Director's Message
Published in the RSAA Lunations
Vol1 Issue28 1–31 May 2022
First, an official welcome to our new School Manager, Mat Malzacher. Mat will be known to some of you from his former role as Deputy Finance Manager for the College of Science or from the couple of months he spent seconded to RSAA helping with the AITC’s finances. He brings a great deal of expertise on the ANU financial systems and has a good head-start on understanding the specific quirks of our School. But a School Manager's role is very broad, so there are a lot of other things for Mat to learn - please gently assist him as he seeks to familiarise himself with all the aspects of the job! He plans to get to know everyone at RSAA by meeting with the various groups of staff and students over the next few weeks, both at Stromlo and Siding Spring.
The process of filling the two vacant faculty positions at RSAA is continuing, albeit with some delays imposed by the pandemic. When all five shortlisted candidates have visited Stromlo, and you have had a chance to hear their seminars (live or recorded) and to meet them in person, you (either individually or as part of a group) are encouraged to provide feedback on the candidates by sending me an email with your comments. This will be passed on to the selection panel before they complete their deliberations (and can be anonymised if you wish). Please remember, however, that all information on the candidates should remain confidential within the School.
More people are travelling again, which is good to see. Like others, I’m looking forward to my first international trip in over two years (it will be to the June ESO Council meeting in London). However we have to be aware and careful of the additional risks and uncertainties caused by the ongoing pandemic and the disruption it brings to travel. So please use and review the Work Health Safety risk assessment templates the School has provided for domestic and international travel, and make sure you have appropriate measures in place for responding to potential delays, cancellations or lockdowns.
The RSAA School Executive has been concerned about greater financial pressures on students at RSAA from the increasing cost of living in Canberra. To help alleviate those pressures, we have therefore decided to increase the School’s top-up scholarships for all HDR students by $2000 per year, effective as soon as we can implement this change. We also plan to change the relocation scholarships for new domestic students to a $2000 grant, and for new international students to a $3000 grant. We hope these changes will make life easier for our existing students and enhance RSAA’s competitiveness for new students from Australia and overseas.
May the fourth be with you!
Matthew Colless
