Flinders University 2012 Highlights

Students

inspiring achievement

2012 Highlights

n Ms Emma Lawrance won a prestigious

Academic Acclaim

Academic Acclaim Teaching and Innovation Community and Alumni Engagement Research Success Distinguished Staff

Clarendon Scholarship to study at Oxford University - the only person in Australia to gain entry into the one-year, Masters in Neuroscience course. n Exploring alternative pain relief options for

women in labour by using a nasal spray or shallow skin jab was the winning entry in the University’s Three Minute Thesis Competition.

PhD candidate Julie-Anne Fleet took out the annual title for her research into pain relief during childbirth. n Flinders creative writer, Chloé Eckert, won

the State Theatre Company Young Playwright of the Year Award for her perceptive and poignant play, Sage, which explored issues of mental health and suicide. n PhD student, Hannah Kent, secured a two-

novel publishing deal with the first novel based on her thesis, Burial Rites – a story based on the 1830 beheading of a female farm worker in Iceland for the alleged murder of her employer. n Third-year mechanical engineering students

from Flinders won the Weir Minerals Design and Build Competition. The Flinders team comprised James Albrechtsen Kieren Rupcic, Christopher McNeill and Jack Burgess. n The work of Flinders University researchers

to improve access to technologies for young people with disabilities was recognised with first and second place wins at the Australian Rehabilitation and Assistive Technology Association’s (ARATA) Soft Technology Awards.

Dr Anna Ziersch

Flinders University academic staff and students were recognised widely for their achievements and successes in 2012, none more so than Professor Karen Reynolds, named SA Scientist of the Year. This highest accolade capped earlier recognition for Professor Reynolds, Director of the Medical Device Research Institute, including being named in the Top 100 Most Influential Engineers in Australia (2012), Fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (2011) and Australian Professional Engineer of the Year (2010).

Staff n Three researchers, Associate Professor Peter

Catcheside, Professor Mark Halsey and Dr Anna Ziersch received prestigious Future Fellowships from the Australian Research Council, securing $2.18 million to fund their research over the next five years. Research supported by the Fellowships extends across the areas of cardio-respiratory medicine, criminology and primary health.

Professor Karen Reynolds SA Scientist of the Year

n Flinders staff received six Citations for

Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning from the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching (formerly ALTC). The Citations went to Associate

Photo: Ashton Claridge

Professor Marinella Marmo (Law School), Dr Peter Speck (School of Biological Sciences), Associate Professor Eileen Willis (School of Medicine), Professor Don DeBats (School of International Studies), Associate Professor Gour Dasvarma and Dr Udoy Saikia (School of the Environment) and the Yunggorendi First Nations Centre for Higher Education and Research.

n Flinders medical scientist, Associate Professor

Damien Keating, won the inaugural Leading Light Award from the Australian Society for Medical Research (SA). The award recognises mid-career health and medical researchers with the aim of highlighting the outstanding research work being undertaken in South Australia. n The History Council of South Australia

n The Asia Pacific Palliative Care Program,

delivered in Singapore as a partnership between Flinders’ Department of Palliative and Supportive Services, the National Cancer Centre Singapore and the Asia Pacific Hospice Network, won an Australian Award for University Teaching. n Professor Joe Shapter, Dean of the School

of Chemical and Physical Sciences, was awarded the Desire2Learn Innovation Award in Teaching and Learning by the Canada-based Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. Professor Shapter, the only one of five recipients working outside a Canadian university, received the award for his “vital role in the creation of a new and exciting degree program in the field of nanotechnology”.

named Professor Eric Richards SA’s firstever Historian of the Year for his significant contributions to historical knowledge at the local, national and international levels. n The outstanding contribution by Dr Arthur

Van Deth to the success of Flinders’ Master of Hospital Administration taught in China has been acknowledged with a national award.

The International Education Association of Australia awarded Dr Van Deth the International Education Excellence Award for Best Practice / Innovation. n Dr Rachel Popelka-Filcoff was honoured as

South Australia’s Tall Poppy of the Year for 2012 for her work analysing ochre to gain insights into Indigenous Australian culture.

The University decided to make its single largest investment in new infrastructure since the inception of the Bedford Park campus with a $120 million commitment to the Tonsley Park redevelopment. A state-of-theart building to house the School of Computer Science, Engineering and Mathematics will be the centrepiece of teaching, research and business investment activities aligned with the high-value manufacturing vision for the site.

As the new home for the University’s Medical Device Partnering Program and the Centre for NanoScale Science and Technology, and being co-located with TAFE, the Tonsley project will allow the University to further develop some of its key strengths in collaboration with education and industry partners. Up to 2000 students and 150 staff are expected to move into the new building in early 2015.

n Alumni Steve and Liz Kelton were appointed

Teaching and Innovation

Community and Alumni Engagement

by Council to consult with, and provide advice on behalf of, alumni as the University moves to a more integrated approach to alumni engagement. Three projects in 2012 have been undertaken as a way of piloting a new model to encourage alumni into many more Flinders activities, based on the alumni survey carried out last year. n Work accelerated on one of these projects,

the Flinders Investigator Garden, a unique representation of the botanical specimens collected during the 1802-03 exploration of Australia’s southern coastline and subsequent circumnavigation of Australia by the University’s namesake, Captain Matthew Flinders. The project involving University ground staff, ex-staff and alumni is expected to eventually encompass an area of around one hectare on the southern side of the campus lake. n Initiatives of the Southern Knowledge

Transfer Partnership included working with stakeholders to establish a local Career Development Network to raise the awareness and importance of career development. SKTP Knowledge Exchange Grant funding supported the development of partnership between Flinders Medical School and Christies Beach High School that established a safe and familiar space, ‘The Cube’ within the school where medical students and students work together to improve outcomes in adolescent health. n Yunggorendi First Nations Centre, played

a major role in the negotiation of the Ngarrindjeri Partnerships Project which pledges long-term State Government funding for regional environmental programs in the Coorong Lower Lakes area in which the local Ngarrindjeri people will play a key part. n The Medical Device Partnering Program An initial artists impression of the Tonsley facility

n Flinders and TAFE SA agreed on a new entry

pathway designed to make it easier for students to gain both a vocational qualification and a degree with the launch of a Dual Offer program for 2013. n Flinders’ strengthening role in higher education

in Asia was underscored by a record 407 students graduating with a Masters of Arts (International Relations in Economy and Trade), Master of Hospital Administration at Nankai University, and the first graduations in Hong Kong of students completing a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting) or a Bachelor of Creative Arts (Digital Media). n In Adelaide, a total of 2,239 students graduated

in April and 1336 graduated in December. The University awarded four honorary degrees: to artist and teacher, Tom Gleghorn; Deputy Northern Territory Administrator, Dr Patricia Miller; Australia’s Chief Nurse and Midwifery Officer, Dr Rosemary Bryant; and businessman and University Council member, Mr Nick Begakis, for their extensive services to higher education and society. Three students from the Ministry of Finance in Timor Leste graduated with Masters degrees from the Flinders Business School. The graduates are the first from a group of 23 Ministry of Finance staff studying at Flinders.

Artwork: Hassal & Associates

n Flinders’ engagement with Malaysia was

strengthened with the graduation of the first students from the joint Flinders-HELP University psychology degree. The program is delivered in Kuala Lumpur with staff and student support provided by Flinders and with full accreditation from the Australian Psychological Accreditation Council. n Commemorations of the Flinders Law School’s

20th anniversary included a rare sitting by the Supreme Court on campus with Justice Tom Gray considering a challenge to compulsory voting at elections. Given the importance of the issue and widespread public and media interest, Justice Gray allowed television networks to film the proceedings, a first for South Australia’s media. n The former SA Premier, Mike Rann, joined

Flinders as a Professorial Fellow and, with a series of lectures gave students some unique insights into the realpolitik of parliamentary and party politics. Professor Rann, who also published a number of commentaries online, takes up the position of Australian High Commissioner to London in 2013. n Monsignor David Cappo, former Social

Inclusion Commissioner, accepted a position

as senior research fellow in the School of Social and Policy Studies, and joined the public debate over austerity measures being imposed by governments around the world. n A dedicated Mathematical Sciences

Laboratory will lead mathematical research and innovation in five key areas – analysis, biomedical mathematics, continuum modelling and environmental applications, discrete mathematics, optimisation and operations research, and statistics and stochastic modelling. n One of the leading visual effects companies

in the world, Rising Sun Pictures, joined forces with Flinders to offer an intensive 10 week course in digital special effects.

Adelaide-based Rising Sun has provided special effects and computer generated sequences for such blockbusters as the The Hunger Games and Prometheus, and for films in the Harry Potter series. n Flinders collaborated with a private sector

partner, Study Group, to establish the Flinders International Study Centre (FISC) to attract international students to Adelaide. FISC will provide Foundation and Diploma level programs for students who seek to qualify for, and enrol directly in, Flinders undergraduate courses.

Professor John Halsey

n Thousands of people visited Flinders for the

unveiling of a bust of Aristotle to mark the launch of the LOGOS Australian Centre for Hellenic Language and Culture during the Dimitria Festival. The Centre, funded by the South Australian Government with additional support from the Greek Government for student scholarships, will focus on the promotion and preservation of the Greek language and culture. Flinders is the only University offering the full suite of courses online and is working with Charles Darwin University in Australia. Griffith University and international universities have shown interest in collaborations. The support of the Hellenic Studies Foundation and the Greek community provides a model that could influence teaching and learning in languages generally. n The University’s premier public event, the

Investigator Lecture, returned to the campus in 2012 with a capacity crowd hearing Dr Brian Schmidt explain that the expansion of the universe is accelerating, research that earned Dr Schmidt and his two colleagues the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2011. Dr Schmidt also inspired several hundred students at the Australian Science and Maths School and a group of postgraduate students and staff at Flinders during his visit to the campus.

Photo: Ashton Claridge

n The Sidney Myer Chair in Rural Education and

Communities, Professor John Halsey, made significant contributions to the national public policy debate over education with his advocacy for funded, semester-length rural placement for all final-year pre-service teachers and aspiring leaders. Professor Halsey also argued that sustainable rural communities are vital to Australia’s wider viability in terms of food production and would be at risk if rural schools were not properly supported. Sidney Myer lectures were held in Adelaide and Mt Gambier. n Flinders’ profile in regional South Australia

was raised significantly with the University’s sponsorship and engagement in the Advantage SA Regional Awards for Education.

Designed to recognise innovations in education and encourage participation in education at all levels, seven awards presentations were held throughout the State with Professor Halsey and the Director of Marketing and Communications, Ms Diané Ranck, involved in judging and presenting the awards.

continued its strong collaboration with industry and trialled several new assistive devices, including a new touch screen therapy and assessment product for Adelaide-based vision rehabilitation company Neuro Vision Technology Systems. MDPP also assisted Adelaide company Signostics Limited in the engineering and manufacture of an innovative handheld ultrasound device which accurately measures urinary retention, a serious problem for up to 15 per cent of women after childbirth. n Flinders was one of only three South Australian

organisations to be named as an Employer of Choice for Women by the Federal Government’s Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) – the 11th successive year that Flinders has received the citation since the scheme was introduced in 2001. n Flinders combined technology and history to

create an innovative tool to guide students around the August Open Days. O’Day Buddy, an iPhone application (a partner app to the Flinders University Open Days mobile app) employing an avatar of explorer Matthew Flinders developed by Clevertar Pty Ltd using Flinders technology, contained handy hints for a number of the estimated 10,000 prospective students and parents who visited the campus.

A social media campaign promoting the Open Days reached over 20,000 Twitter accounts.

n A novel technique developed by forensic

science and analytical chemistry students and staff – in which paper fibres were extracted under a microscope using a piece of tungsten wire and tweezers with super-fine points – has the potential to revolutionise forensic and medical investigations which usually require much larger samples. The research, undertaken by student Broderick Matthews and published in the prestigious journal Forensic Science International, has earned the recognition of the National Institute of Forensic Science which recently named it Best Case Study published in 2011.

Research Success

n Postgraduate creative writer supervisor

and author, Dr Ruth Starke received a $40,000 grant from the Australia Council to write a personal biography of flamboyant former South Australian premier, Don Dunstan. Flinders’ library is custodian of the Don Dunstan Collection and previously unpublished material, including the manuscript of a novel by Mr Dunstan, will make a major contribution to the biography.

Flinders continued to attract academics of the highest calibre through the Strategic Professorship Program, commenced in 2011, with a further five joining the University in 2012 from prestigious universities both overseas and in Australia. They included:

Distinguished Staff Flinders honoured a group of its most eminent professors with the inaugural award of the title of ‘Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor’. The new title gives the University a formal mechanism to recognise and reward exceptional members of professorial staff for their teaching, research and leadership, each have been admitted at their respective professional academies. The first Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professors are: • Fran Baum (School of Medicine) • Neil Brewer (School of Psychology) • Marcello Costa (School of Medicine) • Margaret Davies (School of Law) • Dean Forbes (Deputy Vice-Chancellor International and Communities)

• Professor Justine Smith: Strategic Professor of Eye and Vision (formerly of Oregon Health and Science University)

• Iain Hay (School of the Environment) • Mary Luszcz (School of Psychology) • Richard Maltby (Executive Dean, Faculty of Education, Humanities and Law) • Karen Reynolds (School of Computer Science, Engineering and Mathematics) • Sue Richardson (National Institute of Labour Studies) • Sharyn Roach Anleu (School of Social and Policy Studies) • Marika Tiggemann (School of Psychology) • Graham Tulloch (School of the Humanities) • Graeme Young (School of Medicine)

• Professor Mark Taylor: Strategic Professor of Biomedical Engineering, (University of Southampton) • Professor Okke Batelaan: Strategic Professor of Hydrology (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) • Professor Julian Meyrick: Strategic Professor of Creative Arts (La Trobe University, Melbourne Theatre Company) • Professor Andrew Goldsmith: Strategic Professor of Criminology (University of Wollongong) • A Strategic Professor of Coastal Environments will commence in 2013. n The second stage of an initiative to create

education-focused positions, giving excellent teachers and educators the opportunity to change the traditional mix of teaching and research and spend more time with students, was extremely successful with 48 staff opting to take up these positions. Flinders now has over 50 education-focused positions. n Professor Craig Simmons, Director of the

Biology Discovery Centre

n Gastroenterologist Professor Graeme Young

received a $1.5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to fund a research project aimed at alleviating diarrhoea and malnutrition in developing countries through enhanced absorption of zinc. n Flinders was successful in receiving a total of

$6.2 million in National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) funding for 13 projects spanning a diverse range of research areas including eye disease, sleep apnoea, dengue fever, eating disorders, drug-todrug interrelationships and internet-based information services for cancer sufferers. n University researchers will share a pool of

$3.3 million in Australian Research Council Discovery and Linkage Infrastructure Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) grants in 2013.

Flinders received $2.75 million for seven Discovery projects – including a Discovery Outstanding Researcher Award to Professor Vladimir Gaitsgory – and a further $630,000 for two LIEF grants. In addition, a series of crossinstitutional collaborations worth a combined $3.6 million have been awarded to six projects involving Flinders researchers. n The highly successful collaboration between

Flinders and Anglicare continued with ‘research to practice’ seminars addressing

National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training, was awarded the inaugural Shultz Chair in the Environment, supported by the DH Shultz bequest. Along with his leadership of the NCGRT, Professor Simmons made an influential contribution to the public policy debate over the future of the Murray Darling Basin, and was appointed to chair the Federal Government’s Coal Seam Gas Advisory Panel.

Photo: Nhu-Y Nguyen

problem gambling, affordable housing, Indigenous engagement and building resilient communities. Two joint research projects are also examining dementia and homelessness and a partnership between Anglicare and the Flinders Law School will see students learning how to promote understanding of the issues involved in recognition of Indigenous people in the Australian Constitution.

n The Hexapod Robot, developed by a joint

Flinders University and University of Adelaide engineering team, won the SA Engineers Australia’s highest award for engineering excellence. The robot, based at the Medical Device Research Institute at Flinders, was developed to enhance understanding of the 3D performance of normal and diseased joints and their artificial replacements by simulating complex joint motion.

n The first two scholars from the United States

- Professor Howard Schweber (University of Wisconsin, Madison) and Professor Malcolm Feeley (University of California, Berkeley) visited Flinders to occupy the Fulbright Flinders Distinguished Chair in American Political Science, which was awarded by the Australian-American Fulbright Commission to the University for the period 2011-2016.

n The University’s first cotutelle student, Carol

Anne Hartwick, commenced at Flinders and will study the Obesity Prevention and Lifestyle (OPAL) program, a local childhood obesity prevention program originally developed in France. The PhD student’s research will be undertaken between Flinders and her home institution, Paris Déscartes Sorbonne, under Flinders’ new cotutelle agreement, a collaborative study exchange that allows doctoral degree students to live and learn abroad and be awarded a joint degree. n Flinders secured seven Researchers in

Business (RIB) grants worth $332,393 from the Federal Government’s Enterprise Connect program, making it the third-ranked research organisation in Australia after the CSIRO and the University of Queensland. RIB grants support the placement of researchers from universities or public research agencies into businesses, to help develop and implement a new idea with commercial potential.

n Construction of the $8 million Biology

Discovery Centre was completed and, with its three-storey ecosystem, will provide a unique learning and research space for the School of Biological Sciences. A number of penguins will join lizards and songbirds in the Centre’s “ecodome” which is wired for sound and visuals with ‘live feeds’ transmitted to the first-floor animal behaviour laboratory. n The Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer,

headed by leading academic pharmacist, Professor Ross McKinnon, was formally commissioned by the Minister for Health, John Hill. n A breakthrough on the potential anti-skin cancer

properties of the tropical fruit mangosteen earned PhD candidate Jing Jing Wang, a place in the SA finals of a prestigious medical prize, the Australian Society for Medical Research’s Ross Wishart Memorial Award.

n Flinders attracted Ms Gill Troup, a leading

academic manager from the University of the West of Scotland, to play a key role in the University’s strategic and operational planning in the role of the inaugural Vice-President (Strategy and Planning).

Professor John Miners

n The Head of Clinical Pharmacology, Professor

John Miners, maintained his impressive track record of securing grants for every single study he has ever led or been involved in through the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) with further grant success in 2012. Professor Miners’ continuous financial backing by the NHMRC spans almost 35 years and encompasses 25 project grants and one program grant worth a combined total of $9.9 million. Professor Miners was a finalist in the SA Scientist of the Year award.

Photo: Randy Larcombe

n Professor Mike Bull also maintained his

outstanding success in attracting Australian Research Council funding for his lizard research with a further grant of $535,000 in the latest ARC round, continuing his annual grant funding which commenced in 1977.