Edition 27, 2020
FACES OF
TR AN SF OR MA TI ON
BUILT ON KNOWLEDGE Skyline shaper Dr Soheil Abedian THROUGH HIS FATHER’S EYES Dr Nigel Barnett’s quest to cure blindness SO BOT RIGHT NOW Automation trailblazer Neeti Mehta Shukla THE OUTLAW Sacha Kirk disrupts the legal profession
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Patron of the Abedian School of Architecture Dr Soheil Abedian.
THE FOUNDATIONS OF LEARNING HE HELPED SCULPT THE GOLD COAST’S SOARING SKYLINE BUT DR SOHEIL ABEDIAN’S FUNDAMENTALS FOR SUCCESS ARE MORE DOWN TO EARTH. by Ken Robinson
J
ust as he did when he first gazed upon the Gold Coast 40 years ago, Dr Soheil Abedian sees the bigger picture. “The reality of the problem that global society currently faces is the lack of education,” the philanthropist, Executive Chairman and Founder of ASXlisted Sunland Group says. “If all the children of the world were allowed to be educated, these political problems we are facing - in Europe with Brexit, division in America, the Middle East, China with Hong Kong - in my opinion, within one or two generations would fade away. Education fundamentally gives an opportunity to the next generation to think for themselves and see with their own eyes, not through the eyes of others.” What Dr Abedian saw with his own eyes on a chance visit to the Gold Coast all those years ago was a metaphorical gallery in need of architectural artworks. Then living
in Austria, his application for permanent residency in Australia was accepted in seven days and he set about decorating the Gold Coast skyline, beginning with the construction of a single luxury house in Benowa. Sunland has since grown to have a market capitalisation of almost $300 million and a portfolio of iconic projects including Palazzo Versace, the world’s first fashionbranded hotel. But it is Q1 - which recently marked the 15th anniversary of its opening that has come to exemplify Sunland’s designforward approach. “It was never the plan to create an iconic building,” Dr Abedian says. “But if you try always to do the best you can do, then people may see that and give it the brand of iconic. True beauty is something that resonates with the heart. Thanks to God they accepted Q1 as an iconic building for the Gold Coast and we are very proud of it.”
If Q1 is the crown of Dr Abedian’s development career, the foundation is education. He was born in Iran but studied at the University of Graz, earning a Masters degree in Architecture with Honours. “My father always said the biggest gift he could give to us was education,” Dr Abedian says. “Although we were not from a very rich family, five of the children - I am the fourth all had a university education in Europe. Now I am in a position to serve our community and put it back to the kids who maybe don’t have the means.” At 71, Dr Abedian is increasingly devoting his time to his charitable causes including the Abedian Foundation. In October he and Vice Chancellor and President Professor Tim Brailsford signed a three-year agreement to extend a series of Master of Architecture scholarships. The students will study at the Abedian School of Architecture, of which Arch, Edition 27
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Dr Abedian is the patron. The signing marked the continuation of a relationship that began when Dr Abedian’s daughter Mona Rezvani-Abedian commenced among the University’s first cohort. His son, Sunland Managing Director Sahba Abedian, a niece, nephews and grandchildren have followed in Ms Rezvani-Abedian’s footsteps. After riding the ups and downs of the Gold Coast economy for decades, Dr Abedian is upbeat about the city’s future as it prepares to emerge from the COVID-19 recession. “When you evaluate everything that is happening in the world, Australia is the destination people want to come to,” he says. “And when you evaluate Australia, Gold Coast is the destination and I am not saying that because I live here. We are just at the threshold of discovering what the Gold Coast can offer. If the pandemic in the next 12 months is resolved and we have a vaccine, you will see that our population will skyrocket. Why do you think 13.2 million tourists were coming here? Because it is so good.” It could be even better with some attention to the city’s tourism heart, inspired
by another oceanfront hub on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. “We have a problem and it is a 500 metres stretch on the Gold Coast Highway in Surfers Paradise. If I could change one thing I would adapt what Santa Monica did in the 1990s. The heart of Santa Monica was empty. The council gathered all the landlords and they decided to appoint an architect and make streetscaping for all the shops and encouraged everybody to come. Today it is one of the highest per square metre rental precincts. People are attracted to beauty and we have to have a collective vision to bring back (Surfers Paradise) to what it was when I arrived in the 1980s.” Dr Abedian also hopes the Gold Coast can establish a world-class museum – something he proposed gifting to the city as part of a twin towers development by Sunland on a site south of Marina Mirage on The Spit. The project, designed by the late star architect Dame Zaha Hadid DBE RA, was withdrawn in 2016 amid council delays and opposition. “Am I sorry for Sunland that it didn’t get the twin towers? No. Am I sorry for the
city that they couldn’t see the vision? Yes. We were building a museum which was the last work of Dame Zaha Hadid and gifting it back to the city. It was as if you have a Gauguin or a Rembrandt and you give it to the British Museum and they say, ‘You know what? We don’t have an empty wall to hang it on so therefore we don’t want it’. They should have embraced it.” The Gold Coast City Council has, however, embraced the man behind the project, awarding Dr Abedian its highest honour and easing any regret over the museum and towers. Handing him the keys to the city, Mayor Tom Tate praised Dr Abedian saying: “Soheil exemplifies the Gold Coast have-a-go spirit, but always with a focus of making our city better for everyone.” Although he is less hands-on at Sunland these days, Dr Abedian is not slowing down. He schedules 52 hours a week on mentoring sessions alone. “I have 28 sessions per week with 174 individuals - young students and adults,” he says. “Tuesday is the busiest day. I have six of them! If they benefit, great. If not, that is all right. At least they can open their minds.” Many of the students are aspiring architects who hope one day to decorate the landscape with their own legacies. He tells them what he told his own children. “Do not pursue your education for the sake of ego, name and money. Do it because you love to learn. If you want to make money, it will come. But do the best you can do at any stage and don’t let the financials be at the forefront of your thoughts. Do it for the love of art and do it for the love of architecture.”
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Patron of the Abedian School of Architecture Dr Soheil Abedian and Vice Chancellor and President Professor Tim Brailsford at the signing ceremony to extend a series of Master of Architecture scholarships. | 4 |
“Education fundamentally gives an opportunity to the next generation to think for themselves and see with their own eyes, not through the eyes of others’.”
Sunland’s Q1, built 15 years ago, remains emblematic of the Gold Coast skyline. Picture: Cavan Flynn.
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Stay Connected ONCE A BONDY, ALWAYS A BONDY
With almost 30,000 graduates across 140 countries and 30 active alumni committees, the global Bond alumni network is a thriving community. The Alumni Centre is committed to helping Bondies everywhere (future, current and former students) connect in big and small ways. Keep your details current so we can share relevant news. Please get in touch if we can help or you have your own news to share. We would love to hear from you.
Your alumni support crew Catherine Marks, Vice President Engagement Brett Walker, Director Alumni & Development Nicole Walker (Class of 2001), Head of Alumni Relations Emma Hamalainen, Coordinator Committees Paige Booth, Coordinator Communications Mikayla Lawrie, Database Officer
alumni.bond.edu.au
CONTENTS THE ARCH - EDITION 27, 2020
34
38
In Profile
Transformation
2
26 30 34 36
Dr Soheil Abedian on giving back to future generations
Around Campus 9 10 10 11 12 12 14
Charles nets his hoop dream Maddy smashes Australian record #1 for 15 years Stage 3 of Society & Design Precinct opens Big data is big business Supporting First Nations education Transforming learning in an uncertain world
The Big Question 18
How can businesses transform and thrive?
Research 24
The Barnetts’ war
Faces of transformation Neeti Mehta Shukla Sacha Kirk Chisomo Banzi
Philanthropy 38
Hugh ploughs on through setbacks
40
Ms Douglas sees scholarships through lens of her own experience
Bondies on the Move 42
From the editor This year has forced change upon us all - in personal behaviour, in the way we conduct business and for some, in our careers. But for others, change is unconnected to COVID-19 and recession; it is their state of being and something they constantly strive for. As 2020 draws to a close, and we see significant international and domestic political and societal transitions with particularly the US Presidential election concluding, and closer to home the Queensland State election, we look to enter 2021 with greater certainty and positivity, and hopes for a COVID-19 vaccine. As Bondies, we are uniquely adapted for the current state of affairs. Indeed, our suite of Transformation degrees are precisely tailored for a world in which the only certainty is uncertainty. In this edition, we speak to alumni, benefactors and students who have not waited for change to come to them. Rather, they have sought to bring it about themselves, transforming cities, industries and the lives of others. We hope you draw inspiration from reading their stories. Brett Walker Director, Alumni and Development
Class year updates 1989-2017
Sport 46
Season of firsts
50
Athlete profile: Tarni Peepe
Featured on cover (left to right): Ms Tarni Peepe, Ms Bethany Larsen, Dr George Hrivnak, Mrs Cathy U’Ren, Mr Moh’d Al-Sadi, Dr Soheil Abedian, Ms Fiamma Fay Morton, Ms Sacha Kirk, Professor Paul Glasziou, Ms Neeti
ALUMN I C EN TRE
Metha Shukla, Mr Chisomo Banzi, Professor
Phone +61 7 5595 1451
Email alumni@bond.edu.au
Website alumni.bond.edu.au
Mail 14 University Drive, Robina 4229, QLD AUSTRALIA
CRICOS Provider Code 00017B
Keitha Dunstan, Mr Derek Cronin, Dr Nigel Barnett, Mr Adam Roberts and Ms Maddy Gough.
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The new street courts.
SANDSTONE PINE AROUND CAMPUS Charles nets his hoop dream The grandson of University Co-Founder Mr Alan Bond came to Bond to continue a family legacy. It was a slam dunk. Elected the 2020 BUSA President, Charles Bond Fewster (Class of 2018) was instrumental in having three half basketball courts or ‘street courts’ installed on campus. The courts are located between the Faculty of Health Sciences & Medicine and the Abedian School of Architecture and are open every night until 10pm under lights. “I’m glad students will have the opportunity to use the courts. Our vision is to increase the student experience,” Mr Bond Fewster says. “I think a diverse range of students will use the courts and meet new people – it will be a new way to network.” Vice Chancellor and President Professor Tim Brailsford, says the courts will add to the University’s renowned student experience. “Street ball is spontaneous sport; an unstructured, instantaneous way to have fun on campus in between class schedules,” Professor Brailsford says. “The courts are a legacy piece and my vision is that the area will be buzzing with student activity and become a social meeting place.” Mr Bond Fewster graduates with a Bachelor of Business this year. “I’ve cherished my time here at Bond,” he says. “Bond University is a family legacy and I wanted to be the first Bond to come to Bond and to graduate. Bond is rated No.1 for student experience and it really lived up to that.” The courts were christened with a social tournament for students and staff.
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alumni.bond.au/arch27
The 2020 BUSA President Charles Bond Fewster and Vice Chancellor and President Professor Tim Brailsford at the opening.
Mentors guiding future leaders More than 110 Bond students are currently receiving advice on everything from their resumes to job interview techniques through the Alumni Mentor Program. The program connects students and alumni from the September semester onwards and has forged many ongoing relationships since it was launched 10 years ago. Vice President Engagement Catherine Marks says the program is a wonderful way for alumni to give back to the University through their time and expertise. “This is a hugely rewarding experience, not just for the students but the mentors,” Ms Marks says, “All alumni have something to offer and while it’s mainly professional advice, we find they are also offering their personal tips which can ease students’ transition to the workforce. It might be how the alumni got their first job, tweaking the student’s resume, interview skills or explaining what employers are looking for in the current jobs market.” Previous alumni mentors have included former Virgin Co-CEO David Baxby and Hong-Kong based Wharf Hotels President Dr Jennifer Cronin. Mentors and mentees connect at least six times during the program via telephone, video call or in person and both are provided with a handbook allowing them to structure meetings and follow an agenda with defined outcomes. “A lot of these relationships continue beyond the formal September semester,” Ms Marks says. “We hear stories from students and alumni of how these connections endure, which is wonderful. Students are alumni-in-waiting and in the years ahead we will be asking them to give back to new students when they are in a position to do so.”
“Students are alumni-in-waiting and in the years ahead we will be asking them to give back to new students when they are in a position to do so.”
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Maddy smashes Australian record Distance swimmer Maddy Gough smashed her own Australian 1500m short-course freestyle record at the Queensland Short Course Championships in September. The Bond University Georgina Hope Rinehart Swimming Excellence Scholarship student’s time of 15:31.19 was the fifth fastest time in history and took a staggering seven seconds off her own record and a whopping 12 seconds off Olympian Jess Ashwood’s old 2015 Australian record. “I was quite surprised - I didn’t expect to go that quick and swim that time,” Ms Gough says.
The 21-year-old has been swimming 85 kilometres a week across 10 sessions in the pool - while juggling her Bachelor of Biomedical Science at Bond - as well as three gym sessions and a spin class for good measure. The performance continues the meteoric rise of the 21-year-old who finished fifth at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea and won the Australian 5km Open Water Championship at Brighton Beach in January.
Maddy Gough.
#1 for 15 years
Safer, brighter campus
For a 15th consecutive year Bond University has been ranked the No.1 Australian university for student experience, as judged by the 2021 edition of The Good Universities Guide. Bond received five-star ratings in all six Educational Experience categories at undergraduate and postgraduate level - the only university in Australia to achieve the feat.
The campus is safer and looking refreshed with perimeter fencing and repainting carried out while students were studying remotely during the May semester. The colours Merino Chroma and Maltshake were chosen to complement the Helidon sandstone that clads much of the University. Other upgrades include new water fountains, IT improvements and the rollout of more solar panels. The music room and Chancellery have also been refreshed. Plus, the ever-increasing migration of texts to online sources has allowed an additional student assistance zone to be established in the library. With its central location off the Quadrangle, the heavily patronised facility will mirror most services provided in the existing Student Business Centre in combination with the IT Help Desk.
Rani kickstarts Olympic campaign A Bond University researcher is deep-diving into the underwater dolphin kick that helped Michael Phelps become the greatest swimmer of all time. Australian swimmers could weaponise Rani West’s (Class of 2017) PhD against the USA heirs to Phelps’ legacy as soon as the Tokyo Olympics next year. The underwater dolphin kick – when swimmers propel themselves off the wall, travelling faster than any surface stroke – can account for up to 30 percent of the total distance in an Olympic race. Mr Phelps was a master at it, but Ms West believes there are still significant gains to be made. PhD student Rani West. read
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bond.edu.au/raniweststory
Stage 3, Society & Design Precinct.
Stage 3 of Society & Design Precinct opens Flexibility and collaboration are key themes of the Faculty of Society & Design’s new building, which was officially opened in November. Faculty of Society & Design Executive Dean Professor Derek Carson is excited about the new building which features four unique teaching rooms, an indoor-outdoor social space for study and socialising and numerous landscaped places for people to meet and chat. “The facility is a welcome addition to the faculty’s footprint, designed to complement an active, engaged and authentic approach to pedagogy. The building was created to bring people together; it’s about collaboration, it’s about cross-discipline working and drawing people in.” The largest of three new flexible teaching spaces seats 100 students, alongside two smaller rooms each with capacity for 40 students.
Professor Carson says central to these rooms is a design which allows for teaching and interaction in almost any configuration imaginable. “The room can be arranged to suit the learning experience. We’ve learned from student feedback what’s important to them. The rooms are flexible, have easy access to power outlets in any configuration and utilise audio visual technology in an engaging way.” Alongside the teaching spaces is the Collaborative Laboratory which Professor Carson describes as “like no other computer laboratory that Bond has.” The Collaborative Laboratory features hubs of computers, allowing students to work together or independently. Each hub also features a wall-mounted screen which can be linked to any of the student screens in the laboratory.
Bond University Vice Chancellor and President Professor Tim Brailsford says the new building was outstanding. “Bond has always prided itself on providing a first-class experience for its students. This new facility exemplifies that approach, positioning the University at the forefront of collaborative teaching and learning, while substantially adding to the Society & Design precinct’s already strong environmental focus.”
“The building was created to bring people together; it’s about collaboration, it’s about cross-discipline working and drawing people in.”
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Supporting First Nations education This has been a year of unprecedented challenges for businesses around the world but for Indigenous Australians, securing a quality education is an ongoing battle. Bond University is grateful to those companies and individuals who have continued to support our education initiatives for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students through difficult times, including: Dr Patrick Corrigan AM, The Optical Superstore, Adam Knight Fine Art, Blue Sky Alternative Investments, Douglas Murphy QC (Class of 1989), ISS Facility Services, Clarence Property, Dr Ken McGregor, Minter Ellison, MSS Security and Habitat Security, Westpac Institutional Bank, AC Fitouts, Budget Direct, Feros Care, Advance Plant Services, FTI Consulting, Gallagher, Gold Coast Private Hospital, Nelnet International, Robina Group, McCarthy Coatings and Study Gold Coast.
Centre for Data Analytics.
Big Data is Big Business The Bond Business School has opened the Centre for Data Analytics after the discipline established itself as a key research pillar with grants of more than $1 million. The centre boasts high-powered computers that allow students to work on real-world industry projects. Associate Professor of Statistics Dr Adrian Gepp says it is an exciting time for the Bond Business School. “We believe data analytics is a key pillar for the broader business community throughout the world,” Dr Gepp says. “It’s taking this new trend of data analytics and big data and applying it to problems of economic and social importance. We’ve had over $1 million in grants, research publications, lots of PhD honour students and industry connections. It’s been hugely successful for us.”
New health partnership The University has partnered with Gold Coast Health on the Bond Translational Simulation Collaborative to provide realistic, scenario-based training for healthcare teams. Dr Victoria Brazil, Director of the collaborative, says it would improve patient care through research and training with high performing teams who practise their work through simulation.
Cage or free range?
First COVID-safe graduations
New research by Bond University PhD student Robyn McCormack is set to examine ethical consumption and the psychological processes that determine why people make the choices they do. Ms McCormack’s research will include the Attitude-Behaviour Gap, defined as the gap between what ethical consumers believe and how they act.
Handshakes and hugs were not possible but the University still managed to offer four unique COVID-safe graduation ceremonies in August for Queensland-based Bondies. Graduands from the 201 and 202 cohorts received their testamurs in the Basil Sellers Theatre, while adhering to strict social distancing. The ceremonies were live-streamed for fellow graduands, families and friends interstate. Vice Chancellor and President Professor Tim Brailsford, paid special tribute to graduands from the Faculty of Health Sciences & Medicine at their ceremony. “At the frontline of the battle against the virus has been the healthcare sector. Healthcare workers across the globe have been our warriors and our heroes. They’ve been brave, resilient and steadfast in tackling this pandemic.”
read
bond.edu.au/ethicsstory
Read the full stories online bond.edu.au/news
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Lacey Rowett, former BUSA President.
Ambition Appeal Support those who need assistance to take their next step. From granting scholarships to assisting those in financial hardship, your donation has impact in helping tomorrow’s leaders.
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Transforming learning in an uncertain world When Bond University launched its ground-breaking suite of future-focussed Transformation degrees in 2019, the Health Transformation program was prophetically described as being able to equip graduates “to help prepare the world for the next pandemic”. That same future focus guides the University as it adapts to the reality of living with COVID-19 and the rapidly changing higher education landscape. Bond responded to the COVID-19 disruption with a pivot to remote delivery for the May semester. This set the stage for further innovation in September with a move to multi-modal learning where the physical and virtual classrooms are combined in a multidimensional learning environment. The on-campus students and remote students are able to interact and learn together regardless of their location. According to Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic) Professor Keitha Dunstan, this new way of learning has been embraced by students and has had some unexpected positive consequences. “One of the things we hadn’t anticipated was the physical classroom students wanting to attend through the remote classroom as well,” Professor Dunstan says. “They are all logging in and chatting with their remote colleagues as well as participating in the class physically.” Professor Dunstan is confident Bond will remain a leader in the evolution of higher education as it builds on the capacity that has been established during this challenging time. “Multi-modal delivery is an innovation that will likely change how we approach
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creating learning environments for our students in the future.” Even before the pandemic, Bond was moving quickly to reinforce its graduates’ standing as among the most employable in Australia. The University’s multi-disciplinary Transformation degrees – a Bachelor of Entrepreneurial Transformation, Bachelor of Digital Transformation, Bachelor of Health Transformation and Bachelor of Legal Transformation - have been launched in recognition of employers expecting different things from graduates. “It was recognising that the world is becoming more trans-disciplinary; that there are still experts, but everyone in the workforce is expected to be more than just an expert in a field,” Professor Dunstan says. “An important skill is the ability to bring together successful multidisciplinary teams. We recognise we need graduates who are better able to work in those teams, so what better way to do that than to have the degree that takes a multidisciplinary approach to start with?” The innovative degrees are focused on new and emerging fields, with students participating in workplace-based learning immersions through Bond’s Transformation CoLab which utilises expertise from across the University and industry. Shari Thompson is one of the pioneering students to have embarked on a Transformation degree. “I picked the Health Transformation degree over a standard health degree because I wanted to do more than just biology,” Ms Thompson says. “I thought the opportunity to do law, business and digital subjects would help my understanding of the world and my employability – to make sure I’m ready for what employers want. “I do genuinely feel that the degrees are preparing us for a future world of work.” Bond has also launched a suite of micro-credentials that meet the new and emerging needs of business, industry and the general community. Micro-credentials are offered across multiple disciplines to
provide professional development and learning opportunities that are relevant to a changing and dynamic workforce. Many of these micro-credentials can be stacked to allow the learner to accumulate credit towards a full degree without having to commit to a full program of work at the outset of their study. “The professionals of today are much more focussed on getting the skills that they need to be able to satisfy the expectations of their employers,” Professor Dunstan says. “In this fast-paced world, employers are less interested in whole postgraduate degrees than they were in the past. The whole notion of micro-credentials is answering what we see as the demand to fill the specific
professional development needs of people.” She does not think Bond will ever return to the way things were before coronavirus – and welcomes the change. “I don’t believe we will go back to the pre-COVID normal. Among the positives of the change is that we have learned that we are able to innovate and change. While it has been hard work, students and staff have enjoyed the excitement; embracing change in this dynamic environment. I would like to think we won’t ever completely go back to the way we were doing things before. “Some of the things that have emerged are different ways of assessing, potentially moving away from those very rigid, written invigilated formal exam periods, all those
things that a lot of people in my position have been hoping to change for a long time. An emphasis on authentic assessment that familiarises students with the type of work they will encounter in the workplace has emerged.”
“An important skill is the ability to bring together successful multidisciplinary teams.”
Transformation Degrees Bond’s suite of Transformation Degrees launched in July 2019, with the first cohort of students beginning in January 2020. The degrees are designed for the unconventional thinkers, the barrier-breakers, the game-changers, the innovators and the big thinkers. For more information, enquire at bond.edu.au/enquire
Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic) Professor Keitha Dunstan.
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AROUND CAM PUS
Radio star Bethany signs off and tunes in to Bond At 19, Bethany Larsen deferred her studies and moved from the Gold Coast to Port Augusta to become a breakfast radio host. After seven years in the industry, Ms Larsen has returned to Bond to complete her degree. As told to Jessica Borten. HOW HAS YOUR CAREER PROGRESSED IN THE YEARS SINCE LEAVING BOND? I was halfway through my Journalism degree while also radio announcing and newsreading at Gold Coast’s Radio Metro in 2013 when I was offered a full-time breakfast radio position in Port Augusta, South Australia. Radio is an extremely competitive industry and by my own admission I was underqualified for this role at the time but I made the bold decision to defer my degree, move to the other side of the country with no personal connections and give it a red-hot crack. I worked gruelling 1012-hour days - often weekends too - and after about a year I realised that radio may in fact be my destiny. I put my heart and energy into my radio dream every day, a novelty that was eventually recognised. After positions in Townsville and Canberra, I was offered a full-time breakfast radio position with Hit South Queensland, based in Toowoomba. When my redundancy occurred in August this year it truly broke my heart and significantly affected my sense of identity, but when I attended my first week of classes after re-enrolling at Bond University I had a magical moment realising that everything does happen for a reason. Bethany Larsen.
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“Returning to studies at Bond has given me a jump in my step again.”
YOU COULD HAVE DONE THIS DEGREE ELSEWHERE. WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO RETURN TO BOND? Bond is a community, not just a university. I genuinely vouch for the Bond experience: the small class sizes create accountability and personal connections; the resources feel unlimited and it employs the most knowledgeable lecturers with contemporary experience and a willingness to go above and beyond for students. HOW IMPORTANT IS LIFELONG LEARNING TO YOU? I always say that the moment you stop growing, your life is void. You could live to 900 and still learn new things every day. University studies play a poignant part in stimulating intellect, networks and ideas. Even now, looking towards my 2021 graduation, I am starting to ask myself questions like, “Hmm, maybe I could honour in something?” I also believe that consistently challenging your mind plays a huge part in happiness. WHERE DO YOU HOPE THIS QUALIFICATION TAKES YOU? The difference between studying after more than seven years of experience in the industry is that it enables me to derive more benefit from the learning experience. I also believe that, through the incredible Bond community, I will create networks that will open more doors. I felt very lost when losing my radio job. I sacrificed so much for this dream for so long and felt that I was on track to ‘making it’. Returning to studies at Bond has given me a jump in my step again. I know it’s a cliché but everything really does happen for a reason and in years to come, when I am hopefully a national or international multi-faceted media personality, I know I will look back on this career hiccup and be grateful that life played out the way it did.
Extend Your Bond Journey Apply today for 35 percent tuition fee remission to alumni commencing postgraduate studies in January 2021. bond.edu.au/alumni-scholarship
The pandemic has disrupted businesses around the world. Faced with such an unprecedented shock, how can businesses transform and thrive?
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The Big Question sheds light on a topical issue of global relevance, providing a platform for some of Bond’s best and brightest academics and alumni to share their unique perspectives. Arch, Edition 26 27
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T H E B IG QUESTIO N
The pandemic has disrupted businesses around the world. Faced with such an unprecedented shock, how can businesses transform and thrive?
Fiamma Fay Morton (Class of 1992) is Group Executive Business, Bank of Queensland. The pandemic has had an impact on every single person around the globe. That statement in itself is overwhelming when said out loud. Every single one of our 7.8 billion citizens. In Australia, we have adapted how we consume, shop, bank, feed ourselves, entertain, exercise, work and educate. These rapid changes in our behaviours have had a massive effect on businesses - some positive, some disastrous. Phase 1 was the immediate response to the sudden evaporation of turnover (except if you were a toilet paper manufacturer!); Phase 2 is seeing companies pivot and adapt to the new normal; and Phase 3 the pursuit and implementation of structural changes that position businesses for success in a new “postcrisis” world. There have been a number of businesses that have shown remarkable resilience to date. The trick for success is responsiveness to changing customer needs. For some, the change in business model was swift. The cafes that set up sidewalk grocery stores and online orders is an example of a pivot. As has been the gin distilleries who took on making hand
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sanitiser. I was so energised in those early days by Australia’s entrepreneurial spirit (as well as government support) that saw our business community adapt. One of my customers told me of how their business had completely shut. Boom to zero overnight. But JobKeeper allowed him to keep on staff to prototype a new product line they had been wanting to develop. Another used his tool of trade (a truck) to deliver food to the local community. Unanimously my business customers say the path forward is to focus on their strengths that will allow them to differentiate and lead. This includes making it easier to use their product/access their service, or embracing and imbedding digital technologies to improve efficiencies. We have seen rapid innovation and transformation of the user experience digitally. COVID-19 has also provided us with a gateway for digital tools to transform and assist humandriven processes. It is unlikely that they will completely replace in-person interactions, but businesses do need to rethink and reconsider the digital possibilities. There will certainly be practices and experiences that will now forever be primarily digitally focussed. As a banker I am always looking to support businesses that invest in people, run efficient operating models or have a smart business idea that meets customer needs. COVID has provided a stern test of a firm’s ability to remain competitive, resilient and ultimately to keep making an impact. Some companies will fail. Hopefully more will succeed. If any Bond Alumni have businesses they would like to talk about, please reach out - I am happy to brainstorm and help.
“Unanimously my business customers say the path forward is to focus on their strengths that will allow them to differentiate and lead.”
SUSTAINABILITY IS ALSO IMPACTING INVESTMENT DECISIONS This behavioural shift in stakeholder responsibility is also driving changes in the way institutional investors are allocating capital. Institutional investors – like superannuation funds and insurance companies – are listening to the shifting views of their clients and considering impact and sustainability as part of their investment practices. This trend is expected to accelerate as millennials rise through the workforce and enter leadership positions.
Adam Roberts (Class of 2008) is Senior Vice-President, Impact Investing at Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets. Events of 2020 have placed tremendous stress on individuals, businesses, communities and governments and in many cases COVID-19 has exacerbated trends around global challenges of inequality and climate. We do, however, have an opportunity to rethink the status quo position to deliver ‘profit with purpose’ and focus our efforts on building sustainable and more resilient businesses. Impact investing requires the intention to generate positive, measurable social and environmental impact in addition to and not sacrificing, financial returns. Nearly US$50 billion was raised for impact investing in 2019 with the total market estimated to be between US$200-300 billion and grown by more than 50 percent per year over recent years. CONSIDER OPERATING MODELS AND FOCUS ON SUSTAINABILITY Incorporating sustainability provides more than just societal and environmental benefits, but also delivers financial benefits too, as more sustainable businesses have greater longevity and therefore command higher valuations. The shift towards delivering stakeholder returns (not just shareholder returns) is accelerating and expected to soon become a ‘must-have’.
UNDERSTAND MEGATRENDS AND POSITION YOURSELF FOR THE FUTURE Megatrends such as urbanisation, resource efficiency and technological developments are driving opportunities to invest in new and innovative solutions. Nearly US$2 trillion is required over the next decade across clean energy storage, recycling and circular waste solutions, water efficiency, electrification of transport and affordable housing. Governments, after enacting some of the largest stimulus measures in post-war history, are considering their role in service provision. This is expected to provide more opportunities for businesses to deliver investment and innovation across essential services. Significant opportunities may be found in times of greatest challenge or uncertainty. Exercise courage and sound judgment and take measured risks that may be transformational and pay off over the long-term.
“This trend is expected to accelerate as millennials rise through the workforce and enter leadership positions.”
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Dr George Hrivnak is Associate Dean, Learning & Teaching, Bond Business School. The pandemic has caused staggering disruption to businesses and economies around the world. As we continue to look forward to an identifiable end to the current crisis, what lessons can be learned to help us prepare for the next one? This crisis has shown many leaders just how fast-moving and agile their organisations can be. Departmental silos, unclear strategies and slow decision-making are some of the frequent barriers inhibiting organisational productivity and dexterity. To keep up with the demands of a dynamic, rapidly growing crisis, many leaders were forced to develop new mechanisms within their organisations to increase their capacity to quickly respond. Although many of these changes were necessarily ad hoc, successful firms will find ways to institutionalise these new efficiencies so that they are sustainable. Further, companies of all sizes have had to quickly embrace digital technologies due to travel limits, social distancing requirements and other restrictions. From virtual meetings to remote learning, technological transformation has been drastically accelerated by the pandemic.
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Organisations that learn this lesson will work to enable faster decision-making, improve internal communication and collaboration and increase their strategic investment in information technology to enable a faster, more agile organisation. Speed provides little benefit if you don’t have a clear direction of where you’re headed. During a crisis, people are already motivated to act, but they often don’t know what to do. Providing this guidance requires effective leadership. In particular, organisational leaders need to monitor the situation, seek credible information, think clearly, act decisively and help everyone work together through the crisis. Perhaps most importantly, effective leaders make it a priority to frequently communicate to staff in a manner that is consistently transparent, honest and empathetic. One of the benefits of communicating this way is the reassurance it provides to those who have felt shaken, stressed and fatigued during the crisis. Although some of us may be more resilient than others, it is both an individual and a collective capacity that can be developed and enhanced. For example, knowing who you are, what you’re good at (and not good at) and having a clear sense of purpose can all increase resilience. Viewing crises as an opportunity can also help build resilience. Facing a significant challenge is often when we discover both what we’re truly capable of achieving and what our latent strengths or talents are. However, such growth doesn’t just happen. We need to engage in a deliberate process to reflect, analyse and learn from the experience of adversity. This will not only help us become more resilient and capable than we were before, but also help us develop effective strategies for future crises.
“Facing a significant challenge is often when we discover both what we’re truly capable of achieving and what our latent strengths or talents are.”
Make Your Voice Heard 2021-2022 Alumni Advisory Board Elections
Elect your Bondy ambassador in January 2021. alumni.bond.edu.au/advisoryboard
RESEARCH
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THE BARNETTS’ WAR RESEARCHER SEEKS A CURE FOR DISEASE THAT CLAIMED HIS FATHER’S SIGHT
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igel Barnett is grateful to have inherited his father’s boundless curiosity and relentless tinkering. After all, they are attributes that could one day help cure the disease that so frustrated Gerald Barnett in his later years. “Our house was full of books,” says Dr Nigel Barnett, an Associate Professor at Bond University’s Clem Jones Centre for Regenerative Medicine. “My father read everything, especially engineering history books. He just loved figuring out how things worked. Growing up I was always pulling bits and pieces apart and helping him and that was where my interest in how things work came from. I just went down the biomedical side.” Barnett Snr took the engineering route. His first job at 16 was repairing battledamaged RAF fighters and bombers during World War II. When hostilities ended he put himself through night school and technical college to become a chartered engineer. There was a mix of envy and regret every time a young Nigel farewelled his father on yet another international business trip to an exotic country. He wanted to travel too, but he also craved knowledge. The boy from the English Midlands studied Physiology at the University of Sheffield before a Masters and a Doctor of Philosophy in Vision Science at the University of Oxford. He loved using his brain and initially that is what he wanted to study. “When I was an undergrad, for my Honours, I was interested in neuroscience,”
Dr Barnett says. “An opportunity came up at Oxford to work on the retina which is actually part of the brain. I became fascinated by it. The retina is an absolutely beautiful structure. There’s a book by one of the grandfathers in the field called The Retina: An Approachable Part of the Brain and that’s what it is a window to the brain.” Dr Barnett came to Bond University via wanderlust, the University of Queensland and the Queensland Eye Institute. By then he was an expert on retinal degeneration. And this is where his father re-enters the story. The man who so loved reading, pulling things apart and putting them back together was going blind. “My Dad had age-related macular degeneration (AMD),” Dr Barnett says. “It started in his mid-seventies and by his late seventies, early eighties, it was affecting what he could see. Obviously for him it was terrible. For me it was hard knowing what it was and that there was nothing that could be done. But if you live into your eighties, there’s a big chance you’re going to get AMD.” AMD is the western world’s leading cause of untreatable blindness. Dr Barnett and his team - Research Fellow Dr Jason Limnios, Senior Research Assistant Cassie Rayner, PhD student Teresa Mammone and collaborators Professor Steve Bottle of QUT and Bond’s Professor Helen O’Neill - are working to change that. They hope to implant new retinal cells in the eye, restoring vision to AMD patients. The researchers first developed a new technique for efficiently growing retinal
cells from stem cells. They then produced a unique artificial membrane which carries the cells and experiments in rats have shown the treatment can stop blindness in the shortterm. “The next step is to make sure the newlyimplanted cells survive over the long term,” Dr Barnett says. “We don’t want them to succumb to the same issues that killed the original cells. We’re investigating a number of different methodologies and techniques to address this.” These include: • Modifying the membrane to incorporate drugs or other factors that will allow the cells to survive longer; • Applying drugs directly to the eye to reduce inflammation and other issues that lead to the death of the cells in AMD; • Modifying the stem cells so the retinal cells they produce carry a built-in protection. Dr Barnett hopes to begin human clinical trials in 2023. Gerald Barnett died in 2017 aged 91 having helped win a war against tyranny. The tyranny of blindness goes on - but another Barnett has taken up the fight. watch
alumni.bond.au/arch27
This research has been funded by the Clem Jones Foundation, the Cutmore Bequest to Bond University and the National Health and Medical Research Council. If you would like to join them in the quest to cure blindness caused by age-related macular degeneration, contact the Office of Engagement on +61 7 5595 4403.
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Dr Nigel Barnett in his laboratory.
A fundus camera.
“Obviously for him it was terrible. For me it was hard knowing what it was and that there was nothing that could be done.�
Gerald Barnett in 2004 with his grandson Alex.
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This year has forced change upon us all. But for some, constant innovation is hardwired into their personality. From flying bricks to an empire of software bots, these entrepreneurs are reshaping industries and lives.
FACES OF
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Chisomo Banzi.
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MOH’D AL-SAADI CATHY U’REN PAUL GLASZIOU Professor Paul Glasziou is Director of the Institute for Evidence-Based Healthcare at Bond University and an international authority on evidence-based practice. He has been calling for a ‘Plan B’ in case an effective COVID-19 vaccine is not as effective as hoped.
FAVOURITE QUOTE FOR TIMES OF UNCERTAINTY Maybe the Bob Dylan line “I ain’t afraid of confusion no matter how thick”, though a more nuanced and complete guide is Rilke’s “Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue.” ONE WORD TO DESCRIBE 2020? Hard - hard in the physical, emotional, financial and every other sense that I can think of. MOST EXCITED ABOUT IN 2021? The opportunity to “build back better” in many aspects of society. For example, the use of telehealth has been accelerated and permanently changed by the pandemic. In the hard times of the pandemic, innovations are arising that should become part of the new normal: ways we do research, conferences, teaching that will mix these innovations with the old normal. ADVICE TO OTHERS PONDERING A NEW IDEA? Keep your focus on the big problem you want to solve. Seek multiple viewpoints; discuss with people from different backgrounds; explore from a dozen angles but keep coming back to the problem. HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN YOU ARE ONTO A WINNER? When after months or years of working on a problem the fog lifts and the answer seems obvious - so obvious I think someone must have done it, but no one has.
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Cathy U’Ren (Class of 2012) is a Bond alumna and Chief Wellness Officer at Pet Wellness Centre in Burleigh Heads, which provides a tailored approach to pet care.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE QUOTE DURING UNCERTAIN TIMES? “Things always work out best for those who make the best of how things work out.” WHAT TRANSFORMATION MEANS TO YOU? Moving from one state to the next via consistent incremental improvement that leads to significant change. MOST EXCITED ABOUT IN 2021? Although I really have been incredibly grateful to live on the Gold Coast throughout this past year (seriously, is there a better place in the world to be “locked down”?) I am desperate to be able to travel again, to meet new people, connect in person, be inspired and return home even more grateful than when I left. WHERE DO YOU SEEK INSPIRATION? Usually at the beach at around 5 am! I always find my inspiration in nature and adventure, when I’m pushing myself harder than I have before physically and mentally. ADVICE TO OTHERS PONDERING A NEW IDEA? Don’t wait for the perfect idea, the perfect product or the perfect time. You’ll never know everything, just back your ability to work it out as you go and leap into it. The most important step isn’t just the first one, it’s the next one.
watch
alumni.bond.au/arch27
Moh’d Al-Saadi is a Bond University student and the creator of Shelter Houses, a digital platform to help refugees improve their living environment.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE QUOTE FOR TIMES OF UNCERTAINTY? “Don’t be a product of your circumstances. Be a product of your decisions.” WHAT DOES TRANSFORMATION MEAN TO YOU? Evolution, adaptation and in the current situations, I would say it’s a metamorphosis process where the change is required in either the process or the outcome in order to develop further. ONE WORD TO DESCRIBE 2020? Rigorous. WHAT ARE YOU MOST EXCITED ABOUT IN 2021? A vaccine for sure! Graduating from Bond and being able to apply what I learned in practice. Also, seeing my Architectural Digital Platform in action helping less fortunate people living a dignified life. WHERE DO YOU SEEK INSPIRATION? I mainly find inspiration from two sources. The first source is people - being motivated by others’ stories. The second source is by transforming weakness or negative thoughts to positive inspirations and motivations. WHAT WEBSITE DO YOU VISIT DAILY? As someone studying Architecture, visuals are vital to me; therefore, both Pinterest and Behance are visual-based websites with creative and innovative content.
Professor Paul Glasziou.
Cathy U’Ren.
Moh’d Al-Saadi.
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BUILDING A BETTER BUSINESS WITH BOTS Neeti Mehta Shukla is at the forefront of business transformation by Reon Suddaby
Neeti Mehta Shukla’s (Class of 1992) journey to Silicon Valley success began with a cup of coffee. In 2003, six years after graduating from Bond University with an MBA, after earlier completing a Bachelor of Commerce, Ms Shukla and her husband Mihir launched robotic process automation (RPA) company Automation Anywhere from the guest bedroom of their house. The couple marked the occasion with a cup of coffee and it was only when Mr Shukla returned to the bedroom that he saw they already had their first customer – within minutes of the company being launched. That first customer was based in Australia and their purchase set Automation Anywhere on a path to becoming a leading RPA company, now valued at $US6.8 billion. Automation Anywhere has its global headquarters in San Jose, California, offices in 40 countries and a client list including ANZ Bank, University of Melbourne, Dell, KeyBank, Sprint, Northampton Hospital and Humana, among others. As someone who has blazed a trail in the business world and who last year joined the Bond Business School Advisory Board, Ms Shukla is keen for others to follow their own path. | 30 |
RPA allows users to create custom software bots with Automation Anywhere technology that automates manual, repetitive business and IT processes. The bots, which utilise artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, can be configured to perform tasks assigned and controlled by the user. Automation Anywhere has deployed more than 2.4 million bots since its inception. Ms Shukla, a coder since the eighth grade, says Automation Anywhere grew in the same way as many technology start-ups – from wanting to solve a business problem. “Automation was a very difficult thing for most companies to do. You had to hire a bunch of engineers, take two years to document the process, code through it and by the time you do this everything had changed and the automation no longer is valid. “We really wanted to bring automation to the end user and simplify it in a way where it could be easily and quickly deployed to increase productivity and business resiliency.” As an entrepreneur, Ms Shukla is enthusiastic about RPA and its ability to transform business and people’s lives. “A bank can now approve a mortgage in as little as five minutes or less, versus the original two to three weeks or one month that a person had to wait. In the healthcare industry, who doesn’t want those test results instantly? Bots can take care of manual, repetitive business processes, giving valuable time back to human workers to be innovative and creative.” In a year that has seen the world rocked by the COVID-19 pandemic, Ms Shukla says it is crucial for businesses to adapt and transform. “Any business that is stagnant won’t last very long. Every business has to be on its toes to pivot as fast as it can, transform as fast as it can, keep its inherent strengths and lose its inherent weaknesses as it keeps growing. The more resilient and more agile a business is, the better it will survive, the better it will thrive.
Co-Founder of Automation Anywhere Neeti Mehta Shukla. Picture: Jim Gensheimer
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“Change is hard, as a human race we’ve seen that. After the industrial revolution we didn’t have certain jobs available anymore. Fifty to 60 years ago there were telephone operators, we don’t have telephone operators anymore, but the technology of communication has come so far. “RPA is on track to create millions of new job opportunities in the next five, six, even ten years. If we automate everything that can be automated, the potential for new products and services is limitless.” Ms Shukla, who earlier this year was recognised by the Silicon Valley Business Journal as one of its 2020 Women of Influence, is also optimistic about the impacts technology such as RPA can have on society.
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“If (technology) allows the next generation to tackle climate change or increase space travel or find an alternative to plastic and plastic consumption, there’s so much we can solve for society at large. Just think of the pandemic, the faster we find a vaccine, the better it is for all of us. So, for any technology that helps us do that and if RPA plays a part in it, that brings us progress.” “No dream is too big. I think we sometimes limit ourselves in the way we dream. Don’t be and don’t surround yourself with an echo chamber. That’s why diversity and inclusion is such an important thing, because the more diverse and inclusive your circle is, the better the outcome. The third thing is passion. Believe in your mission and don’t lose that faith.”
Automation Anywhere’s headquarters is a long way from Bond University’s sandstone buildings and iconic arch. But even thousands of kilometres away, Ms Shukla keeps her alma mater close to her heart. “The education, professors and courses were so impactful and also really diverse. I had the time of my life. All the friends I made there have been for life and we still keep in touch and meet when we can. “It was a good combination of education that stretched my boundaries and allowed me to get the best from the world.”
“IF (TECHNOLOGY) ALLOWS THE NEXT GENERATION TO TACKLE CLIMATE CHANGE OR INCREASE SPACE TRAVEL OR FIND AN ALTERNATIVE TO PLASTIC AND PLASTIC CONSUMPTION, THERE’S SO MUCH WE CAN SOLVE FOR SOCIETY AT LARGE.”
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“I WAS BROUGHT UP BEING COMFORTABLE WITH UNCERTAINTY AND NOT NECESSARILY KNOWING WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS.” Lawcadia Co-Founder Sacha Kirk.
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SACHA STRIKES GOLD WITH LAWCADIA When the time came to make the leap from the security of a high-flying corporate career to the uncertainty of her own start-up, Lawcadia Co-Founder Sacha Kirk discovered a nugget of comfort in her goldfields upbringing.
Charters Towers is not the quintessential postcard of tropical North Queensland. Arid and baking hot, the historic gold rush town is 130 kilometres from a coastline dotted with picturesque bays and swaying coconut palms. A further 130 kilometres inland from “The Towers” is the cattle property where Sacha Kirk (Class of 1997) grew up. It was a lifestyle that rose and fell on the whims of climate. A wet season soaking might mean a good year or floods. No rain at all guaranteed a bad year or many in succession. “I think that’s why I’m quite at ease in this (entrepreneurial) space because I was brought up being comfortable with uncertainty and not necessarily knowing what the future holds,” the Co-Founder of legal technology company Lawcadia says. “A grazier is always trying to be positive and resilient but planning for reality. My husband says you can take the girl out of the bush but you can’t take the bush out of the girl and even yesterday I was inspecting carpet snakes in our backyard.” Like a handful of the miners who flocked to the North Queensland goldfields in the late 1800s, Ms Kirk struck gold with Lawcadia, though luck had nothing to do with it. She studied a Bachelor of Communication (Business) on a scholarship to Bond University in 1997. “I somehow fell into marketing even though my background was science and maths,” Ms Kirk says. “But then I went on to some graduate roles with large
global companies and in those positions with Unilever and Colgate-Palmolive I was able to find my niche which is being able to combine my analytical thinking with the creativity of marketing. That gave me the foundation for starting our own company five years ago.” Ms Kirk was working as a consultant in the legal industry after stints overseas when she and Founder and fellow Bondy Warwick Walsh (Class of 1997) hit on the idea for Lawcadia. “Some of the practices in the legal industry floored me. Warwick is quite visionary and looking to disrupt some of those norms and together we came up with the idea for Lawcadia which is really about transforming the way in-house legal teams and law firms collaborate.” Back-ended by cloud-based software, Lawcadia upends the legal norm of billable hours and discounted hourly rates to focus on an agreed price for a scope of work, bringing transparency and predictability to the way legal matters are run and priced. The Gold Coast City Council was one of Brisbane-based Lawcadia’s first clients. They have since been joined by other corporate and government legal teams including Westpac, Ausgrid, NSW Treasury, Metcash and Virgin Australia, along with more than 150 law firms around the world. But initially, many in the notoriously conservative legal industry were not amused, Ms Kirk says.
“Every day there would be roadblocks and we faced continual conversations about, ‘What are you doing? This is not what we want or need’. It takes a lot of perseverance and resilience to keep getting up and doing it but we had belief in the problem we were solving and that it was a real problem.” Multiple awards later including Australian Young Entrepreneur 2019 (Legal) - and more in the pipeline – the business partners have been vindicated. Many of Ms Kirk’s fellow Bondies have been along for the ride. “My closest friends today are from my time at Bond University,” she says. “When you are creating your own business you need people to push you forward and lift you up and it’s that cohort that have really been there for me. Some of the people who have come out of Bond, especially during my era, are very entrepreneurial.” Ms Kirk says that with 72 percent revenue growth in the 2019/20 financial year, she began the calendar year expecting it to be Lawcadia’s best yet - and in some ways it has been. “That’s because the pandemic has allowed us to focus on our people and product like our new Lawcadia Intelligence engine which is powered by machine learning. It’s also allowed us to focus on our clients and do everything we can to be successful for them.”
watch
alumni.bond.au/arch27
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IF BRICKS COULD FLY Chisomo Banzi hopes to revolutionise construction with Nanonest.
A Bond student’s new high-tech construction solution aims to provide muchneeded emergency shelter in disasterhit areas while paving the way for a new approach to building Australia’s cities and urban areas. Nanonest is the brainchild of second-year architecture student Chisomo Banzi who developed the idea from a project in his final assessment, working alongside Bond’s unique Transformer entrepreneurship program. Mr Banzi describes Nanonest as a dynamic architectural system, consisting of self-assembling aerial robots, or ‘cells’. The cells are designed to respond to changes in the environment and usage through selfawareness, mobility and re-configurability. “Inspired by the decentralised way in which ants self-organise, the cells work collaboratively to form a wide range of architectural spaces... a little like flying Lego bricks,” he says.
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The hard plastic frame of each cell would be made from 100 percent recycled polyethylene, with internal electronics comprised of standardised drone parts to minimise cost. Each cell would use an “iris” mechanism to enclose the structure and provide a skin for the structure formed when the cells are combined. The cells would be solar-powered and themselves generate a small amount of electricity, enough to lessen the structure’s carbon footprint. Mr Banzi confidently believes Nanonest could be used to construct site-specific rapid-deployment shelters for relief in disaster-prone or ultraremote areas. He added that one of the overarching objectives of Nanonest was to help society transform its relationship with the built environment. “We don’t have much of a choice to keep on going the same way we have been,” Mr Banzi says.
Nanonest creator Chisomo Banzi.
“In a world where millions are displaced due to climate or weather-related events and urbanisation and rapid population growth are making cities harder places to live for average and low economic groups, it’s no longer enough to think of cities as nothing more than rigid collections of buildings. Nanonest is about prodding that mindset shift of seeing our cities, instead, as timebased systems, which consist of dynamic socio-cultural, economic and environmental processes. Self-assembly is a good tool to explore this.” Mr Banzi says Bond University was very well-placed to provide the innovative environment that was often needed to help foster transformation. “To do something truly innovative you have to be willing to fail. Personally, I’ve found that the architecture school here has given me a lot of flexibility to rigorously pursue an
idea, the freedom to fall flat on my face and the support to nurture my wins and learn from my failures. It’s given me an opportunity to take genuine academic risks and similarly in the Transformer community, I’ve been able to test ideas out in ‘the real world’ from a welcoming starting point that rewards action over perfection.” Mr Banzi hopes to have a small working prototype of Nanonest completed sometime within the next few months.
“INSPIRED BY THE DECENTRALISED WAY IN WHICH ANTS SELFORGANISE, THE CELLS WORK COLLABORATIVELY TO FORM A WIDE RANGE OF ARCHITECTURAL SPACES... A LITTLE LIKE FLYING LEGO BRICKS.”
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Hugh Maxey on his family’s farm at Nevertire in central NSW. Photo supplied.
HUGH PLOUGHS ON THROUGH SETBACKS SCHOLAR ON TRACK TO GRADUATE DESPITE TARIFFS, DROUGHT AND PANDEMIC
After the worst drought in 100 years, Hugh Maxey was finally riding high. Perched in the driver’s seat of a massive tractor, he was preparing the fields of his family property near Nevertire in central NSW following the first decent rains in three years. The Bond University student had returned home in mid-March ahead of COVID-19 border closures and was enjoying his first extended stint back on the land since 2012. The conditions were ripe for a bumper barley crop. “After finishing study for the semester I was helping with the family business, we finally had a chance to put a crop in,” Mr Maxey says. “I remember being on the tractor for about the 60th or 70th hour that week and I heard on the radio about the 80 percent tariff put on Australian barley going into China. “It has been a great season and there are new markets, but not as lucrative as it was going into China. But you don’t often get a clean run in farming.” Mr Maxey came to Bond in 2019 to study a Bachelor of Commerce and has excelled, securing a prestigious Federal Government New Colombo Plan Scholarship.
He was due to take up the international study component of the scholarship this semester but it has been delayed by COVID-19. “When the borders open up again it will be back on,” Mr Maxey says. “l’ll spend at least six months in Japan doing language training and then I think I’d like to do microeconomic reform in developing countries in the Asia Pacific.” Following the disappointment of the Chinese barley tariffs and the loss of his parttime job in the struggling tourism industry, Mr Maxey has been supported at Bond by the Student Hardship Fund to help cover daily expenses through these challenging times. He graduates at the end of this semester. “Something that has really impressed me during coronavirus is people taking positives out of such a negative situation,” he says. “There are generous people out there and that generosity is a superpower as far as I’m concerned.” The Student Hardship Fund is open to students who need assistance to meet living and educational expenses associated with their studies.
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“There are generous people out there and that generosity is a superpower as far as I’m concerned.”
alumni.bond.au/arch27
Support those who need help to take their next step. From granting scholarships to assisting those in financial hardship, your donation has immediate impact on tomorrow’s leaders. To donate visit bond.edu.au/donate
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MS DOUGLAS SEES SCHOLARSHIPS THROUGH LENS OF HER OWN EXPERIENCE
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t has been four decades since Margaret Douglas left university and co-founded one of Australia’s most successful family businesses. But the passage of time and the career she has forged have not erased the disappointment she felt walking away from her medical degree. Ms Douglas, the Director of the nationwide Optical Superstore chain, says she struggled when she left home in rural Wangaratta to study in Melbourne. “I remember the government gave me $32 a week to pay for my accommodation, my food, my books, everything. My family had no funds to support me, although there was plenty of love from them,” she says. “I managed to get through the first three years of the medical degree but in the fourth year we entered the hospitals and I was overwhelmed by what I saw. I had no support mechanisms and unfortunately I dropped out.”
That experience has motivated Ms Douglas to announce new funding for scholarships for Indigenous students at Bond University. The scholarships were announced during NAIDOC Week 2020. “I understand very personally the value of supporting students during their studies and you can do that on so many levels,” she says. “They need support financially, emotionally and academically.” Ms Douglas says she decided to provide scholarship support for Indigenous students after reading the Arch magazine and hearing a report on ABC Radio National about massacres of Indigenous people during the Australian frontier wars. “I was thinking, I didn’t know about this. Why wasn’t this talked about when I was at school? It was a cover-up of our early history.” Ms Douglas then recalled her daughter
Stephanie Melrose (Class of 2012), a Bond alumna, had forged friendships with Indigenous students while studying at the University. “I thought, I’ll see what Bond is doing to support its Indigenous students and the more I discovered about the program, the more I felt comfortable in getting involved.” Ms Melrose graduated with a Bachelor of International Hotel and Resort Management and a Bachelor of Business in 2016 and is now Marketing Manager at the Optical Superstore which has 63 outlets across Australia. “I had some close friends who were supported by the Nyombil Centre and it opened my eyes to seeing what Indigenous people have gone through to get here (on campus),” Ms Melrose says. “It’s nice to know that people who may not be as fortunate as me are going to be able to have those same
Left to right: Fundraising & Development Manager Laura Harvey; Vice President Engagement Catherine Marks; Vice Chancellor and President Professor Tim Brailsford; Margaret Douglas; Stephanie Melrose; Indigenous Engagement Advisor Narelle Urquhart and Faculty of Health Sciences & Medicine Executive Dean Professor Nick Zwar. | 40 |
opportunities at Bond. It’s very important to be closing the gap and this is a great opportunity to do that.” Ms Douglas intends to meet the recipients of the scholarships when they are awarded. “I hope they will use their degrees to help fellow Indigenous people but life has many changes in direction and they shouldn’t feel restricted to that,” she says. “I want them to know that we are backing them and recognise their contribution.” The scholarships are up to 100 percent for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students commencing in the 2021 Medical Program. They also cover accommodation and a living bursary for the first semester of studies to assist with the transition of the students to the Gold Coast. The scholars will graduate as medical doctors in four years and eight months with Bond’s intensive learning program. Vice Chancellor and President Professor Tim Brailsford told Ms Douglas the students would be supported throughout their degree by the University’s Nyombil Centre for Indigenous students. “Education is truly the key to unlocking opportunities for our young Indigenous people and Bond University is proud to play its small but important role in developing the skills, knowledge and confidence of the next generation of leaders,” Professor Brailsford says. He thanked Ms Douglas for her gift and trust in the University. “Thank you so much on behalf of the future students who will benefit in so many ways from your generosity.” Ms Douglas says she hopes her actions will motivate other benefactors to support the education of Indigenous students.
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Students in Medical Labs.
alumni.bond.au/arch27
Pictured left to right: Stephanie Melrose, Margaret Douglas and Vice Chancellor and President Professor Tim Brailsford at the signing ceremony to commence new Indigenous scholarships.
If you would like to support the Bond Indigenous Program, please contact: development@bond.edu.au.
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Class of 1989
Class of 1997
Laura Bos
Perry Cross AM
Laura Bos has been appointed Manager of Communications and Engagement at Ipswich City Council. Ms Bos is the Executive Chairman of Small Steps 4 Hannah which aims to break the cycle of domestic violence, and a Board Advisor at Board Associates.
Perry Cross AM has been named the Queensland Community Foundation 2020 Outstanding Achievement Award winner. His spinal research foundation has significantly benefited projects that change the lives of people who have suffered spinal cord injuries. From accessible houses that are completely voice activated, to new stem cell research hopefully leading to a world-first clinical trial next year, Mr Cross has become an international ambassador for people living with spinal cord injuries.
Derek Cronin Derek Cronin has been announced as a National Accreditation Mediator by the Queensland Law Society. It follows Mr Cronin’s completion of the National Mediation Accreditation System course at the Bond University Dispute Resolution Centre. “It is thanks to Bond that I now have my NMAS Accreditation,” Mr Cronin says. Mr Cronin was a foundation student at Bond and is the Managing Partner of Cronin Miller Litigation. He is a Member of Council at Bond University, Chair of the Alumni Advisory Board and member of the Law Advisory Board.
Class of 2002
Megan Thomas Megan Thomas has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of Hamilton Re Ltd, the Bermuda-based reinsurance and insurance platform of the Hamilton Insurance Group. Mrs Thomas brings 20 years’ insurance and reinsurance experience to her new position. Australian by birth and a lawyer by training, she comes to the company from AXIS Capital where she held the position of Chief Underwriting Officer - Reinsurance at AXIS Capital for the past two years. Mrs Thomas began her career in the Australian insurance and financial services market. She spent almost 13 years at AIG where she held increasingly senior roles, the last of which was Chief Underwriting Officer, Liability Lines, before assuming her role at AXIS Capital.
Class of 2010
Meagan Ryan
Derek Cronin.
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Meagan Ryan has been announced the Senior Legal Counsel at Bega Cheese Ltd. Ms Ryan previously worked at KPMG Law as an Intellectual Property Lawyer and Manager and is the Co-Chair of the Law Institute of Victoria’s Intellectual Property/Information Technology Committee. In 2016 Ms Ryan served a threeyear term as one of 12 elected Ordinary Alumni Members of Bond University.
Class of 2011
Class of 2013
James Diamond
Hamish Ludbrook
Emily Ireland
Having completed a Bachelor of Law and Master of Accounting at Bond, James Diamond has now launched his own legal firm - Diamond Law - at Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast. Formerly of Quest Legal and Deloitte Legal, Mr Diamond plans to focus on property and construction, wills and estates, contracts, corporate, commercial and business law in his new practice.
Hamish Ludbrook co-directed No Distinguishing Features, an inspirational Gold Coast-backed film about six people born with disabilities. Mr Ludbrook has worked in the film industry since 2015. His most recent film was directed and filmed by two fellow Bond University alumni and took four years to produce. From a young Paralympian’s journey to achieve his childhood dream, to a mother fighting for her intellectually disabled son’s right to a fair wage, the families share their lives with honesty, humour and heartbreak. “I came away from my time at Bond with a very solid and technological skill base, which has allowed me to make a film with a small team,” Mr Ludbrook says. “All my work in the industry has feathered out from those initial Bond connections.” No Distinguishing Features is currently available for streaming via Vimeo On Demand.
Congratulations to journalism alumna Emily Ireland who has been appointed News Director of the Wairarapa Times-Age in New Zealand. Ms Ireland has worked at the Times-Age since 2015, initially as a reporter, then as Midweek editor and chief reporter. In her time as Midweek editor, the publication was a finalist for the 2019 Voyager Media Awards in the Community Newspaper of the Year category. “Wairarapa is my forever-home and a region I am hugely passionate about,” Ms Ireland says. “It deserves to have the best newspaper in the country and I will bring my passion, empathy and enthusiasm to the newsroom and the community every day. “As a 25-year-old woman, this is an achievement I am super proud of and I believe that Bond set me up well for success.”
Sam Lara James Diamond.
Class of 2012
Benjamin Carter Bond graduate Benjamin Carter has stepped away from his successful career as an international investment banker to establish an online clothing resale enterprise. Already featured up on the GQ Magazine website, World of Wallace is an Australianbased platform for buying and selling high quality secondhand menswear, ranging from vintage to contemporary designer labels. Before launching the online store, Mr Carter tested the concept with a pop-up shop in the basement of Dulcie’s Bar in Sydney’s Kings Cross. The fact that the event was a total sell-out proved his belief that there is a gap in the menswear market for a more sustainable fashion business model.
Sam Lara has been recognised in the Australian Director’s Guild Awards 2020. Ms Lara was nominated for Best Director in a Short Film for her film Featherweight, which was recently shown at HOTA as part of Flickerfest. The stunning short was previously nominated for a Dendy Award at Sydney Film Festival, and selected to screen in competition at Flickerfest, Cambridge, Manchester and international film festivals. She was selected to participate in the Melbourne Film Festival 2019 Accelerator Lab. Ms Lara is in the final weeks of completing her first feature film - a documentary called Laura’s Choice which is having its world premiere in Perth on December 12. The documentary, which has been described as an “extraordinary, personal film” will air on the ABC as a twoepisode series early next year. Ms Lara also freelances as an Assistant Director on feature films, TV series and TV commercials and serves as the West Australian Chapter Head of the Australian Directors’ Guild.
Emily Ireland.
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BONDIES O N THE MOV E
Class of 2016
Class of 2017
Lacey Rowett
Elizabeth Thomas
Eliza Reilly
Former Bond University Student Association President Lacey Rowett, Graduate at MinterEllison Gold Coast, has been admitted as a lawyer to the Supreme Court of Queensland. Her admission was moved by fellow Bond alumna and Minter Ellison Partner, Carolyn Salam (Class of 1995). Ms Rowett is a former Vice Chancellor’s Elite Scholar.
Dr Elizabeth Thomas has been awarded a prestigious scholarship to the University of Oxford. Dr Thomas was granted the Clarendon Scholarship to undertake a DPhil, the University’s equivalent of a PhD, at the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine. During the next three years Dr Thomas will work with a team that includes internationally renowned researchers in the field of evidencebased medicine who have consulted for major stakeholders such as the World Health Organization. “The team consists of GPs, statisticians and researchers in the department who come from different backgrounds – some are trained research methodologists and others are practising clinicians,” Dr Thomas says.
Eliza Reilly has been named the 2020 Queensland Clarion Award Winner for Sport Journalism. Ms Reilly is a sports reporter with The Gold Coast Bulletin covering local and national sport. She specialises in AFL, AFLW, surf lifesaving and basketball but also covers a range of sports across the busy Gold Coast sporting calendar. Passionate about women’s sport, Ms Reilly has already had a taste of sitting in the editor’s chair at the Bulletin. Ms Reilly is set to return home to Perth and join the West Australian newspaper.
Dr Elizabeth Thomas.
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A Cut Above A light blue topaz stone is embedded around the geometric design of Bond’s iconic Ornamental Lawns and lake. Designed by Queensland designer Daniel Bentley, these necklaces are a subtle nod to Bond University and the perfect keepsake to treasure. The necklaces are handcrafted in both rhodium plated and gold plated sterling silver. These beautiful necklaces are now available for purchase from the University’s Merchandise Store. bond.edu.au/merchandise
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SEASON OF FIRSTS IT WAS THE BEST SEASON YET FOR BOND RUGBY AND THE BEGINNING OF GREATER THINGS TO COME AS THE WOMEN EXCELLED IN THEIR INAUGURAL SEASON AND THE MEN TOOK HOME THE BRAILSFORD-BROWN CUP.
The Bull Sharks celebrate after a win at The Canal.
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Bull Sharks flanker Lucy Lockhart.
Vice Chancellor and President Professor Tim Brailsford and Bruce Brown.
John Eales Rugby Excellence Scholarship students Angus (left) and Wilson Blyth (right).
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hey were the trailblazers who will go down in history as Bond University’s first women’s 15s rugby team and the inaugural Bull Sharks made an immediate impact. Stacked with young players more accustomed to the seven-a-side code, the Bull Sharks played with youthful exuberance and adventure in their foray in the inaugural Queensland Premier Women’s competition in 2020. They were never overawed and rarely outmatched, finishing third in the regular season to make the finals in their first campaign. Australian Wallaroos squad member and Bull Sharks flanker Lucy Lockhart says it was refreshing to play an expansive brand of rugby. “A lot of our girls are Sevens players. This is the first year they’ve played 15s so they have transitioned to a new style,” Ms Lockhart says. “Instead of playing the classic straightdown-the-middle style, we try to evade the bigger forwards by using our footwork, our ball skills and our passing distance. This style will hopefully change women’s rugby, how we play it and possibly how Australia plays it too.” One of the faces of the campaign was Bachelor of Sport Management student Caitlyn Costello, a former representative touch football player and star of Bond’s AON Sevens team. “It was such a great opportunity, great for women in rugby and particularly our younger girls coming through the squad,” Ms Costello says. “We want to build a women’s program for the long haul. “We are in a unique position that we were the first women’s 15s team to play for Bond University and we certainly didn’t take that lightly. We are very lucky to have girls come from Sevens and touch backgrounds, so the ball skills are definitely there, the conditioning and speed is there. It is just understanding the 15s game. Our coaching staff have been great.” With such a strong showing in their first season, the Bull Sharks quickly established themselves as one of the powers of the women’s game. But the women were just one part of a season that was the most successful yet for Rugby. The club has established a
strong culture and a new identity that has formed the launchpad to make a tangible impact across all grades in the coming years. The men’s senior team made the preliminary finals and defeated every other club including Premiers Easts Tigers – scoring more tries and making more linebreaks than any other team in the Queensland Premier Rugby competition. It was also the first year the Brailsford-Brown Varsity Cup was awarded – and the Bull Sharks won it at The Canal in front of a raucous crowd. The cup is contested by Bond University and Queensland University first grade sides and is named after Bond Vice Chancellor and President Professor Tim Brailsford and former UQ Rugby Football Club President and Queensland and Wallaby front rower Bruce Brown. The Bull Sharks Colts side fell agonisingly short of a grand final berth after another stellar season, while Bond also introduced a third-grade side. There was a special moment when John Eales Rugby Excellence Scholarship students and brothers Angus and Wilson Blyth played their first ever game together in the crucial Brailsford-Brown Varsity Cup match. While Angus Blyth had a breakout season for the Queensland Reds culminating in a Super Rugby Grand Final berth, younger brother Wilson Blyth was establishing himself in Bond’s engine room. Both Blyth brothers study a Bachelor of Commerce. Bond University Rugby President, Dr Manny Pohl credits the COVID-19 lockdown for some of the season’s successes. “Despite the disruption caused by COVID-19 to the playing season, the lockdown had a positive impact on our club culture where everyone pulled together to help those who were experiencing mental and financial stress,” Dr Pohl says. In many ways this has been a breakout season for our club and we hope that our finals performances of 2020 are the building blocks for premierships in 2021 and beyond.” Bond University Executive Director Sport Garry Nucifora says the rugby program’s success mirrored that of the AFL and netball
“It was such a great opportunity, great for women in rugby and particularly our younger girls coming through the squad.” programs which reached semi-finals with either men’s or women’s teams. “This is our annual performance objective: to play in the big games at the end of each season every year,” Mr Nucifora says. “From that, consistent presence will flow the Grand Final appearances and premierships on which we can build a reputation of success and improvement. It is all part of the strategic, sustainable long-term plan for Bond Sport. Bond University’s Vice President Engagement, Catherine Marks paid tribute to benefactors such as Terry Jackman AM and the Phoenix Club members who made the season a success. “It has been a remarkable year for the Bond Rugby Club in the most extraordinary of circumstances and we want to personally thank all those who have contributed and supported the mighty Bull Sharks this season,” Ms Marks says. “The Club had some remarkable results on the field but it would not have been possible without the continued support of our valued sponsors. Together we have an unbreakable bond.”
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S P O RT
AFTER SEVENS SETBACK, 15 COULD BE TARNI’S LUCKY NUMBER by Andrew Bryan
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arni Peepe could be forgiven for thinking the sporting gods oppose her international debut. Perhaps they are still debating which country she should play for. The Bond University speedster, a member of the Bull Sharks’ inaugural Women’s 15s squad, has a Papua New Guinean mother, a Kiwi father and Australian heritage. She has been on the cusp of selection for both Australia and PNG in Sevens before fate intervened, with the bad luck beginning when she was picked for an Australian youth camp in 2017. “I was trialling to play for Australia at the Oceania Sevens and the first day I was there, it was like a shotgun going off,” Ms Peepe says. “I tore a hamstring sprinting and was out for months.” Earlier this year the Bachelor of Sport and Exercise Science student was just seven days away from her dream of playing international rugby when COVID-19 changed everything. “I was supposed to go to South Africa right before COVID hit to play with PNG in the Olympic Sevens repechage,” Ms Peepe says. “It was the last chance to make the Olympics. It was annoying not being able to go. I’ve made a lot of representative squads and teams but just missed out on playing. It’s been my story to this point and a little disheartening but it wasn’t to be.” Ms Peepe was scouted by PNG Coach, Paul Tietjens while she was playing for Bond University in a trial match. She qualifies for selection through her mother. Ms Peepe joined her teammates in PNG for a camp in January and was given a personal tour by her grandmother.
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“Bubu – that’s the PNG word for nanna – when she found out I was coming over for a camp, she was so excited,” Ms Peepe says. “She met me at the airport, took me to the markets and drove me around to show me places. There was a game of footy happening. There were no lines, the packed crowd were making the lines with their bodies, hundreds of people. There was little grass, plenty of holes in the field, it didn’t matter. That’s how much they love it.” The lure of an international jersey is strong and Ms Peepe knows what it would mean to her family for her to represent PNG. She has also seen the benchmark and how much improvement she and her teammates need to get to the next level. “We got to play some trial games against Australia while we were in camp in Sydney,” she says. “Australia is at another level but it was a great experience. I played with some of the Aussie girls in the youth camps so it was great to see where they are up to. As a developing country, PNG doesn’t have a lot of funds, so travelling to play against other teams isn’t the easiest. Just watching how the Australian squad conduct themselves on and off the field, that’s the standard. It was great to set our own standards for our team.” The 19-year-old has been a key fixture in Bond’s inaugural Women’s 15s side which has been one of the best teams of the Queensland Rugby Union Premier Women’s competition. She says the transition from Sevens to 15s has improved her overall rugby skills. “(The Bull Sharks) might be one of the youngest teams but the fight and the heart and hard work behind our performances has been unreal.”
“There was little grass, plenty of holes in the field, it didn’t matter. That’s how much they love it.”
Tarni Peepe has not given up on her dream of playing international rugby.
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