2026 Excellence Awards Finalists

Anti-Slavery Australia (ASA) operates a two-pronged approach to community engagement in relation to modern slavery and forced marriage that aim to strengthen national responses and prevention. One program encompasses learning partnerships on forced marriage that provide training to frontline practitioners across multiple sectors, as well as direct engagements with communities and families. The second is ASA’s national forced marriage service, My Blue Sky, which provides free and confidential information and legal advice for individuals, their friends and families, and professionals. The website is easily accessible through multilingual resources and different communication channels, including a live chat with ASA lawyers.

Deakin University’s Ocean Literacy Program transformed research into community impact by equipping primary schools with the knowledge, resources and confidence to connect children with Australia’s Great Southern Reef. Originating from university research and expanded through community partnerships, the program combined teacher professional learning, curriculum-aligned resources and place-based learning to embed locally relevant ocean education in Australian primary schools. By building teacher capability, fostering children’s connections with their local marine environment and creating freely available educational resources, the program established a lasting legacy that continues to support educators, schools and communities to care for Australia’s unique marine environments.

AllPlay™ is Australia’s first evidence-based platform dedicated to disability inclusion across sport, dance, and education. Founded by Professor Nicole Rinehart in 2014, AllPlay translated NHMRC-funded neuromotor research into a national movement — honoured with the AFR Community Engagement Award and now scaling across Australia, China, and Malaysia. AllPlay has secured more than $14 million in funding, supports around 28,000 football coaches/volunteers, 7,000 dance teachers and 200,000 educators, and is available to all Australian children with disability or developmental challenge and their families. Its mission: make the world fit for all kids.

Deakin University’s Centre for Refugee Employment, Advocacy, Training and Education (CREATE)’s Career Clinics empower refugee communities to develop pathways to decent and meaningful employment in Australia. Through innovative partnerships with community organisations, industry, local government, and philanthropic partners, the program provides tailored career development support, one-on-one mentoring, and practical employment guidance for. Since 2020, the Career Clinics have supported participants to recognise their skills and potential, navigate the employment landscape in Australia, and strengthen their professional networks. By centering community needs and fostering inclusive opportunities, the initiative is transforming career outcomes and contributing to a more equitable future for refugees.

From Community Authority to Systems Change is an Indigenous-led collaboration between Griffith University, First Nations Elders, Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations and community service partners. Through sustained relationships, Indigenous governance and genuine co-design, the partnership strengthens family safety, youth violence prevention, men’s wellbeing, organisational leadership and community-controlled services. Its outcomes include culturally grounded prevention initiatives, leadership programs, evaluation frameworks, local train-the-trainer capability and demonstrated improvements in family, housing, behavioural and justice outcomes. The partnership provides an enduring model for universities to work with First Nations communities through reciprocity, shared authority and practical action rather than short-term consultation.

Djambatj Dhukarr (Road to Excellence) is a long-term collaboration between the University of Melbourne, Yirrkala School, Laynhapuy Homelands School and the Community-Based Aboriginal Teacher Education (C-BATE) program in Northeast Arnhem Land. Established to enrich education pathways for Yolŋu team teachers to become qualified teachers, the partnership supports professional learning, leadership development and reciprocal exchange. Through placements in Melbourne schools and collaboration with the Faculty of Education, Yolŋu educators share their knowledge while expanding their professional practice. Grounded in reciprocity, trust and Yolŋu-led leadership, Djambatj Dhukarr is building local educational capacity while strengthening partnerships through genuine both-ways learning.

The First Nations Molecular Point-of-Care Testing Program has transformed access to infectious disease testing in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities through a model built on genuine partnership, co-design and community leadership. The program supports over 90 Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs), that provide rural and remote health services across 6 jurisdictions and 9 infectious diseases in Australia that disproportionately affect First Nations communities. The Program has strengthened local capacity and established a sustainable model for First Nations-led infectious disease diagnosis and care.

Moombaki “where the river meets the sky” is an Aboriginal-led research program transforming how Noongar culture, language, and identity are taught in urban Perth primary schools. Led by Wadjak Noongar traditional owner Professor Cheryl Kickett-Tucker AM at Curtin University.
Curtin University and funded by the Australian Research Council, Moombaki co-designed fourteen culturally grounded learning modules including Australia’s first place-based virtual reality resource for primary school students with Noongar Elders, families, Aboriginal and Islander Education Officers, and children. Over five years it has reached >400 participants. Moombaki has delivered a replicable internationally recognised model for genuine university–Indigenous community partnership.

FishID is a Griffith University-led collaboration that has transformed environmental monitoring by turning an overwhelming volume of imagery into trusted evidence. Since 2017, government, industry and conservation groups have jointly defined problems, contributed expertise and data, tested methods and embedded results in practice. By reducing image-processing time by more than 90%, they enable robust and efficient monitoring by hundreds of users across 45 projects in 15 countries, strengthening sustainable fisheries and ecosystem restoration, and improving beach management and safety. FishID’s defining innovation is the combination of automation and enduring partnerships enabling organisations to solve increasingly ambitious environmental challenges together.

The Australian Contraception and Abortion Primary Care Practitioner Support (AusCAPPS) Network aims to improve access to long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) and medical abortion across Australia. Established through an NHMRC Partnerships Project Grant and now supported by the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, this online community of practice connects GPs, nurses, pharmacists, midwives, Aboriginal health practitioners, and other registered primary care clinicians who provide LARC and medical abortion. Through peer discussion, case studies, training, and access to clinical resources and local provider information, AusCAPPS promotes best-practice service delivery to improve access to LARC and medical abortion in primary care.

Aphasia is a common and devastating communication disability with some of the poorest outcomes of any health condition. The Queensland Aphasia Research Centre (QARC) was established with philanthropic and institutional support as a partnership between The University of Queensland, STARS Hospital, community groups and people living with aphasia. Through this partnership, the centre has developed new ways of improving and measuring outcomes including an Australian-first high-dose aphasia therapy service embedded into standard hospital care; built an Aphasia Tech Hub service; and translated research into policy, funding and practice change across Queensland and nationally, transforming outcomes for people living with aphasia.

The UNSW–Flame Security International (FSI) partnership, led by Professor Guan Yeoh, has established a globally significant model of industry engagement addressing one of society’s most pressing challenges: fire resilience. Since 2018, the collaboration has combined world-leading fire science with industry-led product development to create a suite of innovative fire-protection technologies, including FSA FIRECOAT – the world’s first BAL-40 rated fire-retardant paint. The partnership has generated commercial success, strengthened Australian manufacturing, created industry-engaged education and workforce opportunities, protected homes and critical infrastructure, and established a sustainable model for translating university research into practical fire-safety solutions for communities in Australia

Professor Troy McEwan has led a landmark 12-year partnership between Victoria Police and Swinburne University of Technology, transforming family violence risk identification and management across Victoria. Combining world-leading research with frontline policing practice, the collaboration has delivered evidence-based risk assessment tools, specialist intervention frameworks and innovative data approaches now embedded across statewide police operations. The partnership has achieved significant community impact, reducing the likelihood of severe family violence among the highest-risk families by 74 per cent and almost halving subsequent reports of severe violence. It is widely recognised as a leading example of research-driven social impact and evidence-based policing.

The Iumi Tugeda Helpem Solomon Aelans Def Komuniti [ITHSADK) (You and Me Together Help Solomon Islands Deaf Community) program demonstrates the transformative power of reciprocal university–community partnerships. Co-designed by Australian Catholic University, the Catholic Education Office–Archdiocese of Honiara, and deaf and hearing staff from San Isidro Care Centre for the Deaf, the initiative empowered deaf people as educators, leaders, and agents of change. Through community-led sign language training, inclusive teacher education, and capacity building, the partnership transformed attitudes, strengthened educational inclusion, and created sustainable opportunities for participation, employment, and leadership, providing an internationally significant model of community-engaged practice.

Since 2017, STEM at Monash University has led the development of an international partnership to strengthen educational capability across Southeast Asia. The partnership connects the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organisation (SEAMEO) regional centres, universities and schools. Together, they co-design professional learning, research and curriculum initiatives that strengthen teacher capability and improve educational outcomes. Rather than transferring knowledge, the partnership built an enduring regional network in which research, practice and policy inform one another. Its impact spans curriculum reform, professional learning, international research and regional leadership, positioning Monash University as a trusted partner in educational transformation and sustainable international engagement.

UNSW’s Beyond the Switch-On collaboration is building a global solar repair ecosystem across Africa and the Pacific, addressing the growing gap between rapid off-grid solar deployment and access to repair. Working with communities, governments, industry and international organisations, the program connects local technical capability with industry practice and global policy. In Vanuatu, 141 people across eight islands have been trained, creating new repair businesses and improving access to repair services for more than 93,000 people. Evidence from Africa is influencing repairability and circularity internationally, while the new Solar Repair Lab provides an enduring platform to scale this work globally.

Monash University’s Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation (MCHRI) led an unprecedented global collaboration of 56 professional and patient organisations across all world regions to rename polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) to polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS). It’s the first comprehensive, internationally consensus-driven renaming of a major medical condition. Spanning 14 years and engaging over 22,000 patients and health professionals worldwide, the initiative was published in The Lancet and is driving formal reclassification of the condition from an ovarian condition to an endocrine condition through the World Health Organisation, while improving diagnosis and care for 170+ million women worldwide.

Belonging Beyond Borders is a peer-led engagement ecosystem developed through the African Students Outreach Program (ASOP) and African Health and Wellbeing Club (AHWC) at the University of Melbourne. Established in 2023, it connects students with peers, alumni, professionals, community organisations and the University through mentoring, leadership development, professional networking, wellbeing initiatives and community partnerships. Its distinctive model enables students to progress from participants to leaders, mentors and community builders, sustaining engagement across successive cohorts. Recognised through multiple awards, Belonging Beyond Borders demonstrates how connection before crisis can strengthen belonging, wellbeing and engagement while empowering students to shape their university communities.

For ten years, RMIT University’s College of Design and Social Context and ACMI, Australia’s national museum of screen culture, have built a partnership connecting students, graduates and emerging creators with professional practice, audiences and the creative industries. As Major University Partner, RMIT and ACMI share a commitment to student and alumni-centered engagement, and nurturing graduate pathways, connecting RMIT students with ACMI’s expertise, audiences, facilities and industry networks across screen, games, design and education. Joint initiatives, including the Audience Lab, Young Creators’ Lab, ACMI X residencies, internships and the Games Prize, build confidence, professional capability and industry pathways for diverse audiences.

“Being a Melburnian” is a student-led, university–community–city partnership that connects international students with older Melburnians through reciprocal intergenerational engagement, cultural exchange, and shared community experiences. Developed in response to social isolation, cultural adjustment challenges and limited opportunities for local connection, the program creates a welcoming “support circle” where international students can build confidence, practise conversational English, learn about life in Melbourne and develop a stronger sense of belonging, while older residents share their stories, knowledge and lived experiences and form meaningful connections with students from around the world.

Atelier South is an innovative international collaborative summer school that brings students from five architecture schools across Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia: Ara Institute of Canterbury, Otago Polytechnic, Auckland University of Technology (AUT), Unitec and Monash University, into one shared learning community. Students form mixed-institution teams, learning with and from peers, academics, communities and specialists while engaging intensively with real environmental and societal challenges in Ōtepoti Dunedin. Through immersive fieldwork, collaborative design and shared experiences, Atelier South expands students’ learning beyond their own institution, building engagement, confidence, professional networks and belonging while preparing them for increasingly collaborative architectural practice.

Since 2017, the UTS Humanitarian Scholarship Program (HSP) has evolved into a program supporting the largest cohort of students from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds at any Australian higher education institution. Going beyond financial assistance, HSP provides a multifaceted model encompassing specialised academic assistance, mentoring, career development, industry partnerships, and community connection. Designed to address the unique barriers faced by students, HSP fosters belonging, enables academic success, and creates pathways to employment and leadership. With exceptional retention, progression and employment outcomes, HSP demonstrates how a comprehensive engagement model transforms access into belonging, opportunity into achievement, and lived experience into leadership.

Over the last decade, Associate Professor Martinovic has transformed student learning through an enduring partnership between RMIT University and Corrections Victoria. More than 1,500 students across eight Victorian prisons have participated in the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program, where RMIT and incarcerated students learn together as equals. Graduates extend their learning through prison-based and community Think Tanks, applying theory and research to real-world criminal justice challenges. Through 150+ stakeholder consultations, internships and volunteering opportunities 800+ students have contributed to significant policy, practice and systems reform while developing critical thinking, empathy, professional capability and a sophisticated understanding of criminal justice.

The ATLAS platform combines professional expertise and generative AI to give students authentic, low-stakes practice of high-stakes professional conversations (GP consultations, parent–teacher meetings, pharmacy counselling, job interviews and more) before they face real experiences on placements, internships and on the job. Built with academic experts and international partners across medicine, pharmacy, nutrition, education, law and business ATLAS has facilitated over 60,000 simulated interactions with over 6,000 students from eight countries. ATLAS has enhanced student confidence, communication skills and clinical performance, while extending equitable access to professional practice opportunities for all students.

The ‘Responsible Digital Futures Hackathon’ is a work-integrated learning initiative that empowered 2,500 Business Information Systems students to become responsible digital innovators. Since 2021, The University of Queensland’s Business School has partnered with Oracle to address Australia’s most pressing societal challenges, including homelessness, climate change, or youth justice using cloud and AI technologies. Students collaborate with industry mentors before pitching their solutions to Oracle executives and Government leaders, including a Queensland Minister. Through this authentic experience, students develop the collaborative, creative and analytical skills responsible digital innovators need to create lasting public value.

Living with a communication disability like aphasia can exclude people from equitable healthcare and social engagement. Since 2012, the University of Melbourne has addressed this challenge through a unique partnership in which people with aphasia become educators, working alongside speech pathologists and health services to teach communication access skills to speech pathology students (underpinned by the Supported Conversation for Auldts with Aphasia, or SCA™, framework; Kagan et al., 2001). Through authentic practice and direct feedback from people with lived experience, more than 1,200 Master of Speech Pathology students have developed the skills, confidence and empathy to provide person-centred care.

The Monash University and Principals’ Association of Specialist Schools (PASS) Network Program (MPNP) is an innovative partnership preparing future teachers for increasingly diverse and inclusive classrooms. MPNP provides immersive specialist school placement experiences for students*, aligned with their coursework. During 2024-2026, MPNP supported 385 students, in 22 specialist schools, to gain authentic experience teaching students with disabilities alongside multidisciplinary teams. Through co-designed learning experiences, the program strengthens students’ capability, and confidence while addressing critical workforce needs in specialist and mainstream education. MPNP demonstrates how sustained partnerships deliver measurable improvements in student learning.
*Students in this program are Pre-service Teachers.

The Academy of Excellence in Financial Crime Investigation and Compliance is a pioneering, internationally recognised partnership between Griffith University and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, established to combat money laundering, terrorism financing, scams and fraud. By integrating education, research and industry expertise, the Academy strengthens the capability of financial institutions to detect, investigate and prevent financial crime. Since 2022, it has trained more than 2,000 professionals, developed new workforce pathways, and expanded its partnerships across banking, government and law enforcement. The Academy demonstrates how university-industry collaboration can protect communities and strengthen financial system integrity against a growing global threat.

For more than a decade, RMIT University and Aurecon have demonstrated the power of long-term, reciprocal industry engagement. Moving beyond traditional models of collaboration, they have co-created an enduring partnership that integrates postgraduate education, applied research and industry innovation. Through the Graduate Certificate in Design Management and the Aurecon Design Academy, academic rigour and professional practice are seamlessly integrated to develop future leaders, drive innovation and co-create knowledge. The partnership demonstrates how universities and industry can work together to create lasting value through knowledge, leadership and innovation for higher education, industry and the broader built environment sector.

Western Sydney University’s High Achieving Teachers (HAT) Program is a mutually beneficial partnership with the NSW Department of Education and the state’s Community Language Teacher network, addressing acute teacher shortages in Greater Western Sydney. Its 2020 pilot phase, co-designed with the NSW Department of Education, Community Language Schools and the University of Sydney, produced over 44 CALD teachers. Combining scholarship-funded study, LANTITE micro-credentialing and structured school placements, WSU’s current government-funded Phase 2 Expansion Pilot supports a further 91 participants toward 100 graduates by 2028.

The Western Health Alliance is redefining how universities and health services work together to create shared impact. Established in 2022 by Victoria University and Western Health, the alliance brings education, clinical practice, research and workforce planning into a single, place-based partnership. Rather than working in sequence, the partners co-design solutions, respond to emerging healthcare challenges and build capability together. In the past 12 months, the alliance has supported more than 1,000 student placements, created 273 graduate and casual employment pathways, and accelerated research translation and multidisciplinary learning, delivering lasting benefits for both organisations and the communities they serve.

The partnership between Western Sydney University and Harbison advances evidence informed psychosocial care for older people living in residential aged care including those with dementia and complex needs. Through co designed, practice based research, the partnership has embedded structured, meaningful engagement activities, and developed an evidence-base of benefits that enables widened participation and adoption. Drawing on clinical psychology, gerontology, and implementation science, the program has generated sustainable changes in everyday care routines, strengthened organisational capability, and produced transferrable models for other aged care providers. The initiative demonstrates how long term, reciprocal university–industry partnerships can drive innovation and excellence.

Professor Zsolt Balogh has transformed the global understanding of catastrophic injury by leading the identification and treatment of polytrauma as a distinct disease.
Through sustained collaboration across the University of Newcastle, John Hunter Hospital, HMRI, trauma registries, professional societies and international partners, Professor Balogh has created the shared definition, evidence base and systems to identify and improve outcomes for these patients.
His leadership has embedded polytrauma in registries, trauma verification, research and education, while opening new pathways and frontiers for policy, funding and lifelong care.
Professor Balogh is a globally significant engagement leader who turns research into coordinated action and lasting benefit to people’s lives.

Under Claire Stokes’ leadership, the Health Placement Support Hub transformed engagement between Griffith University, health services, government and education partners to address critical workforce and community health challenges. Claire led the co-design, partnership development and system-wide engagement that strengthened clinical placement pathways, enabled place-based service innovation and built sustained collaborations beyond traditional university-industry engagement.

Outcomes include the Logan Healthcare Centre and Griffith’s role in establishing the Northern NSW Academic Health Alliance (NAHA). Her leadership shows how sustained engagement converts placement challenges into practical health service partnerships, expanded student learning opportunities and scalable models such as Logan Healthcare Centre and NAHA.

Through exceptional leadership, Professor Adriana Vergés has shifted academic environmental efforts toward practical solutions for regenerating marine ecosystems. As key to her achievements, she has built enduring partnerships across Indigenous communities, government, industry and conservation organisations, creating a powerful model for collaborative environmental action. Her work has transformed marine restoration from a specialist scientific activity into a participatory movement that empowers communities to lead, contribute to and benefit from ecosystem recovery. By fostering shared ownership, building capability and inspiring stewardship, Adriana has generated lasting environmental, cultural and social outcomes and established a benchmark for engagement-led conservation nationally and internationally.

Outstanding engagement leadership is measured not by the programs delivered, but by the people empowered to continue them. Dr Frazer Thorpe has transformed research excellence into community capability by building enduring partnerships between universities, schools, museums, industry and communities. As founding Education and Engagement Manager for the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plants for Space, he has inspired researchers to become community leaders, teachers to become STEM champions and students to imagine new futures in science. His leadership has created a sustainable national model for engagement that continues to strengthen communities well beyond individual projects.