Queensland University of Technology Newspaper Issue 243 April 27 2004
www.news.qut.edu.au George Street Brisbane 4000 Telephone (07) 3864 2361 Registered by Australia Post – Publication No. QBF 4778. CRICOS No 00213J
Feeding birds- no laughing matter
Page 3
Meet QUT’s Dr TV
Page 5
New kid on the starting blocks Page 8
By Carmen Myler
WE know the tortoise now lives at Australia Zoo. We know the fl amingo and Indian antelope died of fright … but whatever happened to the monkeys that used to live in Brisbane’s City Botanic Gardens?
Solving this mystery and fi nding photos of the monkeys has become a quest for a group of fi lm and television students from QUT.
The fi ve, third-year students are researching a documentary about a group of primates that lived in a zoo housed in the
gardens from the 1930s to 1958.
Director Luke Tierney said research for the documentary was proving frustrating and fascinating because he was receiving so many confl icting reports of what happened to the monkeys.
“Some people say they were shot; others say they were transported to a zoo, but there’s no documentary evidence of what happened to them,” said Luke, who is working on the documentary with fellow students Tani Crotty, John McGeachin, Chris Wiltshire and Glen Couchman.
Film crew goes bananas
over missing monkeys
By Heath Kelly
CHILD sex abuse victims have been given new hope by QUT research which proves that it is possible to bury traumatic memories for a long time.
Psychologist Leigh Hodder-Fleming believes her PhD research on forgetting and remembering childhood sexual abuse will lead to greater understanding o f t h e p h e n o m e n o n b y l e g a l professionals, clinical psychologists and others who accuse survivors of having false memories
“The average person does not believe that a person can recall an abuse memory that has been locked away for a certain amount of time,”
Ms Hodder-Fleming said.
“This study aims to educate the public, solicitors and court offi cials, and to help juries better understand a victim’s evidence, improving the scope for criminal compensation.”
For her research, Ms Hodder-Fleming interviewed and gathered evidence from 77 male and female survivors of abuse, who had varying recollections of their childhood trauma.
She said there was a distinct lack of research in Australia on how people forgot and remembered a sexual attack, despite the media’s recent focus on adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse.
The researcher said her findings showed those able to block the attack from their conscious mind were
normally very young when the abuse started, and had strong dissociative skills.
“’I locked it away and lost the key’
or ‘I would pretend I was a bird and fl y out the window’ were the kind of responses from survivors who forgot their attack until later in life,”
she said.
Ms Hodder-Fleming said how victims remembered an attack created signifi cant setbacks when trying to bring the person responsible to justice.
“Memory does not come back in a time line – courts and police expect memory to be sequential when in fact it comes back in dribs and drabs, and over a period of time,” she said.
“Survivors do not usually recover all of their abuse memories in one hit and some may never recover all of their memories.
“Because of this and a lack of physical evidence, such as genital bruising, courts have diffi culty convicting the perpetrator.
“My research showed that there is corroboration available for most survivors in the form of confi rmation by other family members or other sur vivors, physical injuries and scarring, and medical and psychological histories.”
Ms Hodder-Fleming said a variety of factors could provoke an incident’s recall and victims would often remember being abused when they had a feeling of safety.
AN international scientist, with a reputation for turning science into competitive business opportunities, has been appointed by
the QUT to lead its new
$50 million Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation (IHBI).
Dr Jonathan Izant will leave his current position as Director, Business
Development at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney to
become the inaugural executive director of QUT’s major new health research institute in early July.
“QUT is excited by the appointment of Dr Izant who comes to the IHBI position with an impressive career as a scholar and R&D leader in the biotechnology fi eld,”
QUT Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Coaldrake said.
Health research coup
Jonathan Izant Third-year fi lm and TV students monkey about in Brisbane’s City Botanic Gardens (l-r)
Luke Tierney, Tani Crotty, Chris Wiltshire (monkey), Glen Couchman and John McGeachin.
Abuse
memories real: study
Continued page 2 Continued page 2
By Mechelle Webb
HELPING people with schizophrenia set up house could be more important to their long- term happiness than spending money chasing an elusive cure, according to new QUT research.
Nursing researcher Graeme Browne – who is also a mental health nurse – has just completed fi ve years of PhD research which looked at the impact of accommodation provision on consumers of mental health services following their discharge.
He found people living in their own home – be that rented or owned, a unit or a house – were far happier than those living in boarding houses.
While this result didn’t surprise him, the reasons for their happiness did.
“The most important thing about having their own home was the social aspect,” he said.
“When people live in houses they like, they get to have their mates around. They stay for longer, they set down roots and they have supportive social relationships.”
And Mr Browne said this contentment was coupled with a reduced need for medical treatment.
The study – believed to be the fi rst of its kind in Australia – involved analysing existing data and interviewing people with schizophrenia who lived on the Gold Coast.
“Findings indicate people with schizophrenia who live in their own home are less likely to be admitted to hospital,” he said.
“They have access to more opportunities and
resources for staying well than people living in boarding houses, but they also have greater opportunities to make and maintain the kind of supportive social relationships which help them stay well.
“We spend so much money looking for the magic drug to solve the problem but the reality is we ignore some of the social aspects which can have a huge impact on these people’s health.”
While Mr Browne’s research focused on people with schizophrenia, he believes the findings will be applicable to suff erers of other mental illness.
He said the information also showed it was important for consumers of mental health services to be part of research and decisions involving them.
“People with mental illnesses have valuable contributions to make regarding their own lifestyles and treatment,” he said.
“It is important for researchers to listen to them, rather than just study their lives from afar.”
Mr Browne said the Gold Coast, like the rest of the country, was facing booming property prices.
He said housing aff ordability was a big issue for everyone, including people with mental illness.
And he said more research was needed on how to get people out of boarding houses and into their own homes – and how the state and federal governments could help with fi nancial assistance.
Home life a key to good health for people with schizophrenia
PhD researcher Graeme Browne
A RESEARCH partnership between QUT, Princess Alexandra Hospital and a UK biotech company, will now be extended to start tackling kidney cancer and other malignancies.
In August 2002 QUT and hospital researchers in Brisbane signed a two-year, $800,000 research deal with London company Onyvax to collaborate on a major study of urological tumours.
Onyvax uses tumour tissue collected from Australian patients in their search for generalised vaccines for cancers.
Earlier this month Onyvax announced it had been issued a broad patent that covers the combined use of three human prostate tumour cell lines in a vaccine treatment designed to stimulate the immune system to fi ght prostate cancer.
The current vaccine, Onyvax-P, has shown excellent interim data from a current phase II trial, with cancers in almost half of the men suff ering from prostate cancer being slowed. It is due to enter Phase III clinical trials later this year.
Now Professor Judith Clements, pictured right,
program leader of QUT’s hormone-dependent cancer program, and Dr David Nicol, director of urology at the PA, are extending the project to include tissues and cells from patients with kidney cancer and other malignancies.
This will be part of Onyvax’s long-term strategic plan to use its novel proprietary cell-based approach to develop vaccines for a range of malignancies.
Professor Clements said: “The Brisbane-based part of the project involves us taking the patients’
tumour and growing the tumour cells in the lab to better understand how they work.
“We examine the characteristics of these cancers at diff erent stages in their development, and seek to identify traits which will allow us to identify what makes tumours grow and spread as they do.”
Onyvax enhances this process by growing
‘novel cell lines’ – cells that can live, grow and be studied indefi nitely.
These cells are examined to assess whether they are suitable as candidates for raw materials in new generations of vaccine therapies.
“By taking this two-pronged approach and look ing at urolog ical tumours from both molecular and functional perspectives, we hope to understand how we can potentially treat these cancers,” Professor Clements said.
Research to tackle kidney cancer
QUT has off ered a 15 per cent pay increase (15.86 per cent cumulative eff ect) to its 4000 staff and unions, along with other benefi ts.
The off er covers the period to June 2006 and includes 4 per cent already paid in December 2003. It comes with 20 weeks’ fully paid parental leave, up from the current 12 weeks, and increased loading for casual staff from 19 per cent to 23 per cent.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Coaldrake said the off er was made at the fi nal stages of enterprise bargaining with the academic union, while a number of issues remained unresolved with unions representing professional (general) staff .
“With this off er on the table, I am hopeful we can fi nalise agreements shortly as negotiations have been going on since June last year,”
Professor Coaldrake said.
He said the off er refl ected QUT’s commitment to attracting and retaining quality staff, acknowledged the hard work and eff ort of staff , and was fi nancially responsible.
Pay increase on the table
“I’ve been burrowing through the archives and talking to people who are in charge of the gardens, the Brisbane Historical Society and the council but no-one has anything concrete to say about the monkeys’ fate.”
Luke said he was inspired to make the documentary because his father used to talk about the monkeys when he was young, recalling a time when his grandfather’s favourite hat was stolen by one of the cheeky simians.
“When I’d tell that story, I was amazed to discover how few people in Brisbane knew that there used to be a zoo in the gardens and that monkeys lived there,” he said.
“People seem to know about Harriet the giant land tortoise taken from the Galapagos Islands by Charles Darwin who lived in the gardens for 100 years – and now residing at Australia Zoo –
but they are surprised to hear that other animals lived in the gardens too.
“Since we’ve started researching the documentary, we’ve heard lots of stories about the monkeys from older people.”
Luke said these stories included an alleged escape by several monkeys to a nearby country club, the tearing of a woman’s dress and the appalling behaviour of Jacko the baboon who offended many visitors with his
“outrageous red bottom”.
While the team is negotiating with a national screen archive body for footage of the monkeys, they are now appealing to members of the public to come forward with personal photos or fi lm footage of the animals.
People with stories or images of the monkeys should contact Luke Tierney at [email protected] or phone (07) 3278 1569.
Monkey business
From page 1
New IHBI head
From page 1
“Dr Izant has had particular success in building and developing intellectual property portfolios through international research collaborations, commercial licences and the creation and financing of new Australian start-up companies.”
Dr Izant described IHBI as a unique enterprise focused on outcomes.
“It has an important mission and I am delighted to have the opportunity to work with QUT researchers and their strategic partners to build a dynamic world- class institute,” Dr Izant said.
Dr Izant was awarded his PhD from the University of Colorado, Boulder in the fi eld of molecular, cellular and development biology (1981) and completed his postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Genetics at the Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle.
After several years as an Assistant Professor of Human Genetics at the Yale University School of Medicine, he came to Australia in 1992 helping to establish a new commercial research institute for Johnson and Johnson as Head of the Gene Therapeutics Unit.
By Heath Kelly
BREAKING down existing barriers in Australia’s law fraternity that favour older, more established universities rather than the alternatives, is one of the major challenges confronting new QUT Law Dean Professor Michael Lavarch.
The appointment of Professor Lavarch, who took up his post last month, is a great coup for QUT and the former federal Attorney-General is well aware of the challenges which lie ahead in an increasingly competitive market place.
While QUT may have one of the biggest law faculties in Australia and is well respected, Professor Lavarch said it was still yet to make major inroads nationally despite its success in Queensland.
The 42-year-old said the nationalisation of legal firms had helped the faculty develop a growing reputation beyond Queensland but it was still not “front of mind” for employers south of the border.
“My medium-term goal is to take the faculty from its foundation of being a very good institution, highly regarded within Queensland and the Queensland market, and to develop it into one of the top national law faculties,” Professor Lavarch said.
“It would be fair to say, as law faculties go, we are still a young institution but now reaching an age where we need to make a mark nationally and internationally.”
Professor Lavarch is himself a QUT alumnus and an Outstanding Alumni Award winner, having completed his degree in 1984, and from f irst-hand experience is well aware of the solid grounding in law off ered by the faculty he now heads.
It was during his student days in 1982
that he was elected to the Pine Rivers Shire Council and from there his political career gained rapid momentum which resulted in his being appointed Attorney-General at the age 31 by then Prime Minister Paul Keating.
“I very much enjoyed my student days and was actively involved in student politics – in fact, I even stood for the student union position of director of education but did not get elected,” Professor Lavarch said.
“It was one of only two elections I didn’t win, the other was when I lost my seat in federal parliament in 1996. I did win the other six public elections I contested.”
Professor Lavarch counts amongst his achievements as Attorney-General the introduction of “children’s provisions” in the Family Law Act and advancing native title and human rights issues.
Since his departure from parliament, Professor Lavarch has worked in private practice, on a number of public company advisory boards and more recently as the Secretary-General of the Law Council of Australia.
“A great part of my life has involved my interest and love for the law and legal institutions,” he said.
“One part of my professional life I had not directly participated in was the university sector and the teaching of students to become lawyers and it appealed to me as a new frontier.”
Professor Lavarch brings to QUT a wealth of contacts and linkages from both the private and government arenas that are sure to play a role in developing QUT’s direction over the next fi ve years.
“I have a good sense of what the private profession and government want from the higher education sector and the law faculty, and I will be able to work with the great
people we have here so we can deliver that,” Professor Lavarch said.
Not coming from a traditional academic past, in accepting his position as dean Professor Lavarch said he was still coming to grips with the university culture and admitted it would take a period of time to get up to speed.
During Professor Lavarch’s fi rst months in the job, the Faculty of Law will be undergoing a major review that will help to give him a clear understanding of what its strengths are.
“In these areas, our aim is to make QUT law front of mind for legal professions, g o v e r n m e n t a n d opinion leaders,” he said.
“We can’t be all things to all people but we can identify w h e r e w e c a n off er value above the other 28 law faculties around the country.”
‘Don’t feed the birds’ – it’s a sign of the times
By Simon Atkinson
“PICNIC scraps can kill”. That is the message from QUT researchers to picnickers who insist on handing their tasty leftovers to the city’s bird life.
Education experts from the university have designed a new warning sign to deter visitors from feeding the birds in Brisbane’s picnic areas.
The notices – explaining the long- term health impact which feeding can have on wild birds – will be now considered for display in Brisbane Forest Park.
“There is concer n throughout national parks in Queensland about the number of people being seriously injured by swooping kookaburras, magpies and butcher birds who are drawn to the parks on the prowl for food,” said Associate Professor Roy Ballantyne from QUT’s Centre for Innovation in Education.
“It’s a nuisance when a bird swoops and steals a sausage from you as you’re about to put it in your mouth.
“But if they miscue, those sharp beaks can cause nasty facial injuries and anecdotally we think that is on the increase.
“Rangers also worry for the health of the birds who struggle to digest the scraps and may become dependent on leftovers instead of fending for themselves.”
Professor Ballantyne said he and QUT senior research assistant Karen Hughes were asked to come up with the most eff ective way of conveying the
“Don’t feed wild birds” message and quizzed 140 visitors about their beliefs
and attitudes to bird feeding.
While 87 per cent said they were not scared by the birds, and 67 per cent said they did not spoil picnics, 75 per cent believed bird feeding created a problem for future picnickers.
“Results suggested that people who feed birds do so out of a concern for the bird’s well-being. They do not regard bird feeding as dangerous for the birds or for humans, and welcome the opportunity to interact with wildlife,”
Professor Ballantyne said.
The researchers created three mock signs that addressed these beliefs, and took them to areas with well- documented problems of scavenging birds – Brisbane Forest Park, Brisbane
Botanic Gardens and Southbank Parklands – to gauge visitor reaction.
Many participants scoffed at a proposed sign that focussed on the threat to picnickers from birds - disbelieving claims that people were injured by them. Respondents said that the sign outlining the long-term impact of feeding on the health of birds was most likely to infl uence their behaviour .
This feedback was used to fi nalise the wording of the new sign which is headed “Picnic Scraps Can Kill” and informs visitors that “Feeding birds makes them depend upon people for food” and “Birds cannot digest food scraps”.
Law’s profi le to grow - new dean
New Dean of Law, Professor the Hon.
Michael Lavarch
Image by Sonja e Sterke
Comment
Technology
embedded in University life
AT QUT information technology is central to our core activities of teaching, learning and research.
It pervades our daily lives in these and myriad other ways.
Last year, for example, we saw the one millionth teaching resource added to the university’s Online Learning and Teaching system, and students and staff accessed library databases more than 87 million times during the same year.
At QUT, we recognise that information technology should underpin all of university life.
And the evidence of use underscores this trend.
Each year the use of QUT Virtual grows signifi cantly.
A record number of QUT Virtual sessions recorded during February of 2003 (nearly 42,000 on one day) was easily surpassed in the same period in 2004.
For 2004, online enrolment was released to approximately 31,000 continuing students.
Widespread access to QUT systems from off-campus is developing rapidly, as is the interest in wireless access.
QUT is working hard in 2004 to extend the reach of wireless on-campus in anticipation of rapid growth in demand by 2005.
Of course, growth in support
to help solve problems rapidly has also been required.
Help desks are handling larger volumes of support, and QUT has teamed with Griffi th University in the innovative approach to after-hours support known as
“Nightline “.
In an environment where the number of e-mail messages is spiralling most of us are only too aware of some of the more unwelcome effects, with the university sustaining extreme surges in spam and viral attacks starting in January 2004.
These attacks cannot defl ect our rapid growth in the use of IT, but they do mean that more eff ort has to be diverted to the security and convenience of our systems.
QU T h a s b e n e f i t e d f r o m Australian government initiatives to develop high-speed links for our universities and research institutions.
As we extend and refi ne our ability to exploit this new capacity, we will see the growth of exciting new prospects for the way we collaborate with others in research and teaching.
Tom Cochrane Deputy Vice-Chancellor
(Technology, Information and Learning Support)
By Simon Atkinson
IT is almost 45 years since David Hall started work at the university but he remembers exactly what he did with his fi rst week’s wages … he lost them.
“I had about fi ve pounds six and eight or whatever it was, and it fell out of my pocket on the way home. I was a bit disappointed but I suppose it taught me to be careful with money.”
David had just spent his fi rst week as a clerk at the Central Technical College, back in May 1959.
Now he is celebrating his retirement – after over 44 years at CTC, QIT and then QUT. Perhaps appropriately for a man who learned his lesson about cash early on, the last 13 years were spent managing QUT’s Continuing Professional Education program - and helped to establish the university as a commercial success.
Before that he held numerous other roles including ceremonies officer, graduate careers officer, course administrator and admissions offi cer.
David, 61, told Inside QUT he had witnessed “massive changes” in his jobs over the past 44 years – not least in technology.
“Computerisation has had a big impact. Everything from admissions to payroll had to be done manually.
There we re a lot of people involved
in these things,” he said.
“Cer tainly computer s made compiling lists and manag ing information much, much easier.”
It was the payroll which caused young David one of his f ir st embarrassments at work - when he was duly dispatched to hand over cash to some of the university’s temporary employees – models for the life art class.
“I had to go up to them as they were sitting there and hand over their wages and get them to sign the chit,”
he laughed.
“For a 15-year-old lad to be surrounded by these naked people was quite embarrassing, and I’ve no doubt that was why I was sent to do it!”
He also recalls the ritual of going to the campus bakery every Wednesday.
“You could buy the bread the apprentice bakers had made for next to nothing, just a few pence,”
he laughed.
“Mind you, it was often like lead in your stomach. If you went on a Friday the fi nal year apprentices had been working and theirs was much tastier.”
David said that while enjoying all his time with the organisation, managing the CPE program was the most enjoyable.
“It involved work overseas, and was a chance for me to help the university
become commercial, make money and to give QUT an international reputation,” he said.
David believes the university must do more to work with its graduates.
“It is important to build the relationship from when a student joins the university as a newcomer to when they leave it as a friend,”
he said.
Around 80 guests attended a recent retirement party for David.
David chose the day of his resignation – July 4 last year – to coincide with Independence Day, marking the beginning of his own independence.
But while he hopes to have more time on the golf course and tennis court (a former Queensland schoolboy champion, he played against Rod Laver in his youth) he has plenty of side projects.
These include returning to QUT to do some work with the Faculty of Health and helping Volunteers Queensland.
He also has a small investment in a winery in Hawks Bay, New Zealand.
“The business is just taking off and I only have a very small stake,”
he said.
“But at least I’ll be guaranteed a dozen bottles of the vintage each year which can’t be bad.”
We’ll drink to that.
David signs off
David Hall (centre) pictured with staff at his retirement function at Gardens Point earlier this month.
QUT acting g r aduate Deborah Mailman been j u d g e d by h e r p e e r s a s A u s t r a l i a ’ s m o s t outstanding actress in a TV drama series – for the second year in a row.
D e b o r a h w o n t h e award at the 2004 Logie Awards in Melbour ne earlier this month.
It recognised her work on The Secret Life Of Us.
D e s p i t e t h e s e r i e s earning critical acclaim, the Ten Network has axed the show from the small screen – temporarily, at
least.
Other QUT alumni who have featured in TV dramas include All Saints trio Conrad Coleby, Ling-Hseuh Tang and Adrienne Pickering, and Blue Heelers star Paul Bishop.
Our Deborah bags outstanding Logie
By Mechelle Webb
VICKY Cusack’s new job won’t involve helping solve murder or abduction cases.
But it will involve training young minds to.
The forensic chemist has spent the past six years working with Queensland Health Scientifi c Services where she identifi ed and matched crucial evidence for police investigations.
But she has now returned to the university where she fi rst studied – this time, as a lecturer.
Mrs Cusack is the latest recruit for QUT’s Faculty of Science and its expanded forensic science course.
“My background is mainly in physical evidence … analysing fi bres, explosives, soil, adhesive tapes – whatever non- biological material comes from a crime scene,” she said.
“I’ve done everything from comparing a lens from a pair of broken sunglasses to a lens from a crime scene, to comparing soil from a grave site to soil from a shovel in a garden shed … it’s just such a mixed bag.”
Her former government work also involved analysing ropes used in
abductions, drugs and poisons found in foods, and weld spatter on the soles of shoes.
In one case, her fi bres expertise was called on to identify fi bres on a suspect car and match them with a cardigan worn by a hit-and-run victim.
“Her cardigan was rabbit angora and lambs’ wool, and off the car we managed to get rabbit hair, angora yarn and lambs’ wool,” she said.
Another time, she was able to prove that a man had been shot at close range through a car window rather than by a random warning shot in bushland (as the accused claimed), because fi bres from his shirt were found embedded in a bullet hole in the driver’s seat.
Although Mrs Cusack’s previous work involved piecing together the puzzle of upsetting crimes, she said the importance of forensic science had provided plenty of job motivation.
“You’ve got a job to do that’s imperative,” she said.
“At the end of the day it’s an important job for society.”
Mrs Cusack said her new role at QUT would include a strong research focus.
She hopes to beg in a PhD on explosives later this year.
Forensic science expert Vicky Cusack
Forensic tests of a different kind
STUDENTS and staff at Kelvin Grove are being urged to consider walking, cycling, car pooling and pubic transport as an alternative to travelling to and from uni alone in cars.
The push is part of QUT’s involvement with Queensland Transport’s TravelSmart program, which aims to reduce traffic congestion, air pollution and environmental damage and increase the personal health and fi tness of the campus community.
To help students and staff to develop or refine their own personal journey planners, representatives from TransInfo will be on hand at Campus Services, Level 2 A Block KG from 9am to 3pm on April 27, 28 and 29 to show the easiest and quickest way to get to and from QUT Kelvin Grove using TransInfo’s interactive journey planner webpage.
For more details contact Campus Services at Kelvin Grove on 3864 3940.
Travel smart at Kelvin Grove
Hook up with QUT’s Human Resources department at their inaugural open day.
when: Wednesday 19 May time: 10am – 3pm where: Gardens Theatre,
Gardens Point campus.
■ Learn about HR’s range of services and initiatives
■ Hear keynote speaker, Richard Neville (left), speak on the future workforce
■ Is oganisational loyalty dead? Find out at a provocative debate on the subject
■ Enter the draw to win great prizes including an overnight accommodation package For more information visit
www.hrd.qut.edu.au
Queensland University of Technology
GPO Box 2434 Brisbane Qld 4001 qut.com GEN-04-377 CRICOS no.00213J
human resources
open day
19 may
INGWEST TRAVEL & TOUR
We would like to announce special fares to the following destinations:
INDIAN SUB CONTINENT
from$1220 PAKISTAN
from$1280
You can seek a quote for your destination anywhere in the world.
We also look after hotels and tour bookings within Australia,
New Zealand and the Indian Sub Continent at very competitive prices.
Please contact one of our friendly staff:
Phone: (07) 3632 7444 Fax: (07) 3632 7450
Email: [email protected] Website: www.ingwest.com.au
conditions apply
By Heath Kelly
“REALITY TV is the f uture of television.”
So says Dr Alan McKee, the head of QUT’s new Bachelor of Television degree that received its fi rst intake of students this semester.
Recent ratings disasters, The Hothouse, My Restaurant Rules and the recently axed The Resort, failed to succeed because they were poorly conceived, not because they fell into the reality TV category, Dr McKee said.
“The Block was an interesting social experiment because of the mix of people it involved, it was not just the fact that they were building something and that is where the makers of ‘The Hothouse’ got it wrong,” he said.
“As long as producers continue to come up with interesting social experiments, reality TV will succeed despite what newspapers are saying.”
Based at the impressive state-of- the-art-facilities at Kelvin Grove’s Creative Industries Precinct Dr McKee is determined pass his own passion for television on to his students.
“I am in love with television, it is one of the highest points of western civilisation – it protects democracy and promotes tolerance,” he said.
“It is a powerful force for good.”
Dr McKee developed his passion for television and in particular Dr. Who in a remote part of the world, having been raised in a village of 200 people on the Shetland Islands, situated off the coast of Scotland in the North Atlantic Sea.
He completed his undergraduate degree and PhD through the University of Glasgow and has since worked at Edith Cowan University in Western Austr alia and the University of Queensland before joining QUT.
“It is very rare and exciting for a
university to off er just a degree in television,” said Dr McKee, who believes his students will make strong employment candidates.
“We won’t tell students we can get them a job but if they have the excitement, passion and energy and have the skills under their belt then they will be in a strong position once they complete their degrees.”
Dr McKee is not just keeping himself busy as a course coordinator, but is currently researching the pornography
industry in Australia along with two academics in Sydney.
“It is very important that the work I do is not abstract and is relevant to society and pornography is a really hot topic,” Dr McKee said.
Amongst his fi ndings so far is that 20 per cent of those that bought pornographic videos were female, an equal number of Liberal and Labor voters watched it and 60 per cent of those who viewed it considered themselves religious.
However, it is television and the powerful infl uence it can wield over society that is his passion.
Dr McKee said teaching school students that Shakespeare is more worthy than reality television is
“actively evil” and in his ideal world programs such as Big Brother would be at the centre of the curriculum.
“Teaching that Shakespeare is good while reality TV is bad imposes on school students the values of one culture rather than embracing the diversity of
diff erent cultures,” he said.
“Big Brother allows for people from a range of backgrounds to talk about their lives and things that matter to them on prime time TV, 10 years ago that just would not have happened.
“And if you look at the popular fi gures on Australian Idol they were incredibly diverse and the winner had an Asian background – it really represented what Australia is all about.
“I feel so blessed to be around when reality TV is around.”
Reality television not a fading fad, says Australia’s new doctor of TV
QUEENSLAND Premier Peter Beattie and popular Brisbane band The Resin Dogs will visit QUT next month to help celebrate the offi cial launch of the $60 million Creative Industries Precinct.
Mr Beattie is scheduled to visit the arts education zone at Kelvin Grove on May 12 to launch the precinct – and unveil artwork on Australia’s biggest billboard.
Later that after noon the university community will join industry movers and
shakers for a celebratory cocktail party.
The Resin Dogs will then take over the precinct’s central parade ground to perform a free concert for students.
The Creative Industries Precinct opened to students on March 1 when the tertiary year kicked off .
It is part of Brisbane’s newest “mini- suburb” – the Kelvin Grove Urban Village – and neighbours QUT’s existing Kelvin Grove campus.
The high-tech base for the university’s Creative Industries Faculty can be accessed by about 2500 students studying disciplines including fashion, animation, communication design, and broadcast journalism.
Its facilities – which include theatres, perfor mance areas, teaching spaces, computer studios and production studios – are mixed with the “real world” infl uence of a business enterprise centre and the new La Boite theatre.
Music and politics mix it up to celebrate CIP launch
Science lends a hand
HELPING first-year students make the transition to university level science is the goal of a new unit opened at QUT.
The Science Learning Network Project (SLNet) is a support facility off ering physical and virtual resources together with peer mentoring for second and third-year students.
SLNet, in G Block of the Gardens Point campus, was set up with a $150,000 QUT Teaching and Learning Grant.
Resin Dogs Dr Alan McKee
David Hawke’s Eyeview
IN BRIEF...
QUT joins sugar research group
QUT has become one of eight premier research and development organisations across Australia to form the Cooperative Research Centre for Sugar Industry Innovation through Biotechnology. The new CRC plans to apply science to problems facing sugarcane production and fi nd ways to make production more profi table and environmentally sustainable.
The QUT contribution will be led by Professor James Dale and includes Associate Professor Rob Harding, Dr Chris Collet, Dr Harjeet Khanna and PhD researcher Suzelle Waggett.
Cancer researcher off to Oxford
A QUT cancer researcher has won a scholarship to Oxford University. Anthony Yeh is part of the hormone-dependent cancer research program and will study for a PhD while at Oxford. Mr Yeh started at QUT as a Dean’s Scholar in the Faculty of Science (Bachelor of Applied Science - Biotechnology major) and began his research while still an undergraduate student. His role in the cancer program has been investigating how the ghrelin hormone functions in prostate cancer – and how treatments can be derived.
Ceremony for outstanding staff
All staff are invited to attend the Outstanding Contribution Awards for General Staff ceremony to be held on Monday May 17, at the Gardens Theatre, Gardens Point Campus, from 3.30pm to 6.00pm. This year 16
individuals and 11 teams were nominated by staff and students for their outstanding contribution to QUT. Individual recipients of the award will each receive a
$3,000 grant; teams will receive up to $10,000. For further information contact Eve Cuskelly on 3864 4025, or via email on [email protected]
HR open day
Social commentator Richard Neville will visit QUT next month to speak on the future workforce as part of the Human Resources Department’s inaugural open day on Wednesday May 19 from 10.00am to 3.00pm at the Gardens Theatre. The event, which will also include a debate, interactive displays and indoor games, will give staff a chance to learn more about the university’s HR services. Open day attendees can also go into the draw to win one night’s accommodation and breakfast at Novotel Twin Waters, or one night’s accommodation and breakfast at Quay West, or an Australian Institute of Management two-day training course. For more information visit www.hrd.qut.edu.au
Rural focus for Business Forum
Wesfarmers CEO Michael Chaney will visit Brisbane next month to be the VIP speaker at the second QUT Business Leaders’ Forum for 2004. Wesfarmers is a West Australian-based rural, retail and resources conglomerate, with interests including the Bunnings Warehouse hardware franchise.
The forum will be hosted by the Faculty of Business at the Brisbane Hilton on May 19.
Tickets are available from the Hilton.
QUT has become the fi rst university in Australia to sign up to an initiative promoting the employment of Indigenous Australians.
Three people have already been recruited under the Structured Training and Employment Program (STEP) – which was off icially launched on April 21.
U n d e r S T E P, u n i v e r s i t y departments are given incentives to employ Indigenous people - including a proportion of wages being paid by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations.
Employees are provided with opportunities to develop work skills both on and off the job along with access to mentoring, and other support programs.
And for employers there is the chance to receive cross-cultural training to enhance supervisory management skills.
Under its Indigenous Employment
Strategy, QUT aims for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff to make up 2.6 per cent of the university’s employees by the end of 2007.
This represents the percentage of the Queensland population who are Indigenous Australians and is equivalent to 70 full-time positions across the university.
There are currently 32 indigenous people employed by QUT – including the three recruited on STEP.
Indigenous Employment Strategy project offi cer, Paula Coghill said that STEP could be a “catalyst”
for QUT reaching its employment target.
“QUT managers and supervisors have an important role in supporting STEP because they are the people who open the doors and can play a part in QUT reaching the target,”
she said.
Ms Coghill has over 40 Indigenous
people on her books who she will
“job match” when vacancies arise in the university.
“I need department managers to contact me when there is a job available,” she said.
Christine Anderson, 47, is one of the first university employees under STEP after starting work as an administrative assistant and receptionist in the Oodgeroo Unit.
Besides her day-to-day work, she will study for job-related qualifi cations including Level Three administration.
“I thought that the job with all the training that comes with it would be great for me,” she said. “But it is great for my kids too, especially because I can teach them things about using computers.
“I really feel as though I fi t in here and hope that I can do well, get more qualifi cations and progress my career.”
NONPROFIT organisations need to adopt more professional management processes if they are to thrive in today’s world.
That ’s the belief of Char tered Secretaries Austr alia and QUT’s Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofi t Studies.
The two organisations joined forces recently to sign a memorandum of understanding which aims to broaden education and research available to the not-for-profi t sector.
The agreement will see an expanded range of training courses and professional development services combining QUT and CSA expertise.
Professor Myles McGregor-Lowndes – the director of the QUT centre – said recent changes to nonprofi t taxation and
gift deductibility would be among the issues covered in the new courses.
He said the value of Australia’s n o n p r o f i t o r g a n i s a t i o n s t o t h e community and economy was often underestimated.
“The NFP sector alone makes up 6.8 per cent of Australia’s employment and contributes $21 billion or 3.3 percent of GDP,” he said.
“If the 704.1 million hours of volunteer labour was added on top of that, it would contribute $42 billion to the economy every year.
“NFPs’ needs in relation to good governance have traditionally been under-serviced, and we’re delighted to assist CSA in addressing some of the more unique governance issues practitioners in our community face.”
Winning participants of two Orientation surveys undertaken earlier this year have been announced.
Kelvin Grove music and education student Fiona Rose and social science s t u d e n t R i c h a rd M c G r a t h f r o m
Carseldine campus have each won a
$100 HMV gift voucher for their support of the 2004 Orientation Survey.
The winner of the IT Faculty’s 2004 Online Orientation Survey was IT student Ting Hsi.
See story page 8.
Push to make nonprofi t organisations professional
Survey winners announced
QUT steps out front on employment
Paula Coghill and Christine Anderson prior to the launch of the QUT STEP Indigenous employment program.
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A WOMAN who originally left school at Year 10 but went on to become one of Australia’s top Indigenous educators has been made an Honorary Doctor of QUT.
Penny Tripcony, pictured right, is the current chair of the Queensland Indigenous Education Consultative Body and spent fi ve years at QUT as the visionary manager of the university’s Oodgeroo Unit before retiring in 2001.
Ms Tripcony, who is a member of the Ngugi people of Moreton Bay, left school at Year 10 to get a job as a clerk-typist at Brisbane’s Trades Hall.
But years later in Melbourne she returned to complete Year 12 with the help of an Aboriginal study grant, and then went on to become one of only two Aboriginal students to be admitted to the University of Melbourne that year.
Her Bachelor of Arts degree was the launching pad of an education career that has ranged from Aboriginal community programs in Melbourne to key government appointments in Victoria and Queensland.
She still maintains hands-on links with the classroom by teaching part-time at QUT.
Ms Tripcony said Indigenous education would not have reached the level it had without government programs and grants – and people lobbying for social justice.
“Indeed, one has to ask what the present status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people might have been without Commonwealth directions and their supporting funds,” she said.
“Fortunately, in recent years we are
experiencing further positive change.
“At QUT, for example, a Reconciliation Statement has been written (in 2001) and enacted through inclusive administrative, teaching and employment programs.”
Ms Tripcony said classroom populations were becoming more diverse, requiring thought about teaching practices and curriculum relevance.
She said her own childhood classroom experiences regarding Australia’s history had been lacking as they omitted key aspects of the country’s Indigenous past.
She said she only discovered in the 1970s that the removal of Indigenous children from their families – a fate that befell her own mother and her mother’s nine siblings – had been legislated under a government protection act.
“The point is that none of this history had been included in Australian history taught in schools I had attended.”
Indigenous educator’s journey to the top
A STUDY of terrorist network Al-Qaeda has helped a Brisbane teacher and QUT graduate win two prestigious awards.
Matthew Harrison, 23, argued that the ter rorist network’s leadership model could serve as an example to other global organisations coming to terms with the quickening pace of change.
His research was credited towards his masters degree in leadership and management.
This month Matthew was awarded with the Austr alian C o u n c i l f o r E d u c a t i o n a l Leaders Award for being the most outstanding graduate in
leadership studies at QUT.
At a recent graduation ceremony, the university also awarded him the 2003 Master of Education High Achievement Award after achieving a GPA of over 6.5.
Other subjects examined in the course included strategies for leading and managing people, and tips for principals wanting to mentor new teachers.
Matthew said: “It’s great to be acknowledged in this way. When I was doing the course I was just grateful that my lecturers were so accepting of my left-of-field ideas.”
“While I do not condone Al- Qaeda’s activities, the organisation
provides researchers with abundant opportunities to explore ideas of decentralised leadership and
‘loosely-coupled networks’.
“These concepts will become commonplace in future global enter prises that seek to have their employees act as agents of infl uence.”
After graduating from QUT in 2001 with a double degree in education and arts, Matthew taught for a year in a primary school before returning to the university to study a Master of Education degree full-time.
He now teaches Indonesian at Pine Rivers State High School, where he was once a student
himself.
Matthew’s interest in leadership developed after working as an advisor to the Australian delegation to the United Nations’ Commission for Sustainable Development in New York.
The Faculty of Education has introduced a new Graduate Certifi cate in Executive Leadership to meet the needs of educational leaders. For more information visit www.education.qut.edu.au
Award-winner Matthew Harrison pictured at one of the fi ve QUT graduation ceremonies held in April.
Al-Qaeda study a winner
Acting legends visit QUT
QUT was privileged to host legendary Australian entertainer Noeline Brown, pictured above, who visited Brisbane earlier this month to appear in the ballroom dancing comedy Wallfl owering at the Gardens Theatre.
Noeline established her reputation in such programs as The Naked Vicar Show, the Mavis Bramston Show, Kingswood Country and Blankety Blanks, hosted by fellow television icon, Graham Kennedy.
Noeline starred alongside fellow
veteran Doug Scroope, also pictured, a star of Shout and Singing in the Rain in Peta Murray’s critically acclaimed play.
Noeline and Doug also discussed their careers in TV and theatre as part of QUT’s Artspeak program.
Alliance builds hopes for sustainable future
QUT’s commitment to sustainable urban development has taken on even greater signifi cance following the signing of a landmark agreement with Queensland’s peak industry development body.
QUT and the Urban Development Institute of Australia (Qld) formed a cr ucial alliance through a Memorandum of Understanding which will ensure sustainable development innovations are exchanged, implemented and analysed throughout the state.
QUT Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Coaldrake and UDIA Vice- President Peter Sherrie signed the MOU at the Kelvin Grove Urban Village where they were joined by Queensland Minister
for Environment, John Mickel and Minister for Public Works, Housing and Racing, Robert Schwarten.
The urban village is Brisbane’s newest mini-suburb and boasts an environmentally friendly mix of educational, residential, community and retail facilities for inner-city living and is a major project for both QUT and the UDIA.
Professor John Hockings, head of the School of Design and Built Environment, said QUT and the UDIA had worked closely in developing the urban village and the MOU would build on the strong bonds already forged.
Heath Kelly
About iNSiDE QUT
Inside QUT is published by QUT’s Marketing and Communication Department. Our readership includes staff, students and members of the QUT community. This paper is also circulated to business, industry, government and the media.
Letters to the editor are welcome. Email [email protected] or mail Editor, Inside QUT, GPO Box 2434, Brisbane, Qld, 4001. Marketing and Communication is located at Room 501, Level 5, M Block, at Gardens Point. Opinions expressed in Inside QUT do not necessarily represent those of QUT or the editorial team.
Janne Rayner (editor) 07 3864 2361 Simon Atkinson 07 3864 1150 Heath Kelly 07 3864 1841
Carmen Myler 07 3864 1150
Mechelle Webb 07 3864 4494
Tony Phillips (Photography) 07 3864 5003 Rachel Murray (Advertising) 07 3864 4408 Richard De Waal (Design)
By Heath Kelly
NICK Sprenger may not be the most recognisable face around QUT at present but the podiatry student could be famous across Australia by August as one of our latest Olympic gold medallists.
The 18-year-old swam the race of his life to snatch third place in the 200m freestyle fi nal at the recent Olympic team trials at Homebush in Sydney, fi nishing behind the two big guns of Australian men’s swimming, Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett.
By fi nishing third in a personal best time of 1minute 48.77seconds, Nick, who trains with the Commercial Club at St Peter’s Lutheran College, snared a spot on the 4 x 200m freestyle relay team in Athens.
QUT’s 2003 Sportsman of the Year is now within reach of a gold medal as part of the team that fi nished on top of the podium in Sydney four years ago and will once again start as hot favourites in Athens.
The Brisbane swimming sensation
who has already won gold as part of the 4 X 200m relay team at last year’s World Championships in Barcelona is still stunned by his inclusion in what has been described as Australia’s best team in four decades.
“Making an Australian Olympic team is amazing and it is something I thought I was going to achieve in later years, not at 18,” said Nick, who prior to the trials was awarded a full sports scholarship by the QUT Student Guild worth $1,200.
“To defend the relay gold medal is a huge honour and it would be great to carry on the tradition.”
Fresh from a well-earned two-week break following the trials, Nick jumped back into the water last week and is churning up and down the pool with his sights now fi rmly set on earning a spot in the team to contest the Olympic fi nal.
With six members picked in the relay squad and Hackett and Thorpe assured of two of the four places to contest the fi nal, Sprenger will be fi ghting it out with Antony Matkovich, Todd Pearson and Craig Stevens for the other positions.
Nick said despite finishing third at the national championships in his fi rst attempt last year which earned him his spot in the World Championships, the pressure was far greater this time around when positions on the Olympic team were up grabs.
The 200m freestyle fi nal came in for even heavier scrutiny than usual given that Ian Thorpe had been disqualifi ed with his now famous fall into the water in his previous event, the 400m freestyle, and was yet to make the team.
“It was unbelievable, the pressure was pretty intense because everybody was watching the race and I had to try to keep my thoughts to a minimum,”
he said.
“I tried to play it down and realised that Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett were the centre of all the attention and I was in lane one and wasn’t the focus.
“When I realised I had fi nished third, I was over the moon because you then realise that all the hard work and pain you have gone through to make the team has paid off .”
YOU might think that those stiff joints and muscle twinges mean you are getting old and should slow down … but think again.
Exercise is in fact the best way to stave off the signs of aging, a top doctor recently told a public lecture at QUT.
“Physiological problems such as loss of balance, diffi culty walking and changes in bone density are traditionally put down to old age and being unavoidable”, said Dr Nalin Singh, a geriatrics specialist from Sydney’s Royal Alfred Hospital.
“But exercise alters a lot of those things for the better. In short, the older, sicker and frailer you become the greater are the indications to do exercise. They are not reasons to stop.”
Dr Singh’s talk, “Why Exercise to Impede Ageing?”, marked the opening of the inaugural Australian Association for Exercise and Sports
Science National Conference held this month at QUT.
Dr Singh said: “There is an explosion in living longer, but ageing and disease tend to travel together.
“Exercise is the most powerful treatment we have for chronic diseases such as depression, diabetes and osteoporosis – more powerful than most medicines which doctors use.
“But as people age, there is a trend to do less and less exercise.”
T h e t h r e e - d ay c o n f e r e n c e focussed on chronic disease, sports science and professional practice issues for the industry.
Head of Human Movement Studies at QUT, Professor Tony Parker said: “Exercise is such a fundamental part of life that to study it and its eff ects is absolutely critical.”
See cartoon page 6.
Swim sensation going for gold in Athens
Don’t get old – get fi t
Full scholarship winners ($1200)
NAME SPORT DEGREE Alexandra Hodge Netball Nursing Nicholas Sprenger Swimming Podiatry
Inside QUT would like to give you the chance to win two complimentary tickets to one of the performances of this years Melbourne Comedy Festival Roadshow (Friday 21 May & Saturday 22 May at 7.30pm at Gardens Theatre). Comedians
include Canada’s favourite funny man Jason John Whitehead, the brilliant Dave Williams, and the very clever Anthony Menchetti. To enter, simply fi ll in your details below and hand it in or post it to Gardens Theatre box offi ce, 2 George Street, Brisbane (in person Monday-Friday 10am-4pm). Competition
closes Friday 7 May at 5pm. Winners announced by email Monday 10 May.
Name: ______________________________________________________
Phone: ______________________________________________________
Email;: ______________________________________________________
Guild helps sports stars
Half scholarship winners ($600)
NAME SPORT DEGREE
Claire Campbell-Innes Table Tennis Engineering Katie Corkran Swimming Business Craig Dorrstein Rowing Business Stephen Green Hockey Podiatry Sophie Jarred Water Polo Podiatry Damon Kelly Weightlifting Built Environment Ben McGeachie Rowing Construction Mgt.
Lindsay McGrath Fencing Optometry Alan Moran Triathlon Business Belinda Nevell Swimming Business Pasenadee Rubasinghe Athletics Science
Nicole Smith Softball Human Movement Emma Stewart Synch.Swimming Interior Design Daniel Wilson Triathlon Human Movements/Ed.
Win comedy tickets
QUT Student Guild has awarded sixteen students with almost $10,000 worth of scholarships to assist them in their sporting endeavours while still completing their tertiary education.
Nick Sprenger
