Amy Bugeja

^{Amy Bugeja}

Engagement and Advancement Manager for the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences (MSPS), Amy Bugeja, received the Excellence in Engagement award for the development of PsychTalks, the MSPS forum for ideas and discussion.

This public engagement series provides a platform for globally-engaged academics from MSPS to share and promote psychological knowledge in solving major social and health challenges. Through community-focused panel sessions and forums across a range of disciplines, the series encourages constructive debate on issues of regional and global relevance.

‘I was delighted to receive the Excellence in Engagement award and appreciate the Faculty’s generosity in recognising the work of professional staff,’ said Amy.

It has strengthened her desire to expand on PsychTalks. Initially, the award funds were going to be used to attend an international Science Communications Conference, however that was thwarted by COVID. Amy has had a rethink and is excited to be channeling her award funds into scoping and developing a PsychTalks podcast instead.

The award has also been used to apply for one of the University Excellence awards. The process was made much easier because the required information was already prepared.

Amy says that whether your application is successful or not, it is well worth going through the process of crafting an application.

We rarely have the time or capacity to document our work and celebrate our success, but in developing an application, you can see your body of work mapped out in a very concise format, Amy Bugeja

‘You can use to promote the impact you have had and celebrate that within your team and with your stakeholders,’ she said.