Our academics have been honoured again this month with a slew of nominations and awards for two of our documentary filmmakers, an Oral History Book Award, invitations to speak at major international forums and more.

MCCALL documentaries honoured in three major awards
Two MCCALL documentary films, Ablaze co-written and directed by Dr Alec Morgan (pictured) and The Skin of Others by Associate Professor Tom Murray are earning national attention during the awards season. Ablaze has been awarded the prestigious Victorian Premier's History Award, with the judges describing the documentary as a “superbly researched and charmingly narrated film that makes an important contribution to Victorian history.” Ablaze was the major project of Alec Morgan’s Macquarie University Research Fellowship, and his supervisor was Tom Murray.
Both films are finalists in the Australian Teachers of Media (ATOM) Awards, with each film nominated in the Best Documentary-Biography and Best Documentary-Social and Political Issues categories. Ablaze is also a finalist in the Best Indigenous Video or Website category, while The Skin of Others is a finalist in the Best Docudrama category.
Both films have also been nominated for the AWGIE Award for ‘Public Broadcast Documentary’. The annual AWGIE Awards are conducted by the Australian Writers’ Guild, and are awarded for excellence in screen, television, stage and radio writing. The winners will be announced on 7 December.

Academics win Oral History Book Award
In the Eye of the Storm: Volunteers and Australia’s response to the HIV/AIDS crisis co-authored by Faculty of Arts Associate Dean Research Robert Reynolds and History and Archaeology Honorary Associate Professor Shirleene Robinson, is the joint winner of the Oral History Australia 2021 Book Award. In the Eye of the Storm is a collection of first-hand accounts from volunteers who filled an array of positions, from personal care to administrative and educational roles, in Australia at the height of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. The judges commented, “It is a pleasure to read a book that allows oral history narrators the space not only to speak at length about their motivations and actions but also to reflect on the impact on their lives long after infections began to decline in the 1990s. Sensitively edited and beautifully written, it is an important contribution to both Australia’s social history and the craft of oral history.”

‘Real-world’ research recognised ahead of awards
Dean Dudley from the School of Education and a team of researchers from the University of Canberra and Deakin University have had their Physical Literacy in Australia project named as a finalist in the Engagement Australia Excellence Awards. The research, commended for its real-world impact in schools and sporting clubs around the country, is one of only five finalists selected for the Outstanding Engagement for Research Impact Award out of 107 submissions. The finalists are of a very high quality and include the likes of the Peter Doherty Institute, which provided key modelling to Australia’s COVID-19 response. The winners will be announced on 30 November.

Law academic to speak alongside U.N. Secretary-General at international Forum
Macquarie Law School Associate Professor and Director of the Centre for Environmental Law Nengye Liu has been invited to virtually address the 2021 Sustainable Arctic Forum in Celebration of 25 Years of the Arctic Council, to be held in Seoul on 10 November. Associate Professor Liu will join prominent panellists, such as H.E. BAN Ki-moon, Eighth U.N. Secretary-General, to discuss the role of non-Arctic states in the future governance of the region. “The Arctic is experiencing the most significant impact from human-induced climate change on the planet. It is therefore of great importance to address non-Arctic States, such as China's role, regarding the sustainable future of the Arctic. It is my great honour to share thoughts with high level policy makers on this imminent issue,” says Associate Professor Liu.