These are the universities and academics changing their communities for the better

When Associate Professor Shoshana Dreyfus set out to create a playground for adults with intellectual disability, she was meeting a need that no one had really considered before.

When Shoshana Dreyfus set out to create a playground for adults with intellectual disability, she was meeting a need that no one had really considered before.

In 2019, she lobbied Wollongong Council to design and build an adult-sized playground, surveying adults with intellectual disability to find out what they wanted.

Five years later, the council opened a “world-first” adult playground that Dr Dreyfus’s son Bodhi, who has a severe intellectual disability, could enjoy.

She has been named a finalist for the Community Champion category of the Shaping Australia Awards, which honours an individual, team or university who have tangibly improved the lives of locals and made genuine connections with the community.

“Playgrounds are often built for 0-12 year olds and families often understandably feel uncomfortable with their small children playing on the same equipment as fully grown adults with intellectual disability who they don’t know,” Dr Dreyfus said.

“My dream is that other councils and jurisdictions will build their own playgrounds like this, so that people of all ages with intellectual disability in all regions have great, free and public places to play at, and hang out in, together.”

Another finalist is Professor Rebecca Guy and her team at the University of NSW who are making testing for infectious diseases more accessible for remote First Nations communities.

Program manager Emily Philips said First Nations people living in remote Australia experience some of the highest rates of sexually transmitted infections in the world but that delays in receiving results from the laboratory can affect treatment and “can have a serious impact on reproductive health”. “We now provide access to state-of-the-art, point-of-care testing technology to more than 100 clinics across Australia allowing services to test and treat on the same day,” she said.

“We now provide access to state-of-the-art, point of care testing technology to more then 100 clinics across Australia allowing services to test and treat on the same day.”

Another team at the University of Newcastle are providing speech pathology services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in rural areas through student placements.

Associate Professor Mary-Ann O’Donovan at The University of Sydney has created a program that allows students with intellectual disabilities to experience university life, while Dr Tamantha Stutchbury at the University of Wollongong has launched the RISE program to provide free, tailored support for regional businesses and empower rural NSW entrepreneurs.

The second Shaping Australia Awards, conceived by Universities Australia and supported by The Australian, recognise universities’ achievements in solving the nation’s biggest challenges in three areas of university endeavour: research, teaching or engagement with the community.

You can vote for your favourite entries until January 19, 2025 at: www.shapingaustraliaawards .com.au/the-finalists

The winners will be announced on February 25, 2025.