The importance of enterprise and being a ‘Smart State’

Ellume founder’s pandemic bet pays off as Biden orders 8m COVID kits
Jacob Greber, United States Correspondent, Financial Review

Ellume co-founder and the Biden administration’s pick to make 8.5 million almost-immediate home COVID-19 tests, Sean Parsons, has lamented Canberra’s lack of interest in his company’s technology and a dearth of US-style co-operation between industry, academia and the military.

“That interaction isn’t the same here in Australia,” Dr Parsons said in an interview on Tuesday hours after the White House announced a $US230 million ($302 million) Pentagon deal to buy Ellume’s smartphone-based diagnostic kits.

“It’s often how new technologies are supported in the early years by America and it feels like that’s not the case here,” the Brisbane-based chief executive said.

The Ellume deal made news on Monday (Tuesday AEDT) across the US, where businesses, consumers and governments are screaming out for technology-based solutions to the country’s raging pandemic, which claimed another 1864 lives on Monday and produced 113,000 new cases.

Read the full article in the Financial Review here – Ellume founder’s pandemic bet pays off as Biden orders 8m COVID kits

“My understanding of Peter’s philosophy is that by investing in science infrastructure – the smart state infrastructure – you’d foster the smart ideas or people with capacity and from that would come baby companies that would grow up to be world companies.

Dr sean parsons discussing how former premier peter beattie championed queensland’s smart state infrastructure.

“It’s fair to say without that kind of investment we wouldn’t have access to the kind of talent we have at Ellume. Peter was ahead of his time.”

Dr sean parsons

In today’s globalised world, leadership and communication skills are not only desired, but increasingly required by employers. Workshops at the conference will give students the tools to become leaders of their communities and identify which communication strategies work most effectively for them.

Throughout the conference, students will be involved in a number of exercises that aim to challenge them to understand their own beliefs and motivations. Goal-setting activities and self-reflection will encourage students to think introspectively and realise areas in which they can improve as global citizens.

Presentations from community leaders in Western Australia will inspire Futures attendees to think outside of their comfort zone and take on a challenge to improve a social issue that resonates with them. A Politicians Panel will interview State and Federal politicians to find out how they are addressing these societal problems.

While Futures promotes attendees to think big, action on a global scale starts at a grassroots, community level. With a social issue in mind, the conference will focus on how students are able to become more involved in community-based leadership.

The Fogarty Futures Leadership Conference will be held from 29 September to 2 October 2020, for Year 10 & 11 students. The conference combines exciting workshops with incredible speakers, endeavouring to inspire WA’s youth to be leaders in their communities.

To apply, visit https://fogartyfutures.org/apply/

Email: admin@fogartyfutures.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/futuresconference
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fogartyfutures/

Charlie Singleton
2018 Futures attendee – Methodist Ladies’ College, Year 11
“The conference was a really great experience which helped me to refine my leadership skills and future goals. It was a unique opportunity to meet a group of young people who could inspire each other with their diverse perspectives.”

Eva Marsh
2017 Futures attendee – Presbyterian Ladies College, Year 11
“Futures was a great way to meet and get to know, not only other amazing people my age from all different schools and backgrounds with different goals in life, but also older UWA students who had amazing advice to give. I found the experience really valuable in helping me to discover my purpose and felt that all of the activities really flowed well into this common goal.”

The Fogarty Foundation and McKinsey & Company have a strong partnership that supports the execution and impact of the Fogarty EDvance program. McKinsey & Co have recently published an in-depth case study analysing the program.

The case study shares the lessons we have learned on school transformation by working with schools throughout Western Australia since 2012. In particular, the case study clearly outlines the relationship between organisational health and school performance – with evidence to suggest a direct link. 

The article can be downloaded here and can also be accessed through the McKinsey & Co website.

Congratulations and welcome to all Cohort 7 schools who will commence the Fogarty EDvance School Improvement Program in February this year. School leadership teams from both primary and secondary, regional and metro and public and Catholic schools will come together in Perth for their first few workshops of the 3 year school improvement journey.

School	Principal	Location
Bluff Point Primary School	Celine Bellve	Bluff Point, Geraldton region
Busselton Senior High School	Dainon Coiuzic	Busselton
Cassia Primary School	Narelle Ward	South Hedland
Como Secondary College	Digby Mercer	Como
Darkan Primary School	Eloisa Goss	Darkan, Wheatbelt region
Endeavour Schools	Chris Burgess & Jayne Gorbould	Mandurah
Greenbushes Primary School	Kylie Loney	Greenbushes
Lakelands Primary School	Bradden Mitchell	Lakelands
Mullewa District High School	Nicki Patterson	Mullewa, Geraldton region
Newman Senior High School	Carolyn Cook	Newman
Nollamara Primary School	Bradley Trpchev	Nollamara
Sacred Heart Primary School	Steve Gibbs	Thornlie
Swan View Senior High School	George Sekulla	Swan View
Xavier Catholic School	Travis Bienkowski	Hilbert

Thank you to all of those in the FED Network for your assistance and support during the recruitment drive for Cohort 7. We are really excited to see where these school leaders take their schools in the next 3 years!

Please contact Georgie Wynne at georgie.wynne@fogartyedvance.au if you have any questions about Cohort 7.

The Fogarty Foundation is proud to welcome the 2019 UWA Fogarty Scholars to the program.

The UWA Fogarty Scholarship Program, a joint investment between the Fogarty Foundation and the University of Western Australia, is one of Australia’s premier programs, offering a generous scholarship for the entirety of an undergraduate degree, including honours and a further contribution towards postgraduate studies. 

This year, 10 new scholarships were awarded to the State’s highest-achieving students. Scholars are selected based on academic excellence and outstanding achievements in leadership, community involvement, the arts or sport. 

This years scholars are Benjamin Caulfield (Perth Modern School), Chelsea Francis (Methodist Ladies College), Elsa Fuentes-Hare (Melville Senior High), Eva Marsh (Presbyterian Ladies College), Caleb McKenna (Warwick Senior High School), Charlotte Owens (Methodist Ladies College), Henry Pemberton (Christ Church Grammar School), Pooja Ramesh (Perth Modern School), Racheline Tantular (Perth Modern School), and Zeke Tinley (Bunbury Senior High School).

The new scholars join a growing cohort of 148 Fogarty Scholars and Alumni, who continue to achieve outstanding results in academics, entrepreneurship’s and social endeavours. Many Fogarty Scholars have gone on to receive further scholarships including 5 Rhodes Scholars, 2 Sir John Monash Scholars, 2 Fullbright Scholars and 1 Westpac Future Leaders scholar. They have also gone on to create successful initiatives such as Bloom Lab, WASTV, Futuristic, Teach Learn Grow and Bibliotech. 

Annie Fogarty has been announced as the 2020 West Australian of the Year for her exceptional work in education advocacy.

Annie founded the Fogarty Foundation in 2000 to help advance education, support young people to reach their full potential and build stronger communities.

Under Annie’s leadership, the Foundation identifies areas of need, supports partner organisations with philanthropic funds, connections and knowledge, and develops initiatives that deliver educational opportunities, inspire community leadership and enrich lives.

Mrs Fogarty is also involved with several boards and committees to help foster innovation and creativity in young people, and is committed to ensuring excellent education and learning for all.

Each year, the Australian of the Year awards celebrate the achievements and contributions of eminent Australians by profiling leading citizens who are role models for us all.

Also receiving the prestigious award are fellow West Australians Professor John Newnham AM, a world-leading authority in modern obstetrics; Yarlalu Thomas, a medical student and Precision Public Health Fellow in genetic and rare diseases; and science educator (and Fogarty EDfutures Catalyst) Suzy Urbaniak.

Annie will join award recipients from all over Australia for the national awards ceremony at the National Arboretum in Canberra on 25 January 2020 – the 60th anniversary of the awards.

Congratulations Annie!!

Como resident Rebecca Higgie has been announced the winner of the inaugural Fogarty Literary Award for her manuscript The History of Mischief. The Fogarty Literary Award is a biennial prize awarded to an unpublished manuscript by a Western Australian author aged between 18 and 35 for a work of fiction, narrative non-fiction or young adult fiction. Higgie won a $20,000 cash prize from the Fogarty Foundation and secured a publishing contract with Fremantle Press.

Higgie said she’d been working on her winning manuscript on and off for twelve years during which time she completed a BA with honours, was awarded a PhD, taught at Curtin University, did a post-doctorate in London, got married and fell pregnant.

Higgie said The History of Mischief is about the many things we do to try to escape grief, and the stories we tell in order to protect ourselves and those we love. In her novel for younger teens, Jessie and Kay lose their parents in a car accident and, unable to stand the memories in their family home, move to their grandmother’s house in Guildford. There they find a mysterious book hidden beneath the floorboards – a book of magical stories that inspires younger sister Jessie to random acts of mischief.

When announcing the first winner of the biennial award, Executive Chairperson of the Fogarty Foundation, Annie Fogarty AM, said Rebecca’s manuscript was exactly the type of book she herself would have been drawn to as a young reader. She said, ‘We are absolutely delighted by the response to the award and the calibre of the entries we received. We believe Rebecca’s originality, her tenacity, and her love of libraries and reading means she’ll make a wonderful literary leader. We hope her story will inspire other young Western Australian authors to maintain faith in themselves and their writing so that they too can tell their stories.’

For more information about the Fogarty Literary Award and Rebecca Higgie’s winning manuscript The History of Mischief, see Fremantle Press.

The Fogarty Foundation was proud to recently launch the Report Card for Cohort 3 of Fogarty EDvance, a 3-year whole school improvement program for schools in disadvantaged communities in Western Australia. The EDvance program works to support schools in closing the educational gap for students in lower socio-economic communities.

Distinguished members of Parliament, school leaders, teachers, program partners, sponsors, mentors, program stakeholders and members of parliament joined the EDvance team to celebrate the exceptional achievements of the Cohort 3 schools.

Cohort 3 finished the program at the end of 2018 and their results are very promising. On very visible lag metrics, such as NAPLAN, this cohort of schools has seen material improvements in essential foundational skills for their students across all areas.

There were 13 schools in Cohort 3 of the program, serving 4,600+ students, including:

– Balga Primary		– Dianella Primary College
– Roseworth Primary		– Warriapendi Primary
– Yule Brook College		– Bentley Primary
– Forrestfield Primary		– St John Paul II Catholic Primary
– Dianella Secondary College		– Southern River College
– Bungaree Primary		– Middle Swan Primary
– Thornlie Primary

On average, the 12 government schools in the cohort are now at, or above expected performance in over 70% of NAPLAN areas (up from 50% at the start of the program) and on average, the cohort is above expected performance when compared to peer schools.

The primary schools are now, on average, above expected performance in all areas of Year 3 and 5 NAPLAN. At the start of the program, just 2 years ago, this cohort was on average, below or at, expected performance in all areas of NAPLAN except one.

Two of the three secondary schools have seen major growth in their NAPLAN results too – with expected Year 9 performance improving by 0.2 – 1 full standard deviation.

Mr Lee Woodcock, Principal of Thornlie Primary School, spoke about his schools’ experience with the EDvance program and credited a strong improvement plan, regular mentor support, feedback and advice as key factors of their success. Mr Woodcock also made sure to credit his teaching staff on their hard work and commitment and spoke of his renewed enjoyment in writing the school’s annual report since completing the program.

A long time supporter of the program, The Hon. Sue Ellery MLC, Minister for Education and Training, congratulated the schools on their achievements in improving student outcomes and of the importance of strengthening leadership skills in schools.  

Fogarty EDvance are currently working with their sixth cohort of schools in 2019 and plan to launch Cohort 7 in 2020, which will extend their supportive reach to over 100 schools in disadvantaged communities in WA.

Read the full Report Card for Cohort 3 here, or you can learn more about Fogarty EDvance here.

For more information, please contact Katie O’Driscoll at katie.odriscoll@fogartyedvance.org,au

UWA Fogarty Scholarship Alumni, Dave Sherwood has been named in Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe Social Entrepreneurs for 2019. The Forbes 30 Under 30 is a set of lists issued annually by Forbes magazine identifying the next generation of entrepreneurs, visionaries, and trailblazers.

Dave Sherwood completed a Bachelor of Science (Chemistry & Physics) as part of the UWA Fogarty Scholarship Program. During his time at UWA and inspired by his rural schooling experience at Bunbury Senior High School, Sherwood co-founded Teach Learn Grow, an initiative to enable rural and Indigenous students to reach their full potential.

As the 2013 Western Australian Rhodes Scholar, Sherwood relocated to Oxford University, during which time he co-founded Bibliotech, the ‘Spotify for textbooks’. 

Bibliotech is a webapp providing students and universities with affordable online access to all the textbooks they need, at any time, on any device, without being limited by individual personal budgets. The idea behind Bibliotech was conceived by Sherwood, who realised that there was a gap in the e-reading market, with students having to buy physical textbooks for extortionate prices. 

Over 30 major international universities like NYU and University of Oxford are now turning to the Bibliotech team to provide digital textbooks and eLearning software. Sherwood and fellow co-founder Daniel Engelke and Tao Mantaras have raised over $5.5 million in funding and work with publishers like Pearson, McGraw-Hill and Wiley. 

In May last year, we launched our exciting new initiative – EDfutures. A platform to connect people and organisations who want to challenge the status quo in education.

Through EDfutures, we are helping to build an education ecosystem of K–12 and tertiary educators, businesses, industry, not-for-profits, social enterprise, government and the broader Western Australian community, with the purpose of developing learning that best prepares young people for the complex challenges of the 21^st century.

Since the launch, the community has grown to over 100 members, who connect and communicate through our ecosystem map, social media pages and events and workshops.

Our monthly community nights give members the opportunity to share their work, network and collaborate with others in the ecosystem; we also run activities to upskill members in systems thinking and organisational change theory.

These events are run for members, building the capacity of emerging change makers in our network, and they are also run by members themselves as we capitalise on the knowledge and expertise within the ecosystem.

As well as running the series of community nights in 2018, we also collaborated with Bankwest, to host Eddie Woo, who spoke to our community about the “Future of Maths in Schools”, and we hosted events with Schools of Thinking and the University of Western Australia and with Curtin University’s Learning Futures Network.

As our community continues to grow and our initiatives continue to gain momentum, we are looking forward to a busy and exciting year ahead. 2019 will see EDfutures take part in the Presencing Institutes Societal Transformation Lab (S-Lab) run through MIT, where we will work with a network of international changemakers across 7 impact areas to grow and scale our initiatives.

We will also host a range of events, including our monthly community nights and the first EDfutures Systems Change Summit. This will bring together our community to prototype innovative, multi-stakeholder curriculum projects that can be delivered in schools across WA.