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Queensland University of Technology Newspaper Issue 269 October 17, 2006 - February 12, 2007
www.news.qut.edu.au George Street Brisbane 4000 Telephone (07) 3138 2361 Registered by Australia Post – Publication No. QBF 4778. CRICOS No 00213J
IHBI research
Brave new world of
Research
QUT’s reputation as a research leader will be cemented this month when the university’s $70 million research headquarters – the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation (IHBI) – is offi cially opened in Brisbane.
The seven-storey building at the Kelvin Grove Urban Village brings together QUT’s best researchers from health, biomedical engineering and science in a technology-driven, eco- friendly environment with world-class research facilities.
University staff were given a sneak
preview of IHBI last week when an open day was held at the new institute.
On October 24, it will be Premier Peter Beattie’s turn to tour the institute when he offi cially opens IHBI.
QUT Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Coaldrake said it was an exciting time for the university – and for the community who would ultimately benefi t from the work carried out by IHBI scientists and researchers.
“The strength of QUT’s research is our multi-disciplinary approach to solving real-world problems,” he said.
“The Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation brings together leading researchers from diff erent fi elds – to work together to improve the health and lives of those in Australia and around the world.
“These researchers are the face and brains of IHBI and the building itself will provide the technology and facilities they need to achieve their goals, as well as an eco-friendly environment.”
IHBI director Professor Ross Young said his team was focused on fi nding health solutions for the mind and body.
“The researchers working with the institute will also be working with the community through hospitals and health services,” he said.
“Our key research areas range from developing medical devices such as artifi cial limbs and organs, to injury prevention, such as helping elderly people at risk of falls and bone breakages.
“We also have road accident researchers working to reduce the road toll, vision researchers investigating short-sightedness and Indigenous eye care, and scientists using plant biotechnology to help improve health
and nutrition.
“IHBI researchers are already experiencing success in cells and tissue research, including tissue bioregeneration to help burns victims and establishing a tissue bank to aid in the fi ght against prostate cancer.”
Premier Beattie will offi cially open IHBI at an invitation event on October 24 at 10am.
The Queensland Government has contributed $22.5 million toward the new institute, matching dollar-for- dollar a $22.5 million donation to QUT by US-based Atlantic Philanthropies.
- Mechelle McMahon
Teaching and learning
QUT academics have won two of only three prestigious Carrick Institute Senior Fellowships awarded nationally for 2006, in recognition of their excellence in university teaching and learning.
Professor Sally Kift, director of QUT’s fi rst-year experience project, and Professor Helen MacGillivray from QUT’s School of Mathematical Sciences, have been awarded one-year Senior Fellowships by the Carrick Institute, each worth up to $330,000.
Assistant dean in QUT’s Faculty of Education Professor Erica McWilliam also received one of eight national Associate Fellowships, valued at
$90,000.
The aim of the Carrick Institute’s Fellowship Scheme is to advance lear ning and teaching in higher education by supporting leading educators to undertake strategic, high profi le fellowship activities.
Professor Kift’s work will focus on improving the quality of student learning in the critical fi rst year of higher education, while Professor
M a c G i l l iv r ay w i l l
develop resources and internationally- recognised strateg ies to assist in teaching, using and assessing statistical thinking.
Professor McWilliam will complete a major project in creative capacity building in undergraduate students.
“Carrick Fellows are only awarded to outstanding scholars in their fi elds so this is a strong endorsement of the quality of the expertise in teaching and learning off ered at QUT,” Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Coaldrake said.
“ P r o f e s s o r K i f t , P r o f e s s o r MacGillivray and Professor McWilliam exhibit originality and viability in
their activities and off er outcomes in improved teaching and learning that have real breadth and depth for the university sector,” he said.
Fellows will under take their fellowship for a 12-month period between May 2007 and 2009.
The Carrick Institute receives
$26 million annually from the A u s t r a l i a n G o v e r n m e n t t o manage its competitive g r ants and awards.
- Janne Rayner
QUT teaching recognised ... again!
Kift MacGillivray
A new high-level professor
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Technolog y, Information and Learning Support) Tom Cochrane has become QUT’s latest professor.
The appointment was made by invitation and recognises the DVC’s contributions to the theory and practice of library and information services in higher education.
Mick’s work is deadly
PhD researcher Mick Adams has been recognised for his outstanding achievement in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health at the recent 2006 national Deadly Awards for Indigenous Australians. Mr Adams is one of a few Aboriginal male PhD students in the public health fi eld. His research project to promote reproductive health among Aboriginal men has been done in collaboration with QUT and researchers from Monash University.
Beijing coup for QUT scholars
FOUR QUT academics have been invited to speak at the prestigious Beijing Forum.The forum will draw hundreds of international scholars to a showcase of excellence at Beijing University this month, including QUT’s Professor Gerard FitzGerald who will speak about Australia’s emergency management system for major health emergencies. Professor Stuart Cunningham and Dr Michael Keane from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation will make up a three-person panel with Stefan Seidel from QUT’s School of Information Systems to discuss the concept of a creative economy which brings creativity into the economy as a whole.
COMMENT
FEEDBACK and evaluation of teaching by our students tells us that the thing they value most about QUT is dedicated and passionate teachers who are able to both inspire and engage with them and provide
‘real world’ learning experiences.
The three QUT teachers who have won inaugural national Carrick Teaching Fellowships represent a much larger group of excellent QUT academic staff and sessional teachers who are involved in a range of activities that aim to improve the learning of our students and their professional readiness for the workplace.
The experiences that students have in the classroom in their transition to university study in fi rst year are critical.
They determine both individual achievement and the ability to maximise the benefi ts of a university education.
QUT is ver y aware of the importance of this time and has recently launched the First Year Experience Project as a QUT priority for 2006/2007.
The project will be led by Professor Sally Kift, a Carrick Senior Fellow.
It focuses on strategic, university- wide ways to better respond to the First Year issues which students and others have identifi ed.
There will be a particular emphasis on f irst-year teaching methods and integrated service delivery to students.
This will further improve teaching and learning across all faculties over the next twelve months, when QUT’s teachers will have the opportunity to learn more about innovative and well-researched methodologies and resources that better meet the needs of students in the classroom.
In addition, there will be a more student-centred and integrated approach to services and learning support for First Year students to underpin their class room activities at QUT and help ensure early learning success.
Professor David Gardiner Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic)
Research careers
QUT is off ering 40 positions for early career academics in a bid to address its ageing population and bolster the university’s research strength.
Academic staff aged over 50 make up almost a third of QUT’s population with those aged over 60 more than doubling since 2002.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Coaldrake said QUT was the only university in Australia with a dedicated development program for those new to academia.
“This is the third year that we’ve advertised for early career academics but this year we’ve almost doubled the number of places because of
the vacancies created by some early retirements,” he said.
“It’s a good opportunity for us to regenerate our workforce and build our research capacity.”
The positions are available in business, built environment and eng ineering, creative industries, education, health, law and science.
Professor Coaldrake said those chosen would either be enrolled in or be completing a PhD and could expect to be involved in teaching and research.
Rebecca English was a school teacher looking for a new challenge before being accepted into the Early Career Academic program.
“The program has been very helpful
– it gives advice on how to manage working and completing a PhD, how to structure your teaching and plan your career,” she said.
“It’s also been a way to meet friends in a similar situation.”
QUT is also off ering seven positions to Indigenous academics in the fi elds of built environment and engineering, business, law, creative industries, education and health.
“We have been quite successful in building our pool of Indigenous professional staff but we now want to focus on academic staff ,” Professor Coaldrake said.
Applications for both development programs close on October 27.
- Toni Chambers L-r, Rebecca English and Hilary Macleod from the School of Cultural and Language Studies are early career academics.
Our latest achievers
ePrints mean impact
An academic boost
This talented team of QUT interior design students has beaten industry experts to win the “People’s Choice”
award for their orange room in the Rooms on View competition at this month’s Courier-Mail Home Show.
Pictured l-r, are Carl Wu, Stephanie Hamilton, Danielle Stagg, Lucy Wood, Stacey Van Harn, Michelle Ewing and Natalie Campbell.
Appealing Orange
Research
QUT has led the charge for open and rapid access to academic papers in Australia with the introduction of ePrints, and it’s proving highly successf ul with one univer sity academic’s papers attracting more than 25,000 hits.
Professor Ray Frost, from the School of Physical and Chemical Sciences, has recorded phenomenal interest in his research with people worldwide downloading his research papers at an average rate of more than 2080 a month.
QUT ePrints provides open access to electronic copies of peer-reviewed research journal articles and conference papers, Professor Frost said.
“It g ives everybody worldwide access to papers or research involving QUT academics,” he said.
“QUT ePrints is also important because the database shows with whom
QUT academics have collaborations both nationally and internationally.
“The best thing about it is that people can download papers free of charge. I no longer have to package up hard copies of papers and send them in the post.”
QUT’s e-Research access coordinator, Paula Callan, said universities around the world were beginning to adopt similar repositories, but QUT was one of the fi rst in Australia.
“QUT currently has the highest deposit rate in terms of the proportion of annual research publication output being deposited by the authors in an open access repository,” she said.
Ms Callan said the university was always looking for ways to improve the service and in the coming months would be migrating QUT ePrints to new, more extensible software.
QUT ePrints is available at www.
eprints.qut.edu.au. For details, email [email protected].
ARC grants success
QUT has been awarded $6.7 million in grants by the Australian Research Council in new funding announced last week.
The university secured $4.1 million in Discovery Projects grants and $2.6 million in Linkage Projects grants.
The new research projects, which will commence in 2007, include a
$418,000 study into sociodemographic factors – including family and home – in the literacy development of Year 1 students. The literacy research will be led by Professor Allan Luke from
the Faculty of Education.
Professor Colin Fidge from the Faculty of IT will also lead a $290,00 study into safety-critical product recalls and how recalled items can be located in large-scale distribution networks driven by complex logistic processes.
In the Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering, Dr Firuz Zare has won a $195,000 grant to improve the efficiency of train systems by intelligent distributed control systems which reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
Image courtesy The Courier-Mail
Accident research
TRAIN drivers face near-miss accidents at railway crossings almost daily and believe motorists’ impatience and brazen disregard for road rules is to blame, a QUT study has found.
In a study that investigated the experiences of a group of train drivers in Queensland, motorist error and risk-taking was seen as the major contributing factor to accidents at railway level crossings.
Angela Wallace, a PhD researcher with QUT’s Centre for Accident Research & Road Safety – Queensland (CARRS-Q), said all train drivers admitted to experiencing “near misses”
with most being involved in a fatality at some point during their career.
“Between 1997 and 2002, crashes between road vehicles and trains at level crossings claimed 74 lives,” she said.
She said train drivers regularly witnessed the dangerous and risky behaviour of cars and trucks driving around boom gates, ignoring warning lights and queuing over rail crossings.
“During my research in regional Queensland, I had the opportunity to see fi rst-hand the willingness of trucks to try and ‘beat the train’ across railway level crossings,” she said.
Ms Wallace said accidents involving motor vehicles and trains were a
major problem for the rail industry, with about 100 collisions in Australia each year.
“Eight per cent of these collisions involve a fatality, while 27 per cent involve a serious injury,” she said.
The study involved train drivers from regional and metropolitan areas in Queensland.
“In regional areas, many drivers reported that they experienced a near- miss with a vehicle on most shifts,”
she said.
“In cities many train drivers reported clusters of near-misses, while some train drivers said that near-misses would happen every day throughout the metropolitan network.
Ms Wallace said motorists needed to be more vigilant when driving at level crossings as their lives were at risk.
She said there was a need for further in-depth research into the behaviour of motorists.
“QUT is also involved in a larger research project looking into high-risk road users and developing road safety countermeasures to make railway crossing safer,” Ms Wallace said.
CARRS-Q researchers are part o f QU T ’s I n s t i t u t e o f H e a l t h and Biomedical Innovation, with Queensland Rail and Queensland Transport assisting with project development.
- Sandra Hutchinson
Marketing
A national online survey for 18 to 30 year olds has been launched by QUT to fi nd out why people pay for music when they can download it for free.
Rhys Sarri, a research student from the School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations, said emotions could be the key to discovering what infl uenced consumers’ music purchase behaviour.
“We know Australians are willing to pay to download music despite it being freely available on certain websites,”
Mr Sarri said.
“In fact worldwide digital music sales grew by 188 per cent last year which shows people are downloading and paying for it.”
Mr Sarri said the music industry had undergone signifi cant changes in recent years, and advances in technology had lead to the growing popularity of digital music download.
“As well as the traditional form of purchasing a music CD, there is now the legal option for consumers to pay for digital music through websites such as iTunes,” Mr Sarri said.
“Consumers are also using peer-to- peer software, which means they can download songs for free.”
In a preliminary study conducted by Mr Sarri earlier this year, he found emotional loyalty played a part in a consumer’s decision to purchase music rather than source it through a free download.
“What I found was that consumers, in some cases, do have an emotional attachment to an artist or band and
this will tend to infl uence their decision to pay for their music, rather than download it for free,” he said.
He said for example British band Artic Monkey recorded massive music sales following the free release of their CD on the internet.
“They put their entire CD on the internet and allowed it to be downloaded for free. It created such a stir that when it did come to releasing their CD for sale, it was one of the most bought CDs in Britain at the time.”
Mr Sarri said his early study found that if an artist or band could reach consumers on an emotional level, it was likely to result in them paying for their music.
“I also found that consumers are open to the idea of purchasing music in cases where they feel an emotional connection to an artist, even if their main method of getting music is to download it for free.”
Mr Sarri, who also plays the bass in the Brisbane rock band Transic, said it was important for artists to understand what infl uenced consumers to buy music.
“It is important for the music industry to engage in more emotional relationships with their audiences.
This could in turn increase their music sales.”
As this has huge implications for music artists and the record industry, Mr Sarri is interested in gathering more information on the willingness of consumers to pay for music.
To take part in the survey log on to www.qutmusic.com.
- Sandra Hutchinson
Study tunes into music fans
Research tracks near misses
Psychology
HAPPY at home and happy at work? If you are – or if you aren’t – QUT researcher Prue Millear wants to hear from you.
Ms Millear is researching Australians’ work-life balance and has just launched a national survey to fi nd out how content we are.
She said a small pilot study had found that although people were busy, they were actually quite happy with their life ... now she’s keen to fi nd out how the rest of Australia feels.
“I’m researching wellbeing and work-life balance and I want to fi nd out the characteristics and circumstances of a person who is well-suited to having a good work- life balance and making the right choices in life,” she said.
“I want to know who does it best and can we teach it to others?
“I have been talking to people about being working adults – what things make it easier, what makes it harder.
“So far, I’ve found people with the best work-life balance are those that know how to take control of their time and are realistic with their work load.
Having a supportive partner also makes a huge diff erence, as does having a supportive workplace and a job that is not overwhelming.”
Ms Millear’s research is part of her PhD with the School of Psycholog y and Counselling.
She is also a member of the university’s Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation.
She said international surveys over the past decade had found that most people were happy.
“We need to tur n off the t e l ev i s i o n s o m e t i m e s a n d remember that life is not all bad news,” she said.
“People are happier than the media would have us believe. Take living in Australia for example – most people have their health, they have a job, they have family and friends, and they have above- average happiness.”
Ms Millear said wellbeing was something that people could work to maintain.
“People have an opportunity to change what they are doing,”
she said.
Ms Millear wants 1000 employed adults to complete her confi dential online survey – ideally three times over nine months to gauge if their levels of happiness and wellbeing change over that time.
“The sur vey should take approximately 25 to 30 minutes to complete and if they do all three surveys they’ll also go into a prize draw,” she said.
To take part in the survey, email Ms Millear on [email protected].
au.
- Mechelle McMahon
Survey looks at how happy we are
Prue Millear QUT researcher
Angela Wallace
Marketing researcher Rhys Sarri has launched a survey looking at what makes people pay for music.
Theatre
THEY seem like diff erent worlds, but maths and music aren’t so far apart for QUT’s Professor Rodney Wolff .
Professor Wolff is a f ull-time statistics and fi nance academic by day, but moonlights as an actor, director and conductor by night.
He is currently tackling The Full Monty at the Cremorne Theatre, where he’s the show’s stage and musical director.
And while the combination of maths and music might make some people scratch their heads, Professor Wolff said it was a beautiful marriage.
“There’s a lot of structure in music, and mathematics is all about structure,”
he said.
“A lot of mathematicians are quite musical – including those here at QUT.”
Four maths minds from QUT are behind the music in the current
production of The Full Monty, which runs until October 22 at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre.
Professor Wolff is the stage and musical director and fi nal-year QUT maths student Robert Russell is conducting the 13-piece band.
The Full Monty’s electric guitarist, Andrew Maurice, is a Dean’s Scholar studying mathematics and trumpet player Dominic MacAndrews is doing a maths and physics degree.
Professor Wolff has a PhD in statistics from the University of Oxford, where he studied chaos and predictability.
He was QUT’s foundation Student Ombudsman for four years, then joined the School of Economics and Finance in 2003.
He said combining academic life with stage life gave him the best of both worlds.
“The academic work that I do in econometrics and the statistics of fi nance, in one sense, does create a rush
... but you get a very diff erent kind of rush when you create something on stage,” he said.
Professor Wolff has been acting for 30 years and recently started the new theatre company behind The Full
Monty, Lickety Split Productions, with Susan Gillingham – who also studied maths at Oxford and at QUT.
But he has no plans to give up his day job just yet.
“If it were to become an occupation
it would take some of the gloss off it – I don’t think I’d enjoy it as much if it wasn’t a hobby,” he said.
For tickets to The Full Monty, visit www.qtix.com.au.
- Mechelle McMahon
Nutrition
WHILE the obesity epidemic has raised concerns about people eating too much, the opposite is true for many older people, according to a QUT project offi cer.
Kerryn Dowding, a dietitian in QUT’s School of Public Health, said many older people were not having their nutritional requirements met because they found cooking for one person diffi cult.
Ms Dowding coordinates a program which sends nutrition and dietetics students from QUT out into the community to teach war veterans how to cook basic, healthy meals.
The program, called “Cooking for One or Two”, is a joint initiative of QUT, Nutrition Australia and the Department of Veterans’
Aff airs.
Ms Dowding said the program off ered participants practical cooking skills and opportunities to learn more about nutrition, food hygiene, budgeting, healthy eating and
Students teach older cooks new tricks
Graduations
HE’S been accepted into a PhD program at just 21 and he has achieved the highest g rade point average possible, but QUT student Roy Wallace remains unaff ected by his success.
Roy, who graduated on September 26 with a Bachelor of Engineering (Computer Systems) degree, says he never put pressure on himself to maintain top marks.
“At the start of my course, I just did my best and then through the middle when I kept getting 7s (the highest grade), people were making comments,” he said.
“But really towards the end I wasn’t worried about it: I thought it would be hilarious if I got a 6 in my last unit.”
Roy said he felt there were a lot of other people in the course with GPAs of less than 7 who would “probably make better engineers” than him.
“Your GPA doesn’t determine how much money you’ll make, how happy you’ll be or how you’ll bring your kids up,” he said.
But Roy’s GPA did help him earn fi rst-class honours which enabled entry
into the PhD program.
He commenced research last month at QUT’s Information Security Institute with the world-class Speech, Audio, Image and Video Technologies Group, in the Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering.
“My research is in the fi eld of speech recognition, which involves computers being able to understand speech and language,” he said. “I am investigating ways to search words and terms within audio clips in large databases.”
Roy said the research would hopefully enable users to search for information in podcasts, blogs and recordings on the internet.
“It would also be useful to companies who record conversations with their customers and want to search for particular things,” he said.
Roy said it was a big decision whether to continue on at university undertaking research, or to try to fi nd a job after almost 16 years of study.
“No matter what decision you make (in life) it’s possible in some sense that it is a wrong decision. But really, it can never be a wrong decision,” he said.
- Carmen Myler
There’s nothing average about Roy
Roy Wallace at QUT’s Gardens Point campus.
Andrew Maurice, Professor Rodney Wolff, Robert Russell and Dominic MacAndrews get into the swing.
Maths experts moonlight in
The Full Monty
reading food labels.
“People have trouble knowing what quantity of food to buy…we help with that and show people how to cook their old favourites, but in a healthy way,” she said.
“We attract a lot of men who live alone and war widows who have been used to cooking for a big family.
“The main benefi t is the social interaction.
People learn skills and tips but the program is also a great stimulus for them to start interacting in the community.”
Ms Dowding said the prog r am was expanding beyond the veteran community, as other seniors’ groups had showed an interest in participating.
Final-year Bachelor of Health Science (Nutrition) student Berniece Hilly said the best thing about the program was getting practical skills and applying what she has learnt in the classroom to people who are willing to listen.
She and fellow student Jess McMicking are
coordinating a follow-on program for people who have already participated in Cooking for One or Two and now want to learn some new recipes.
“It’s really fun and we get a lot of ideas from (the participants)… what they want to know, what level of knowledge they have,”
Ms Hilly said.
“One man I worked with ate Weet-Bix three times a day, so if I got him to change just one meal a day that would have had a big eff ect on him.”
Program participant and veteran Bill Best from Clayfi eld-Toombul RSL sub-branch said even though he had been cooking for one or two at home since he retired in 1980, he has learnt several new things from the course.
Mr Best said he was looking forward to trying out some new recipes at home.
“I’ve just got a new cooktop and stove so I can experiment.”
- Carmen Myler
Bill Best gets some tips from student Berniece Hilly.
It’s not until you get actors up and doing it that you see if your play is working or not ... the whole experience of having
a production done was fantastic.
‘Betterer’ all the time
A QUT creative writing graduate is tackling politics, advertising, the self-help industry and one man’s quest to be the greatest lover...
Creative writing
IT is a good thing QUT creative writing graduate Felicity Carpenter gave up her day job as a copywriter, because she may not have had time to pursue her career as a playwright otherwise.
Felicity has been working back-to- back on productions for the past month and her latest eff ort, Donna’s Party, is entertaining audiences at Metro Arts until October 21.
The production is a group-writing project that uses the famous 1970s’
David Williamson play, Don’s Party, as a springboard.
P r o d u c e d f o r t h e M e t r o A r t s Independence Program, the play is set on the night of the 2004 federal election, at a party being held by colleagues from
an advertising agency.
“Four of us got together and wrote the play in about eight weeks…we each wrote a quarter of it,” Felicity said.
“First, we plotted it together…created the characters and talked about the themes in such detail that when it came to actually writing the dialogue, it all fell into place quite eff ortlessly.”
Writing something to be read on the page was one thing, Felicity said, but writing for performance was quite another: it’s a diff erence she really came to appreciate during the performance of her fi rst full-length play.
The play was Getting Betterer All the Time, a satirical look at the self-help industry, which ran at the Judith Wright Centre in September.
Felicity wrote the script as part of her Master of Arts (Playwrighting) at QUT
in 2004.
“When you’re writing a script and it’s not being produced, it’s all kind of in theory,” she said.
“It’s not until you get actors up and doing it that you see if your play is working or not…you might have to go away and rewrite parts, come back and try again.
“That whole experience of having a production done was fantastic. From now on I will always be thinking practically when I’m writing.”
Felicity hopes that thinking practically won’t mean having to fi nd another “day job” to pay the bills but, if it does, she has made a commitment to herself to make writing her number one priority.
“If you keep working and treating your writing as a side project, I think it can stall your career,” she said.
“Even though I’m living on a pretty tight budget, already a lot of opportunities are opening up to me.
“Getting Betterer was the f irst big showcase of my work so I’m hoping something will come of it.”
Felicity now has funding from the State Government’s Pacifi c Film and Television Commission to write a short fi lm called Switching Sides about a man who has to choose between his friend and his girlfriend.
She has also written a full-length feature fi lm – The Professional Lover, about a man who strives to become the world’s greatest lover – which she would like to one day see on the big screen.
For tickets to Donna’s Party, running until October 21, phone 3002 7100.
- Carmen Myler
in BRIEF...
Clean water project A project to educate low- income people in rural Indonesia on the importance of using clean, safe water to alleviate the child death toll from water-borne diseases is being conducted by QUT PhD alumnus Dr Djenta Saha. The project, in Central Kalimantan, is funded by a $15,000 QUT grant and will be overseen by Dr Jan McDowell.
Open access progress QUT’s Open Access to Knowledge (OAK) Law Project is forging ahead with its investigations into new possibilities for open access to knowledge, including making publicly-funded research widely and legally available across the world.
The project has just been awarded $455,000 to fund an analysis of publication agreements with publishers in Australia and overseas with a view to producing the OAK List, an easy-to-use reference of what each publisher’s agreements stipulate about open access.The project has also published a report which provides a simple overview of copyright and the new knowledge landscape. For more information see: www.
oaklaw.qut.edu.au.
Recognition for researcher QUT information scientist Professor Amanda Spink has been named the second most published researcher in the fi eld of library and information science in an article in the US-based Library Information Science Research Journal. Professor Spink, an information scientist who joined QUT at the beginning of the year after 20 years in the US, was also named in the article as the third most cited researcher in library and information science.
Both rankings refer to research published globally in academic journals in the fi ve years between 1999 and 2004.
EDN-06-422 CRICOS no. 00213J
become a teacher in one year
Degree holders can now become qualified teachers in as little as one year with QUT’s Graduate Diploma in Education.
This program can be completed full-time in one year or part-time in two years, either on-campus at Kelvin Grove (internal) or online (external).
You can focus your studies on Early Years, Middle Years or Senior Years. Reflecting contemporary State policies and priorities, these study areas establish QUT’s Graduate Diploma in Education as an innovative and progressive qualification.
You will need a current Blue Card to undertake the field experience requirements of this program.
Apply today. Late applications accepted until 15 December. Senior Years closes 30 November.
More information
Visit the Faculty of Education Student Affairs office at Kelvin Grove in A Block, Room A215.
Or phone 3864 3947, email [email protected] or visit www.education.qut.edu.au
Queensland University of Technology Victoria Park Road Kelvin Grove Q 4059 qut.com
Fashion
FASHION designer Michelle Egan didn’t have to look far to gain inspiration for her new collection of lifestyle wear.
Growing up on the Sunshine Coast meant she was in tune with the sun- drenched active lifestyle her designs best suit.
The former model has spent the past three years discovering life on the other side of the catwalk and studying fashion at QUT.
Next month she will unveil her graduate collection – called Soul Play – during the QUT fashion graduation shows at the Creative Industries Precinct.
The shows will be held on November 22, 23 and 24 and feature the fi nal-year students’ graduate collections, along with a selection of work by fi rst- and second-year students, including an industry-linked project with David Jones and entries to the Australian Fashion Design Awards.
Michelle pursued a modelling career
Life on other side of catwalk
Search is on for QUT’s best student driver
Students with professional race driving experience have been urged to contact QUT Motorsport for a chance to be part of Australasia’s biggest university car race.
The Formula SAE event will be held in Melbourne in December. The QUT team, led by engineering students, wants an experienced driver for tests and the race. Email [email protected].
au.
Fund engages with community
Professor of Biomedical Engineering Mark Pearcy and the Cerebral Palsy League of Queensland have received
$30,000 from the latest round of funding from QUT’s Engagement Incentive Fund.
The partnership will develop a much-needed mechanism to increase the production and availability of customised wheelchairs for people with cerebral palsy – the most common physical disability in children.
Media website launched The new version of Brisbane Media Map, an online directory of media, marketing and public relations organisations is being
launched in November 1.
The website at www.bmm.
qut.edu.au is designed and updated by students and has averaged 1250 hits a day in its fi rst year of operation.
Research award for lecturer Education lecturer Dr
James Page was recently honoured with the Award for Outstanding Educational Research from the New South Wales Institute for Educational Research for his doctoral dissertation titled Peace Education: Exploring Ethico-Philosophical Foundations. The long- established institute uses its annual awards to encourage research excellence.
Michelle Egan with garments from her Soul Play collection.
after graduating from high school on the Sunshine Coast and went on to work in London and Australia.
“I got the fashion bug while I was in London so when I came back to Queensland I did one year at TAFE and then got into the QUT fashion course,” she said.
“I’d been modelling so I had knowledge of the industry ... I’ve kind of gone from one side to the other.”
Michelle will finish her fashion degree in November and already has a job lined up.
“I’m going to be working for Jamu – a new swimwear label started by Lydia Leong,” she said.
“I’ll be assisting her with her designs for next year.”
Michelle said her Sunshine Coast background gave her a headstart in the lucrative swimwear and leisure markets.
“My graduate collection, Soul Play, is a lifestyle collection that looks at the whole natural style of living,”
she said.
“It’s really meant to gel with people’s lifestyle and be easy to wear – but still sexy. It’s for a sexy, modern woman.
“I’m not high fashion, high couture ... I’ve worked in London and Sydney where it’s busy and you dress to suit the lifestyle but I love the relaxed way of life we have in Queensland.”
For ticket information to next month’s fashion graduation shows at the Creative Industries Precinct – which always sell out quickly – visit www.ciprecinct.qut.com.
- Mechelle McMahon
Graduations
BRINGING peace to war-torn Somalia isn’t going to be easy and Ahmed Mohamed knows it.
But the Somali-born banker, who this month graduated with an accountancy degree from QUT, has never been one to shy away from a challenge.
Ahmed (pictured right) hopes the last fi ve years of study at QUT will allow him to take a role in bringing about a stable government in Somalia, and in turn see peace and stability returned to a nation ravaged by war.
Before the war, Ahmed was a key figure within the Commercial and Savings Bank of Somalia, and was often called on to advise the Somali Minister for Finance and Vice-Minister for Finance on matters of economic interest.
He was also a regular visitor to Italy and took part in high-level delegations with the Italian Government.
Ahmed gained an economics degree from the University of Somalia, a
banking degree from the University of Italy and has studied in the United Kingdom.
But in 1991 Ahmed’s life changed forever. Civil war broke out and Ahmed was forced to fl ee his homeland.
He and his family spent eight years as refugees in Kenya, before being granted humanitarian visas to live in Australia.
“When the war started no one was expecting it,” Ahmed said. “Everything was destroyed. There was no warning.
In just one day everything changed.
Soldiers became militia, they just changed their uniforms.”
Fifteen years on and Somalia still has no eff ective central government. It continues to be plagued by widespread lawlessness and fighting between militia groups.
“The diffi culty we faced during the war and the killing we have seen and the destroying of our property, when we came to Australia we have seen a better life.”
And it is the “better life” that Ahmed hopes will one day be a reality in
Somalia.
Ahmed said what he had learnt in gaining his degree from QUT would help him rebuild his country.
“Somalia requires people to have a good knowledge about the banking system. The knowledge I have received from Australia, I want to use this to help Somalia.”
He said while the study had been demanding, the help he received from his friends at QUT had made it easier.
“When you have not done study for 28 years, it is a big change,” he said.
“I was working for 20 years and then the eight years I spent as a refugee, when it came to studying everything was a challenge. English was a challenge.”
Ahmed speaks f ive languages, English being his fi fth, and despite the hurdles and personal crisis he has had to face, nothing has stood in his way of achieving his goal of graduating from QUT.
- Sandra Hutchinson
Somalia can count on Ahmed
Public health
TRYING to get shift workers to walk to work is a big challenge, but not one that fazed a group of QUT students working on a national health promotion initiative.
Four QUT public health masters students joined forces with Greenslopes Private Hospital’s (GPH) wellness centre to encourage staff at the hospital to participate in national Walk to Work Day.
One of the students, Vinay Gangathimmaiah, said Walk to Work Day wasn’t necessarily about walking from your home to your work, but just about participating in more “active” forms of transport.
“That might involve walking or cycling, or walking to a bus stop or train station and then taking public transport,” Vinay, who has an undergraduate degree in medicine, said.
“What we’re trying to promote here is that staff could just walk as part of their travel to work so they do not have to make a separate time to exercise. If they travel to work just one day a week using one of
these modes, and they like it, then they might take it up regularly.”
Vinay said his team’s strategy involved displays in staff areas, seminars from the National Heart Foundation and Brisbane City Council, and organised walking groups.
Fellow QUT masters student and GPH wellness coordinator Katrina Walton said it was a good approach for promoting exercise to time-poor adults with little time for exercise.
“ P h y s i c a l a c t i v i t y n e e d s to be strateg ically introduced into people’s lives, such that it becomes an ‘incidental’ part of everyday life,” she said.
“This is crucial if we are to reverse the worrying trends of lack of physical activity and increased weight and associated health problems in the general Australian population.”
She said Walk to Work Day was an annual initiative, coordinated by the Pedestrian Council of Australia, to promote regular walking as a healthy activity, reduce reliance on cars, promote public transport, and improve air quality.
- Carmen Myler
Students tell hosptial staff to take a walk
Study shows safety culture starts at top
Psychology
NATIONAL research on 14 leading Australian construction companies aimed at cutting the construction industry’s three-times-the-average fatality rate is the fi rst step towards implementing a national safety culture on work sites.
The research has produced Australia’s fi rst competency framework aimed at enabling managers and supervisors to create an eff ective, consistent safety culture across Australia’s largest constructors, QUT project officer Vaughn Sheahan said.
Dr Herbert Biggs and Mr Sheahan, from the School of Psychology and Counselling, were part of a national industry, government and research team who conducted the research for the CRC for Construction Innovation, a Federal Government Cooperative Research Centre based at QUT.
The team’s f indings under pin A Construction Safety Competency
Framework: improving OH&S performance by creating and maintaining a safety culture that has been launched by the Federal Government.
“On average one person dies a week on Australia’s construction sites and thousands more suff er serious injuries each year,” Mr Sheahan said.
“This indicates that current on-site safety initiatives such as ‘toolbox talks’
need to be further developed to build a site safety culture.
“Safety culture is vital as it represents the organisation’s values and beliefs towards safety. Workers’ perception of these values and beliefs lets them know which behaviours will be rewarded, tolerated or sanctioned.”
Construction workers’ high mobility was identified as one of the main obstacles to implementing a consistent safety culture on all work sites.
“Up to 80 per cent of the construction workforce are subcontractors or sub subcontractors who move between companies, projects and sites, making
it almost impossible for one company to consistently infl uence the attitudes and behaviours that form the basis of a safety culture,” Mr Sheahan said.
“By setting management and supervisor competency standards we can improve the consistency and quality of the safety message across the largest constructors and so change attitudes and behaviours within the workforce.
“This research adds something new because the sector has traditionally not recognised communication and leadership as integral to safety competency,” QUT’s Dr Biggs said.
“The research has enabled the practical application of these complex concepts into a format that the industry can understand and work with.”
The report’s project leader, John Holland group safety manager Dean Cipolla, said the fatality rate of the construction industry was fi ve times higher than the mining industry.
- Niki Widdowson GPH staff Sony Tehula, Robyn Merrick and Ian Morrison with QUT student
Vinay Gangathimmaiah.
QUT research assistant Vaughn Sheahan and Dr Herbert Biggs.
Dance
- 2006 graduation show This dance event at QUT Gardens Theatre from November 7 to 11 features QUT’s graduating dancers, as well as fi rst- and second-year students.
Three works will be performed, which use modern dance to explore a diverse mix of political and social commentary, intimacy and closeness in relationships, and community elements of tribal culture. Book tickets ($18/$12) on 3138 4455.
Events
NOV 7 – 10 QUT’s visual arts honours graduates present a showcase of their work at the Creative Industries Precinct at Kelvin Grove from 2pm to 6pm daily in The Block.
NOV 15 – 16 More graduation showcasing, this time by communication design students. The Eye’ll Show You Mine exhibition opens 2pm to 6pm in The Block.
Entry is free.
NOV 25 Golden Graduates from the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s meet at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre for their annual reunion. The gathering of teachers is also open to engineering, pharmacy and chemistry graduates from the same era at the colleges that became QUT. Book on 3138 1837.
NOV 28
End Slate is a free short fi lm night featuring the work of QUT’s graduating fi lm and TV students. It’s on at QUT Gardens Theatre (next to City Botanic Gardens) from 7pm.
DEC 19 It’s Real Decisions time – school-leavers’
last chance to fi nd out course information for 2007 if they want to change their QTAC preferences after receiving their OP score. The event is on at QUT’s Gardens Point campus from 2pm to 6pm in Z Block.
Visit www.qut.com.
Seminars
NOV 20 – 24 The Postdoctoral Nursing Research Summer School is on at QUT’s Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation. It aims to help participants further their research in nursing
science and will feature international keynote speaker Dr Susan Gennaro from New York University. Visit www.hlth.qut.edu.au or call 3138 8210.
Conferences
OCTOBER 27 QUT’s Centre for Social Change Research hosts the one-day Social Change in the 21st Century Conference at Carseldine campus.
Visit www.socialchange.
qut.edu.au.
NOV 1 – 3
QUT education experts Allan Luke and Erica McWilliam are among the guest speakers at the Learning, Literacy and Leadership Conference at the Bardon Centre.
Visit www.whatson.qut.
edu.au.
Visit www.whatson.
qut.edu.au for more event listings and to submit your upcoming event.
WHATS on...
Janne Rayner (Editor) 07 3138 2361 Toni Chambers 07 3138 1150 Sandra Hutchinson 07 3138 2130 Carmen Myler 07 3138 1150 Mechelle Webb 07 3138 4494 Niki Widdowson 07 3138 1841 Erika Fish (Photos) 07 3138 5003 Natalie Johnson (Ads) 07 3138 4408
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.
Theatre
THE man who choreographed Moulin Rouge and Strictly Ballroom and the woman who wowed audiences as Ulla in the Australian season of The Producers will step away from the world of fi lm and theatre in January to join Stage and Screen 2007 at QUT.
Choreographer John O’Connell will spend 12 days teaching talented young people at the music theatre summer school, which is open to dancers, singers and actors aged 15 to 22.
He will be joined by other leading Australian artists, including theatre star Chloe Dallimore (pictured right) who will give a one-day masterclass that is open to the public as well as summer school participants.
Dallimore is an award-winning singer, dancer and actor who won theatre fans over with her starring role as Ulla in The Producers and also performed in this month’s Australian premiere production of Thoroughly Modern Millie in Melbourne.
Applications for the prestigious summer school at QUT Gardens Theatre close on November 3, with auditions on November 12.
QUT arts educator Denise Richardson – who is coordinating the school – said it was a fantastic opportunity for young performers who wanted to develop their skills and get inside advice on how to break into the industry.
“These people are the best in the business,” she said.
“They have worked on the stage and in fi lm and television for many years and have built up careers that are the envy of many others who come and go in this tough industry.
“Young performers who are serious
about making a living on the stage or in front of a camera need to think about how they are going to get there.
This summer school is one of those important steps.”
Application forms for Stage and Screen 2007 are available on the QUT website at www.gardenstheatre.qut.com
or by calling Ms Richardson on 07 3138 8006. The 12-day summer school tuition costs $850 (if paid by December 1) and includes the masterclasses.
The public can also book tickets to the one-day masterclasses with GardensTix on 3138 4455.
- Mechelle McMahon
Join theatre greats for summer school
QUT top Qld uni at national games
Sport
QUT placed ninth overall and was Queensland’s highest ranked university at the 2006 Australian University Games held in Adelaide last month.
The 160-strong QUT team brought home a medal pool of four gold, one silver and one bronze.
Teams won gold in the women’s touch, men’s rugby union and men’s volleyball competitions, while Brad Monk took out the top trophy in the men’s hammer throw.
Silver was won by the women’s basketball team and Pasenadee Rubasinghe won bronze in the 200m.
QUT Student Guild sports offi cer Chris Rawlings said the uni had produced an outstanding result and was already preparing for next year.
“The 2007 Australian University Games are being held on the Gold Coast, so we are working to put together a squad of over 300 students and will be trying for a top three fi nish,” he said.
In other sporting successes, QUT
came second overall in the 11th Annual National Indigenous Tertiary Education Student Games, losing by one point to the University of Newcastle.
The competition included events such as volleyball, netball, touch football as well as traditional games.
QUT’s rugby team is also preparing to head to Dubai to compete in the 2006 Dubai Rugby Sevens competition from November 30.
Captain Mark Pavone said QUT would represent Queensland in the international invitational division. He
said being invited to take part in such an exclusive event was an honour and an opportunity to play against up-and- coming rugby teams.
“Based on the QUT team’s continued success we have been formally invited to compete in the competition and we are doing so with the support of QUT’s Student Guild,” Mark said.
The team is comprised of six current QUT students and fi ve graduates.
Mark said the team was looking for sponsorship. Call 0407 644 557.
- Sandra Hutchinson
