We showcase the impact of UOW students, teaching, research, and graduates on the world. Our mission is to share inspiring stories that educate and motivate, highlighting the transformative power of education in addressing global challenges.
Articles
Health and Medicine, Community, Study areas
The wellness myth
Wellness is a state of being, a catchcry that encompasses the Instagram generation’s focus on good health and living well.
Environment and Energy, Community, Study areas, Science and Technology
The rise of eco-anxiety
As the world continues to grapple with the tangible impacts of climate change, eco-anxiety has become a very real problem.
Community, Arts and Culture, Study areas
How art helps children to thrive
If children aren’t given the right tools, they can lose the creative outlet that visual arts provides.
Education, Environment and Energy, Health and Medicine, International, Study areas, Science and Technology
A blueprint to change the world
The University of Wollongong is working to effect change on a global level, with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals providing a roadmap for creating a better world for all.
Arts and Culture, Study areas
Why we reach for music in times of stress
Do you reach for old school hits or new pop? The soothing sounds of classical music or the rush and rage of rock? Music is one of the best ways to help us unwind when it feels like the world is falling apart.
Health and Medicine, Health and Medicine, Study areas
Why Yasmine's research is deeply personal
It is research that is incredibly important for Yasmine, one of few dietitians globally who has been diagnosed with the disease.
Health and Medicine, International, Health and Medicine, Study areas, Science and Technology
Molecular Horizons: building a dream
You could walk past the latest construction site at the University of Wollongong and think that it's just another building going up, with the usual cranes and noise.
Health and Medicine, Study areas, Science and Technology
Why purple food is better for your brain
Thirty years ago, Professor Karen Charlton was working as a hospital dietitian in the North East of England. After work she would visit older men who lived alone in sheltered housing accommodation to interview them about what they ate. Professor Charlton smiles when she talks about this time.
Health and Medicine, Health and Medicine, Community, Study areas
How pregnancy impacts a woman's body
Pregnancy is an amazing and surprising time in a woman’s life. As her body becomes a minefield of new experiences, it is pushed to unprecedented levels of stress and endurance.
Arts and Culture, Study areas
Why are we so nostalgic for the 1990s?
The past few years have seen a surprising love for the 1990s – fuelled by our new methods of consuming content – that has infiltrated all areas of our culture and shows little signs of abating.
International, Law, Politics and Society, Study areas
The path to peace in Afghanistan
With an astronomical cost that rises by the day, the Afghanistan War can only end through one route - diplomacy.
Arts and Culture, Study areas
The Aquarian Uprising
It was a time of great achievement but also a time of great turbulence. The rebellions of the decade exploded, giving way to the chaos and division of the 1970s.
Arts and Culture, Study areas
Why do songs get stuck in our heads?
We’ve all experienced the feeling of having a tune looping round our brain. Known as earworms, these persistent songs can be a total nuisance. UOW’s Dr Tim Byron says there’s a strong link between music and our minds, and the answer to combating an earworm is simple.
Environment and Energy, Study areas
Rise of the Himalaya
Understanding their origins means we can more accurately reconstruct Earth’s fractured history.
International, Study areas, Science and Technology
Chernobyl: A lesson in truth
There was a time when no one knew what happened at Chernobyl. Secrets were kept, mistakes were made, and people were exposed. Now, more than 30 years later, and with the release of HBO’s successful mini-series, the disaster is once again in the spotlight.
General tags, Alumni, Community, Environment and Energy, Study areas, Science and Technology
Turning the tide on plastic pollution
Global plastic pollution is reaching crisis level. This has severe implications for our oceans, our environment, our wildlife and our health, now and into the future. But is it too late to end the plastic pandemic?
Environment and Energy, Study areas, Science and Technology
Kai's journey from rock pools to fish schools
From his childhood on the Far South Coast of NSW to his current research that investigates the social lives of fish, Kai Paijmans has always been enamoured with marine ecosystems and the creatures that dwell within.
Environment and Energy, Study areas, Science and Technology
Global Climate Change Week
Climate change is an urgent and important issue that in years to come will have an irreversible impact on our society. At UOW, students and researchers are working to provide practical solutions to the many problems facing our planet, including warming sea temperatures, food security, and plastic pollution.
Health and Medicine, Study areas
"I'm towing a jumbo jet" – Life with MND
Justin Yerbury has dedicated his scientific career to finding a cure for the disease that has haunted his family. As Motor Neurone Disease takes hold of his body, he reflects on his path, his prognosis, and the people he loves.
Health and Medicine, Study areas
The promise of mindfulness
Mindfulness offers the promise of a healthier mind for everyone.
Health and Medicine, Study areas
Shining a light on brain cancer
Elette Engels, winner of the Australian Institute of Physics Postgraduate Excellence Medal, is part of a team of scientists searching for a better way to treat brain tumours.
Education, Study areas, Science and Technology
The information revolution: Opening minds to new possibilities
In a world saturated with technology - where almost everyone has a smartphone and a lifetime of information at their fingertips - you'd be forgiven for thinking greater access has led to greater equality. But Professor Sue Bennett would argue that's not necessarily the case.
Community, Arts and Culture, Study areas
Saving fishing stories from the depths of history
With just two commercial fishing boats operating out of Wollongong, researchers want to record the stories of the local fishing industry.
Health and Medicine, Study areas
Omega-3, our brains and behaviour
Ask Professor Barbara Meyer about the benefits of omega-3 and she takes a deep breath.
Environment and Energy, Study areas, Science and Technology
Fuelling the fire
It’s time now to take control and cut emissions into the atmosphere as our forests are resilient – to a point.
Arts and Culture, Community, Study areas
I speak because I can
The experience of raising her disabled son has drawn a UOW linguist into unusual territory – where communication is non-verbal and families are silent.
Community, Arts and Culture, Study areas
A classroom in the outback
Nalawan outstation is a world away from the typical university experience.
Community, Study areas
How creativity is changing Bellambi
The suburb of Bellambi often makes headlines for all the wrong reasons. But a new initiative is bringing the University of Wollongong together with the community to celebrate the people of Bellambi.
Arts and Culture, Study areas
Marching on
Senior Professor Vera Mackie and Dr Sharon Crozier-De Rosa trace the memories of women who have made history, changed the world, and paved the way for their modern sisters.
General tags, Innovation, Study areas, Science and Technology
Up to the challenge: a life in research
As Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research & Innovation) she has led UOW’s efforts to solve some of the world’s biggest, most complex problems.
Community, Health and Medicine, Study areas
Why you can't commit to exercise
We've all experienced it. That sudden burst of motivation that's enough for you put on your exercise gear and get moving. Afterwards, you feel great and think to yourself, "I'm going to make this a regular thing".
General tags, Innovation, Study areas, Science and Technology, Science and Technology
From thoughts to things
For all the buzz of innovation, why does so little research translate into real-world applications and what are the secrets to success? Gordon Wallace shares what he has learnt taking 3D-printed products from the lab to the clinic.
Health and Medicine, Study areas
Life under the microscope
Surfer, scientist, engineer and inventor: James Bouwer has played a key role in developing the microscope technology that is revolutionising our understanding of life at the molecular level.
Health and Medicine, Study areas
After the game
It is often said that an athlete dies twice. Once when they take their last breath, and the other when they retire from the sport.
Community, Study areas
The future of housing: building with steel
Standing seven storeys high are two identical apartment blocks; the same in size, look, feel and layout. They are exactly the same, but different. One has a concrete frame, the other cold-formed steel. This difference could change Australian apartments and help expand the country's steel industry.
Community, Study areas
The future of housing
It might be a squeeze on space, but for many families apartments are the housing of the future.
Community, Health and Medicine, Study areas
Let's talk about sex
How should we approach some of the pressing issues facing adolescents?
Health and Medicine, Study areas
Get up and move to improve children's learning
What if increasing the amount of physical activity each day could improve children's learning?
Community, Study areas
Timbers with a sustainable timbre
From concert halls and recording studios to factories, sawmills and forests, University of Wollongong (UOW) researchers Professor Chris Gibson and Dr Andrew Warren have been documenting this change by following guitar timbers back to the tree.
Study areas
Why true crime captivates
On 17 June, 1994, Dominos Pizza sales hit a then record high. Not because of a genius marketing campaign or a special offer - it was because of our fascination with crime.
Health and Medicine, Study areas
The rise of competitive parenting
Back at the start of her career, Dr Elisabeth Duursma used to visit low-income families in rural Vermont, in the United States. She would watch how the mothers and children played together, but then she noticed that the fathers would be hovering at the back. They were curious, but not taking part.
Community, Study areas
Who we are: multiculturalism in the home
Boyd and Denise could not have been on more different paths in life. Boyd was an electrician who'd grown up in Shellharbour. Denise was living in the UK, working and studying and trying to find healing, peace and forgiveness.
Community, Study areas
Worlds collided
Shawn Burns began his foray into journalism at a small newspaper on NSW's far South Coast. He worked his way around regional NSW for 16 years, finding his way into television as a reporter and chief of staff for WIN TV Wagga Wagga, before moving across to head up the Wollongong bureau.
Study areas
Out to sea
Jack Simmons shares his most daring seafaring journey to East Antarctica on the $120 million state-of-the art CSIRO marine research vessel, the RV Investigator.
Community, Health and Medicine, Study areas
The baby-making business
Imagine a world with a growing international trade in eggs, sperm, embryos and genetic material to create designer babies. Where young women are flown across the globe to donate fresh eggs. Where frozen sperm is transported from one side of the world to the other and spare embryos are gifted to couples desperate to conceive.
Community, Study areas
Smart cities at the crossroads
Are smart cities another fad that benefits only big tech companies, or can the power of citizen sensing help make life better for all who call the city home?
Study areas
Passion for the job
From being left at a bus garage to helping companies leverage automation technology, Professor Valerie Linton is breaking new ground for women in engineering.
Community, Study areas
Up in smoke
Still there are lessons to be learnt from these bushfires
Health and Medicine, Study areas
Sleep on it
Why sleep is more important than ever.
Community, Study areas
The march of the robot economy
UOW's Dr Eduardo Pol sheds light on the robot economy and its future.
Health and Medicine, Study areas
Wearable tech. Powered by happiness
Imagine a renewable energy source that doesn’t switch off when the sun goes down or when the wind stops. An energy source that is with us wherever we go.
Study areas
How to find success as a woman in science
As children we are encouraged to dream big, and many young people – including young women and girls – aspire to a career in science.
Health and Medicine, Study areas
3D printing: from science fiction to science fact
Meet the UOW researchers who are using materials science and 3D printing to turn science fiction into medical fact.
Arts and Culture, Environment and Energy, International, Study areas
Fish for life: Food security in the South Pacific
As declining stocks in coastal fisheries threaten the food security and health of South Pacific nations, UOW researchers are working with island communities to ensure they have fish for life.
Study areas
Immerse yourself
Associate Professor Michael Adams explores the fine line between life and death through freediving.
Health and Medicine, Study areas
Kate Swaffer
Poet, author, activist and academic, Kate Swaffer reveals how she is living beyond younger onset dementia.
Community, Health and Medicine, Study areas
A house for all
A people-focused approach to building design will lead to better quality of care for people living with dementia.
Health and Medicine, General tags, Innovation, Study areas
The science of making sex safer ... and maybe better
A UOW team is working on a next-generation condom that enhances pleasure and encourages greater use.
Community, Health and Medicine, Study areas
Healthy mums, healthy bubs
Diet is a central part of pregnancy, to ensure both mum and baby are receiving the nutrients they need to thrive.
Business and Economy, Arts and Culture, Study areas
Netflix has your number
Every time you click play, streaming services are capturing data about who you are, what you like, and what you are likely to choose in the future.
Community, Health and Medicine, Study areas
Placement on the path to recovery
An Australian-first Recovery Camp is creating an environment where therapeutic relationships can be built from the ground up.
Study areas
Saving the Fitzroy Falls Spiny Crayfish
Burrowed into the icy creek beds of the Southern Highlands lives a tiny population of critically endangered native crayfish. The rarest crayfish in NSW, in fact.