Community Engagement

AFR Reports A 50pc improvement: Unis turn the tide on disadvantage The winner of the community engagement category is reversing the fortunes of disadvantaged children in a partnership that has lifted HSC results.

Employability

AFR Reports Job-ready skills for the fast-changing workplace The joint winners of the employability category embed career experience in study programs to give graduates an edge in the competitive job market.

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Equity And Access

University of Newcastle ‘They do it tough’: Universities welcome disadvantaged Australians Bridging courses pave the way to university for students without high-school qualifications, and the Equity winner has been doing it for decades.

Commercialisation

AFR Reports This special paint could save lives from bushfires New paint technology developed at UNSW to help fire-proof homes is a joint winner in the Higher Education Awards research commercialisation category.

Opinion

Opinion Unis showcase their work in the community Universities continue to invest in public good and community-oriented initiatives, which is a very hard call in difficult times.

Lifetime Achievement

Monash University Meet the economist turned accidental uni vice chancellor Professor Margaret Gardner, the only vice chancellor to become a state governor, has been awarded this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Emerging Leaders

Workplace The three words that unite these emerging leaders Finalists in the emerging leadership category of the Higher Education Awards are focused on research that has “real-world impact”.

University Outgoing ANU boss predicts greater role for private colleges A 20-year horizon on higher education will be very different from today, says Brian Schmidt, who revealed his role behind Christopher Pyne’s “fixer” moment.

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Jobs AI greenhouses feed remote communities and educate children Food Ladder installs AI greenhouses in remote communities to feed people and educate their children about the benefits of healthy fresh produce.

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IVF The start-up revolutionising male fertility tests A home testing kit for men helps avoid the inconvenience and embarrassment of trips to IVF clinics.

AI Assessing innovation hands on with AI and experts Cognizant employed a multifaceted approach in judging of The Australian Financial Review 2024 BOSS Most Innovative Companies Awards.

Fintech Emissions tracking tool a winner for super funds and Pathzero Aware Super and Hesta use Pathzero software. So do 600 fund managers. It’s already the world’s largest data sharing network for private market carbon emissions.

Breakfast with the Boss Why this Woolworths executive no longer brings a laptop to meetings In our Summer Breakfast with the BOSS series, Andrew Cooper, head of transformation at Woolworths Metro, says ditching his laptop for an old-fashioned paper notebook has helped him become more productive in meetings.

Defence Cardboard drone maker used in Ukraine is Australia’s top innovator Sypaq has won the 2023 AFR Boss Most Innovative Companies Award, for its flat packed cardboard drones, which have been serving on the front line in Ukraine.

Cryptocurrencies This fintech lets you pay for fuel with bitcoin A small, but growing, cohort of consumers is tapping their crypto wallets to pay for fuel, powered by a local payments innovation.

Analysis

CSL Limited Old hands can be disruptors too Some of the finalists in the 2023 AFR BOSS Most Innovative Companies awards are not start-ups, but companies that have been around for a few decades or more.

Opinion

Opinion We need to turn invention into innovation Australian innovation has come a long way over the past decade, but innovation never sleeps, writes Larry Marshall.

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Innovation Robots open a path to sustainable construction This university building used a world-first technological innovation involving the use of a robot to install screw fixings during construction.

AI Using AI to help save wildlife after bushfires Ecologists know that far more data is needed to help species to survive catastrophic bushfires. That is where AI comes in.

BOSS From number-cruncher to CEO: This boss’ unexpected path to the top Lou Oppenheim has risen to the top of Sydney Dance Company, but every day she still wants to know what the numbers reveal about how the company is performing.

BOSS How Matt Comyn starts his day You don’t need eight hours’ sleep or a fixed morning routine. Listen to the CBA chief executive on the extended version of the 15 Minutes with the BOSS podcast.

Careers Why the lululemon MD doesn’t prioritise physical health any more There was a time when Trevor Holland would tell people his Lululemon role was a side job, even though he was working there 40 hours a week as store manager.

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Careers How this exec transferred her skills from luxury retail to health Holly Masters used to run a luxury brand business. Now she is the CEO of the McGrath Foundation. The two jobs are not as different as you might think.

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Leadership lessons The biggest mistake even senior execs make in job interviews Johnson Partners founder and CEO Jason Johnson says too many job candidates leave enthusiasm at the door when they go in for an interview.

Leadership lessons Jun Bei Liu: How I learnt to speak up The co-founder and portfolio manager at TenCap never felt she could express her opinion. That changed, although she says she still lives with imposter syndrome.

Leadership lessons Matt Comyn has a super skill, just ask Anthony Seibold Manly Sea Eagles head coach Anthony Seibold has forged a close relationship with the Commonwealth Bank CEO. It is a friendship where they learn from each other’s worlds.

Start-ups How Jane Lu turned a failed start-up into a $100m fashion success The Showpo founder swore off fashion after quitting her job to focus on a business that failed. She soon realised she had learnt too much from the failure to walk away.

Trump’s White House Trump picks Scott Bessent as Treasury secretary The fund manager, tariff supporter and crypto enthusiast will be tasked with implementing the president-elect’s pledges to cut taxes and raise tariffs

Analysis

Donald Trump The ‘landslide’ that wasn’t: Trump’s narrow victory Trump’s margin over Vice President Kamala Harris was about 1.6 percentage points, the third smallest since 1888, and could ultimately end up around 1.5 points.

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Need to Know Sydney train strike called off after crisis talks The Minns government has reached a deal with the rail union to avoid a two-day strike; Melbourne teenager Bianca Jones has died after being poisoned in Laos. How the day unfolded.

Need to Know Cbus signs off on new CFMEU directors The fund said all three directors had passed fit and proper person tests; James Packer backs “friend” Alan Jones amid fresh charges. How the day unfolded.

Updated

Trump’s White House Trump picks ‘absolutely frightening’ Kennedy to run health The president-elect’s choice to run US health has called vaccines a “crime against humanity” and has been linked to dumping a dead bear and decapitating a whale.

Israeli-Palestinian conflict Support for Palestinian sovereignty ‘rewards terrorism’ Executive Council of Australian Jewry says there is a ‘widening gulf’ between the Albanese government and the US on foreign policy.

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Opinion

Melania Trump Melania’s no-show at Oval Office an ominous omen The incoming first lady skipped the traditional handover meeting with the Bidens – another sign that the Trumps are going to do any damn thing they want this time round.

Opinion

Opinion How the Democrats can win in 2028 The electoral coalition that Donald Trump forged last week was sensational – almost Disraelian in its marriage of the overclass and the working class. But it won’t last.

Opinion

Opinion What Trump’s chosen ones tell us about his foreign policy The way in which America thinks about itself and its international environment has been changing for some years. Trump Redux puts it into sharp relief.

Voters in Taiwan face a critical decision on Saturday: whether to throw out 24 opposition lawmakers they elected just last year, in an extraordinary recall campaign that could put more power in the president’s hands but add to tensions with Beijing.

The vote threatens to flip the legislative balance in favor of President Lai Ching-te, who wants Taiwan to forge a future separate from China, against an opposition that favors closer ties with Beijing.

China, which claims the island as its territory and has been wary of Mr. Lai, could step up pressure on Taiwan if voters oust a large number of the lawmakers and give Mr. Lai more room to pursue his agenda. Here is what is at stake and how the recall will work:

A Triumph or a Travesty of Democracy?

No national-level legislatures worldwide have faced a recall effort as extensive as Taiwan’s, said Yanina Welp, a research fellow at the Graduate Institute in Geneva who studies recall initiatives.

Taiwan is one of the few democracies that allows voters to throw out elected representatives through such petitions, but previous campaigns were smaller and rarely successful.