Previous Professional Excellence Recipients
Monash recognises the outstanding contributions of University staff as previous winners of the Vice-Chancellor's Excellence Awards.
The annual awards acknowledge those who contribute above and beyond the requirements of their roles, and foster cross-University collaboration to achieve positive outcomes for our staff and students. The awards expand to include the University’s staff both in Australia and Malaysia.
-
Individual Award Winner
Professor Uma Devi Palanisamy
Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Malaysia
Deaf individuals in Malaysia face challenges when seeking medical care. Professor Uma Palanisamy in her efforts to address the healthcare needs of this community worked collaboratively to develop several innovative solutions. She used technology in a conceptually simple way to address their HC communication needs, with the development of an app. She led a team that designed and delivered best practice workshops to medical students and healthcare practitioners. Her efforts won the inaugural Nature Award for Inclusive Health Research, recognising her impact in tackling health inequality for Malaysia's Deaf community. Her work exemplifies the transformative potential of inclusive healthcare research.

Team Award Winner
Job Ready Graduates (JRG) Package
Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) and Senior Vice-President, eSolutions and Student Services, University Marketing Admissions and Communications, Advancement
Cross functional and cross portfolio teams came together as a task force to collaboratively implement a Monash response to the 50 per cent pass rate requirements of the Job Ready Graduates (JRG) package. Monash campaigned against the rule as it would disproportionately disadvantage students from equity backgrounds.
Monash delivered a proactive, sector leading response to the package. Minimal students were impacted due to early intervention and support provided, leading to a higher than anticipated retention rate. The achievement of this goal was made possible by the task force's effective collaboration, innovation and focus on student communications.

-
Individual Award Winner
Sarah Argles
Monash Abroad
Monash Abroad's Sarah Argles strives to achieve the goals of Impact 2030 and tackle the world's global challenges by paving a way for staff and students to safely access learning abroad programs that are international, inclusive, and excellent. Following the pandemic, Sarah implemented a comprehensive operational plan for student international travel and faculty-led global study tours. An example of Sarah's success with OHS excellence is through her "Monash Abroad Managing Risk and Safety" training. This training is required of all leaders of group international travel activities and is available through MyDevelopment. Sarah has individually trained over 125 Monash staff and students from Monash's global campus network.
Team Award Winners
SPS and Psychosocial Risk OHS Team
Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
The team delivered key improvements in psychosocial risk management across Monash University, ahead of the release of the Victorian Psychological Health Regulations. They (1) revised SARAH+ self-reporting forms to more appropriately capture psychosocial incidents and injuries, (2) streamlined online staff onboarding processes that incorporated psychosocial risk training, (3) piloted psychosocial risk training to upskill managers and supervisors within mandatory OHS training, (4) draft University psychosocial risk management guidelines, (5) published a white paper for Risk Management Institute of Australasia, and (6) foster cross-university alignment of psychosocial risk identification and management processes (Griffith, USyd, UQ, RMIT, ECU).

Helen Powell Award for Health and Wellbeing
Mental Health Basics for Educators Facilitators
Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Faculty of Information Technology, Campus Community Division
Amid rising student stress, a cross-institutional team from MNHS, FIT, MEA and Monash Counselling developed a flexible, self-paced training module, Mental Health Basics for Educators. The module, with evidence-informed content, best-practice educational strategies, and feedback-focused assessment tasks, equips staff with mental health awareness, confidence, and practical strategies to reduce stress and normalise help-seeking. The module has been completed by over 200 staff since its inception and feedback highlights the module's positive impact, fostering a broader university-wide mental health approach that can be applied to students, colleagues, and the broader community.

-
Individual Award Winner
Natalie Emmerson
Government Relations and Precincts
Natalie Emmerson's seamless dedication to her outstanding work across the Monash Commission and Government Relations has delivered a reputational impact for Monash at a local and international level and helped Monash to secure funding from new areas. Her genuine commitment to the University and her embodiment of the University's values is exemplified through her willingness to take on extra responsibilities, including numerous Secretariat roles, the coordination of Monash's Defence activity, and University involvement in Government panels. She does so with a 'can-do' attitude to produce the best possible outcome for Monash, belying the inordinate investment she makes in what she delivers.
Team Award Winner
Indigenous Nationals 2023 Organising Committee
Monash Sport, William Cooper Institute, Campus Community Division
In June 2023, Monash University hosted the largest and most outstanding Indigenous Nationals event ever held (IN23). The week of sporting competition, social engagement and cultural immersion was enjoyed by over 500 Indigenous University students. The event was 18 months in the making, from developing the hosting bid document to the Closing Ceremony, and involved thousands of hours of work from hundreds of people. The IN23 Organising Committee delivered a quantum shift in the standard of this culturally significant event, highlighting the quality of Monash University facilities and people and challenging future host institutions to also aim high.

-
Individual Award Winner
Associate Professor Jessica Kasza
School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health SciencesAssociate Professor Jessica Kasza has been developing and implementing approaches for improving the representation of women in the Australian statistical community for many years. Women are under-represented in this field, and Associate Professor Kasza’s work with the Statistical Society of Australia (SSA) has led to changes that have made this field more welcoming for women and other under-represented groups. Particular achievements include the development of recommendations for the SSA to prevent and respond to harassment, developing a Code of Conduct for SSA conferences, and establishing and chairing SSA’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity Committee. Her work has helped to ensure that the SSA welcomes all.
Team Award Winners

Advancing Access to Business Leadership Education for Indigenous Australians (MoIBL)
The contribution of the Advancing Access to Business Leadership Education for Indigenous Australians (MoIBL) development team to advancing people from diverse backgrounds, specifically Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, has been instrumental to creating greater access to business leadership education pathways for Indigenous community across Australia. This was achieved by implementing a first-of-its-kind leadership program as a cross-faculty collaboration, led by the William Cooper Institute and Monash Business School.
The 31-member interdisciplinary team championed diversity & inclusion to build a transformational program for Indigenous Australians, that offers a tailored experience, ensuring industry partnership and relevance that strengthens Indigenous workforce across public community & business sectors.

XYX Lab
“YourGround: Mapping a safer Victoria for women and gender-diverse people”, is an interactive map and communication platform designed to enable more inclusive public spaces for everyone to enjoy leisure, sport and play. As the impact of gendered violence reverberates across our communities, Monash University’s XYX Lab, and digital consultancy, CrowdSpot, partnered with 23 local Victorian councils, Respect Victoria and DELWP to crowdsource perceptions of safety in public space. YourGround empowered individuals to critically assess their local streets, parks, trails and recreational spaces in order to expose the often-hidden public safety experiences of women and gender diverse people.
- Associate Professor Gene Bawden (Department of Design, Art, Design and Architecture)
- Dr Nicole Kalms (Department of Design, Art, Design and Architecture)
- Dr Gill Matthewson (Department of Design, Art, Design and Architecture)
-
Individual Award Winner

Dr Russell King - Monash Centre for Electron Microscopy, Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) and Senior Vice-President
Dr Russell King has made outstanding contributions to OHS at Monash over a period of 15 years through:
His exemplary work as Safety Officer for the Monash Centre for Electron Microscopy.
His contribution as a member of the Research portfolio’s OHS committees for over a decade including three years as Deputy-Chair.
His broader contributions to development and review of Monash OHS policy and procedures and his assistance and collaborations on OHS matters with groups outside MCEM and the Research portfolio.Team Award Winner

Security Services
From February 2020 until April 2022, the Security Services team has achieved OHS excellence by professionally, rapidly and innovatively maintaining and safeguarding the safety and wellbeing of Monash University's Australian campuses in response to the impacts and risks presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. The team's response was extraordinary and required adaptation of day-to-day operational activities to the unique and dynamic circumstances.
- Mr Chris Richardson
- Mr Leo Hussey
- Mr Arthur Lambiris
- Mr Rob Stockini
- Mr Tyson Buttel
-
Individual Award Winner

Paul Carter, Education Policy and Projects, Portfolio of the DVC (Education)
The true highlight of this nomination speaks best to Mr Paul Carter’s achievements - several faculties (Arts, BusEco, Education, Engineering, Pharmacy and Science) have discussed and agree that, across our diverse requirements and expectations, he delivered an exceptional service, extraordinary stakeholder management, and has contributed to each faculty’s experience in implementing the Academic Progress project.
Team Award Winner

Monash Virtual School
- Tara Mannix (Education Professional Practice, Faculty of Education)
- Roslyn Gargiso (Education Professional Practice, Faculty of Education)
The Monash Virtual School is the world's first specific longitudinal program to enhance equitable and inclusive online teaching and learning. Tara Mannix and Roslyn Gargiso have been training the next generation of online teachers to provide equitable, inclusive, high quality educational opportunities. Their exceptional professional excellence as coaches and mentors has resulted in statistically significant changes in the online teaching capacities of hundreds of pre-service teachers resulting in more than 8,000 students in Australia, Italy and Ukraine reporting enhanced self-efficacy and academic confidence as a direct result of their participation in online education programs run by the Monash Virtual School.
-
The Vice-Chancellor's Excellence Awards for Diversity and Inclusion recognise those who have made an outstanding contribution to supporting diversity and fostering inclusion at Monash and beyond.
Special Commendations - Diversity and Inclusion

Dr Kirsten Ellis, Faculty Of Information Technology
Every Australian deserves the opportunity to participate in science and technology at a level that is meaningful to their needs. Dr Kirsten Ellis is engaging with disability organisations in the community to foster inclusion in electronic-making for people with physical and intellectual disabilities who are under-represented in STEM engagement programs. Kirsten is working to challenge who can participate in technology engagement activities by redesigning how the activities are undertaken to make them inclusive for everyone.

Women's Empowerment Network, Monash University Malaysia
The Women's Empowerment Network (WEN), Monash University Malaysia provides a strategic inclusive forum to help women thrive and address issues, challenges and opportunities. WEN helps enhance diverse women's lives, addressing gender equality and ensuring their voices are heard through leadership roles on Campus and beyond. WEN is run by a team of enthusiastic, committed female volunteers drawn from academic/professional staff and postgraduate students - a highly unique collaboration for the Campus and University. WEN is determined to advocate for gender balance, diversity and inclusion.

- Alvin Fernandez
- Anisha Kaur
- Diana Chee
- Assoc Professor Jane Tong
- Assoc Professor Lakshmi Selvaratnam
- Li Fong Siow
- Lilian Sharmini Kesavamani
- Professor Maude Phipps
- Dr Rizwanah Souket Ali
- Shamala K Krishnan
- Assoc Professor Sharon Bong
- Professor Uma Devi Palanisamy
- Dr Yatinesh Kumari
- Yen Jun Wong
- Dr Nirmala Devarajan
- Nur Zawanah Zabidi
- Parveen Kaur Sidhu Didar Singh
- Kogila Ramanathan
- Pei Lynn Foo
Individual Award Winner - Diversity and Inclusion

Dr Jessica Borger, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences
Dr Jessica Borger, winner of the Margaret Baird Women in STEM Lectureship and veski STEM sidebyside emerging leader, is a passionate women-in-STEM advocate. Representing Monash University nationally, she developed the veski inspiring women career recovery grants, supporting women impacted by the COVID-pandemic. A member of the Equity for Medical Research Alliance, she established the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Central Clinical School (CCS) survey, rolled-out University-wide by the Athena Swan committee. As the chair of the Gender Equity Diversity and Inclusion Committee at the Central Clinical School, Dr Borger authored a seminar checklist facilitating gender equity at all CCS meetings and has published Diversity and Inclusion articles in the Lens, Women’s Agenda, and Times Higher Education.
Team Award Winners - Diversity and Inclusion

Her Research Matters, Faculty of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
- Dr Karen Gregory
- Dr Lauren May
- Assoc Professor Michelle Halls
Her Research Matters, launched at Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS) in Oct 2019. It is a grass-roots driven, outcome focused collective that promotes, sponsors and fosters an inclusive and equitable leadership environment to enable women in academia to reach their full potential. Her Research Matters has actively engaged the next generation of scientists, coordinated promotion review for MIPS researchers to address gender inequity at senior levels, and worked together with PharmAlliance to effect change at a global level. Her Research Matters supports and promotes Diversity and Inclusion at Monash to ensure we are valuing different minds to solve complex problems.

Health & Physical Education Team, Faculty Of Education
- Dr Karen Lambert
- Professor Richard Pringle
- Professor Ruth Jeanes
- Dr Laura Alfrey
- Assoc Professor Justen O'connor
- Dr lisahunter
The Health and Physical Education (HPE) team undertook a project that demonstrated to other members in the Faculty and those beyond Monash how to “Decolonise pre-service teacher education”. The lessons learnt from the work undertaken by the outstanding team are like a lighthouse guiding the HPE community in Australia and other countries about how to authentically include Indigenous practices across the teacher education curriculum. The impact of the program is not only evident in the content which is respectful and inclusive of Indigenous
knowledge but also in building the capacity of our graduates to create highly inclusive classrooms. -
The Vice-Chancellor’s Excellence Awards for Occupational Health & Safety (OH&S) recognise individuals and teams who have made an outstanding contribution by implementing innovative and exciting ideas in OH&S at Monash.
Helen Powell Award For Health and Wellbeing - Occupational Health and Safety

Health and Wellbeing Strategic Committee, Multidisciplinary Collaboration
Collectively, the Health and Wellbeing Strategic Committee built upon and brought together the wealth of
Monash Wellbeing expertise to respond rapidly to the devastating impact of COVID-19. Using an evidencedriven approach to capture snapshots of staff’s mental, cognitive and physical health in 2020 and 2021, the team have been able to translate these findings into action and impact. The overarching goal of the Health and Wellbeing Strategic Committee has been to help the Monash community to thrive in new workplace settings, to maintain resilience in the face of new challenges in our everyday lives, and to sustain vitality as we navigate through COVID recovery and beyond.- Professor Kim Cornish
- Assoc Professor Vicki Ashton
- Andrew Marks
- Janine Murray-zaia
- Brett Lavale
- Shirley Yee
- Vladimir Prpich
- Dr Zen Goh
- Natasha Bucker
- Jane Dancey
- Professor Claire Palermo
- Trisha Prpich
- Emma Paolucci
- Sabrina Martenstyn
- Kim Turudia
- Dr Lucie Joschko
- Assoc Professor Julie Brimblecombe
- Christopher Flynn
- Jennifer Dordevic
- Darlene Mcgown
- Dr Kendra Wasiluk
- Heather Chapman
- Tong Wang
- Melinda Mccabe
Individual Award Winner - Occupational Health and Safety

Rose Bond, Monash University Health Services
Ms Rose Bond, Clinical Manager, Monash University Health Service, has been instrumental in ensuring that the health service continues to run smoothly for our community despite the covid pandemic. Ms Bond has organised the setting up and running of a busy covid testing clinic and now immunisation clinics across three campuses. She supports the doctors and nurses at the health service and ensures that everyone is appropriately informed, educated and confident in how the clinic is being run.
Team Award Winner - Occupational Health and Safety

Laboratory Services Team, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences
The Laboratory Services Team has demonstrated OHS excellence through a collaborative and proactive approach to provide a safer student and staff experience. The team implemented online video safety
inductions for all building users which allowed inductions to take place in the user’s own time and importantly, reduced the number of people attending onsite training. The development of new operating instructions and risk assessments to benchmark the safety standard of future practical classes, buildings and equipment use. The team displayed resilience and adaptation to deliver practical teaching throughout the pandemic including the delivery of face to face practical teaching amidst lockdowns and social distancing limitations.- Stephen Thompson
- Rachelina D'agruma
- Dr Kylie Wilson
- Dr Smita Mehta
- Barbara Smith
- Ann-maree Jefferis
- Dr Pamu Kularathna
- Michelle Demetrious
- Dr Anita Barry
- Narelle Metcalf
- Kushani Weerakoon
- Dr Scott Clarke
- Danielle West
- Marie Bond
- Frances Broomhead
- Hinal Vekaria
- Chris Bramich
- Dr Kim Catania
- Dr Claire Hirst
-
The Vice-Chancellor's Excellence Awards for Professional Staff recognise individuals and teams who have made an outstanding contribution to Monash.
Individual Award Winner - Professional Staff

Lara Mckinley, Faculty of Education
Ms Lara McKinley is a Senior Content Coordinator, and her contributions to Monash University are significant. Ms McKinley is a champion for science communication and research impact, and she is committed to supporting academics to translate their research. Ms McKinley works with staff to ensure their research is impactful, visible, and transformational. Through public engagement on multiple media channels, she raises the profile of Monash University and staff at both a national and international level. Ms McKinley helps to showcase Monash Education as a leader in research. She is an advocate for the profession of teaching and a supporter of students and quality education.
Special Team Commendation - Professional Staff
Academic Safety Net Project Team, Cross-portfolio Collaboration Led by Student and Education Business Services (SEBS)
The cross-portfolio team behind the Academic Safety Net represents what is possible at Monash when we come together to tackle something as complex, high profile and tightly-governed as results for students,
in record time. It represents the University’s unwavering focus on supporting students to achieve the best possible academic outcomes, and students’ personal wellbeing. It is a wonderful example of the technical, administrative and specialist legal and policy capabilities we have at Monash. Support Systems like the Academic Safety Net have been paramount to safeguarding student academic outcomes in the turbulence of the COVID-19 pandemic.- Brent Muir
- Rossouw Engelbrecht
- Mark Hatwell
- Brendan De Souza
- Aloka Jayasekera
- Shalini Mendu
- Deepa Ravichandran
- Mike Ohrimenko
- Jasmine Atkin
- Dr Candice Menidis
- Matthew Maramot
- Paul Victoriano
- Russell Cadapan
- Natalie Bloomfield
- Venkatachalam Vairavan
- Robyn Lethlean
- Edward Argles
- Bianca Gabel
- Ashok Bodepudi
- Edan Goodall
- Cherie Chan
Team Award Winner - Professional Staff

Medicine Course Md Professional Staff Team, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences
- Jodie Vickers
- Debbie Persighetti
- Daisy Rego
- Leigh Segal
- Selvi Vijayaratnam
- Pauline Forbes
- Sharon New
- Kathleen Corcoran
- Katrina Hill
- Jessica Lai
The Medicine course MD professional staff team has been the engine of adaptation and change during a crisis and has directly enabled vast innovation and maintained steady and high-quality support to the most significant medical student cohort in Australia during a pandemic. Sustaining academic standards and assessment process in a Health Professions course in a health crisis in 2020, in the face of unprecedented challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, our medical course programme professional team excelled in the maintenance of academic standards for Monash University’s School of Medicine. Due to their prodigious collective efforts, the value of the degree remains unchanged to all major stakeholders.
-
Special Commendation
Professor Cat Hope, Faculty of Arts
Award Winners - Individual and Team
Dr Margaret Simmons, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
Athena Swan Committee - Team Award
- Professor John Carroll, Faculty of Biomedical Sciences
- Professor Maria Garcia De La Banda, Faculty of Information Technology
- Associate Professor Michael Brown, Faculty of Science
- Associate Professor Edwina Mcglinn, Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute
- Professor Janemaree Maher, Faculty of Arts
- Professor Michael Morgan, Faculty of Science
- Associate Professor Yolande Strengers, Faculty of Information Technology
- Associate Professor Nick Mcguigan, Monash Business School
- Dr Susie Siew Yuen Ho, Faculty of Science
- Dr Daniel Edgington-Mitchell, Faculty of Engineering
- Associate Professor Caroline Gurvich, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
- Dr Michael Mcdonald, Faculty of Science
- Dr Lucie Joschko, Monash HR
- Janine Murray-Zaia, Monash HR
Award Winners - Student Individual and Team
Chloe Rose Polglaze, Faculty of Engineering
Ensemble, Monash Malaysia (Team Award)
- Allyssa Chin,
Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences - Yanika Liew,
Faculty of Arts - Farwa Raza,
Faculty of Science - Li Wen Tan,
Faculty of Arts - Ashley Wong
Faculty of Science
*Please note: Student categories are no longer offered as part of this Awards Program
-
Special Commendation
Monash Library Virtual Implementation Team
- Yasmin Moore
- Marlon Manguilin
- Warren Burford
- Damien Ryles
- Pam Blaikie
- Paul Bromfield
- Adam Duke
- Dr Steven Yates
Helen Powell Award for Health and Wellbeing
Suicide Prevention and Risk Management Team
- Dr Kate Gould, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
- Amelia Hicks, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
Individual Award Winner
Dorota Ferens, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
Team Award Winner
Monash Residential Services
(Team of 90 People)
-
Individual Award Winner
Lucy Dihn, eSolutions
Team Award Winner
eSolutions RACE Team
- Paul Blaich, eSolutions
- David Brodrick, eSolutions
- Kathy Buxton, Monash HR
- Calista Ferreira, eSolutions
- Jamie Franklin, eSolutions
- Amrina Kazi, Student Education Business Systems
- Jayne Long, Student Education Business Systems
- Karen Phillips, Student Education Business Systems
- Ongelle Rice, eSolutions
- Sumayya Zubair, eSolutions