Past Award Winners
VICE-CHANCELLOR’S EQUITY AND DIVERSITY AWARDS 2009
Winner: UQ Manali Medical Aid Project
The Manali Medical Aid Project consists of seven industrious UQ medical students working with a local hospital to bring healthcare to an impoverished North Indian community.
Since its inception in 2007, the project has raised more than $30,000 for the area’s Lady Willingdon Hospital and its associated remote clinics by obtaining sponsorship and support from passionate donors in Brisbane and abroad.
Initiatives funded by the projects range in cost from $10 to $9000 and include health camps in Nepalese shantytowns, urgent surgical interventions and equipment for intensive care.
In addition to hospital aid, the project has assisted in the successful vaccination of most school children in the Manali district and through the project’s “Poor Patient’s trust” has ensured a number of local orphanages have all their healthcare needs met through the sponsors’ support.
Runner-Up: Mr Alan Huynh
Alan Huynh is a University of Queensland medical student who has been recognised for his long-standing support of young people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
A recent recipient of the Outstanding Young Achiever Queensland Multicultural Award and Inaugural Young People’s Human Rights Medal, Mr Huynh is passionate about his community service and volunteer work.
Mr Huynh was elected Youth Chair of the Federation of Ethnic Communities Council Australia and is the Vice-chair (Youth) of the Ethnic Communities Council Queensland.
In 2008, he led a team of volunteers to develop the Projects for Peace – a youth leadership camp for 30 young refugee students from Milpera State High School, staying at International House on UQ’s St Lucia Campus.
He has also volunteered as a tutor/mentor for the Queensland Program of Assistance of Survivors of Torture and Trauma.
In addition to tackling the third year of his medical degree, Mr Huynh has started to plan a new international training initiative encouraging university students to be globally active citizens.
Part of raising awareness of the project, which has followers throughout Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Europe, has been the establishment of the project’s website which allows hospital staff to interact with sponsors, outlining urgent medical needs for the area.
Highly Commended: UQ-United Nations Millennium Development Goals Project
The UQ-United Nations Millennium Development Goals Project is leading the way among Australasian medical schools.
The joint initiative between the UQ School of Medicine and the UQ Medical Society was formed to highlight among students the importance of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (UNMDG), which were set in 2000 to achieve large-scale improvements for the lives of many people around the world.
The project links in with UQ’s Universitas 21 partners in an international venture to boost training in and awareness of global health among health sciences students worldwide.
It brings Australian Indigenous health and developing world health to the attention of all students of the UQ Medical Program through four components: curriculum, website, extra-curricular activities and awareness.
VICE-CHANCELLOR’S EQUITY AND DIVERSITY ALUMNI AWARD 2009
Winner: Dr Deborah Setterlund
Dr Deborah Setterlund has spent the past 25 years as a pivotal member of UQ’s School of Social Work and Human Services, now appointed as honorary Senior Lecturer.
Upon retiring from her full-time involvement at UQ, Dr Setterlund furthered her volunteer and social work in the Nepal Australia Friendship Association (NAFA) – an organisation of around 150 Brisbane-based volunteers, established in 1989.
With many years lecturing experience, as well as a Bachelor of Social Studies, Masters, and PhD in social work, Dr Setterlund is one of NAFA’s most valuable and qualified members.
Dr Setterlund is a NAFA executive member and spends at least three months of the year in Nepal focusing on community development.
Some of the NAFA-supported projects include sponsorship of a remote cataract eye surgery clinic each year, a health clinic and school in the remote village of Tawal and two childcare centres in Pokhara that enable low-caste parents to seek employment.
Dr Setterlund also supports NAFA’s involvement in the Kathmandu-based organisation Prisoners Assistance Nepal (PA Nepal), which cares for about 80 children whose parents are either in jail, deceased or went missing in the 10-year armed conflict that ended in 2007.
In 2008, Dr Setterlund continued her relationship with UQ taking two final-year undergraduate social work students to Nepal to undertake NAFA work as part of their course requirements. The students assisted with a project called FEAT – Further Education and Training for Youth, which aims to assist disadvantaged young people in Nepal to obtain their first job.
Dr Setterlund has helped to guide NAFA in using a community development approach wherever possible. For example encouraging NAFA to support projects such as those which empower women through adult literacy programs and income generation projects such as distributing goats to poor families in rural villages.
Seeing people in Nepal achieve a better future as a result of NAFA’s projects and being able to play a part in that process is the motivating force for Dr Setterlund’s volunteer work in Nepal.
