July 23, 2014

Exploring opportunities for positive change

More than 150 local community members, businesses, industry representatives and not-for-profits will join attend a community engagement symposium on 24 July at UOW to hear from experts their fields.

A unique opportunity to bring the community together with researchers, the inaugural Community Engagement Symposium, ‘Engage Today/Transform Tomorrow’, will kick-start a new forum to encourage community collaboration.

UOW Community Engagement Manager, Tara Loty, said she was overwhelmed by the level of response to the symposium.

“Seventy per cent of our registrants are community members and local businesses, as well as local, state and federal government employees,” Ms Loty said.

The symposium will also aim to engage those who won’t be in attendance on the day.

“We want this event to be accessible to everyone, regardless of their physical location- our community includes locations across the state and of course internationally via UOW Dubai. Through social media such as Twitter, people from our communities will be able to follow and contribute to the conversation,” Ms Loty added.

UOW keynote speakers include: Journalism lecturers Shawn Burns and Dr Siobhan McHugh; health professionals Associate Professor Karen Charlton and Dr Karen Walton; social transformation researcher Dr Craig Lundy; and researcher Professor Ian Buchanan.

Guest keynote speakers include: Professor Michael Cuthill, an expert in community-based research with a focus on engagement with regional areas for policy development who is based at the University of Southern Queensland; Shamal Dass, Director of Philanthropic services at private wealth management firm JBWere, an expert on the subject of creating shared value, the evolution of capitalism and corporate behaviour; Kimberley Abbott, founder and CEO of ROKA.

The symposium will also provide networking, educational and skill building opportunities through a variety of presentations and workshops.

More information and an event program can be found online: uow.edu.au/about/community/Symposium

Join the conversation on Twitter via #engageuow and follow @communityuow.

Media contact: Jacqueline Wales, Media & PR Officer, +61 2 4221 4582, + 61 427 225 657 or jwales@uow.edu.au.