Mick Gooda, CEO CRCAH

Dear Friends and Partners of the CRC for Aboriginal Health,

This is the second in a series of periodic updates on the CRC for Aboriginal Health’s application for an extension under the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research’s Cooperative Research Centre Program.

After making it through the first round of the extension application process the CRCAH was selected for interview by the extension interview panel which took place on July 1 from 2-4pm.
  
To prepare for the interview Ian Anderson, Jenny Brands, Nea Harrison and I had spent the past two weeks doing a series of mock interviews. We were assisted in this preparation by a number of people including Professor Terry Nolan, Professor Hugh Taylor, Dr Marjorie Dunlop, Professor David Studdert, A/Professor Margaret Kelaher and A/Professor Jane Pirkis, all from The University of Melbourne, as well as Jill Guthrie, Ray Lovett, Jeanine Leane and Valerie Cooms from the Australian Institute of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Studies. 

I wish to thank these people for their invaluable assistance.

The members of the CRCAH Interview Team were:

  • Pat Anderson
  • Ian Anderson
  • Judith Dwyer
  • Kevin Rowley
  • Ross Bailie
  • Tom Brideson
  • Rachael Wargent
  • Shane Houston
  • Mark Thomann
  • Alwin Chong
  • Wendy Ah Chin
  • Nea Harrison
  • Jenny Brands

The overwhelming feeling after the interview was that all of the preparation paid off and we did the best interview we could possibly do.

We answered all of the questions thoroughly and to the satisfaction of the Panel, to the point where we finished just under ten minutes before the allocated time. 

The interview panel, drawn from the CRC Committee and, in some cases, independent experts, will then make recommendations to the full CRC Committee which in turn will forward its recommendations to the Minister within a couple of weeks. 

To summarise, we were satisfied that the application and our performance at interview were done to the best of our ability. We can now only await the decision of the Minister which we understand will be made within weeks.

I will keep you all informed of events as they unfold.

Warm regards,


Mick Gooda
CEO CRCAH
July 2 2009