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Building international connections

7 May 2008

Education faculty lecturer Dr David Zyngier (right) with Professor John Portelli at the University of Toronto.

A Peninsula campus Faculty of Education lecturer has used a trip to North America to develop networks involving Monash and some prestigious education institutions.

Dr David Zyngier travelled to Canada to visit McGill University in Montreal, and the University of Toronto, developing formal applications for a series of International Linkage Research Grants.

He is currently working with colleagues from these universities to research the engagement of children in school education, particularly those from culturally, linguistically and economically diverse communities.

As part of the trip, Dr Zyngier also travelled to the US to deliver a series of seminars to academics and teachers on educational leadership and social supports in teaching with the aim of encouraging future joint research and publishing projects with Monash. He also visited the Amistad Dual Language Elementary School in Upper Manhattan, New York, to study how significantly disadvantaged school had managed to achieve excellent results.

Dr Zyngier said it was a productive trip which could have positive outcomes for Monash in terms of future research collaborations. "Monash has a firm international focus and there are great opportunities all over the world to expand it," Dr Zyngier said.