Dean's Report

New name for the Centre of Positive Psychology

One of the recommendations of the 2020 review of the Centre for Positive Psychology (CPP) was that the Centre be renamed to better reflect its research agenda. As of today, the CPP will be known as the Centre for Wellbeing Science, a name chosen to acknowledge that wellbeing science is at the heart of all the work undertaken by the CPP. Of course, multiple disciplines are involved in the study of wellbeing and MGSE sees this as a significant opportunity for greater collaboration between academics across the University, with the potential for the development of interdisciplinary projects in this important area. My thanks to the Director of the Centre for Wellbeing Science, Professor Lindsay Oades, for overseeing this transition and I encourage you to contact Lindsay if you would like to learn more about the strategic priorities of the Centre.

Pandemic Reset Program

Next week the proposed Phase 2 of the Pandemic Reset program will be released for consultation. This will include divisional change plans and professional services change plans linked to the overall service redesign. The Pandemic Reset Program website will host all divisional change plans, proposed organisational charts and position descriptions, while the MGSE intranet will host additional MGSE-specific information. We will be holding an MGSE All Staff webinar on Friday 26 March at 10 am to further discuss the Change Plan and answer your questions, and I encourage you all to attend. A zoom calendar invitation will be sent shortly.

QS World University Rankings by Subject 2021

While the importance of rankings remains a perennial discussion for universities across the world it is still gratifying to do well. I was delighted to see that MGSE is number one for education in Australia in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2021 (an honour we shared with Monash in 2020) and number 14 in the world. This is a great result and a tribute to you all, especially so given that these rankings occurred during a pandemic with all the subsequent complexities of remote teaching and learning.

MGSE Footy Tipping

I’m pleased that this year we will continue our tradition of the MGSE Footy Tipping competition. Many thanks to James Vassilopoulos for his excellent management over the years, which will now be handled by the extremely capable Stephanie Watson. You can join the competition or alternately visit www.footytips.com.au and click the red Play Now button where you will be prompted to login or create an account. You will then be able search for the competition MGSE 2021. You may like to invite family, friends or anyone in the broader community to join in the fun - it looks like we will actually get to watch some games in person this year!

University's Leadership Conference

The University’s Leadership Conference, which was postponed due to the recent COVID-19 lockdown, has been rescheduled for this Thursday and Friday. It has been a huge year for us all at the University so it will be an important opportunity to reflect on the lessons learned from 2020 but also a chance to focus on the future of delivering the Advancing Melbourne strategy. I look forward to reporting the outcomes of the conference to you in my next report.

Jim