* CSU’s Isabel Fox has won the Best of Program Award at the Asia Pacific Student Accommodation Association conference for her work on the Playing Right initiative.

* Playing Right is a program designed to prevent sexual assault and sexual harassment by educating students.

* The award was for the best program presentation at the conference and a trip to the United States.

Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Ms Isabel Fox is leading the way in pastoral care for students and in cultural change around sexual assault and sexual harassment that has been shown as a problem for all universities.

Ms Fox is the Student Initiatives Coordinator at CSU and recently presented ‘Not under our roof: Residences responding to Change the Course’ at the Asia Pacific Student Accommodation Association (APSAA) conference and took home the Best of Program Award.

Ms Fox said “talking about sexual assault on campus is a tricky topic and part of the Playing Right initiative, is we don’t talk about any specific cases but in generalisations from things like Change the Course report”.

In the report from 30 000 students from 39 Australian Universities, 26% of students were sexually harassed on at least one occasion in a university setting in 2016. The report also showed 87% of students who were sexually assaulted and 94% who were sexually harassed did not make a formal report or complain to their university.

“The Playing Right program is designed to prevent sexual assault and sexual harassment by educating students about consent, personal responsibility, being an active bystander and reporting anything that doesn’t seem right and getting help however, you happen to be involved”. Ms Fox said.

Manager Residence Life Bathurst, Dubbo and Orange, Mr James Kelly said, “This is a unique and innovative program, and it embraces concepts like “enthusiastic consent”.

“It is great to see CSU being proactive in this space and the students are embracing it” Mr Kelly added.

Playing Right is about starting the conversations that continue long after the sessions and encourages and enables reporting.

Ms Fox hopes to see the culture change over a three to five year period, after already receiving a positive reaction from the students.

As part of the Best in Program Award, Ms Fox was provided with more than $1000 to offset the cost of attending the Association of College and University Housing Officers – International conference and the chance to present the program at the conference in Denver, in the United States in July.