Gemma Lucy Smart

Absolutely gobsmacked to have opened my email to find that I have been have been awarded the University of Sydney Faculty of Science Postgraduate Research Prize for Outstanding Academic Achievement.

Thanks Hans Pols, Paul Rhodes and Dominic Murphy for being excellent supervisors!

Equity and Diversity Principles AAHPSSS is committed to fostering a safe, inclusive, and equitable environment that celebrates diversity and encourages the participation of all individuals. We recognise the value that diverse per…

Proud to see AAHPSSS adopt the Equity & Diversity Principles I drafted as VP. Great collaboration with our executive team and membership to get this across the line.

Now for the implementation work! Policy available on our website.

#Leadership #EquityAndDiversity

Australian woman spends night in US prison after being refused entry Former NSW police officer Nikki Saroukos spent a sleepless night in a US prison cell after being denied entry to visit her husband, a US citizen and army officer.

Quoted once again on matters relating to entry in the USA, and the effect of restricted travel on academia. The lead story is terrifying.

I really wish things had gotten better, not worse!

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

if you know a lot of stuff i think it is your moral duty to be kind and excited when people learn stuff for the first time. the world is full of stuff we don't know about, don't be mean

YouTube video by Gemma Lucy Smart World Voice Day Australia 2024: Living with Spasmodic Dysphonia | Disability Advocacy

Just uploaded for #WorldVoiceDay! Living with spasmodic dysphonia, I explain why voice disorders need disability recognition. When your career depends on voice, losing it changes everything. #disability #auspol #SpasmodicDysphonia

youtu.be/U1sKi2dcOiI

Our total number of students who’ve had their F-1 visas terminated in the SEVIS system is now at 37. All graduate students or recent graduate students.

Thanks to @abcnewsnetau.bsky.social for having me along to speak on this issue #highered #DEI #DEIA #disability #histmed

What Australians flying to the US need to know about phone and device searches at the border Can immigration deny you entry if you refuse to hand over your phone? What can officials look at or download, and how can you protect your devices?

Worried about travelling to the US? You're not alone. Can immigration deny you entry if you refuse to hand over your phone? What can officials look at or download, and how can you protect your devices?

Here’s what you need to know, and what you can do to prepare, if you are heading to the US.

I'm possibly on some watch lists now but I honestly believe this is an issue that we need to speak out on, especially in the context of an election with one party endorsing these sorts of views. Academic freedom without diverse views is not free. Thanks to The Guardian #auspol #histmed #disability

Unwelcoming Borders: How Australia’s Migration Law Prevents International Students and Staff from Identifying as Disabled - Honi Soit As Australia competes globally for international talent, creating a more welcoming environment for people with disabilities would not only fulfill human rights obligations, but also enrich campus comm...

Creating a more welcoming environment for people with disabilities would help Australia compete globally, fulfill human rights obligations, and enrich campuses with diverse perspectives currently lost to discrimination.

#disability #highered #equity #internationalstudents #auspol

bit.ly/4ikCida

A College in Transition: Graduate House’s Legacy and Uncertain Next Chapter - Honi Soit The announcement that Anton Martino-Truswell, the beloved Dean of St. Paul's College Graduate House, is stepping down, marks the end of a transformative chapter of inclusion in Sydney's college commun...

In my first Disability Honi Soit piece of 2025, I examine a concerning shift at USyd: Anton Martino-Truswell, the Dean of St. Paul's College Graduate House, is stepping down. What will this mean for diversity in Sydney's college community?

#disabliity #carers #highered

honisoit.com/2025/04/a-co...

Changing references from APA to Chicago is the least fun.

Beautiful, powerful letter

I have been asked by Harvard colleagues if they should keep quiet so as not put the larger Harvard community at risk with their words

Took me a while to ruminate

My response:

Harvard is its people and their voices

If we are silent then there is no Harvard to save

I will continue to pick up the pieces. I will continue to be the fighter I am. But I will never again be the gem on that Friday morning, before the call. 8.

Secondly: friends don't let friends give character evidence for accused rapists. Stop it. Call your friends on it. If you're asked to provide character evidence just say no. If it's made it to the courts and you weren't there at the time, stay out of it. It's none of your business. How dare you. 7/

No one can prepare you for a Not Guilty. No one can understand it unless they have gone through it. It is torture. And that's even before talking about the process to get there. I had a dream run and it broke me. A broken system breaks people. Stop pressuring women to report. 6/

Every part of my body has struggled against the tide of trauma. I am a broken woman still putting the pieces together.

5 years later I still have two messages I want everyone to know. Firstly: we need to stop the rhetoric that reporting is the only or most appropriate option for everyone. 5/

I'd like to say I wish I could go back in time and reassure that gem that everything was going to be okay, but that would be a lie. The last 5 years have had joy, yes. But they have been tough. Every one of my romantic relationships has been broken or affected by this moment. 4/

After I hung up I dropped to the ground. The scream that came out of me was something I would never forget – even at the time I immediately dissociated, watching my throat run hoarse and my body crumple as if it wasn't even me screaming. In that moment I broke. 3/

I held it together at first – "Why did this happen? What changed the jury's mind?" but this disintegrated quickly. Soon I was choking up, sobbing, pleading "He's going to do it again. I've failed. He's going to hurt someone else." I wish I was wrong about that. 2/

CW: SA and courts (thread)

At around this time of day 5 years ago, I got a call from my barrister while sitting on my backyard lawn. Not Guilty of aggravated sexual assault. Not Guilty of sexual assault. But he believed justice had not been served, and reassured me of this. 1/ #sexualassault #metoo

“Swimming in debt”: Sydney’s $14 billion student loan burden

📢 This map reveals which suburbs are carrying the city’s biggest HELP debts.

👉 Report issues, make suggestions

TikToker defamed female Sydney Uni student over sex assault report protest

📢 The influencer has been ordered to pay $20,000 after accusing the woman of complicity when a group of male students tore up a report into campus sexual violence.

2nd Royal Society fellow resigns over Musk’s membership, citing the Council’s “inability to take proportionate action on Musk’s promotion of disinformation and attacks on evidence-based policies and science advice”.

FRS Andrew Millar, prof of engineering bio at Uni of Edinburgh, confirmed to me.

My tuxedo cat sits on top of a chair with a brown blanket and looks to camera. Her hands a clasped.

Cat to stop your doomscroll. #academicswithcats

Yesterday tinder popped up with a warning that my match 'might not like' me saying to them that I wouldn't meet for a *guaranteed* hook up because of safety concerns. It suggested I rethink sending the message. I can't find tinder here on bluesky, but I'd suggest that's something they need to fix!

Returning to Your PhD studies Following a Bereavement by Hema Chaplin TW: Death and family bereavement My father was diagnosed with Stage 4 bowel cancer, just as I was completing my Health Psychology Masters, and just before I found out I had been successful in being…

Fitting that this came out close to #worldcancerday where I share my experience of completing a #PhD whilst Dad had #BowelCancer, & ultimately returning to finish it once he had passed. I hope that those who need it, find it & it helps a little bit💜 #phdlife voicesofacademia.com/2025/02/07/r...

can you imagine if i, a historian, said i had a serious amateur's interest in science and that meant i was capable of having meaningful and fully-clued-in conversations about methods and conclusions with a trained scholar?

Most of the time I feel like a philosopher who dabbles in history. Then I find a poster from the early 1980s in the State Library that brings on giddy excitement. Moments like this make me feel like a 'real' historian. #dishist #medhist

Anyway reminder that solidarity is not transactional, and giving into eugenics is, among other things - deeply embarrassing.

With enough time and luck, disability is coming for all of us. Do yourself a favour and start dealing with the hole in your politics now 💕