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2007 Melbourne projects

Peter Block	On the Outside Looking In - Foreign Direct Investment into Australia

James Butterfield and Keddie Davis	Supporting the integration of international students into society through local migrant communities

Jason Cameron	Supplier Survey - to gauge the cultural awareness of Jetstar staff doing business in Asia, Pacific.

Katica Dias	Strategic Engagement with the Australian Government

Mathew Dipnall	"Nanobits" An introductory kit for students, business people and families.

Michael D'Rosario	The Hope Scholars Program

Caroline Farmer	Shifting perspectives

Caroline Fry	A Proposal for a Conservation Strategy Plan for the Hoa Lo Prison, Hanoi, Vietnam

Di Kilsby	Building Partnerships for Development Cooperation

Andrea Kleist	The Other Side of Difference (working title)

Sin May Leong	Aiming for Acceptance and Professional Effectiveness in Cross-Cultural Management - An Internal Training Intervention and Employee Engagement Initiative by Jetstar

Jenni Lillingston	Establishing new markets and networks for arts and cultural exchange with China - learnings from the "Festival of Australian Theatre in China"

Imran Lum	CILS-Asialink Public Seminar on Islamic Banking

Liz McLeod	Delivery of Paediatric Surgical Services in Nusa Tengurra Timur Province, Indonesia

Rebecca Nelson	Water Pollution in China: Can Law Turn the Tide?

Brendan Rowbotham	Developing future leaders' cultural intelligence to enable cross border effectiveness in Asia - a general insurer's perspective

Luisa Rust	Are you Ready to Enter the Dragon?
James Strong	Asialink on Facebook - Bringing the Alumni together
Robert Wallis	Organising donations and disability support for disadvantaged and disabled children in Hoian Orphanage, Vietnam.
Mosese T Waqa	Setting up a Pacific Hub in Melbourne

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Peter Block

Project: On the Outside Looking In - Foreign Direct Investment into Australia

Asia is once again experiencing impressive and steady rates of economic growth. Raw materials are in constant demand to fuel this growth. An increasing number of entities are leveraging their need for raw materials with opportunities to invest in off-shore raw material production using foreign direct investment. These investments are made in countries where the entities are unfamiliar with legal, social, political and economic relationships and in markets where they are no longer a dominant market participant. When it comes to investing or developing a project in a foreign country, difficulties often arise in negotiating the regulatory, political and business frameworks.

This project focuses on organising one or more conferences in China as a forum for global Chinese businesses actively considering foreign direct investment in Australia. The objective is to inform top executives of Chinese businesses on the various regulatory, political and business issues involved with investment in Australia in specific industry sectors.

As well as having the opportunity to hear a range of speakers, the agenda will also make use of current case studies of Chinese companies that have successfully invested in the Australian resources sector and how the Australian social, political and economic landscape influenced their decision-making.

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James Butterfield and Keddie Davis

Project: Supporting the integration of international students into society through local migrant communities

Background:

International education is worth $3.1 billion to Victoria annually, and $10.4 billion to Australia. As at July 2007, there were over 117,000 international students studying in Victorian universities, vocational education and training providers, English language providers and schools. International education is the second largest services export industry, more than the tourism industry. Over the past decade, Victorian institutions have more than trebled their intake of onshore international students. This is an extremely good "news" story for the Victorian economy and multicultural society, but with this massive growth comes a greater need for maintaining a high quality education and training system to accommodate the growth and a greater effort to ensure a richer living experience for the students.

The migrant community in Victoria is a largely untapped resource, until now!

Over 43% of Victorians were either born overseas or have one parent who was born overseas. But despite the fact that Victoria's cultural diversity is often cited as a strength in its engagement with the Asian region, in terms of providing support for International students and promoting educational opportunities overseas, it remains a largely untapped resource.

Two of the most productive source countries for international students are India and China, migrants from which have large and established communities in Victoria. These communities retain strong familial, social and business links with their countries of origin.

This project will focus on bringing together local migrant communities and new international students. The Victorian government will host pilot meetings with Chinese and Indian groups early in 2008 after new international students arrive. Student-led International Student Organisations will be invited, as well as local education and training providers so that they can offer information on other support that is available.

Local migrants will be invited to share their experiences and stories about moving to and settling in Australia and offer suggestions to the students about how to engage with the broader community - beyond student life.
Ultimately, the project will aim to increase the numbers of students from China and India studying in Victoria, promote community engagement within migrant communities by facilitating their involvement as advocates in an important industry and provide a concrete example to migrant communities in Victoria that they are valued because of their diversity, not despite it.

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Jason Cameron

Project: Supplier Survey - to gauge the cultural awareness of Jetstar staff doing business in Asia, Pacific.

Jetstar's recent foray into the International Airline arena has provided many challenges for the varying sections of our business. Learning different regional cultures and coming to understand local customs, business etiquettes, and company hierarchies have been the source of much discussion within our organisation. It has been recognised that as a company we have managed some situations well and some not so well. This project will attempt to gauge Jetstar's success as a culturally aware international airline.

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Katica Dias

Project: Strategic Engagement with the Australian Government

Public administration has undergone significant and rapid change since Australian Red Cross began international humanitarian assistance programs in the 1980s. Most notable amongst these changes is the Australian Government has increasingly contracted out provision of international humanitarian aid to Australian Non Government Organisations (ANGOs) and there is greater opportunity for ANGOs to contribute to policy formulation. Red Cross has responded to the growing opportunities offered by the Australian Government with a rapid expansion of international humanitarian assistance programs but will benefit from a more strategic engagement with the Australian Government.

Good development practice goes beyond just implementing programs and moves towards affecting change in the international humanitarian sector. Amongst all ANGOs operating in Asia, Australian Red Cross has the most extensive access to remote and marginalised communities by virtue of working in partnership with the local Red Cross in each country. The value of this level of access into communities cannot be underestimated but providing services to communities is levering this access in one direction only. The opportunity for Australian Red Cross is to bring the experience and community opinion that is vital to the development of Australian Government international humanitarian policies. The development benefit of doing this is two fold; it ensures the voices of remote and marginalised communities are heard in the development debate and it contributes to improvements in the quality of government policies.

This project developed a Government Engagement Strategy for Australian Red Cross with specific regard to international humanitarian issues. The strategy identified that more strategic engagement would ultimately benefit remote and marginalised communities in Asia, contribute to higher quality humanitarian policies in the Australian Government, and build the profile and reputation of Australian Red Cross as a valuable partner to the Australian Government. This project was undertaken with the support of the Ian Potter Foundation.

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Mathew Dipnall

Project: "Nanobits" An introductory kit for students, business people and families.

This project marries the author's interest in nanotechnology (NT) with entrepreneurship and a better Australia within Asia.
In the context of the Asialink program and with a view to forging relationships across Asia, Nanotechnology Victoria invited the author to collaborate on the research, development and commercialization of the learning package "Nanobits".

The commercialization model seeks to:

Export Australian intellectual property
Utilize licensing strategies
Leverage e-learning competencies and opportunities
Maximise product affordability and accessibility
Provide economic benefit both locally and within Asia

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Michael D'Rosario

Project: The Hope Scholars Program

The Hope Scholars program seeks to empower young men and women to facilitate positive and sustainable change in their communities. Through this program candidates from some of the poorest communities in the developing world are provided with the necessary support to procure a tertiary education. Candidates are not provided with subsistence funding alone but rather with the means to support themselves and their communities. The program seeks to identify young social entrepreneurs in the developing world, and equip these young men and women with the skills and resources to serve their communities more aptly.

The program provides scholarships to young men and women to study in various disciplines upon completion of their secondary education. These young people come from throughout the state of Tamil-Nadu, with many of the children from parts of Chennai that were decimated by the tsunami, from the Mekong region of Vietnam and from throughout Sri Lanka. In the coming months it is anticipated that the program will be expanded into other regions. Adolescents can study a variety of trade and professional courses, as well as non-formal apprentice courses. The courses are delivered by a number of colleges and universities, for example the Ethiraj College for Women, Queen Mary College, St. Joseph's Technical Institute, and the Salesian Institute of Graphic Arts. The program is administered by various community organisations in-country, depending on the course/qualification. The program is administered in Australia, by a registered charitable entity known as Nexus.

The program has completed its pilot phase during which 18 candidates received the necessary support to complete university or trade based qualifications. Candidates are completing undergraduate studies in Engineering, Science, Media, Arts, Accountancy, Nursing, and Commerce.

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Caroline Farmer

Project: Shifting perspectives

Like other small to medium contemporary arts organizations in Australia, Experimenta has been developing projects in Asia and with artists and organizations in Asia for a number of years. The projects are successful, create excellent relationships and often receive very positive responses from local communities, As the number of these projects begin to reach a critical mass there is increasing awareness within Australian and Asian contemporary art communities about what is happening across the region.

The next challenge for Experimenta is to shift the way we perceive ourselves - from an Australian organization 'dabbling' in Asia to an organization that identifies itself as an active part of the contemporary art communities of the Asia Pacific region. The second challenge and probably the more difficult to effect will be to shift the perceptions of the Asian networks and organizations that we work with.

This project will build a long-term strategy into our Business Plan that will support this change in our self-perception and that can be implemented over the next 3-4 years.
and develop a relationship with an existing network of contemporary arts organizations in Asia - Arts Network Asia to jointly develop and deliver a range of capacity building projects in the region.

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Caroline Fry

Project: A Proposal for a Conservation Strategy Plan for the Hoa Lo Prison, Hanoi, Vietnam

The Hoa Lo Prison in Hanoi is widely known by the nickname 'Hanoi Hilton', the name given to it by Americans during the Vietnam War. The prison was established in1896 by the French colonial government to incarcerate Vietnamese political revolutionaries and activists. From 1964 - 1973 the prison was used to house American prisoners of war, including Senator John McCain. Since 1996, a section of Hoa Lo Prison has been open to the public, as a memorial to VN revolutionaries. Original documents, photographs and artefacts are displayed to commemorate the history of the prison and its inmates.

Many of the original revolutionary materials belonging to the VN political prisoners, are extremely fragile, and have national and international significance. Photographs, hand written documents, and textile banners are faded, in poor condition and are actively deteriorating due to exposure to extreme environmental conditions. The fragility of the artefacts demands urgent attention. The aim of this project is to work with staff and curators of the Hoa Lo Prison museum, to develop a conservation strategy and treatment plan for the preservation of the collection, which incorporates a wide range of materials.

This project will link with several contiguous conservation projects already established between the CCMC and various cultural collecting institutes in Vietnam, such as National Library of Vietnam, The Ethnographic Museum and Vietnam Museum of Fine Arts. Since 2004, the CCMC has actively developed conservation training and placement of Australian conservators into key institutus in Vietnam. This project will tie in with current CCMC activities in SE Asia and research into deterioration of materials in tropical environments.

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Di Kilsby

Project: Building Partnerships for Development Cooperation

Plan is an international development non-government organization, working with children and communities to address issues of poverty and rights. Plan Australia supports development projects with Plan counterpart offices in ten Asian countries, resourced with grants and community fund-raising.

This project went beneath the rhetoric of "partnership", through research that aimed to:

strengthen the understanding and practice of "partnership" between Plan Australia and Plan partner/s in the Asian region; and
contribute to the development of a stronger culture of learning within these partnerships

The research explored the experiences of people on both sides of Plan Australia's Asia partnerships, reviewed current literature and compared Plan's practice with that of several similar organizations.

The research will be presented at a Plan Regional Meeting in Bangladesh on November 8th, and will be utilized in the strategic planning processes of both Plan Australia and Plan globally.

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Andrea Kleist

Project: The Other Side of Difference (working title)

This project aims to develop and realise a large scale temporary public artwork/event, which invites children in two different countries to experience connections whilst being in separate places.

The especially created controlled immersive environment seeks to support the natural curiosity of children, encouraging them to imagine the other country and perhaps instilling the desire to reach/travel to another place.
Planned to occur simultaneously in the sister cities Osaka and Melbourne, children - up to the age of ~10 years - are the core audience/participants; as such the project is an investment into the future.

The key objectives are, for the person to walk away from the experience with:

An understanding of what sister city means
A better understanding of what the other place is like
The notion of having made contact with/travelled to another place as a positive experience

The project responds to an artist's idea and his childhood fascination with Japan ('a country far far away')

The work is currently being investigated (concept development and feasibility study) with specific input from Council's Japanese public art intern and in collaboration with another Melbourne based organisation.

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Sin May Leong

Project: Aiming for Acceptance and Professional Effectiveness in Cross-Cultural Management - An Internal Training Intervention and Employee Engagement Initiative by Jetstar

Jetstar's Longhaul operations to various Asian destinations and Honolulu was launched at lightning speed with its inaugural flight to Bangkok taking off just six months from the commercial product launch date. Prior to its Asia-Pacific venture, the Jetstar domestic product was quintessentially Australian, targeting the "heartland" leisure market and anchored by a dedicated Australian workforce.

The onset of culture shock amongst it's new multi-cultural inflight workforce of Thai, Japanese and Australian cabin crew members presented a compelling case for investment in ongoing manager coaching and cross-cultural team training to supplement the initial cultural awareness course delivered in preparation for its international launch.

This project focuses on working with the Longhaul Inflight Standards and Performance department to identify root causes of tension amongst Thai and Australian crew members operating in a highly routine and structured cabin environment, and isolating effective versus ineffective influence tactics applied by Australian Inflight Managers on their Thai crew members.

Findings from these in-depth focus group sessions have assisted in the design and delivery of new training intervention packages and by parallel employee and community initiatives to promote cross-cultural engagement from the heart. Jetstar's engagement with Asia has truly begun.

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Jenni Lillingston

Project: Establishing new markets and networks for arts and cultural exchange with China - learnings from the "Festival of Australian Theatre in China"

In late 2007 Shanghai and Beijing will be hosting the "Festival of Australian Theatre in China", showcasing works of five acclaimed Australian performing arts companies.

Key objectives of the Festival are to: introduce the diversity of our culture to the Chinese public through contemporary and innovative Australian theatre and establish networks that will enable future partnerships, exchanges and collaborations.

The Asialink project includes reviewing the achievement of these objectives; investigating the reasons the companies have chosen to participate in the Festival; and analysing both the perception and reality of cultural barriers to assist future touring programs.

Stage 1 of the project has been completed with interviews held with the companies, prior to the Festival, to confirm reasons for participating, expectations of any issues relating to the performances or creating networks; and what, if any, consideration has been given to the investment required or approaches to establishing networks. These expectations will be compared to experiences encountered.

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Imran Lum

Project: CILS-Asialink Public Seminar on Islamic Banking

Background:
The global Islamic financial industry has grown significantly at a rate of 15 per cent over the last ten years and has created a market with assets
in the range of US $1 trillion.The industry has expanded beyond the traditional centres of Islamic banking in South-East Asia and the Middle East to the United Kingdom, the United States and among other Western countries including Australia. Western banks are fast becoming major players in the Islamic banking industry. Major banks such as HSBC, Lloyds TSB, Citibank and Deutsche Bank among others, have established dedicated Islamic "Windows" to provide a range of Islamic banking products for the increasing Muslim market.

The Project:
The project was a public seminar on Islamic banking, jointly hosted by the Centre for Islamic Law and Society (CILS) at The University of Melbourne and Asialink. First of all, the project sought to situate the Islamic banking movement in its historical context by outlining the history of Islamic trade across Asia. Secondly, the seminar then sought to show how modern Islamic banking began with the dream of creating a financial system that envisaged an equitable society based primarily, but not exclusively, on profit and loss sharing (PLS). It also showed how now more than ever before, Islamic financial institutions are displaying increasing pragmatism in their approaches towards Islamic banking products by adapting them to compete with Western conventional banking products while at the same time catering for the religious needs of today's Muslims. The presentation finally illustrated how Islamic banking has proved to be innovative, dynamic and continually expanding.

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Liz McLeod

Project: Delivery of Paediatric Surgical Services in Nusa Tengurra Timur Province, Indonesia

Nusa Tengurra Timur, with a population of 5 million, is one of the poorest provinces of Indonesia, encompassing the islands of West Timor, Flores and Sunda along with numerous others. Most of the population has no access to surgical care. Two general surgeons in the province capital, Kupang, West Timor, provide the only surgical service in the province.

The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, have committed to a five year pilot project to provide surgical services across a number of specialties including paediatric surgery, as part of the AusAID funded Australia Nusa Tengurra Assistance for Regional Autonomy (ANTARA) project. The first paediatric/general surgical teams visited Atambua, West Timor in March 2007 and identified a number of problems with the delivery of medical aid within the context of capacity transfer. Firstly, the level of education of local staff in the management of paediatric surgical conditions is so low that the ability of smaller towns to manage complex congenital anomalies postoperatively is dubious, and secondly it is possible that no adequately trained clinician will be found within the province to deliver surgical care on an ongoing basis.

This project aims to develop a framework for the delivery of paediatric surgical services within the province. It is expected that it will be possible to identify locations and individuals where paediatric services will be best able to be delivered
The second component of the project is to modify the existing Advanced Paediatric Life Support course for delivery to Indonesian medical and nursing staff. It is expected that the modified course could be ready for delivery within the next 6 months.

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Rebecca Nelson

Project: Water Pollution in China: Can Law Turn the Tide?

Despite China's comprehensive system of environmental laws and standards, poor water quality is widespread. The significant economic, social and environmental effects of water pollution are of serious concern to the Chinese central government, the Chinese public, international business, and foreign governments alike. Focussing solely on government enforcement of water pollution laws is unlikely to alleviate pollution problems. This project seeks to examine the current and potential roles of the Chinese public (including through NGOs) and multinational corporations in increasing more widespread compliance with water pollution laws, both as individual sectors and in partnership. Although these roles are relatively new, they hold promise for supplementing government efforts to address water pollution, while simultaneously achieving benefits for all sectors involved.

The objectives of this project are to:

examine the issue of water pollution in China;
examine and build the case for the involvement of the Chinese public and international businesses in addressing water pollution through legal and law-related methods; and
deliver this case to members of academia (both legal and non-legal), the multinational business community, and government.

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Brendan Rowbotham

Project: Developing future leaders' cultural intelligence to enable cross border effectiveness in Asia - a general insurer's perspective

Intense competition and limited organic growth opportunities for general insurers in Australia means companies must look to overseas markets for expansion. The Asian Region has been identified as a target for potential growth.

Whilst economic barriers are being overcome between international markets, there is a propensity for cultural barriers to remain, presenting challenges for business.
In order for an organisation to shift its leadership capacity from national to international (local to global) readiness it must review any leadership capability in a holistic manner to ensure an appropriate level cultural intelligence exists in its future leadership talent pool.

A key objective of this project is therefore to ensure future leaders in an Australian based general insurance company are provided with the appropriate level of cultural awareness in readiness to effectively operate in a global context, particularly within the Asia region.

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Luisa Rust

Project: Are you Ready to Enter the Dragon?

China has overtaken Japan in 2007/08 as the most popular Asian destination for Australian bottled wine, but entering this market still poses challenges to Australian Wine Exporters. Many top level distributors have full portfolios of imported wine. It is a challenge for many wine exporters to identify and lock in suitably experienced and resourced partners for this market. Exporters to China face issues such as wine labelling, relatively low consumer knowledge, high marketing and promotional costs, wine logistics and warehousing limitations.

The objective of this project is to share knowledge and experience within Austrade and Australian wine community on challenges and opportunities in China wine market. Reinforce and grow networks in Australian wine Community such as AWBC and State Government and establish and grow networks in China of players in Chinese wine market.

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James Strong

Project: Asialink on Facebook - Bringing the Alumni together

Facebook.com is the worldwide networking phenomenon of 2007. It combines ease of use with global scale and represents the future of Web 2.0 connectivity. The Alumni of Asialink as often scattered across the globe following their interests and pursuits and therefore may find it difficult to keep contact with each other and what is happening with the program or other alumni. By bringing Asialink into facebook, I will enhance the connectivity and help to develop and strengthen the links between all members of this fascinating experiment.

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Robert Wallis

Project: Organising donations and disability support for disadvantaged and disabled children in Hoian Orphanage, Vietnam.

The Kianh foundation is a UK registered charity that provides support and assistance to children living at the Hoi An Orphanage in Vietnam. There are significant number of children at the orphanage who have a variety of disabilities some thought to be as a consequence of the Vietnam War. This project involved two main facets; the first being the organisation and transportation of donated goods to the foundation, and the second involves the continual coordination and liaison with donors in Australia.

In consultation with the director of the charity a 'wish list' of equipment was developed and prioritized. Relevant organizations and individuals were contacted to procure the donated goods. This equipment was centrally collected and prepared for transport. The goods were then transported to Vietnam and delivered to the foundation. Meetings were held with both the charity and orphanage to establish a more sustainable long term donation schedule and liaison program with interested Australians. The challenge of working across cultures and ideologies was evident and further cultural understandings between all parties developed.

The first facet of the project has been completed with the transportation of health and rehabilitation equipment to the orphanage in September 2007. The ongoing liaison and organization is continuing with the view of establishing a long term sustainable program that allows the charity and orphanage to forward plan and set strategic goals for the future.

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Mosese T Waqa

Project: Setting up a Pacific Hub in Melbourne

The Pacific Hub will create space for convergences for leaders from governments, industries and civil society in the Pacific (including Australia and New Zealand) towards building productive relations. A space that engenders listening, dialogue and learning that can lead to brokering partnerships for tackling issues and concerns of states, industries and civil society in the Pacific region in a multi-stakeholders approach. There are varied enclaves of people within Australia who make their own contributions to the wider Pacific community. These consist of members of the Pacific diaspora, non governmental development agencies, commercial institutions, research and teaching institutions, and government agencies. The Pacific Hub will encourage and nurture partnerships amongst stakeholders in building a more resilient cooperative environment of leaders in the Pacific community. Central to these efforts will be initiatives towards conflict prevention and peace building and addressing issues of human security in relation to meeting development challenges in the Pacific region. Overall and in the long term, a vibrant Melbourne-based Pacific Hub will also be in a position to collaborate with Asialink and other interests in facilitating bridge building initiatives across the many divides within the greater Asia-Pacific region.

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Asialink, The University of Melbourne

2007 Melbourne projects

Peter Block

Project: On the Outside Looking In - Foreign Direct Investment into Australia

James Butterfield and Keddie Davis

Project: Supporting the integration of international students into society through local migrant communities

Background:

Jason Cameron

Project: Supplier Survey - to gauge the cultural awareness of Jetstar staff doing business in Asia, Pacific.

Katica Dias

Project: Strategic Engagement with the Australian Government

Mathew Dipnall

Project: "Nanobits" An introductory kit for students, business people and families.

Michael D'Rosario

Project: The Hope Scholars Program

Caroline Farmer

Project: Shifting perspectives

Caroline Fry

Project: A Proposal for a Conservation Strategy Plan for the Hoa Lo Prison, Hanoi, Vietnam

Di Kilsby

Project: Building Partnerships for Development Cooperation

Andrea Kleist

Project: The Other Side of Difference (working title)

Sin May Leong

Project: Aiming for Acceptance and Professional Effectiveness in Cross-Cultural Management - An Internal Training Intervention and Employee Engagement Initiative by Jetstar

Jenni Lillingston

Project: Establishing new markets and networks for arts and cultural exchange with China - learnings from the "Festival of Australian Theatre in China"

Imran Lum

Project: CILS-Asialink Public Seminar on Islamic Banking

Liz McLeod

Project: Delivery of Paediatric Surgical Services in Nusa Tengurra Timur Province, Indonesia

Rebecca Nelson

Project: Water Pollution in China: Can Law Turn the Tide?

Brendan Rowbotham

Project: Developing future leaders' cultural intelligence to enable cross border effectiveness in Asia - a general insurer's perspective

Luisa Rust

Project: Are you Ready to Enter the Dragon?

James Strong

Project: Asialink on Facebook - Bringing the Alumni together

Robert Wallis

Project: Organising donations and disability support for disadvantaged and disabled children in Hoian Orphanage, Vietnam.

Mosese T Waqa

Project: Setting up a Pacific Hub in Melbourne