Music students create buzz
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QUT Central Administration 2 George Street Brisbane 4000 Telephone (07) 3864 2111 Registered by Australia Post – Publication No. QBF 4778
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Teachers disadvantage gifted girls
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Governor
defends interest rate rise
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Queensland University of Technology Newspaper • Issue ... • Month, 1999 Queensland University of Technology Newspaper • Issue 206 • August 29-September 18, 2000
Geologists find Newcastle fault
Genetic disease causes detected
by Margaret Lawson
R
esearchers conducting geological mapping around Newcastle have confirmed the location of the fault that caused Australia’s first fatal earthquake which occurred there in 1989.School of Natural Resource Sciences lecturer Dr Gary Huftile said he and honours student Jason Chaytor had verified that a 40km-long fault off the Newcastle coast was the one that had caused the 1989 earthquake.
Dr Huftile also warned that there was potential for future quakes in the area.
“We’ve gone over all available data and verified that the only active fault in the Newcastle area is the one we’ve been mapping for the past two years,” Dr Huftile said.
“So, by elimination, we’re pretty confident it was the one responsible for the 1989 quake.”
Dr Huftile said the fault, near the surface offshore, extending down under Lake Macquarie, was “theoretically capable” of causing an earthquake up to 6.0 on the Richter scale.
“This fault has a surface area of more than 1,000 square kilometres,”
Dr Huftile said.
“The six earthquakes that have occurred in the Newcastle area in the past 150 years have ruptured a combined area of only about 200 square kilometres.
“This leaves more than 8 0 0 s q u a r e k i l o m e t r e s unruptured.
“That area could rupture in an earthquake similar to, or larger than, the one in 1989.”
The 1989 Newcastle earthquake was a magnitude 5.6 on the Richter scale.
The quake killed 12 people, injured 165 and resulted in
$4billion in damage.
Dr Huftile said this experience, as well as the findings of the new research, highlighted the need for better earthquake preparedness in Newcastle.
“My main concern is the Newcastle CBD and Port areas, which are built on a foundation of bay mud and river sediment,” he said.
“In an earthquake, that foundation amplifies the effect and causes the area to shake like a bowl of jelly.
“People should be aware that buildings on a rock foundation are safer than those built on sediment and that wood houses are more flexible and therefore less likely to crumble during a tremor.”
Dr Huftile has conducted research in earthquake geology in Los Angeles and Oregon and is Australia’s only specialist in this area.
He said it was important for research to be continued to understand the geology of the Newcastle area.
“What we are trying to do here is quantify the risk,” Dr Huftile said.
“I am concerned that people don’t understand the hazard and have not prepared.
“It is astounding to me that 10 years after the earthquake, the mapping of this fault is just now getting done.
“It is important that␣ – as well as seismology – work into the geology of this area continues so we can monitor this situation.”
Finding fault with Newcastle’s preparedness for another earthquake … natural resource sciences lecturer Dr Gary Huftile with PhD student Jason Chaytor.
by Toni Chambers
Scientists at the QUT-based Co-operative Research Centre for Diagnostic Technologies have embarked on an innovative project that will revolutionise the detection and treatment of thrombophilia or increased blood clotting.
One in every 1,000 people experiences thrombosis of the veins which results from thrombophilia, the effects of which can be devastating – as many as 400 people die in Australia alone every year from pulmonary embolism, caused by thrombi blocking the lungs.
The research, conducted by QUT’s Associate Professor Neville Marsh, Dr Terry Walsh and PhD student Natalie Pecheniuk, is using technology developed at the Centre, known as First Nucleotide Change (FNC), to detect minute changes in genes which are indicators of a predisposition to thrombophilia.
Professor Marsh said the centre in collaboration with Greenslopes, Ipswich and Royal Women’s Hospitals was now testing osteoarthritis sufferers, women who miscarry and, to a lesser degree, people who undergo heart bypass surgery.
It is the first time research of its kind has been conducted on osteoarthritis patients.
“Osteoarthritis is a major chronic illness in Australian families affecting more than three times the combined total of people with heart disease, diabetes and cancer between the ages of 24 and 55,” Professor Marsh said.
One explanation for the onset of osteoarthritis is that blood clots cut off the blood supply to the head of the femur, causing the tissue to die.
“The potential of the research is tremendous,” he said.
“If we can prove that osteoarthritis is related to the presence of mutations we can institute clinical trials to prevent it from happening and improve the quality of life for thousands of people.”
Researchers have so far tested 256 people with osteoarthritis for the presence of specific gene mutations.
…Continued on Page 3
Page 2 INSIDE QUT August 29-September 18, 2000
From the Inside ... by David Hawke
A word from the Vice-Chancellor Researchers urged to
support Batterham paper
P
ro-Vice-Chancellor of Research and Advancement at QUT Professor John Corderoy has urged the research community to join forces and support a report recommending a greater emphasis on science, engineering and technological innovation as the basis of the Australian economy.The Chance to Change is an audit of the nation’s science capability.
Author and Australia’s chief scientist Robin Batterham has warned the Federal Government it must lift its investment in science and technology or risk falling further behind other OECD nations.
He noted that Australia’s growth in knowledge investment as a percentage of GDP was below the OECD average (8 per cent) and it ranked 19th in terms of its business expenditure on research and development.
The paper recommended increased funding, including 200 HECS scholarships for students undertaking combined science/education qualifications and 300 for those studying the enabling sciences of maths, physics and chemistry; a doubling of Australian Postdoctoral
Queenslanders fall well short of the national average when it comes to claiming for their donations to charities, a QUT analysis has revealed.
QUT’s Associate Professor Myles McGregor-Lowndes completed a study using Australian Taxation Office statistics and found that, on average, people from Queensland claimed $27 less each year for tax-deductible donations than the national average.
“Queenslanders claimed donations of $154 per year, compared to the national annual average of $181 per person, and also claimed a smaller percentage of their incomes,”
Professor McGregor-Lowndes said.
“Australians’ average yearly donation deductions amounted to 0.21 per cent of their incomes, whereas people from Queensland only donated 0.18 per cent.”
People from New South Wales and the ACT topped the scale, averaging
$221 and $212 respectively, while Tasmanians ($142) and people in the Northern Territory ($125) donated less than Queenslanders.
The percentage of Queensland taxpayers who claimed tax-deductible donations was the second-lowest in Australia (29 per cent), compared to a national average of 33 per cent.
They claimed $82million in donations (14 per cent of national total).
Professor McGregor-Lowndes said the analysis of ATO statistics, which used the most recent data available (from the 1998 financial year), also revealed which professions were, statistically, the most generous.
“Air transport, religion and medicine did well, but construction and road freight did not,” he said.
“As you would expect, people with high incomes generally donated the most in dollar terms, with those earning over $1million donating an average $36,000.”
Professor McGregor-Lowndes stressed that the data were only as accurate as the information people had reported on their 1998 tax returns.
“I’m sure many people under- report their donations, and many over-report,” he said.
“One study has estimated that Australians donated $2.8billion each year, compared to the $581million reported in deductible donations.”
Professor McGregor-Lowndes released his analysis in a working paper as part of the QUT Program on Non- profit Corporations and Queensland Charity Awareness Week earlier this month.
Qld fails in charity stakes
An Australian Taxation Office (ATO) g l i t c h c o u l d b e d e n y i n g t e n s o f thousands of self-funded retirees a
$2,000 bonus they are entitled to under the new tax system, according to a QUT senior law lecturer.
Alastair MacAdam found the problem while doing pro bono work for clients wanting to apply for the Self-Funded Retirees Supplementary Bonus.
He said the bonus was designed to compensate older Australians for their loss in purchasing power from their savings and investments as a result of the GST.
To be eligible for the payment of up to
$2,000, self-funded retirees who are under pensionable age (65 for men and 61 and a half for women) must not have earned more than $1,000 income from a business or in wages in 1999/2000.
Mr MacAdam said that, under the legislation, dividends from shares, i n c o m e f r o m r e n t a l p r o p e r t i e s o r interest from other investments were not classified as income from a business o r w a g e s a n d t h e r e f o r e d i d n o t disqualify people from receiving the one-off bonus.
He said the legislation clearly outlined the rules and a high-level ATO staff member had acknowledged the problem.
However, he said, staff on the ATO call- centre help line were telling people who had earned more than $1,000 in this way and had lodged a Partnership Return that they were ineligible for the bonus.
“And if you’re bloody-minded like I am and still lodge applications for your clients, you’re applications would be rejected because of a glitch in the computer system,”
Mr MacAdam said.
“That glitch wrongly classifies all income on a Partnership Return as business income.
“The computer system and administrative convenience is denying hard- working Australians their just entitlements.
“This is worse than the recent social security blunder because that was partly the fault of individuals not updating their records, but this time the tax office is solely at fault,” he said.
Mr MacAdam said tax office staff told him older Australians could appeal any adverse decisions but, for most people, that was not an option.
“It’s impossible for ordinary people to challenge it,” he said.
“It’s so bizarrely complicated that ordinary people must rely on professionals to challenge it for them and for many that’s too costly.”
– Toni Chambers
Tax glitch robs older people
Fellows; significantly increased funding for the ARC’s competitve grants; 50 per cent Commonwealth funding for new research facilities and the establishment of Innovation Centres to provide universities with support in commercialising research.
In welcoming the recommendations, the Australian Vice-Chancellors’
Committee said the report re-iterated concerns raised by university and research sectors in recent years.
Professor Corderoy said it was a positive step and, if passed by Federal Parliament, would take the funding pressure off QUT for the next five years.
“Universities have been underfunded for at least the past 10 years and if you look at the statistics for the world’s positioning for Australian research, you’ll see we’ve been dropping for quite some time,” he said.
“The proposal to double the amount of ARC funding, for example, will have a significant impact on the capacity to do basic research and provide the basic science and technology we need to commercialise research.”
Professor Corderoy said the paper reinforced work QUT was already doing
– for example, the university already had a commercialisation unit and the Faculty of Business had developed a plan for an Innovation Centre.
But he warned that while the innovations put QUT in a good position to capture some of the increased funding, the extra resources would be in an area of fierce competition.
Professor Corderoy also warned researchers that the fight was not over with the Federal Government yet to agree to the recommendations.
“For this to succeed, for the Government to take notice of this, it needs a lot of lobbying from researchers, their local MPs and the community generally so it becomes a community issue – just like the National Health and Medical Research Council was very successful with the Wills report,” he said.
“We must get the community on- side and say that, without this, Australia’s facing a pretty gloomy economic picture in the longterm.
“In terms of jobs for our children and their children we’re going to be left behind if we don’t do something.”
– Toni Chambers Earlier this month, I spoke at the
Australian International Education Conference, held here in Brisbane. The theme of this conference was “ an education odyssey”, which prompted me to reflect on some of the changes we are witnessing in the Queensland higher education sector.
A tidal wave of globalisation and new technology is sweeping the planet. This wave is having an enormous economic and cultural impact on our world.
Cities and regions need strong locally based institutions to gain from this wave, to seize opportunities available and transform these opportunities into local benefit.
Without strong local institutions the potential benefits of the tidal wave pass the region by. I see modern universities as the strong locally based players which attract global and technological benefits to their regions. In many ways we are the key players, and certainly those at the forefront of the wave. Without us, our cities and regions will miss out. Regional governments are beginning to appreciate this.
This state, Queensland, has branded itself as the “Smart State” – a clever, strategic move. At a time of decreasing public sector
Queensland University of Technology 2 George Street Brisbane QLD 4001
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Register by 14 September to avoid a late fee.
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funding, the Queensland Government has targeted specific areas for State funding, such as biotechnology, creative industries and the export of education.
Even more important than money is the commitment to universities, research, technologies, innovation and globalisation by Queensland politicians. These leaders are determined that Queensland will reap the benefits of globalisation and it is their vision which will help universities to take advantage of the wave.
– Professor Dennis Gibson
Local emphasis needed
Continued from Page 1
Professor Marsh said that 5.4 per cent of patients with osteoarthritis have at least one of the gene mutations – this is higher than in the general population, suggesting that the mutation may be causally related to osteoarthritis.
Ms Pecheniuk has tested over 200 women with a history of miscarriage.
As many as one in 20 women miscarry in the middle third of their pregnancy and her work has shown that the thrombophilia mutations detected at QUT are up to three times more common in these women who lose their babies.
“Hopefully this research will lead to a better understanding of the complications associated with pregnancy and provide insights that will lead to clinical interventions,” Ms Pecheniuk said.
She has been offered a position with the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla California to continue research into thrombophilia.
Genetic causes detected
PhD student Natalie Pecheniuk tests gene samples with her supervisors Associate Professor Neville Marsh and Dr Terry Walsh from the School of Life Sciences.
by Toni Chambers
B
inding pre-nuptial agreements are being welcomed by a QUT academic as a major step forward for couples considering marriage – especially those making the commitment for the second time.Co-ordinator of Family Law at QUT’s Law Faculty and expert in pre- nuptial agreements Iyla Davies said proposed Federal legislation making the financial agreements between married couples binding for the first time must be supported when it comes up for debate this week.
The Federal Parliament will also consider amendments making it mandatory for couples to obtain legal advice prior to entering into the agreements, ensuring they understand any legal ramifications.
Ms Davies said the new laws would increase the usage of pre-nuptial agreements which could, in fact, save marriages.
Pre-nuptial agreements provide evidence of the parties’ ownership and value of assets, and set out their intentions for their financial future prior to marriage.
To date – although the agreements have been considered by the Family Court at property trials – judges have not been bound to uphold the terms of such arrangements.
Ms Davies said that, largely because of the non-binding nature of the agreements and an attitude in Australia that they take the romance out of marriage, pre-nuptial agreements had not been popular.
A 1997 Australian Divorce Transitions Project showed only 13 of the 650 respondents had entered into pre-nuptial agreements.
“Pre-nuptial agreements have been binding in America for more than 20 years, and now Australians need to get
over the cultural cringe associated with them,” Ms Davies said.
She suggested the arrangements should be made part of pre-marital education and could prevent the failure of many marriages.
“It’s healthy for couples to talk about money and their plans for the future rather than finding out down the track that the plans don’t match,”
she said.
Ms Davies said the failure rate of second marriages was increasing with
Newlyweds urged to shake cultural cringe
both parties often wanting to protect their assets for children of their first marriage.
But, she warned, it could be dangerous for young couples, marrying for the first time who would be together for longer and whose plans could change during that time – making an arrangement struck 10 years ago seem unfair.
Ms Davies suggested the Federal Government consider making “sunset”
clauses mandatory to enable parties to re-assess their situations every five years.
A QUT research team has received a
$20,000 Federal Government grant to investigate the effect of roadside barriers on victims during car crashes.
Dr Tim Barker and Professors Rod Troutbeck and David Thambiratnam from the Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering will use sophisticated computer software to simulate various types of car crashes using three- dimensional models.
“Next to actually crashing dozens of cars, this is the most realistic way to simulate an accident,” Dr Barker said.
“The software will allow us to estimate the force on various parts of occupants’
bodies and determine what kind of injuries they might suffer in collisions with simple cable, cement or steel beam roadside barriers.”
Dr Barker said the team’s research findings would be used by engineers designing roadside barriers to decide which types of barriers would be most appropriate in specific situations.
“It is important for barriers to be used which minimise potential injuries to occupants during crashes,” Dr Barker said.
“This research will help us develop the first tool for designers to assess the risk to vehicle occupants and make informed decisions about roadside barriers.”
Dr Barker said funding was provided to the bio-medical, transportation and structural researchers in the Centre for Rehabilitation Science and Engineering and the Physical Infrastructure Centre as part of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s 1999-2000 Road Safety Research Grants scheme.
Study to investigate roadside barrier risk
Binding pre-nuptial agreements could keep marriages together according to family law co-ordinator Iyla Davies.
New technologies including the Internet and e-mail will soon change the nature of Australian politics and even the way we vote, QUT researchers have predicted.
A School of Communication team, led by associate lecturer Dr John Harrison, is investigating the impact of emerging technologies on the political process.
Dr Harrison said the research examined the transition from the “old politics” to “new politics”.
“The next State and Federal elections will see the beginning of a significant change to political campaigns,” he said.
Dr Harrison said changes would include the increased use of e-mail communication between political candidates and voters, and targeted use of technology in campaigning.
“With the increased use of e-mail, voters will be in touch with their representatives more frequently,” he said.
“We will also see customised campaigning using e-mail, where candidates contact voters … by e-mail instead of through traditional means.
“Since it is quite easy for people to get information about us – by tracking
the websites we visit – we will start to get targeted e-mails from politicians.”
Dr Harrison said politicians were already using the Net to gauge public opinion.
“Sites like vote.com, and those set up by news organisations to gauge opinion, offer the prospect of citizen-initiated referenda in a new form,” he said.
However, Dr Harrison said, it was unlikely Australians would be voting on- line just yet.
“The Australian Electoral Office is being cautious in its response to the possibilities offered by new technologies.
“This contrasts with the situation in the United States where the Arizona Democratic primary and the Louisiana Republican primary were conducted in part over the Internet. We might have to wait a few years to get to that point.”
Dr Harrison said the move towards technology-mediated politics raised issues including computer access, security and information tracking, which needed to be addressed before on-line politics could be truly democratic.
– Margaret Lawson
Politics caught in Net
Page 4 INSIDE QUT August 29-September 18, 2000 by Margaret Lawson
F
orget the old OHT and pamphlet.If you want to attract the student or staff member of tomorrow, CDs and psychedelic cinema commercials are the order of the day.
It’s a move away from traditional recruitment tools, and it’s all about creativity, originality and technology.
Several areas at QUT have been trialing innovative marketing techniques in past months, including the Schools of Accountancy and Management in the Faculty of Business.
Accountancy head Professor Peter Little said the concept first came to him at a conference where information was distributed on business-card-sized CD-ROMs.
“We were looking for new ways to make studying accountancy seem more attractive, especially to high school students,” Professor Little said.
Faculty marketing moves with times
“I wondered why we hadn’t done anything like that.”
Professor Little said the school, which was already planning to make a video and compile information for use during high school visits, simply produced the material in a different form.
The result is a blue CD-ROM with a six-minute video featuring accountancy students talking about their study and uni life. It uses scenes from the QUT television advertisement, interspersed with comments from academics and industry partners. On the CD is also a PowerPoint presentation which takes the place of a traditional brochure.
“These days when you’re recruiting you have to grab their attention,”
Professor Little said.
“For our school, it’s also a matter of shaking off the staid image of accountants by showing them we can be sharp and leading-edge.”
Being sharp was also imperative for the School of Management, which has launched two small CD-ROMs for industry and prospective undergraduate audiences.
“This cutting-edge technology is consistent with our image as a university of technology,” management head Professor Boris Kabanoff said.
“And because it is interactive, the information on these CDs is far richer than anything a video and brochure could provide. The impact is tremendous.”
The school’s CD is also visually striking, looking more like a misshapen starfish than a traditional CD, with colourful spikes radiating from an oval centre.
When it is inserted in a standard CD- ROM drive, the CD reveals pages of information in web format targeted at prospective undergraduate students using the Where are you going? theme. It also contains links to on-line sources.
Using the same concept, the school has produced for their corporate audience a “school business card”, intended to be used for recruiting staff.
“It’s like a business card but with everything you’d want to know about the school, the faculty and QUT. There’s information on living in Brisbane, transport, our research, staff profiles, articles and a video,” Professor Kabanoff said.
“I’d like to see the size of the brochure you’d have to produce to fit in everything we have on the CD or hot-linked to the CD.”
Professors Kabanoff and Little said they were both happy with the results of their forays into creative marketing.
“For the investment – which isn’t more than it would cost to produce a
video or glossy brochure – it’s much more attention-getting,” Professor Kabanoff said.
Also in keeping with this move towards high-tech and attention-getting marketing is the latest Faculty of Science advertising campaign.
External relations officer Annette Fraser said the faculty opted to try cinema advertising for the first time this year as a way of reaching a young audience.
Ms Fraser said that, like management and accountancy, the Science Faculty wanted to present a “cool and funky”
image.
“We were looking for a way to get science into the wider community and to portray it as fun and interesting,” Ms Fraser said.
The faculty advertisement features brilliantly coloured microscope images set to the soundtrack of QUT’s television ad. Throughout, it poses questions like “Want to be a forensic scientist?”.
“We wanted something that looked high-tech and unlike anything else you’ve ever seen before,” Ms Fraser said.
“We’re really pleased with the result.”
While science, accountancy and management have yet to officially evaluate the success of their campaigns, high-tech marketing seems to be the way of the future.
“You can have a much larger impact with something a bit high-tech and creative,” Professor Kabanoff said.
“For the money you spend, the impact is so much more.”
Getting attention … the School of Management’s funky new CD-ROM designed for student recruitment.
Professor Peter Little
by Amisha Patel
QUT law and business student Claudia Bozonji is one step closer to realising her dream of a career with the United Nations (UN) in Geneva.
A final-year student, Ms Bozonji was the only Australian representative and one of just 23 people from around the world selected to take part in the Quaker UN summer school held over two weeks in July.
Part of her role involved researching and discussing three topics: peace and disarmament; human rights and refugees; and trade and development.
Ms Bozonji said she learnt much from the experience with access to top-level officials like the senior political advisor
Claudia talks peace during
United Nations’ summer school
to the UN secretary general, and to the UN building.
“No textbook could have taught me as much as I learned in my 12 days over there,” she said.
“I was very surprised at the level of co-operation between non-government organisations and the UN agencies.
“It is quite refreshing to think that the UN is really starting to get in touch with the real world outside the lavish halls of the Palais des Nations.”
Ms Bozonji heard many stories during her stay but there was one in particular that changed her image of diplomatic negotiations.
“One of the diplomats mentioned t h a t m a n y o f t h e i d e o l o g i c a l d i f f e r e n c e s b e t w e e n v a r i o u s
diplomats were resolved not in formal discussions but in the UN cafeteria over a nice cappuccino,” she said.
According to Ms Bozonji, although the UN is not perfect, it is the only system where all countries, regardless of their economic status, can air their grievances.
“I like the idea that countries have the opportunity to have their say,”
she said.
“I also admire the resolve of the international civil servants working in the UN – they are truly dedicated individuals.”
M s B o z o n j i s a i d h e r la w a n d international business studies were i n v a l u a b l e d u r i n g t h e s u m m e r school.
“My international business skills were pertinent in my understanding of issues related to trade and development,” she said.
“Also, my law subjects proved helpful during arguments regarding NATO’s bombing of Kosovo where there had been alleged breaches of the UN Charter.”
In 1998, Ms Bozonji won the QUT Coca-Cola business scholarship and attended the Australasian Model UN Conference.
Ms Bozonji said that without financial and moral support from QUT’s law and business equity committees and the School of Marketing and International Business – and support from Q-Step staff – she would not have been able to attend.
Working towards her dream to work with the UN … Claudia Bozonji.
Schools are being urged to challenge a deeply embedded gender stereotype which a PhD student’s research has found causes gifted girls to be overlooked in their early years of education.
QUT PhD student – and Australian Institute of Education in Western Australia lecturer – Libby Lee sought responses from early childhood teachers in Queensland in an effort to understand why they were five times more likely to recommend boys as they were girls for QUT’s maths and science enrichment program.
Ms Lee concluded that teachers’
conceptions of a gifted child were masculinised – that is, they were more likely to identify boys than girls as being gifted due to their overt behaviours and
the expectation that boys were naturally more successful at maths and science.
“The research results provide a timely response to debates about boys’ education which claim that boys are the ‘new disadvantaged’ and highlights that gifted girls currently experience significant educational disadvantage,” she said.
Ms Lee’s research found most of the teachers interviewed saw giftedness as being highly noticeable and that boys were more likely than girls to exhibit behaviours associated with giftedness – being unco-operative, outspoken, socially isolated or challenging the status quo.
In contrast, teachers saw gifted girls as being helpful, co-operative and compliant – where they did not behave this way they were seen as bossy or as “tomboys”.
“Girls are socialised very early in life to act in a way that will preserve their relationships with others,” Ms Lee said.
“Many girls believe it’s more important for them to do this than pursue their goals, particularly if they are interested in non-traditional subjects and careers. For example, it’s very unusual for a girl to be exceptional at physics when she’s six years old, if she pursues this interest, she runs the risk of being alienated.”
Ms Lee said the result of conforming to social expectations was that gifted girls were not identified and catered for appropriately at school and failed to achieve their full potential.
She suggested future professional development of teachers must equip them with observational strategies and identification techniques so they could better recognise gifted students rather than relying on intuition.
Gifted girls miss out
Eva McLoughlin.
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General and specialist clinics including contact lenses, paediatric vision and vision rehabilitation.
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move towards creating a smoke- free environment on campus has been made following changes approved by the QUT Council to the university’s smoking policy.Registrar Ken Baumber said the policy amendments recognised the dangers of passive smoking and the university’s responsibilities to provide a safe environment for its staff and students.
However, Mr Baumber said, the policy also acknowledged that smokers needed to be able to access some areas in which to smoke.
“In changing the policy the university is not targeting staff or students who smoke, which is a personal matter, but where they smoke, which is a health and safety issue,” Mr Baumber said.
“Essentially, the new policy allows for smoking only in designated areas, which will be clearly signed.”
Mr Baumber said these areas had been chosen to avoid previous problems which occurred where smoke had been pulled into buildings through open doorways, windows or air- conditioning inlets.
He said assistance would be provided by QUT’s Health Services to staff and students who would like to give up the habit by undertaking counselling or quit programs.
“Smokers are requested to support the new policy by refraining from
Music students from QUT’s Academy of the Arts will present an all-day music extravaganza, at the Brisbane Powerhouse on Saturday, September 9 as part of the River Festival.
Buzz will have students presenting a jigsaw of performances across all music genres in the main theatre, bar area, Turbine Room and Divine Plaza.
Head of music Andy Arthurs said the nature and style of the day highlighted the diverse nature of music training at QUT.
“Buzz will best illustrate the style of training we provide at QUT,” he said.
“The audience can see how students are skilled across several areas of music – from
Students create buzz at Powerhouse
traditional music-making in some of our better known ensembles, to the newer groups and electronic music.”
The performances have been scheduled around the well-publicised Riversymphony at New Farm Park, featuring the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra.
Charged from a successful tour of Byron Bay, Toowoomba, and the Sunshine and Gold Coasts the popular QUT Big Band, directed by Brad Millard, will perform during the event, as will the QUT Wind Symphony, directed by Ralph Hultgren.
The electronic sounds of Simulation, Digital Diva and Flipside will run late into the evening in the Turbine Room.
Gearing up for a colourful performance at the Brisbane Powerhouse – music students Olivia Pisani (left) and Beck Nicoll.
QUT architecture students have formed two of five groups that beat 35 other entries in an Australian student design competition.
For the Sapphire Coast Cultural and Recreational Centre Design Competition, the students designed a model for the centre at Merimbula in southern New South Wales and are now designing three main buildings for the final in September.
A trio of Italian exchange students from Politecnico of Milan are members of one QUT group.
Andrea Fortunati, Elisa Tattoli and Matteo Rossetti’s model took a sustainable architecture approach.
“We wanted to visit the other side of the world and complete our thesis in sustainable architecture,”
Ms Tatolli said.
“And Australia is the best place to do that,” Mr Fortunati said.
Their project is set on the only sandy strip of the forest area.
The buildings will be primarily constructed from timber and incorporate solar panels.
The design also features a canopy feed, which will collect and use rainwater within the building.
The model took two months to design and two weeks to build.
As well as the Italian students, the School of Architecture, Interior and Industrial Design has exchange students from France and England.
The Italian students were supported in their projects by international student services language and learning advisor Lynda Lawson.
– Amisha Patel
Trio has designs on competition
Exhange students (l-r) Elisa Tattoli, Matteo Rossetti and Andrea Fortunati chose to come to Australia because of its reputation in sustainable development.
smoking in areas other than those designated in the policy,” Mr Baumber said. Areas are listed below.
Gardens Point:
• Main Drive Walkway from A block to X block (areas outside building entrances are not included).
• Kidney Lawn.
• Open space within D Yard, including designated areas of Artisans.
• Courtyard between Kindler Theatre and L block.
Kelvin Grove:
• Link between A and D blocks.
• Verandah, Campus Club and designated areas at Beadles coffee shop.
• Covered walkway between D and E blocks within 3 metre arc of ashtray.
Carseldine:
• Refectory balcony, southern side.
• Cybercafe balcony, eastern side.
• Walkways between C and E blocks and E and L blocks at all levels, outside building lines.
– Noel Gentner
Policy directs smokers
Campuses have new ashtrays.
Mooters Nerida Wilson and Adam Cooper have made it to the national final of the Family Law Moot competition, capping off a highly successful time for QUT’s mooters.
Final-year law student Mr Cooper and third-year student Ms Wilson won the State final earlier this month.
They will now compete against the University of Tasmania in Sydney in October.
Eric Baker, a recently retired judge of the Full Court of the Family Court, said the QUT team showed excellent preparation and presentation, and that they spoke confidently and with flair.
He also noted that the written submissions were equal to the best he had received in his 15 years on the Full Court bench.
Senior lecturer Iyla Davies has been coaching family law mooters for more than 10 years and said Mr Wilson and Ms Cooper were the most outstanding team she had seen.
“They’re each excellent mooters individually but, as a team, their qualities complement each other to produce a perfect balance,” she said.
Mr Cooper was also named the highest-ranked “team” in the general rounds award in The University of
Queensland-sponsored Maritime Law Arbitration Moot.
His partner was unable to attend but, with research help from Lesley Leong, Mr Cooper continued alone to win.
In other mooting news, part-time law student Kate Hynes has been named the Best Orator in the Law Council of Australia Mooting Championship at the Australasian Law Students’ Association Conference.
Ms Hynes is the first Queenslander to win the title which is the largest moot competition in Australasia – the team also included Wade Johnston and Laurel Spencer.
Law students among top mooters
Page 6 INSIDE QUT August 29-September 18, 2000 QUT’s new on-line student information system Callista is being used as an opportunity to simplify student administration processes.
The system went live on June 5 and, although most staff and students do not use Callista directly, it is the data source behind all student information on QUT Virtual.
Data were converted from the old system to Callista from April to June this year with more than 5million records transferred and more than 50 staff involved.
According to director of the Department of Student Administration, Mr Ray Morley, Callista has the potential to enable major improvements to student administration over the next few years, and will offer students and staff more flexibility and immediate responses.
“Callista uses a rules-based system and, by December 2001, student enrolments and subject selections will only be conducted on-line,” Mr Morley said.
“It’s as easy as this: If a student tries to enrol in a subject but hasn’t completed the necessary pre-requisite subject then Callista will note this rule and inform the student to choose another option.
“This has the potential for administrative savings and will provide a better service to students.”
Students are already seeing the benefits with one invoice for all QUT payments such as HECS and guild fees, which were previously billed separately.
All major student administration processes for this semester – including admissions, enrolments, examinations and fees invoicing – were completed on time using Callista.
The Callista server, as well as data transfer between it and other systems like Oracle Financial and QUT Virtual, are maintained by director of Information Technology Services Neil Thelander and his team.
“This massive information exchange takes between 24 and 48 hours to complete. We are always working on ways to make this even faster and more reliable,” Mr Thelander said.
Registar and project sponsor Ken Baumber said Callista was a state-of-the-art student information system that replaced a system built using the technology of the times for the needs of the times.
“Callista is certainly one of the biggest projects that the university has undertaken and, during the next 18 months, we’ll see the real potential of the system,” Mr Baumber said.
Callista simplifies
administration Law graduate heads to Cambridge
A
part from the challenge of living through a cold Cambridge winter, and her first winter overseas at that, law/accountancy graduate Tracey Carver is ecstatic about winning a scholarship to study a masters degree at Cambridge University.Ms Carver, pictured right, is one of just four Australian recipients of this year’s British Chevening Cambridge- Australia Trust Scholarship which covers the education and maintenance expenses for a one-year postgraduate degree at the university.
Applications for the scholarship are accepted from all disciplines, not just law, and places are hotly contested.
“The competition for scholarships such as this is particularly fierce, so I was over the moon (to win),”
Ms Carver said.
“I felt very fortunate as well because there aren’t a lot of places to go overseas to study to this degree.”
Ms Carver will specialise in torts law and civil compensation – torts is a collection of civil as opposed to criminal offences such as negligence, defamation and trespass.
Ms Carver graduated from QUT with first-class honours in law and a degree in accountancy with distinction – five years’ of hard work which she said was now paying off.
“My approach to going to uni was that if I couldn’t be out there earning money for five years I was
going to study as hard as I could,”
she said.
It was not just academic excellence that won Ms Carver this award.
She said her work as a cadet leader for an Anglican youth group and her role as a peer mentor and later tutor at QUT would have contributed.
Ms Carver also had to prove that her postgraduate study would benefit British-Australian relations.
“I was lucky in my area of law – it’s an area which looks at negligence actions primarily and those sorts of cases are increasingly global,” she said.
“For example, the recent class- action litigation against the tobacco industry – it doesn’t really matter where you come from – these sorts of product liability claims have the capacity to affect millions of people in their daily lives.
“In addition, Australian torts law has been traditionally based on the English system, so anything I bring back with me would be equally applicable to the future development of the Law in Australia as well as the UK.”
Ms Carver has been granted a year’s leave of absence from her current employer, law firm Allen Allen and Hemsley where she practices property law.
– Toni Chambers
Capital improvements underway
QUT’s School of Psychology and Counselling is seeking volunteers to participate in a study to explore whether males and females have different types of anxiety experiences.
The 1998 National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing of Australian Adults found that 19 per cent of people surveyed experienced an anxiety disorder in the previous 12 months – women accounted for 12 per cent of sufferers.
Chief investigator Dr Nigar Khawaja said these figures, along with a pilot study conducted last year, prompted the investigation into the differences between male and female anxiety experiences.
She said anxiety could take many forms including panic attacks which manifested themselves in a racy heart, shallow breathing, dry mouth, wobbly legs and feeling of disorientation. Dr Khawaja said people with anxiety could also fear social gatherings, have an irrational fear of heights, closed spaces, insects or animals, and repeat actions or thoughts.
Anyone who would like to be part of the research should phone (07) 3864 4686 or (07) 3864 4625.
Volunteers sought
Web developers take drastic steps
Speakers at a recent Web Developers’ Day held at QUT were subjected to rather drastic measures to keep proceedings running to schedule. If a speaker overran their allocated time, the Grim Reaper (aka Aaron Bell) enlisted the assistance of specialist bouncers (l-r client quality specialist Steve Heron and Information Technology student Rowan Arndt).
One of the organisers of the day, QUT webmaster Stuart Wider, overstayed his welcome at the lecturn and is pictured above being escorted from the building by the ruthless trio.
New student computing and scientific laboratories, improved building access, and refurbished teaching and staff areas are some of the capital improvements that are planned and in progress at QUT’s Gardens Point campus.
QUT facilities management director Andrew Frowd said students could expect access to a new 350- seat, 24-hour computer laboratory in V Block by November this year.
He said work on new teaching space and upgraded science laboratories in M Block was also planned, and would commence this month.
“These projects will be a major development in increasing student
access to computers and the latest learning facilities,” Mr Frowd said.
“It is very important to constantly maintain and upgrade these services.”
Mr Frowd said that while work on M Block was underway there would be no access to the top floors, however entry to the parking office and audio-visual services on level one would be accessible.
“During the campus works in general there may be temporary access delays to some areas, though we are managing the work very carefully to minimise a n y i n c o n v e n i e n c e , ” M r Frowd said.
“If people have any concerns about access to buildings or areas on campus they should contact the relevant campus services section for guidance.”
Mr Frowd said other work on campus which would soon commence included upgraded back- of-house facilities in X Block, a refurbishment of levels four and nine of Q Block, and an internal upgrade of E Block which would include a new lift.
If you have any questions or concerns about building access during capital works, contact your campus services section: (07) 3864 2693 (Gardens Point) or (07) 3864 3214 (Kelvin Grove and Carseldine).
Two projects to improve the lives of people with Parkinson’s Disease are underway in the School of Human Movement Studies.
Researcher Dr Charles Worringham said the projects aimed to identify people with Parkinson’s Disease who were most at risk of falls and decreased driving ability, which could be caused by tremors and muscular rigidity associated with the condition.
“We’re trying to establish a series of movement and other tests to identify people with Parkinson’s Disease who are, and are not, at risk because of mobility problems,” he said.
“Other studies have shown that neurological tests may not predict driving ability for example, so we hope to provide a better way to inform people about the risks associated with their condition.”
Dr Worringham said inaccurate warnings, particularly about the ability to drive, posed significant threats to the independence of some people with Parkinson’s Disease.
“It is just as important to identify those who are not at risk, so they are not penalised just because they have this disease,” he said.
Dr Worringham said the research projects – which also involved Parkinson’s Queensland, Dr Graham Kerr, QUT School of Optometry researcher Dr Joanne Wood and Princess Alexandra Hospital neurologist Dr Peter Silburn – were showing promise after their first year.
“When the research is finished we hope to provide new information to general practitioners and other clinicians to help them accurately evaluate patients’ risk of falls, or their ability to drive.”
He said the research team needed more volunteers for the studies, and people could call (07) 3864 5690 to find out more.
Study to investigate Parkinson’s
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QUT’s School of Public Health opened a nutrition clinic for staff, students and the community at Kelvin Grove campus this month.
The clinic, located in O Block (B Wing), is overseen by the school’s academic staff along with professional dietitians from The Wesley Hospital, and operates both as a public clinic and teaching facility.
Public Health lecturer Delma Stormont said the clinic offered a range of services charging $20 for an initial consultation and $10 per review appointment.
“The focus for clients is on developing individual dietary plans so they can meet their health or weight goals with professional guidance,” Ms Stormont said.
Ms Stormont said students in all years of the nutrition and dietetics program would be involved with, and benefit from, the new clinic.
For appointments, call (07) 3864 5652.
Nutrition clinic opens at KG
Dean of QUT’s Faculty of Health Professor Ken Bowman has been appointed to the National Health and Medical Research Council and its executive committee.
It is Professor Bowman’s second three-year term as a member of the NHMRC.
Director of the Centre for Public Health Research Professor Beth Newman was appointed in May to the Queensland Institute for Medical Research Council and is a member of its new Scientific Advisory Board.
Staff appointed to research councils
By Toni Chambers
A
QUT researcher has been recognised for six years’ work looking at the human experience of cancer after winning the International Research Promotion Council’s Eminent Scientist of the Year award.Dr Pam McGrath is the director of the Leukemia Foundation’s Psycho-Social Research Unit based at QUT.
During the lifespan of her research she has published more than 50 international articles and three books.
Dr McGrath said the IRP award was not only a recognition of her work, but also the work of the many community organisations which help cancer sufferers and their families.
“You don’t get into this sort of work unless you feel quite strongly and passionately about your work and you probably wouldn’t move into innovative work unless you had a strong commitment to wanting those issues on the agenda,” she said.
“So this (award) has gone a long way to providing an affirmation of the importance of that work.”
Dr McGrath’s research is a world first and looks primarily at people with haematological malignancies, like leukemia.
Her work involves following people from infancy to old age and from the point of diagnosis to death, including the grieving process for friends and family.
Dr McGrath works with families who are living with cancer to determine areas of need, and with organisations such as the Leukemia Foundation to determine solutions.
However, she said she often also presented innovative solutions and strategies developed by organisations in Queensland, to those in other parts of Australia and overseas.
“I assess and evaluate what they do well. I show other people examples of how certain organisations respond to accommodation and transport for example, and that work is then modelled and used elsewhere,” she said.
“My other work is putting issues on the agenda that weren’t already there, so starting to raise consciousness or awareness of those issues.”
Dr McGrath said that, while many of the local organisations were leaders in their field, it would be years before all cancer sufferers had access to that sort of high-quality care.
“It is important that our society respond not only to the physical needs
of people, but to their social, emotional and spiritual needs,” she said.
“So we really are only in the beginning of understanding how we respond to those needs, what those needs are and how we help those who find accepting help difficult.”
Dr McGrath is now working with the Royal Children’s Hospital to determine what effect cancer has on a young patient’s siblings.
“We’re trying to say that, because of the way our health care system is set up, we tend to focus on the patient and really that’s not telling the story,” she said.
“The most significant person in that story may be the sibling and, when we look at the outcomes, it may not be a well child we’re looking at – it may be a well- adjusted sibling.”
Sam and Sue Turner and their daughters Sophie and Mary have taken part in Dr McGrath’s research.
Nine-year-old Sophie has leukemia and her father Sam said he could see the potential future benefits of the research for families.
“We particularly looked at the help that families need at the time of diagnosis, when one ceases to function as a family and as a person – how to deal with fear and anxiety,”
Mr Turner said.
The Leukemia Foundation’s chief executive officer Phillip Desbrow congratulated Dr McGrath on her win.
“I believe her research highlights the necessity to go beyond medical treatment to provide social and emotional support for both the patient and their family,” he said.
Researcher rewarded for looking
beyond medical treatment of cancer
Eminent Scientist of the Year Dr Pam McGrath (far right) with the Turner family (l-r) Mary, Sophie, Sam and Sue … the Turners are part of research into siblings of kids with cancer.
Queensland Attorney-General Matt Foley has foreshadowed the possibility of major changes to legislation affecting the legal profession and legal training over the next two years.
He told a recent gathering of QUT law students that a review of the legal profession in Queensland had looked at several aspects of the profession.
Mr Foley said the change most likely to impact on educational institutions was the abolition of article clerkships in favour of more modern arrangements.
“There’s a need for open, flexible working relationships to cater, for example, for people with families, for those who have engaged in
Foley review impacts on Law courses
A one-year, part-time, off- campus option will begin next year voluntary work or worked in other
jurisdictions,” Mr Foley said.
Dean of Law Professor Malcolm Cope said the change would have implications for practical legal training courses offered by all universities around Australia.
He said competition for the provision of practical legal training was fierce and would only become more so when the government’s changes were implemented.
QUT’s Law Faculty has made changes to its Legal Practice course this year – replacing its 12-month HECS-based course with two six- monthly full-fee paying courses – and is exploring the possibility of offering a “national” course in conjunction with providers in other states.
with plans for extra staff in the faculty to cater for the demand.
Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor Ian Macfarlane defended the bank’s decisions on monetary policy in a speech to the QUT Business Leaders’ Forum on August 10.
In a rare public address, Mr Macfarlane hit back at critics of the Reserve Bank’s recent decision to raise interest rates, challenging comments that the RBA had over- estimated the strength of Australia’s economy.
“The fact is that we have consistently under-estimated its strength,” Mr Macfarlane said.
“[The RBA’s] critics have under- estimated by a larger margin. This is true of most economists, bureaucrats, politicians, the press and… central bankers are not immune from it.”
Mr Macfarlane would not forecast any further interest rate changes, saying that the answers behind these monthly fluctuations were “not very important in the medium term”.
“It is the average level of interest rates that matters,” he said.
“Have we allowed them to stay too low and so encouraged the
build-up of an inflationary process, or have we raised them too high and so set in train a contractionary or deflationary process? — These are important questions.”
Mr Macfarlane also addressed the role of monetary policy in lowering unemployment.
He said that good monetary policy could improve unemployment by maximising the length of economic expansion.
“Damage to unemployment occurs during recessions,” Mr Macfarlane said.
“The best thing that monetary policy can do to reduce unemployment is to prolong the expansion, and delay and reduce the size of any subsequent recession.”
Mr Macfarlane said that could mean tightening monetary policy early to prevent inflationary pressures, rather than having to
“apply the brakes when inflation has built more momentum”.
He said that the rise in inflation over the past year, while larger than expected, was “not an alarming event”.
– Margaret Lawson Queensland Attorney-General Matt Foley
Macfarlane defends interest rate increase
A group of QUT communication students was recently announced as a regional finalist in the International Advertising Association student competition, InterAd V.
Michael Klaehn, Sam Sochacka, Nicole Sanderson, Kirsty Agnew and Nori Zain produced a global Internet marketing strategy and CD-ROM for competition client VISA, which went up against entries from other student groups worldwide.
Advertising lecturer Gayle Kerr said the group’s entry was
“inspiring stuff” and had done exceptionally well to make the regional final of the first InterAd that QUT had entered.
Advertising students
in global comp
Page 8 INSIDE QUT August 29-September 18, 2000 Check out What’s On and post your entries at
http://www.whatson.qut.edu.au/
STUDENT GUILD
Jul-Sept 7 Tax help on campus. The Union Services Department, in conjunction with the Australian Taxation Office, is providing free tax help for students. QUT business students who have attended a training program for Tax Help volunteers will be available at the Union Help Desks on specific dates. Drop in to Your Union Help Desk on any campus for details. E-mail [email protected] or call 3864 5512.
Sept-Oct Sport and recreation activities. QUT’s Student Guild Sport and Recreation Department offers a range of courses for students including bar tending, mountain biking, rollerblading, surfing, rowing, self defence and winery tours. E-mail [email protected] or call 3864 1213.
ARTS EVENTS
Sept 7-9 Not Enough Dance. The newest choreographic work devised and performed by Academy of the Arts’ dance students. Woodward Theatre, Kelvin Grove campus. $10 adults, $6 concession. E-mail [email protected] or call 3864 5998.
Jul 27- techno-craft: the work of Susan Cohn 1980 to 2000. A National Sept 24 Gallery of Australia touring exhibition showcasing the diverse talents of this acclaimed Australian jeweller, metalworker and designer. QUT Art Museum, QUT Cultural Precinct, Gardens Point campus. Open 10am- 4pm (Tues-Fri), Noon-4pm (Sat-Sun), closed Mon. Free entry.
Call 3864 5370.
EVENTS, SEMINARS, WORKSHOPS
Sept 4 Searching for medical information on the Internet. This course, or 28 run by the Centre for Medical and Health Physics, will be presented by QUT staff who have specialised skills in the area of medical information searching on the Internet. $160 includes GST. E-mail [email protected] or call 3864 2595.
Sept 7 Centre for the Study of Ethics seminar series – Putting the Commun[all] Back into Community Development. Presented by postgraduate student Vikki Palmer. Free. E122, Carseldine campus.
Noon-1pm. E-mail [email protected] or call 3864 4747.
Inside QUT is published by QUT’s Corporate Communication Department.
Readership includes staff, students and members of the QUT community.
It is also circulated to business, industry, government and the media. Each story has been checked with the source prior to publication.
Letters to the editor are welcome via mail or email [email protected]. The Corporate Communication address: Level 3, G Block, Room 318, Gardens Point or GPO Box 2434 Brisbane 4001.
Opinions expressed in Inside QUT do not necessarily represent those of the university or the editorial team.
Carmen Myler (editor) 3864 1150
Noel Gentner & Amisha Patel (part-time) 3864 1841
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Toni Chambers 3864 4494
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Mrs Cragnolini has also convinced her husband to join the tour and they’ve been in training since last Christmas, walking with their backpacks and boots to get used to the equipment and different temperatures and conditions.
They started the trek at Birdsville and will cover 200 kilometres between the Simpson and the Stoney Deserts – they are walking 20 kilometres a day and spend four hours a day packing and unpacking food and equipment from the camels.
Apart from the personal physical challenge, Mrs Cragnolini has decided to make the trek a fundraiser for the Equity Endowment Fund which provides bursaries to low-income and disadvantaged students at QUT.
She said she wanted to help the many students she had met over the
A
fter completing a decade of study, most students just want to relax and do nothing, but not QUT staff member Vanda Cragnolini.Almost at the end of her Bachelor of Commerce degree, the part-time administrative assistant in the Division of Information and Academic Services was looking for a physical challenge.
And she found one – she is on a 10-day organised walking trek through the Simpson Desert with only supply-carrying camels to help.
“I’ve been studying on and off part- time since 1990 and I’ve found it’s taken a lot of my time away from the social things I would have liked to have done,” she said.
“While it’s been a challenge intellectually, there have been no physical challenges, I’ve really missed that.”
years who were “doing it tough” just to survive university life.
“For example, I’ve met students who have one meal a day and have dreadful accommodation, students who have to give up because their parents can’t afford to keep them at uni, to pay the residence fees and food,” she said.
Mrs Cragnolini finishes her trek on August 31 and so far almost $600 has been pledged including a significant contribution from Chancellor Cherrell Hirst.
The Vice-Chancellor will match every dollar raised during the Trek-A- Thon with a $2 contribution.
It is not too late to contribute to the Trek-A-Thon – the Development Office is still accepting donations and pledges. Contact Sharon Norris at [email protected] or on (07) 3864 1833.
– Toni Chambers
Desert walk to benefit
disadvantaged students
QUT Fun Run Sept 17
Staff and students are getting in form for the annual QUT Fun Run coming up on Sunday, September 17.
The run starts at 7am and involves a 10km run or 5km walk starting and finishing at Gardens Point campus going through the Botanic Gardens and West End.
Organised by the QUT Student Guild with support from university management, last year’s event attracted 1000 participants.
A proportion of proceeds from this year’s event will go to the Queensland Paralympic Team.
For details and to register, visit http://www.sg.qut.edu.au/
Among those in training for the event is Christine Andrews, a member of the fitness centre at Gardens Point campus.
The university is offering a limited number of $500 bursaries and free laptops (for up to 12 months) to students from socially or financially disadvantaged situations.
Application forms and information on eligibility can be obtained from http:/
/www.qut.edu.au/admin/equity, the Student Guild’s help desk on each campus, or the Equity sections at
Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove campuses. Contact Kate Flynn at [email protected] or on (07) 3864 4492. Applications must be received by the Equity Section by September 15.
Uni offers students equity bursaries
A QUT student is working to help raise $4.5million dollars for the Queensland Cancer Fund.
Heidi Poulsen, a Bachelor of Business student majoring in Accountancy, has been appointed as a doorknock co-ordinator for the fund.
She said she was finding greater confidence in dealing with the public through her voluntary role as an area
co-ordinator in the suburbs of Algester and Parkinson.
Ms Poulsen has been doing voluntary work since 1996 but chose to commit solely to working with the Queensland Cancer Fund after losing her grandmother to cancer three years ago.
“After my grandmother’s death, my family and I decided to contribute and do some good for the community.
“By giving support to this program, residents could be helping someone very close to them. None of us can be sure we will not at some time in the future have need for these facilities (of the cancer fund).”
People wishing to volunteer as doorknockers can contact the Queensland Cancer Fund on (07) 3258 2200.
– Sharon Foo
