Maurice de Rohan International Scholarship
The legacy of one of South Australia’s greatest ambassadors, the late Maurice de Rohan, will continue through a scholarship bearing his name awarded by the University of South Australia. Maurice was committed to the development of a strong, mature, relationship between South Australia and the United Kingdom. This scholarship, reflecting Maurice’s passion and achievements, will enable others to carry on his legacy.
- Maurice de Rohan, AO OBE
- Scholarship details
- 2008 scholars
- Inaugural scholar
- Fundraising Committee
- How to donate
- London launch function
- Adelaide launch function
- Donor honour board
Maurice de Rohan, AO OBE, civil engineer and diplomat (1936 – 2006)
Maurice John de Rohan was born in South Australia and studied civil
engineering at the South Australian Institute of Technology, one of UniSA’s
former institutions. He was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor in 2003 in
recognition of his contributions to UniSA.
In 1960 Maurice embarked on his spectacular career when, at the tender age of 23, he co-founded Kinnaird Hill de Rohan and Young, which became Kinhill Engineers, and later Kellog Brown & Root in Asia. In 1976, for business reasons, he moved to the UK.
In 1982, he was elected a fellow of the British Institute of Management and, relishing the company of like-minded Australians, established Australian Business in Europe. A freeman of the City of London and a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Engineers, he was the driving force behind the establishment of the Australia Day Foundation in 2003 and so ensured that it was proudly celebrated in the UK.
In January 1998 he was appointed South Australia’s Agent General in London. This role, which pre-dates Federation by some 50 years, is now part-diplomatic and part investment, trade and tourism orientated, in a primarily South Australian context.
As Agent General Maurice was also Patron of the Combined UK Chapters of South Australian University Alumni Associations. Among his many other roles and awards were chairman of the Cutty Sark Trust, chairman of Disaster Action, member of the council of the Maritime Trust, chairman of the Cook Society, and member of the supervisory board of the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies. In 2003 he was awarded a Centenary Medal for his services to the public sector as Agent General for South Australia.
Maurice worked at a formidable pace, but managed to draw the best out of those around him. His calm authority and warmth enriched the lives of those who knew him. A keen Australian rules footballer in his youth, he remained a fervent supporter of Port Adelaide throughout his life.
Scholarship
Valued at $17,500 the Maurice de Rohan scholarship provides the opportunity for higher degree research students undertaking either -
- a Doctoral degree (PhD or Research Professional Doctorate),
- or upgrading to a Doctoral degree from a Masters by Research degree
to gain an international perspective and improve their theses by having the opportunity to undertake research, data collection or work with institutional or industry partners in the UK or USA.
2008 scholars
Two Maurice de Rohan International Scholarships were awarded in 2008 to
Rosie Roberts and Vinay Sriram.
Rosie Roberts is currently in the second year of her PhD candidature
within the School of Communication. Her research investigates issues of
home, belonging and professional identity for skilled-migrants from a range
of countries who have settled on a long term or permanent basis in Australia
or who are Australian-born citizens who have moved abroad on a long-term
basis.
Rosie leaves South Australia in September to travel to the UK and the USA to
collect further data for her research. She will also spend time at the
University of Sussex and University College London working with
international experts in the field of skilled migration.
Vinay Sriram is a research fellow at the Defence and Systems Institute.
He is currently also pursing a PhD in Information Technology at the School
of Computer and Information Science at the University of South Australia.
His PhD involves the design of a high performance computer using FPGAs and
the acceleration of computationally complex defence sensor target threat
simulations using the high performance computer. Later this year, he plans
to visit Imperial College London to enhance key capabilities of his high
performance computer. Vinay has published 4 journal papers and over 10
conference papers.
Inaugural scholar
Ananthakrishnan
Kollengode Subramanian (or Krishnan for short) is studying
full time for a doctoral degree at the University of South Australia and his
field of endeavour is the application of signal processing to co-chanel speech
separation. The practical application of Krishnan’s research could lead to
better hearing aids and very advanced recording of conferences where every
speaker can be identified.
Very little work has been reported in Australia on Krishnan’s research topic and it is essential for the field research to be able to access speech data from ‘multiple talkers’. Such a database for ‘two talkers’ is available at the University of Sheffield.
Krishnan will use the Maurice de Rohan International Scholarship to visit the UK and interact with the University of Sheffield speech processing research group, that created the database and is internationally recognised for the speech separation and transcription research. The collaboration will enable Krishnan to gain new insight into advanced speech separation techniques and to network with respected international researches in this and related areas.
Fundraising committee
UniSA has committed one Maurice de Rohan scholarship per year to be awarded in perpetuity. In addition to this scholarship a fundraising committee has been appointed to raise $600,000, which will provide a further two scholarships each year in perpetuity. Maurice de Rohan International Scholarship fundraising brochure (PDF 32kb – download Adobe Acrobat).
The members of the Maurice de Rohan Fundraising Committee are spread across the globe:
Australia
|
Creagh O’Connor (Chair) |
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|
Greg Boulton |
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|
Dr Leon Davis AO |
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|
Dr Malcolm Kinnaird AO |
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David Klingberg |
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|
Yvonne Clark (Executive Officer) |
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London
|
Bill Muirhead |
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New York
|
Chris Colbourne |
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For further details please contact:
Yvonne
Clark
Manager:
Alumni and Development
University
of South Australia
Tel. :
+61 8 8302 0972
Email : yvonne.clark@unisa.edu.au
How to donate
Gifts made in Australia are tax deductible as the University of South
Australia qualifies as a tax exempt organisation under section 78 of the Income
Tax Assessment Act. The University accepts the following:
- cash
- cheques/money orders - please make cheques out to University of South Australia
- telegraphic transfers
- credit card -Visa, MasterCard and Bankcard.
You can make a gift to the Maurice de Rohan International Scholarship by printing the Maurice de Rohan International Scholarship fundraising brochure (PDF 32kb – download Adobe Acrobat) mailing or faxing it to the following reply paid address:
For donations made outside of Australia
University of South Australia
GPO Box 2471
Adelaide, South Australia 5001
For donations made within Australia
University of South Australia (6)
Reply Paid 2471
Adelaide, South Australia
5001
Fax: +61 (8) 8302 0970.
You can also make your gift by phoning +61 (8) 8302 0972 with your credit
card details.
London launch function
Over forty guests attended a private Maurice de Rohan Fundraising dinner held at Lord’s Cricket Ground on 5 September. The Maurice de Rohan Scholarship was launched at this function and the inaugural scholar was announced.
 Creagh O’Connor & Sir Ron Brierley |
 Alison de Rohan & Alan Brideson |
 Guests at Maurice de Rohan dinner |
 Jonathon de Rohan, David Klingberg,
|
Adelaide launch function
A cocktail function was held on 22 November 2007 in the Hawke Building, City West Campus, University of South Australia. Over 70 people attended and special guests included Mrs Margaret de Rohan, The Hon. Dr Jane Lomax-Smith MP, The Hon. John Olsen AO, The Australian Consul General to New York, Sir Eric Neal AC CVO, Chancellor, Flinders University and Maggie Beer.
The inaugural scholar, Krishnan Kollengode, gave a presentation about his research and recent visit to the University of Sheffield.
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Professor Peter Høj, Kollengode
Ananthakrishnan, Margaret de Rohan & |
David Klingberg, Sir Eric Neal & Kollengode Ananthakrishnan |
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Creagh O'Connor & Krishnan Kollengode Subramanian |
Ganesh A Krishnan, Kollengode Subramanian, Dr Anna Ciccarelli & Dr Kutluyil Dogancay |
Donor Honour Board
The following have generously donated to the Maurice de Rohan International Scholarship and their gifts ranging from $100 to $35,000.
The University of South Australia Foundation thanks every donor who has made a contribution.
Adelaide Brighton Ltd
Adelaide Warehouse Distribution Services
Alan Brideson
Alan Crompton
Barbara Hardy AO
Built Environs Pty Ltd
Campden Hill Limited
Charles Binks
Charles and Jane Fry
Sir Christopher Benson
Chris Colbourne
Codan Limited
Creagh O’Connor
David Klingberg AM
Don Hill
Frances Adamson
Franco Moretti
Gliderol Garage Doors Pty Ltd
Government of South Australia
Hon Graham Ingerson MPS
Grant Spence
Howard B Young
Dr Ian Chesterman AM
Ian Wall
J. Raymond Michell AM
Hon Dr Jane Lomax-Smith MP
John Bishop AO
John Heard AM
Dr Judith Brine AM
Hon K Trevor Griffin and Val Griffin
The Hon Dr Kemeri Murray AO
Leon and Annette Davis
Margaret de Rohan
mhm
Michael Angelakis AM
Dr Norton Jackson AM
Oliver and Sally Stocken
O’Loghlin Consultants Pty Ltd
Peter Costain
Ric Mollison
Dr Rick Allert AM
Robert Hill-Ling
Sir Ron Brierley
St Aloysius College
Ted Byrt
Tony Dawson
Tony Read
URS Australia Pty Ltd
William Cooper OAM
William Woodhead
Yalumba Wine Company