Appointments & Achievements

Professor Robyn Richmond, from the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, has been recognised with several awards for her outstanding contribution to public health.

Robyn won the Senior Scientist Award from the Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs (APSAD), which acknowledges significant and long-term contribution to the field.

Earlier this year she received the Mental Health Matters Award for 2009. The award recognises individuals and organisations working to improve awareness and service provision of mental health.

Robyn also received the Peter Baume Public Health Award for 2009 and the UNSW Showcase Award for Best Presentation for her study on Centenarian health and lifestyles.

Dr Frances Kay-Lambkin, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at UNSW’s National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, has been awarded the APSAD Early Career Award.

The award recognises outstanding contribution to the drug and alcohol field by an early career researcher.

Frances was acknowledged for her pioneering work developing computerised cognitive behaviour therapy for co-morbid depression and alcohol and other drug use.

The integrated computer-based therapy, proven to be as effective as face-to-face sessions, will give patients improved choice of treatment.

Frances was also awarded the 2009 UNSW Faculty of Medicine Dean’s Rising Star Award for the research.

Professor Rob Brooks, from the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, will receive a prestigious award from the Australian Academy of Science.

He will be awarded with the 2010 Fennel Medal, which recognises distinguished research in biology by scientists under 40-years-old.

Rob, director of UNSW’s Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, researches topics including evolution, sexual reproduction and the biology of aging.

The last UNSW winner of the award was Professor Brett Neilan in 2005, who went on to receive an ARC Federation Fellowship in 2008.

Dr Ross Odell from the Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering has been named the 2009 UniJobs Lecturer of the Year.

The Lecturer of the Year award is a national prize established by the UniJobs website to give university staff and students the opportunity to vote for lecturers who have made an outstanding contribution to their university communities.

UNSW Careers and Employment has won one of the Australian Association of Graduate Employers (AGGE) Graduate Recruitment Industry Awards.

UNSW was awarded the Best Careers Service for Employers award, which was determined by AGEE’s 2010 Employer Survey.

Acclaimed journalist Kathy Bail has been appointed as the new Chief Executive of UNSW Press.

Kathy will be just the fifth person to manage the Press since it began in 1962. She replaces Robin Derricourt who is retiring in February after 13 years.

A highly accomplished journalist and manager in the magazine industry, for the past three years Bail has been editor of The Australian Financial Review Magazine. She has also been editor of The Bulletin, HQ Magazine and of the Australian edition of Rolling Stone.

Dr Peter Nugus from the Centre for Clinical Governance Research, Australian Institute of Health Innovation in the Faculty of Medicine won the Jean Martin Award for the best PhD submitted to an Australian university in a social science discipline between 2007 and 2009.

Peter’s thesis was based on an investigation into the role nurses and doctors in Emergency Departments (EDs) have in organising the care of patients. It provides a "behind-the-curtain" view of life in the ED and  focuses on the negotiation processes and communication skills emergency clinicians use when engaging clinicians from other departments to become involved in the care of their patient.

The award was made by the Australian Sociological Association (TASA).