AIHS Announces Winners of 2023 OHS Education Awards

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The AIHS is pleased to announce the winners of the 2023 OHS Education Awards which will be presented as part of the Dr Eric Wigglesworth AM Memorial Lecture in May. The purpose of these awards is to provide an opportunity for students studying occupational health and safety at university level, and demonstrating high levels of achievement and initiative, to be recognised by the Australian Institute of Health & Safety.

Each year Australian universities nominate students for one of two education awards - an undergraduate award, a postgraduate award, as well as the Dr Eric Wigglesworth research award, focused on their work throughout 2022.

The recipient of this year's Undergraduate Award is Caitlyn Roberts from Edith Cowan University. Caitlyn completed a Bachelor of Health Science majoring in Occupational and Environmental Health and Safety. She achieved a Course average grade of 77.83 and received the Environmental Health Australia (WA) Gold Medal for the 2022 academic year, awarded to the student with the highest overall grade. Caitlyn also received an award for achieving the highest grade in the WHS law unit, which demonstrated her technical and theoretical knowledge. Since graduation, Caitlyn has gained full-time employment as an Environmental Health Officer with the Shire of Harvey and continues to develop her practical knowledge through her work.

The Postgraduate Award went to Aleksandar Popovich from the Queensland University of Technology. During his studies, Aleksandar demonstrated a genuine learning appetite which was evident from his engagement with the units, lecturers and peers and his excellent performance across all eight units of the course. The latter culminated in graduating with an outstanding GPA of 6.57 out of 7. Aleksandar also co-authored an article published in the top-tier journal Safety Science under the leadership of the course coordinator and together with other coursework students. For the level of a postgraduate diploma, this is an extraordinary achievement.

The Dr Eric Wigglesworth OHS Research Award went to Cassandra Madigan from The University of Queensland. Cassandra's thesis focussed on "Influencing occupational health and safety outcomes: How occupational health and safety professionals influence". By utilising multiple perspectives (OHSPs and senior managers), data sets, and methods in combination with well-validated intra-organisational influence theory, a range of new and significant contributions have emerged from four empirical studies. Examiners of this thesis noted "The thesis is novel (and timely) because it examines unresolved issues surrounding OHSPs' capacity for upstream managerial influence. The probative worth of this thesis lies in the application of a significant body of evidence for the pragmatic application of new knowledge on how OHSPs could apply (exert) upstream influence." Dr Trajce Cvetkovsk, Australian Catholic University.

The AIHS holds the OHS Education Awards annually to promote a culture of learning where we all aim to continue to grow in capability throughout our careers, continuously learning. Each winner receives a financial stipend to assist in their further education or research activities.

Media Enquiries:
AIHS Contact: Rebecca Turnbull
Tel. (03) 8336 1995
Email: [email protected]

About the AIHS: with a 75-year history, the Australian Institute of Health & Safety is Australia's national association for the health and safety profession, with a vision for safe and healthy people in productive workplaces and communities.