Monash Alumni > Alumni Events > Leading Ideas

Monash Alumni Leading Ideas Forum

Past Forums

Forum 14: The Monash Asia Institute and the Alumni Relations Program presented "Why welcoming migrants and refugees should be Australia's highest priority" Melbourne, March 2002

Neville Roach AO spoke on why Australia should develop an active and positive program of welcoming migrants and refugees to this country.  

Neville Roach has had a distinguished career in business and as a government advisor. His recent resignation as an advisor to the federal government on multicultural affairs was due to his concerns regarding the extreme inflexibility of government policy in relation to asylum seekers, immigration and reconciliation. 

Read the transcript or listen to an audio recording of Neville's address.  

Forum 13: "Dato' Michael Yeoh on 'Asia in Transition'" Malaysia, November 2001

This talk by the CEO of the Asian Strategy & Leadership Institute (ASLI) examined the key trends in Asia, the challenges facing Asia in the 21st Century and its major driving forces. The speaker also evaluated the implications for Malaysia.

Dato' Michael Yeoh, who graduated from Monash University's Faculty of Business and Economics in 1977, is CEO of the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute.

Forum 12: "Adventures in Capitalism" Melbourne, October 2001

Monash alumnus and Silicon Valley identity Al Ramadan talked on the highs and lows of life in IT's heartland.

A synopsis of Al's address, bio information and pictures from the event are available here.

Forum 11: "Designing effective university teaching spaces: A critical reflection on recent developments" Malaysia, October 2001

Dr Peter Jamieson, Higher Education Development Unit, Monash University, examined recent developments to create new teaching and learning spaces in universities, particularly those involving the use of information technology.

Forum 10: "IT Solutions for Indigenous Australian Communities" Melbourne, August 2001 

Ken Colbung, Bibbulman Elder from Western Australia, opened the lecture and panel discussion that asked: "Can IT deliver solutions to the difficulties which continue to confront indigenous Australian communities?" The discussion covered intellectual property, nutrition, health, human rights, poverty alleviation and illiteracy. 

Forum 9: "A Random Walk through the Academic Garden and the e-Business Jungle" Malaysia, August 2001

Dr Lee Poh Aun, Colombo Plan scholar, PhD graduate of Monash and former Dean of IT at Multimedia University, gave his perspectives on the contrast between the world of academia and the "jungle" of the e-business world, which he recently entered as CEO and CTO to Pharmvision Ventures Sdn Bhd.

Forum 8: "Genocide: Themes and Variations from Armenia to East Timor" Melbourne, August 2001

Ben Kiernan, A.Whitney Griswold Professor of History and Director of the Genocide Studies Program at Yale University and PhD graduate of Monash, has been described as "the most knowledgeable observer of Cambodia anywhere in the Western world".  An audio file of  the address, together with an abstract and bio information on Ben Kiernan are available here.

Forum 7: "The New World of Higher Education" Malaysia, February 2001

"The traditional view of university life as being on a single campus, face to face and full time is dramatically changing towards to a view where academic endeavour is routinely multisite, multimodal, multilingual, multicultural, and multinational."

Professor Robinson, Vice-Chancellor and President of Monash University, outlined a number of features of this new world of higher education, and indicated the role Monash is playing in both defining and operating within it. A transcript of his address can be viewed here. 

Forum 6: "Intellectual Property Rights and the Internet" Malaysia, February 2001

Intellectual property expert and Monash graduate Timothy Siaw (BSc, LLB) explained and examined the intellectual property issues raised by the internet's emerging dominance as a medium for sharing and disseminating information. Timothy is a partner in the intellectual property and IT Department of KL legal practice Tay and Partners.

Forum 5: "Modern Medicine: An Art or Science?" Malaysia, November 2000 

With medical knowledge increasing at an exponential rate, a great challenge facing medical professionals is to cope with information overload and ensure their patients receive care based on the most up to date evidence. Monash Professor of Public Health and Director of the Monash Institute of Public HealthProfessor Chris Silagy AO (left) spoke at the November forum on the new tools emerging to help health care professionals provide care based on the most up to date evidence. 

Forum 4: "Building a successful career in Malaysia" Malaysia, September 2000

Monash alumnus and corporate high-flier Dato' Jeffrey Ng (BEc 1979) , Managing Director of Asia PacificLand Bhd, provided some astute insights for alumni on the way up in Malaysia. 

Forum 3: "The Science of Advertising" Malaysia, August 2000

Professor Robin Pollard, physicist by training, spoke on how advertising response can and should be measured and analysed in order for firms to determine whether their advertising works.

Professor Pollard is the Head of the School of Business and Information Technology at Monash University Malaysia. Interested in learning more? Contact Professor Pollard

Forum 2: "The Malaysian Dilemma" Malaysia, July 2000

Distinguished former civil servant and corporate personality Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam (right) gave a passionate account of the various issues Malaysia faces in its quest to reach industrial nation status by 2020. Read the full text of Tan Sri Navaratnam's address.
 

Forum 1: "IT Incubators - an approach to successful start-ups" Malaysia, June 2000

A highly successful forum was held on June 2 at Monash University Malaysia. Monash University's Dean of Information Technology, Professor John Rosenberg (left), spoke on the role of IT incubators and critical success factors for these organisations. 

Download Professor Rosenberg's PowerPoint slides used in the presentation. Listen to the presentation (RealAudio required: download free from www.real.com).