David Zhang

NCP Grant, AUD88,000, DFAT 2025-2026

Inspired by the success of a previous short-term mobility program, the Blue-Economy Project offers a 10-week study abroad experience with an extended 4-week in-country immersion to provide a flexible yet impactful alternative to longer mobility options. It’s designed to accommodate students from low-income backgrounds, those with tight schedules, limited elective study options, or with disabilities who may face challenges with extended stays abroad. While maintaining proven excellence in enhancing student learning and meaningful social impact, it ensures equity, inclusion and diversity without compromising on excellence.

Background and Precedent: The Eco-Economy Project

The Eco-Economy Project, the direct predecessor of the Blue-Economy initiative, achieved tremendous success. It received Special Commendation for Indonesia Studies and Cultural Leadership 2023 by the Australia-Indonesia Institute (DFAT) for its innovative sustainability education program that promoted engagement with and deepened understanding of Indonesia within Australia. It delivered 18 real-world solutions, improving the lives of approximately 2,500 people on a disadvantaged shark-fishing island near Lombok. Through eco-conservation and community development, seventy students from 42 disciplines worked alongside academics, experts, and local communities to address challenges in food security, clean water access, pollution, well-being, gender equality, and livelihood diversification beyond shark fishing.

The project also earned recognition among Murdoch University’s Top Achievements in Wildlife and Conservation (2022) and received two Vice Chancellor’s Excellence Awards in 2023 and 2024, respectively for embodying university principles and enhancing student learning.

Evolution and Objectives

Building on this success, the Blue-Economy Project 2025 expands into a 4-week immersive education program, driven by the objective of ‘Creating Real-world, Internationalized Work-Integrated Learning through Community Engagement & Socioeconomic and Environmental Impact.’ The project integrates principles of equity and social inclusion to promote sustainability through education, teaching demonstrations, advocacy, and implementation of key initiatives.

Curriculum Integration and Learning Design

Integrated within BUS3451 Professional Business Project, the Blue-Economy Project strengthens students’ business, environmental, and social awareness while maintaining continuity with established professional and international partnerships in the region. In collaboration with an expanded network of local partners, it offers enhanced learning opportunities, including Asia literacy and Indonesian language components. The program extends its reach to more marginalised coastal communities, addressing a wider range of sustainability issues such as food systems and domestic waste management, with a strong emphasis on women’s empowerment.

Impact and Significance

These initiatives enrich students’ understanding of the interconnections between environmental challenges, social justice, business, and sustainability, creating a deeply immersive and transformative learning experience. By expanding its scope and partnerships, the Blue-Economy Project generates broader socioeconomic and environmental impact in Lombok and surrounding regions, further advancing Australia’s engagement and visibility under the New Colombo Plan (NCP). The project sustains the signature excellence of NCP mobility programs through its refined curriculum, enriched content, and increased in-country immersion, ensuring optimal outcomes for students, partners, and communities.

NCP Grant, AUD165,000, DFAT 2025-2026

Connecting Asia Literacy to Sustainability Literacy in Indonesia is an innovative internationalised education initiative that integrates sustainability, intercultural understanding, and research-based learning. It aims to develop graduates equipped to address complex environmental, social, and economic challenges through culturally informed and community-engaged approaches.

Educational Rationale and Approach

To equip students for diverse global contexts, the program embeds three interconnected literacies:

1. Understanding and Respect: Cultivates appreciation of cultural diversity and sustainable practices across Asian contexts.

2. Navigating Cultural Differences: Develops intercultural competence, empathy, and communication skills for collaborative sustainability action.

3. Indo-Pacific Alignment: Advances Australia’s regional engagement priorities by preparing graduates to address sustainability issues within Indo-Pacific communities with cultural and linguistic sensitivity.

Curriculum Design

Embedded within the Bachelor of Business Honours, the program adopts a 50–25–25 model combining:

- Research (50%): Independent, field-based investigation on sustainability topics.

- Teaching and Learning (25%): Coursework in research methods, Asian language and culture, and project management.

-Work-Integrated Learning (25%): Professional placement with NGOs, government, or community organisations supporting marginalised coastal communities.

Students undertake a 17-week semester in Indonesia, followed by a one-month field research project in Lombok. This immersive structure strengthens both academic rigour and employability by enabling students to apply knowledge directly to sustainability initiatives such as marine conservation, waste management, sustainable tourism, and community development.

Impact and Innovation

The project is innovative in education, immersive in learning, and supportive of research. It nurtures sustainability competence, intercultural awareness, and real-world problem-solving, while deepening institutional linkages and collaborations of Murdoch University in the Indo-Pacific. Through this integration of Asia literacy and sustainability literacy, the program cultivates globally minded, future-ready leaders committed to building sustainable and inclusive communities.

National Priorities and Industry Linkage Fund (NPILF) 2023, 2024, AUD10,000, Department of Education

The project enhances the International Business core unit within the International Business Major by integrating new, co-designed and co-delivered learning modules that strengthen students’ global employability and intercultural capability.

The initiative builds upon an established curriculum that equips students with essential theories and tools for understanding and managing business across borders. The unit covers key areas of trade policy, foreign direct investment (FDI), international financial markets, and foreign exchange risk management, along with functional domains such as marketing, operations, R&D, and human resource management. Students apply strategic frameworks to real-world international business challenges, developing analytical and decision-making skills that drive organisational success.

To ensure alignment with industry expectations and global business realities, the project introduces new modules on Intercultural Competence, Intercultural Communication, and Multicultural Teams—co-designed and co-delivered with industry experts. This partnership brings authentic professional insight into the classroom and ensures teaching reflects current international business practices. Through interactive, practice- and research-informed workshops, students will explore cultural diversity, communication challenges, and strategies for leading effectively in multicultural environments. The expert will engage with students throughout the semester, providing ongoing mentorship and responsive feedback.

This innovation directly supports Murdoch University’s strategic focus on global engagement and intercultural capability. It enhances student learning outcomes by fostering key graduate attributes of MU such as: Communication, Critical and Creative Thinking, Social Interaction and Global Perspective

By embedding intercultural learning through co-design and co-delivery with industry, the project bridges academic theory, professional practice, and employability—preparing graduates for success in complex, diverse international business contexts.

NCP Grant, AUD220,000, DFAT 2022-2023

The Eco-Economy Project Improving Livelihood Above and Below the Surface 2021-2024 at the college of Business was a funded New Colombo Mobility Plan Project by DFAT: in collaboration with Murdoch International and a NGO Project Hiu operating at Lombok. The purpose of the project since 2021 has been to look for alternative income to shark fishing and shark fin trade and sustainable development for the Meringkik Island Community which locates within the Alas Strait region of Sekaroh. The Eco economy Project is run in BUS3451 Professional Business Project for multi discipline Australian undergraduate students at Murdoch University with 4 sessions of predeparture training, 2 weeks in-country visit and 2 post-trip reflective learning sessions. Including the trip in Jan 2024, 70 students worked on the purpose by developing business proposals, conducting feasibility studies and exploring for innovative and sustainable solutions for environment and marine conservation, eco economy and community development. together  with its precedent The Shark-Economy Project 2021, The Eco-Economy Project received some recognition and awards including College Award for Program that Enhance Learning, Murdoch University 2022 Top Achievements on Wildlife and Conservation,2023 Vice Chancellor’s Excellence Award for Living the University’s Principles and Values, 2024 Vice Chancellor’s Learning and Teaching Excellence Awards: Citation for Excellence in Enhancing Learning, and a Special Commendation for Indonesian Studies and Cultural Leadership 2023 from Australia-Indonesia Institute, DFAT.  In 2024, The Eco Economy Project collaborated with The Community Service Program of University of Mataram, Indonesia. The joint program, Global Sustainability Literacy: Connecting Classrooms and Communities was shortlisted and became top 14 finalists for 2024 QS Reimagine Education Awards: Sustainability Education-Literacy.

NCP Grant, AUD52,800, DAFT 2021-2022

“Shark Trade Field Placement” project is NCP funding enabled and nested in The Professional Business Project Unit (BUS3451) to extend real-world learning into Indonesia. Students collaborated with a local NGO to research societal and environmental concerns and propose business solutions for Maringkik Island's fishing community. This project strengthened Australia's relationship with Indonesia and provided students with valuable international work experience.

Twenty students from diverse fields were selected from 70 applicants. Due to COVID-19, the program was delivered virtually using Hyflex techniques, ensuring active participation and safety. Students developed business plans for sustainable income streams, such as waste management, eco-tourism, and handcrafted products.

The project, running since 2021, demonstrated scalability and ongoing community impact. It was well-received, with full subscription within 48 hours of advertising. Media coverage and student engagement through various platforms highlighted the project's success. Innovations in virtual delivery and mentoring contributed to its recognition with the "College Program Award."

The project had dual benefits: providing solutions for Indonesian communities and offering Australian students work-ready skills and global connections.

2023 Learning & Teaching Seed Funding, AUD 5,000, College of Business

Intercultural (IC)competence is an important and significant element of global readiness. This is reconfirmed in the 4th Global Survey (Egron-Polak and Hudson 2014) published by the International Association of Universities (IAU). IC competence is believed to be a crucial factor and a pivotal resource for effective communication and successful exchange that enhance learning for students with different backgrounds in university settings.This study aims to explore approaches and strategies that incorporate IC competence into Business Education to improve students' learning experience and their global employability.Approaches and strategiesin the literature will be identified and synthesised systematically using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) method. A survey will be conducted to understand students' preference or perceived importance of benefits realised from IC competence across formal, informal, and hidden curricula for their learning and employability, focusing on undergraduate and postgraduate students at Murdoch Business School (MBS).The result will assist educators, especially at MBS, in understanding students' preferred andeffective approaches to improve their IC competence framework. Approaches willbe developed to create a systematic IC curriculum design that fosters an inclusive learning environment and nurtures students' IC growth to evolve into global-ready graduates.

2023 Learning & Teaching Seed Funding, AUD5,000, College of Business.

Higher education plays an important role in supporting sustainability through teaching, research, key projects and initiatives. One of the innovative ways to achieve this is using an intercultural approach to work-integrated learning (WIL). This research attempts to explore how an award-winning WIL program, “Eco-economy project: improving livelihoods above and below the surface” empowers domestic Australian students with real-world experiences in an international context (Indonesia) to achieve affective outcomes of sustainability learning. This core highly aligns with the University’s strategic themes and Business School’s priorities of “Sustainability” and “Globalisation and Cross-Cultural Competence”.The proposed research aims to analyse three years’ qualitative data from multiple sources of the program including teaching and learning materials, the partner NGO’s documents and websites, and student reflective learning journals. The research is expected to provide profound pedagogical implications by integrating key components from the current sustainability learning/teaching literature into a composite conceptual framework and verifying the framework with empirical evidence from the program. This research is also expected to provide practical suggestions for how to extend sustainability education beyond classroom theory-based teaching and stimulate the genuine motivation of students to become active change agents for the betterment of our world.