Head's report: Welcoming our alumni community

I welcome you to the second edition of the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences Alumni Association Newsletter. This edition outlines recent activities and developments and provides a forum for past members to catch up and share their experiences.

We are pleased to invite you to the launch of our Ethics and Well-being Hub. This research Hub is lead by Associate Professor Brock Bastian and has the capacity to address some truly significant social issues – such as how to combat the current loneliness epidemic, how to respond to the current political divisions emerging within societies across the world, and how to understand the prevalence of mental illness within a broader socio-cultural context. We would like to see as many of our alumni there as possible. Register online to join us on Tuesday 23 July.

Our highly successful May PsychTalks lectures explored the topics of secrecy and behavior chance. You can find the recordings from these on our YouTube page.

We are also delighted to announce our partnership with SANE Australia’s Anne Deveson Research Centre (ADRC). The partnership will enable the ADRC’s flagship research project, the National Stigma Report Card, which aims to affect meaningful and positive change for people with lived experience of complex mental illness. This initiative is unparalleled in Australian stigma research.

I also wish to extend my warm congratulations to those students and alumni recognised at the 2019 Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences Awards night. Held at the Woodward Conference Centre, these awards celebrate the many achievements of our students. Highlights include a memorable address by Professor Melanie Wakefield, the third awarding of the Molloy Medal – in the presence of many members of the Molloy family – to Fiore D’Aprano, and the inaugural presentation of the Elgin Prize, for the top graduating MPsych (Clinical) student, to Ashley Ruyg.

Awards Night: Featuring our generous Award sponsors John Molloy and Peter Molloy pictured here with Fiore D’Aprano’s parents who received the Molloy Medal on her behalf.

We recently held a highly successful Alumni Career Roundtables. This event provided undergraduate students with the opportunity to speak directly with some of the School's most respected alumni, and to ask questions about their varied career journeys. We are going to run this event annually and would be very keen to hear from any alumni who wish to contribute to events such as this in the future.

Alumni Career Roundtables

Our highly engaging PsychTalks series has a huge program outlined for 2019. So far this year, we have seen an engaging panel session on eating disorders with our partner The Butterfly Foundation, and held a sold out second talk on the hype around the mindfulness movement last week (keep an eye out for the recording from this). We will also be hosting PsychTalks on Indigenous storytelling and the cosmos, mental health stigma in regional towns, and as part of the MDHS Reunion Weekend we will host a panel on the mental health of health practitioners. We hope you can join us at all of these events. Please subscribe to our monthly newsletter to be the first to find out about these events.

Dr Scott Griffiths speaking at our PsychTalks event on eating disorders.

As always, thank you for your ongoing support of the School. We look forward to continuing to grow our relationship with you as highly valued members of our School’s community.

Professor Sarah Wilson
Head, Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences