Research Symposia

Doctoral Forum 2008

The Centre for International Health Doctoral Forum was held on 3rd July 2008. It was a well attended day with excellent student and staff presentations focusing on diverse areas of international and global health. Each of the presenters had 15 minutes to present and 5 minutes of discussion time.

A detailed program is available here.

Presentations were made by academic staff from CIH, PhD students, Masters by Research and Masters by Coursework students. Those with ppt slides available are listed below (click on presentation titles to access slides):

• Academic Staff
• Associate Professor Dawn Bessarab - Yarning – as an Indigenous research tool
• Dr Jianghong Li - Reasons for initiating drug use in adolescents in Southwest China

• PhD Students
• Gwen Brookes - To Bali and back: Field research in Bali and Perth
• Hafiz Chowdhury - Neonatal deaths in a rural area of Bangladesh: An assessment of causes, predictors and health care seeking using verbal autopsy
• Jo Durham - Evaluating the contribution of Humanitarian mine action in post conflict rehabilitation and reconstruction
• Majid Meshkini - A comparison of overall health between Asian and Australians from European backgrounds: A Western Australian study of diet and metabolic syndrome risk factors
• Dr Nicole Mohajer - Adolescent empowerment programmes in two vulnerable populations: a cross-cultural study in rural Australia and rural India
• Dr Barbara Nattabi - Quantitative and qualitative inquiry into factors affecting fertility desires and intentions of HIV-positive men and women in Post-conflict Northern Uganda
• Pam O'Connor - Stigma and discrimination of women living with HIV/AIDS: perceptions and experiences of women in Mumbai, India
• Andreia Schineanu - Intimate partner violence in India
• Shaouli Shahid - Rural-urban differences in Aboriginal Australian perspectives on cancer

• Masters by Research Students
• Dylan Ahmad - Complications of image guided liver interventions

• Masters by Coursework Students
• Tania Gavidia - Health perceptions of child waste pickers in El Salvador
• Natalia Talikowski - Assessing the knowledge, attitudes and experiences of Myanmar youth in regards to HIV/STI
• John Walkingshaw - STI and AIDS Education in Northwest China

There were five winners from the Forum.

The PhD Candidacy Phase Award was presented to Dr Barbara Nattabi for the presentation of her candidacy entitled Quantitative and qualitative inquiry into factors affecting fertility desires and intentions of HIV-positive men and women in post-conflict Northern Uganda.

The PhD Data Collection & Analysis Award was presented to Andreia Schineau for presentation of her research entitled Intimate partner violence in India & Gwen Brookes for presentation of her research entitled To Bali and back: Field research in Bali and Perth.

The PhD Thesis Write-up Phase Award was presented to Pam O’Connor for presentation of her research entitled Stigma and discrimination of women living with HIV/AIDS: perceptions and experiences of women in Mumbai, India.

The Master's Student Presentation Award was presented to John Walkingshaw for presentation of his research entitled STI and AIDS Education in Northwest China.

Research Colloqium 2006

The Centre for International Health held their 2006 Research Colloquium from 2nd-3rd July. The 2-day Colloquium was designed to promote networking opportunities for the Centre’s Doctoral students and provide an opportunity to formally present their research. There were also some staff presentations on subjects of interest. Students who presented travelled from as far as Guam, Papua New Guinea and the Eastern States.

For those who were unable to attend the colloquium, the video link is available from ILectures. NB: To view the video and automated PowerPoint together please select Quicktime.
A detailed program is available here.

The Best Oral Presentation Award was presented to Pam O’Connor for the presentation of her research entitled Stigma and discrimination of women living with HIV/AIDS: Perceptions and experiences of women in Mumbai, India.

The Significant Research Award was presented to Dr Hafiz Chowdhury for the most significant work towards understanding and addressing health disadvantage for his research on Characteristics of neonatal deaths & comparison of methods for assigning cause: Use of verbal autopsy in Bangladesh.

Research from three other students was highly commended:

• Geraldine Maibani-Michie - for significant work towards understanding and addressing health disadvantage through the presentation of her research entitled The role of participation and social capital in program sustainability for TB and HIV prevention and care through holistic health promotion
• Shaouli Shahid - honourable mention for a commendable oral presentation of her research entitled Improving cancer-related outcomes in Indigenous Australians
• Michael Wright - honourable mention for a commendable oral presentation of his research entitled Interrogating knowledge: Exploring Indigenous research methods for the construction of knowledge

Centre's Inaugural Research Symposium

On October 3rd, 2003 the Centre's Inaugural Research Symposium was held here at the Bentley Curtin Campus. Over 40 people attended the symposium, including doctoral students, graduated students, and interested members of staff and the general public. Attendees came from as far afield as Guam and South Australia!

The symposium was opened with an address by the Executive Dean, Professor Charles Watson, highlighting the importance of research and the excellent achievements of the Centre during the time since its inception.

Presentations were made by 5 doctoral students detailing their current research:

• Sam Burrow: Gender approach to sexual health: Indigenous perspectives
• Helen Fairnie: Risk factors for occupational injury and disease among veterinarians
• Andreia Pillai: Intimate partner violence and its effect on the mental health and health seeking behaviour of Indian women
• Rosemary Saunders: International nursing students' clinical practice experiences in Australia
• Fredrik Welander: Prevention of alcohol related harm in the workplace: obstacles and facilitators for successful implementation

Attendees were also treated to excellent guest speaker presentations by members of staff and graduated students:

• Professor Aileen Plant: SARS: The research challenges
• Associate Professor Steve Allsop: Drug Law Reform in WA: Fiddling while Rome burns, or coherent strategy?
• Luke Talikowski: HIV research in Myanmar

Many thanks go to Professor Joan Cole for undertaking the very difficult task of judging the student presentations.

The award for the Best Student Presentation went to Andreia Pillai, which included a voucher for the Curtin Bookshop.

Certificates of participation were presented to all the doctoral students.

The Director of the Centre, Associate Professor Paola Ferroni, made the closing remarks, thanking all the participants for their presentations and the audience for making the event such a success.