2009 Melbourne projects
| Jonathan Barlow | Achieving both compliance and commercial success in the Chinese pharmaceutical industry |
| David Castle / Monique Toohey | Developing Australian Mental Health practice for Australia- Malay clients |
| Michael Chew |
Internship Program, Friends of Kolkata |
| Andrew Coghlan |
Enhancing community resilience through the development of psychosocial capacity in diverse cultural settings |
| Jonathan Darby | Developing policy in response to issues experienced by overseas students in Victoria China-Australia legal arrangements |
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| Amalia Fawcett |
The Right Space: Towards an effective dialogue on human rights between Non-Governmental Organisations and the government in Australia |
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| Christabel Harvey | Developing Youth Arts Programs in Timor-Leste |
| Renee Hindmarsh | China-Australia Legal Arrangements |
| Glen Jennings |
Creative Links |
| Fergus Koochew / Simon Westaway |
An intranet solution to help mitigate risk in the integration of Australian and Singaporean airlines (Watch Video) |
| Rohit Kumar |
Analysis of the proposed Australia India Free Trade Agreement |
| Sherman Mak |
Building Competencies in Asia Engagement |
| Jenny McQuilkin |
‘Living in Bendigo’ – development of a resource kit to help local agencies engage with young people from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) backgrounds |
| Marcus Pearl |
Advancing ANZ’s Super Regional Strategy through Commodity Markets in Asia |
| Lisa Renkin |
Developing a country strategy for the Institute’s China program |
| Brendan Schwab |
Building the players' voice in Asia and Oceania, 2009 |
| Johnny Short |
Let's Chat |
| Soter Tiong |
Enhancing cross-cultural understanding of Chinese graduates working in Australia and China (Watch video) |
| Victoria Warden |
Tune in Tokyo - Exporting Australian ICT to Japan |
Jonathan Barlow
Project: Achieving both compliance and commercial success in the Chinese pharmaceutical industry
Hospira is assessing whether it should establish a sales presence in China, in order to market and sell its generic pharmaceutical products directly in that market. Generic pharmaceuticals are generally sold by local pharmaceutical companies in Asian countries, especially China. Hospira is one of the few multi-nationals companies (MNC’s) who compete against the local generic companies. Whilst MNC’s, including Hospira, aim to adhere to international anti-corruption standards,this is not always the case for local companies.
This project aimed to increase Hospira’s understanding of typical pharmaceutical business practices in China, particularly of local competitors, and then develop methods to counter such sales and marketing techniques, whilst remaining compliant with our policies and international laws.
David Castle and Monique Toohey
Project: Developing Australian Mental Health practice for Australia Malay clients
Understanding clients from their cultural and religious framework has for too long been an area of competence that has been neglected in the formal training of Australian Mental Health practitioners. In fact few receive little to no formal training at a tertiary level to deliver Mental Health services within a culturally competent framework. Treatment and service approaches are applied universally as if culture, language and faith was not a mediating factor in the patient’s/client’s recovery and few clinician’s realise the influence of their own individualism on their mental health service delivery.This systemic problem of under acknowledging the impact that culture plays on a patient’s/ client’s interpretation of their problem and culturally informed treatment strategies can often lead to underutilization and dissatisfaction of the mental health system by patient’s/client’s from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. This project has sought to inform the service delivery of a group of Australian Mental Health practitioners including Psychiatrists and Psychologists about mental health promotion, engagement and treatment strategies when working with Australian-Malay & or Muslim patients. Second, to build links between Australian and Malay Mental Health practitioners. This project has identified an early career Malay Psychologist to participate in a fellowship based between St. Vincent’s Mental Health and Nasihah Consulting – Northern Psychology Clinic. This psychologist has been a conduit of information through participation in an International seminar held at St. Vincent’s Mental
Health. These objectives were identified as a realistic start to acknowledge the wealth of information professionals from other cultures possess and to transfer this information to other Mental Health practitioners to work in a more culturally appropriate and competent manner.
Other outcomes included:
- The translation of a psychiatric medication booklet into Malay
- Professional development of up to 30 mental health professionals
- 1st year Cultural Intelligence training for Psychiatry trainees
Michael Chew
Project: Internship Program, Friends of Kolkata
Friends of Kolkata (Fok) is an entirely volunteer run non-profit organisation that arranges fundraising and educational activities on behalf of the Institute of Social Work (ISW), a non-government organisation in Kolkata, India. ISW protects children’s and women’s rights by providing communities with access to education, vocational training, micro credit and health services, and by assisting women and children affected by family violence.
FoK’s volunteer nature and grassroots focus has been a unique point in its ability to engage and sustain its officers and general volunteers since the organisation’s inception five years ago. However it has also limited the capacity of its programs, as its officers must complete their work outside of existing paid work and study commitments.
The project developed an internship program through the recruitment of tertiary students and recent graduates - primarily from the University of Melbourne of to build capacity for the organisation and provide administrative and project support. Under the guidance of Fok officers, these interns brought new ideas and energy into the organisation, and expanded the breadth and depth of Friends of Kolkata programs.
Andrew Coghlan
Project: Enhancing community resilience through the development of psychosocial capacity in diverse cultural settings
Australian Red Cross plays a key role in the provision of psychological first aid and personal support within this context, based on a personal support training package developed in 2006. Using a strengths-based approach, the model aims to build capacity and capability to contribute to community resilience before, during and after disastersThis project has developed a proven culturally appropriate and collaborative methodology to adapt and appropriately apply the Australian psychosocial support model in a variety of geographic and cultural settings across the Asia Pacific region.
Jonathan Darby
Project: Developing policy in response to issues experienced by overseas students in Victoria
Since the second quarter of 2009, there has been extensive media coverage of issues experienced by overseas students studying in Victoria. This project adapted tools, sourced from the Asialink Leaders Program to help develop a policy response.Amalia Fawcett
Project: The Right Space: Towards an effective dialogue on human rights between non-Governmental Organisations and the government in Australia
Although the aid and development sector frequently engages with the government on human rights issues, at times it is unclear what strategies are working and why. As our sector becomes more robust and expectations of policy engagement increase, it is essential that we have enough information to ensure our engagement is strategic and is positioned to have the best chance of positive impact on policy. The project consisted of desk research and a series of interviews of representatives from the sector, both in NGOs and in government, to gain a picture of what people are doing and what they see as successful with a view to building practical strategies and possible partners for the future.
Christabel Harvey
Project: Developing Youth Arts Programs in Timor-Leste
The Victorian Government has committed to working with the Government of Timor-Leste to build public sector capacity and support sustainable community development, engagement and economic growth. As part of this commitment, the Office for Youth and Arts Victoria participated in an exchange program with Arts Victoria providing work placements for an Arts Manager and an Arts Officer from the Secretariat of State for Youth & Sports, Timor-Leste during October 2009.This project aims to build on the month-long work placement, by providing ongoing assistance to the Arts Manager from Secretariat of State for Youth & Sports, in researching, planning and developing arts programs that would meet the needs of young people in Timor-Leste.
Renee Hindmarsh
Project: China-Australia Legal Arrangements
China is a massive market of opportunity, and it is becoming easier for international companies to do business there The project intended to look at Woolworths' China offices to see if any lessons could be learned since they opened in 2006 and if there were any changes that could be made to improve their operations. The findings would then be able to be used as the basis of a submission for the China-Australia FTA.The project worked specifically with the Global Sourcing and the Government Relations teams of Woolworths Limited to research their particular issues involving regulation and to determine potential solutions that could be addressed at a Governmental level or with Government assistance
Glen Jennings
Project: Creative Links
Creative Links provides a dedicated website to publish the literary and artistic work of international students currently studying in Trinity College. The project provides practical benefits for students undertaking education in a foreign language, with all participants receiving written feedback and editorial advice on their contributions. Creative Links seeks to provide students with an outlet for personal expression beyond the classroom, with opportunities to explore ideas, experiences and emotions. Contributions include a range of genres and styles, including biography, poetry, short stories, photography and film. The project hopes to develop confidence and skills while also encouraging interest in the ideas and initiatives of peers from different cultural, religious, or social backgrounds.A key challenge for the project has been to encourage contributions from students who are already pressed for time (and for whom this project was an extra, non-assessed, task), or who may be diffident about expressing themselves concerning difficult topics, highly personal issues, or in a foreign language. But the participation rate has been very good so far, with approximately seventy contributors. Creative Links intends to provide an ongoing forum for students to learn from one another. The initial contributions have been edited and were posted in early November 2009. A new cohort of students who arrived in October 2009 has already shown interest in the project, and they will be encouraged to build on the work of their predecessors to make Creative Links a living forum.
Fergus Koochew and Simon Westaway
Project: An intranet solution to help mitigate risk in the integration of Australian and Singaporean airlines
Jetstar and the Jetstar Brands have a strong presence throughout SE Asia via 4 entities.In April 2009, Jetstar (Australia) and Jetstar Asia (Singapore), 2 separate operating entities, agreed to a new ownership structure and a new path to operational integration. A lack of cultural understanding, however, created difficulties that increased the risk of failing to achieve operational and financial synergies of SGD 20m annually.
This project aimed to mitigate this risk in a rapid business integration of an Australian and Singaporean airline and better facilitate integration with our Singaporean colleagues. An Intranet site (named JEN) was launched to:
- Help staff achieve better and faster outcomes when working with their foreign colleagues
- Create a more comfortable and less stressful foreign experience
- Improve the quality of relationships with foreign colleagues
- Enhance the cultural experience
JEN now provides a platform for other base destinations for Jetstar across Asia and plans are in place to roll the Site out more broadly.
Rohit Kumar
Project: Analysis of the proposed Australia India Free Trade Agreement
Australia’s relationship with India is one of historic neglect and a constant series of rediscoveries, matched by regular disjunctions and disappointments.Australia’s trade with India, relative to the size of both economies, is dismally low. In fact, Australia’s trade with Singapore is more than its trade with India, which is surprising given the size of their populations and economies, and their complimentary nature - service based economies, matured democracies, Commonwealth nations and friendly cricketing rivalry. India became Australia’s 11th largest partner in merchandise trade in the year ended June 2008, with two-way trade nearly A$11 billion. To put this in perspective, Australia’s trade with Singapore in the same year was A$19 billion.
Despite the neglect and little encouragement from the respective governments, India is presently Australia’s fastest growing major trading partner, suggesting there is huge potential for improvement. Momentum is gathering to develop a fruitful relationship with realisation among the political and business establishments that there is significant lost ground that should be covered.
With the aim to improve bi-lateral ties and trade, Australia and India commenced a joint feasibility study on the merits of a free trade agreement (FTA) in August 2007. As per recent media releases by the government, the feasibility study is about to be completed which would form a basis for a decision to enter into FTA negotiations.
This project impartially analyses the proposed FTA from a neutral point of view emphasising why a balanced FTA is in Australia’s interest. Importantly, it examines issues, which the FTA should deal with so that Australia’s bi-lateral and trading ties with India could reach its potential, ultimately benefitting both nations.
Sherman Mak
Project: Building Competencies in Asia Engagement
Westpac's Asia Strategy is to support our Australian customers in Asia, provide them with a gateway for Asian business and individuals interested in Australia and vice versa. The strategy also includes the facilitation of the banking needs of migrants to Australia. Although the strategy is in place, there was no staff -training module and an organisation wide coordinated approach no longer exists.The project aimed to provide frontline staff with training to increase their competencies in Asia engagement and to instigate a shift in Westpac culture towards Asia in the retail and business banking group.
The project consists of parts. Part A is the development of an education module for frontline staff to increase cultural competencies when dealing with migrants. Part B is to bring together internal stakeholders within Westpac to share the institutional banking group’s expertise and knowledge of Asia engagement and opportunities to increase service to better service client needs.
Jenny McQuilkin
Project: ‘Living in Bendigo’ – development of a resource kit to help local agencies engage with young people from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) backgrounds
The City of Greater Bendigo is becoming increasingly culturally diverse, with a growing refugee population and steady numbers of skilled migrants and international students. While local agencies are keen to ensure that members of the CALD community can access services, many agencies experience difficulties in engaging with this community, particularly its young people.This project has developed a strategy to enable the City of Greater Bendigo and young people (aged 15-24) from the CALD community to develop a closer working relationship and ultimately to better meet the needs of young people in Bendigo.
“Living in Bendigo” a regular forum for the combined reference group of local council officers and young stakeholders has built trust, made broader connections and is producing practical and positive outcomes.
Marcus Pearl
Project: Advancing ANZ’s Super Regional Strategy through Commodity Markets in Asia
ANZ is one of the leading Financial Institutions in the Asia Pacific region with a primary focus on the Natural Resources sector. ANZ’s established customer relationships, experienced personnel and tailored product propositions provide a sizable platform to significantly grow the groups’ commodity proposition in Asia.The intention of this project is to provide a practical perspective of the key dynamics of commodity markets in Asia and insights into future customer requirements and future opportunities for business growth.
The project focuses on three core areas: (i) What the competitive playing felid looks like now and what has the competition been up to, (ii) What is around the corner and (iii) What is the winning move for the future. It provides a suggested roadmap for maximizing future opportunities within the Asian region over the next 3 years and recommendations on how ANZ can further facilitate the flow of physical commodities from Australia to the Asian region.
Lisa Renkin
Project: Developing a country strategy for the Institute’s China program
The Burnet Institute is a leading Australian medical research and public health organization, with headquarters in Melbourne and eleven offices throughout Asia, the Pacific and Africa.The Institute has been active in clinical collaborations, public health and health policy initiatives in China since 1992. Led largely by the Centre for International Health, the Institute’s current portfolio includes management and technical oversight of several government-to-government bilateral health programs, community health activities, laboratory research and clinical training collaborations, and a range of consultancies and educational training programs.
While this portfolio is broadly consistent with Institute vision and strategy, no country-level program strategy exists for the China team to guide our ongoing engagement with this complex and fast-changing context.
This project aims to bring together the various Centres of the Institute to adequately resource and guide our ongoing programming in China. This approach will both create synergies between existing Institute programs and technical strengths, and build a culture of greater awareness and appreciation of the China country program within the Institute. The clear articulation of a long-term vision for our China program will also support strategic business development and partnerships.
Brendan Schwab
Project: Building the players' voice in Asia and Oceania, 2009
Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) is the exclusive representative body of Australia’s elite professional football players that includes the Socceroos, A-League players, the Matildas, many Australians playing professionally overseas and scholars representing Australia’s elite academic institutions such as the Australian Institute of Sport.This project builds a collaboration with FIFPro, the world players’ union to deliver a project that will:
- develop appropriate architecture to ensure that players in the Asia Pacific region - through FIFPro – are key partners in the decision-making of the region’s football industry
- extend the mandate of FIFPro into Asia and Oceania and
- establish and strengthen players’ associations in the region
Johnny Short
Project: Let's Chat
DLA Phillips Fox has an exclusive alliance with global law firm, DLA Piper. The alliance was formalised in 2006 and since then, both organisations have committed to increasing the cross-referral of work. Underpinning that commitment is the integration of the firms at a personal level, by way of the formation of relationships between partners and employees in every centre in which the respective businesses operate.The use of technology is increasingly important in the formation, and maintenance, of long distance professional relationships. The internet and intranet are already widely used in the dissemination of information between the firms. Certain fee earners' CVs and recent experience are profiled, transactions and successes are celebrated, and client information is shared.
The project, which is the continuation of the project of a 2008 Asialink alumni, Roger Ouk, proposes the videoed interview of selected fee earners to be made available on the intranets of each firm. These short, snappy interviews will seek to profile the professional practices of the interviewees, whilst adding some personal colour not necessarily available from reading a CV.
The project will initially profile 3 Melbourne based partners, but if successful, the intention would be to upload interviews of a broader cross section of each firm's fee earners.
Soter Tiong
Project: Enhancing cross-cultural understanding of Chinese graduates working in Australia and China
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Australia, in conjunction with PwC China and Hong Kong, has been running the Chinese Associates Program (CAP) over the last few years. The CAP attracts high-calibre international Chinese graduates from Australian universities to start their career in the Australia firm before moving back to China or Hong Kong to work in PwC China and Hong Kong.The CAP allows candidates to pursue relevant post-graduate qualification in Australia while receiving relevant training and all the same benefits as local graduates.
This project sought to identify the challenges faced by the CAP candidates in working over two continents and any barriers that could prevent the CAP from achieving the full benefits expected of such a program.
Victoria Warden
Project: Tune in Tokyo - Exporting Australian ICT to Japan
Despite Japan being Australia’s #1 export market for many years, and the #2 ICT market globally, the connectivity between Australia and Japan in the ICT sector has been limited. The purpose of the project is to develop an appreciation of issues faced by Austrade’s Japan Technology team as they work to connect Australian companies to Japanese partners.The project explores ways to develop better understandings of the nuances of Japanese business culture and how best to meet the needs of Japanese customers. The project ultimate aim was simple, to develop a high quality pipeline of ICT clients with a high success rate in the Japanese market. This would assist in communicating more broadly Australia's ICT capability and reputation as a 'clever country' to Japanese firms looking beyond their own shores for technology solutions.