ANOTHER RHODES SCHOLAR FROM ADFA

A twenty-four year old graduate of the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA), Luke Jones, has been named Tasmania's Rhodes Scholar for 2002. Luke is the second ADFA graduate in two years to receive a Rhodes Scholarship, bringing the UNSW total to six in five years.

Now an army Lieutenant stationed in Darwin, Luke entered the Australian Defence Force Academy in 1995 and, after graduating from the Royal Military College in 1998, graduated from ADFA with a Bachelor of Arts with first class honours in 1999. He also won the Chief of Army Medal for the highest military and academic results over three years and was awarded a university medal for high academic achievement by UNSW.

Luke says he will use his studies at Oxford to focus on strengthening alliances between military forces of different cultures and nationalities. He hopes to return to the army with the knowledge to better prepare Australian Special Forces Units for peacekeeping operations. "This is of increasing relevance to our global society as United Nations- led multi national peacekeeping forces become more prolific," he says.

"My research would enhance the capacity of the Army to conduct and sustain peacekeeping operations and to better assist those people who they are responsible for protecting. Such welfare improvement is at the heart of the Australia Army's value system and hopefully will become a key component of Australian foreign policy."

Last year's ADFA s Rhode Scholar, Lieutenant James Watson, is currently spending three years at Oxford studying wildlife conservation and land management.

MEDIA CONTACT: Sarah Martin, Public Affairs and Development, tel. (02) 9385 3192 - Photo available