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Dr Dilhani Bandaranayake	Health workforce education collaboration
Galina Barrett and Denise Wong	Concept Design for ‘Exchange Asia’ website
Christine Bessell-Browne	A fully integrated approach to Leadership Development: Including cross -cultural leadership approaches
Lisa Colley	Creating greater visibility of existing links with Asia through public exhibitions and events at UTS
Matthew Deaner	Improving Cross-Cultural Understanding and Engagement within and between organisations comprising the Australian Subscription Television industry
Fadle Fred El-Harris and Lena Nalhous	Australian/Asia-Pacific flows
Prof Nick Glozier	Influence and Aid
Nicholas Goodwin	“Ideas from Asia” Festival
A/Prof Rebecca Ivers	Capacity building for injury prevention in Asia
Peter Kerr	The Sydney Morning Herald-Australian Financial Review Journalism Scholarships
Kristy Partridge	Increasing awareness of cultural and business practices in China & India
Gordon Renouf	Consumer Protection Laws in the Asia Pacific
Michael Soh	Analysis of the Indian general insurance market based on general insurance trends in Malaysia and Thailand
Paul Toni	Demonstrating carbon capture and storage technology in Asia
Dr Lyndal Trevena	Zhongshen xuexi: Lifelong learning - A Shanghai-Sydney partnership of medical education reform
Adam Wand	Financial Literacy Clearing House
Linda Yan	Develop a guide for Austrade staff to establish and coach virtual teams across regions

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Dr Dilhani Bandaranayake

Project: Health workforce education collaboration

Following independence from Indonesia, the Timor Leste health sector has had to deal with the challenges of rebuilding a health care system that had almost collapsed. In March 2008, The Ministry of Health and Dili Hospital in Timor Leste identified, to the University, the need for health workforce development, particularly in the critical care area.  In response, this project was established, with support from the Office for Global Health at the University, to develop and implement a critical care training program in collaboration with Dili Hospital and the Institute of Health Sciences. It is anticipated that the stronger relationships developed via this project will facilitate future initiatives between the University of Sydney and the Timor Leste Government and other institutions.

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Galina Barrett and Denise Wong

Project: Concept Design for ‘Exchange Asia’ website

Research clearly demonstrates that financial burdens are one of the greatest difficulties families in resource-poor countries face when their child is diagnosed with a chronic medical condition such as CAH (Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia) or Type 1 Diabetes. Morbidity and mortality are directly related to the family's income, and children from very poor families do not survive such a diagnosis. Whilst humanitarian aid in the form of medication, education and optimisation of medical treatment is helpful, long-term, sustainable solutions need to be found if genuine change is to be effected.

In response to these issues, this project links families of children living with chronic medical conditions in Vietnam with locally successful NGOs that offer micro-finance, enterprise development and vocational training in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The long-term goal for the project is that at the time a child in Vietnam is diagnosed with CAH, diabetes or other chronic medical conditions, the family's financial status will be urgently assessed, and immediate referral for specialist assistance instigated if they earn below a pre-ordained threshold deemed necessary for survival and a high quality of life.

This project is a preliminary exploration of the feasibility of such a novel approach to multi-sectoral health care in resource-poor countries.

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Christine Bessell-Browne

Project: A fully integrated approach to Leadership Development:
Including cross -cultural leadership approaches

This project seeks to investigate ways in which businesses can incorporate relevant cross cultural leadership practices into traditional leadership development frameworks. It is recognized that many organizations currently use a one-size-fits-all approach to developing its leaders. A methodology and competency map is often used across a range of cultures and applied to a variety of development needs resulting in ineffective development, alienation of participants and wasted resources.

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Lisa Colley

Project: Creating greater visibility of existing links with Asia through public exhibitions and events at UTS

The Exhibitions & Events Program at UTS has had as its major focus for 2008 the creation of an infrastructure for exhibitions and events. This project widens the offerings of the exhibition space to focus on Asia linkages and has progressed to include a limited number of exhibitions and a forum in 2008, with a much fuller program of events planned for 2009 and 2010. 

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Matthew Deaner

Project: Improving Cross-Cultural Understanding and Engagement within and between organisations comprising the Australian Subscription Television industry

This project seeks to develop and strengthen cross-cultural understanding and engagement within subscription television businesses that are:

1. based in Australia and that are either led or partner with business operations (from the same organisation) in the Asian region;
2. based in Australia and work closely with many other businesses in the Australian market that are in turn are either led or partner with business operations (from the same organisation) in the Asian region; or
3. based in Australia and work closely with different organisations based in the broader Asian region.

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Fadle Fred El-Harris and Lena Nalhous

Project: Australian/Asia-Pacific flows

In Australia, creating inter- cultural linkages often focuses more on countries outside of our local region than within it, and when this is not the case, it is generally seen as between a whole "Australia" and other nations in the region. But within Australia, local Asian communities -- regional diasporas -- are producing interesting work, which is often not recognised outside of those communities.

This project will hold a public seminar focused on community-based media work in the Asia Pacific region and also within Asian Australian communities locally. The focus will be on connecting communities at different scales within and across the region, rather than simply between "countries". The panel of speakers will be recorded audio-visually and put online as podcasts and vodcasts, with an attached blog which will facilitate follow-on discussion from participants and audiences.

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Prof Nick Glozier

Project: Influence and Aid

An overarching theme of the 2008 Asialink programme has been assessing the strength of Australia’s engagement in Asia, and a primary stream in this is concerned with Australia’s soft power strategies. Soft power is a term coined by Joseph Nye in 1990 and still being used as a term that distinguishes the subtle effects of culture, values, and ideas on others' behavior from more direct coercive measures.

In 2008-2009 Australia will provide $3.7 billion worth of official development assistance. Other strategies e.g. the AFP, and NGOs such as World Vision Australia provide further aid in different arenas. In Sri Lanka for instance the Australian Community Rehabilitation Program (ACRP), Post Tsunami reconstruction project (IO: Planning Institute of Australia) and Sri Lanka-Australia Natural Resource Management Project (Implementing Organisation: URS Australia) are examples of key unilateral aid projects.

The aim of this project was to understand to what extent key individuals in the health arena might be influenced positively towards a donor country by such aid.

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Nicholas Goodwin

Project: “Ideas from Asia” Festival

In June 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced the Asia Pacific Community initiative and the goal to make Australia “the most Asia literate country in the collective West”. These policy endeavours - if they are to move beyond the realm of talk - need to be supported by a national program of public education and engagement. The Ideas from Asia Festival is a contribution to this quest.

The Ideas from Asia Festival will be a leading public source of independent analysis and informed discussion on Asia and its future. The festival pursues this mission by bringing prominent Asian thinkers, writers and policy-makers to Australia so that Australians can hear directly from Asians their thinking on the issues that most concern them. The long-term goal of the Ideas from Asia Festival is to become the premier global event on Asian ideas. Ideas from Asia will act as an incubator for a number of support programs, which will add value to and further the broader objective of disseminating ideas from Asia to an Australian and global audience. These programs will ensure ongoing impact beyond the space and time of the main event.

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A/Prof Rebecca Ivers

Project: Capacity building for injury prevention in Asia

Injuries are a major contributor to the global burden of death and disability, particularly in low and middle-income countries.  Despite the tremendous burden of injury in countries such as Vietnam, there are few opportunities for training and education for researchers, practitioners and policy makers. This project involved running an intensive one day workshop, aimed at injury prevention researchers and key policy stakeholders in injury prevention in Asia, specifically Vietnam. The workshop was held as part of the 2nd Asia Pacific Injury Prevention workshop, held in Hanoi, Vietnam from November 4-6, 2008. Presenters in the workshop included leading Australian researchers and policy makers, as well as Vietnamese injury researchers.

The workshop aimed to enable participants to understand and apply the basic techniques used in conducting and utilising injury research in low and middle-income country settings. Mentoring arrangements between experienced researchers from a variety of settings (Vietnam, Australia) and local participants were established in order to facilitate ongoing support. 

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Peter Kerr

Project: The Sydney Morning Herald-Australian Financial Review Journalism Scholarships

Currently there are very limited opportunities for Indonesian journalists to visit Australia and benefit from the professional, social and cultural experiences of working here.

Australian journalists, meanwhile, have long had various opportunities for assisted travel to Indonesia where they enjoy the generosity of their Indonesian hosts. My aim has been to reciprocate that generosity and initiate a program that fosters understanding between journalists in both countries.

This project has established Fairfax Media annual scholarship program to help two promising Indonesian journalists or photographers gain experience in Australia.

We expect the scholarships will forge rewarding ties with our counterparts in Indonesia and deliver ongoing benefits to journalists and photographers in both countries.

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Kristy Partridge

Project: Increasing awareness of cultural and business practices in China & India

This project aims to better prepare staff and customers to do business with China and India.

The project will provide a high level overview of important factors contributing to business success in these cultures and point target audiences in the direction of more detailed resources should they have the time and desire to review them. The materials to be presented in a seminar or online format to staff, will provide an overview of cultural sensitivities, recent events and business practises including ‘common pitfalls’ within China & India to prepare them for business trips and overseas placements.

It is envisaged that a web based resource will be developed that can be accessed by customers to extend the support which focuses on facilitating trade and export / import advice already provided. 

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Gordon Renouf

Project: Consumer Protection Laws in the Asia Pacific

The aim of this project was to provide data to support advocacy for improved consumer protection laws in Asian countries. The project will identify the scope and coverage of consumer protection laws in each of the Asian countries where there is an NGO member of Consumers International. A steering committee was formed, who:

a) Agreed on the scope and methodology of the project
b) Identified potential resources for the project including potential sources of funding

Proposals have been written and are under consideration by funding bodies.

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Michael Soh

Project: Analysis of the Indian general insurance market based on general insurance trends in Malaysia and Thailand

The emergence of India as an Asian economic heavyweight has presented opportunities for foreign corporations to establish points of presence in India to drive growth and realise goals of expansion into the Asian region. However relative to other Asian nations with longer histories of foreign investment, the "Indian experience" remains unknown with overseas interests challenged by the sheer mass and complexity of the Indian market.

For over a decade, IAG has held interests in Asia. Two key IAG businesses are located in Malaysia and Thailand and IAG has ambition to continue developing business in Asia. This ambition has recently been addressed via the proposal of an insurance joint venture in the India with the State Bank of India.

This project explores general insurance industry trends in Malaysia and Thailand using insurance industry centric metrics and selected macroeconomic indicators and aims to determine if recent trends in these 2 established markets can be used to assess and extrapolate what the Indian general insurance market will look like in the short to medium term.

Project: Demonstrating carbon capture and storage technology in Asia

Human-induced climate change (or global warming) is caused by the great increase in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. To avoid the worst impacts of climate change the warming should be stabilized at or below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

One of the main sources of emissions is the combustion of fossil fuels - coal, gas and oil – for energy. Stabilization at 2 degrees Celsius will require global energy sector emissions to be reduced 90% or more by 2050. Coal is the most common source of fuel for stationary energy (principally electricity) in the world. The growing demand for energy is leading to the construction of increasing numbers of coal-fired power stations. For example, emissions from power stations in China – where coal is virtually the only source of traditional fuel – are expected to increase from 2,680 million tonnes per year to 4,270 million tonnes per year by 2017.  

“Carbon capture and storage” (CCS) of fossil fuels has the potential to reduce power station emissions 80-90%. Carbon capture and storage is a process in which emissions are captured and then pumped underground to be stored in deep geological formations. Australia is a world leader in CCS technology research however no integrated CCS coal or gas power station has been constructed anywhere in the world.

This project will develop and implement a strategy and business plan for a multi-WWF office advocacy program with the objective of Australian governments and industry committing to financially contribute to the “demonstration” (the stage before full-scale development) of an integrated CCS coal or gas power station in a major Asian country within the next four years. Development of the strategy has commenced and the project should be complete by March 2009.

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Dr Lyndal Trevena

Project: Zhongshen xuexi: Lifelong learning - A Shanghai-Sydney partnership of medical education reform

In 2007, as part of a broader relationship between Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) and the University of Sydney (UoS), discussions revealed that both medical faculties were reforming their curricula and both were seeking to train more globally competent doctors.

It was agreed to start with the development of a program of curriculum reform that translated best evidence teaching methods into the Chinese context and to establish a staff and student ‘pengyou-buddy’ system for exchange about learning & practising medicine in China and Australia. In July 2008, 14 teachers from SJTU completed a three-week curriculum development workshop in Sydney. Four medical students from each faculty also commenced an exchange program.
 
Chinese teachers and students experiencing active learning in Sydney were highly enthusiastic but recognised cultural and organisational barriers for implementation back home. The group identified challenges in overcoming power-distance and uncertainty-avoidance barriers as well as practical issues such as large student numbers. In 2009, four Sydney students will be the first to participate in a Shanghai placement and a further curriculum program will run in Shanghai, with a focus on implementation.

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Adam Wand

Project: Financial Literacy Clearing House

Literacy is a key variable in determining an individual’s degree of social inclusion and personal success. Financial literacy is a key, but often overlooked, part of broader literacy concerns.

Financial literacy for non-English speaking background communities often trails behind those of English speaking background sections of the community. This is partially driven by language but also complexity, educational opportunities and other cultural structures. That said, many different financial literacy educational and practical assistance materials are produced. The issue is that they are often poorly distributed and targeted.

Targeted as Sydney’s Southeast Asian communities in the first instance, this project is focused on leveraging on these existing (and future) non-English resources being developed by financial institutions including banks, credit unions and building societies, plus also materials from Commonwealth and State/Territory government agencies, non-government organisations and other sources, and bringing them into one place where they can be better accessed and utilised.

This “clearing house” of financial literacy resources would be web-based, open access and user-friendly in terms of navigation and uploading.

The target user audience for the project is not necessarily the end-user of the financial literacy resources (although such individuals will of course have open access to the platform), but rather community development workers, local council or front-line government department workers (such as the Department of Housing, etc).

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Linda Yan

Project: Develop a guide for Austrade staff to establish and coach virtual teams across regions

Austrade has restructured business units reporting by geographic regions to an industry focused team approach across countries. The change for Austrade staff to work in virtual teams, report to team leaders across countries and communicate has been challenging. Understanding how to establish and coach virtual teams across regions is the focus of this project. A survey will be undertaken of staff to establish the level of understanding of virtual teams and the challenges faced for leaders in establishing and coaching new virtual teams. The results of the survey will be analysed together with earlier research on employee communications and virtual office networks undertaken by Austrade. The result will be a simple guide for Austrade staff on establishing and coaching virtual teams across regions. The survey will focus on Austrade’s South East Asia region, which comprises 99 staff across 7 countries with a total of 8 offices.

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