IQ insideQueensland University of Technology Newspaper Issue 305 , July 2010
www.news.qut.edu.au George Street Brisbane 4000 Telephone (07) 3138 2361 Registered by Australia Post – Publication No. QBF 4778. CRICOS No 00213J
Creative industries
THE illegal downloading of music might seem unstoppable, but it’s only a matter of time until technology wins out, says music producer and head of music at QUT Associate Professor Mike Howlett.
Grammy-winning producer Dr Howlett outlined his vision for the future of music distribution at the APRA Song
Summit, Would you Bit Torrent your mate?, panel talk held last month at the Sydney Convention Centre.
The talk brought together industry professionals to discuss whether piracy was depriving musicians of earnings.
“My view is that we are in the very early days of a new way of distributing music – what I call the ‘wax cylinder’
days,” Dr Howlett said.
“Within a relatively short time, technology for distributing music will be complicated enough and cheap enough that people will pay for music.
“The internet will become highly integrated, with one box that does it all – TV, shopping, email, fi lms, banking, bills, etc – controlled by a remote from your sofa, at which point it will be too much eff ort for most people to go
code-cracking.”
Dr Howlett has received a Grammy award for his work producing Flock of Seagulls and produced many hit singles and albums, run the Mauve Records record label and served as chairman of the UK’s Music Producers Guild, of which he was also a founding member.
He is credited with bringing together the members of The Police and
continues to play bass guitar with experimental cult act Gong.
Dr Howlett said the high rate of illegal music downloads meant musicians currently earned much of their revenue from live gigs and merchandise sales, while some also made money from music created for fi lm and television.
- Rachael Wilson
Future bleak for illegal music downloads
Design
FORTITUDE Valley’s alleys and laneways need no longer be dark, forbidding places with little life apart from delivery vans, say QUT fourth-year architecture students who have come up with some bright and unusual designs to invite people into these forgotten places.
Their exciting and innovative designs to attract people were on display at the Forgotten Places:
Rediscovering the small spaces and laneways of Fortitude Valley in the
TC Beirne Building on Brunswick Street Mall in Fortitude Valley last month.
QUT School of Design lecturer and curator of the Forgotten Places exhibition, Glenda Caldwell, said the exhibition featured nine groups of architectural design students who had taken up the challenge to design ways to make laneways in the Valley inviting so that they would be used and enjoyed by the passing public.
“The process was an opportunity for students to collaborate on a complex design problem,” Ms
Caldwell said.
“The project is relevant to what’s happening in Brisbane and the agenda for urban renewal. It’s a real world project for our students to look at and understand what the Valley is about, examining how people use public spaces and interact with them.”
“ T h e s t u d e n t s s t a r t e d by identifying a unique condition of their site and then design a temporary art gallery that fi t in well with the social context of their space.”
Guy Grigson, Clare Kennedy,
Hannah Slater, pictured above left to right, and Samantha Stevens were given the alley on Ann St near Warner St for their design project, Slinky Seat.
“We identified that this lane was used mostly by delivery vans and was both served by the local community and servant to them.
Without the laneways the city couldn’t function ,” Ms Slater said.
Ms Kennedy said that because it was a “working” access lane they knew their design would have to be movable.
“We have designed a portable
gallery with seats for watching digital projections and “ribs” which act as a canvas on which artists can paint,” she said.
“The Valley is in constant fl ux so it adds colour and people inform how it evolves as a gallery,” Mr Grigson said.
Other student groups’ designs include: The Path, a floating display of helium balloons with a fabric membrane above as a screen for digital art, and The Beacon of Light, a vertical gallery that snakes around lampposts.
- Niki Widdowson
Valley alley makeover
>> Protecting artists’ creativity - Page 3 >> Fix Brisbane with your iPhone - Page 4 >> Indigenous art visit to New York - Page 5 >>
FORMER QUT deputy vice-chancellor Professor David Gardiner and QUT intelligence lecturer Dr Nic Chantler, from the School of Justice, have been recognised as Members of the Order of Australia (AM) in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours.
Professor Gardiner was awarded his AM for his services to university administration and legal education, and service to a range of professional associations.
Professor Gardiner was a foundation member of the QUT Law School and a former QUT dean of law. He retired last year.
Dr Nic Chantler, who is also a major in the Australian Intelligence Corps, was recognised for his work in computer science, education and military intelligence.
He has consulted for the United Nations and worked in war-torn Kosovo. Dr Chantler is currently teaching Master of Justice (Intelligence) students at QUT.
Student services
PREVENTING first-year students
“falling through the cracks” builds the nation’s social and economic capital and is worth millions of dollars to universities, a national conference was told last month.
QUT and the University of South Australia co-hosted the sold out Pacifi c Rim First Year in Higher Education Conference in Adelaide.
Speakers included QUT’s Associate Professor Karen Nelson, Dr Andrew Marrington and Adjunct Professor Dr John Clarke, who presented an
“economic case for systematic student monitoring and intervention in the fi rst year in higher education”.
Associate Professor Nelson, who also chaired the conference, said monitoring first-year students, and intervening on behalf of those at risk of dropping out, was not only the right thing to do for individual students,
their families and for Australia, but it also made good economic sense.
“Reducing attrition by 2 or 3 per cent could retain about $3-$4 million per annum for a large university,” she said.
Professor Nelson said a QUT intervention program, the Student Success Program, found that 20-25 per cent of new students were at risk of dropping out in their fi rst semester.
The program was able to help half of these students achieve signifi cantly better results.
Research funding
A NEW gener ation of energ y absorbing road barriers designed to reduce the fatal impact of high-speed crashes will be developed by QUT, following a funding announcement by the Australian Research Council.
QUT received more than $2.94 million with an additional industry input of $5.1 million to fund 11 projects in the latest round of ARC Linkage grants.
With road accidents resulting in an average loss of 1600 lives a year in Australia, Dr Prasad Gudimetla, pictured, from QUT’s Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering, said a major contributing factor was a lack
of adequate road safety equipment.
“Current safety equipment such as road barriers are ineffi cient in lessening the impact of road crashes as they are too rigid to absorb a threshold level of crash energy from vehicles and protect passengers and road users,”
Dr Gudimelta said.
“This project will develop a new generation of high energy absorbing road safety barrier using a combination of composite materials to provide better protection for all road users.
“The new barrier will be highly effi cient in absorbing crashes from vehicles travelling at speeds of between 60km/h to over a 100km/h.”
Dr Gudimetla said the installation of the new road safety barrier system
in high accident zones would save lives by reducing the severity of accidents involving road barriers.
“This will signif icantly benef it the community by reducing injury, medical, rehabilitation and property damage costs, and improve quality of life for all road users,” he said.
The project was awarded $216,000 over three years.
Other QUT projects to receive f u n d i n g i n c l u d e re s e a rc h i n t o a p p r o a c h e s t o e n h a n c e s a fe t y for roadworkers, industry-school par tner ships, manag ing f amily objection to autopsy and investigating parental engagement in supported playgroups.
- Sandra Hutchinson
Preventing fi rst-year drop-outs
Professor Karen Thorpe
PROFESSOR Karen Thorpe, a researcher with the School of Psychology and Counselling, has embarked on fi ve years of research and media engagement with the $5 million Eff ective Early Education Experiences Study (E4Kids).
Professor Thorpe is a seasoned interviewee and is regularly called on to share her knowledge of child development.
Since the E4Kids research project was announced by a QUT media release earlier this year, Professor Thorpe has provided interviews for numerous ABC radio stations and her story was picked up by Australian Associated Press, which took the news around the nation.
She was also featured in a Channel 10 news story.
Even while at a meeting in Mount Isa, Professor Thorpe was willing to make time for a radio interview during her break.
Last month she also quoted in a Courier Mail story about concerns that play-based learning had been abandoned in some Prep classes due to national literacy and numeracy testing.
Professor Thopre you are a star.
Science and technology precinct
STAFF and students returning for Semester Two will continue to see changes occurring at Gardens Point campus, as preparation for the major construction of the new Science and Technology Precinct and Community Hub ramps up.
Precinct communications manager Gary Rasmussen said some early works were now occurring adjacent to the Kidney Lawn and by mid July a section in front of Old Government House would be screened.
“By early August, Y Block will close in readiness for demolition,” Mr Rasmussen said.
“All Y Block facilities, including
the bookshop, food outlets, Student Guild services, ATM and chaplaincy will temporarily move to levels 2 and 3 of L Block, which is currently being refurbished.
“Actual dates of these moves in August will be communicated to the university community closer to the time.”
Construction work will also be undertaken in other buildings on GP campus this semester, primarily upgrading science laboratories in R, E, M and Q Blocks and new higher degree research space in H Block.
Construction traffi c is expected to increase along Gardens Point Road from the end of August.
For more information go to www.
qut.edu.au/scitechprecinct.
Redesigning
killer road barriers
Media star of the month
Changes underway at GP QUT Queen’s honours
Professor David Gardiner
Dr Nic Chantler
Artist’s impression of the new precinct.
Student support
S R I L a n k a n - b o r n C h a m i n d a Ranasinghe knows only too well the challenges students face when settling into university, which is why he is eager to attend the 12th annual Asia Pacifi c Student Services Association conference this month.
The QUT PhD student will attend the event which seeks to build partnerships to improve student services.
Mr Ranasinghe, pictured, is a passionate volunteer at the East-West Centre at QUT which celebrates and acknowledges diversity and enhances student life at the university.
He has played a pivotal role in QUT’s Global Cafe and orientation activities.
“When it comes to student problems,
what I have found is that it doesn’t matter if you are an international student or an Australian student who has moved to Brisbane, they are foreigners to the city, and have the same problems,” he said.
Mr Ranasinghe said while language barriers, fi nding accommodation and fi nancial pressures aff ected many, there were student services available.
“It is just about making sure the students who need these services and support know where to fi nd them,”
he said.
The conference is to be held at QUT’s Gardens Point campus on July 6-9 and will provide an international and local forum to exchange ideas on how to improve student support services.
Mr Ranasinghe is undertaking his PhD in environmental microbiology at QUT.
Conference supports students
Engineering
THE fi rst Australian in space, NASA astronaut Andy Thomas, will visit QUT during National Engineering Week, a week of activities designed to inspire and inform our up-and- coming engineers (August 2 – 9).
Students will have an opportunity to hear Dr Thomas, pictured, who holds a PhD in mechanical engineering, discuss current hot topics in eng ineering, science and technology at a forum on Kelvin Grove campus from 2pm on Tuesday, August 3.
Dr Thomas will participate in a tour of Queensland’s new Australian Research Centre for Aerospace Automation (ARCAA) at Brisbane Airport’s Da Vinci Precinct on Tuesday, August 3.
ARCAA is a joint initiative by the CSIRO and QUT to conduct aerospace research including the automation of unmanned airborne vehicles. The facility is co-funded by the Queensland Government and QUT.
ARCAA director and QUT avionics engineering researcher Professor Rodney Walker says the facility is the hub of QUT’s navigation research where about 25 QUT researchers and support staff are working on a range of projects.
E x e c u t ive d e a n o f B u i l t Environment and Eng ineering at QUT Professor Martin Betts said Australian Engineering Week aimed to celebrate engineering achievements and raise community awareness of their pivotal role in today’s society.
“It is estimated Austr alia currently has a shortfall of about 20,000 engineers, which will only
be exacerbated by 15 per cent of the current engineering workforce retiring in the next fi ve to 10 years.
“Engineering Week highlights the need for this profession that is so important to our way of life.
We need quality sciences and maths education as the cornerstone of becoming an engineer and we need to encourage young people to choose engineering as a career.”
Engineering students can explore their graduate and holiday job options at the Young Engineers Australia-QUT Engineering Careers Market on Wednesday, August 4 from 11am to 2pm at the Gardens Point Theatre foyer.
Fo r i n fo r m a t i o n o n QU T Engineering Week, visit bee.qut.
edu.au/events.
Engineers Australia and QUT invite students to participate in a range of activities during the week including site tours to:
• V8 super car manufacturer 888 Racing, Monday, August 2
• Port of Brisbane – Australia’s third busiest capital city port, Thursday, August 4
• Carlton United Brewery, and Dreamworld, Friday, August 6.
Registration and information is at makeitso.org.au.
Law
A NEW public clinic that provides free legal advice to up-and-coming musicians, ar tists, writer s and technology gurus has been launched at QUT.
The IP and Technology Law Clinic is aimed at members of the creative and technology sectors with limited f inancial resources, and is being co-ordinated by experts from the Faculty of Law.
The state’s Chief Justice, Paul de Jersey AC, visited QUT to launch the clinic at a function at Old Government House last month.
QUT’s Professor Brian Fitzgerald, who is a leading international expert on intellectual property (IP) law, said technology and IP laws were diffi cult areas for artists and creators to navigate.
“It’s hard enough trying to get your talent or work recognised, without the added pressure of having to be a legal expert on copyright issues, recording or publishing agreements, digital distribution, business models and the like,” Professor Fitzgerald said.
“Many artists just don’t have the money to pay for expensive legal advice, but getting the legalities right is a crucial part of career development.
This is where our new free clinic can help.”
The clinic is a QUT initiative, in conjunction with the Queensland P u b l i c I n t e r e s t L aw C l e a r i n g House (QPILCH) – a not-for-profi t organisation that co-ordinates the provision of pro bono legal services for individuals and community groups.
Clinic co-founder Kylie Pappalardo, a lawyer and QUT researcher, said it operated on three levels.
“We are providing a free legal advice service, staff ed by volunteer lawyers,
that operates one evening a month and we are also co-ordinating a pro bono referral panel for ongoing or more complicated matters which need more time than a one-off advice session,” Ms Pappalardo said.
“The clinic will also give QUT’s law students the opportunity to get involved in community service work by assisting with the advice service and pro bono referral panel.”
According to Professor Fitzgerald, the clinic would not have been possible without the support of lawyers and law fi rms around Brisbane.
Ben Coogan, a partner at DLA Phillips Fox, said that the clinic enabled law fi rms to demonstrate their commitment to pro bono legal service
and community engagement.
“Like many other law fi rms in and around Brisbane, we at DLA Phillips Fox think this is an important initiative and are committed to providing quality legal assistance to creators in the early stages of their careers,” Mr Coogan said.
The QUT IP and Technolog y Law Clinic is held once a month.
Interested people from the creative and technology sectors can call 07 3138 2046 or email [email protected] to book a free 45-minute advice session with a lawyer.
The clinic has been funded under the QUT Engagement Innovation Grant Scheme.
- Mechelle McMahon
Free legal advice now on tap for musos, artists
Astronaut visits QUT
Creative industries
THE landing of a Japanese spacecraft in an Australian desert last month brought together two distinct cultures with the help of a documentary maker from QUT.
Simon Wearne, who is studying a Doctorate of Creative Industries at QUT, recorded community stories inspired by the late night return of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s
“Hayabusa” capsule and parachute in the central South Australian desert, which forced the unprecedented closure of the Stuart Highway for two hours on a Sunday night last month.
The capsule was part of a spacecraft that was returning from a seven-year mission to collect samples from the Itokawa asteroid, which may help explain the birth of our solar system.
Mr Wearne and Professor Kumi Kato, from Wakayama University in Japan, have been explaining the Hayabusa project to local Indigenous people and school children in South Australia and documenting their own creation stories.
T h r o u g h c o nve r s a t i o n s a n d
interviews with the Kokatha people near Woomera and the Antakarinja people near Coober Pedy, Mr Wearne and Professor Kato are helping to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which the capsule landed.
“The interviews will be put together to tell the Indigenous peoples’ story in Japan,” Mr Wearne said.
“The Kokatha and Antakarinja people share a creation story with other language groups in the region about the seven sisters, a constellation called “Pleaides”, is a symbol of their creation story.
“In Japan, the constellation, which is also known as Subaru, has a diff erent cultural context. Literally translated it means “to excel” and has become the car manufacturer’s logo.”
Mr Wearne hopes the interviews and landing footage may eventually become a documentary to share on Australian and Japanese television.
He said the Hayabusa mission won the hearts and minds of the Japanese people when the craft was considered lost, but later recovered, in space about two billion kilometres from Earth.
The project is supported by QUT’s Institute for Creative Industries and Innovation, a multidisciplinary research centre dedicated to delivering g r o u n d b r e a k i n g r e s e a r c h a n d commercialisation ventures.
- Rachael Wilson
Spacecraft and star stories meet for desert landing
Left, the fi lm crew in action.
Main picture, the capsule enters Earth’s atmosphere A school child makes a replica of the Hayabusa capsule and parachute.
Urban informatics
IPHONE-using Brisbane dwellers can now point, snap and submit a visual report on the spot to Brisbane City Council on anything that needs fixing, thanks to FixVegas, a free iPhone app developed and released by the QUT Urban Informatics Lab.
FixVegas works in conjunction with Council’s Fix-o-gram program.
Whether it’s blocked drains, fallen lamp posts, rubbish or fresh graffi ti, anyone with an iPhone can download FixVegas and send a photo complete with the GPS coordinates to council’s maintenance team, says Ronald Schroeter, pictured, from QUT’s Urban Informatics research group.
“iPhones automatically detect the GPS coordinates so people can just take a photo and describe the problem, and send it to council right there and then,” said Mr Schroeter, who is also a PhD candidate in QUT’s Institute for Creative Industries and Innovation.
“FixVegas means there’s no need to take the photo and then access your laptop to download it to send or to phone or write to council. It’s the fastest and easiest way to alert them to work that needs doing. It’s even easier than sending a conventional Fix-o-gram MMS, because the app adds the address automatically.”
Mr Schroeter’s work is part of a three-year study researching innovative ways to use digital media to encourage civic discussions about places around the city led by Urban Informatics Lab founder Associate Professor Marcus Foth.
“Our team is already working on the next version of FixVegas which will allow Brisbane residents not only to lodge maintenance requests, but also to submit other, non-maintenance issues, such as an idea how to improve the city. We want to encourage place-based civic discussions,” Professor Foth said.
“Version 2 will gather people’s thoughts and bright ideas about ways
to improve or enhance use of an area by combining the mobile phone interface with urban screens that make the discussions on urban planning matters visible to a larger audience.
“People can use their personal mobile device to SMS or tweet their feedback. By displaying it directly on public screens for others to read, residents know they are being heard by their community and their views might trigger a new idea from someone else.
“It’s a way of capturing bright ideas
from the residents or users of a city area – right when and where the idea hits them.”
The study is funded by an Australian Research Council Linkage grant with support from the Queensland Government, Brisbane City Council, Optus and 4UTV.
FixVegas can be downloaded from: www.urbaninformatics.net/
projects/fi xvegas.
- Niki Widdowson
Can we fi x it?
iPhone can
Design
BRISBANE’S South Bank was the focus of a post-expo site redevelopment workshop held by QUT urban design researchers at the Shanghai World Expo last month.
South Bank attracts up to 11 million visitors a year and is regarded as one of the world’s most successfully developed post-expo sites and QUT researchers were at Shanghai’s Tong ji University to share some of the factors that have made South Bank an integratal part of the cityscape.
QUT urban design researcher Dr Kathi Holt-Damant, pictured above, said South Bank had been recognised internationally for its excellent redevelopment with the Best Public Sector Development in the World award from the International Real Estate Federation and the world’s Best Downtown Public Space by the International Downtown Association.
She said a delegation from Shanghai had visited South Bank prior to the workshop to gather ideas on future use of the site when the world expo ends in October.
“Although the Shanghai site is many times bigger than Brisbane’s expo site, it, too, is on a river in the heart of the city,” Dr Holt-Damant said.
“South Bank has evolved over the years. It has grown organically, meaning that although there has been an overarching direction, it has benefi ted from the input of many diff erent planners and that intellectual input and collaboration has led to a richer environment.
“South Bank has developed some excellent best practice systems.
For example, it has one of the best water recycling processes in Brisbane which enabled it to keep the gardens green throughout the drought. It is this kind of practice that was shared at the workshop.”
Dr Holt-Damant said the key to successful redevelopment of a large tract of prime, attractive land was equality of access for all citizens.
“Yes, you can put in high-rise housing, but the land is lost to the public. A redevelopment must yield good public urban space and respond to the climate and topography and the way people use spaces,” she said.
“The workshop’s theme took the issues confronting cities around the world such as population density increases, urban sprawl, congestion, peak oil, climate change and global warming, alongside the ever-present need to reduce pollution and manage waste.”
- Niki Widdowson
South Bank to Shanghai
Floored by the latest games
Games and interactive design
WITH its large fl oor screen, a little fancy footwork is all it takes to play Stomp, the latest suite of video games developed by QUT games and interactive design graduate Kevin Gosschalk.
Mr Gosschalk, picutred right, has designed and built a seven-game video system called Stomp, pictured below, during a summer scholarship at the Australasian CRC for Interaction Design (ACID) at the request of the Endeavour Foundation which supports and provides opportunities for people with a disability.
The system includes 56 sensor pads under white 2m x 2.7m mat. The sensors, which are connected to a
projector that screens the games onto the mat, respond to footsteps to play the games.
“The Endeavour Foundation asked us to create some interactive technology for their clients many of whom have an intellectual disability, so that they could learn and improve their understanding of technology itself, while practising gross motor skills, collaboration and other social skills,” Mr Gosschalk said.
“ S t o m p c o u l d h ave m a n y applications. Children have tested the mat and we have found they are fascinated with it and engage for long periods of time, moving constantly and changing the games. As large groups of people can use the mat at any one time it is a great way to teach co-operation.
“We are look ing at producing mats to help older people improve their balance and prevent falls, as an exercise stimulator for children as well as adults, and it could also teach dance steps or music – the applications appear to be endless.”
Mr Gosschalk said similar floor games had been developed before but it appeared Stomp was the fi rst that was simple to use “with a press of a button you can change the games, you don’t need instructions, and there is no program to set up”.
The games include a large size piano keyboard, a drum kit, and a guitar so users can stomp out a tune. Other games involve stomping on invading robots, paddling in a fi shpond and whacking robots as they emerge from their hiding place. The
games’ vivid appealing images were drawn by QUT web designer Michael Burke and Mr Gosschalk’s project was supervised by Dr Peta Wyeth from QUT’s Faculty of Science and Technology.
- Niki Widdowson
Creative industries
MR Stuurman from QUT’s Oodgeroo Unit has been invited to the US University to lecture on his own art practice and the distinctive art of the children from Carrolup Mission in Western Australia.
“The children on the Mission were Noongar people.
My mother was one of them and is a practising artist. I grew up in south Western Australia, one of the Stolen Generation,” Mr Stuurman, pictured above, said.
“In the 1940s a lot of art from the Carrolup Mission was exhibited around the world and not returned. A collection of drawings was donated to Colgate University in the late 1960s and was recognised as Carrolup art by an artist from the Noongar area only a few years ago.
“Colgate has since established a working relationship with Mungart Boodja Art Centre in Katanning with Noongar artists of that area and my visit is part of that.”
Mr Stuurman has been invited to discuss his work, pictured right, which has been described by viewers in his last exhibition at QUT Art Museum as “a profound spiritual experience” and “beautifully (rendering) the multi-layered nature of human existence”.
“I feel honoured that Colgate University wants me to go there. It is like they believe in your work and it is encouraging. I will talk about the spirituality of my work and how a person can engage with it,” he said.
Mr Stuurman uses some of the non-traditional colours evident in the pastel drawings of the young Carrolup artists in his work and incorporates universal symbols into his images but he also works in natural dyes he mixes himself.
“I collect and refi ne ochre and mix them with fi xative to make paint that is of a texture invoking earthy connections symbolic of the land” he said.
- Niki Widdowson
Mr Stuurman’s artworks have been described as “a profound spiritual experience... beautifully rendering the multi-layered nature of human existence.”
WHEN QUT Aboriginal culture lecturer and artist Jo Stuurman visits Colgate University in upstate New York in September he will be making contact with
the artwork of his ancestors.
New York
spiritual experience
in BRIEF...
Favourite scientist Vote for QUT’s Dr Clinton Fookes to be Australia’s next favourite scientist in the Eureka Prizes People’s Choice Award, presented by the Australian Museum.
Dr Fookes, from the School of Engineering Systems, researches computer vision for effective monitoring and surveillance. Vote at http://
eureka.australianmuseum.
net.au/vote.
Innovation grants Five diverse QUT projects have been awarded 2010 Engagement Innovation Grants, worth $10,000-
$30,000. The innovative projects, which focus on real world impact and QUT’s collaborative partnerships, include an exchange program to help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities improve their built environments.
Bhutanese academics QUT is helping seven Bhutanese academics to upgrade their qualifi cations to PhD level. The fi rst four students are currently in Brisbane for their fi rst annual visit. In late August they will return to their eastern Himalayan kingdom to continue studying externally.
Professor Rodney Wissler, Dean of Research and Research Training, said studying externally would enable the Bhutanese scholars to undertake research projects in areas of national relevance and importance to Bhutan.
QUT SIFE chapter
A QUT chapter of Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) has been established and is seeking new projects, project leaders and team participants to compete in the 2011 SIFE Nationals and hopefully go on to compete in the 2011 SIFE World
Cup. For details, email sife@
qut.edu.au.
QUT in Hong Kong The prestigious Chinese University of Hong Kong are so impressed by QUT’s Bachelor of Media and Communication degree they asked QUT to teach it for them. QUT lecturers and researchers will visit the prestigious university to teach the subjects which have been redesigned to run in four week-long intensives.
Drama grad directs QTC QUT Bachelor of Arts (Drama) graduate Wesley Enoch has been appointed director of the Queensland Theatre Company. QUT head of acting Dianne Eden said Mr Enoch was a driven student and committed theatre practitioner. He co-wrote the well-regarded Seven Stages of Grieving with fellow student, actor Deborah Mailman. Mr Enoch is the fi rst Indigenous Australian to become director of a state theatre company.
Go-Between opens bridge John Willsteed, QUT lecturer in Music and Film/TV, joined other past members of iconic Brisbane band The Go-Betweens when they cut the ribbon on the newest bridge across Brisbane River, the Go Between Bridge, on July 4. Mr Willsteed played bass guitar for The Go-Betweens during the late 80s when they achieved their biggest chart hit with the song “Streets of Your Town”. Mr Willsteed has also played bass for infl uential bands and has been awarded for his work as a sound editor and composer. He lectures in sound editing for fi lm and TV at QUT’s Creative Industries Faculty.
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A GROUP of tests may help predict which people with Parkinson’s disease are more likely to fall, according to a study by QUT.
Researcher Associate Professor Graham Kerr, of QUT’s Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, said falls were a major problem for people with Parkinson’s disease and could lead to injuries and reduced mobility.
“This can result in increasing weakness, loss of independence and increased use of nursing homes,”
Professor Kerr said.
For the study, 101 people with Parkinson’s disease who were able to
walk without any aids took a variety of tests evaluating their Parkinson’s symptoms, balance and mobility. The participants then reported any falls that occurred over a six-month period.
A total of 48 percent of the participants had a fall during the study and 24 percent had more than one fall. A total of 42 percent reported that they had fallen in the year before the study started.
The tests that were the best predictors of whether a person was likely to fall included a test of overall Parkinson’s symptoms, a questionnaire on how often people tended to “freeze”
while walking, and a test of balance.
One test showed that people who fell were more likely to have reduced leg
strength than people who did not fall.
“Once we can identify those at risk of falling, we can take steps to try to prevent these falls,” Kerr said.
In Australia it is estimated that about 70,000 people have Parkinson’s disease.
The study was suppor ted by Parkinson’s Queensland, QUT and the National Health and Medical Research Council.
As part of Professor Kerr’s project, researchers are looking for healthy young people aged 20 to 25 to help with research into why older people are prone to falls.
For details, contact 07 3138 6304 or [email protected].
- Elizabeth Allen
Predicting Parkinson’s falls
Education
WHY some g ifted students fail to achieve academically is being investigated by QUT education researcher Susan Luus.
M s L u u s , p i c t u re d l e f t, s a i d underachievement was most likely to occur in early adolescence, even when students were placed in extension classes.
“Underachievement is a behaviour pattern that can become established,”
she said.
“It can limit their future opportunities and contributions to society and lead to high-risk behaviours.”
Ms Luus said underachievement was most likely between the ages of 10 and 14.
“That’s the age when achievement falls by the wayside for gifted children,”
she said.
“We want to know why these
students are not achieving.”
Her masters research will focus on the life experiences of a group of Year 8 and 9 inner-Brisbane students identifi ed as gifted.
Ms Luus said that despite some schools grouping gifted children for instruction, some of these students still did not reach their potential.
She said reasons might include peer pressure, having other priorities, or reacting to teacher and parental expectations.
She said gifted children were not being off ered the same level of support as children with learning diffi culties.
- Elizabeth Allen
Why gifted students dumb down
Fellowship
QUT graduate Dr Penelope Jeff ery has cemented her position at the forefront of Australia’s war on obesity with a
$150,000 Smart Futures Fellowship.
Dr Jeffrey, of the Mater Medical Research Institute, will use the three-year Queensland Government fellowship to continue her research into the eff ects of the appetite-stimulating hormone ghrelin as a treatment for debilitating chronic inflammatory diseases and obesity.
“Queensland faces the challenge of managing and caring for an increasingly overweight and obese population;
more than half of all Queensland adults and approximately 20 per cent
of children fall into this category,” Dr Jeff ery said.
“ W i t h o u t p h a r m a c o l o g i c a l intervention many patients now and in the foreseeable future will develop obesity-related disease and require treatment adding a huge cost burden to the health system.”
That intervention could lie in the pharmalogical enhancement of ghrelin.
“Ghrelin is primarily produced and secreted from the stomach and travels to the brain where it binds to its receptor and stimulates neural food- seeking pathways,” Dr Jeff ery said.
Dr Jeff rey graduated from QUT with a degree in biotechnology in 1999 and gained her PhD from QUT in 2005.
- Elizabeth Allen
QUT graduate granted $150,000
Research
MANY Australian creative industries workers shun the fashionable inner city and choose instead to live and work in outer suburbia, a university study has found.
QUT’s Professor Terry Flew said a three-year Australian Research Council study of outer suburbs had overturned the popular view that workers in creative industries were overwhelmingly attracted to inner- city areas.
In fact, many creative workers said they liked being away from the inner city and what they described as its distractions and conformity, preferring outer suburbia.
“There was less pressure to conform to the stereotype of the groovy, inner-city creative worker,” Professor Flew said.
He said many creative industries workers chose to live in outer suburbs not only for their more affordable real estate but also for a quieter environment and access to nature areas and family-friendly amenities.
The workers included g raphic designers, multimedia developers,
architects, musicians, visual artists and advertising people.
The Creative Suburbia research project is being undertaken by QUT’s Professor Flew, Professor Phil Graham, Christy Collis and Emma Felton, and Monash University’s Anna Daniel and Mark Gibson.
The researchers interviewed more than 130 creative industries workers in Redcliffe, Springfield and Forest Lake in Queensland and Frankston, Dandenong and Caroline Springs in Victoria.
While technically not “suburbs” of Brisbane and Melbourne, the areas were chosen because they were more than 10km and less than 35km from the centre of the larger cities.
“Generally they are at the end of suburban train lines and are a mix of established and new suburbs,”
Professor Flew said.
He said the project set out to investigate the common assumption t h a t o u t e r s u bu r b s we re d u l l unproductive places, a kind of “death zone” according to some media, and that creative workers were only attracted to “buzzing” inner-city areas.
Awards
A QUT law student who devotes herself to helping refugees in her spare time and is driven by a strong sense of social justice has won the university’s top student leadership award for 2010.
Arlou Arteta, 22, was named QUT Alumni’s Student Leader of the Year last month at a ceremony on Gardens Point campus.
Arlou is in her f ifth year of a double degree in arts and law at QUT, where she has excelled academically, represented students on several QUT boards, and contributed to policy changes that
benefi t students.
Away from campus, she dedicates her time to working as a volunteer caseworker with the Refugee and Immigration Legal Service, where she assists clients with migration law issues.
Arlou’s interest in human rights and international relations has also seen her represent QUT and Australia at student conferences modelled on the United Nations, including the Global Model United Nations Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, last year.
“My experience as a volunteer caseworker has fuelled my desire to practise law, as I have seen how practitioners can change people’s lives through helping refugees, one of the most disadvantaged groups in society,”
Arlou said.
“My ultimate goal would be to have an extensive law career, working in the fi elds of immigration, industrial relations and human rights.”
Coming from a migrant background, Arlou has an appreciation of the diffi culties that often face migrants, and how lucky most Australians are, compared to people in many other nations.
“I was born in the Philippines where poverty is a daily reality for many people, so from a very young age I was aware of the hardships faced by people from disadvantaged backgrounds which helped grow my strong passion for social justice,” she said.
“I always knew that I wanted to make a diff erence in people’s lives.”
The QUT Alumni Student Leadership Awards are an initiative of QUT Alumni – the university’s graduate organisation.
The next event on QUT Alumni calendar is the annual
QUT Outstanding Alumni Awards, which will be held on July 28 to recognise top g r aduates and their achievements in industry and the community.
- Mechelle McMahon
Social justice drives QUT’s student leader of the year
Interior design
WHEN QUT interior design students were asked to design and make a piece of furniture, one group reached for their crochet hooks.
The traditional handcraft has helped produce an all natural structure, based on the shape of a seed pod and intended for use as a quiet place for children to read or draw.
“It’s a quality place for kids to do whatever they want to do,” said third- year student Lauren Newman.
Called a Tall Tale, the unusual structure is made of crocheted yarn, wool felt and curved wood.
Designed for use by children within a library, kindergarten or similar place, it has all-natural colours in keeping with the aim of quiet activity.
The self-f ixing, self-supporting structure also has pockets on the inside to hold children’s books and pens.
“Everything has a purpose in there;
it’s not just for show,” said team member Phoebe King who is a keen crocheter.
Others who helped produce the Tall Tale for the Furniture Studies assessment piece were Emily Cavanagh, Kasey Morpuss and Abby Page.
Design lecturer Michael Molloy said the students hoped to hold an exhibition of their furniture.
Pieces include: a swing made of green plastic hoses; a recliner made of used golf balls; stools made from pool noodles; an outdoor setting that was originally bike pieces; and a screen made from ironed cellophane.
Mr Molloy said the students’
f ur niture design had to be both practical and conceptual. They also had to work as a group and make 75 per cent of the piece themselves.
“They’re not going to physically construct joinery items in their professional life - joiners will make things based on their design and documentation - but this is an exercise in what it is to construct something so they have a greater understanding,”
he said.
- Elizabeth Allen
Students’ tall tale Creative suburbia alive and well
Professor Flew said Census data showed that inner cities accounted for only 20 per cent of urban employment and that Australia’s outer suburbs were multicultural and diverse.
QUT Creative Industries lecturer Dr Christy Collis said some creative workers liked being removed from the inner city.
“’They liked being removed from the buzz and what some people called the distraction of the city,” she said.
“Another counter-intuitive fi nding was that some like to be away from what they see as the conformist culture of the inner city where they have to dress a certain way.
“They say that in the outer suburbs
they feel free to experiment and enjoy non-conformity.”
Professor Flew said the research fi ndings would help inform government urban cultural policy which he said currently viewed inner-urban amenity as a “kind of honey pot to creative people”.
- Elizabeth Allen
Learn about QUT
- QUT Open Day
Find out about courses, career options, support services and university life at the QUT Open Day on July 25 from 9am to 3pm at Kelvin Grove campus. For details phone 07 3138 8501 or visit www.openday.qut.
edu.au.
Exhibitions
UNTIL OCTOBER 3 Works by artist and QUT alumnus Betty Quelhurst (1919-2008) feature in A Generosity of Spirit at QUT Art Museum, 2 George St, Brisbane. For details, phone 07 3138 5370 or visit www.artmuseum.
qut.edu.au.
JULY 13 – AUGUST 22 The fabulous eCHO exhibition, which features historical garments reworked by contemporary international designers, will be held at QUT Art Museum. For details of the free exhibition visit www.artmuseum.qut.
edu.au.
Expo
JULY 17-18 QUT will be at this year’s Tertiary Studies Expo (TSXPO), Queensland’s largest tertiary studies event.
Exciting for anyone
seeking to explore their tertiary studies and career options, TSXPO will be held at the RNA Showgrounds. Details visit www.tsxpo.org.
Conferences
JULY 5-6 A leading forum on creativity and innovation in Australia, CCI 2.0 Symposium, will be held at the Creative Industries Precinct, Kelvin Grove. A highlight will be a Q&A roundtable event on Australia’s broadband future. For details phone 07 3138 3556 or visit www.cci.edu.
au/events/cci-20- symposium.
JULY 15-16 QUT is co-hosting the 2010 International Nonprofi t Social Marketing Conference in Brisbane. For details visit www.
icebergevents.com/
insmconference/.
AUGUST 6-8 The Australian- Canadian Prostate Cancer Research Alliance Symposium will be held at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre. For details visit www.aus- canprostatealliance.
org/2010-symposium.
Celebration
JULY 28 The achievements and community contributions of QUT graduates will be celebrated at the Outstanding Alumni Awards breakfast, held at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, South Bank. For details phone 07 3138 4013.
Visit www.whatson.
qut.edu.au for more event listings and to submit your upcoming event.
WHAT’S on...
Ian Eckersley (Editor) 07 3138 2361 Elizabeth Allen 07 3138 4494 Niki Widdowson 07 3138 1841
Rachael Wilson 07 3138 1150 Mechelle McMahon (Mo-Tu) 07 3138 2130 Sandra Hutchinson (Tu-Wed) 07 3138 2999 Erika Fish (Photography) 07 3138 5003 Marissa Hills (Advertising) 07 3138 5921 Richard de Waal (Design)
about IQ
Inside QUT is published by QUT’s Marketing and Communication Department. Our readership includes staff, students and members of the QUT community. The paper is also circulated to business, industry, government and media. Opinions expressed in Inside QUT do not necessarily represent those of the university or the editorial team.The paper used in this newspaper is produced from responsibly managed forests under the PEFC chain of custody certifi cation program and is fully recyclable.
PEFC/21-31-25
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No, it’s a personal choice. It’s not a duty or a responsibility, it’s a right and rights should not be forced on individuals.
Charminda Ranasighe PhD Biotechnology Yes, people should
know who they are voting for and under- stand their policies.
It’s important everyone gets a say.
Sarah Radley Bachelor of Business No, because most
people don’t know who they are voting for and don’t know why, they just put down numbers so they don’t get fi ned.
Miran Stubican Bachelor of Applied
Science Yes, but I’m a bit iffy
about it because of freedom for people but ultimately everyone should have a say.
Melissa McHugh Bachelor of Engineering
VOX POP Should voting be compulsory?
Business
A QUT student and kung fu enthusiast is developing a business to help students keen to experience Chinese culture fi nd accommodation, work and language lessons in China.
Matt Garratt started the business
“Get Zouing” after completing QUT’s Chinese in-country study program, which allows students to complete
Chinese Mandarin classes at Qingdao University, China over one or two semesters.
Matt’s love aff air with China began during high school when he spent a week in the country as part of his Chinese language studies.
He then spent a “gap year” in China before beginning his Bachelor of Business (International Studies) at QUT in 2008.
Matt gets “zouing”
For Matt’s first year of uni, he studied at China’s Qingdao University through QUT’s Mandarin in-country study program, where he learned the Mantis style of kung fu and became fl uent in Chinese.Matt said “zou” was the Chinese word for go.
“China’s relations with Australia are very important. They are our biggest trade partner,” he said.
For details about QUT’s Chinese in-country study program, phone 07 3138 7735 or email [email protected].
For details on Get Zouing, visit www.getzouing.com.
ˇ
Matt Garrat learned kung fu while undertaking QUT’s Chinese in-country study program.
