CONNECT: RESEARCH & INNOVATION NEWS August - October 2013 issue Illawarra flame burns bright in china Team UOW Australia have stolen the international stage in sustainable house design with their winning zero-net energy building for the 2013 Solar Decathlon Olympics in China
laureate fellowship for man who ‘dated’ hobbit Professor Bert Roberts heads the first national hub for archaeological science as a new Australian Laureate Fellow
3D printing Breakthrough grows CARTILAGE Scientists impregnate 3D printed scaffolds with live cells to grow cartilage tissue
The University of Wollongong ranks in the top 2% of research universities worldwide
Research & Innovation News is the research magazine of the University of Wollongong. Contact: Research Services Office Building 20, Level 1 University of Wollongong Northfields Ave, Wollongong NSW, Australia, 2522
Source: QS World University Rankings 2012/2013 Subscriptions: Visit www.uow.edu.au/research to subscribe to electronic versions of Research & Innovation News. This Publication is produced by: Sharon Martin Vicky Wallace Laura Hawes Melissa Coade Email: research@uow.edu.au With thanks to our other UOW contributors.
For daily updates, follow uowresearch
Contents
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Laureate Fellow
Professor Bert Roberts joins the Laureate Fellow family to head a new national centre for archaeological science
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Travel tale
From Scotland to Cuba - Dr Ross Gordon shares stories from his recent international excursions on the road as a social marketing academic
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Radiation devices patented
20 student profile
Devices that can measure radiation from the cockpit of a plane to the confines of a hospital bed have been granted patents in the US and China
07 talking Organ donation
A UOW resource series developed in consultation with religous communities has won a prestigeous State Government award for multicultural health services communications
16 Awards
Celebrating the research achievements of the Vice Chancellor’s Award Recipients for 2013
Norzizi Zulkafli investigates the preservation of Malaysian culutural identity through ‘dance-drama’
21 opinion
Journalism Lecturer Dr Marcus O’Donnell breaks down the pollie speak on same-sex marriage as part of the Conversation’s Election Media Panel
23 new staff
Dr Sarah Loughran joins UOW to delve into cognitive neuroscience at the newly established NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence, examining health concerns associated with mobile phone use
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NEWS
Ancient human life focus for Australian Laureate Fellow
UOW’s internationally renowned geochronologist Professor Bert (Richard) Roberts has been named as an Australian Laureate Fellow in a national program designed to attract and retain world-class researchers. Professor Roberts played a key role in the 2003 discovery and dating of the ‘Hobbit’ – a previously unknown species of small human who lived on the Indonesian island of Flores until relatively recent times (in palaeoanthropological terms). He also led a team of dating experts who used the latest luminescence technology to determine that the first ‘Hobbits’ may have survived long enough to encounter early members of our species as they spread through Southeast Asia to Australia. The ‘Hobbit’ discovery will continue to play a key role in the new project, called ‘OUT OF ASIA: unique insights into human evolution and interactions using frontier technologies in archaeological science’. “We are confident we can throw fresh light on human evolution and the history, lifeways and cognitive capabilities of early modern humans and our ancient cousins including Neanderthals, the ‘Hobbits’ and the (recently discovered) Denisovans who co-existed with them,” Prof Roberts said. “We will investigate which species was living where and when, and what actually happened – learning about how people lived their lives, looking principally at the period between 130,000 and 50,000 years ago.” “We also will develop science-based techniques in archaeological dating and chemistry and apply them to key sites along an 8000 km-long transect from Central Asia to northern Australia, which is a great mixing line of modern and ancient humans,” he said. Scientists involved in the project will apply their new techniques to artefacts obtained 4
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from existing known archaeological sites along the transect, a line that runs from Siberia through Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, the Indonesian islands of Southern Sulawesi and Flores to tropical northern Australia.
Scientists will apply new techniques to artefacts obtained along an 8000km-long transect, a line that runs from Siberia through the Indonesian islands to tropical northern Australia
The five-year Laureate Fellowship funding, together with financial and infrastructure support from UOW, will allow Prof Roberts to develop the existing Centre for Achaeological Science (CAS) as the central hub of Australia’s first national centre for archaeological science, to be called the Australian Centre for Archaeological Science. According to Professor Roberts, the hub will link with other archaeological scientists at universities around Australia. “These new collaborations are definitely part of the excitement of receiving the Laureate Fellowship,” Prof Roberts said. “The Centre will provide a quantum leap in the application of archaeological chemistry to residues on stone tools, combined with new approaches to archaeological dating, using techniques that would have been impossible even 10 years ago,” he said. Four post-doctoral and six doctoral students will work in the new Centre, and the University will also provide sophisticated new laboratory equipment. Leading researchers of the archaeological sciences will join the hub, among them archaeological residue expert Dr Richard Fullagar (currently an Honorary Principal Fellow at CAS) and geo-archaeologist Professor Paul Goldberg from Boston University. Prof Roberts has a Bachelor of Science (Geography) degree from Aberystwyth University in Wales, a Master of Science from the University of British Columbia in Canada and a PhD from UOW in Physical Geography, which he completed in 1991. He then worked at Oxford University, the Australian National University, La Trobe University and Melbourne University before returning to UOW in 2001. Prof Roberts is UOW’s third Laureate Fellow, joining human geographer Professor Lesley Head (2009) and materials scientist Professor Gordon Wallace (2011) as recipients of the prestigious Fellowship.
NEWS
Teaching science with digital media
UOW’s Associate Professor Garry Hoban has won the University’s first ever Office of Learning and Teaching (OLT) National Senior Teaching Fellowship -- one of two awarded nation-wide for 2013/2014. The fellowship, valued at $250,000, is highly prestigious and one of the latest grants to be included on the 2013 Australian Competitive Grants Register. These are the top research and teaching grants awarded by the national Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education (DIISRTE). Along with colleague, Dr Wendy Nielsen and other members of their research strength, the Interdisciplinary Educational Research Institute (IERI), A/Prof Hoban has been teaching and researching different forms of student-created digital media to engage students in learning science content for the past eight years. The 12 month fellowship will allow A/ Prof Hoban to lead science academics and science teacher educators across Australia in implementing assignments that incorporate student-created digital media
to explain science concepts. This will include coordinating a program of strategic activities such as designing a new
Students will use mobile phones and free moviemaking software to create digital media and share science ideas with others website with resources to guide students and academics, and inviting academics to hands-on workshops conducted at hub universities in capital cities across the country, accompanied by support to encourage the scholarship of teaching and learning. NEW PARTNERSHIPS A key part of the workshops is to promote partnerships between science discipline
academics and science educators. Students of the discipline and people in science teacher education courses will be supported to create narrated animations (slowmations), videos, digital stories, podcasts, or screencasts to explain science as well as a new form called blended media that A/Prof Hoban and his team have recently developed. Central to the implementation is that students use accessible technology, such as their own mobile phones and free movie making software (IMovie on a Mac or Windows Movie Maker on a PC), to create the digital media, which can be shared on YouTube or Facebook as a way to communicate their science ideas to others. “The goal is to engage students in learning, explaining and communicating science by having them design and make digital media, which they commonly do for social media such as Facebook, but instead to channel their creativity into making digital science explanations,” A/Prof Hoban said. >>Download the Office for Teaching and Learning report on science education that A/Prof Hoban contributed to last year R e s e a r c h & I n n o v at i o n N e ws
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International patents for Radiation expert Prof. Rozenfeld has been in collaboration with US research partners the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI), the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre and US NAVAL Academy in the United States, as well as ANSTO and the Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF) at UNSW in Australia. “We have a strong partnership with NSBRI that has assisted in developing the prototype for use in space research,” Prof Rozenfeld said. “A recent visit to UOW from President and CEO of NSBRI, Dr Jeff Sutton, cemented the collaboration with further discussions on other projects.”
A UOW device that improves the assessment of risk in mixed radiation fields, typically in avionic and space radiation environments, has been granted a patent in the United States. Developed by Professor Anatoly Rozenfeld and his team at UOW’s Centre for Medical Radiation Physics (CMRP), the unique silicon-based microdosimeter measures radiation at the cellular level and is able to mimic the energy deposition in biological tissues within cells. According to Prof Rozenfeld, the device is an essential contribution to radiation protection of pilots and astronauts where the radiation environment is not easy to predict, however its application extends far beyond the cockpit with further uses for cancer treatment quality assurance, and in mining and accelerator facilities. “The quality assurance for oncology modalities, which use advanced radiation for cancer treatments, is expected to benefit from the device,” Prof Rozenfeld
said. “The success of particular forms of cancer treatment such as proton and heavy ion therapies depend on the assessment of radiobiological efficiency of a radiation field, which the microdosimeter can evaluate. More complex techniques and technologies to target and treat particular tumours with radiation are emerging, but we must ensure that human and machine error are avoided in treatment delivery by using advanced radiation dosimetry quality assurance instruments that we are developing at CMRP.” “Silicon microdosimetry is providing a new metric for the estimation of hazards from ionising radiation in mixed radiation fields,” he said. GLOBAL CONNECTIONS The microdosimeter has been developed with initial funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and further funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC). The latest design
“We are confident that this version of 3D silicon microdosimeter, after final investigation of the prototype, will be very attractive for commercialisation in many fields of terrestrial and space radiation protection,” he said. The US patent registration follows a patent granted by China last year for a technology in skin dosimetry coined the ‘Drop-in’ that accurately measures absorbed radiation dose on patient skin in real time. ‘Drop-in’ was invented by Prof Rozenfeld and its prototypes were further refined by his team at the Centre for Medical Radiation Physics at UOW over 10 years of intensive clinical studies in radiation therapy quality assurance. The patent is expected to provide UOW a stronger footing for further collaboration with industry partners and commercialisation, and position the Centre as a research leader in its field. UOW has five patent families from the CMRP. Currently, four of the patent family members have been granted patents in different jurisdictions, and the others are under examination. >>Learn more about CMRP
On the airwaves: Australia’s democratic tipping point Democratic tradition was the topic of Associate Professor Greg Melleuish’s panel weigh-in on ABC Radio National this month, in which he discussed ‘Democratic Caesarism’ – the idea that, for many people, democracy is understood as a leader looking after and protecting them. The History and Politics academic argued that the notion was particularly prevalent among those Australians disengaged with politics and less interested in the process
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of the system. “The increasing emphasis on leadership is transforming the nature of democracy,” A/Prof Melleuish said. “I would contrast this with Democratic Republicanism, which is based on civic virtue where people participate, take on roles for themselves and are much more active. “Democratic Caesarism is based on a passive population that just looks to the
leader to do things for them,” he said. Joining Futuretense host Antony Funnell, A/Prof Melleuish and other democracy experts, Professor John Keane (USyd) and Dr Tim Soutphommasane (USyd) toyed with the idea of the form Australian democracy should take and the form it has evolved into. >>Listen to the Futuretense panel disucssion online
Multicultural materials open dialogue for organ donation recognised with the NSW Multicultural Health Services Communications Award. “The resources discuss organ and tissue donation, address questions raised by orthodox communities, and work through perceptions, challenges and misunderstandings from a culturally and religiously sensitive perspective,” said CHI’s Dr Lyn Phillipson. “The content is based on research undertaken with three Orthodox religious communities in the Illawarra and was developed in collaboration with these groups to respond to their unique issues and concerns,” she said. The CHI project was funded through a competitive grant from the Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority and was driven with the assistance of UOW’s Karen Larsen –Truong and Professor Sandra Jones. A booklet and brochure series about organ and tissue donation developed by a UOW research team has taken out a coveted state award for best government pamphlet (July 8). Developed by UOW’s Centre for Health Initiatives (CHI) and
the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District (Multicultural Health and Organ and Tissue Donor Co-ordination Service), the award-winning materials form part of a project named ‘Discovering and Discussing Organ Donation Together’ and have been
>>Visit the DonateLife website to download the brochure series >>Learn more about the Centre for Health Initiatives
$1.07M grant for Emergency Services Research Project Dr Michael Jones from UOW’s Faculty of Business has won a $1.07 million Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre (BNHCRC) Grant for his project titled ‘Improving the Retention and Engagement of Volunteers in Emergency Service Agencies’. The research is to be undertaken in collaboration with UOW Associate Professor Andrew Sense and Mr David Rae from the NSW State Emergency Service. According to Dr Jones, the project aims to provide grounded research to guide emergency organisations in their management of volunteers and improve their capacity to provide support and care to communities. “This project will go a long way to ensuring that volunteers continue to volunteer their time, and through their service, the community will be able to rely on continuity of care and assistance now and into the future,” Dr Jones said. “The rendering of support through emergency management agencies such as the SES relies strongly on a consistent and reliable pool of highly-trained volunteer workers from the community. Given
challenging operating environments and declining participation, research of this nature is both timely and essential,” he said. The BNHCRC launched last month (1st July) following a federal government announcement to expand research efforts
into natural hazards and create a disaster resilient Australia. The CRC will use funding to provide a long-term research base that directly supports our emergency services as they work to prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from natural disasters. R e s e a r c h & I n n o v at i o n N e ws
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FEATURE
Illawarra Flame burns bright in China Congratulations to Team UOW Australia for their winning solar-powered house design entered into the international Solar Decathlon competition.
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Highest awarded score in Solar Decathlon history First in Architecture, Engineering, Solar Application, Hot Water and Energy Balances Second place for Communications & Market Appeal
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FEATURE
Team UOW wins international ‘Energy Olympics’ in China Team UOW Australia has been announced as the winner of Solar Decathlon China 2013 for its net-zero energy house of the future, the Illawarra Flame. The first ever Australian team to be invited to compete in the ‘energy Olympics’, Team UOW Australia, a partnership between the University of Wollongong and TAFE Illawarra, was awarded first place with 957.6 of a possible 1000 points (the highest score awarded in any Solar Decathlon competition) in a ceremony on Sunday 11 August 2013 in Datong, China. Modelled on the iconic 1960s Aussie fibro house, the Illawarra Flame, designed and built by students from UOW and TAFE Illawarra, demonstrates how to make existing houses energy efficient and comfortable to live in. COMPETITION This year’s Solar Decathlon China was the largest event in the competition’s history, with 300,000 visitors attending the public exhibition. 10
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Students competed against 19 other innovative solar-powered houses in ten categories of excellence. ILLAWARRA FLAME CONCEPT Team UOW aimed to transform an existing home using retrofit technologies to create sustainable, affordable and attractive housing for Australia’s future, while eliminating the waste associated with demolition of older homes. The team reasoned that a model to retrofit Australia’s existing eight million homes (for which 13 per cent of overall carbon emissions nationwide can be attributed) offered an elegant solution. BUILDING AND DESIGN The home was designed for clients nearing retirement-age: a couple looking to downsize their living space and with minimal environmental impact. Taking the three-bedroom layout of the Aussie Fibro, the space was transformed to create more open living areas with retrofit
‘pods’ that provided storage function and accommodated additional laundry and bathroom areas. Biofold doors and windows were added to fuse the building interior with the outdoors and recycled beams streamlined the framework, improving the feel and warmth of the indoors. Over 2km of recycled hardwood from old fibro houses and other environmentallyfriendly materials were used throughout the build. Orientation and passive design elements were an important aspect of the home so that it always positioned to face the sun (in Australia facing North, and in China facing South). Features such as eaves and shading were also designed to maximise solar radiation income during winter and to minimise it in the summer. The home’s interior design was inspired by the laidback Australian lifestyle and layers of neutral hues combined with indoor plants and outdoor living areas blended its overall aesthetic with the natural surrounds.
GARDEN The garden’s hardy, low-maintenance and self sufficient features integrated native Australian, drought-resistant species and included a fully functional acquaponics and composting system. Two vertical gardens set on ‘green walls’, constructed using recycled timber frames, were featured on each of the north and south decks, each supported by its own cascade watering arrangement. In order to reduce the overall water consumption, a reed bed and slow sand filter was constructed to treat greywater waste from the home. This, along with rainwater collected from the roof will be used for irrigation and clothes washing.
TEAM UOW AUSTRALIA >>Find out more about Team UOW’s winning lineup >Professor Paul Cooper, UOW DIrector of the Sustainable Buildings Research Centre (SBRC), coordinated the Solar Decathlon team and was one of the key academics to formulate the University’s application for competition entry in 2011
>Project Manager and Student LLoyd Niccol (B Engineering/Commerce) led the 34-strong student team
>>Learn more about the Illawarra Flame >>Watch ABC’s coverage of the build The new Sustainable Buildings Research Centre at UOW’s Innovation Campus will become home to the Illawarra Flame House after it is shipped back from China where it will be open to the public. R e s e a r c h & I n n o v at i o n N e ws
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Wellbeing flourishes in Village garden
Dedicated space for an aquaponics garden in the Basin View Masonic Village has sparked recent attention with an international gong for salutogenic design. The sustainable flower-shaped aquaculture-come-hydroponics nature area, designed in consultation with UOW’s Associate Professor Pia Winberg, received high commendation from the International Academy for Design & Health last month (13 July) for its benefits to human health and wellbeing. Helen Hasan, UOW Associate Professor of Economics, has been involved in monitoring the health benefits of the holistic space and established a wiki for all relevant project material to be stored. Working alongside Associate Professor Alison Wicks, their combined expertise in Activity Theory and Occupation Science has involved a number of ‘unfocus group’ sessions with the Village Auxiliary, staff and residents. “My field is Information Systems with a current focus on the benefits of IT and social media for the ageing population,” A/Prof Hasan said. “We have followed the research methods of Dr Hugh McKay from the UOW Institute for Innovation in Business and Social Research and are analysing data using his ’10 things that make us tick’, which has not been done any previous research,” she said. “The Shoalhaven Marine and Freshwater Centre (SMFC) was approached by the 12
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Village to gain a better understanding about what was involved to pull off a project of this size, and Pia, as Director of SMFC has been studying the viability of aquaponics
Top, Basin View Resident Catherine poses with a giant spinach leaf. Pictured in the garden above are (L-R) Dr Ursula King, garden designer Paul Van der Werf , A/Prof Pia Winberg, A/Prof Alison Wicks and A/Prof Helen Hasan.
in this context and on this scale,” A/Prof Hasan said. Capable of generating 250 kilos of fish and 150 kilos of yabbies per year, and supporting a diverse collection of vegetables, flowers and fruit trees, the Village garden features raised gravel and soil beds, all watered and fertilised by its three fish tanks that house goldfish and silverperch. “The residents say they now have more visits from family and friends and they have a great environment to meet. And it has brought outside groups into the Village – gardeners from all over, the scouts and schools, they all help out. Local groups are even planning events around the garden such as festivals and BBQs,” A/Prof Hassan said. “We all agree that an aquaponics garden may not be appropriate for every aged care facility but the process, thinking about a collaborative and creative project for everyone, certainly is. Recognition from the garden’s latest award legitimises the Activity Theory and Occupation Science approach to aged care. It shines a light on the value of community-based projects,” she said. Basin View Masonic Village is a 50 person aged-care facility owned by the Royal Freemasons Benevolent Institution. >>Read more about UOW’s involvement in the Village aquaponics project
NEWS
Medical breakthrough: 3D printed scaffolds grow cartilage Patients requiring replacement cartilage to treat injury, cancers and osteoarthritis currently rely on transplants or treatment which takes their own cells and reinjects them into the knees or hips. 3D printed scaffolds have been developed by UOW researchers who have customised fabrication equipment that can deliver the live cells needed for such treatments inside a printed 3D structure instead. The combination of 3D printing technologies, aligned with use of stem cells for tissue engineering, will enable repair of cartilage and other tissues such as muscle and even nerves, damaged through trauma or disease. In work led by Associate Professor Damian Myers of St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne – a node of the UOW-based Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES) – scaffolds fabricated on 3D printing equipment have been used to grow cartilage over a 28-day period from stem cells that were extracted from tissue under the knee cap. Adipose tissue from under the knee cap was collected and stems cells were isolated. These stem cells were impregnated into 3D-printed scaffolds and grown in culture over four weeks as cartilage tissue formed. ACES Director Professor Gordon Wallace and his team developed the customised fabrication equipment used to deliver these live cells inside the printed 3D structure. Using cutting-edge technology to deliver 3D printed scaffolds on which the cartilage
was grown, new cartilage cells can be aggregated in a ‘pellet culture’ to form spheres of new tissue the size of a pea. The use of a scaffold to direct the organisation of these spheres should enable defined tissue shapes to be formed over a 28-day period. The next phase of the cartilage research project will be to move to pre-clinical trials to demonstrate repair of cartilage. “ACES established a biomedical 3D printing lab at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne in April this year. This has greatly accelerated progress by bringing clinicians and
materials scientists face to face on a daily basis,” Professor Wallace said. The research is part of a wider limb regeneration project, involving Professor Wallace, Professor Mark Cook and Professor Peter Choong through the Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery. The aim is to eventually use a patient’s own stem cells to grow muscles, fat, bone and tendons. >>Learn more about ACES research >>Learn more about the Aikenhead Centre
UOW’s Big Ideas bounce around ABC TV The UOW Big Ideas Festival hosted at Innovation Campus in May, showcased UOW’s research (in particular recently appointed professors/future leaders) and engaged the campus community, partners and general public with work being done at the University. The audience enjoyed short and engaging presentations, interactive research stalls, as well as live entertainment & music. ‘ABC TV Big Ideas’ came along to video the presentations for their show and website and some of the Festival speakers (including Tony Okely, Clive Schofield, Aidan Sims and Stephen Blanksby) have been broadcast on ABC TV. Other Big Ideas presentations are available to watch online at the ABC Big Ideas website >> Watch now R e s e a r c h & I n n o v at i o n N e ws
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Coporate Governance article in ‘best paper’ line up The Editorial Advisory Board of an A-ranked journal has acknowledged the merit of a UOW paper that explains how the new economy of Initial Public Offering companies in Australia has created a different landscape for corporate governance.The paper, published in Corporate Governance: An International Review, suggests that the best practice recommendation concerning board independence does not work well for new economy firms.
“Our empirical results suggest that inside directors play a complementary role to outsiders in mitigating firm failure,” Coauthor Faculty of Business Professor Gary Tian explained. ‘Board Structure and Survival of New Economy IPO Firms’ received the Runner Up Award for best paper published in 2012. Dr Nongit Chancharat (former UOW student) and Prof Chandra Krishnamurti (USQ) are also co-authors of the credited paper.
Small tools draw deep insights for biomedical research The ability to manipulate and observe individual molecules is having a big impact on the way we investigate biological processes. These novel methods help us reveal mechanisms and pathways that are important to understand, and help us determine why, for example, people develop certain diseases. A pioneer and leader in this field of research is Professor Antoine van Oijen (pictured right) from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. His research group has developed biophysical tools to study, at the level of individual molecules, important molecular processes such as DNA replication, viral fusion and membrane transport. He has been collaborating with UOW’s Professor Nick Dixon (pictured far right), Director of the Centre for Medical Bioscience and Medicinal Chemistry, for almost 10 years. “We have worked together to develop methods to visualize the copying of individual DNA molecules in real time using the assembled components of the DNA copying machine from bacteria,” Prof Dixon said. “These reagents are uniquely available to us, through many years of research at UOW. To date, how this particular molecular machine works has been one of the most complex problems addressed by these new single-molecule tools,” he said. Antoine has recently finished a sevenweek research visit with Prof Dixon where he delivered master-class lectures in ‘single-molecule biophysics’ as part of a two-day workshop at UOW. The workshop attracted participants from ANU and all the major universities in NSW, showcasing how the field of single-molecule biophysics is beginning to play an important role in 14
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modern biomedical research. “It has been a true pleasure to interact during this workshop with the many talented students and researchers at UOW and surrounding institutes,” Prof van Oijen said. “Biophysical and biochemical research in Australia has always been world-class and I’m happy to see that also here singlemolecule tools are being adopted as part of the biomedical researcher’s toolkit.” “My collaboration with Nick is a great example of how researchers from different disciplines can learn to speak each other’s language and understand each other’s questions and challenges. “Over the years, we’ve made great progress together in developing single-molecule tools to understand the protein machinery that replicates DNA in bacteria,” he said.
The new molecular insight we obtain from these studies in bacterial model systems helps us think about how similar processes take place in human cells and how mistakes in these processes could play a role in disease,” he said. On future developments in this field Prof van Oijen says, “It is very exciting to see that these single-molecule techniques are already finding their way into practical applications. For example in genome sequencing, the act of reading out our genetic information, a number of companies are selling ‘DNA readers’ based on single-molecule tools.”
>>To learn more about this research contact Prof Nick Dixon
awards
What makes moss UV-resistant wins Three Minute Thesis Finalists of UOW’s elevator pitch competition had exactly three minutes to deliver a compelling oration on their thesis topic last month (2 July) and it was the Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health who emerged victorious in the verbal showcase, with PhD candidate Melinda Waterman taking top honours for her talk ‘Bryo Fight Club: Mosses vs UV’. Deconstructing a complex thesis topic in three minutes is no mean feat – although it is perhaps much less daunting than extracting kilos-worth of moss sample down to the compound level using high liquid chromatography with the ultimate goal of retrospectively mapping climate change in the Antarctic. This is a typical day for the final year PhD student, who is but months away from writing-up her data and handing in her thesis. In her winning presentation, Melinda explained her work separating and identifying UV-resilient sunscreens within the cell walls of an Antarctic moss species (a type of bryophyte). She also described how she had been using highly accurate radiocarbon dating techniques at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) to determine the age of long shoots of Antarctic moss, some over 100 years old. “I’m studying Antarctic moss species, one moss species in particular that also lives around Australia and a lot of places in the world, and I’m looking at what sunscreens they produce, which of its compounds are highly UV active and which ones are able to protect the cell’s organisms. “Tracking how the sunscreen concentrations change during the lifetime of these dated moss shoots may provide a record of past
climate change within Antarctica,” Melinda said. “As the ozone hole was forming in the 1970s, prior to that many organisms hadn’t been exposed to UV at all and from that point onwards they’ve been exposed to the highest change in UV levels. We’re hoping to see what the UV levels were like in Antarctica during times when records don’t exist,” she said. Melinda has won a $1,500 cash prize and
will go on to represent UOW at the National Trans-Tasman Competition in Parramatta later this year. PhD student Joel Kennedy received high commendation as a close runner-up and Ming Li received the People’s Choice Award. They both hail from the Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences. >>Check out photos from UOW’s 3MT >>Watch Melinda’s presentation online
Bill Wheeler Award for work on biodegradable implants UOW PhD student Sina Jamali has won the 2013 Bill Wheeler Award for his work on developing the next generation of medical implants from biocompatible and biodegradable materials. More than 20,000 stents are inserted into arteries of patients in Australia every year to open blocked blood vessels following angioplasty surgery. To avoid the long term complications caused by conventional stainless steel stents – which include stroke, heart attack and bleeding – magnesium alloys are being studied, given their biocompatibility and good mechanical
properties. It is anticipated that these new magnesium stents will provide short-term scaffolding support then dissolve in the blood stream when they are no longer needed. Sina has been working with global medical technologies company Boston Scientific to develop next generation stents from biocompatible and biodegradable materials. The Bill Wheeler Award is presented at the annual Bill Wheeler Symposium to an outstanding UOW PhD student engaged in a medical bionics project of significance to the larger community. R e s e a r c h & I n n o v at i o n N e ws
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AWATR AWARDS feature
Recognising research excellence The University of Wollongong is proud to celebrate the outstanding research achievements of the recipients of the 2013 Vice-Chancellor’s Awards. At UOW, our researchers are passionate about finding practical solutions to real world problems. This year’s Vice-Chancellor’s Award recipients have implemented innovative technologies for a new generation of clean energy storage devices, marketing concepts to increase the number of people foster caring in Australia, alternative treatment options to patients with breast cancer related lymphoedema and a training tool for the improvement of behavioural control in children with ADHD. In 2013, the Vice-Chancellor’s Awards celebrate these outstanding researchers across seven categories: • • • •
Research Excellence for Senior Researchers,Research Excellence for Emerging Researchers Outstanding Achievement in Research Partnership Interdisciplinary Research Excellence Excellence in Research Supervision Excellence in Research Culture and Outstanding Achievement in Research Commercialisation
2013 saw joint winners in the Research Partnership category.
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senior researcher Professor Hua Kun Liu Professor Hua Kun Liu, from UOW’s Institute of Superconducting and Electrical Materials, is an international leader in clean energy materials development and commercialisation, and the founder of the internationally renowned energy program at UOW. Her research focuses on developing innovative technology for a new generation of clean energy storage devices with high energy density, long life cycle and low cost. She has held four consecutive Australian Professorial Fellowships from 1994 to 2010 and her PhD graduates are widely spread among prestigious institutions and companies around the world, with many in senior leader positions in the clean energy field.
Emerging Researcher Dr Melanie Randle Dr Melanie Randle’s primary research focus has been on applying social marketing concepts to increase the number of people engaged in volunteering and foster caring. Her findings have been published in many high-level journals and have been used by community service organisations to develop more effective marketing campaigns. In 2012 Dr Randle’s achievements were acknowledged when she won the Australia and New Zealand Marketing Academy ‘Emerging Researcher of the Year’ Award. Dr Randle was the first academic in the Marketing discipline to have been awarded an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award fellowship (DECRA).
interdisciplinary research (L-R) Professor Geoff Spinks, Professor Julie Steele, Professor Philip Clingan amd Professor Don Iverson, as well as (absent from the image) Associate Professor Bridget Munro, Professor Gursel Alici and Professor Gordon Wallace and This program successfully combines biomechanics with materials science, materials engineering, robotics, oncology and health service delivery to offer an alternative treatment option to patients with breast cancer related lymphoedema. This project aims to use the multidisciplinary backgrounds of the team to develop a fully wearable device which may be able to provide an alternative and complementary treatment regime to the patient to reduce the effects of this lifelong sentence and improve their quality of life.
Research Culture Associate Professor David Pask This award recognises A/Prof David Pask’s profound impact on the research culture in mathematics at UOW, the continuation of a career-long commitment to promoting and exemplifying research intensity and excellence in his academic team. A/Prof Pask’s investment of time, research effort, and substantial ARC funding, has established a collegial and focussed research culture delivering cutting-edge research while remaining inclusive and encouraging of both postgraduate and undergraduate students. His generous sharing of ideas, expertise and enthusiasm, as well as his own exceptional research achievements, have established a culture of collaborative research excellence in mathematics at UOW which is recognised worldwide.
Research Supervision Associate Professor Minjie Zhang A/Prof Minjie Zhang is a member of the School of Computer Science and Software Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences. She has made substantial and sustained contributions to the supervision and management of HDR students. With her professional guidance, all her HDR students have been publishing in the top-tier of journals and conferences. With a high level of dedication, professionalism and enthusiasm, she has greatly improved the HDR completion rate of the School, which is now one of best performers in the Faculty in HDR completion.
Research commercialisation Associate Professor Stuart Johnstone A/Prof Stuart Johnstone was responsible for the invention and development of the world’s first evidence-based neuro-cognitive training tool for the improvement of behavioural control in children with ADHD. He was instrumental in securing an industry licensee to the UOW IP, and continued research into the efficacy of the approach, now embodied as two software products being sold internationally. The invention is a system of cognitive training incorporating objective attention levels obtained via a wireless brain electrical activity recording device. A research study using the ‘Focus Pocus’ software has been conducted in China, and two randomised control studies are underway in Illawarra and Sydney areas.
Research partnerships UOW’s Centre for Geomechanics and Railway Engineering: (L-R) Dr Cholochat Rujikiatkamjorn, Professor Buddhima Indraratna and Dr Xueyu Geng Since 2009, Coffey Geotechnics and the UOW’s Centre for Geomechanics and Railway Engineering (GRE) have collaborated under an ARC-Linkage project on vacuum consolidation with two other industry partners including Road and Maritime Services (RMS) and Douglas Partners. This research partnership has led to tangible results, improving delivery of services and design techniques with user-friendly charts used by industry; numerous high calibre journal articles and invitations to delier Keynote lectures at top-rated international conferences.
Research Partnerships Professor Brian Cullis Professor Brian Cullis has established an outstanding research partnership with the Grains Research Development Corporation (GRDC). This partnership has been in place for over 20 years and has resulted in 10 research contracts in the past 10 years. Professor Cullis joined UOW from the NSW Department of Primary Industries in 2010 and brought with him a GRDC funded project which was novated to UOW (worth $2,440,000) and ended in 2011. Since then Professor Cullis has secured two more major research contracts with the GRDC with total funding of over $6,600,000 over five years.
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TRAVEL TALE
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The global dimensions of social marketing research Social Sciences Research Fellow, Dr Ross Gordon talks about a speaking tour around Canada and his trip to the United Kingdom where he helped conduct the longitudinal International Alcohol Control Study survey.
Being a social marketing academic, there is always a multi-disciplinary and global nature to the research I do. Social marketing involves applying marketing principles and techniques for social good, and critically examining the impact that commercial marketing has on society. Therefore working in the social marketing discipline often has synergies with, and involves working across marketing, psychology, sociology, anthropology, political science, and public health. There is also a globalised dimension to my work in social marketing. Issues such as the impact of alcohol marketing on youth drinking have global dimensions – many alcohol brands are owned by multi-national corporations using worldwide platforms such as social media to market their products. Similarly, sustainability is a challenge facing the entire globe, requiring action at the local and supra-national level. Over the last 12 months and beyond, my work has involved a fair bit of travel. Currently, I am an investigator, or an advisor on four projects that are international in nature, working with collaborators in the UK, New Zealand, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Netherlands. One of the major projects I am currently working on is Alcohol Policies in Scotland and England (APISE). The study is part of the International Alcohol Control Study consisting of 11 countries, and involves a longitudinal survey of citizens’ attitudes towards, and responses to alcohol policy. The study is the first of its kind, and will offer insight on public attitudes towards alcohol policy, and provide evidence regarding the effects of policy change. From July-August 2012 I travelled to London, Edinburgh, and Glasgow to carry out in-depth interviews with alcohol stakeholders for stage one of the project, as well as assist with the development of the quantitative survey. The first wave of survey data has now been collected, and I will continue to do more work in England on the study. More recently, I travelled to the World
Social Marketing Conference in Toronto. (July 2013). I was fortunate enough to be invited to give a keynote presentation at the conference, which is attended by over 600 delegates working in the social marketing and behaviour change area. My presentation focused on three challenges for social marketing moving forward. I focused on the need to think critically about how corporatisation and commercial marketing can adversely
involve thinking and acting strategically – the societal challenges we currently face require multi-faceted interventions at the policy, community, and individual level. Overall, the session seemed to be well received, and the conference itself was great for networking and meeting new friends, whilst keeping in touch with old friends. There were also a number of interesting new ideas and research projects being presented at the conference, and it is great to see social marketing having a strong presence. Following the conference, I also gave a keynote presentation at the Leading Social Change Conference in Toronto, attended by practitioners and a number of nongovernmental organisations. I spoke on the topic of branding in social marketing – an area in which I am currently doing some interesting research. This session attracted quite a bit of interest and I managed to make some very useful contacts and consider some new ideas and angles for developing my research in this area, which was great.
impact society, but also to be reflexive about the principles and practice of social marketing. I also encouraged social marketers to be contemporary and help develop and embrace new ideas and fresh thinking in the field – as there has been criticism that some social marketing concepts are outdated and not reflective of modern social change programs. Finally I outlined how social marketing needs to
Finally, after the conference I was fortunate to travel to Cuba for a holiday. I found it to be a wonderful place – full of colour, music, dancing, culture, fantastic people and more than anything a real sense of collective spirit. Although Cuba is not a wealthy country (in part due to the US economic blockade), it was fascinating to witness how people help one another, whether by offering lifts in their truck or by helping repair a bicycle, and how they live sustainably. In Cuba, nearly everything from the wonderful old American cars to household goods are repaired and recycled, food is sourced locally, and mass marketing is almost non-existent. The trip made me think a lot about how we live, and whether we do so sustainably, and happily. These trips over the past year have been very rewarding personally and professionally, and I think it has really demonstrated to me the importance of being connected and getting out there into the world whilst working in academia. R e s e a r c h & I n n o v at i o n N e ws
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STUDENT PROFILE
Norzizi Zulkafli Ms Zulkafli is investigating the importance of ‘Mak Yong’ (a Malaysian dance-drama) in maintaining Malaysian cultural identity, but is also incorporating a Western twist.
approach. One of the contributing factors to the loss of Mak Yong’s popularity with today’s audience is its unchanged performance structure. My production will restructure Mak Yong performances for contemporary audiences and fuse eastern and the western directorial techniques.
What are you studying? I am studying a PhD in Creative Arts in Theatre, Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts. What does your research focus on? My PhD research title is ‘Intercultural Theatre: The Adapting and Reinvention of a Western Text to the Malay Traditional Theatre’. My doctoral thesis examines one form of traditional Malaysian theatre, Mak Yong, a dance-drama established in the 17th century which is comprised of the elements of dancing, acting, music and singing as well as improvised dialogues. The focus of this doctoral research is to recognize the importance of Mak Yong in maintaining the Malaysian cultural identity. My thesis is comprised of two parts, a creative project and an exegesis. The creative component of this doctorate is the theatrical direction of an intercultural production integrating elements of Mak Yong with a western text. In this particular project, Shakespeare’s The Tempest, will be fused with Mak Yong performance techniques. The process involves two phases; pre-production consists of the process of adaptation and script writing, whilst the production consists of the rehearsal process and the performances. My creative project theorizes a hybridity 20
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of eastern and western styles of direction. The fusion of Mak Yong and Shakespeare whilst being presented in English, will be performed by western actors, directed by me, a Malaysian director and staged in Australia. In order to combine Shakespeare and ‘Mak Yong’ the main criteria that I take into consideration is the resemblance between the two. The similarities or connections are the rhythms of the language, the kingship stories, the supernatural characters and the magical elements. Am I using ‘Mak Yong’ to present Shakespeare or using Shakespeare to present ‘Mak Yong’? It is ‘Mak Yong’ in which I am interested. I will localize the production, change it geographically, historically and bring Shakespeare into the mystical world of ‘Mak Yong’. In my view, when dealing with two cultures it is always important to consider what is the connection between the two. If there are absolutely no similarities then it is not appropriate to fuse them. The hybrid will represent a great stepping-stone in bridging the east with the west using Shakespeare. The exegesis analyses three main points: the stock repertoire of Mak Yong, the performance structure and the contemporary directing styles of Mak Yong in Malaysia, including my directorial
Why did you come to UOW? - The UOW Creative Arts program offers a Doctor of Philosophy combined with practicebased research. This is definitely a unique element of the program. As an established theatre director, I am eager to sharpen my intellectual skill as a theatre director and also as a scholar. Furthermore, a Malaysian friend recommended Wollongong to me, stating that UOW lecturers, especially supervisors are very concerned to develop the postgraduates’ academic abilities. A countless thanks to both of my supervisors, Dr. Catherine McKinnon and Dr. Janys Hayes for making it true! What has been the highlight of your career so far? - I was very fortunate at a very young age to direct at the Malaysian National Theatre, Istana Budaya. I was the youngest director to have been given the prospect of directing in this prestigious theatre. The opportunity was to direct the first traditional theatre ‘Mak Yong’ for the modern stage. For me, this was a big stepping-stone in my career as I had just graduated from my Bachelor in Films in 2003. In 2004, I went to Middlesex University, London to continue my MFA in Theatre Directing and when I returned to Malaysia, I was offered another chance to direct at the National Theatre, this time a children’s musical, Aladdin. In May 2013 I won the Best Director in the 10th BOH Cameronian Arts Awards Malaysia 2013 through my latest theatre work ‘Usikan Rebab’. This was my last theatre production before I flew to Australia at the end of last year and it has been my biggest achievement in my career. This particular award will hopefully boost my spirits in completing my PhD journey. In the future I hope I can contribute further to the development of Malaysian theatre and mainly to the growth of traditional theatre.
Opinion
Reading between the lines on same-sex marriage
Same sex marriage ends the debate, leads the coverage: Dr Marcus O’Donnell, Journalism lecturer and former editor-in-chief of Sydney Star Observer publisher SSO Media, reviews talk about same sex marriage on the federal campaign trail. Kevin Rudd’s promise to introduce legislation for “marriage equality” within the first 100 days of his government, if elected, was one of the few concrete new promises to emerge in the election debate. This promise, which came at the end of the debate, led the news in a number of debate round-ups internationally and locally. Britain’s Independent had a story online within half an hour of the debate’s conclusion headlined: “Australia election debate: Kevin Rudd promises to legalise same-sex marriage” and news.com.au had a story: “Rudd commits to gay marriage”. It is interesting that this issue, which hasn’t played large in the campaign so far, was an issue raised in a debate that had limited time and only explicitly tackled a handful of issues such as: the economy and taxes, asylum seekers, the NBN, transport, aged care, and climate change. Given its placement at the end of the debate, it seemed to fill the heart warming/ human novelty story that wraps a classic news bulletin. Rudd answered very strongly and positively. Abbott could only obfuscate awkwardly. Rudd talked about the reality
of same sex relationships as being equal to his own relationship with his wife Therese. Abbott pointed to the presence of his lesbian sister. But apart from the fanfare of his 100 day proposal, Rudd played the point carefully and very tactically. He seemed to deliberately use the phrase “marriage equality” rather than “same-sex marriage” which is how debate moderator David Speers framed the question. This makes me wonder whether Labor focus testing has indicated this framing is a way of defusing the issue among conservative Labor supporters. He promised to introduce legislation within 100 days and to follow the current arrangement for Labor members to have a conscience vote. He forthrightly challenged Abbott to allow his colleagues a similar free vote. So he used his support for same-sex marriage as a way of making Abbott look “unfair” and against “equality”. But he knows full well that under present arrangements, with a Labor conscience vote and Liberal opposition, no matter what the outcome of the election, any such legislation would be unlikely to pass.
So no, he didn’t promise to “legalise same-sex marriage” as The Independent’s headline spruiked. The news.com.au story made this very point: “While Rudd’s support on the issue has earned him a few extra votes, no one party can deliver reform and he we will need to follow in the footsteps of prime ministers David Cameron (UK) and John Key (NZ) by reaching across the aisle and collaborating with all sides of the political spectrum. It will be interesting to see how this issue plays out in the media and the campaign over the next few weeks. Julia Gillard concocted her anti same-sex marriage stance in the hope of firming up her conservative credentials in marginal electorates and with right wing Labor unions. Kevin Rudd has been a convincing advocate for same-sex marriage since his turn around on the issue a few months back but like his predecessor he seems to be using the issue as a tactical issue rather than taking any decisive action to ensure real change. >>By Dr Marcus O’Donnell. Originally published on the Conversation.
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NEW STAFF
Simone Ciampi recently joined UOW’s Intelligent Polymer Research Institute as a Vice Chancellor’s Post-Doctoral Research Fellow. Many of the phenomena we see in everyday life and many of the research tools behind the nanotechnology revolution involve interfaces and electrons crossing those interfaces. Simone`s research has focused on the design of experimental model systems that are modified with molecular level precision in order to mimic in the lab those interfaces and fine-tune electron transfer events. By merging the vast and expanding repertoire of organic synthetic methods with the inorganic word of metal and semiconductor surfaces, interfaces now offer endless opportunities toward the engineering of laboratory model systems. If you are a biologist, a physicist, a chemist or an electrochemist, molecules and interfaces can do a lot for your science. Simone will be working with Prof Gordon Wallace in trying to develop one of these model systems. An overwhelming body of recent computation studies suggests that by applying oriented electric fields at interfaces, one can alter at will the catalytic cycle and selectivity of key chemical transformations. These are unprecedented effects. The aim of Simone`s research at IPRI is to put these theoretical findings under their first experimental scrutiny. This knowledge will open opportunities for catalysis at interfaces that current technologies cannot hope to fulfil.
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Professor Ian Wright believes passionately that child health is one of the most important determinants of our society. The Illawarra community agrees, and has helped raise funds to support the appointment of Professor Wright to the inaugural chair of Paediatrics and Child Health Research at UOW’s Graduate School of Medicine (GSM). Professor Wright (MBBS, DCH, MRCP, FRACP) completed his training in the UK (University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne/ Royal College of Physicians) and moved to Australia over 16 years ago. During that time he has been living and working in Newcastle (NSW). He has developed his career as an academic paediatrician, both as a Senior Staff Specialist in neonatal medicine at the John Hunter Children’s Hospital and also as an academic in Paediatrics and Child Health at Newcastle University. Until recently he was head of the Newcastle Neonatal Research Group within the Mother and Babies Research Centre at the Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI). Now based at both Wollongong Hospital and the Illawarra Heath and Medical Research Institute (IHMRI - a joint initiative of the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District and UOW), Professor Wright divides his time between paediatric teaching and training, clinical work with mothers and babies in hospital and child health research. His research interests focus primarily on the cardiovascular adaptation of newborns following preterm birth; for which he holds National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) grants. He has received international recognition for his work on the effect of gender on neonatal cardiovascular adaptation.
Dr Dave Mitchell joined the Electron Microscope Centre (EMC) at UOW as a research fellow working in the area of advanced transmission electron microscopy (TEM). After completing his PhD in materials at the University of Manchester, he worked on a series of post-docs in the field of materials and microscopy in both Australia and the UK. He returned to Australia (living in Wollongong), and worked for 15 years at ANSTO as a microscopy specialist, before moving to the University of Sydney for several years, where he managed the modernisation of the TEM fleet. Dave then spent a year and a half in South Africa setting up a microscopy facility for a large petrochemical company. He also made extensive use of a state-ofthe-art aberration corrected TEM/STEM at the newly commissioned National Centre for Electron Microscopy at NMMU in Port Elizabeth. This new generation of electron microscopes uses correcting optics to extend the performance of the instrument, enabling materials to be imaged and analysed at the atomic scale. The successful bid by UOW to install a similar microscope brought Dave back to Australia. Dave’s role at UOW will be to commission and roll out the new JEOL ARM aberration corrected TEM/STEM and to support researchers wishing to access this amazing technology.
Dr Sarah Loughran is a research fellow in the Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health and the Australian Centre for Electromagnetic Bioeffects Research (ACEBR). Sarah completed a bachelor of science at Deakin University in 2002 and obtained an honours degree in psychophysiology from Swinburne University of Technology in 2003. She continued to pursue postgraduate research at the Brain Sciences Institute of Swinburne University, completing a PhD in 2007 that investigated the effects of electromagnetic fields, emitted by mobile phones, on human sleep and brain activity. Sarah subsequently undertook postdoctoral work at one of the leading sleep laboratories at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, where she continued to pursue research on the effects of electromagnetic fields on sleep and brain activity and the mechanisms involved in the interaction of these fields with the brain. Her work in the field of bioelectromagnetics has been recognised with membership to the World Health Organisation’s Radiofrequency Environmental Health Criterion Evaluation Committee, as well as a recent appointment with the International Commission for Non-Ionising Radiation Protection as a scientific expert. In association with Prof Rodney Croft, Sarah will be undertaking research on a wide range of bioelectromagnetics and electromagnetic health issues at UOW, as well as continuing to pursue her interests in cognitive neuroscience and sleep research more generally.
Alex Puckett recently joined UOW as a Research Fellow, working with Dr Mark Schira in the School of Psychology. Alex earned his bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from the Milwaukee School of Engineering and then a Doctorate of Philosophy in Biomedical Sciences from the Biophysics department at the Medical College of Wisconsin. His dissertation work involved the use of neuroimaging and computational modelling to study the human visual system. In particular, he studied the process of visual attention by investigating sensory and attention-related responses across a number of cortical visual areas. With Dr Schira’s guidance and expertise in high-resolution neuroimaging, Alex is looking forward to exploring cortical response properties, not only among various visual areas but also in specific cortical layers.
Stéphane Recouvreur joined the Innovation & Commercial Research department in July as an Innovation Ecosystem Support Officer. After undertaking Business Law studies in France and Ireland, Stéphane moved to Australia to complete a Master of International Business at the University of Wollongong. Stéphane was working as an Administrative Assistant at the Sydney Business School where he undertook an active role in developing clubs and societies on the campus, Stéphane is currently working on increasing the visibility and impact of the iAccelerate program towards students and various stakeholders by providing communication and marketing support to the department. He will strive to engage and educate future entrepreneurs about the different opportunities that the iAccelerate program has to offer to support their vision. He is notably aiming at increasing the pipeline of students desiring to think ‘outside the box’ to create new jobs and business opportunities in the Illawarra area. Stéphane also intends to support the creation of a postgraduate course in Entrepreneurship and Innovation on the Sydney CBD campus that will provide the necessary knowledge to future entrepreneurs to be more prepared and achieve greater success when launching their business idea.
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Liveability
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October 1 Subscribe for breaking news on speaker lineup, location and ticketing www.tedxuwollongong.com
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EVENTS
Former High Court Judge to give Goldring Lecture
JACK GOLDRING MEMORIAL LECTURE Friday 18 October | 5.30pm–6.30pm Room 107, McKinnon Building (67), UOW INFO: bit.ly/14EkvRP RSVP: ldavies@uow.edu.au FREE TO THE PUBLIC REGISTRATION ESSENTIAL The Hon. Michael Donald Kirby, AC, CMG.
Three decades of creativity CREATIVE ARTS 30th ANNIVERSARY COCKTAIL EVENING Monday 9 September | 4.45pm Creative Arts Foyer, Building 25, UOW INFO & RSVP: bit.ly/16BiZGI REGISTRATION ESSENTIAL 2013 marks a milestone for Creative Arts and one to celebrate! There are a range of exciting and varied activities planned to celebrate this 30 year anniversary, set to take place during Postgraduate Week (9-11 September). The three-day line up of festivities include exhibitions, discussions, installation and performance art with input from the University’s academics, students and artists-in-residence. >>Join the mailinglist for updates 26
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is an Australian retired judge, jurist, and academic. His career has included work as a Judge in two great Australian appellate courts – the High Court of Australia and the Court of Appeal of New South Wales. Renowned for his commitment to social justice and for his many inspirational judgments over a remarkable 35 years as a Judge, this year the Hon. Michael Kirby will
deliver the annual Jack Goldring Memorial Lecture. The Memorial Lecture was established in 2011 by the Law Faculty in honour of its Foundation Dean and former District Court Judge the late Jack Goldring (1943-2009). Professor Goldring was motivated to establish a law school at UOW for facilitating wide access to legal education and the pursuit of social justice via programs and policies that supported equal opportunity into law for Indigenous students, as well as students from disadvantaged backgrounds. He went on to become a distinguished member of the Law Reform Commission and a highly regarded District Court Judge. Before joining UOW, Judge Goldring had worked in the Law Faculties at the University of Papua New Guinea, the Australian National University and Macquarie University, where he was also the Dean. The first Jack Goldring Scholarship recipient will be announced at the 18 October lecture, made possible through the generous donation of local law firm RMB Lawyers, who contribed $25,000 to the scholarship fund, as well as over 100 other organisations and individuals who have contributed to the fund. >>Learn more about the Goldring Scholarship >>Donate to the fund [PDF]
EVENTS
UOW to host Green Mining Symposium The 6th International Symposium on Green Mining will be hosted by the University of Wollongong (2426th November), helping to expand the University’s collaborations with the mining industry and research organisations such as China University of Mining and Technology and CSIRO, as well as promote UOW as an international research centre of excellence in advanced mining technologies for ‘Green Mining’. Initiated and run by China University MT through its State Key Laboratory of Coal Resources and Safe Mining, this is the first time that this symposium is to be hosted outside China. UOW and China University MT signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) last year following a visit headed by Professor Chris Cook. The MOU provides the framework to support collaborative research and education exchanges between the two universities. Key themes for this year’s symposium include the theory and practice for maximising coal resource recovery with reduced environmental impact and carbon footprints. Abstracts of 300-words are invited for the areas of mine geomechanics, backfill methods, integrated extraction of coal and coal seam gas, coal mine methane drainage and utilisation, groundwater and its protection and use, mine wastes/ tailings reduction and utilisation, and new technologies for reducing carbon footprints from mining process. In addition to Australian participants, the Symposium will be attended by a
large delegation from China, headed by Professor Ge Shirong, President of China University MT and top researchers from China’s leading universities, institutes and mining companies. UOW researchers will be showcasing some of the latest research outcomes in advanced mining technologies,
gas drainage and dust suppression techniques. >>Further details of the symposium are available from the conference website or by contacting Dr Ting Ren
Counting down the days to Mahler
OFFSHORE WORLDS
BI-ANNUAL MAHLER SERIES
Monday 16 September | 5-6pm LHA Research Hub (19.2072), UOW INFO & RSVP: Dr Thomas Birtchnell FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Friday 11 October | 11am and 5pm Room 104, McKinnon Building (67), UOW INFO & RSVP: asims@uow.edu.au FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC The Australian Mathematical Society’s bi-annual Mahler Lecture Series will bring Stanford University Professor Akshay Venkatesh to UOW to present two special guest lectures. Speaking first on ‘Torsion in the homology of arithmetic groups’
in the morning and then presenting a public lecture at 5pm, the pure mathematician will explain how stacking 24 dimensional oranges relates to the Voyager spacecraft. The title of his public lecture is ‘How to stack oranges in three dimensions, 24 dimensions, and beyond’. Prof Venkatesh won the SASTRA Ramanujan Prize for outstanding contributions to the area of mathematics in 2008. He commenced his PhD at Princeton University in 2002 at only 17 after graduating with a degree from UWA.
Distinguished Professor John Urry (Lancaster University, UK) will present his forthcoming book Offshoring: Secrets, Lies and Globalization. John Urry is the co-founder and Director of the Centre for Mobilities Research at Lancaster University and is the founding co-editor of the journal Mobilities and author of numerous books on globalization, capitalism and tourism.
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Research Services Office, Building 20, Level 1, University of Wollongong, Northfields Ave, Wollongong, NSW, Australia, 2522 research@uow.edu.au | +61 2 4221 3386 | www.uow.edu.au/research
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