THE REGION OF GASTRONOMY PROGRAM - A FACTOR FOR EMPOWERING LOCAL COMMUNITIES

The purpose of the paper is to analyse the initiatives aimed at raising awareness of local communities on the importance of protecting and promoting distinct goods for sustainable food, culture, arts, and tourism, at EU level, to balance globalized food trends. The study carries out a comparative analysis at the level of three European Regions of Gastronomy: Coimbra Region, Sibiu Region and South Aegean Region. The key areas of the Region of Gastronomy Award program: raising citizen awareness about the food they eat, the value of local products and the need to innovate to protect local products. The benefits of such initiatives and their contribution to empowering local communities and to better quality of life were identified and highlighted.

The ripple effect: How the Australian Awards for University Teachers (AAUT) build and maintain excellence in teaching and learning across the nation

In this commentary I provide an overview of the national award program, the Australian Awards for University Teachers (AAUT), that has been running for 23 years. The current federal government has made the decision not to fund the awards after 2021, a decision I believe is not only short-sighted but could be damaging for Australia in the global education market. I argue that the benefits of the awards are widespread in higher education. They recognise and reward creativity and innovation, they have created a culture of collaboration and mentoring that extends across universities and states, and most of all they validate the importance of good quality teaching in universities, providing a recognition and promotion pathway to match that of research awards. I propose three possible options to continue support for this valuable award program and encourage senior academics and past award winners to work as a group and pursue replacement funding and a sustainable management model for this program. The AAUT awards have an integral role in promoting creativity and innovation in teaching and learning, as well as the ripple effect of open promotion pathways, and collaborations across and between universities and across and between disciplines.

Beyond Ticking Boxes: Holistic Assessment of Travel Award Programs is Essential for Inclusivity

Many professional societies utilize travel awards programs to foster inclusion and facilitate the professional development of underrepresented minority (URM) scientists. All member societies that participate in the Alliance to Catalyze Change for Equity in STEM Success (ACCESS) do so to some degree. Members of this meta-organization recently came together to share their different approaches to URM travel award program assessment. The practices of the Biophysical Society (BPS), one of the ACCESS member societies, is used as a case study to discuss the highlights of our findings. We share and discuss a framework for URM travel award program assessment.