NEWS
campusreview.com.au
A program with conviction
Sydney Exoneration Project
continues popular trend of
investigating criminal cases.
S
erial, Making a Murderer, The Jinx –
true crime documentaries have hit
the zeitgeist with a populist force
over the past 24 months. The convergence
of long-form storytelling with fan theories
and a collection of intriguing characters has
made these titles, along with past classics,
such as The Staircase and Paradise Lost,
must-hear audio and must-see TV.
It seems opportune, then, for the
University of Sydney to launch a new
innocence initiative called Not Guilty:
The Sydney Exoneration Project.
Dr Celine van Golde from the Faculty
of Science is the project’s founder and
director. She said the focus will be on
reassessing possible wrongful convictions
within Australia and increasing the
collaboration between the law and
psychology departments.
“If somebody is jailed when they are
innocent, we want to give them that
opportunity to get the cases reassessed,” van
Golde said. “If anything wrong was going on,
we want to make that right. On the flip side,
if a person is wrongly convicted, the guilty
perpetrator is still in the street, and by going
over the case, there might be a chance that
we can find the guilty person and prevent
them from reoffending.
“By encouraging students during their
undergrad careers to work with each other,
we hope that later on in their careers, they will
learn from that experience and use that and,
hopefully, fall back later on in their career on
each other’s knowledge as well.”
Van Golde said there is a rigorous
application process for cases to be assessed,
in order to weed out anything frivolous. In
order to protect victims’ families, all efforts
will be made to remove any identifying
characteristics when publishing findings.
Victims and witnesses will be contacted only
as a last resort, she said. ■
New VC on way at Murdoch
Incoming leader looks to
‘exceed student expectations’.
M
urdoch University has confirmed
that its new vice-chancellor, Eeva
Leinonen, will commence in the
role in April.
Leinonen is heading west to Perth
from the University of Wollongong,
where she is the deputy vice-chancellor,
academic. Before that, she spent 19 years
at the University of Hertfordshire, north
of London, in the UK. Her academic
background is in linguistics and psychology.
“I am passionate about education and
supporting students in reaching their
potential. I look forward to working
with everyone at Murdoch to ensure
we exceed student expectations and
prepare them to succeed in their lives after
graduation,” Leinonen said. “I am excited
at being given the opportunity to lead
Murdoch University and I am very much
looking forward to joining the team and
engaging with Murdoch’s supporters
and stakeholders.”
6
Murdoch chancellor David Flanagan
welcomed Leinonen to the post.
“Professor Leinonen is extremely well
placed to deliver on our vision to be an
internationally recognised, research-led
institution with high-quality learning and
teaching,” Flanagan said. “During her time
at the University of Wollongong, professor
Leinonen has significantly advanced
agendas that improved the quality of
learning and teaching, including the use of
technology in learning, the wider student
experience, graduate employability,
schools outreach and fair access agendas,
and the operation of the uni ٕ