Trinitytoday 38 Trinitytoday 38 Tell us what you have been up to, email tt@trinity.unimelb.edu.au STEPHEN AMES (TCTS 1962) The Revd Canon Dr Stephen Ames is an adjunct lecturer at ÂÒÂ×´óÉñ Theological School and lectures in the History and Philosophy of Science program at the University of Melbourne. He is an associate priest at St Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne. He holds PhDs in both Physics and Philosophy of Science. He is also the leader of Science Week at the Cathedral as part of the annual National Science Week. Earlier this year, in conjunction with Melbourne Writers Festival, Stephen helped arrange for Clive Hamilton to speak at the Cathedral about his new book, Defiant Earth. Respondents were Stephen and Ghassan Hage. In this session, before over 400 people, they ruminated on humankind’s undeniable impact on the planet, making the case for a new kind of anthropocentrism and the best ways in which humans should respond to challenges facing the Earth. Stephen recently presented two papers at Emmanuel College at the University of Queensland: ‘From Physics to Metaphysics, One Way or Another’ and ‘Human Inquiry and Icon of God’. Stephen is completing a book to be published in 2018, On God, Beginning with the Problem of Natural Evil. IMOGEN COWAN (TC 2013) After leaving College in December 2014, Imogen joined Projects Abroad as a volunteer English teacher, working at Faraja Orphanage and Children’s Home in Arusha, Tanzania. Upon returning to Melbourne, she continued working for Projects Abroad in an ambassadorial role. Visiting College to speak at a Careers and Alumni Office workshop on volunteering, Imogen inspired students with stories about her experiences in Tanzania. She will travel to Nepal in January 2018 to focus on early childhood development in impoverished communities. While completing a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Melbourne, with a double major in history and gender studies, Imogen was recently appointed as the Events Coordinator at Oaktree Foundation HQ. She is also an academic tutor with Tutoring for Excellence, specialising in English and Humanities across all ages including VCE. We were thrilled to recently welcome Imogen back to Trinity for Founders and Benefactors, where she witnessed the unveiling of the portrait of her father, Bill Cowan (TC 1963). JOHN THORN (TC 1983) John is responsible for launching the ÂÒÂ×´óÉñ musicals, producing and conducting, The Mikado (1984), The Boyfriend (1985) and Grease (1986). At Trinity, he formed the jazz band, Neo-Penguin with Nik Yeo (TC 1983) while completing his Bachelor of Science (Chemistry and Maths). He has since made music his career, completing a Bachelor of Music in 1990 and working as a full-time composer and musician. He has written five musicals and scored many cabaret and theatre shows, and has an international reputation as an accompanist for cabaret performers and improvisational theatre, including the shows, Spontaneous Broadway and Random Musical, which he also produced. John received the 2015 ‘Outstanding Contribution To Cabaret’ Green Room award and has received a further 15 Green Room nominations (winning twice). His recent projects include an original one man show, Background Boy, music for the movie, Ali’s Wedding, and an album of musical settings of Henry Lawson poems called, Looking For Lawson, described by Barry Humphries as ‘miraculous’. He has just returned from the Edinburgh Festival where he performed with Trinity alumna Melissa Madden Gray (TC 1988). JENNIFER PEEDOM (TC 1995) Jennifer Peedom is an Australian documentary filmmaker. Her documentary, Solo, (co-directed with David Michôd) won the 2009 Australian Film Institute Award for Best Documentary in Under One Hour. Her documentary, Sherpa, filmed during the 2014 Mount Everest avalanche, was nominated for a BAFTA Award in 2016 for Best Documentary. Jen‘s latest feature documentary, Mountain, is a cinematic and musical collaboration with the Australian Chamber Orchestra under the musical direction of Richard Tognetti. The film was distributed nationally in September this year, becoming the highest grossing (non-IMAX) Australian documentary of all time at the Australian box office. We hear that Mountain is the second in an ‘unofficial trilogy’, beginning with Sherpa, and planning to conclude with a dramatic feature on Tenzing Norgay, the Nepalese sherpa who in 1953 summited Mount Everest for the first time. You can read a wonderful interview with Jen about the making of Mountain at screenaustralia.gov.au (search for Jen Peedom).