Apr
2
2026
Health services start-up Five Good Friends offers a wide range of technology-enabled in-home services for elderly and less-well Australians, while providing a range of flexible and part-time employment for carers. Founded in 2016 and catering for an increasingly ageing and unwell Australian population, the start-up’s digital platforms provide instant information on in-home care visits and …read more
Mar
6
2026
Australia’s higher education sector is increasingly filled with talented and driven women: managing sprawling faculties, leading research across the span of disciplines, and taking on the job of running entire institutions. For her part, Nicola Phillips is just weeks into the top job at the newly-formed Adelaide University – a massive institution likely to soon …read more
Feb
25
2026
Whole-body three-dimensional scanners have been used to photograph all the sun-affected skin of nearly 10,000 volunteers for a revolutionary research study which has so far found 500 potentially fatal melanomas, along with many other less dangerous skin cancers. The Australian Centre of Excellence in Melanoma Imaging and Diagnosis (ACEMID) has boosted skin-cancer screening research with …read more
Feb
25
2026
An Australian program designed to stop teenagers vaping has proved to be one of the few successful anti-vaping interventions in the world. A research paper published earlier this year in the Lancet Public Health journal found students in a trial were 65 per cent less likely to vape in the year after they went through …read more
Feb
25
2026
Black soldier flies can be used to address two of Australia’s largest environmental problems: food waste and plastics pollution. Australia produces 7.6 million tonnes of food waste annually, and 84 per cent of the nation’s plastic waste ends up in landfill every year. Research now underway at Southern Cross University is delving into the many …read more
Feb
25
2026
Boxing, creative writing and storytelling has proven to be a successful mix for women traumatised by domestic violence or childhood sexual abuse. The Left Write Hook program has been shown to reduce depression, stress, and post-traumatic stress disorder and leave participants feeling strong with a sense of agency and belonging, says the charity founder, University …read more
Feb
25
2026
A groundbreaking chlamydia vaccine to fight the decline of koala populations offers hope for a struggling species. Now listed as endangered in eastern Australia, koalas are beset by disease and habitat destruction and are clinging on for survival in many regions. With about half the koala population infected with chlamydia in Queensland and NSW, the …read more
Feb
25
2026
A program designed to encourage high school students from long-disadvantaged backgrounds to consider taking a university degree has logged large year-on-year growth. Teenagers from First Nations, first-in-family and low socio-economic families have been historically less likely to seek a professional credential at university. The Australian Catholic University’s Step Up Into Teaching program fosters their participation …read more
Feb
25
2026
Monash University students were delighted when jailed Iranian wildlife conservation scientist Niloufar Bayani was temporarily set free in 2023, before her permanent release some months later. They had been working on a campaign for Bayani’s freedom for months, and one student had been quietly told about the scientist’s impending release before the news was made …read more
Feb
25
2026
Ensuring the thoughts and preferences of autistic people are at the heart of every policy and research decision is a central tenet at La Trobe University’s Olga Tennyson Autism Research Centre. The first Australian research centre dedicated to autism, OTARC opened in 2008, and there has always been an unwavering focus on establishing what the …read more