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
Alumni, Research, Students
Ilia Filipev’s journey from a Russian science town to a PhD in Wollongong
Ilia's journey wasn’t carefully planned. It has unfolded through curiosity, timing, and a willingness to follow opportunities, taking him from Russia to Germany and ultimately to a new life in Wollongong.
Health and Medicine
The donations helping to train the next generation of healthcare professionals
For 20 years, selfless local donors have been facilitating vital anatomy lessons, allowing theory to become reality for medicine and health students through UOW’s Body Donation Program.
Health and Medicine, Research
Differences in male and female brains could change how we treat depression
Almost half of all people will develop a mental health disorder in their lifetime. The wide range of causes and experiences of these conditions highlights the need for deeper understandings of the biology and how it should be treated.
Research
Finding your graduate research topic
Whether higher degree research is a lifelong dream or something you never knew was an option, inspiration for a topic of study can come from many sources.
Science and Technology, Students
Building a new generation of bioengineers
From 3D bioprinting to cancer diagnostics, UOW’s new cohort of medical innovators are turning research into impact
Health and Medicine, Science and Technology, Students
The next generation of MND research
Unravelling the mysteries of motor neurone disease is a painstaking process, often feeling like two steps forward, one step back.
Health and Medicine, Research, Science and Technology
Why fibre matters
In the world of nutrition, few topics have sparked as much recent interest - and as much concern - as the role of dietary fibre.
Community, Students
More than a nutritious meal, students turn knowledge into community impact
Three UOW nutrition and dietetic students found their final-year food service placement offered more than just practical experience, it brought them closer to the community.
Health and Medicine, Research, Science and Technology
Renowned physicist reflects on three decades of discovery
Distinguished Professor Anatoly Rozenfeld distinctly remembers the day he arrived at the University of Wollongong (UOW) in the hopes of securing a job. It was 1993 and he had recently emigrated, along with his wife, from Ukraine.
Alumni, Health and Medicine
World Health Day: My health, my right
Although health is recognised as a human right and enshrined in constitutions worldwide, it isn’t always accessible or achievable. From cancer research to nutritious eating, these UOW alumni are helping change the lives of people everywhere.
Alumni, Health and Medicine
How coincidence and connections helped a shark attack survivor heal and tell his story
In 2014, exercise science student James Forsyth was completing his Honours project at the University of Wollongong (UOW) when then 21-year-old Brett volunteered for his study.
Health and Medicine, Research
UOW medical students leading the way with research projects
Changing medical practice and procedure is usually based on the advice of practitioners with years of experience.
Alumni
An interview with Professor Eileen McLaughlin
Professor Eileen McLaughlin has just joined UOW as Executive Dean of the Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health. She recently spoke with Carly Evans and shares what attracted her to the role, her pathway into science and her latest research.
Alumni
Superwomen of STEM
In recent years, the cry to get more women into STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) careers – and support them to flourish – has amplified. The Australian Government’s Advancing Women in STEM strategy stands beside significant action in schools, universities and businesses, all aiming to increase gender equity.
Alumni
Creating a healthy country
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic and with a shortage of doctors across regional, rural and remote Australia, it’s a tough time to practise medicine in country towns.
Alumni, Students
The next generation of rural doctors
University of Wollongong’s Graduate Medicine Shoalhaven is helping to transform medical services in the rural community.
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.
Alumni
From Arnhem Land to Antarctica
Dr Rhys Harding relishes a challenge. The UOW alumnus has spent the past eight years carving out a career as a doctor in some of the most remote locations in the world. That has meant different things at different points in his life. As a medical student, he spent a year in Broken Hill, becoming exposed to the daily rhythm of practising medicine in the outback New South Wales rural community.
Alumni
Re-birthing regional medical care
General Practitioner, GP Obstetrician and GP educator. Dr Teena Downton has her hands well and truly full wearing three very important hats.
Alumni
The changing face of medicine
We hear from four medical researchers on the way COVID-19 has affected public health and the future of medicine.
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
What it means to be an older, single woman today
These are the circumstances facing a growing number of single women aged over 65.
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.
Environment and Energy, Science and Technology
A healthy diet for a healthy planet
Forecasts suggest that by 2050, 10 billion people will inhabit the earth, requiring the production of 70 to 100 per cent more food.
Community, Education, Health and Medicine
A rural training ground for our future doctors
For a group of UOW medical students, having the chance to immerse themselves in a town like Grafton provides vital training, experience, and an insight into life outside the city.
Alumni
Painting the town silver
How a desire to help Australia’s ageing population has inspired one UOW graduate to create a unique walking and falls prevention program that’s changing lives.
Alumni
A life-changing gift
It is a gesture that is, as yet, unquantifiable. But the impact on the health of our communities is full of possibility.
Alumni
Nursing on the front line
If you were stranded on a deserted island – or in a jungle, or a conflict zone, or in the middle of an earthquake – what would you take? You’d take Russell Banks, if you wanted to survive. The no-fear nurse has saved countless lives in all kinds of remote locations and precarious situations – and has ample tales to tell from his many adventures.
Top 20 skilled careers in 2023
With rapid changes in technology, it can be hard to know which jobs will still be around in a few years' time.
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.
Alumni
Home is where the art is
What started life as an art-based project for teenagers to collaborate on at Bellambi Neighbourhood Centre, has grown into a community festival and campaign aiming to change the way the world sees the suburb.
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.
Alumni
Using the brain on the bench
Electromaterials pioneer and NSW Scientist of the Year, Professor Gordon Wallace has discovered an innovative way to read your mind.
Alumni
The gift of innovation
Dr Roland Bigg’s uncle taught him what the big things in life were about. Now his gift will have a big impact on the lives of many others.
Health and Medicine, Study areas
Kate Swaffer
Poet, author, activist and academic, Kate Swaffer reveals how she is living beyond younger onset dementia.
General tags, Alumni, Health and Medicine
The bush beat
When Hugh Stump was a child, the nearest hospital was at least an hour away from the family farm in north-west New South Wales. But flooding rains would turn black soil to mud and he, like so many people in the rural and remote areas, missed out on even the simplest of medical check-ups. Let alone major or critical services.
Alumni
Food security
In 2014-2015, a staggering 63.4 per cent of Australian adults were overweight or obese – well over half of our nation. But believe it or not, Australia – one of the world’s richest countries – has a food security problem.
Alumni
Breaking through boundaries
New drugs to combat cancer, a ‘game-changing’ renewable battery made from salt, and a remarkable discovery that changed our understanding of early human dispersal and evolution.