Monash Magazine

Welcome to the first issue of MONASH magazine; an exciting communications initiative aimed at exhibiting the science we are pursuing and the knowledge we are building across the world. Monash University is named after an Australian engineer and soldier, Sir John Monash, a great mind who helped to shape Australia as a modern nation at the beginning of the 20th century. We are proud to be emulating his life’s work, contributing constructively to the future with knowledge that we accrue and share through research and education. Through this magazine we are showing, with a modicum of pride, our advanced global capabilities in research and education, and the ‘futurebuilding’ that we are undertaking with our many international partners. In just over 50 years, Monash has become the largest university in Australia, with a global footprint matched by few other higher education institutions. Our six Australian campuses are complemented by a strong, and expanding, international presence and collaborations. This includes campuses in Malaysia and South Africa, an education and research centre in Italy, a joint research academy (with the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay) in Mumbai, India, and the Southeast University, Monash University Joint Research Graduate School (Suzhou, China). You can read about our newly cemented alliance with the University of Warwick on page 11, a world first in how universities may operate in the future. Our status as a global university, of course, is based on more than a bricks-and-mortar presence. We have had, and continue to have, a positive influence on people’s lives well beyond Australian shores. As early as the 1960s, when our university was still in its infancy, Monash researchers were pioneering areas as diverse as vehicle safety and human fertility, particularly in-vitro fertilisation. More recently, our people have made important advances internationally in lessening the impact of diseases such as malaria and influenza, as well as crucial breakthroughs that have added significantly to the world’s understanding of stem cell science and cancer. This magazine is a reflection of our commitment to research that makes a difference. Our first issue offers a glimpse at the wonderful diversity of our researchers’ interests and specialties – from ancient rock art and the insight it offers into early human cognition, to tropical medicine; the world’s endangered big cats, to landmark research into the use of aspirin. All research is a journey of discovery and I take pleasure in inviting you to join us on these extraordinary travels. - Ed Byrne, Vice-chancellor and President of Monash University