Farewell and thanks, your legacy is a great one

Professor Peter Hodgson, Deakin’s First Federation Fellow, is something of an expert when it comes to paying tribute to Professor David Stokes, Deakin University’s departing Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research).

He spoke at his farewell when Professor Stokes ended a successful stint as Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology just under a decade ago.

“So I guess I am well qualified to say something about him as he leaves Deakin for a second time,” Professor Hodgson quipped when he joined the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sally Walker, and Professor Neil Barnett, in farewelling Professor Stokes at a function at the Lake House on the Geelong Campus at Waurn Ponds.

“There’s no doubt that David’s legacy at Deakin is a monumental one.

“As the Dean of Science and Technology back in the 1990s, he was one of the first people to take the steps to give Deakin a research profile.

“He decided to take a big picture approach to the process.

“He went out and appointed professors in each of the Faculty’s key areas of potential strength and supported areas of current research strength.

“He recruited Julian Mercer, Saeid Nahavandi, Xungai Wang, all important contributors to where Deakin is now as a research driven university.  Another of the appointments, Professor Mark Burry, is now also an ARC Federation Fellow at RMIT.

“Our Faculty was the only one to develop a serious research profile in Warrnambool based around a distinctive marine and environmental focus

“He recruited me, an untried academic from BHP.  My first memory of David is the fact that he wore braces.  Nobody wore braces, I thought.

“But nobody at Deakin did a lot of things that David thought we should be doing back then.

“Now if his braces still aren’t in style, his thinking about where Deakin should be heading in research certainly is.  What we are doing in research is making people sit up and take notice, not just in Deakin, not just in Australia, but around the world.

“David was as excited as anyone when we won the Ford Global Challenge to design a Model T for the 21st Century, sharing the prize with Aachen University in Germany.

“It was David who years ago had visited Aachen to see the sorts of things that Deakin should be doing in manufacturing and automotive research.  This was part of his efforts to develop a unique partnership model with Ford that went right from shop floor training to PhDs in the plant.  This was a key element in Deakin’s second University of the Year Award in 1999/2000 for effective partnerships with industry.

“He was stoked, if you forgive the pun, when in 2008 Deakin was adjudged to be on the same level as Aachen.

“We should also remember that while he was officially away from Deakin, David did play a very important role as a consultant as the University developed its successful bid for a Medical School.

“His return and role as DVC(R) has been with the objective of positioning Deakin for a major leap in research performance. He wanted to lay the foundations for the next step change.

“He wanted to see it develop beyond the faculties and into research institutes. David has played a driving role in creating ITRI, the Institute for Technology Research Innovation of which I am now the Director of Research.

“David imagined the Alfred Deakin Institute, and it is great that that is coming together to do important research work in many of the areas that so fascinated Alfred Deakin.

“He has also envisaged a third Institute built round Deakin’s fantastic research in health..

“A lot of this thinking is big picture. And a lot of it involves risk.  I don’t think David has ever been frightening of risk, but the risk is all carefully thought through.

“When you engage with David in discussion about his plans, you can’t help be blown away by his enthusiasm.  He does get very animated, very excited, when he talks about Deakin, about Research, about what he wants to see happening here.

“When the two of us get together, talking about the future, our arms waving around, it’s like two helicopters heading off in to outer space.

“That’s another thing about David. He values the input of others. He asks, he listens, he argues, he brings out his favourite drawings and illustrations to add to the weight of his own arguments.

“But generally, he gets on with the job.  We will continue to reap the rewards of David’s input into research at Deakin for years to come.

“It has been a privilege to be involved with David at Deakin. At a personal level, I am pleased that he saw something in a mop-haired scientists from BHP  - he probably thought mop-hair was out-dated in the 1990s - and gave me a chance.

“There would be many more researchers at Deakin who would share that sentiment.

“One of the ways I measure people is not by what they do, but why they do it.

“With David, you always knew he was doing it for Deakin.

“Research at Deakin will prosper long into the future because of Professor David Stokes.  The early career researchers that David has been championing through the Alfred Deakin Postgraduate Fellowships will at some time in the future have reason to be as grateful to David as I have now.

“So for a second time David, farewell, all the best to you and Lyn.  I don’t think there will be a third time, but you’re welcome to visit us any time to see how we’re building on the wonderful platform you have helped provide Deakin Research.”

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