Monash University is the recipient of one of Australia’s largest philanthropic gifts towards supporting the next generation of researchers in the arts, social sciences and humanities fields.
The transformational gift of $8.8 million provides scholarships for Monash PhD students in the faculties of Arts, MADA (Monash Art Design & Architecture), Education and Law.
The donation will allow each of the six inaugural recipients to contribute to research for the social good of the community.
Six talented Monash University PhD students will activate their research as a force for social good, enabled by one of Australia’s largest philanthropic gifts towards supporting the next generation of researchers in the arts, social sciences and humanities fields.
The generous gift of $8.8 million forms the Raydon Scholars program, which provides scholarships to PhD students in the faculties of Arts, MADA, Education and Law, with preference given to asylum seeker students and students from refugee backgrounds.
The donation will empower each of the six inaugural scholarship recipients to create significant, positive change that addresses pressing social challenges on both a local and global scale.
Professor Marc Parlange, Provost and Senior Vice-President of Monash University, said the donation was one of the largest received as part of the Change It. For Good. campaign – the largest public fundraising initiative in Monash’s history – and is unique in its focus on funding research in the humanities and social sciences.
“We’re deeply grateful for the generous donation, which will support some of our best and brightest minds to contribute to research for the social good of the community,” Professor Parlange said.
“We’re delighted to see this extremely generous gift supporting research in the arts and humanities.”
The six inaugural PhD scholarship recipients, and their research focuses, are:
Kimba Thompson – investigate existing colonial structures that have defined and constructed how Indigenous ways of knowing are displayed in gallery spaces.
Andi Brown – investigate how smart home and remote access technologies may be used in the perpetration of domestic violence.
Danielle Hradsky – investigate the possibilities of embodied pedagogies as a professional learning strategy for developing teachers’ confidence, capabilities and interest in teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures.
Christopher Nyinevi – examine the rights of host-state citizens within the international investment law regime.
Kate McEntee – investigate how we might be more aware and proactive about systemic inequality, ingrained bias and implicit power dynamics in arts and design.
Rhoda Darkwah – examine the linkages between informal urbanism and resilience in cities in developing countries.
The Raydon Scholars program officially launches on Thursday, 22 August.
