Gong contenders already making real-life difference

A charity helping people recover from child sexual abuse through boxing and writing, and a school-based anti-vaping program are among the finalists in Universities Australia’s Shaping Australia awards.

Students interact with digital lessons which help prevent young people from vaping.

A charity helping people recover from child sexual abuse through boxing and writing, and a school-based anti-vaping program are among the finalists in Universities Australia’s Shaping Australia awards.

At Monash University, Associate Professor Louisa Willoughby is transforming the way deaf and deafblind Australians communicate, developing Australia’s first credential for deafblind interpreters, the world’s first 3D Auslan fingerspelling generator, and a new Signbank dictionary.

She is a finalist alongside researchers from Charles Darwin University who have opened up a free tax clinic to promote financial inclusion across the Northern Territory, and the Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre at La Trobe University, which reaches more than 200,000 people each year through research, training and advocacy.

The Community Champion category honours an individual, team or university with deep ties to its community and the people who call it home, beyond just those who attend the institution. Other categories include the Future Builder award and the Problem Solver award.

Dr Donna Lyon at the University of Melbourne has launched Left Write Hook – a program of creative writing and trauma-informed boxing for survivors of child sex abuse and gendered violence, with a 700-plus waitlist.

The OurFutures Vaping program out of the University of Sydney is the first proven way to prevent vaping in schools. Lead researcher Dr Lauren Gardner, said it was “Australia’s first school-based online program proven to stop vaping before it starts through relatable cartoon storylines, interactive quizzes and class discussions”.

“Year 7 and 8 students learn the facts, practise refusal skills, and build the confidence to make healthier choices,” she said. “It’s evidence-based, curriculum-aligned and built on decades of prevention science.”

A clinical trial with 5000 students showed that those who completed it were 65 per cent less likely to vape a year later.

Read more about the finalists and vote at: www.shapingaustraliaawards.com.au/the-finalists