Defending human rights, giving voice and growing connection
CQUniversity has announced four inspiring recipients of its 2024 Alumni Awards, and paid tribute to their impacts driving children’s rights and justice, inclusive technology, leadership, sustainability and citizen science.
Announced on Thursday 29 February 2024, the recipients are:
Outstanding Alumnus of the Year: Dr Wendy O’Brien, Bachelor of Arts (Hons) and PhD (1994, 1999)
A legal scholar and human rights specialist with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC, Vienna), Dr O’Brien works towards equal access to justice, particularly through technology, and has contributed significant new knowledge in the fields of children’s rights, gender justice, violence prevention, and human rights-led law reform.
Alumnus of the Year for Industry Excellence: Sarah-Jane Peterschlingmann, Bachelor of Information Technology (2005)
Award-winning founder, CEO and managing director of mission-critical web development and cloud hosting company ATech, Ms Peterschlingmann has worked with more than 600 local and international clients, and is an advocate for women in technology and entrepreneurship, and wholehearted leadership.
Alumnus of the Year for Social Impact: Swapnil Gadgil, Master of Information Systems (2001)
Co-founder and managing director of multi-award-winning technology company Therapy Box Ltd, Mr Gadgil and his co-founder and wife Rebecca Bright MBE have developed communication aid app Predictable, giving a voice to more than 50,000 people with speech difficulties.
Alumnus of the Year for Early Career Achievement: Misty Neilson, Bachelor of Science (Ecology and Conservation Biology) (2021)
An experienced business leader and passionate environmentalist, Ms Neilson is driving sustainability and citizen science as co-founder of Thriive Consultancy, at Burnett Catchment Care Association, and as Chair of Forever Wild (Global), an innovative wilderness protection organisation.
CQUniversity Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Nick Klomp, paid tribute to the inspiring recipients.
“CQUniversity takes great pride in the achievements of our alumni, as they advance the common good and challenge us all to grow our impact,” he said.
“It is particularly rewarding to see the accomplishments of our four Alumni Awards recipients in the fields of human rights, sustainability and inclusion, and to know that their CQUniversity education helped set them on their trailblazing paths.”
Dr O’Brien first began her CQUniversity studies in 1991, with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) on campus in Mackay then Rockhampton.
She returned for her PhD in the late 1990s, and was also a CQU lecturer, before working with the Australian Crime Commission for seven years, and with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) since 2018.
Based in London, Mr Gadgil said the CQUniversity recognition was a reminder of the long journey to grow inclusion and support for people with different abilities.
“It’s one of those things that gets you the energy to say, what I am doing is worthy and I should keep doing it!” he said.
In 2019, Therapy Box earned a Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Innovation – and he said all support inspired him and the growing Therapy Box team.
“That’s the driving force that you need – and I appreciated the Queen, I appreciate CQU, and any other pats on the back that we receive!”
Sarah-Jane Peterschlingmann moved from her hometown of Cairns to Rockhampton at 18, to follow her passion for technology.
“I didn’t have a grade 10 or 12 certificate, so it was quite a challenge to get into uni in the first place, but I was lucky that CQU had a great advocate for women in tech, Judith Wooller,” she explained.
Through the Women in Science and Technology pathway, Ms Peterschlingmann thrived in the degree, and started her company ATech soon after graduating.
“That training and knowledge that I got at CQUniversity was really quite a few steps ahead of industry, so I really learned to rely on my own skills,” she said.
“When I started, I didn’t think I was going to make a multi-million dollar cloud hosting company, I was just solving problems for people and doing what I loved!”
Ms Neilson also surprised herself with her achievements, as she completed her degree while juggling fulltime work and parenting.
“I was 15 when I first thought of doing environmental science, but it took another 20 years to actually begin – it was offered externally, I had three kids and I worked, and it was the only way I was ever going to be able to do a degree,” she said.
During the studies, she began new roles in environmental science, co-founded a business, and supported CQU research and citizen science projects.
“No amount of success is ever in isolation, you can never accept full responsibility for anything you succeed at or are proud of, it’s always a group effort,” she said.
CQUniversity is proud to have more than 130,000 alumni around the world, and to celebrate their impact through its annual Alumni Awards.
Find out more about our Alumni Award Winners.
Transcript
(MUSIC)
(MISTY) It was something that I wanted to do in high school, but when I did high school there was no environmental science or ecology.... there was biology.
And girls were not discouraged from doing science in senior, but they were definitely discouraged from pursuing it as a career.
(SWAPNIL) This 19-year-old young person, not communicating, she's not non-verbal...
In her mind, she didn't think she was disabled.
And showing her this device, and you know, she carrying this device, would shout out to the rest of the world that 'I am a person with disability'.
It was not socially acceptable, it was the opposite of what she wanted.
And I said, there should be an app for this, surely.
(WENDY) Being a woman, being the first in family to study at university, I was aware that there were different social expectations for women. But it was through my studies at CQU that I became really interested in how the world is organised, along lines of class and race and gender. And I do remember sitting up long into the night with other students from CQU, because we were all so interested in these ideas.
(SARAH-JANE) As years went by I realised that that training and knowledge that I got at uni versity was really kind of a few steps ahead of where people were in industry.
So I really learned to rely on my skills and knowledge instead of assuming that other people would know better.
(MISTY) And then the ecology degree came up with CQU and was offered externally. I had kids and I worked and it was the only way I was ever going to do a degree. Yeah I couldn't die without doing it.
(SARAH-JANE) I think it really was accidental...
I didn't think at the time I'm going to start a business,
I'm going to make a, you know, multi-million dollar cloud hosting company.
I just never would have even imagined that that was what I was doing.
I was just solving problems for people and doing what I loved.
(SWAPNIL) 'Predictable' is a communication app for those who have got good cognition, but they have lost the ability to speak.
Now available in 10 languages, soon it'll be 43.
(MISTY) I couldn't honestly look them in the eye and tell them to do something that they were passionate about, work their arse off, doesn't matter how hard it was. If I wasn't prepared to do it myself.
(WENDY) I mean at times of course we do feel overwhelmed I think... but that's not a reason to stop trying to make a difference. There's not a complete solution, but it's important that we continue to strive, to create equality, to create safety for all.
(SWAPNIL) This pat on the back means what I'm doing is is worthy and I should keep doing it! So that's the sort of the force that you need.
So I appreciate Queen but I also appreciate CQU, and every other sort of pats on the back that we receive.
(MUSIC)
