The first round of successful applicants of the inaugural Hamer Scholarships have been announced. Eleven Hamer Scholarship recipients will travel to Jiangsu Province, Victoria’s sister state to further their Chinese language skills in September 2012.

The Hamer Scholarships will reinforce and encourage a network of cultural and economic ties between the people of Victoria and China.The Hamer Scholarships are one of the new initiatives to come out of the recently announced ‘Victorian International Engagement Strategy’ in which $50 million will be spent over four years to boost Victoria’s international engagement efforts.

The Hamer Scholarships program was an important component of the Coalition Government’s approach to strengthening ties with Victoria’s trading partners.

The Hamer Scholarships are valued at $10,000 for up to 50 Victorians per year to study Chinese language in Jiangsu. The program is primarily targeted at people working or studying in industries/fields relevant to China.

The application dates for Semester 2 intake are from 23 July – 26 August 2012.

Scholarship recipients attached:

Christopher Kong         Novelist and independent consultant
Matt Brent                       Australian Industry Group
Michael Thyer                Telstra
Gene Michener              ANZ
Jenna Lipshut                Melbourne Convention and Visitors Bureau
Moyi Zheng                      Department of Premier and Cabinet
Emily Dunn                      Australian Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai
David Sobey                    Rubicon Water
Chuan Tran                     Port of Melbourne Corporation, Swinburne University of Technology
Alice Slevison                  RMIT University, University of Melbourne
Daniel Ednie-Lockett      The Asia Institute

Scholarship Backgrounders attached:

1.Christopher Kong
Residency: Armadale

Christopher Kong was born and grew up in Australia. He has eight years of consumer goods experience, with leadership positions in Cadbury Schweppes and Kraft Foods. Over this period, he managed complex improvement projects across Australia, New Zealand, Japan, India, South-East Asia and Greater China. Chris is a chartered financial analyst and holds a Bachelor of Commerce/Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from the University of Melbourne. He writes on China’s economy and has been working on a novel set on the mainland. Looking ahead, Chris would like to leverage eight years of best practice consumer goods strategy experience, while contributing to Australia-China relations.

2.Matthew Brent
Residency: Bonbeach

Matthew’s first trip to China was in 1994 when he moved there with his family for three years, attending the international school of Beijing. Upon completion of an international business and international relations double degree, Matt worked in Russia, and then studied in China again before returning to Australia to work for a mining equipment manufacturer. Four years later, after business trips to more than 30 countries, and an eight month stint in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, he took a role with the Australian Industry Group as an export adviser. Matt believes that attracting Chinese investment and trade opportunities with China is becoming more and more competitive. Showing that we are serious about our engagement with China, including through better cultural literacy and understanding is therefore imperative for Victoria. Although disappointed to be leaving Australian Industry Group, Matt is excited about a return to study.

3.Michael Thyer
Residency: Ringwood

Michael was born in Australia, but spent his early childhood in the United Republic of Tanzania. After returning to Australia he completed his high school education and went on to study multimedia design at RMIT University. Following this he started working with Telstra as a designer/developer whilst taking Chinese classes after work at the Australasian Centre of Chinese Education. As a designer and developer for multimedia such as websites and video promotions, Michael believes the scholarship will allow him to effectively communicate through these mediums between people in Victoria and China.

4.Gene Michener
Residency: Armadale

Gene was educated at Melbourne High School and studied commerce at the University of Melbourne. He spent six months studying Mandarin at Fudan University, Shanghai and continued after-work Mandarin classes at Holmesglen TAFE. Gene has a 10-year history with the ANZ Bank, beginning with the Graduate Program, undertaking a rotation in Shanghai, and gaining over five years experience in commercial banking. Gene is passionate about playing cricket and enjoys travelling through China and South-East Asia with friends and family. Gene believes the Scholarship will enable him to be a recognised information source and contact point for his colleagues and peers when doing business involving trade with China.

5.Jenna Lipshut
Residency: Hawthorn

Jenna graduated with a Bachelor of Business from Melbourne University focussing on tourism management and studied Mandarin at the Confucius Institute. An intrepid interest in China drove Jenna to fulfil her long-held ambition to undertake a semester of Mandarin language studies at Nanjing University. In her current role at the Melbourne Convention and Visitors Bureau, Jenna engages in attracting Chinese inbound incentive and corporate groups to Victoria. From Jenna’s perspective, the China market is challenging yet diverse and rewarding with a proven growth potential unseen anywhere else. In China, Jenna expects to be out of her comfort zone, meet interesting people and embrace the Chinese way of life through language and cultural experiences.

6. Moyi Zheng
Residency: Carlton

Moyi Zheng arrived in Australia from China at the age of four. She has a keen interest in foreign affairs and public policy and graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Arts Honours degree in Political Science. She joined the Climate Change Branch at the Department of Premier and Cabinet as a policy adviser in 2010. Her role involves providing whole-of-government advice on climate change and energy policy to the Premier and the Victorian Government. Moyi believes that this scholarship is an important step towards implementing the Victorian Government’s plan for deeper bilateral engagement with China through Chinese literacy and cultural understanding.

7.Emily Dunn
Residency: Victorian living in China

Emily Dunn is a public relations and media specialist currently working for the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai. She has double degrees in journalism and arts (economics) and trained as a reporter with Seven News. Career highlights include reporting for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games news service, managing marketing and communications for Queensland’s participation at Shanghai World Expo 2010 and co-hosting the 2011 Australian Football League Grand Final live on Chinese television. Emily has lived in Shanghai since early 2011, and hopes improved Mandarin skills will enable her to further promote Victorian capabilities in China. She speaks Danish and holds a University of New South Wales Medal.

8.David Sobey
Residency: Glen Iris

David has double degrees from the University of Melbourne in engineering and computer science. He spent a year in Japan on the Young Scientist’s Exchange Program, and travelled extensively through India, Nepal, China and South-East Asia. During this time he quickly came to understand the vast cultural gaps between Australia and Asian countries. In 2009 David joined Rubicon Water as a Control Systems Engineer. With offices in China, Rubicon Water has governed numerous projects in rural China, thus contributing to David’s interest in the Chinese language and engagement with China. David believes fluency in the Chinese language would leave him as an indispensible asset to Victoria – China engineering operations.

9.Chuan Tran
Residency: Blackburn South

Chuan works at the Port of Melbourne Corporation, and is undertaking a double degree in civil engineering and business, at Swinburne University of Technology. His experience working at the Port of Melbourne has cultivated awareness of China’s prominent presence in the global market, and its escalating significance to Victoria’s own economy. As an Australian of Chinese ancestry, Chuan hopes to further develop and refine his language skills and knowledge of Chinese culture. Chuan sees the Hamer Scholarship as contributing to his future career in trade and business between Victoria and China. As an active Peer Assisted Study Sessions program leader at Swinburne University of Technology, Chuan believes his language skills will also contribute positively towards Chinese international students’ study experiences in Victoria..

10.Alice Slevison
Residency: Strathmore

In 2011 Alice completed a Bachelor of International Studies with a major in Chinese Business and Chinese Culture from RMIT University. Alice is currently a research analyst and research assistant for the School of Global Studies at RMIT University. Alice’s interest in Asian studies was exemplified through her undertaking a semester at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2011, where she participated in the Asian Academic Exchange Program. During that time Alice also completed an internship with the Australian Chamber of Commerce (Hong Kong and Macao Chapter). Alice is currently involved in promoting Australia-China relations through the Australia China Youth Association at the University of Melbourne.

11.Daniel Ednie-Lockett
Residency: Carlton

Daniel has a degree in applied linguistics and Japanese from the University of Melbourne and has had several overseas study exchanges in the Czech Republic and Japan. In 2009, Daniel founded Melbourne’s first Chinese and English language exchange, where Australians learning Mandarin could put their classroom learning to use and international students could improve their English. The group of language learners quickly became a social hub for learners and speakers of Mandarin Chinese, Korean, Japanese and English. Dan also has a weekly radio program about language learning and Australian culture in Chinese on 3CW. He works as a research assistant in The Asia Institute and also works at the Language Testing Research Center. In January and February 2012 he was a visiting researcher at the Centre for the Advancement of Higher Education at Tohoku University, Japan.

For more information on the Hamer Scholarships, visit www.dbi.vic.gov.au/hamerscholarships