Graham Lancaster: The Wollongong icon putting the GLAM into new scholarship
Plus UOW jobs, data centre praise, and more
Healthier Illawarra Men open applications this week for the inaugural Graham Lancaster AM Scholarship - a $5000 professional development award for young people working to improve men’s health, emotional wellbeing and community connection.
The scholarship, named for Illawarra leader and philanthropist Graham Lancaster, includes mentoring with the director and owner of Lancaster Law & Mediation and networking opportunities through the organisation.
Healthier Illawarra Men chair Graeme Sutherland credited Mr Lancaster with shaping the community for decades through generosity and service.
“Graham Lancaster has quietly shaped this community for decades through generosity, humility and service,” he said. “This scholarship is about ensuring his legacy continues by investing in young people who are prepared to step forward and make a difference.”
Lancaster, who lives with MND after a 2024 diagnosis, was made a Fellow of UOW in 2025. Three years earlier he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for service to the law and to the Illawarra. His regional work includes the Leadership Development Forum, The Illawarra Connection, and the Leadership Illawarra Program, which has trained dozens of emerging leaders.
Applicants must be under 30 and demonstrate leadership in men’s health, healthy relationships or the prevention of domestic, family and sexual violence. Applications open via the website: healthierillawarramen.org.au. Applications close on August 31, 2026.
The scholarship announcement lands alongside news that author and advocate Samuel Johnson OAM will headline the organisation’s International Men’s Day lunch on November 13 at UOW’s UniHall.
The lunch centres on a “Bring Your Sister” campaign, drawing on Johnson’s relationship with his late sister Connie and the Love Your Sister movement. It encourages men to bring a woman from their lives to the event. Ticket sales open in August.
Sutherland said the scholarship and the Johnson appearance mark a broader shift for the organisation — part of a longer-term push to develop future leaders and open up conversations on men’s health across the Illawarra, rather than a one-off event.
UOW in the market for new employees
The University of Wollongong is after an employment relations lawyer. It’s one of 13 jobs posted on the university’s external careers page and comes hot on the heels of the Independent Commission into Corruption public hearing into governance issues, including recruitment, at UOW.
The ad says you can “make an impact at the University of Wollongong (UOW) - a purpose driven institution ranked in the top 1% of universities globally”.
An employment lawyer or senior employment or industrial relations professional wanting strategic influence and complex case work in a purpose-led organisation should consider the opportunity, it says.
The Level 8/9 position comes with a salary range of $123,283 - $152,959 with 17% superannuation. This one closes at 11.55pm on Sunday, July 26, 2026.
From a timing perspective is the standout position but then the university is also looking for an Executive Dean for the Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health.
Reporting to the Provost and sitting on the Vice-Chancellor’s senior executive team, the Executive Dean will provide comprehensive strategic and operational leadership for the Faculty, in alignment with UOW’s strategic plan.
Executive search firm, Perrett Laver, is involved in this one which closes on Monday, July 27.
There’s a couple of management cadet positions, payroll, admin and technical officer roles too. Check them all out here.
MP adds voice to data centre concerns
Continued concern about a proposed data centre in Moss Vale has, as you’d expect, found its way to Whitlam MP Carol Berry’s office. And her public stance on the matter has won her community praise, The Southern Wire reported.
In a statement, Ms Berry warned that powering the facility via a gas-fired plant conflicts with federal renewable transition priorities. She has formally escalated these concerns to federal Industry Minister Tim Ayres and NSW Planning Minister Paul Scully. Wingecarribee Shire Councillor Heather Champion endorsed the stance alongside local community advocates. Opponents contend the industrial facility directly threatens regional character.
Sydney company Nakar Property and its subsidiary Cloud Carrier want to build a data centre on the outskirts of Moss Vale, powered by a 673-megawatt gas power station. The Financial Review reported if built the plant would produce more than six times the energy required to power BlueScope’s Port Kembla steel works.
The proposal has been submitted to NSW Planning under its State Significant Development provisions, which bypass local council approvals. A determination has yet to be made.
Inaugural CEO Connect dinner
The Northern Illawarra Chamber of Commerce dropped big news this week: its first CEO Connect Dinner & Networking Evening will be held this month.
The intimate affair, limited to 20 people, will be held at the Clifton’s Imperial Hotel on Friday, July 24.
Aimed at bringing together business owners, leaders and decision-makers for genuine conversation and connection, Wollongong’s Lord Mayor Tania Brown is the special guest. Speakers also will include WorkLife’s Kate Dezarnaulds and Workplace Advantage’s Kristen Wall.
NICC members get priority access until Wednesday, July 22, for the $40 three-course dinner. If sets at the table are available on Thursday, non-members can nab one for $50. Booking fees will be added. Tickets here
Dine with a difference x2
Gretel Van-Lane, that great connector of Dinners with a Difference fame, is teaming up with one of the region’s culinary stars in August. There’s not only a dinner with a difference at Port Kembla’s Iron Yampi, but there’s a lunch, too!
For the uninitiated, the events are a chance to sit with some of life’s bigger questions alongside people equally keen to unpack them. Imagine a relaxed social setting, good food and drinks and gently facilitated discussion - this time on the theme of “a good life”.
It will happen for three hours from 6.30pm on Thursday, August 6, and again for lunch, from 12.30pm, on Sunday, August 9. Tickets for the Wentworth St event are available here and here for the Sunday lunch.