Lisa Jackson Pulver is the new DVC Indigenous Strategy and Services at the University of Sydney. She joins from Western Sydney U.  UniSydney says Professor Jackson Pulver is the first known Indigenous Australian to receive a PhD in medicine from the university.

Joe Trapani is the inaugural head of the Centre for Cancer Immunotherapy, a collaboration of the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre alliance, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and the University of Melbourne. Professor Trapani has led the cancer immunology and immunotherapy at Peter Maccallum for 18 years.

Deakin DVC E, Beverly Oliver will stand-down from her full-time appointment at year end, after six years. She will continue to work on short-term projects at Deakin U.

The Royal Society of Victoria has chosen joint winners for this year’s Phillip Law postdoctoral award. Nishar Hameed is at the smart polymers and composites research group at Swinburne U. Sumeet Walla works on nanoelectronics at RMIT.  Dreams beyond avarice the awards will not fulfill – the prize is $1500 each.

The NSW history publishing prizes are announced:

Australian history: Christina Twomey (Monash U). The battle within: POWs in postwar Australia (New South Publishing)

General history: Sean Scalmer (UniMelbourne). On the Stump: Campaign Oratory and Democracy in the United States, Britain, and Australia (Temple University Press)

Community and regional history: Paul Irish (Coast History and Heritage). Hidden in plain view: The Aboriginal People of coastal Sydney

Young people: Simon Mitchell (author). The fighting stingrays (Penguin)

Digital history: Warwick Thornton and Brendan Fletcher (filmmakers). We don’t need a map (Barefoot Communications)