From the Vice-Chancellor February 2022

Dear Deakin community,

On 28 February we begin our Orientation program, and the week after, Trimester 1 gets underway. Our goal remains to deliver as normal an experience as we can, for our students and staff, but also for those visiting and collaborating with us.

We are really looking forward to seeing our campuses regaining their vibrancy with students returning for many classes, seminars and hands-on learning activities delivered face to face. Our Orientation program and OFest events will help ensure our commencing students make a great start to their study. For those students who study exclusively online, they will continue to study flexibly via our premium online learning in Deakin's digital learning environment.

Our campuses are coming back to life, but of course we will continue to follow government guidelines consistent with settings across the wider community, adhering to the required COVIDSafe settings and responsibilities. All students, staff and visitors must be fully vaccinated (or exempt) to attend campus.

As Victoria’s restrictions continue to ease and our optimism grows, the year has certainly started with Deakin success stories. Our School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences regained its world number one ranking (the third time we have placed first), and in the most recent ARC announcement, twelve Deakin researchers collectively received more than $4.9 million for their forthcoming Discovery Projects, which will help us increase our research capacity in areas that will benefit our local and global communities.

Many of you would have heard that current Deakin student, Jakara Anthony (Bachelor of Exercise and Sport Science) won a Winter Olympic gold medal – truly exciting news. Congratulations to Jakara for her remarkable effort in the Women’s Moguls in Beijing, Australia’s first ever gold medal in the event. Jakara is part of the Elite Athlete program at Deakin, which offers assistance and support for professional athletes who are undertaking studies.

Throughout March, our Waterfront campus will host an ABC Radio pop-up studio and newsroom, with the space being provided by our School of Creative Arts. This joint initiative will see presenters and program makers deliver local coverage across radio, online, social media and ABC television. It will also offer our students invaluable workplace experience in the media industry.

Through this and other channels, we’ll be hearing many positive stories in the weeks ahead. This month’s dKin Times is one such channel – I hope you enjoy the read.

We’ll also be seeing more of our Deakin friends in person, including an increasing number of our international students and alumni as they return to our country and to our campuses.

Best wishes,
Iain

Vice-Chancellor
Deakin University