managed to do was connect with small rural schools north of auckland and arrange for our teaching principals, who wished to, to work alongside the principals in these new Zealand schools. That really helped a great deal in the professional development of these young people.”
another initiative started by ms Hannant was the introduction of a reading program called reading recovery, designed to identify year 1 students who were having difficulty reading.
The program, also adopted from new Zealand, took young students out of the classroom and gave them one-on-one help to become effective readers.
“That was the best thing i have ever done because those small children who were struggling with reading, all of a sudden within a short period of time became very effective readers and i had letters from parents that said it changed their children’s lives.”
ms Hannant retired in 1997 and today focuses much of her time researching history.
“my motto is ‘be proactive’. actively seek opportunities and make the most of them,” she says. “i suppose i had a little personal project that i would travel at every opportunity. so i have taken what opportunities i could.”
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Robert Hess 2005
Faculty of Health / DipAppSc(Optometry) / Class of 1970 Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering / BEng/BAppSc(ElectSystems&Comp) / Class of 1992
robert Hess likes nothing better than a challenge.
as one of the world’s leading vision scientists, Professor Hess says one should not underrate the potential career benefits obtained by early rejections.
Professor Hess believes in the groucho marx adage “i don’t want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member”.
His research path has gone from QiT to Cambridge (via Birmingham and melbourne). He founded and is the current director of the mcgill University’s Vision research Centre in montreal.
after graduating from QiT with a diploma of applied science (optometry), Professor Hess wanted to be involved in research and applied to do a Phd at the University of nsw.
“fortunately i got knocked back, which made me even more determined to pursue a research career,” he says. Professor Hess headed for the United Kingdom, where he completed a master of science degree in neuropsychology at the University of aston in Birmingham, working on a novel approach to avert seizures in patients with epilepsy.
Two years later, a stint at the University of melbourne where he did his Phd in vision perception, led him to the prestigious Physiological laboratory in Cambridge. There he went from visiting researcher (a meres senior scholar) to staff (a wellcome senior lecturer) in five years.
His contributions to research while at Cambridge were honoured by a number of prestigious medals including the Champness in 1983 and the edgridge-green in 1989. He was then recruited to a chair position in ophthalmology at Canada’s top university, mcgill University in montreal.
“i was settled at Cambridge and was really enjoying the research environment when i got a call offering me the chance to come to mcgill, assemble my own team, create my own research environment and do the work i wanted to do,” he says.
Professor Hess, acclaimed for his originality and influence on the understanding of visual processing, has now been at mcgill for more than two decades and continues to make a significant contribution within the field of ophthalmology. He has published more than 300 papers, edited two books and holds a number of patents.
His work, which has a particular focus on the condition known as amblyopia (lazy eye), has gone a long way to unraveling the neural mysteries of the condition which affect about five per cent of all children.
His latest work has turned the clinical treatment of amblyopia on its head. He has developed a novel means of treating a condition in adults that was considered untreatable after the age of 10. furthermore, even in the younger group this no longer involves the patching of children’s eyes but the more enjoyable use of specially designed, ipod-based video games.
Professor Hess is currently heavily involved in mri brain imaging as well as different forms of electrical and magnetic brain stimulation as a means of improving vision in normal adults and restoring vision in adults with amblyopia. His recent discovery is that just 10 minutes of non-invasive and painless repetitive magnetic brain stimulation in adults can restore vision in the amblyopic eye, even in middle age. This will likely form the basis of a future new therapy.
“The work that i am doing is making a difference to the lives of people who have amblyopia. it’s a complex problem, but one we should be able to solve,” he says.
You might not know the name Stephen Lawrence but chances are if you have used Google, you’ve clicked on his work.
Dr Lawrence is one of the world’s leading computer programmers and for the past 10 years has been a senior research scientist at Google – having developed the top-ranked search engine Google Desktop Search and Citeseer.
But it was as a young boy that Dr Lawrence’s fascination with computers first started.
His parents Colin and Barbara Lawrence, who still live in their home town of Bundaberg, remember their son was
“always mad about computers”.
“He, like most young boys at the time, loved computer games. So the first computer he had was one of those Ataris,” his mum says. “At school he was also interested in computers and began writing programs while still at primary school. I think he knew all along he would go into computing. He didn’t really have any other ideas in his mind, apart from a fascination with electronics.”
So when Dr Lawrence finished school he did what came naturally, a double degree in engineering, and electronic systems and computing at QUT. As a graduate with First Class Honours he then went on to complete a PhD, before being offered a position which took him half way around the world to the nEC Research Institute at Princeton, new Jersey. He resided in new York, a city which he grew to love, commuting each day to work.
Stephen Lawrence
Mrs Lawrence says it was family reasons that saw her son take the leap to Google. “He and his wife decided new York was not the best place in which to bring up a family. So they packed up and headed for California.”
“He has worked very hard to achieve what he has.
Obviously he had the ability to start with but he worked very hard as well. Before he had children he worked terribly long hours. He was at Google all hours of the day and night. But since he became a father and a family man he has settled down a lot, and he keeps much more regular hours now.”
Dr Lawrence’s academic achievements have seen him recognised with a host of awards and honours including the Technology nJ Internet Innovator Award and nEC Research Institute awards for Impact, Excellence and Best Patent. In 2002 he was made an AAAS Fellow in recognition of his fundamental research on the structure of the world wide web, characterisation of web search engines and the role of the web in changing scholarly communication.
Today Dr Lawrence, with wife Gennette and their two children, Marissa and Matthew, enjoy spending their spare time as a family.
“They go on holidays during the summer vacation break and Steve has just taken up golfing,” Mrs Lawrence says.
“We’re really very proud of him. He has achieved a lot, and has a good life to show for it.”
“Fortunately I got knocked back which made me even more determined to pursue a research career.”
20 YEARS OF QUT OUTSTAnDInG ALUMnI AWARDS
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Zimi Meka 2008
Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering / BEng(Mech) / Class of 1981 as the Ceo of a leading global engineering and project
management company servicing the resources and energy sectors, it would be understandable for Zimi meka to be single-mindedly focused on company growth and profits.
However, he is not.
mr meka, the ausenco co-founder who graduated from QUT with a mechanical engineering degree in the 1980s, believes in the importance of all ausenco people living the core values of the company. and he leads by example.
from a handful of people in a small office in Toowong in Brisbane, to the global organisation it is today with 2700 people in 32 offices in 20 countries and many remote project sites, ausenco’s growth has been characterised by its strong leadership, a values-based culture and a desire to continually raise the bar.
“financial success is obviously very important – it helps our company grow, our clients’ projects to be successful and it provides opportunities for our shareholders, our people and our business partners – but we also believe in making a safe and positive contribution to the communities and the environments in which we work,” mr meka says.
“firstly we need to be vigilant about ensuring safety in all we do. it is a core value and something we focus on every day.
we believe zero harm is achievable and we will continue to strive for this goal.
“we also know our people are our strength. This is another of our core values and, as a business that sells the skills of our people, our continual focus is on hiring, developing and encouraging our people to seek breakthrough results in everything they do.
“from the largest copper-processing plant in africa to high-altitude pipeline and heap-leaching projects in south america, ports and marine terminals and materials-handling projects in almost every continent in the world, and wind farms in western australia and in the russian sea, our people continue to deliver sustainable solutions for our clients.”
mr meka is also a champion of giving back to the communities in which ausenco operates.
“The ausenco team is very generous and very active in making a positive difference in their local communities,”
mr meka says.
“whether it is through participation in fundraising bike rides, walks or runs; donations to help victims of natural disasters;
donation of goods and uniforms for children at orphanages near mumbai and in Colombia; building schools and/or other facilities near client projects in remote locations; or giving time to numerous other causes, the ausenco team has a strong sense of community.”
mr meka has been instrumental in establishing the ausenco foundation to support many of these initiatives. He was nominated as one of engineers australia’s 2010 Top 100 influential engineers in australia, and plans to continue to lead ausenco in its next phase of growth.
“with a world-class team, our strong culture and the opportunities in the markets in which we operate, i am confident we can achieve our goals,” he says.
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20 years of QUT oUTsTanding alUmni awards
Geoff Mitchell 2002 AO
Faculty of Science and Technology / DipIndustrial Chemistry / Class of 1967 if geoff mitchell has learnt anything in his 20 years as the chief
of the largest cane grower in Queensland, Bundaberg sugar, it is: don’t panic.
in an industry dominated by volatility, governed by the changing price of sugar in the international trade market, mr mitchell says when it seems everything is coming down or swelling up around you, the first thing you want to do is panic – when in fact it is the last thing you should do.
“when you’re in the role of a chief executive officer and all of a sudden you are responsible for everything, it is very easy to get stressed,” he says.
But the once leader in the australian sugar industry and long-serving chairman of the australian sugar milling Council says panicking only causes more troubles.
so you would think retirement would be a welcomed break.
an end to the fast-paced, high-pressure life mr mitchell once lived. no. in fact retirement had done little to slow mr mitchell down.
“essentially my focus is now on health, wellbeing and supporting family and friends,” he says. “i ride twice a week with mates, each time up to 40 kilometres and i also walk up mt Coot-tha once a week.”
and while some may see it as reliving his youth, for mr mitchell it is more like doing all the things he wanted to do but never had time for.
as an evening student, mr mitchell graduated from the then QiT with a diploma in industrial Chemistry in 1967, and the skills to make him a valuable contributor to the sugar industry.
He then continued his working life in sydney and melbourne,
before being headhunted by the company that was later to become Bundaberg sugar.
mr mitchell worked his way up the management ranks, becoming actively involved in all aspects of sugar production, from cane growing and sugar milling, through to distilling, refining, marketing and research.
“The industry definitely changed a lot in those years,” he says.
“we went through changes in environmental, industrial relations and sugar-industry-specific regulations and we learnt that a business would be left behind if it didn’t adopt marketing and brand awareness, and target international benchmarks.”
a modest mr mitchell said while he never intentionally set out to achieve great things, he credits his success largely to the people around him. “i’ve always said you only see ahead when standing on the shoulders of great men,” he says.
in fact, in his 2002 outstanding alumnus award speech, mr mitchell said: “This award does not just recognise me, but rather a large group of people who were students and lecturers in that period almost 40 years ago. it really is the great people around me who have helped me to achieve.”
so while mr mitchell, who has been married for 43 years, has two daughters and one grandchild, may have hung up his business suits, given away his 12 to 14 hour days, and is pleased to no longer be an international frequent flyer, he still wakes up every morning invigorated to be a contributing member of society.
“Just because you are retired doesn’t mean you should lose your productivity. you can’t just stop, and i have no intention of doing that.”
“I have always said you only see ahead when standing
on the shoulders of great men.”
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David Moffatt 2000
Faculty of Business / BBus(Management) / Class of 1984 david moffatt is a man of extremes.
He is an extremely talented businessman, he enjoys extreme sports and he is extremely committed to raising money for charity.
and while his professional life, which includes holding top positions with general electric australia and Telstra, may be impressive, it is mr moffatt’s “adventure philanthropy” which he says is far more interesting.
To celebrate his fiftieth birthday last year, in a somewhat unconventional way, mr moffatt decided to ride 900
kilometres on a mountain bike from Cairns to Cape york, then hop into a sea kayak and paddle from Cape york to Papua new guinea. finally he finished the adventure by running the Kokoda Track.
But this epic journey was not just about his love for adventure.
mr moffatt was raising money for the lost Battlefield Trust by taking part in the Cape Tribulation to Kokoda adventure epic.
mr moffatt is one of a handful of men who helped in the discovery, and continues to work on, the preservation of the battlefield which lies along the Kokoda Track.
The lost battlefield, above eora Creek, is believed to be where australia won the final Battle of the Kokoda campaign. The battle lasted five days and claimed 79 australians and at least 69 Japanese.
“Prior to the adventure, i was training up to six hours a day. we completed the entire event in 11 days. so in terms of extreme adventure it is right up there,” he says. “in my private life, what i have been able to do is combine my passion for health and fitness with a penchant for raising awareness and money for community causes.”
mr moffatt supports a range of non-profit organisations which benefit autism, road safety, education and cancer causes, to name a few.
He has taken part in events for charity including the iditarod Trail alaska, the shanghai to Beijing road bike ride, the Pure Tasmania Challenge, as well as the giant steps multi-day
bike ride.
“fortunately i have not been touched by these diseases personally but i have been indirectly. many people ask for help and i have been able to help some of them,” he says. “my interest is in building sustainable communities, which means building the capacity through community organisations for the community to sustain itself.”
mr moffatt says community organisations have a role to play in ensuring their own success and sustaining their own futures. He says rather than relying solely on governments, community organisations need to be self-sustaining.
“and this is what i have been trying to do, helping some of these community organisations with my business knowledge and through my passion for adventure philanthropy,” he says.
as a man who lives by the motto to “do interesting things with interesting people and add value”, david enjoys an action-packed life. i get a huge amount of support and i don’t think that anything i have done is in particular extraordinary,”
he says.
and according to mr moffatt there is still plenty to do. “in my professional career i am not done yet. i probably have two
‘careers’ left in me. Privately i am very interested in continuing to build community capacity.”
1993 33
Kevin Perkins
Faculty of Business / BBus(Management) / Class of 1976 as the largest shareholder of the Collins foods group –
owners of KfC Queensland and the sizzler chain of restaurants in australia, the Us and asia – Kevin Perkins admits to taking plenty of risks in business. But his success is helped by his sensibility not to gamble.
“i guess i live by the motto ‘never give up’,” he says.
“Persistence is incredibly important in business and in life.
i’m not averse to taking risks, but i am not a gambler. i look at it as taking strategic risks.”
Business has been good to the QiT graduate, who made his way into the initially Us-based food company after completing a mBa at California state University in los angeles in 1979.
“i was offered a job in la by what was then Collins foods international. They had a relatively small KfC operation in australia. They had always had an american running the business and they were looking for an aussie who they could train up in the head office and send back to australia to run the australian business.”
at the time Collins foods international operated about 40 KfC outlets in australia.
armed with the Collins foods international “secret recipe”
for business success, mr Perkins returned to australia in the early 1980s as the Queensland director of marketing and operations. after a stint in sydney, he was appointed managing director of the australia arm of the business.
it was in the mid-80s that Collins bought out the Bonanza steak House chain and introduced sizzler. and while these were good times for business in australia, within a decade the parent company would suffer as a result of the United states recession, opening up the opportunity for mr Perkins
and a team of business partners to buy out the Us-based company and bring its headquarters to australia.
“Basically the Us public company put the company on the market and, with the help of our australian private equity partner, Pacific equity Partners (PeP), we put in a bid and we ended up buying the total enterprise,” he says.
Today Collins foods group owns KfC Queensland’s 119 stores, sizzler australia’s 29 restaurants, sizzler asia’s 58 restaurants which are franchised, and sizzler Usa's 29 companies and 149 franchised restaurants.
“we as a company pride ourselves on being a people-orientated company,” he says. “when you look at our business, people think we are in the food business, when really we are a people-based business. we say we’re in the people business serving food, not in the food business serving people.”
and the people who work for Collins foods group, most of whom are young causals, are keen to serve up more than just good food and service. They are also happy to dig deep for charity.
in the past two years, employees, supported by Collins foods group, have donated almost one million dollars to charity.
“what we do is allow people to donate pre-tax through their salary. we use the slogan ‘a dollar will do and 50 cents is fine’
and we match the employee contributions up to $100 000 each year.
“everyone told us we’d be lucky if we got five or 10 per cent of our people to sign up and today we have around 25 per cent who contribute. our workforce is predominately casual which says a lot about the generosity and social responsibility of this generation X and y.”
20 years of QUT oUTsTanding alUmni awards
2009 35
20 YEARS OF QUT OUTSTAnDInG ALUMnI AWARDS
William Robinson AO
Faculty of Education / CertTeach and DipArtTeaching / Class of 1954 and 1962 Creative Industries / DipDrawing&Painting / Class of 1967
william robinson is renowned as one of australia’s greatest living landscape painters, but his talents extend far beyond the trees.
in fact he has won a swag of awards, and has twice taken out the nation’s highly regarded archibald Prize, first in 1987 with Equestrian self portrait and then in 1995 with Self portrait with stunned mullet. He has also twice won the
wynne Prize for landscape painting with The rainforest in 1990 and Creation Landscape: earth and sea in 1996.
although gaining critical fame only in his middle age, dr robinson has spent much of his life in front of the canvas.
He completed his formal art education at the Central Technical College in 1962, but this by no means resulted in a rapid rise to fame. That took some time. for more than 30 years dr robinson taught art at QUT and its predecessor institutions, while working on his masterpieces in his spare time.
for the past three decades dr robinson has produced original, contemporary and often thought-provoking works.
But it wasn’t until the 1980s that he really transformed his first-hand observations into a daring, colourful display of the world around him.
“i think there is a tradition in australia of painting the wild west, the inland and, although some painters have painted the rainforest, there have been a whole host of great artists in australia who painted australia as the golden fleece as it were, pastoral landscape and then the deep interior landscapes. i painted the rainforests because that’s where we lived. it was my landscape.”
dr robinson’s environment has been dominant in his works, but it is his wife shirley who is perhaps his greatest muse. she features prominently in many of his paintings and he credits her with being his “greatest success”. “she’s like a column that i lean on and rely on,” he says. “she must be very tired of me asking her opinion in everything i do.”
while dr robinson’s landscape works have drawn him great praise, he is also highly regarded for his work in farmyard, seascape, self-portraiture and still life genres.
His favourite work is Creation landscape: The ancient trees (1997). “i think it is the most intense of my creation landscapes,”
he says.
dr robinson’s philosophy is to always have faith. “Because of the things that have happened in my life i would say you have to have some faith to hold on to and then you’ve got to make up your mind to survive,” he says. “The greatest virtue you can have is kindness. i try to be kind but sometimes i am also pretty awful. The art world is a difficult world to live in but i have survived it for more than four decades.”
dr robinson says his future art work is likely to focus on still life.
“That’s mostly because of circumstances of life and age,” he says.
“i can’t walk in the bush as much as i used to. i think still life, as i go on, will take over from the landscapes.”
in recognition of dr robinson’s great talent, in 2009 the University established the william robinson gallery at old government House, on the grounds of the gardens Point campus. He was also awarded an honorary doctorate from QUT in 1998.
“ I painted the rainforests because that’s where we lived.
It was my landscape.”
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20 years of QUT oUTsTanding alUmni awards
Chris Sarra 2004
Faculty of Education / DipEd(Sec-Physical Ed), BEd(In-Service) and MEd / Class of 1987, 1991 and 1997 Chris sarra is one of australia’s leading indigenous educators
and his “stronger and smarter” philosophy has improved educational opportunities for aboriginal and Torres strait islander students across the country.
as a child who experienced first hand the challenges of being an indigenous student, dr sarra admits “there was this tide of low expectation”.
“when i was at school, yes i probably should have and could have pushed myself harder,” dr sarra says.“ But there was really no one there pushing me.”
That is a different story today for many indigenous kids, whose schools are learning the “stronger and smarter” way.
dr sarra is the director of the stronger smarter institute, which started out as a partnership between QUT and education Queensland, and has secured funding from the Telstra foundation and sidney myer foundation.
The institute is arming principals and educational leaders with the beliefs and capacity to make a profound change in indigenous education.
“The stronger smarter philosophy is about acknowledging and embracing a positive sense of indigenous student identity, acknowledging and embracing indigenous leadership and having high-expectation relationships with high-expectation classrooms,” dr sarra says.
“There is no place to hide for any educator with stifled perceptions of indigenous children. There is no place for excuses anymore.”
dr sarra has taken the lessons and great success he learnt as principal of the once-troubled Cherbourg state school and is transforming the way schools teach indigenous children across australia.
at Cherbourg dr sarra instilled in his students the belief and the willpower that they could be something great. The outcome was a staggering 94 per cent drop in unexplained school absenteeism.
“Kids wanted to be at school, they wanted to achieve and they now had a belief that they could succeed,” he says. “school is a place where you get power, where you learn how to play and win the game of life. we want to teach these young kids to have high expectations.”
dr sarra completed a diploma of Teaching in Physical
education, a Bachelor of education and a master of education in school guidance and Counselling at QUT. He also has a Phd in Psychology.
His dedication, commitment and achievements saw him named Queenslander of the year in 2004 and he was also nominated as australian of the year in 2009.
But it is not the accolades that push the father of three to make a difference in the world. He says if he wasn’t living up to his own rhetoric, he’d feel like he had no integrity.
“my motto is simple ‘did you give your best today?’. i am the only one who knows the answer to that and i have to be content that i have done my best,” he says.
“That is all anyone can do, is their best. That is all i expected of my students, it is all i expect of myself.”
“School is a place where you get power, where you learn
how to play and win the game of life.”
1994 39
20 years of QUT oUTsTanding alUmni awards
Heather Waldron
Faculty of Health / DipAppSc(Optometry) / Class of 1968 Heather waldron had a vision to make a difference in
optometry and being a woman was not going to stop her.
at a time when women focused on careers in teaching and nursing, mrs waldron entered the male-dominated profession of optometry.
“when i joined the profession there wouldn’t have been any more than 10 per cent of practitioners who were women,”
she says.
But that didn’t stop the somewhat sheltered young QiT graduate, who came from an all-girl family and attended an all-girls boarding school, from breaking through the glass ceiling to become one of australia’s most respected optometrists.
after graduating at 20 and still a year too young to work as an optometrist without supervision, mrs waldron was appointed as a lecturer at QiT. “This way i could get into optometry right away without fulfilling the requirement of being 21,” she says.
The following year mrs waldron entered private practice working for a large optometry firm, fraser edmiston. Through their industrial division, she provided on-site consultations at factories and shipyards and recalls this as a great experience, always being treated with respect by the patients and her colleagues.
“in my whole career i can probably only think of one occasion when a patient refused to be treated by a woman, and i always enjoyed the support and encouragement of my male colleagues,” she says.
But that said, there were times when achieving equality was somewhat of a struggle.
“when i first joined the optometry council, the meetings were held at the Cricketers Club and that was one of the places women weren’t allowed. women could go to the cricket but they couldn’t go to the hallowed halls of the club. so i had to be smuggled in. The men would form a bit of an honour guard and i would quietly slip into the room. it was all a bit of a joke really.”
in 1976 mrs waldron joined waldrons optometrists, her husband’s family business. it was here that she was instrumental in developing the firm into a highly successful group practice in south-east Queensland.
mrs waldron’s contribution to optometry extends beyond the walls of her own practice. she has held positions on numerous professional organisations and provided advice to government. she was australia’s first optometric consultant to medicare and to the department of Veterans’ affairs. in 1994 she was named as the first recipient of the Queensland optometrist of the year award by the australian optometrical association.
in the wider community, she has been an advocate for women and girls.
“Through my involvement with Zonta, i have worked towards the advancement of the status of women locally and internationally,” she says. “i am particularly supportive of providing role models for young women in the professions and i continue to take mentoring roles in a wide range of pursuits, as well as within my own profession.”
“my motto is ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you’. and i guess i see that as treating everyone as equal.”
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20 YEARS OF QUT OUTSTAnDInG ALUMnI AWARDS
Harvey Whiteford 1997 AM
Faculty of Health / MPH / Class of 1993 Harvey whiteford is not trying to save the world but he is
trying to leave it a better place.
The medically trained doctor, who started his career in pediatrics, has spent almost four decades working to improve mental health services at a state, national and international level.
Psychiatry was not an easy career choice when he was a young doctor. “But the thing i didn’t like about some areas of medicine was they talked about the diagnosis instead of focusing on the patient,” he says. “in mental health you had a chance to combine biology, neurochemistry and psychology with who the person really is, in their social environment.
“even though the person is not well mentally, you need to get to know the person, not just their blood results and their x-ray results. i felt i had more interaction with the patient, which suited me better than procedural medicine.”
after moving from pediatrics and then spending five years training in psychiatric units at Brisbane hospitals, dr whiteford became interested in research. He won a government scholarship and went to stanford University as a Postdoctoral fellow. when he returned to Queensland he set up what is now the Queensland Centre for mental Health research.
in the late 1980s he was promoted to director of psychiatric services with Queensland Health. in this position, dr whiteford had direct responsibility for the administration of three psychiatric hospitals, 1200 beds, 14 community psychiatry services and the Health department's forensic psychiatry services. it was in this position that dr whiteford really started his campaign for mental health reform. it was also during this time that he gained his masters of Public Health from QUT.
“Basically my masters degree gave me the skills to do the administration side of public health,” he says. “i rationalised it by saying okay i am not seeing many patients but if i can make the system better, that could benefit a lot more patients than i would ever be able to benefit by seeing them one at a time as a clinician sitting in an office.”
a stint as the federal director of mental health gave dr whiteford responsibility for the australian government’s initiatives in mental health.
dr whiteford was then headhunted by the world Bank, as the first mental health appointment, a position created to develop the bank’s capacity to respond to the rising contribution mental health and substance abuse was making to the world burden of disease.
in 2001 dr whiteford, who had run a state service, federal service and an international program, decided he wanted to return to research and now works as the Kratzmann Professor of Psychiatry and Population Health at the University of Queensland.
reflecting on his career, dr whiteford says while there have been huge improvements in the way mental health care is delivered, there is still a long way to go.
“yes i think we have come a long way,” he says. “i think we have better treatments, more people working in the area and less stigma. many people have come out and said yes i have had depression, i’ve attempted suicide, i’ve been really down.
it is accepted that mental health is an important part of health.
But i think the quality of services is still less than you would get if you had a physical illness. i think we’ve still got a long way to go.”
“ If I can make the system better, then that could benefit a lot
more patients than I would ever be able to benefit by seeing
them one at a time as a clinician sitting in an office.”
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20 years of QUT oUTsTanding alUmni awards
David Wyatt 1996
Faculty of Science and Technology / BAppSc(MedTechnology) / Class of 1972 david wyatt has made an invaluable contribution to the
medical world.
as one of the pioneers in the development of diagnostic tests for infectious diseases, dr wyatt’s breakthrough research in the areas of mosquito-borne viruses continues to be used in pathology labs across the world.
His work in the field of immunology and diagnostic testing for diseases like ross river fever and dengue fever was commercialised when he co-founded two successful asX-listed biotechnology companies, agenix ltd and PanBio ltd.
But dr wyatt, who has worked as a lecturer at QUT and a scientist and manager in private pathology, medical research and the biotechnology industry, is quick to point out that while his individual contribution has played an important role, many of his successes have relied on a collaborative effort.
“when i was working to develop these new diagnostic techniques, i was the first in australia to do a lot of it, so all sorts of people wanted to collaborate and work with me,” he says. “and one of the things to come out of that was the establishment of QUT’s first major research centre, the Centre for applied immunology.
“i was pleased to return to QUT in 2004 as Professor of Biobusiness and innovation and to play a role in the establishment of the institute of Health and Biomedical innovation.”
dr wyatt says his drive to “make a difference” was spurred by his disadvantaged background.
“i lived in a poor suburb and my father died when i was 10, so we really struggled,” he says. “i had a real interest in doing something socially useful. i didn’t really know what, and the medical field just attracted me.”
Today this same socially responsible attitude is still a central focus in dr wyatt’s life.
while dr wyatt has moved out of the scientific field, he has taken up a new challenge, which is to live a sustainable life.
“my wife and i live in an eco village on the gold Coast. we live in a zero-carbon house in a zero-carbon village,” he says. “i am aware of how much things have changed in my lifetime. we have made all this wonderful technological and social progress but we’ve seen vast environmental damage including to the fish in the sea and what has happened with the forests and the animals. it just does not seem sustainable and it doesn’t add up, so something dramatic has to happen.”
living by the motto of “variety is the spice of life,” dr wyatt is not a man who rests on his laurels.
“To me ‘variety is the spice of life’ is all about the need to keep exploring, to move out of your comfort zone and, coming from a life science background, i really understand the importance of biodiversity in our world,” he says. “much of my work has been international. i have travelled a lot and i have learnt to respect, tolerate and appreciate a wide variety of cultures.”
