IQ inside
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Queensland University of Technology Newspaper Issue 286 August 5 - August 25, 2008
Course and careers day
Teaching and learning
QUT staff members have received eight Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning from the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC).
The entire QUT Careers and E m p l o y m e n t Te a m , e i g h t lecturers and a professional staff member received the citations from the ALTC (formerly the Carrick Institute).
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Teaching Quality) Professor Vi McLean said receiving eight citations from the country’s peak tertiary teaching and lear ning body represented a major form of recognition for QUT’s teaching and learning support services.
“QUT’s signifi cant achievement in awards and fellowships with ALTC
refl ects the quality of teaching and the success of partnerships that we have established between academic and professional staff to enhance the quality of our students’ learning experiences,” Professor McLean said.
“The fact that our professional staff have received citations for their contributions reinforces the message that it takes all of us across the university to deliver a high quality education.”
QUT Careers & Employment manager, Dr Alan McAlpine said the Careers and Employment team had been recognised for the innovative programs they had developed to help students enhance their academic learning, fi nd the links to their best career, and plan and manage their own career progression.
Dr McAlpine praised the “creative and proactive” team, which has grown to 12 full time employees since
its inception 15 years ago, and noted some of its key achievements were a 94 per cent awareness rate among students of their services and that almost 90 per cent of QUT students seeking employment were successful at the end of their degrees.
Dr McAlpine said the team had developed career support tools and experiences to meet the needs of students and many of the teams programs have been recognised nationally and internationally by associations in the careers fi eld.
“I think students today are more savvy about what they want and what they are suited to, so we are heavily involved in helping them make transitions and get a taste of the work they are interested in before they commit to their chosen professions,” he said.
Open day crowds fl ock to Kelvin Grove
Above, Zachary Kyle-Little, Eloise Neuendorf and Emily Bartorillo checked out courses.
Left, Klinton Jones and Madelein Cunich enjoyed the day.
www.news.qut.edu.au George Street Brisbane 4000 Telephone (07) 3138 2361 Registered by Australia Post – Publication No. QBF 4778. CRICOS No 00213J
Great QUT
teaching lauded
INSIDE this issue of Inside Q U T, w e p r o f i l e Q U T graduates and teachers who have been recently rewarded f o r t h e i r o u t s t a n d i n g achievement.Fo r m o re o n t h e Q U T
teachers who have been cited as some of the best in the nation, see page 2.
Fo r a r u n d ow n o f t h e w i n n e r s o f t h i s y e a r ’s Outstanding Alumni Awards, see pages 4,5.
Special
Winners’ Issue
Continued P2
THOUSANDS of prospective QUT students and their families headed along to Kelvin Grove campus on Sunday July 27 to get a taste of uni life.
Taste It was the theme of this year’s open day which was held at Kelvin Grove for the fi rst time.
In addition to hundreds of staff from across the faculties on hand to provide information and advice, there were plenty of blue lollipops in the shape of QUT’s cube logo to keep up the energy of visitors.
Seminars and information sessions, tours, entertainment, food, drink and song combined in a multi-sensual experience which was not only incredibly useful, but plenty of fun as well.
Live entertainment from QUT students kept the day buzzing.
COMMENT
AUSTRALIAN higher education is currently the focus of a major national review, in the course of which questions are being asked about the contributions universities make to individuals and to society.
Most of the focus has been on meeting professional workforce needs, a reasonable starting point given the signifi cant skills shortages Australia is experiencing.
References have been made to innovation and technolog y transfer, community engagement, cultural development and enhancing our national capacity to address pressing environmental and social problems.
Impor tant as all these are, sometimes the more fundamental role is overlooked.
Higher education is not just about meeting immediate needs; it is about an inherently unpredictable future.
It is very much about people, and enabling people to make the most of their capacities.
The contributions g raduates make are many and varied, at times unexpected and often their impact extends well beyond the professional sphere for which they were initially prepared.
Each year QUT graduates nearly 10,000 people, whose talents and achievements make an impact across the globe.
Each year we celebrate these impacts through the Outstanding Alumni Awards, where we identify and acknowledge the achievements of leading alumni.
The Awards demonstrate the diver se ways QUT g r aduates contribute to the national and international community.
The Awards process considers alumni from each of our faculties, and considers their ongoing personal development, their contributions to their professions and the wider community.
This year the Chancellor’s Outstanding Alumnus Award went to Zimi Meka, co-founder and chief executive offi cer of the engineering and project management company Ausenco Limited.
The Award recognises not only his outstanding achievements in building this highly successful and export-oriented company, but also his role in establishing the Ausenco Foundation, which assists local communities around the world to gain education, health and other social benefi ts from the development of mining infrastructure in their area.
Each of the other Award winners has made their own wider contribution in addition to outstanding professional achievement.
I congratulate Zimi Meka and all the other Award winners for being outstanding ambassadors for QUT, and for showing how individuals can make such a positive diff erence to the lives of others.
They exemplify the true benefi ts of higher education and serve as an inspiration to us all.
Professor Peter Coaldrake Vice-Chancellor
QUT teachers are
among nation’s best
Education
TWO QUT academics are on a mission to make maths accessible to and enjoyable for everyone in Queensland, and have travelled to rural communities and Indigenous schools to ensure this happens.
Dr Annette Batura and Professor Tom Cooper, pictured, from the Faculty of Education are the founders of the Deadly Maths program, which has, since 2001, seen them devote much of their time and energy to educating Indigenous students in maths.
Dr Batura said the project started after a visit to Woorabinda Aboriginal Community, when they were asked by two principals to come back and work with the schools.
“We had had little experience with
Indigenous communities, but we know about mathematics education and hoped that would be enough to be able to help,” she said.
The suppor t provided by the Deadly Maths group aims to improve Indigenous students’ mathematics learning, and ensure students have the mathematics knowledge to pursue whatever career they wish.
In the past two years the Deadly Maths project has grown considerably, and Dr Baturo and Professor Cooper have worked in 33 locations including Pa l m I s l a n d , Th u r s d ay I s l a n d , Woorabinda, Mount Isa, Dajarra, Urandang i, Boulia, Doomadgee, Mornington Island, Cherbourg and Indigenous boarding schools around Townsville and Cairns.
- Sharon Thompson
Deadly maths brings numbers to life
WAVENEY Croft, academic skills lecturer in the Faculty of Health, teaches fi rst year students how to learn, using a combination of traditional teaching methods and online tools.
“In their fi rst semester of university, students value nurturing, face-to-face human contact, with the advantage
of having the latest online teaching technology,” Ms Croft said.
“It’s worth it spending time with the students. They value individual assistance.
“It’s very rewarding to see them set off and fl y on their own.”
Waveney Croft
DR ZOE Pearce, of the School of Psycholog y and Counselling, is responsible for the teaching and assessing of 1000 fi rst year health students across four campuses.
During peak times in semester, she receives and replies to about 150 student emails a day.
“One of the best ways for students to learn is to stop and refl ect on the content of a lecture and apply it to their own lives and experiences,” Dr Pearce said.
“And classes should be fun and engaging.”
Dr Zoe Pearce
A QUT lecturer in medical radiation science for more than 25 years, Associate Professor Pamela Rowntree has maintained her strong professional ties and ensures students have the best of real world experience.
“My aim is to motivate and encourage all students to learn about
the practice of the profession through their participation in the work integrated learning opportunities embedded throughout the program,”
Professor Rowntree said. “Clinical practitioners provide lectures and assist with skills development prior to the clinical placements”.
Associate Professor Pamela Rowntree
HEAD of QUT creative writing and literary studies Associate Professor Sharyn Pearce is a highly regarded educator who has spent more than 12 years developing her courses.
Professor Pearce has contemporised literary studies by adding creative writing components, linking with
industry partners and introducing peer review for both like-minded Masters students and staff .
She said literary studies were essential.
“Great writers become g reat writers because they were great readers,” Professor Pearce said.
Associate Professor Sharyn Pearce
R O B I N A X av i e r a n d A m i s h a Mehta have enhanced their first- year public relations students’
learning by challenging them with practical problems encountered in the field alongside the theoretical underpinnings of public relations practice.
As well as compelling students to think deeply these methods have also g iven them the opportunity to grasp the diversity of the public relations sector.
Robina Xavier and Amisha Mehta
SENIOR law lecturer R achael Field received her citation for her teaching of students that is consistently rated highly by them and which results in their high achievement.
Ms Field uses a conversational fr amework and blended (face-
t o - f a c e a n d o n l i n e ) t e a c h i n g delivery methods to fully engage her students, often using roving microphones in large classes.
Rachael Field
QUT Student Suppor t Ser vices manager Dr Alan McAlpine said it was the breadth of programs provided by the Careers and Employment team, and the strong connections to student learning, that helped the service stand apart from other universities.
“For example, we help IT students a pply for the Co-Op prog r am
where they receive a year’s full-time placement during their degree, deliver workshops as part of the Business Advantage Program, and help Creative Industries students get a sense of what their industry is all about,” he said.
The team also off ers career support to international students.
Careers and Employment team
MANAGER of the TALSS Awards and Grants Service Georgia Smeal earned her citation for her sustained contribution to supporting early to advanced career academics and professional staff engage with QUT’s teaching and learning grant and award schemes and the Australian
Learning and Teaching Council grant, fellowship and award programs.
This work has involved establishing institutional support processes and has made an important contribution to raising QUT’s national profi le in teaching and learning.
Georgia Smeal
Information technology
G RO U N D B R E A K I N G a r t i f i c i a l intelligence research at QUT has produced a computer program that invents highly absorbing, brain- stretching games which can be played across the board or online between people in diff erent countries.
The program, called Ludi, takes the component rules of board games like chess, draughts and tic-tac-toe, and evolves them to “spit out” new games which it then measures for their potential to engross players, PhD candidate Cameron Browne says.
Mr Browne’s thesis, which one examiner predicted would “still be cited as a seminal contribution and standard reference 50 years from now”, details the development of a computer program which displays both creativity and intelligence.
“Ludi demonstr ates computer creativity in a new artistic fi eld, and is the fi rst program to automatically generate games and then judge which ones might be most enjoyable for players,” Mr Browne said.
“A high-quality game is one that people want to play again and again. Normally
it takes years to know which games are going to endure and become classics, but Ludi can quickly detect if a game is likely to interest human players.”
Mr Browne said Ludi represented a new direction for combinatorial games research, as the traditional focus of this fi eld has been on producing computer players that can compete with – or even beat – the best human players, rather than on the quality of the games themselves.
He said the best game created by Ludi so far (which the program named Yavalath) has all the elements of a high- quality game, and has been given the thumbs up by an international group of serious gamers.
Yavalath’s rules are simple: win by placing four counters in a row, but lose if you place three in a row before that.
“Yavalath requires considerable forward planning by players, who must lay traps for the opponent and anticipate their replies. It’s a competition between two minds that can be played by children and adults alike,” Mr Browne said
He said Yavalath, whether played on a board or on computer, would give the brain a good work-out.
“The good thing about these new games is that many of them require novel and innovative strategies to be played well. Players are therefore often surprised at situations that emerge during play, which keeps the games interesting.”
To find the qualities of a good game, Mr Browne surveyed more than 100 people to rank 79 games, then analysed those games to determine key characteristics.
“The games that this survey group liked most tended to end within a reasonable number of moves but – more importantly -– feature a high degree of uncertainty, so that neither player is sure who’s going to win until the end.
“The survey group also preferred games in which killer moves, such as capturing a queen in chess, could not be immediately refuted by the opponent, leading to stable games rather than ones with constantly fl uctuating lead changes.”
Mr Browne’s research was supervised by Dr Frederic Maire of QUT’s Faculty of Information Technology.
- Niki Widdowson
Games people play:
computer picks stayers
Road safety
ROAD safety management of speed, alcohol and off-road driving in rural areas needs to change to stop the high number of road crashes in these places, according to the recommendations of a five-year study.
The fi rst study of its kind, the
$1.9million Rural and Remote Road Safety Study was undertaken by QUT’s Centre for Accident Research and Road Safet y Queensland ( C A R R S - Q ) a n d Ja m e s C o o k University’s Road Safety Unit and examined the reasons behind the high prevalence of crashes in rural and remote Queensland.
During the study, 700 serious or fatal road crashes in rural areas were examined, and interviews were
conducted with victims and offi cials involved in 400 of the serious injury cases to determine the cause of the crashes.
The study found there was a high rate of single-vehicle crashes, as well as off -road crashes and motorcycle crashes, and a high number involved speed and alcohol.
Principal investigator for the project, Professor Mary Sheehan, said the study had brought up a lot of new information about road safety in rural areas.
“Road safety in rural areas has been under-reported for such a long time,” she said.
“The main aim of this study was to put the spotlight on crashes and put forward recommendations for future policies in the hope they will be used.”
Professor Sheehan said speed was the common pathway to fatal crashes in rural areas, and reducing the speed limit on sealed roads to 90 km/hr and on unsealed roads to 80 km/hr would be an important move in the right direction.
She said there also needed to be a broadening of focus from the “wild, reckless young male driver” to the male driver aged between 30 and 50, as this age group comprised most of the people on the road and most of those involved in accidents.
“There is this large number of drivers in this age group who need to have more focus on them, but at the moment the focus of road safety campaigns is largely given to younger drivers,” said Professor Sheehan.
- Sharon Thompson
Rural road safety addressed in fi ve-year study
Air quality
A QUT air quality scientist is part of an international team of climate scientists on their way to the Arctic with their heads in the clouds in order to understand their role in regulating the summer ice melt.
Dr Zoran Ristovski, from QUT’s International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health, is the only scientist from Australia to join the Sweden- based research team of 36 biologists, oceanographers, chemists, physicists, meteorologists and technicians who make up the Arctic Summer Cloud- Ocean Study.
The expedition’s goal is to further understanding of how current climate changes are aff ecting the Arctic and the consequences for the global climate system, which is vital to mak ing projections about the future.
“My role is to study the composition and structure of nanoparticles that are formed in the atmosphere and how they play a part in the formation of Arctic clouds,” Dr Ristovski said.
“Knowledge of the composition and structure of these tiny particles will give us an insight into the mechanisms of their formation and their sources in the pristine environment of the Arctic.”
Dr Ristovski will achieve this by using a new aerosol (airborne particle) analyser, the fi rst of its kind in the world that was built at QUT.
“The analyser measures the size of airborne particles then heats them to get rid of volatile material such as some organic materials. Humidity is then increased and the size of the resulting water droplets measured,” he said.
“Some particles take on more water after heating which suggests that water uptake can be inhibited by volatile materials.
“All clouds are made up of drops which start life as microscopic particles, called cloud condensation nuclei or CCN, with the ability to attract water vapour from the air. Therefore, we need to know what influences the ability of these particles to take up water so that they become CCN and go on to form clouds.”
Dr Ristovski said the Arctic climate was changing faster than anywhere else on earth and the clearest sign was the rapid melting of the summer sea ice which some scientists are now estimating will be gone in fi ve years.
“The rate of melting is dependent on the amount of the sun’s radiation on the surface of the ice. The Arctic’s persistent low-level clouds help control the amount of sun that hits the ice.”
Dr Ristovski said this expedition would compare results with those found by three previous ASCOS research expeditions.
QUT joins Arctic climate expedition
“If the clouds are changing in character or extent it could alter the climate in the Arctic and, as yet, we do not fully understand what controls clouds in the Arctic.”
The interdisciplinary team will
study cloud formation and its link to microbiolgical life in the ocean and the ice by gathering data from several hundred metres under the sea and also from many kilometres above the earth.
- Niki Widdowson PhD researcher
Cameron Browne
2008 Chancellor’s Outstanding Alumni Award winner and Built Environment and Engineering winner
Humanitarian CEO named top QUT alumnus
THE co-founder and chief executive offi cer of a highly successful Queensland company has been awarded QUT’s highest alumni honour.
QUT mechanical eng ineering graduate Zimi Meka was named the QUT Chancellor’s Outstanding Alumnus for 2008 in recognition of his success in both business and humanitarian activities.
The annual award recognises QUT alumni who have achieved outstanding results in their careers and communities.
Since graduating with honours in 1981, Mr Meka has progressed from project off icer in a Mackay copper refi nery to business leader and company executive.
Mr Meka co-founded Ausenco Limited as engineering director in 1990; in 1999 he was appointed managing director; and in 2008 he became chief executive offi cer.
Ausenco provides engineering and project management services to the
QUT’s 2008 Outstanding
Alumni Awards
Winner nursed an ambition for change
MARGARET Vider joined the nursing staff at Brisbane’s Holy Spirit Hospital in the early 70s.
During a career spanning more than 30 years, Ms Vider was the hospital’s principal nurse educator, director of nursing, and from 1995 until her retirement, its director of mission.
Ms Vider has made an outstanding contribution to furthering health care standards and nursing as a profession.
A Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing Australia, she has served for many years on healthcare sector boards and committees, including the Queensland Nursing Council and the Florence Nightingale Committee.
There she was at the forefront of a lobby group that was successful in having formal nursing education transferred to universities.
In 2005, Ms Vider was appointed a Deputy Commissioner to the Bundaberg Hospital Commission of Inquiry.
Ms Vider continues to contribute to the profession and is a member of QUT’s Human Research Ethics Committee.
Ms Vider gained her Bachelor of Applied Science (Nursing) and Diploma of Nursing Administration from QIT.
Health winner and Special
Excellence winner for contribution to the community in healthcare
BUSINESS
A head for business communications
IN her role as head of internal communication at world- leading agribusiness, Syngenta in Switzerland, Susan Kelly has developed and implemented highly successf ul prog rams that support business growth, brand building, recruitment and cultural change.
She has developed initiatives to increase employee engagement on which she recently spoke at the International Association of Business Communicators Conference in New York.
I n Au s t r a l i a , M s K e l l y has played a leading part in developing public relations practice in Queensland and her skills have been recognised with multiple awards of excellence.
Ms Kelly holds a Bachelor o f E d u c a t i o n , G r a d u a t e Diploma of Communication Practice and Master of Business (Communication Management).
LAW
Minister gets judges’ votes
MINISTER for Human Services and Senator for Queensland, the Hon. Joe Ludwig, has had a long, outstanding career in public life.
The minister worked as an industrial inspector and an advocate for the Australian Workers’ Union before he
entered the Senate in 1998, serving as parliamentary secretary and manager of opposition business.
During that time, he completed a Bachelor of Arts, a law degree at QUT, a graduate diploma in law at ANU and was admitted to the bar.
Following the 2007 federal election, he was appointed manager of government business in the Senate and Minister for Human Services.
Susan Kelly receives her award from V-C Professor Peter Coaldrake.
EDUCATION
Rhonda hits the right note
MUSIC lecturer, composer and performer, Rhonda Davidson-Irwin has taught more than 10,000 children, performed for Queen Elizabeth, Bill Clinton and Muhammad Ali, composed more than 900 songs for children’s TV shows In the Box and Puzzle Play and established one of Queensland’s most dynamic orchestras, Viva La Musica.
She composed the music for the 2004 Athens Olympics and her CDs have been distributed worldwide.
Recently Rhonda has been working on the Music Council of Australia’s new national advertising campaign – Music.
Play for Life. Rhonda holds a Bachelor of Music (Music Education).
global resource industry, and has almost doubled its export revenue in the past 18 months, expanding its operations into Asia, Europe and Africa under Mr Meka’s leadership.
The company has also won a raft of design awards including the prestigious R W Hawken and Eng ineering Excellence Awards and has been recognised with several national and state export awards.
In 2007, the company was inducted into the Australian Exporters Hall of Fame, an honour bestowed on only three other companies since 1962.
Ausenco has built its reputation d e s i g n i n g , c o n s t r u c t i n g a n d commissioning mineral processing plants in some of the world’s most diffi cult and remote locations.
Mr Meka was instrumental in the establishment of the Ausenco Foundation, which assists communities in these locations, allowing them to benefi t from the investment of mining infrastructure in their area.
P r o j e c t s u n d e r t a k e n b y t h e Foundation include assisting 42 talented children from a remote village in Tanzania to perform at world- renowned events and supporting the promotion of tourism in Lao People’s Democratic Republic.
Mr Meka told a 500-strong audience at the annual Awards ceremony breakfast in Brisbane late last month that he was proud to be a graduate of QUT.
“I am very humbled to be selected from such an exceptional group,” Mr Meka said.
Science winner and Special Excellence winner for medical research
Leading researcher rewarded AN internationally renowned researcher in the field of infectious diseases, primarily malaria, Professor Alan Cowman has had a major impact on understanding of the key mechanisms underlying the development of this major parasitic disease.
As head of the infection and immunity division, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, he is focused on developing vaccines and new drugs to counter the parasite’s ability to develop resistance.
Professor Cowman’s extensively published research has been cited more than 9,500 times and has been suppor ted by g r ants and consortia worth more than (AUD)
$26 million.
His work has been recognised with numerous prestigious honours and Professor Cowman is also an inaugural NHMRC Australia Fellow.
This illustrious career began with the attainment of a Certifi cate in Biological Laboratory Techniques.
Young winner on a fast track MICHAEL Bonning won a Dean’s scholarship to study an accelerated B a c h e l o r o f A p p l i e d S c i e n c e (Biochemistry), which he gained with distinction, and thereafter completed an honours degree in microbiology.
By the time he had completed his fi rst degree, Michael had also been awarded bronze, silver and gold Duke
of Edinburgh awards.
Mr Bonning is currently in the fourth year of a medical degree having won Defence Force and John Flynn Scholarships to assist with his studies.
He has already made a signifi cant c o n t r i bu t i o n t o m e d i c a l a n d community organisations.
He has been both chair of the Queensland Medical Students Council
and president of the University of Queensland Medical Society.
C u r r e n t l y h e i s p r e s i d e n t o f t h e A u s t r a l i a n M e d i c a l Students’Association and a federal director of the AMA.
Mr Bonning is also chair of the Ashintosh Foundation, a charitable focus for the medical faculty at The University of Queensland.
Outstanding Young Alumnus winner Special Excellence winner, early career fashion entrepreneurship
Young entrepreneurship, after a fashion
AT only 26, Gail Reid has already tasted success.
In her graduate year, she won the Queensland Mercedes-Benz Start-Up Awards which enabled her to show at Australian Fashion Week 2005.
In 2006, Gail Sorronda (Ms Reid’s label) was one of a select group representing Australian fashion at G’Day LA and she was again invited for G’Day USA in New York 2007.
Ms Reid has now produced fi ve contemporary collections, having shown them in trade shows in Paris, London, Los Angeles, New York and Berlin. Her designs have appeared in UK Harpers Bazaar and Elle, Australia’s Vogue and Oyster, French magazine Fairytale and books, The Party Dress:
A history of fashionable occasions and Young Asian Fashion Designers.
Last year, she was selected to design for Target and opened her fi rst retail outlet in Fortitude Valley.
Ms Reid holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Fashion).
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
It’s all in the game
SINCE graduating in 1995 with distinction in a Bachelor of IT, Gordon Moyes has enjoyed a stellar career in the video game industry.
After the worldwide smash hit Dark Reign in 1997, Mr Moyes gained
experience in Los Angeles before joining Pandemic Studios Australia in
2002, becoming their senior producer in 2004.
He played a key role in developing
many award-winning game projects,
including the Game Developer’s Association of Australia’s Best Game of 2006 - Destroy All Humans!
2, which achieved nearly thee million sales.
This success signifi cantly increased Brisbane’s national and international profi le in the games industry, enabling QUT to off er a new bachelor degree in games and interactive entertainment.
In 2007, Mr Moyes completed an Executive Master of Business
Administration.
He has recently been appointed executive producer of Krome Studios.
CREATIVE INDUSTRIES
Winner’s role for La Boite boss SEAN Mee has led La Boite Theatre Company through a period of unprecedented growth and transformation, and has always championed the work of Queensland playwrights.
He has received two Matilda Awards and won the 1999 NSW and 2000 Queensland Premiers’
Awards for Best Play.
More recently, Mr Mee co- directed and acted in the stage adaptation of David Malouf ’s Johnno which toured to Britain last year.
Mr Mee holds a Master of Fine Arts (Drama).
in BRIEF...
“Unlearn” old ways to learn new skills
The skill of unlearning old workplace practices is just as important as learning new ones and can impact a company’s productivity, according to a QUT researcher.
Dr Karen Becker, pictured, a lecturer in the Faculty of Business, studied unlearning as part of her PhD research and said it was an important, but often overlooked, way of dealing with workplace changes. Two of the cases Dr Becker studied were the installation of a new computer system in a corporation, and a change in safety procedures in a heavy industry setting.
She said she found the most important thing was recognising that to make new processes effective, older ones needed to be let go.
Intervention may be key to keeping drivers sober A new study being undertaken by QUT is aiming to stop fi rst-time drink-drivers repeating their mistake.
Postgraduate student and researcher for the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety Queensland (CARRS- Q) Hollie Wilson, pictured, is undertaking research including a questionnaire which will eventually lead to the design of an intervention for fi rst-time offenders.
Drink-driving is a factor in 38 per cent of all road fatalities.
Scholarships for budding engineers
First-year engineering students, Sean Kielland and Andrea Dale, have each been awarded a Queensland Resources Council /QUT scholarship worth up to $40,000 a year. The scholarships are aimed at encouraging and supporting talented students to consider careers in engineering. Sean, who is studying for a Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical) degree also holds a 2008 QUT Vice-Chancellor’s Scholarship, while Andrea is undertaking a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil and Construction).
Need cash? Apply for an equity scholarship
The process for applying for low-income scholarships is changing and now all students - prospective and current - will need to apply through QTAC rather than through QUT’s Equity Section. The applications open in mid-August and close in late October. Go to www.qtac.edu.au. In 2009, there will be over
$7million in scholarships and bursaries available to support low-income students. For information on all QUT scholarships go to scholarships.qut.com.
Older pedestrians sought QUT road safety researchers are seeking older
pedestrians for a study which will explore their experiences of crossing the road. Older pedestrians are over-represented in crash statistics for fatalities and injuries. Participants, aged 60 years or older, who are willing to spend 40-60 minutes being interviewed by a researcher about their road-crossing experiences are being sought. Contact Dr Alexia Lennon on 07 3138 4675.
Students have voice at UN For the fi rst time, four student delegates from QUT attended the prestigious Harvard World Model United Nations which was held in Mexico earlier this year.
The delegation comprised education student Jay Deagon, drama student Katie Young, PhD student in media and communications Debra Adams and creative industries doctoral research student Aaron Caldwell.
They joined 1100 students from more than 40 countries to develop resolutions that were presented to the United Nations as a voice of youth. You can hear about their experiences from 11am to 12pm on Thursday, August 14, at Z2-Room 304, Creative Industries Precinct.
Kym’s support for medical research recognised Facilities Management staffer Kym Hyson, pictured below, has been recognised for her support of medical research. Kym, who is the current chairperson of the Lions Medical Research Foundation, has been awarded the “Ray Phippard Fellow Award” for her commitment and service in support of the foundation.
Queensland University of Technology Victoria Park Road Kelvin Grove Q 4059 qut.com
HLT-08-795 CRICOS no. 00213J
health clinics
free/low cost
QUT staff and students can access free or low-cost health clinics at QUT.
Optometry Clinic – provides all general optometry services and eye examinations, plus specialist services including contact lenses, children’s vision, and vision rehabilitation for visually impaired people.
Podiatry Clinic – services include general foot care, diabetes management, children’s foot care, acute foot problems and orthoses.
Human Movement Studies Clinic – opening soon for low- cost personal exercise programs
health clinics
and fitness assessments by qualified physiologists and Human Movement Studies students.
Family Therapy & Counselling Clinic – offers a professional counselling service for individuals, families and groups.
Psychology Clinic – provides affordable psychological services to the local community.
More information
For clinic locations or to make an appointment, phone 3138 9777, email [email protected] or visit www.healthclinics.qut.edu.au
free/low cost
Business
A PERSON’S heart rate can reveal a lot about how they make decisions when feeling stressed, a QUT academic says.
Economics Associate Professor Uwe Dulleck, pictured, from the business faculty, said stress in the workplace wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, because it was, in fact, a natural reaction that had been given a negative connotation.
Professor Dulleck is leading the Australian arm of a study that was awarded an Australian Research Council grant to study the eff ects of both positive and negative stress on employees’ decision-making.
“The study will use heart rate monitors to measure the stress of people ‘on the job’ and in the controlled environment of an experimental economics computer laboratory as they interact and communicate,”
Professor Dulleck said.
“We will measure how much they are stressed in certain situations and whether that is positive or negative stress, this will be measured against
how they behaved and what decisions they made – whether they made rational or emotional decisions.”
Professor Dulleck said negative stress could be detected by measuring a person’s heart beat and its variations over short intervals of time.
“If the heart rate varies, it shows that the body is relaxed with an activity and is feeling positive stress,” he said. “In this case the body is more fl exible to react to the demands of the situation.
“But if the variations are very limited it shows that the body is not at ease with this activity. This kind of stress hardens the body and makes it operate in a more regular way. In such situations, the body works more like a motor engine – highly effi cient in some respects but also more likely to break if unexpected challenges arise.
“We are trying to fi nd what eff ect this has on decision-making.”
Professor Dulleck said study participants would be monitored as they played two games: a game of chance to see what kind of decisions they made when uncertain; and a negotiation game, both before and after socialising with their “opponent”,
to see what eff ect communication had on cooperation.
“We will also look at whether they took high or low risks in the game of chance, to learn about attitudes towards risk and whether an individual’s worry is over losing money, or the risk of chance itself,” he said.
Professor Dulleck said knowing what caused positive and negative stress in individuals and what effect this had on decision making would help businesses improve work for their staff and managers.
“Knowing how stress aff ects people’s behaviour will help in designing training programs for employees as well as achieving a better work- life balance and avoiding burn-out syndromes,” he said.
The study is being undertaken in conjunction with Associate Professor Benno Torgler and Dr Cameron Newton from the QUT Centre of Philanthropy and Nonprofi t Studies, and three Austrian business partners;
a human resources company, a construction company and a nonprofi t organization.
- Rachael Wilson
Decisions under pressure:
in a heart beat
Education
A NEW DVD, fi lmed recently as part of a QUT research project, will off er support to international education students who are completing their pre-service teaching at Australian schools.
Th e e d u c a t i o n a n d c re a t ive industries faculties have teamed up to create the DVD, titled Preparing for Field Experience in Australian Schools, which will address a number of issues faced by international students when they complete their practical assessment here.
It is expected to be released to
the QUT’s Field Experience Offi ce’s Blackboard site by September, allowing students to access it freely.
Dr Marilyn Campbell, a senior lecturer in the School of Professional Development, said there were a number of reasons students with English as an additional language may struggle while gaining practical experience at Australian schools.
“As well as a diff erent language, they are dealing with a whole diff erent culture, and they often fi nd that the schooling they have experienced in their country of origin differs vastly from the Australian schooling experience,” she said.
“Most international students are
here at QUT for one year, so it is important that staff support them in understanding schooling in Australia in unique and dynamic ways that are easy to access.”
The DVD is produced by film p r o d u c e r A n d r ew M c I n a l l y ’s production company Boilermaker Pty Ltd and incorporates “real world”
connections featuring international students as the actors.
It will address core questions asked by international students and will off er advice and strategies on how to deal with various situations in relation to Australian schooling.
- Sharon Thompson
International students
helped by new QUT DVD
Mathematics
QUT research is setting the scene for a better understanding of why some serious wounds lead to unsightly and debilitating scars and how they can be avoided.
P h D r e s e a r c h e r C a m e r o n Hall, pictured, from the School of Mathematical Sciences, has developed a mathematical model of the confl icting forces at work on the
healing cells that arrive at the site of a burn or cut to do the work of closing the wound.
His research will help to explain how normal wounds heal as well as exploring how “overhealing” can lead to the creation of hypertrophic scars.
“Hypertrophic scars happen when the cells in the skin try too hard to close a wound,” Mr Hall said. “This makes the skin contract, leading to pain and disfi gurement.
“Some people also have a genetic susceptibility to form keloid scars.
These are even worse; not only are they large, lumpy and painful but they can also grow to be much larger than
the original wound.
“In order to understand how hypertrophic scars and keloids develop, we need to look at the healing processes that happen in the dermis or deep layer of the skin,” Mr Hall said.
“This is ver y complicated because of the competing eff ects of chemical and mechanical signals.”
He investigated the way these
signals aff ect the process of wound repair.
“When the sk in is burned or lacerated, some of the cells deep in the wound begin to act like muscle cells. They pull on the fi bres around them in order to drag the rest of the wound closed. Importantly, these cells can change how hard they pull depending on what’s going on around them,” Mr Hall said.
“The process of cell pulling has been seen in experiments, but we need to use mathematical models in order to really understand what’s going on.
Mr Hall’s research could potentially shed light on the mystery of how pressure bandages promote healing with less scarring.
“We still don’t know why pressure bandages are so eff ective, even though we’ve been using them for decades.
By modelling the forces in the skin, we hope to explain the success of pressure bandages and maybe even suggest improvements to the current treatments,” he said.
“As a modeller, my job is to give biologists new insights into the fundamental processes that drive their experiments.
These results can spark n ew i nve s t i g a t i o n s into fi nding biological solutions to healing and scarring problems.”
- Niki Widdowson
Opening up wound secrets to avoid scarring
Different sides of Second Life
Humanities and business
SOCIAL interaction is enhanced rather than diminished by online interfaces, according to new QUT research on the virtual program Second Life.
Eryn Grant, a PhD student in the Humanities Research Program, recently completed a study which took an in-depth look at social order in emergent online environments.
In doing so, she said she had immersed herself inside the “game”
Second Life, an online social interface that allows people to interact socially and economically in a 3D virtual space.
“I wanted to see how you go about being a functional member of Second Life, what the rules and norms were, and how they were put into place, and I did that by analysing conversations,” she said.
P e o p l e o n S e c o n d L i f e c o m m u n i c a t e t h r o u g h t h e i r avatars, or online characters, using textual chat-like features, and can meet at dance clubs, join groups with common interests and have philosophical discussions about their virtual world.
“There are not many places we go in the world where we are guaranteed social contact, in real life it is harder and less likely that you will go up to a stranger and start a conversation,” said Ms Grant.
She said a major fi nding was that Second Life could act as an important tool in connecting strangers by making it easier for people to fi nd a world in common.
Ms Grant said she did not share the worry of some that increased online interaction would detract from traditional social skills.
“One major thing which I found was that you cannot have this intense kind of web-based interface without real-life tools – if you can’t communicate to someone in real life, you won’t be able to do it online,”
she said.
However when it comes to doing business via virtual reality, it seems we aren’t quite ready to embrace
it yet, according to other research from QUT.
Kim Mackenzie, a postgraduate student in the School of Accountancy, completed her honours thesis last year and focussed on 20 high-profi le companies conducting business in the Second Life online virtual reality program.
She said the companies had purchased land in Second Life, and had created amazing, innovative interactive areas, with features including games, competitions, virtual cinema-screenings and more, but there was a low level of traffi c visiting the sites.
“These companies were looking at
exploring whether this technology off ered an additional expansion to the company website and had put a huge amount of eff ort into their sites, and it was quite intriguing to see.
“However, one of the key fi ndings of the study was that these sites were almost empty of avatars, so despite these really creative and innovative applications of virtual capabilities, when I was there it appeared they were unable to attract Second Life residents,” Ms Mackenzie said.
She said most companies she studied had now closed their Second Life sites but she believed virtual reality would be a powerful way for companies to engage with customers in the future.
- Sharon Thompson Second Life researcher
Eryn Grant
Researcher Kim Mackenzie
International students Jung-Hsiu Isadora Lin and Luigi Bonetti star in the new DVD.
WHAT’S on...
Workshop
AUGUST 20 QUT research staff are invited to discover more about taking research to market on Wednesday August 20 from 9:00am to 3:30pm at
the free bluebox commercialisation workshop at the Novotel Brisbane.
www.qutbluebox.com.au
Exhibition
AUGUST 7
Five years of artwork from students of Cherbourg State School will be showcased in a new exhibition, Cherbourg Time: Young Black and Deadly Art at the Creative Industries Precinct opening on 7 August.
www.ciprecinct.qut.com
Talk
AUGUST 7
The fi ne art of fashion design will be revealed during the Fashion Talks series at The Shed 2, Creative Industries Precinct from 5:00pm to 6:00pm. QUT’s fashion professor Suzi Vaughan will discuss what it takes to turn a fashionable concept into an amazing piece of clothing.
www.ciprecinct.qut.com
Events
AUGUST 14
Business students will be able to rub shoulders with industry professionals at a networking event, FasTrack, presented by The Economics Finance Society and CPA Australia from 5:30pm to 8:30pm atOJW Room, S-Block Level 12, Gardens Point.
www.qutefs.org
AUGUST 28
Fashion enthusiasts have the opportunity to trade unique and useful textiles at QUT’s fi rst ever fabric-only swap event FabricSwap from 4:00pm to 5:00pm at The Shed 2, Creative Industries Precinct.
Tickets are $6.50 through QTIX, with
$1 from every ticket sold donated to Youngcare.
Theatre
AUGUST 19 -23
Tony Award-winning Broadway director Mel Shapiro directs fi nal-year students from QUT’s Acting Studio in their graduation production of an American classic, Camino Real by Tennessee Williams at the Gardens Theatre from August 19 to 23.
Visit www.whatson.qut.edu.au for more event listings and to submit your upcoming event.
Janne Rayner (Editor) 07 3138 2361 Sharon Thompson 07 3138 4494 Rachael Wilson 07 3138 1150 Niki Widdowson 07 3138 1841 Amanda Vine 07 3138 2130 Erika Fish (Photography) 07 3138 5003 Marissa Hills (Advertising) 07 3138 2999 Richard de Waal (Design)
about IQ
Inside QUT is published by QUT’s Marketing and Communication Department. Our readership includes staff, students and members of the QUT community. The paper is also circulated to business, industry, government and media. Opinions expressed in Inside QUT do not necessarily represent those of the university or the editorial team.
Sport
QUT’s hoop-shooting and beach- based sports teams became the nor ther n Austr alian university champions for the f ifth year running.
Trampling teams from other universities in Queensland, Darwin and Northern New South Wales, QUT took home the Jodi Martin Memorial trophy along with three gold medals, three silver medals and one bronze.
Gold Coast-based surfer and QUT student Lauren McGregor won fi rst place in the short board competition in perfect conditions, while the mixed beach touch football team was undefeated during the competition.
The women’s basketball team was also unbeatable.
With QUT Sports Scholar Ashlee Wallis, WNBL player Rebecca Haynes and star point guard Sharni Green on side, they edged out the Griffith University Gold Coast team
in the fi nals to win gold.
Having also won last year’s Australian University Games (AUG) basketball event, the team is looking forward to defending their title as National Champions at the 2008 AUG in September.
- Rachael Wilson
Trophy ours for fi fth time
QUT’s results
Basketball WN Gold Medal Basketball MN 6th Place Beach Volleyball WN 1 Silver Medal Beach Volleyball WN 2 4th Place Beach Volleyball MN 7th Place Beach Volleyball MX Bronze Medal Beach Touch MN Silver Medal Beach Touch MX Gold Medal Netball WN Silver Medal Netball MX 7th Place Surfi ng WN Gold Medal
Lauren McGregor
(short board)
Georgia Moulton was part of QUT’s gold- winning women’s basketball team.
Sport
SPORTS science student Dennis Conlon spent the recent university holidays winning the 2008 University Rugby League World Cup along with QUT teammates Dean Bannerman, Justin Volkers and Marty Cordwell and players from 11 Austr alian universities.
It was hard work but the Australian side prevailed with a 26-10 win over England in the fi nal in Brisbane to win
the Cup for the fi rst time since 1995.
“We played fi ve games over two weeks. We played in some of the worst conditions I have ever played in. It was muddy and at night it was extremely cold. But we played some pretty good football considering,”
said Dennis, a fi rst-year Bachelor of Human Movements (Sports Science) student.
Dennis enjoyed every minute of the training camp, training up to two times a day as well as getting
in a little study in the lead-up to the World Cup.
“It was a great experience - I met a lot of mates who will be long-term friends in Australia and overseas.”
As an Indigenous Australian who is a descendant of the Kalali people of south-west Queensland, Dennis enjoys playing the game and has played league for 17 years. He has grown accustomed to his role as a front row forward or “in the engine room”, as he puts it.
With the Cup under his belt he is now gearing up for the Fogs Cup Finals with his home team, the South Logan Magpies.
Dennis aims is to be an elite coach when his playing days are over and has options to study coaching on an exchange semester at Leeds Metropolitan University’s Carnegie Faculty of Sports and Education after talking with players from that university.
- Niki Widdowson
QUT helps Australia win Uni World Cup
One of QUT’s star football players, sport science student Dennis Conlon.
