Two universities unite
COLLABORATIVE research is like a marriage, said Professor Andrew Kaye, one of Australia’s top surgeons. You decide on a partner, you reject other lovers – and then you make it work.
COLLABORATIVE research is like a marriage, said Professor Andrew Kaye, one of Australia’s top surgeons. You decide on a partner, you reject other lovers – and then you make it work.
The head of surgery at Royal Melbourne Hospital was applying his characteristic wit to explain how two far-flung but like-minded universities – University of Melbourne (UoM) and Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJ) – are learning that two heads are better than one.
Or, more specifically, 11 heads. That’s the number of Israeli academics in Australia this week for a groundbreaking visit. The Hebrew University group comprised the largest university delegation from Israel to visit this country.
A jam-packed week, sponsored by UoM’s Centre for Jewish History and Culture, included panel discussions at UoM, an Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce luncheon, and a communal event at Beth Weizmann co-sponsored by the Zionist Council of Victoria and Hadassah Australia.
The 11 hit some early sixes out of the park. At Monday’s panel discussions, introduced by Professor Leon Mann of UoM’s Research Leadership Unit, delegates addressed a range of disciplines from immigration law to medical research, identifying common ground.
Delegation leader Mimi Ajzenstadt, an HUJ criminology professor, spoke about her research into refugees and criminality. She said Israelis are wary of refugees from war zones in Sudan and Eritrea who are entering from Egypt, their country of first asylum, where they are in danger of their lives.
Ajzenstadt identified fear of terrorism as a common theme in the two countries’ refugee debates. Professor Gaby Horenczyk, from HUJ’s education faculty, spoke of Israelis’ views that many refugees were actually economic immigrants.
Ajzenstadt told The AJN: “In Australia you have [a sense of] isolation from Europe and the United States. In Israel, we’re close to Europe but we do feel isolated, especially in the context of the Middle East … it’s a sociopolitical isolation. There is a fear [of the African arrivals], they are being stigmatised.”
Interviewed by The AJN, Professor Amalya Oliver and Associate Professor Gili Drori of HUJ’s sociology department said learning how research is conducted on the other side of the world can be illuminating. Oliver said: “It gives you an opportunity to have a much broader understanding.”
PETER KOHN
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