In late 2021, the Transport Education Audit Compliance and Health Organisation (TEACHO) inaugurated a fellowship in postgraduate industrial relations research to honor the memory of Dr Daryll Hull (1950–2021) who passed away suddenly on September 30, 2021. Daryll had been the Executive Chairman of TEACHO for around a decade and had played a pivotal role in developing TEACHO’s operations and ensuring its success.
TEACHO is an NGO committed to improving health and safety in transport including operating a safety certification regime (Blue Card) and facilitating policy-relevant research into OHS issues affecting transport workers and the industry more generally. TEACHO was also a founding partner of Steering Health Minds – a peer-to-peer programme for improving mental health and preventing suicide in transport.
Dr Daryll Hull’s career included many notable achievements. He was the first student to complete a PhD in industrial relations in NSW but chose a career in industry rather than academia where he was the conduit for a series of innovative developments in the transport sector. He was adept at bringing people from different backgrounds together and, more often than not, achieved consensus solutions to many complex issues. Daryll maintained a strong interest both in policy and industrial relations ideas and research. He also maintained academic connections and input, serving with distinction on the advisory board for the Industrial Relations Research Centre at the University of New South Wales (for further details of Dr Hull’s life and career, see Taksa, Reference Taksa2021).
Establishing a fellowship in industrial relations research in Daryll’s memory was therefore fitting. The fellowship is an amount of $15,000 awarded biennially to the most outstanding postgraduate student undertaking a PhD or research masters at an Australian University. Applications were invited and went before an eminent selection committee (Emeritus Professor David Peetz, Dr Elsa Underhill, the Honourable Lance Wright QC, and Emeritus Professor Michael Quinlan) who then made a recommendation to the TEACHO board to make the final determination. The 2022 selection round witnessed a particularly strong field of applicants which provided an indication of the calibre of current industrial relations research in Australia. TEACHO wishes to place on record its appreciation of the important research being undertaken by those who applied.
After careful deliberation, the TEACHO board is pleased to announce that the successful applicant was Yu-Hsuan (Sherry) Huang undertaking a PhD entitled ‘The rise of the temporary migrant working class: A social movement perspective on temporary migrant workers in Australia’s food supply chain, the possibility of mobilisation and collective action’. Her thesis is being undertaken in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Latrobe University, Melbourne.
In addition to having excellent academic credentials, Sherry has been a harvest worker and has been involved in the community – including undertaking projects for the Migrant Workers Centre and Unions NSW. She has also been active in securing media coverage of the issues confronting migrant workers. TEACHO is confident Sherry’s research will make a valuable contribution to industrial relations research and policy and wishes her every success in the future.
Paul Ryan BCom LLB Emeritus Professor Michael Quinlan
Chair TEACHO Board TEACHO Board Member and Selection Committee Chair
