Sofia K. Lane

Today, I presented a report on the Great Barrier Reef, alongside my group classmates at James Cook University, Australia. The Great Barrier Reef is not just important to the Australian government and the world [as the world heritage site and among the Seven Wonders of the World (UNESCO)], but also to indigenous Australians, serving social and spiritual importance to Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders. More so, it is the largest coral host with 2800 corals of about 400 different species and holds great significance for biodiversity conservation, also hosting over 1500 species of fish, 4000 species of molluscs, and 240 species of birds. However, the GRB is faced with land-based runoff pollution caused by agricultural activities, urban areas, and industrial sites which introduces excess nutrients, pesticides, and fine sediments into the reef waters, affecting the coral diversity, marine life, ecosystem, and biodiversity. Our report was on the management of the land base run-off pollution in the Great Barrier Reef. This report was important to me as the research could further guide Africans on environmental issues relating to the challenges GBR is facing and how our actions are consequential to not just human well-being but also that of the environment.

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Tēnā koutou katoa, I am currently running in the 2025 Victoria University of Wellington Student Association Executive Elections for the role of Clubs and Activities Officer. Voting has now opened and will close on Thursday at 11:30 am. Voting is open to all VUW students, all you need is your DOB and student ID. If you need no more convincing then here's the link to vote: https://lnkd.in/gyCDpT9p If you want to hear more about why I've chosen to run for this role and my ideas for the clubs and activities space then continue reading: I chose to run for this role as I want to give back to a space that has given me so much during my time at VUW. I have made many close friends through the clubs I've been in and participating in extracurriculars has been the highlight of my time at uni so far. Despite all these happy experiences, I believe that there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to bring the clubs and activities space to its fullest potential. As you can see on my glittery cat-filled poster attached to this post I've given a few headers for the policies I would aim to implement in the role. Better exposure and advertising for clubs: Hosting more club expos and other in-person opportunities for clubs to advertise their work and opportunities. I'd like to bring some of these events to the other campuses, as Kelburn hosts a disproportionate amount which tends to alienate students who study predominately or solely at the Pipitea or Aro campuses. One of my other solutions to a lack of reach would be to create a Club's Instagram and Facebook page to highlight individual clubs and to share exciting opportunities coming up. In a similar vein, I would like to start a “this month in clubs” style newsletter. Better room booking system: Often clubs have issues with spaces they've booked in advance which have been confirmed but end up double booked. An accessible and transparent schedule that shows which rooms are booked, similar to the system used for study rooms, would help aid this. Advocacy for more support for clubs: It's no secret that the uni has been through significant financial strain and continues to do so. However, the club space has historically been underfunded and these minimal funds tend to be exhausted early in the year. I would push for more funding as the clubs are crucial to making VUW a connected and vibrant place. As well as this I'd like to work with clubs to find ways to cut costs and potentially create an inventory of shared equipment that could be rented out to alleviate big costs for events. These are just some of my ideas for how I think the club space could be improved, but I am always open to suggestions on how YOU think the space can be improved. At the end of the day, I will be a servant of the students and want my actions to be reflective of what students want and believe in. Happy voting! Ngā mihi nui

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As we wind down towards the end of the year - at least for us uni students - I've finally got a chance to sit down and write about my experience as UN Youth New Zealand's communications manager for this year's SDG Summit, held at my very own University of Auckland. This was a brand new event for us at UN Youth Auckland, so we really were working from the ground up. We hadn't done anything like this before, combining student delegates with experts from across the field of politics, business, and academia to talk about the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. As such, we needed a stellar team to get everything done. Thankfully, I worked in tandem with some fabulous teammates - Sunisha Dugar, Luca Gemmell-Taylor, Eden Li, Sadiyah Begum, and Ashley Velasquez - who each worked incredibly hard, reflected in the success of the event. We had a few hiccups along the way, but sudden changes within the team and working remotely didn't stop us!! Delegates stepped into the shoes of global diplomats and experts, working together to develop solutions to address some of the biggest issues facing our world right now. Our local experts assisted with this, providing them with detailed insights into the issues and the planning required to create such life changing solutions. This made the Summit not just a experience of opportunities for us, the team, but also for the delegates! Getting such unhindered access to a variety of experts is rare to come across nowadays! I feel incredibly privileged to have been a part of this event. UN Youth does some really great civics work, something that I think goes a long way in making up for the lack of civics education in secondary school. My hope is for more of these events to take place, and if I can help contribute to their success, I'll be more than satisfied. Therefore, if anyone is interested in taking part in the future - as either a delegate or a member of the team - please feel free to get in touch! I'm more than happy to refer anyone through to the appropriate channels/pages/websites! For now, my UN Youth lanyard is hung up high. But, who knows what the future holds? Watch this space!!

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A fascinating proposal to reduce international uni student intake. Curious to see how this legislation goes with many complex issues here: 🏫 Unis need international enrolments to stay afloat 💰 Aus tertiary education is a profitable and lucrative business for providers (young people want to study here!) 🎓 Education is a top export & was worth $36.4b to the Aus economy in 2022-2023 Education policy is so important because beyond the core mission of improving lives through teaching and learning, it has far-reaching economic, housing and immigration implications. https://lnkd.in/d44Gk2qz

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This morning I was lucky enough to be graced by a beautiful reflection from Robin Waldun, who is a literature student based in Melbourne, in his weekly newsletter A Mug of Insights. In this week's newsletter titled Why I Prefer To Work In Public Spaces, Robin discusses how working outdoors has made his ideas more stronger than working indoors where he is the only critique of his thoughts. "𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐’𝘮 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵, 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬.... 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘧 𝘐’𝘮 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮." He continues on with examples such as when writers find a pattern or a routine where they perform well or a musician finds a tune which the world, he (the artist) recreates it (the art) again and again in the same manner expecting similar results. "𝘐𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴, 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘥𝘢𝘺." The above example is a great solution to catch onto market trends but they often get boring and a replica of everything else. As he mentions, this phenomenon is often observed as I earlier mentioned with musicians especially jazz musicians which the character of Ryan Gosling named Sebastian points out in the famous movie La La Land and with writers such as Ali Hazelwood a romance writer and neuroscientist whom major readers have criticised for rewriting her debut novel into new novels. The newsletter comes to end with an important hook which has left me thinking all day and has lead me to write this post as he says, "𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘦𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥." This pushed me into thinking how the famous polymath Isaac Newton developed calculus to equate gravity in mathematical terms when he observed an apple falling from the tree. However, if we look back in history, outdoor learning has been a major part of ancient education systems especially the gurukulam(s) and has to be brought back for a healthier learning and student life. I would like to conclude this article with a message that the education institutions all over the world should focus on outdoor learning along with emphasis on the student's ability to understand, analyse and reciprocate in their own words, the text being taught to them. I would also like to thank my professor Pavan Chand Akkiraju for always emphasizing on the values I've mentioned above, for always be so patient and  ever so understanding with every student.

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THIS! In a world of over-saturated content, this episode is like the meditation we know we need to do. A master class in how to consciously act .. less.

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We recently launched the 2024 Annual Career Development Survey for professionals with Chinese heritage in Australia. 🌏 This marks the fifth consecutive year of our survey, and we're thrilled to see the progress so many of our members have made! 🎉 We gathered 163 responses, and we’re excited to share the results with you! 📊 Here are some key insights: 🔑 Top Career Challenges: "Achieving sustainable growth and promotion opportunities" (69.9%) "Continuously improving non-technical skills (like communication, leadership, and influence)" (68.7%) 📉 Investment in Skills: - 19% didn’t invest in technical skills in the past year. - 36.2% didn’t invest in non-technical skills. - Yet, 93.9% who invested in technical skills said it was worth it! - 92.3% who invested in non-technical skills also said it was worthwhile. 💡 A Key Takeaway: While many understand the importance of developing non-technical skills, there’s still a gap in resource investment. Reasons range from inconsistent coaching quality to challenges in measuring coaching effectiveness. 🤔 📈 Our Community’s Impact: - 87.7% joined Fish Talk in 2023 or earlier. - 90.8% said Fish Talk positively impacted their career development. - Our NPS for 2024 reached an all-time high of +68.2! 🌟 Looking back, I’m so grateful for the journey - from our humble beginnings in 2017 with the “Endeavor Club,” to the creation of Fish Talk in 2019, and now a thriving community of nearly 3,000 members. 💪💬 Thank you all for your unwavering support, and for trusting us to provide high-quality coaching for graduates, young professionals, and mid-career professional🙏 👉 For the full report in Chinese, click below: https://lnkd.in/gi9vAA7S

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A comment from a tauira who recommends the Māori/indigenous Policy Development paper and kaiako Miki Roderick. After 20 years of experience with this paper we ask Miki Roderick - Why do you love teaching it?? "I am inspired by transformative changes I see in the graduates of this course, they are empowered to achieve within their work environment but more importantly the communities they belong to and live in." Semester 2 starting July 8: https://lnkd.in/gAA4bTYq

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A great report ! Powerful insights !

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🌟 It’s Official: My Second Publication is Out! 🌟 ✅✅ I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve co-authored my second paper, Australia at an Educational Crossroads: Special Schools and Inclusive Education, alongside my co-authors Jennifer Jolly and Terry Cumming—who is also my supervisor and co-founder of the Diversified Project, —and I still don’t have a degree! 🎓 My achievements serve as a reminder to anyone from marginalised backgrounds—whether you’re lower-SES, neurodivergent, living with a disability, or facing adversity—nothing is out of reach. With the right mindset, support network, knowing how to advocate for yourself, and knowing how to ask for support, you can achieve anything. Keep striving, and let’s work towards ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to succeed. This paper is part of the Advancing Inclusive Education for Students with Special Educational Needs: Rethinking Policy and Practice research topic. It provides a conceptual analysis of the vital debate between special schools and full inclusion in Australia, especially in light of the Royal Commission’s recommendations. We dive into the complexities of inclusive education and highlight the critical role that stability and community play for vulnerable and disadvantaged students. For many students, including those with disabilities, special schools and tailored support services provide the structure and sense of belonging that mainstream settings can sometimes lack. This analysis is a reminder that education systems must be careful when making changes that could disrupt the support and stability these students rely on. It’s not just about changing policies—it’s about recognising the importance of personalised support, co-designed services, and creating communities that uplift the most vulnerable students. At UNSW, there is an urgent need to ensure that marginalised students have access to personalised, student-led initiatives like the Diversified Project, where neurodivergent students can co-design and co-produce solutions tailored to their unique needs, while also contributing to academia as lived-experience researchers. The future of education must be shaped by student-driven and lived-experience projects that truly reflect the needs of those they aim to serve. To make this a reality, support services such as ELS, HPU, and PASS, alongside the Diversified Project, require greater funding and resources—especially those created by and for students from marginalised communities. 📢 It’s time to push for more inclusive, student-led solutions that create real change! If you’re passionate about inclusion, accessibility, or supporting neurodivergent students, let’s connect and discuss how we can amplify these efforts together. 🙌 #InclusionMatters #Neurodiversity #EducationForAll #LivedExperienceResearch #InclusiveEducation Publication link: https://lnkd.in/gmKQi5db

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🚀 AI is the Future: Transforming Academic for Neurodivergent Students and Staff 🚀 “Is this making me more relevant or redundant?” —For me, it’s absolutely about staying relevant and becoming more efficient, especially as someone navigating chronic health conditions, financial instability and the complexities of neurodivergence. Juggling 4 casual roles, and ten tasks at once (minimally), all while battling the constant overwhelm of admin and day-to-day life, AI feels like a lifeline — a way to regain control and move forward with less friction. This is the question we need to ask every time we use AI. Recently, Rushi ‎‎Vyas shared his experience in The Australian Financial Review about how AI is reshaping the future of work and education, and it made me think—how can this revolution change the game for neurodivergent students and staff? The academic world places immense pressure on students with its reliance on rote learning, high-stakes exams, and outdated methods of assessment. For neurodivergent learners, this system is even more overwhelming. But AI? It’s the game-changer we’ve been waiting for. Rushi’s startup What’s On! Campus—built entirely on AI—gave him real-time, personalised support while working on a student budget. Now, imagine that same AI technology helping neurodivergent students receive instant feedback, manage their workload, and relieve some of the anxiety that comes with traditional educational pressures. AI could be the support system that levels the playing field. Dr. Kelsey Burton from UNSW said it best: “We’ve only scratched the surface” of what AI can do. It’s not just about making life easier for neurodivergent students and staff; it’s about fundamentally changing how we think about learning. Why are we still forcing students to memorise for exams when AI could help us shift towards creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving? We need to harness AI for good—to change the narrative of the education system. No more one-size-fits-all approaches. AI can give neurodivergent students the tools they need, on their terms, in real time. 💡 Here’s the challenge: How can we push universities to adopt AI, not just as a life hack but as a means of building inclusion, reducing academic burnout, and fostering genuine learning for everyone? The future of education isn’t about making students fit into the system—it’s about building a system that fits the students. Check out Rushi’s full interview in the comments to see how AI is reshaping work, and let’s start a conversation on how to make education more inclusive and future-focused. Article link: https://lnkd.in/gwtj-Mxd 🔥 Share your thoughts below! Let’s spark this conversation about the revolution of learning! 🔥 #AI #Neurodiversity #InclusiveEducation #StudentExperience #UNSW #EdTech #Innovation #FutureOfWork #AIRevolution #LearningReimagined

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Over the past few weeks, I've been working on a communications project for my final year at university. My group and I decided to explore the marginalisation of men in dance, focusing specifically on the Brisbane community. I'm managing the social media accounts to support the release of our podcast and docuseries. This experience is providing valuable insights that will undoubtedly benefit my career. Here are some of the key takeaways so far: Community Management: Our project is experiencing rapid organic growth thanks to the positive response from the Brisbane dance community. To maintain this momentum, I'm dedicating more time to community management than I initially anticipated. Engaging with key industry stakeholders through reactive measures (responding to comments, mentions, and feedback) is fostering continuous engagement. Additionally, a proactive approach involving interaction with industry-specific media is proving successful in positioning our page as an active part of the dance community. Multimedia Approach: My team is strategically leveraging various platform features by creating content in diverse formats like images, videos, quizzes, polls, questions, and carousels. This strategy is effectively maintaining audience engagement on social media by catering to their preferred content types. Call To Action: Building a cross-media audience is proving challenging, but our strategy of "drip-feeding" content to build anticipation is successful in generating high social media engagement. However, we're observing a disconnect between social media engagement and conversions. A significant portion of our podcast and docuseries viewers are finding them directly on YouTube and Spotify, suggesting that our current call to action needs refinement. I'm excited to continue developing this project throughout the semester and see what results we achieve!

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Another successful school visit. Today's adventure, Cabramatta High School ! It was very thrilling to know how interested students were when it came to our top 3 Bachelor courses, and what can be offered as a student at Crown Institute of Higher Education. Growing up within the area, I can understand how daunting it is when you (the student) approaches a "mysterious" institute to ask the first question. Trust me, I was once in that position when it came to knowing about my tertiary options for my academic future. To see students perk up when they hear that they're entering CIHE to only see so many educational benefits and knowing that they are leaving with qualifications that puts them on the same starting line as many other students - What makes them stand out is that they have the skills and knowledge to be able to be work ready within their chosen industry. But I get it, sometimes we want to aim high. Though, in my honest opinion, a 50 ATAR to enter a Bachelor course with competitive prices sounds like a good deal. Hello, not to mention a possible chance of receiving a scholarship if I were to do a (free) Early Entry Program? It's such a great way to really see what else is offered by CIHE. Did you know that CIHE will be present at the HSC and Careers Expo at The Winx Stand, Royal Randwick Racecourse from Thursday, 30 May to Saturday, 1 June? If you would like to know about Crown Institute of Higher Education, I highly suggest for you to come to our stall at Level 1, Stand N7. #highereducation #tertiaryeducation #schoolvisit #marketing #cihe #crowninstituteofhighereducation #50atar #ATAR #HSC2024 #highschool #Education #Sydney #Canberra

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We need more than intentions or targets to improve Indigenous student participation in university. There is so much debate and policy discussions to improve Indigenous participation through uncapped places for all Indigenous Australians, irrespective of their postcode. But this is not the first time there have been plans to boost Indigenous enrolment at university. Preparing Indigenous Australian students for university needs to involve recognising and valuing different pathways into higher education. This should include recognising work experience and preparatory programs and participation in pre-university experiences and courses. It also needs to include mentorships, career counselling and work experience in high school. Once students are enrolled, universities need to provide support to Indigenous students throughout their studies. Like including culturally responsive approaches to teaching, access to support services, and nurturing a sense of belonging on campus. Policy changes are only one small part of a larger picture. The whole education sector needs to do more. #education #highered #inclusion

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Part of my role as a Climate Mate, with University of Southern Queensland's Northern Australia Climate Program, is helping producers and the red meat supply chain understand rainfall decile information. As a producer, knowing how to find and use this information when looking at monthly and seasonal outlooks has been a game-changer for me. That is why I love helping others understanding this useful information. With the forecast skill improving at this time of year for northern Australia, now is the time to look at the rainfall outlook for spring. The Bureau of Meteorology’s decile information can be very useful information. It can give you a clear indication of whether you’re likely heading into an unusually wet or unusually dry phase. Why it does it matter: Decile information goes beyond basic rainfall data which is crucial in decision making ie managing calving and breeder nutrition, planning your mustering or intensive reproduction programs. If you are unfamiliar with where to find, and how to read rainfall decile information, you can check out this short video produced by the team at NACP to learn how to make the most of BoM’s seasonal rainfall outlooks! https://hubs.li/Q02LQFNY0 #RainfallDeciles #SeasonalOutlooks #InformedDecisions #UnderstandingBoM #NACP #ausredmeat

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Hi everyone! With registrations for our climate leadership accelerator: Into the Arena going live this week, I thought I’d reflect on the program so far and why I think it’s uniquely placed to catalyse ecologically-attuned and empathetic leadership in Australia (and beyond). We’re currently half-way through our second Into the Arena program (my first) and there is a sense among us that through our coming together, our ecological-transformation approaches become far more expansive and energised. It’s been a reminder for me that two key aspects of generating impactful change include: 1) facilitating opportunities for relationship and cross-pollination between generations, sectors, perspectives and life-experiences and 2) developing capacities for skilful heart-led story-telling to constantly widen the circle of what we consider to be community. Moreover, many of us are calling for systems-thinking approaches to help steward in a more life-affirming future. And its wonderful to see this map, its language of leverage points, externalities and ‘emergence’ increasingly used as a compass for this time between worlds. The invitation of the moment is, however, one that integrates the systemic view with the personal development piece. After all meeting complexity hinges on our capacity for self-reflection, courage and relationship. This is what we’re endeavouring to do with this accelerator and its a journey we take together. If you’re feeling called to clarify a personally meaningful and fulfilling path to climate action, are desiring climate-contextualised mentorship and connections, or just generally resonate with the work: you can have a look at the program through our website here: https://lnkd.in/gMAKYKHu … or feel free to message me personally!

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A hybrid free-to-attend seminar 👈 Join Alieena Mathew, PhD candidate and research fellow at Social Marketing @ Griffith, as she collaborates with Plastic Oceans Australasia (POA) to tackle plastic consumption issues. 🌏 As some may know: - Plastic waste is a leading contributor of climate change.  - Between 2018-2019, Australia produced 2.5 million tones of plastic waste!  - And the projected rates of single use plastic (SUP) demonstrate continued exponential growth in the absence of any prevention efforts. Alieena's current project with POA is making apparent that without changing people’s attitudes, beliefs, and understanding of the SUP issue; long-term, sustainable behaviour change is difficult to achieve. It also emphasises the importance of theory in creating behaviour change while also acknowledging the need to make theory more practically useful! Come along either in-person or online to learn Alieena's progress in this project, key evaluations and what the next steps are! 📣 📅 Date:  Tuesday, 30 April 2024 🕘 Time:  9.00am - 10.00am  📍 Location:  Online via link below OR in-person at Griffith University, Nathan campus - room N72_- 1.18 https://lnkd.in/gwK_TG3p

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My sister’s book is now open access. From Alice Te Punga Somerville: Back in 2012, my first book 'Once Were Pacific: Māori connections to Oceania' was published. Oof that feels like a long time ago that it was launched at Waiwhetū on a v chilly evening! One of the problems with academic books is how hard it can be to access them - because of $$ and also book distribution. So I'm excited to share that the book is now freely available via Minnesota Uni Press's 'manifold' project. Have you been wondering about how Māori people have been thinking and writing about our connections to the wider Pacific region? Are you interested in Māori perspectives that aren't always getting the attention (esp but not only diasporic voices)? Do you love Māori literature? Did Winston Peters' bizarre logic about Māori not being Indigenous because we migrated from across the region make you retch/ scratch your head? Do you not like academic books but have trouble falling asleep? (hehe) #oncewerepacific #openaccess #māoriliterarystudies #pacificliterarystudies #indigenousliterarystudies #indigenousocean #thereissuchthingasafreelunch #ifyoulikebooksforlunch https://lnkd.in/gKJ_mFs8

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