Issue 02. 19 March 2012 - UWA Staff - The University of Western ...
Issue 02. 19 March 2012 - UWA Staff - The University of Western ...
Issue 02. 19 March 2012 - UWA Staff - The University of Western ...
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
<strong>UWA</strong> NEWS<br />
<strong>19</strong> <strong>March</strong> <strong>2012</strong> Volume 31 Number 2<br />
Macropod. Rock art from the north-west Kimberley region supplied with the permission <strong>of</strong> the Kandiwal Aboriginal Corporation<br />
Kimberley<br />
dreaming<br />
becomes<br />
a reality<br />
By Lindy Brophy<br />
“It all started with falling in love,” Maria<br />
Myers told a roomful <strong>of</strong> archaeologists,<br />
geologists and academics in the<br />
humanities.<br />
It is not something <strong>of</strong>ten heard in the usually<br />
formal context <strong>of</strong> the Vice-Chancellery’s Prescott<br />
Room, where partnerships are cemented,<br />
agreements signed and initiatives launched.<br />
This ceremony celebrated all three in the form<br />
<strong>of</strong> a new Chair in Rock Art for <strong>UWA</strong>. Ms Myers,<br />
passionate Chair <strong>of</strong> the Kimberley Foundation <strong>of</strong><br />
Maria Myers Australia (KFA) said she fell in love with the<br />
Kimberley, and this led her into working towards<br />
bringing the story <strong>of</strong> the region and an understanding <strong>of</strong> its ancient treasures<br />
to all its stakeholders (Indigenous people, pastoralists, and the tourism and<br />
mining industries) and to future generations.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Kimberley Foundation has given <strong>UWA</strong> $1.5 million to set up the KFA Ian<br />
Potter Chair in the Centre for Rock Art. KFA will work to raise a further<br />
$500,000 and the <strong>University</strong> will provide $2 million, for a total <strong>of</strong> $4 million<br />
for an ongoing position.<br />
continued on page 2<br />
In this issue P3 Aussie english P7 international women’s day P8 treasures <strong>of</strong> the berndt museum
Kimberley dreaming becomes a reality from page 1<br />
<strong>The</strong> gift will support long-term research into the nature and<br />
context <strong>of</strong> the Kimberley’s rock art, working in partnership with<br />
the traditional custodians. Researchers will study and record<br />
the art and pass on knowledge to students and the broader<br />
community about the value <strong>of</strong> the region’s rich cultural heritage.<br />
Winthrop Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Krishna Sen, Dean <strong>of</strong> the Faculty <strong>of</strong> Arts,<br />
Humanities and Social Sciences (in which the Centre for Rock<br />
Art Studies sits), said <strong>UWA</strong> and the KFA had been discussing<br />
the Chair and their ongoing research partnership for two and<br />
a half years.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Vice-Chancellor, Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Paul Johnson, had met<br />
Ms Myers in Melbourne last year, before taking up his post at<br />
<strong>UWA</strong>, to discuss the opportunities that existed for scholarship<br />
and research in the Kimberley.<br />
Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Sen said the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research), Alistar<br />
Robertson, had worked tirelessly, alongside <strong>UWA</strong> graduate<br />
and Director <strong>of</strong> the KFA, Dr Jim Ross, to bring it all together.<br />
“<strong>The</strong>re are at least 40,000 identified rock art images in the<br />
Kimberley and many more not yet identified,” Pr<strong>of</strong>essor<br />
Johnson said. “It is a great role for this <strong>University</strong> to work with<br />
the KFA and the government to recognise the rock art as a<br />
world resource, to be understood and protected.<br />
“Universities have a responsibility to work for the public<br />
good, and the public good is always advanced by better<br />
understanding,” he said.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Centre for Rock Art Studies, within the discipline <strong>of</strong><br />
Archaeology, will soon advertise the position.<br />
Top right: Jim Ross (centre), Alistar Robertson and Paul Johnson at<br />
the launch <strong>of</strong> the new Chair<br />
Bottom right: Gwion figures. Rock art from the north-west Kimberley<br />
region supplied with the permission <strong>of</strong> the Kandiwal Aboriginal<br />
Corporation<br />
Is exercise the answer?<br />
Louise Naylor helps Leteisha Warner<br />
with her exercise routine<br />
Diabetes is one <strong>of</strong> the most common<br />
diseases <strong>of</strong> the 21st century in the<br />
western world, but preventing or<br />
treating it is far from simple.<br />
Babies born with a pancreas that does<br />
not release insulin have Type 1 diabetes<br />
and most <strong>of</strong> them will have to take<br />
insulin for the rest <strong>of</strong> their lives.<br />
Type 2 diabetes occurs because at<br />
some stage later in life, some people’s<br />
bodies produce too much insulin. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
can usually manage their diabetes with<br />
lifestyle changes, including exercise<br />
and diet.<br />
Dr Louise Naylor at the School <strong>of</strong> Sport<br />
Science Exercise and Health is trialling<br />
adolescents with Type 2 diabetes to see<br />
if regular exercise has an effect on their<br />
insulin sensitivity, and thus their health.<br />
“We are not exactly sure how children<br />
get Type 2 diabetes,” Dr Naylor said.<br />
“Sometimes it’s due to an unhealthy<br />
lifestyle, and sometimes there are<br />
genetic factors.”<br />
She and her team train groups <strong>of</strong><br />
teenagers three times a week for 12<br />
weeks, measuring the effects <strong>of</strong> the<br />
exercise and comparing the results with<br />
children who are obese but not diabetic,<br />
and other children, who are neither.<br />
Her research project, Can exercise<br />
training improve health in adolescents<br />
with Type 2 diabetes, is funded by the<br />
Bright Spark Foundation, which<br />
supports the work <strong>of</strong> promising young<br />
researchers working in the areas <strong>of</strong><br />
children’s health.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> aim <strong>of</strong> the program is to increase<br />
muscle mass, since muscle uses<br />
glucose and therefore improves their<br />
diabetes,” she said.<br />
<strong>The</strong> teenagers are referred by Princess<br />
Margaret Hospital and Dr Naylor is<br />
running three 12-week trials.<br />
2 | <strong>UWA</strong> NEWS <strong>19</strong> <strong>March</strong> <strong>2012</strong> the <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Western</strong> Australia
“So I went, like, see<br />
you on the Oak Lawn”<br />
Celeste Rodriguez Louro loves the<br />
way English is spoken in Australia<br />
It’s not like any other language<br />
“I dated this loser in high school and he was obsessed<br />
with lollies…and he’d just eat them. I’m just like: That’s<br />
disgusting.”<br />
You don’t need to have teenage children to recognise the<br />
speech patterns <strong>of</strong> young Australians in this second decade <strong>of</strong><br />
the 21st century.<br />
Rather than be affronted by them, Dr Celeste Rodriguez Louro,<br />
an Assistant Pr<strong>of</strong>essor in Linguistics, is fascinated by the<br />
structure <strong>of</strong> vernacular Australian English.<br />
“I love the way English is spoken in Australia,” Pr<strong>of</strong>essor<br />
Rodriguez Louro said. “I love the long drawn-out ‘yeah’ that<br />
is so indicative <strong>of</strong> the laid-back Australian way.”<br />
Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Rodriguez Louro is a sociolinguist. Sociolinguistics<br />
examines the relationship between language and society,<br />
including how linguistic and social factors such as age,<br />
education, social class, ethnicity and others influence<br />
language use and change.<br />
One <strong>of</strong> the outstanding aspects <strong>of</strong> current youth language<br />
across varieties <strong>of</strong> English is the use <strong>of</strong> ‘like’, known as<br />
‘quotative be like’ in the linguistics literature.<br />
“<strong>The</strong>re has been much published on ‘like’ over the past<br />
15 years or so, but Australian English deserves a closer look.<br />
I’ve conducted some research on the use <strong>of</strong> quotation in<br />
Perth English and I’m presenting my findings at a linguistics<br />
conference in Manchester in April this year,” she said.<br />
This research shows that – just as with other varieties <strong>of</strong> English<br />
around the world – the use <strong>of</strong> ‘like’ usually starts with girls,<br />
around the age <strong>of</strong> 11 and continues well into the tertiary years,<br />
with boys ‘catching up’ later in life.<br />
“Women are leaders in language change in the western world,”<br />
Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Rodriguez Louro said. “Girls from 11 to 13 are very<br />
vigorous users <strong>of</strong> ‘like’, while boys lag behind until they get<br />
to about university age, then they use it more than their<br />
female peers.<br />
“My research shows that while young people are using ‘like’<br />
extremely <strong>of</strong>ten, it is rare to hear it used by somebody over the<br />
age <strong>of</strong> 35. <strong>The</strong> general consensus is that it started in the US,<br />
then spread via the mass media including to Canada, where it<br />
has been in use for a long time and has expanded and is now<br />
heard amongst people over 40.”<br />
She said that – much to the dislike <strong>of</strong> older generations – young<br />
people were bound to continue to use ‘like’.<br />
“As with other aspects <strong>of</strong> language innovation, the expansion <strong>of</strong><br />
‘like’ depends on it being evaluated positively. We will have to<br />
wait another 20 years to see whether ‘like’ remains a strong<br />
contender as people age.”<br />
Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Rodriguez Louro is also researching how verbs such<br />
as ‘think’, ‘believe’, ‘guess’ and ‘reckon’ are used to express<br />
one’s attitude in Australian English. She hopes to study how<br />
these verbs were used from the <strong>19</strong>th century onwards and how<br />
the system <strong>of</strong> Anglo Australian English compares to the uses <strong>of</strong><br />
these verbs in Aboriginal Australian English.<br />
Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Rodriguez Louro says the widely used ‘yeah, no’<br />
expression in Australian English reflects the Australian<br />
preference for conflict avoidance. “As a cross-cultural<br />
observation, in my native Argentina, it is common to hear<br />
people respond with a blunt ‘no, no, no, no’ before giving their<br />
opinion as a response to yours,” she said.<br />
“In countries such as Spain, Italy and France, expressing your<br />
opinion is valued and conflict is not avoided.<br />
“Cross-cultural communication is ever important and we are<br />
lucky to be <strong>of</strong>fering an exciting unit in second semester this<br />
year,” she said.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Linguistics discipline, in the School <strong>of</strong> Humanities, is<br />
<strong>of</strong>fering a broadening unit this semester, Communication<br />
across Cultures and Languages. This new unit gives students<br />
an opportunity to learn about how language is used and<br />
understood in different cultural settings looking at, among<br />
many other areas, how silence is deployed by people from<br />
different cultures, inside and outside Australia.<br />
“We are thrilled to be able to teach in this crucial area,”<br />
she said.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Western</strong> Australia <strong>UWA</strong> NEWS <strong>19</strong> <strong>March</strong> <strong>2012</strong> | 3
<strong>The</strong> importance <strong>of</strong><br />
academic research<br />
Paul Johnson<br />
Vice-Chancellor<br />
When the Royal Society was<br />
founded in 1660, it was possible for<br />
a knowledgeable person to be able<br />
to understand the full gamut <strong>of</strong><br />
scientific discovery <strong>of</strong> that time.<br />
Centuries later, it is hard to keep up with<br />
the furious pace <strong>of</strong> research advances<br />
even in one’s own discipline.<br />
While some in the community might<br />
view this rapid growth <strong>of</strong> scientific<br />
knowledge as an indication that we’ve<br />
pretty much covered all that needs to be<br />
discovered, the application and impact<br />
<strong>of</strong> academic research on our daily lives<br />
continues apace.<br />
<strong>The</strong> truth is that we can’t really begin<br />
to imagine what the world will be like<br />
in 30 years. We do know it will be<br />
fundamentally different from today; and<br />
we can be sure that it will be different<br />
because <strong>of</strong> science, technology and<br />
innovation which will almost certainly<br />
start out in the university research<br />
environment.<br />
Research is not only critical to the<br />
economic and social development <strong>of</strong><br />
society; it is also critical to the mission<br />
<strong>of</strong> our <strong>University</strong>.<br />
Some research benefits are obvious – for<br />
example, benefits <strong>of</strong> an economic kind<br />
(a new product, technology or service),<br />
a social kind (increased knowledge <strong>of</strong><br />
relevance to policy makers), <strong>of</strong> an<br />
environmental kind (improved techniques<br />
to ensure sustainable food production),<br />
<strong>of</strong> a cultural kind (increased understanding<br />
<strong>of</strong> cultural values or social<br />
approaches) or <strong>of</strong> a health kind (a better<br />
understanding <strong>of</strong> the causes <strong>of</strong> medical<br />
conditions or better means <strong>of</strong> delivering<br />
health services).<br />
For some research the benefit may not<br />
be so obvious. As Albert Einstein once<br />
remarked: “If we knew what it was we<br />
were doing, it would not be called<br />
research, would it?”<br />
Nevertheless, it is this research which is<br />
the foundation for knowledge that makes<br />
possible so much <strong>of</strong> the innovation and<br />
application that provides wider benefit.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re is a large element <strong>of</strong> serendipity in<br />
research and we need to acknowledge<br />
that for every successful connection<br />
between research and application, there<br />
are many projects that will not succeed<br />
in the same way. But such research,<br />
nevertheless, adds to the stock <strong>of</strong> global<br />
knowledge and provides the source <strong>of</strong><br />
new ideas, methods, techniques and<br />
innovation across a whole range <strong>of</strong><br />
disciplinary and multi-disciplinary areas.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re is no doubt that the emphasis on<br />
the social, cultural, economic and<br />
environmental impacts <strong>of</strong> research has<br />
increased greatly. This has been partly<br />
driven by the debate over the impact<br />
and quality <strong>of</strong> research and also by a<br />
pragmatism that applied research is<br />
more likely to persuade funding bodies<br />
to spend on research.<br />
Our economy is based very strongly on<br />
technology and innovation – and in<br />
<strong>Western</strong> Australia that centres on the<br />
resources sectors <strong>of</strong> agriculture, energy<br />
and minerals.<br />
And as we continue to pursue our global<br />
research agenda, we can look to a vast<br />
range <strong>of</strong> opportunities to build a future<br />
economy based on the existing<br />
strengths <strong>of</strong> our resources wealth<br />
backed by research from this <strong>University</strong>.<br />
<strong>Staff</strong> pitch in to<br />
pick up what’s<br />
pitched out<br />
A piano leg, a finger puppet and a<br />
complete outfit – pants, shirt, shoes<br />
and socks – were among rubbish<br />
picked up by <strong>UWA</strong> volunteers during<br />
Clean Up Australia.<br />
About 120 staff and students cleaned<br />
up the Crawley campus, the Nedlands<br />
campus and the Matilda Bay foreshore<br />
early on Friday 2 <strong>March</strong> and were<br />
rewarded with a breakfast at the<br />
<strong>University</strong> Club – as well as a sparkling<br />
campus.<br />
Co-ordinator Trish Howard from<br />
Sustainable Development (Facilities<br />
Management) said the crew had picked<br />
up about three cubic metres <strong>of</strong> rubbish<br />
and recyclables across 742,000 square<br />
metres in less than two hours. (<strong>The</strong> set<br />
<strong>of</strong> clothes was found on the Matilda<br />
Bay foreshore.)<br />
“It was a great effort and we were<br />
delighted that nearly all the people who<br />
volunteered last year put their hands up<br />
again this year. I didn’t have to go<br />
looking for volunteers,” she said.<br />
Cigarette butts, as always, featured<br />
among the rubbish collected.<br />
Ms Howard said she would be<br />
interested to see how many, if any, were<br />
collected next year, after the smoking<br />
ban had been in place for a year. “It will<br />
give us an idea <strong>of</strong> how successful the<br />
smoke-free campaign is,” she said.<br />
Breakfast for the volunteers was<br />
sponsored by the <strong>University</strong> Club and<br />
Sustainable Development.<br />
Ewann Lebrun and Nicolas <strong>The</strong>baud from<br />
Centre for Exploration Targeting target<br />
the rubbish<br />
4 | <strong>UWA</strong> NEWS <strong>19</strong> <strong>March</strong> <strong>2012</strong> the <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Western</strong> Australia
New technologies<br />
can unlock<br />
humanities secrets<br />
In the literary world, it was an accepted assumption that<br />
the <strong>19</strong>70s was a time <strong>of</strong> unprecedented growth in homegrown<br />
Australian fiction. And everybody was reading and<br />
talking about books by young Australian women.<br />
But it was not until recently that a researcher was able to<br />
measure just how many novels were published in that decade,<br />
and she found that there had been a decline in novels by<br />
Australian writers overall, but confirmed an increase in<br />
women’s novels.<br />
It is this sort <strong>of</strong> research – testing ideas about literary history –<br />
that is becoming possible with the spread <strong>of</strong> ‘Digital Humanities.’<br />
<strong>The</strong> intersection <strong>of</strong> Humanities and digital technologies is<br />
opening up opportunities in the fields <strong>of</strong> literature, linguistics,<br />
history and language that were not possible without<br />
computational methods and digitised resources to bring<br />
information together in an accessible way.<br />
Winthrop Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Philip Mead and Dr Toby Burrows have<br />
set up a Digital Humanities Reference Group and are working<br />
on developing the field at <strong>UWA</strong>. Late last year Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Mead<br />
visited King’s College London which has the world’s first<br />
university Department <strong>of</strong> Digital Humanities and has just<br />
<strong>of</strong>fered the first PhD in the field.<br />
“It’s an emerging, exciting field,” Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Mead said. “For us,<br />
<strong>2012</strong> will be a year <strong>of</strong> talking to leaders in the field and finding<br />
out where the important directions are, to help us to develop<br />
Digital Humanities here at <strong>UWA</strong> in a distinctive way.”<br />
He said <strong>UWA</strong> academics were combining traditional research<br />
methods with the possibilities <strong>of</strong>fered by computing. Pr<strong>of</strong>essor<br />
Mead <strong>of</strong>fers an Honours unit in English that introduces students<br />
to Digital Humanities.<br />
“Inevitably, it will become part <strong>of</strong> our undergraduate teaching<br />
because it’s what we will be doing,” he said.<br />
One <strong>of</strong> the world’s leading exponents <strong>of</strong> Digital Humanities,<br />
Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Alan Liu from the <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> California Santa<br />
Barbara, will be a plenary speaker at the first conference <strong>of</strong><br />
the Association for Digital Humanities in Australasia at the<br />
Philip Mead, trailblazer for new humanities research<br />
Australian National <strong>University</strong> later this month. He will present a<br />
roundtable discussion at <strong>UWA</strong> before that.<br />
Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Liu studies “information culture as a way to close the<br />
circuit between the literary or historical imagination and the<br />
technological imagination.” His presentation at the <strong>University</strong><br />
Club is part <strong>of</strong> the Institute <strong>of</strong> Advanced Studies’ program.<br />
Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Mead said that while it was exciting to combine<br />
traditional research skills with the latest technology, proponents<br />
shouldn’t try to turn literature, for example, into data.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> increasingly available databases and digital resources<br />
are what allow us to expand our research and enhance our<br />
methodology. You don’t want to get lost in the ‘busy work’ <strong>of</strong><br />
creating databases, but focus on the important research<br />
questions you want to answer.<br />
“Digital technology allows us to ask different questions,<br />
questions we wouldn’t have been able to answer before<br />
databases became available,” he said.<br />
“For example, having Australian newspapers from the <strong>19</strong>th<br />
century digitised allows us to ask about people’s reading<br />
experiences. <strong>The</strong>re were not many books published in Australia<br />
then, so people’s main reading was newspapers. Without a<br />
database, it would be impossible to do this research.<br />
“And having, say, Patrick White’s manuscripts digitised means<br />
a researcher can access them in one place, instead <strong>of</strong> several<br />
libraries and repositories around the world.”<br />
Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Mead has contributed to the first Australian book<br />
on Digital Humanities, Resourceful Reading. It is the first<br />
comprehensive account <strong>of</strong> eResearch as it transforms the field<br />
<strong>of</strong> Australian literary studies in the 21st century.<br />
Transcription s<strong>of</strong>tware is being developed for turning scans <strong>of</strong><br />
books and documents into text, as the field <strong>of</strong> digital humanities<br />
really takes <strong>of</strong>f.<br />
“It is changing our work fundamentally, changing the questions<br />
we ask, the patterns and links we can find and enabling us to<br />
test theories that were previously impossible to test,” Pr<strong>of</strong>essor<br />
Mead said.<br />
To attend Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Alan Liu’s discussion on 23 <strong>March</strong>, please<br />
RSVP to ias@uwa.edu.au<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Western</strong> Australia <strong>UWA</strong> NEWS <strong>19</strong> <strong>March</strong> <strong>2012</strong> | 5
What makes a tick<br />
By Sally-Ann Jones<br />
… tick?<br />
What makes a ground-dwelling and disease-carrying tick decide to crawl up<br />
a grass stalk and launch itself onto a human or animal host?<br />
Are some solitary locusts more likely than others to suddenly band together in plague<br />
proportions and act as one?<br />
And why do single-celled algae change from vegetative reproduction to having sex?<br />
<strong>The</strong>se and other questions are being investigated by evolutionary biologist Future<br />
Fellow Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Joseph Tomkins in the Centre for Evolutionary Biology.<br />
He is testing a model that seeks to explain what triggers changes in the behaviour or<br />
development <strong>of</strong> living things, whether they are as small as single cells or as big as a<br />
plague <strong>of</strong> insects, numbering many millions.<br />
<strong>The</strong> model, pioneered by Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Tomkins’s collaborator, Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Wade Hazel<br />
at De Pauw <strong>University</strong> in the United States, suggests that a certain threshold in<br />
the environmental conditions experienced by an organism make it switch between<br />
two alternatives.<br />
“A cell can divide itself or find another cell to exchange DNA with, as it divides,”<br />
Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Tomkins said. “A male salmon might stay in its home river growing to only<br />
a few hundred grams, or go to sea for years, returning weighing a few kilograms.<br />
<strong>The</strong> model we are interested in treats the decisions that organisms make as traits,<br />
and asks how these decisions evolve. To date it has not been applied to the breadth<br />
<strong>of</strong> questions to which it could.”<br />
Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Tomkins, who won an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship <strong>of</strong><br />
almost $1million over four years, will travel to France and Scotland to examine the<br />
behaviour <strong>of</strong> deer ticks, which are responsible for the growing spread <strong>of</strong> Lyme disease<br />
throughout parts <strong>of</strong> Europe.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> tick that carries Lyme disease – which can be extremely disabling, and even fatal,<br />
if not treated with antibiotics – climbs up a grass stalk to look for a host only in certain<br />
weather conditions,” he said. “By knowing what triggers its behaviour, we hope to be<br />
able to warn farmers to move their stock, and hikers to avoid tick-infested areas, at<br />
times when ticks are searching for hosts.”<br />
Lyme disease also occurs in Australia, causing at least one death in the past<br />
18 months.<br />
“My ARC project will test the environmental threshold model to see how well it<br />
applies to decision-making in a range <strong>of</strong> organisms across the spectrum <strong>of</strong> life.<br />
“It will help us understand the diversity <strong>of</strong> life and give us insight into what happens<br />
when species are under threat from human activity,” he said.<br />
Bike week<br />
Up to 300 staff and students are<br />
expected to cycle their way to a<br />
free breakfast this week.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Bike Breakfast, to be held on the<br />
northern terrace <strong>of</strong> the <strong>University</strong> Club<br />
from 7am to 9am on Wednesday<br />
21 <strong>March</strong>, is a free event to recognise<br />
and reward cyclists for looking after their<br />
health and not bringing a car to <strong>UWA</strong>.<br />
Organiser Ruth Balding, Transport<br />
Coordinator at <strong>UWA</strong>, said limited<br />
parking and increasing road congestion<br />
were making it increasingly difficult for<br />
students and staff to drive to the<br />
Crawley campus.<br />
“So we’re hoping to show that cycling is<br />
a popular and feasible transport option<br />
for many car drivers and that <strong>UWA</strong> will<br />
be working hard to create a cyclefriendly<br />
campus,” Ms Balding said.<br />
“Riding a bike to uni is a great way to<br />
keep fit, maintain good mental health,<br />
save some money and reduce your<br />
environmental impact.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> City <strong>of</strong> Nedlands has joined forces<br />
with <strong>UWA</strong> to support the Bike Breakfast<br />
and will <strong>of</strong>fer some great prizes on<br />
the day.<br />
Bikeweek is an annual celebration <strong>of</strong><br />
cycling coordinated by the Department<br />
<strong>of</strong> Transport’s Bikewest and hosted by<br />
local governments, community groups,<br />
workplaces, cycling organisations and<br />
schools across the State.<br />
This year, Bikeweek runs from 18 to<br />
25 <strong>March</strong>.<br />
6 | <strong>UWA</strong> NEWS <strong>19</strong> <strong>March</strong> <strong>2012</strong> the <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Western</strong> Australia
Gen Y <strong>of</strong>fers us<br />
our best chance<br />
at excellence<br />
Just as women used to sit in groups weaving together,<br />
more than 100 women (and men) at <strong>UWA</strong> sat together in<br />
the Tropical Grove, listening to Carolyn Oldham weave<br />
together the threads <strong>of</strong> her vision for a resilient and<br />
excellent university.<br />
Winthrop Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Oldham was the guest speaker on<br />
International Women’s Day and she brought together the<br />
strands <strong>of</strong> efficiency, engaging with young people and<br />
<strong>of</strong>fering them a vision to create the resilience needed for an<br />
inspiring future.<br />
<strong>The</strong> theme for the morning, Connecting Girls and Inspiring<br />
Futures, is something Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Oldham said she had spent<br />
half her life pondering. “I see the challenge to engage girls and<br />
present the vision <strong>of</strong> an inspiring future in engineering as a<br />
critical need for my pr<strong>of</strong>ession’s future viability,” she said.<br />
Although her discipline, environmental engineering, enjoys a<br />
staff and student balance <strong>of</strong> almost 50 per cent women, other<br />
areas <strong>of</strong> engineering fail miserably on the gender scale.<br />
But it is not just girls, but boys, who, more than anything, “want<br />
to have voices in their communities,” she said. “With this desire<br />
to be heard, they bring a heap <strong>of</strong> energy, ideas and passion …<br />
(but) we are <strong>of</strong>ten disinclined to listen to them. We <strong>of</strong>ten don’t<br />
feel we have the time to really listen.”<br />
She said the girls and boys who are our future are at home with<br />
the new world where digital technology has eroded traditional<br />
power bases and we need to engage meaningfully with them to<br />
find a new way <strong>of</strong> operating.<br />
Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Oldham talked about community resilience: “<strong>The</strong><br />
ability <strong>of</strong> communities to cope with rapid change, to cope with<br />
new demands, to ensure the community is sustainable and<br />
high-performing even under extreme conditions, the ability to<br />
transform and evolve.”<br />
She spoke <strong>of</strong> the “critical difference between long-term<br />
resilience achieved through diversity <strong>of</strong> thinking and doing, and<br />
the efficiency <strong>of</strong> the current system.<br />
“Efficiency <strong>of</strong>ten uses a short-term framework … I suggest our<br />
biggest challenge is to know when to follow the efficiency<br />
pathway and when to follow the innovation, resilience and<br />
Carolyn Oldham was the first woman to be<br />
made a Winthrop Pr<strong>of</strong>essor in Engineering<br />
sustainability pathway. I propose that by engaging young<br />
women and men in our decision-making, we make that<br />
balancing act explicit.<br />
“I believe the key to engaging girls (and boys) is dependent<br />
on our ability to <strong>of</strong>fer them a vision not just <strong>of</strong> the future, but<br />
a vision for the present. I believe that the vision girls and boys<br />
are looking for is a future with genuine dialogue. Engaging with<br />
girls, particularly in areas like engineering, and presenting an<br />
inspiring future for them, is a commitment and a responsibility<br />
that has to be shared by all <strong>of</strong> us.<br />
“If we do not encourage an environment where people’s voices<br />
are heard, whether they are girls or boys, we don’t even get to<br />
the starting line in attracting our best chance <strong>of</strong> a resilient and<br />
excellent university for the future.”<br />
<strong>UWA</strong> music student Olivia Thorne, a member <strong>of</strong><br />
C 4 Cello, which performed at the Tropical Grove<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Western</strong> Australia <strong>UWA</strong> NEWS <strong>19</strong> <strong>March</strong> <strong>2012</strong> | 7
Buried treasure under lights at last<br />
It was like opening a treasure chest – a very<br />
prolonged opening that took four years.<br />
This is how long it took to pack and verify every<br />
one <strong>of</strong> nearly 12,000 pieces in the Berndt Museum<br />
collection for its move from the cramped<br />
basement under the Social Sciences building to<br />
its new, albeit temporary, home beneath the<br />
Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery in the Dr Harold<br />
Schenberg Arts Centre.<br />
Dr John Stanton, Director <strong>of</strong> the Berndt Museum, has devoted<br />
his life to the Museum, begun and bequeathed to the <strong>University</strong><br />
by anthropologists Ronald and Catherine Berndt.<br />
But even he was surprised to see some <strong>of</strong> the artefacts he had<br />
almost forgotten about. “It was 30 years since I had seen some<br />
<strong>of</strong> the pieces and it was such a wonderful experience,” said<br />
Dr Stanton, who positively glows as he walks through the<br />
gallery space that is the Museum’s exhibition space while<br />
awaiting a purpose-built home for the Museum.<br />
If the exhibition space produces a glow, the <strong>of</strong>fices, work area<br />
and storage space under the Art Gallery generate a metaphoric<br />
brilliance, as Dr Stanton sees the precious pieces finally cared<br />
for as they deserve to be.<br />
For years, staff and visitors were tripping over boxes as the<br />
collection spilled out <strong>of</strong> inadequate storage into the<br />
gallery space.<br />
It took three full-time packers as well as the Museum staff to<br />
make the move. <strong>The</strong> Museum Gallery was closed to visitors for<br />
the past two years.<br />
“It’s a long time to be closed, but our collection was still<br />
available on-line,” Dr Stanton said. “We are one <strong>of</strong> the few<br />
museums in the world which has a catalogue <strong>of</strong> all our objects<br />
on the Web. About 15 per cent <strong>of</strong> the collection is shown in<br />
photographs but we were able to photograph every piece as it<br />
was rediscovered and packed, so we hope to have the whole<br />
collection on-line eventually.”<br />
Above: Crayon drawing by Djamagula, Oenpelli NT, RM and CH Berndt<br />
Collection, 21 <strong>March</strong> <strong>19</strong>50. Far right: Polychrome wooden figure,<br />
T’ang Dynasty, China, RM Berndt Collection, c.<strong>19</strong>32. Right: Asmat<br />
shield Irian Jaya, Indonesia, E Sanchz-Flores Collection<br />
8 | <strong>UWA</strong> NEWS <strong>19</strong> <strong>March</strong> <strong>2012</strong> the <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Western</strong> Australia
Dr Stanton said visitors to the website were monitored and<br />
there had always been a lot <strong>of</strong> overseas interest, with students<br />
and academics from the US, the UK and across Europe using<br />
the website. <strong>The</strong>re are also plenty <strong>of</strong> requests for commercial<br />
use <strong>of</strong> images.<br />
About 70 per cent <strong>of</strong> the collection is Australian objects; the<br />
rest are from Asia and Melanesia, complementing the Australian<br />
Indigenous pieces.<br />
How to reintroduce the public to the Berndt collection<br />
stimulated vigorous discussion during the packing and it was<br />
decided, after a suggestion from Relocation Manager Fiona<br />
Gavino, that staff should choose their favourite pieces and the<br />
first exhibition could be a collection <strong>of</strong> those favourites.<br />
Relocate and Rediscover: Treasures <strong>of</strong> the Berndt Museum<br />
is the result. It is a small exhibition that includes a feathered<br />
mask from the New Guinea highlands, a wooden figure from<br />
the T’ang Dynasty, possibly the oldest Australian bark painting<br />
in existence and a contemporary Aboriginal painting <strong>of</strong> a<br />
football match.<br />
It is a beautifully-lit exhibition, eliciting a feeling <strong>of</strong> entering<br />
something extraordinary.<br />
One <strong>of</strong> Dr Stanton’s favourites is the mask from New Guinea,<br />
from <strong>19</strong>51. It is displayed in a glass case, alongside a rare<br />
photograph <strong>of</strong> it being worn in the Highlands.<br />
Paintings on the inside <strong>of</strong> a bark shelter were probably created<br />
around 1875, making this the oldest bark painting in the world.<br />
“<strong>The</strong>y are from the period <strong>of</strong> transition when Aboriginal people<br />
were just coming into contact with white people,” Dr Stanton<br />
said, “A pivotal incident in the history <strong>of</strong> Aboriginal, indeed<br />
world, art.”<br />
<strong>The</strong>re is a ‘sister basket’ woven from pink sedge in 1860; a<br />
photograph taken in the Kimberley from <strong>19</strong>37 when the local<br />
Indigenous people were already using dots on the ground to<br />
tell stories; and a brightly coloured painting <strong>of</strong> a modern<br />
football match.<br />
John Stanton and his staff in the thick <strong>of</strong> packing two years ago<br />
Photograph <strong>of</strong> a performer wearing a fern tree mask,<br />
Kainantu, Eastern Central Highlands, Papua New<br />
Guinea. RM Berndt Collection, <strong>19</strong>51<br />
“All the pieces have a story to tell,” Dr Stanton said. “As<br />
anthropologists, we deal with culture, not art as such, and<br />
these objects speak volumes if you know how to decode<br />
the story.”<br />
He said bark paintings from western and north-eastern Arnhem<br />
Land were a response to a demand for portable craft in the<br />
<strong>19</strong>50s. “<strong>The</strong> movement was well-established by the <strong>19</strong>60s and<br />
by the <strong>19</strong>80s, it was rivalling dot paintings. Bark paintings are<br />
not found anywhere else in the world.”<br />
Dr Stanton was a young PhD student when he started working<br />
at the Berndt Museum with Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Ronald Berndt. He is<br />
looking forward to its new home in the Dr Harold Schenberg<br />
Arts Centre, well before he retires.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Berndts spent their lives building up the collection;<br />
Dr Stanton has spent his bringing it to the world.<br />
Relocate and Rediscover continues at the Gallery until the end <strong>of</strong><br />
the semester. A new exhibition will be mounted every semester<br />
while the Berndt Museum occupies its gallery in the LWAG.<br />
Above left: Ngarrindjeri shield, Coorong SA, RM Berndt Collection,<br />
c.<strong>19</strong>38. Top: Sister basket, Strathern Moravian Mission, Gippsland<br />
Rev. FA Hagenauer Collection c.1856, gift <strong>of</strong> Dr Le Souef<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Western</strong> Australia <strong>UWA</strong> NEWS <strong>19</strong> <strong>March</strong> <strong>2012</strong> | 9
Improve your<br />
performance<br />
If you think you don’t need a high<br />
performance computing facility to<br />
assist your research … have a chat<br />
with Jenni Harrison, and prepare to<br />
be surprised.<br />
Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Harrison is <strong>UWA</strong>’s eResearch<br />
program leader, based in the Interactive<br />
Virtual Environments Centre (iVEC) in the<br />
Physics Building.<br />
She is keen to explain how access to<br />
high end computing facilities, such as<br />
visualisation, can be <strong>of</strong> huge benefits to<br />
researchers in all areas. “Lots <strong>of</strong> people<br />
think they don’t need high powered<br />
computing, but they might not realise the<br />
benefits, especially in creative areas,”<br />
Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Harrison said.<br />
“Of course, we (iVEC) do a lot <strong>of</strong> work<br />
with ICRAR, with astronomy and<br />
crystallography, who use enormous<br />
amounts <strong>of</strong> data, but data is used<br />
extensively in the creative industries, for<br />
example in movies and re-creations <strong>of</strong><br />
fine art, which can benefit from using<br />
high performance technology.”<br />
She is currently working with the Institute<br />
<strong>of</strong> Advanced Studies on ways that iVEC<br />
can increase the support for digital<br />
humanities researchers at <strong>UWA</strong>.<br />
<strong>The</strong> iVEC program is a joint venture<br />
between the public universities in WA<br />
and the CSIRO. “High performance<br />
computing is very expensive and needs<br />
to be refreshed every couple <strong>of</strong> years,<br />
so it is cost-effective to share facilities,”<br />
she said.<br />
iVEC provides specialised support to all<br />
partner organisations in areas including<br />
eResearch, industry engagement and<br />
education. Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Harrison is based<br />
at <strong>UWA</strong>, but supports eResearch at all<br />
the iVEC partner institutions; she has<br />
colleagues located at Edith Cowan and<br />
Curtin Universities who provide industry<br />
engagement and education support<br />
respectively.<br />
“eResearch is much wider than just<br />
using the supercomputer,” she said.<br />
“One project I supported used<br />
multipoint video conferencing so a<br />
group <strong>of</strong> geographically dispersed<br />
musicians could play together. Such<br />
technologies allow people to actively<br />
participate, collaborate or learn, which<br />
is especially beneficial to individuals<br />
living in remote locations.<br />
“Another project I am presently working<br />
on with colleagues across Australia will<br />
develop a sharable online tool which<br />
aggregates marine data collected by<br />
researchers; the resultant information<br />
will be used by the marine community<br />
to ‘map’ changes in Australia’s oceans.<br />
“<strong>The</strong>se are the sorts <strong>of</strong> creative results<br />
we have the power to achieve.”<br />
One <strong>of</strong> the biggest challenges <strong>of</strong> her<br />
work is the wide range <strong>of</strong> awareness<br />
<strong>of</strong> technology among university staff.<br />
“Everybody is at a different level and it<br />
certainly keeps us on our toes.”<br />
From a background as a chemist and<br />
10 years working in biosciences,<br />
Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Harrison was most recently<br />
with the National Health Service in<br />
Edinburgh. She was designing and<br />
delivering online training for health<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>essionals throughout Scotland,<br />
Jenni Harrison, here to help<br />
including the creation <strong>of</strong> 3D anatomy<br />
and virtual patients.<br />
“Access to education in some rural<br />
communities is challenging, so this was<br />
a great solution,” she said. “I learn so<br />
much about the disciplines in which I<br />
work. In the health area, there are issues<br />
<strong>of</strong> intellectual property rights such as<br />
copyright, consent, confidentiality,<br />
privacy and data security, all <strong>of</strong> which<br />
apply to many other disciplines.”<br />
Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Harrison is finishing a Masters<br />
in e-Learning from Edinburgh <strong>University</strong>.<br />
And computers have become part <strong>of</strong><br />
her comfort zone in her private life too.<br />
She enjoys shopping on-line and gets<br />
most <strong>of</strong> her news on-line rather than<br />
from newspapers.<br />
“I was quite a subscriber to the paper<br />
book, until I was given a Kindle for<br />
Christmas!” she said.<br />
For information on eResearch, please<br />
go to ivec.uwa.edu.au/ and click on<br />
services. You will find contact<br />
information and how to access iVEC’s<br />
Twitter feed, which tweets news,<br />
coming events and conferences.<br />
10 | <strong>UWA</strong> NEWS <strong>19</strong> <strong>March</strong> <strong>2012</strong> the <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Western</strong> Australia
Students give athletes a<br />
sporting chance<br />
Students from St George’s College are helping athletes<br />
with intellectual disabilities – and learning some<br />
lessons themselves.<br />
Medical student Kirsten Bennett, who has signed up for<br />
a second year <strong>of</strong> mentoring with the Athletes Leadership<br />
Program, said she had learned from the young woman she<br />
mentored that life did not need to be as complicated as we<br />
make it.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> athletes have really taught us lessons about life,” said<br />
Kirsten, who, along with the other St George’s residents, has<br />
volunteered to be involved again this year, even though some<br />
<strong>of</strong> them have graduated.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Special Olympics program complements the Paralympics,<br />
where athletes with physical disabilities compete nationally<br />
and internationally. Other mentors include Mark Dodd, Rose<br />
Devereaux, Anna and Rebecca Civil, Stacie Cunningham,<br />
Alexander Watson, Alexander McLeay, and Akram Azimi.<br />
Richard Pengelley, Chaplain at St George’s, <strong>UWA</strong>’s Sub<br />
Dean Community and a former Olympic water polo player,<br />
became involved when Special Olympics WA patron<br />
Winthrop Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Fiona Wood recommended him to<br />
run a mentoring program.<br />
Assistant Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Pengelley had run a successful mentoring<br />
program for the West Coast Eagles football club in 2010 with<br />
his colleagues Associate Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Peter Whipp and Winthrop<br />
Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Shelda Debowski. Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Wood was one <strong>of</strong> the<br />
mentors in this program.<br />
He paired seven St George’s students with a group <strong>of</strong> athletes<br />
and set some goals for them to achieve.<br />
Kirsten mentored Michelle, a woman in her mid-30s who plays<br />
s<strong>of</strong>tball. “I’m not a sporting person myself but I welcomed the<br />
opportunity to get to know somebody with a different<br />
perspective and different experiences,” she said.<br />
Dr Fiona Wood celebrating the 2011 Athlete Leadership<br />
Program graduation with St George’s mentors and<br />
Special Olympians in the gardens <strong>of</strong> St George’s College<br />
Special Olympic athlete Rusty Nelligan being assisted by mentor<br />
in the Royal Life Saving Society water safety skills session<br />
“We would meet for c<strong>of</strong>fee and talk about the training goals<br />
Richard had set. One <strong>of</strong> the biggest challenges for the athletes<br />
was public speaking. As part <strong>of</strong> the program, they each had<br />
to stand up at a public event and deliver a speech. Michelle<br />
lacked the confidence to do that; she even found writing a<br />
speech daunting.<br />
“So we worked a lot together on that until she was finally<br />
able to get up and speak at a sports luncheon.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> program is designed to train the athletes to be able to<br />
take a place on the Special Olympics Board.<br />
Special Olympics is more about learning skills, taking part,<br />
getting fit, interacting socially and instilling confidence, rather<br />
than competing to be the fastest and the strongest.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re are competitions, and WA athletes take part in nine<br />
different sports. <strong>The</strong> next national Special Olympics meet is in<br />
Victoria in 2014 and the international games are in Los Angeles<br />
in 2015.<br />
Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Pengelley, who has now been joined by WA cricketer<br />
Luke Towers to train the mentors, last year partnered the<br />
mentor/athlete pairs with Eagles footballers. <strong>The</strong>y attended a<br />
training session, toured the club and some <strong>of</strong> them practised<br />
their speeches in front <strong>of</strong> the players.<br />
“We also had a parade at half-time during an Eagles/Dockers<br />
Derby for athletes who had taken part in the 2011 Special<br />
Olympics in Athens,” he said.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Athletes Leadership Program continues this year<br />
with 10 athletes being mentored by current or former<br />
St George’s students.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Western</strong> Australia <strong>UWA</strong> NEWS <strong>19</strong> <strong>March</strong> <strong>2012</strong> | 11
A to Z <strong>of</strong><br />
nanoparticles<br />
<strong>The</strong>re can be beauty and even fun in the shapes that<br />
scientists find in nanoparticles.<br />
Visiting research fellow in the School <strong>of</strong> Physics, Dr Lucia<br />
Gutierrez-Marruedo, noticed a few years ago that some magnetic<br />
nano-particles resembled letters <strong>of</strong> the alphabet. So she started<br />
collecting them.<br />
Dr Gutierrez recently found the last few to complete her set<br />
<strong>of</strong> 26 while working in the Bio-Magnetic group at <strong>UWA</strong>, her<br />
postdoctorate position here funded by a Spanish institution.<br />
<strong>The</strong> group has now published, tongue-in-cheek, the first magnetic<br />
nanoalphabet, or as Dr Gutierrez-Marruedo puts it, ‘nanoalfabeto’.<br />
Nanoalphabet!<br />
Pictures by: M. P. Morales 1 , A. G. Roca 2 , M. Ibrahim 3 , © L. Gutiérrez 1,3 !<br />
1 Insituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid ICMM-CSIC, Spain, 2 <strong>The</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> York, UK, 3 <strong>The</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Western</strong> Australia, Australia, <strong>2012</strong>!<br />
Dedication to the <strong>University</strong> rewarded<br />
Whether it was through agriculture, medicine or<br />
innovative outreach programs, the winners <strong>of</strong><br />
Chancellor’s Medals dedicated most <strong>of</strong> their working<br />
lives to the <strong>University</strong>.<br />
Five medals are being presented during the current graduation<br />
season for “outstanding service and significant contribution to<br />
the <strong>University</strong> over many years”.<br />
On 13 <strong>March</strong>, Winthrop Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Neil Turner was honoured<br />
for his work in dryland crops and soils. He was part <strong>of</strong> a team<br />
that developed a successful bid for the Cooperative Research<br />
Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture (CLIMA). He<br />
later helped to establish CLIMA as a <strong>UWA</strong> centre. CLIMA<br />
research has benefited farmers in Australia and all over the<br />
world in the face <strong>of</strong> drought and land degradation.<br />
Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Turner was instrumental in securing Federal funds<br />
for the new Faculty <strong>of</strong> Agriculture building on the Crawley<br />
campus. He helped to establish research partnerships with<br />
India and China and is still an active member <strong>of</strong> the <strong>UWA</strong><br />
Institute <strong>of</strong> Agriculture.<br />
Cathy Tang came to <strong>UWA</strong> in the <strong>19</strong>80s to study Classics –<br />
and never left. With her first class Honours degree, she<br />
became a tutor in Latin, then a conference organiser, then<br />
the Manager <strong>of</strong> <strong>University</strong> House where her charm and<br />
organisational skills shone. She became a member <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Council <strong>of</strong> Convocation, then joined the <strong>University</strong> Senate in<br />
<strong>19</strong>96, on which she served until 2010.<br />
Mrs Tang is involved with the Friends <strong>of</strong> <strong>UWA</strong> Music and the<br />
<strong>UWA</strong> Centenary Trust for Women. Her Chancellor’s Medal<br />
was presented on 14 <strong>March</strong>.<br />
Roger Dickinson had a significant impact on community<br />
perceptions <strong>of</strong> the work and role <strong>of</strong> <strong>UWA</strong>. He was a pioneer<br />
in the use <strong>of</strong> multimedia for science education and those<br />
skills were used to reach out to high school students, to<br />
inform them about <strong>UWA</strong> and Indigenous art.<br />
He has forged enduring connections with State Government<br />
departments and schools, one <strong>of</strong> the highlights being the<br />
SPICE program, a hugely successful and popular secondary<br />
teachers’ enrichment program, which has benefitted both<br />
teachers and the <strong>University</strong>. He will receive his medal on<br />
22 <strong>March</strong>.<br />
Another agricultural scientist, Emeritus Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Craig<br />
Atkins, will be honoured on 28 <strong>March</strong>. He had a<br />
distinguished career in the area <strong>of</strong> plant biochemistry and<br />
physiology, making an outstanding contribution to the<br />
knowledge <strong>of</strong> molecular and cellular functions <strong>of</strong> legumes,<br />
and improving the field performance <strong>of</strong> these agriculturallyimportant<br />
plants.<br />
<strong>The</strong> final Chancellor’s Medallist (4 April) is Adjunct Pr<strong>of</strong>essor<br />
Peter Flett who enabled strong and ongoing partnerships<br />
between the <strong>University</strong> and the State Health Department. In<br />
various roles including Chief Executive <strong>of</strong> PathWest, Director<br />
<strong>of</strong> the South Metropolitan Area Health Service, and Director-<br />
General <strong>of</strong> Health, he advocated and engineered close<br />
cooperation between the two institutions.<br />
He secured funding for academic posts at the Armadale-<br />
Kelmscott and Rockingham-Kwinana hospitals, which, with<br />
the increase in numbers <strong>of</strong> medical students, have become<br />
critical to providing quality medical education.<br />
12 | <strong>UWA</strong> NEWS <strong>19</strong> <strong>March</strong> <strong>2012</strong> the <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Western</strong> Australia
Doctors happy to learn new skills<br />
Dr Tshomo, Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Saunders and Dr Wangchuk<br />
<strong>The</strong> tiny Himalayan kingdom <strong>of</strong> Bhutan is best known<br />
for its policy <strong>of</strong> Gross National Happiness, and <strong>UWA</strong> is<br />
lending a hand to ensure it is achieved.<br />
Two doctors from Bhutan are visiting Perth to further their<br />
knowledge <strong>of</strong> cancer diagnosis and treatment.<br />
Leading international breast cancer surgeon and researcher,<br />
Winthrop Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Christobel Saunders met with Dr Lungten<br />
Wangchuk, a public health doctor from Bhutan’s Ministry <strong>of</strong><br />
Health, and Dr Ugyen Tshomo, Bhutan’s only gynaecologistoncologist.<br />
After being invited by the Ministry <strong>of</strong> Health to Bhutan in 2009,<br />
Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Saunders developed a cancer policy and plan for<br />
that country.<br />
It provided better prevention and early detection <strong>of</strong> common<br />
cancers as well as world-class national cancer care and<br />
support.<br />
Situated between India and China, Bhutan has a population<br />
<strong>of</strong> 650,000 with nearly one-third living in urban areas.<br />
<strong>The</strong> average life expectancy is 66 years and more than<br />
80 per cent <strong>of</strong> cancers present at a late stage.<br />
“Tackling cancer is a complex task that will be made easier<br />
with a comprehensive plan supported by government, health<br />
services, health pr<strong>of</strong>essionals, academic institutions, religious<br />
and community leaders and the people <strong>of</strong> Bhutan,” Pr<strong>of</strong>essor<br />
Saunders said.<br />
“During their visit, the doctors from Bhutan are meeting cancer<br />
specialists, clinicians and researchers, and learning how our<br />
cancer prevention, treatment and support services work.<br />
“We hope that the knowledge they gain from their time here will<br />
help them in their practice and teaching at home in Bhutan.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> visit was funded by the Cancer Council Australia, the<br />
Australian Himalayan Foundation and <strong>The</strong> International Skills<br />
and Training Institute in Health.<br />
WA public health worker Michelle Hogan, who has lived and<br />
worked in Bhutan, helped coordinate the project and is working<br />
to foster links between Australia and Bhutan.<br />
Being aware <strong>of</strong> gender diversity<br />
Last year <strong>UWA</strong> was awarded the prestigious Pride in<br />
Diversity accolade as one <strong>of</strong> the Top 10 employers in<br />
Australia for awareness <strong>of</strong> sexual diversity.<br />
Pride in Diversity’s program is designed specifically to support<br />
Australian employers with their inclusion <strong>of</strong> staff <strong>of</strong> diverse<br />
sexualities and genders.<br />
This recognition has prompted the <strong>University</strong> to review its<br />
current sexual diversity strategy. Since 2002 the cornerstone<br />
<strong>of</strong> this strategy has been the Ally program, now extended to<br />
16 other universities nationally. <strong>The</strong> <strong>University</strong> has decided to<br />
extend the strategy with a range <strong>of</strong> new initiatives and has<br />
recently re-established an informal network <strong>of</strong> staff on campus<br />
who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender or Intersex.<br />
Beverley Hill, Associate Director, Equity and Diversity, said that<br />
as part <strong>of</strong> our PID application this year <strong>UWA</strong> was participating<br />
in a survey to get a current sense <strong>of</strong> the campus ‘climate’ and<br />
the extent to which we are inclusive on this matter. “We believe<br />
the general feedback we receive from this survey will help us<br />
to support sexual and gender diversity on campus,” she said.<br />
“Accordingly, we are inviting staff to participate in the PID<br />
survey. <strong>The</strong> survey is short (no more than a few minutes to<br />
complete), and responses are completely confidential since<br />
no identifying information is collected. <strong>The</strong> <strong>University</strong> will<br />
only be provided with survey feedback from PID in an<br />
aggregated format.”<br />
To complete the survey, go to prideindiversity.com.au/<br />
employee-survey-<strong>2012</strong>/<br />
To access the survey, use the password: pride<strong>2012</strong><br />
(lowercase no spaces). You will be asked for the name <strong>of</strong> your<br />
organisation (<strong>The</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Western</strong> Australia is the correct<br />
description here, not <strong>UWA</strong>), and you will be asked for the <strong>UWA</strong><br />
security code: <strong>UWA</strong>22<br />
<strong>The</strong> survey closes at 2pm on 30 <strong>March</strong>.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Western</strong> Australia <strong>UWA</strong> NEWS <strong>19</strong> <strong>March</strong> <strong>2012</strong> | 13
<strong>UWA</strong> News classified<br />
Getting up close<br />
and personal<br />
Howard Taylor, Skeletal remains, <strong>19</strong>58, oil on hardboard, 60.5x122 cm<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Western</strong> Australia Art Collection, Gift <strong>of</strong> Dr and Mrs R<br />
K Constable, <strong>19</strong>78, © Howard Taylor Estate<br />
My Collection is a new project from <strong>UWA</strong>’s Cultural<br />
Precinct in which members <strong>of</strong> the <strong>University</strong> community<br />
choose works from the <strong>University</strong> art collection and explain<br />
what it means to them. <strong>The</strong> chosen works will form an<br />
ongoing exhibition.<br />
<strong>The</strong> first in the series is a painting chosen by former Vice-<br />
Chancellor Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Alan Robson, one which he got to know<br />
intimately, as it hung in the Vice-Chancellery.<br />
“My favourite work <strong>of</strong> art within the Collection <strong>of</strong> <strong>The</strong> <strong>University</strong><br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>Western</strong> Australia is Skeletal Remains by Howard Taylor. One<br />
<strong>of</strong> my regrets in finishing my time as Vice-Chancellor is that I will<br />
no longer admire this painting every day.<br />
“Painted in <strong>19</strong>60 the oil on composition board painting is a<br />
gift to <strong>UWA</strong> by Dr and Mrs R K Constable. Ted Snell in his<br />
wonderful book on Howard Taylor says that “<strong>The</strong> Skeletal<br />
Remains project was very important in laying the foundation<br />
for the artist’s exploration <strong>of</strong> the zone between painting<br />
and sculpture”.<br />
“I like the painting because <strong>of</strong> its symmetry and balance and<br />
because <strong>of</strong> the reinforcing subtlety <strong>of</strong> colour with gradation <strong>of</strong><br />
pinks with rectangular arrangement. Ted Snell describes the<br />
process <strong>of</strong> its creation:<br />
“When searching for a subject to paint, the sculpture was<br />
dismantled and the elements reassembled as a starting point<br />
for a series <strong>of</strong> drawings. At first the elements are accurately<br />
transcribed into two dimensions with considerable emphasis<br />
being placed on the kinetic potential <strong>of</strong> the form.<br />
“As the process <strong>of</strong> analysis continued the end-on view is<br />
simplified into a bull’s-eye target and slowly the circular<br />
elements are liberated from the central shaft and given their<br />
own supports.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> legs anthropomorphise the mechanical object and with<br />
the assistance <strong>of</strong> the title the viewer is encouraged to continue<br />
the process. Set within a desert landscape that stretches to the<br />
horizon, the forms resemble a lizard or large insect, denuded <strong>of</strong><br />
its flesh yet still poised for flight.<br />
While not understanding all this until I read Ted Snell’s account,<br />
I have greatly enjoyed the company <strong>of</strong> this work for nearly<br />
twenty years.”<br />
Notice<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Western</strong> Australia<br />
Academic <strong>Staff</strong> Association<br />
Election <strong>of</strong> Officers pursuant to section 69(4) <strong>of</strong> the Industrial Relations Act <strong>19</strong>79<br />
ELECTION NOTICE<br />
Nominations are called from eligible candidates for the election <strong>of</strong>:<br />
• President (1)<br />
• Vice President (1)<br />
• Secretary (1)<br />
• Treasurer (1)<br />
• Ordinary Member <strong>of</strong> the Committee <strong>of</strong> Management (6)<br />
<strong>The</strong> above positions are for a one year term commencing from 1 July <strong>2012</strong>.<br />
Nominations will be accepted from Thursday 15 <strong>March</strong> <strong>2012</strong>.<br />
Nomination forms are to be completed in accordance with the Rules <strong>of</strong> <strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Western</strong> Australia Academic <strong>Staff</strong> Association and must reach the<br />
WA Electoral Commission by 12pm on Monday 2 April <strong>2012</strong>.<br />
Nomination forms and lodgement instructions are available from the <strong>UWA</strong>ASA<br />
<strong>of</strong>fice: uwaasa@cyllene.uwa.edu.au<br />
Cathy King<br />
RETURNING OFFICER<br />
Paris Accommodation<br />
A 17th century convent in Paris is available for <strong>UWA</strong> staff accommodation<br />
through the French Department <strong>of</strong> the School <strong>of</strong> Humanities.<br />
Les Récollets has 81 small flats and studio apartments for visiting researchers.<br />
<strong>The</strong> convent was converted into an international scientific and cultural<br />
accommodation centre by the French government in <strong>19</strong>99 and European Studies<br />
has recently entered into a not-for-pr<strong>of</strong>it agreement with the centre.<br />
Tristan Kewe, a joint PhD candidate at <strong>UWA</strong> and La Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris,<br />
is the contact for arranging accommodation. Les Récollets is available for periods<br />
from a week to two years. <strong>The</strong> serviced apartments are very reasonably priced<br />
and Tristan says the agreement is able to bypass “the French habit <strong>of</strong> asking for<br />
mountains <strong>of</strong> paperwork.”<br />
He would like to hear from any staff member who is interested in staying there.<br />
For more information, email tristan.kewe@arts.uwa.edu.au or<br />
tkewe@ozemail.com.au<br />
UniPrint’s in-house<br />
designers <strong>of</strong>fer a<br />
comprehensive design<br />
service.<br />
Our designers have<br />
full knowledge <strong>of</strong> our<br />
<strong>University</strong>’s visual identity<br />
guidelines and can assist<br />
in the implementation <strong>of</strong><br />
the style, or the migration<br />
<strong>of</strong> your current promotional<br />
materials to meet the<br />
<strong>University</strong>’s requirements.<br />
See UniPrint for all your<br />
design needs.<br />
For all<br />
your<br />
design<br />
needs<br />
uniprint.uwa.edu.au<br />
14 | <strong>UWA</strong> NEWS <strong>19</strong> <strong>March</strong> <strong>2012</strong> the <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Western</strong> Australia
<strong>UWA</strong> News classified<br />
RESEARCH GRANTS<br />
Grants Awarded Between<br />
17/02/<strong>2012</strong> and 2/03/<strong>2012</strong><br />
CANCER COUNCIL OF<br />
WESTERN AUSTRALIA<br />
Cornelia Bertram, Biomedical,<br />
Biomolecular and Chemical Sciences<br />
(School <strong>of</strong>): ‘Mode and Molecular<br />
Mechanisms <strong>of</strong> Tea Tree Oil-Induced<br />
Tumour Cell Death in Vivo’— $24,117<br />
(<strong>2012</strong>)<br />
Adjunct Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Richard Lake,<br />
Dr Cleo Robinson, Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Anna<br />
Nowak, Dr Amanda Cleaver,<br />
Winthrop Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Bruce<br />
Robinson, Medicine and<br />
Pharmacology (School <strong>of</strong>): ‘A High<br />
Fidelity Model <strong>of</strong> Malignant<br />
Mesothelioma’— $175,000 (<strong>2012</strong>-13)<br />
DEPARTMENT OF INNOVATION,<br />
INDUSTRY, SCIENCE AND<br />
RESEARCH (DIISR)<br />
Dr Merran Smith, Child Health<br />
Research (<strong>UWA</strong> Centre for):<br />
‘Population Health Research Network<br />
Education Investment Fund EIF Super<br />
Science Initiative’— $10,000,000<br />
(2011-12)<br />
ILUKA RESOURCES LIMITED<br />
Associate Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Andrew Rate,<br />
Assistant Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Sally Salmon,<br />
Dr Henning Prommer, Winthrop<br />
Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Zdenko Rengel, Earth<br />
and Environment (School <strong>of</strong>):<br />
‘Literature Review: Geochemical<br />
Background and Mobility <strong>of</strong> Thorium<br />
and Uranium from Mineral Sands’—<br />
$39,942 (<strong>2012</strong>)<br />
MONASH UNIVERSITY<br />
EX ARC LIEF<br />
Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Tim Sercombe,<br />
Mechanical and Chemical<br />
Engineering (School <strong>of</strong>): ‘A Hot<br />
Isostatic Press HIP for Aerospace and<br />
Biomedical Component<br />
Processing’—(<strong>2012</strong>)<br />
Winthrop Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Dongke<br />
Zhang, Mechanical and Chemical<br />
Engineering (School <strong>of</strong>): ‘Test Facility<br />
for Clean Energy Transformation<br />
Technologies’— (<strong>2012</strong>)<br />
NATIONAL SENIORS AUSTRALIA<br />
Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Paul Gerrans, Pr<strong>of</strong>essor<br />
Doug Hershey, <strong>UWA</strong> Business<br />
School, <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> Oklahoma: ‘Role<br />
<strong>of</strong> Financial Literacy and Financial<br />
Anxiety in Older Australians<br />
Retirement Savings Decisions’—<br />
$30,833 (<strong>2012</strong>)<br />
PRINCESS MARGARET HOSPITAL<br />
FOUNDATION<br />
Ruth Thornton, Paediatrics and<br />
Child Health (School <strong>of</strong>): ‘Dissolving<br />
the Glue in Glue Ear – Assessment <strong>of</strong><br />
the Use <strong>of</strong> Dornase Alfa as an Adjunct<br />
<strong>The</strong>rapy to Ventilation Tube<br />
Insertion’— $50,000 (<strong>2012</strong>)<br />
ROYAL MELBOURNE INSTITUTE<br />
OF TECHNOLOGY EX ARC<br />
LINKAGE PROJECTS<br />
Assistant Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Wei Liu,<br />
Computer Science and S<strong>of</strong>tware<br />
Engineering (School <strong>of</strong>): ‘Tools<br />
Methodologies and Reasoning<br />
Support for Developing Companion<br />
Toy Modules’— $5,000 (<strong>2012</strong>)<br />
UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH<br />
WALES EX ARC LINKAGE<br />
PROJECTS<br />
Winthrop Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Cristina<br />
Gibson, Dr Catherine Collins, <strong>UWA</strong><br />
Business School, <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> New<br />
South Wales: ‘LP120100690 /<br />
Leveraging Organisational Context to<br />
Maximise Team Performance and<br />
Thriving – A Dynamic Approach to<br />
Understand Team Learning Across<br />
Diverse Settings’— $25,<strong>19</strong>5 (<strong>2012</strong>-14)<br />
UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE<br />
EX NATIONAL ERESEARCH<br />
COLLABORATION TOOLS AND<br />
RESOURCES NECTAR<br />
Paul White, Genetic Epidemiology<br />
and Biostatistics (Centre for): ‘Cloud<br />
Based Bioinformatics Tools’—<br />
$306,000 (<strong>2012</strong>-13)<br />
Promotion briefs<br />
WINTHROP PROFESSOR<br />
Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Tim Colmer<br />
School <strong>of</strong> Plant Biology<br />
Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Colmer’s research focus is<br />
the identification <strong>of</strong> physiological and<br />
biochemical traits associated with<br />
plant adaptation to salinity and<br />
flooding, and the regulation <strong>of</strong> these<br />
traits. He has built an international<br />
reputation for his research on plant<br />
stresses and his expertise and<br />
leadership in this field.<br />
He has been Deputy Head <strong>of</strong> School<br />
as well as Associate Dean (Teaching<br />
and Learning) in the Faculty <strong>of</strong> Natural<br />
and Agricultural Sciences. Pr<strong>of</strong>essor<br />
Colmer has contributed to the<br />
School’s role in community service,<br />
and to the wider scientific community<br />
as Discipline Representative for the<br />
Australian Society <strong>of</strong> Plant Scientists.<br />
Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Andre Luiten<br />
School <strong>of</strong> Physics<br />
<strong>The</strong> main feature <strong>of</strong> Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Luiten’s<br />
work has been the development <strong>of</strong><br />
new types <strong>of</strong> instruments in the many<br />
diverse fields <strong>of</strong> physics. He is<br />
particularly interested in the possibility<br />
<strong>of</strong> applying these instruments to solve<br />
problems or to make measurements<br />
that were not previously possible.<br />
He is dedicated to establishing a<br />
world leading centre for Precision<br />
Measurement at <strong>UWA</strong> that will<br />
produce high impact research<br />
outcomes in both fundamental and<br />
applied disciplines, renowned for<br />
the quality <strong>of</strong> its research training,<br />
and which inspires and educates<br />
the public.<br />
He is recognised as a prominent<br />
and highly respected expert in the<br />
international community <strong>of</strong> precision<br />
metrology and fundamental<br />
measurements, and has established<br />
strong connections with the best<br />
scientists throughout the world. He<br />
was named WA Scientist <strong>of</strong> the year<br />
in 2011.<br />
RESEARCH ASSOCIATE<br />
PROFESSOR<br />
Dr Matthew Nelson<br />
School <strong>of</strong> Plant Biology<br />
Dr Nelson has a joint appointment:<br />
research and teaching in the School<br />
<strong>of</strong> Plant Biology and commercial<br />
research with Canola Breeders<br />
<strong>Western</strong> Australia Pty Ltd. Key<br />
themes <strong>of</strong> his research are the<br />
characterisation and exploitation <strong>of</strong><br />
genetic variation within and between<br />
species, genome evolution and the<br />
novel and efficient applications <strong>of</strong><br />
microspore culture.<br />
He is recognised both nationally<br />
and internationally for his work in<br />
crop genetics and breeding<br />
particularly in the area <strong>of</strong> lupin and<br />
brassica improvement. In this<br />
context, Dr Nelson has developed<br />
an active group <strong>of</strong> collaborators<br />
which will lead to strong research<br />
impacts in the future.<br />
Dr Roberto Busi<br />
School <strong>of</strong> Plant Biology<br />
Dr Busi’s main area <strong>of</strong> research is the<br />
theoretical and applied aspects <strong>of</strong><br />
herbicide resistance evolution. He<br />
has communicated the results <strong>of</strong> his<br />
research at numerous international<br />
and national conferences and is<br />
When life is not plain sailing ...<br />
<strong>The</strong> Employee Assistance Program <strong>of</strong>fers free<br />
confidential counselling to <strong>UWA</strong> staff and immediate<br />
family, for personal or work problems.<br />
To arrange an appointment contact one <strong>of</strong> the following service providers<br />
PPC Worldwide<br />
Level 16, 251 Adelaide Tce, Perth<br />
Tel: 1300 361 008 (24hrs)<br />
Web: au.ppcworldwide.com<br />
<strong>UWA</strong> Counselling and Psychological Service<br />
2nd Floor, South Wing, Guild Village<br />
Tel: +61 8 6488 2423 (Office Hours)<br />
Web: counselling.uwa.edu.au<br />
For further information on the <strong>UWA</strong> Employee Assistance Program see<br />
safety.uwa.edu.au/policies/eap<br />
In a campus emergency<br />
dial 2222<br />
widely recognised to have strong<br />
expertise in the area <strong>of</strong> the selection<br />
and evolution <strong>of</strong> weed resistance to<br />
herbicides. He has participated in<br />
outreach activities and delivered<br />
research results to both consultants<br />
and farmers. Currently, he is principal<br />
investigator in a grant funded by<br />
the Rural Industries Research and<br />
Development Corporation:<br />
Sustainability <strong>of</strong> Wheat-Selective<br />
Pre-emergent Herbicides in a<br />
Changing Climate.<br />
In 2008 he won the best early career<br />
publication award within the School<br />
<strong>of</strong> Plant Biology and in 2009, the<br />
<strong>UWA</strong> early career publication award.<br />
He is part <strong>of</strong> the organising<br />
committee for the international<br />
conference, Global Herbicide<br />
Resistance Challenge which will<br />
be held in Perth in 2013.<br />
Classifieds<br />
Accommodation<br />
London: Accommodation available<br />
from one week to three months, at<br />
very reasonable price. For more<br />
information, contact: melhon@<br />
optusnet.com.au<br />
HOUSESITTING<br />
Housesitter: Available for long<br />
term from early <strong>March</strong>. In Nedlands,<br />
Crawley, Claremont, Dalkeith,<br />
Cottesloe, Swanbourne, Mosman<br />
Park, North Fremantle or other areas.<br />
Reliable, trustworthy and mature<br />
<strong>UWA</strong> lecturer. With excellent<br />
references and previous house sitting<br />
experience. Recent police clearance<br />
check. Will look after your house,<br />
pets, garden, plants and swimming<br />
pool. Please contact Emmanuelle:<br />
0431 120 356.<br />
WANTED<br />
HOUSE WANTED: NZ family <strong>of</strong> four<br />
are coming to <strong>UWA</strong> for a sabbatical<br />
13 August <strong>2012</strong> – 13 January 2013.<br />
We are wanting a house to rent or sit<br />
(furnished or unfurnished) for this time<br />
period. House would need to be<br />
child-friendly and have 2 or more<br />
bedrooms. Please contact Paul<br />
Kenyon p.r.kenyon@massey.ac.nz<br />
TO LET<br />
QUINDALUP: A charming, recently<br />
renovated, fully self-contained<br />
redbrick cottage only 400m from<br />
beautiful Geographe Bay and 2km<br />
from Dunsborough township.<br />
Located at the end <strong>of</strong> a private road,<br />
this cottage <strong>of</strong>fers privacy and<br />
security, a lovely natural vista out<br />
over Toby Inlet Reserve, and is a<br />
great cottage for all seasons. Please<br />
go to quindalup.net.au for further<br />
information.<br />
PARIS: Interested in staying in a<br />
lovely apartment on an island in the<br />
Seine? Choose between seven<br />
apartments in inner city Paris for<br />
holiday or longer term accommodation<br />
– Ile de la Cite, Ile St Louis,<br />
Montmartre, Le Marais, Nation,<br />
Unesco-Pasteur. Contact Carlotta<br />
for arrangements: carlotta@<br />
beeinparis.com<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Western</strong> Australia <strong>UWA</strong> NEWS <strong>19</strong> <strong>March</strong> <strong>2012</strong> | 15
the last word …<br />
Make Agricultural<br />
Science a national<br />
priority<br />
Australia ranks fourth in the world behind Brazil,<br />
Argentina and Netherlands as an exporter <strong>of</strong><br />
agricultural products.<br />
We typically export up to 70 per cent <strong>of</strong> our output, helping<br />
meet the food requirements <strong>of</strong> Australia’s 22 million people,<br />
plus another 60 million overseas.<br />
Conservative estimates suggest Australia helps feed 400-500<br />
million people in developing countries through agricultural<br />
education, training, development, knowledge and technology<br />
transfer in partnership with developing countries and<br />
International Agricultural Research Centres.<br />
Using a wide range <strong>of</strong> indicators, including water, fertiliser and<br />
energy use efficiency and rate <strong>of</strong> adoption <strong>of</strong> technologies<br />
such as conservation agriculture, Australian agriculture leads<br />
the world.<br />
Modern society can’t thrive without access to a high level <strong>of</strong><br />
sustainable, economical and quality food. <strong>The</strong> challenge is to<br />
find solutions to declining natural resources – land, water and<br />
nutrients – and increasing human population, so investment<br />
today in higher education in agricultural science is money well<br />
spent for the future.<br />
Continued long-term improvements in world food production<br />
are fundamental to world security. Feeding the growing<br />
population will require renewed and vigorous efforts to enhance<br />
agricultural productivity, utilising all the advantages modern<br />
science and technology bring.<br />
Governments will need to increase investments in agricultural<br />
education, research and development (R&D) – and encourage<br />
the private sector to invest in R&D to ensure future<br />
agricultural growth.<br />
Farming’s viability in Australia is threatened by the current focus<br />
on the mining and resources sector, which is pulling bright<br />
young minds away from higher education in sciences.<br />
<strong>UWA</strong> has a proud history <strong>of</strong> teaching and research in<br />
agriculture and related natural resource management. We are<br />
currently ranked 110 in the world (Academic Ranking <strong>of</strong> World<br />
Universities 2011) and ranked 33 in the world and number one<br />
in Australia in the Life and Agricultural Sciences category.<br />
<strong>UWA</strong>’s agricultural science graduates enjoy a 100 per cent<br />
employment success rate, but pay scales suffer compared<br />
with jobs in the mining and resources sector, where unqualified<br />
young people can enjoy $100,000+ starting salaries.<br />
So, how do we address the challenge?<br />
• Bridge the city-country gap with educational and awareness<br />
programs to enthuse and inform the community, from primary<br />
school up, <strong>of</strong> the vital importance <strong>of</strong> agriculture and food<br />
productions systems;<br />
• Develop co-teaching qualifications with graduate degrees in<br />
agricultural science to place some graduates into the school<br />
system, as champions <strong>of</strong> agricultural science;<br />
Winthrop Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Kadambot Siddique<br />
Chair in Agriculture, Director <strong>UWA</strong> Institute <strong>of</strong> Agriculture,<br />
Associate Dean Research, Faculty <strong>of</strong> Natural and<br />
Agricultural Sciences<br />
• Promote the diversity <strong>of</strong> employment opportunities (both<br />
domestic and international) for agriculture science graduates;<br />
• Close the cultural gap between industry and universities,<br />
better define industry needs and develop closer<br />
collaborations with commercial groups and companies<br />
(including food processing and retailers) to increase<br />
consumer interest in food and enable agricultural science<br />
graduates to pursue careers where they can ‘sell’ the farming<br />
food story;<br />
• Rationalise the collaboration between university courses and<br />
‘smart’ systems <strong>of</strong> delivery and encourage greater links<br />
between metropolitan universities and rural environments,<br />
possibly linking with local government authorities for training/<br />
work experience;<br />
• Encourage graduates from other disciplines to seek postgraduate<br />
qualifications in agricultural science through<br />
commercially funded scholarships; and<br />
• Formalise worldwide networking <strong>of</strong> agricultural science<br />
faculties to attract the best students and become<br />
powerhouses <strong>of</strong> ideas and applicable science to keep the<br />
world well fed at an affordable price.<br />
Agriculture should be highlighted as a national priority for<br />
education in the same way as mathematics and science are<br />
and as nursing and education have been previously.<br />
<strong>UWA</strong> NEWS<br />
EDITOR/WRITER: Lindy Brophy, Public Affairs<br />
Tel: 6488 2436 Fax: 6488 1020<br />
Email: lindy.brophy@uwa.edu.au<br />
Hackett Foundation Building, M360<br />
Director <strong>of</strong> Public Affairs: Doug Durack<br />
Tel: 6488 2806 Fax: 6488 1020<br />
Designed and printed by UniPrint, <strong>UWA</strong><br />
<strong>UWA</strong>news online: uwanews.publishing.uwa.edu.au<br />
UniPrint 94891<br />
16 | <strong>UWA</strong> NEWS <strong>19</strong> <strong>March</strong> <strong>2012</strong> the <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Western</strong> Australia