IQ inside
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Queensland University of Technology Newspaper Issue 283 April 22 - May 12, 2008
Research
QUT researchers have attracted the lion’s share of National Health and Medical Research Council development grants announced by the Australian Government this month.
A total of 22 grants worth $4.4 million were announced nationwide to 14 universities and research organisations.
A dressing that aims to reduce the severity of scars, a device that is being desined to distinguish between healthy and damaged tissue and a potential new vaccine for genital chlamydial infection, were among six NHMRC development grants awarded to QUT researchers in the latest round of funding.
These grants, worth $941,773, will provide funding for researchers to translate the results of their research into products that benefit consumers in Australia and overseas.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Commercialisation) Professor Arun Sharma said bluebox, in collaboration with the Offi ce of Research, had played a vital role by working
closely with applicants to develop competitive applications with a strong commercial focus.
“This outcome is a very real example of where the expertise and experience of staff within bluebox can provide a signifi cant value-add to QUT’s research agenda,” Professor Sharma said.
In other NHMRC news, a Chinese postdoctoral health researcher will be given the opportunity to study at QUT under a new grants program to increase collaboration between Australian and Chinese health and medical researchers by supporting exchange between the two countries.
Dr Yufeng Zhang was awarded a $210,000 grant over two years to help the treatment of a number of orthopaedic and dental conditions.
Dr Zhang will work to develop gene-activated scaff olds as bone bioreactor for bone regeneration and osteointegration gene-activated bone substitutes.
He was awarded one of six grants for 2008 to support research under the Australia-China
Exchange Fellowship Program. Research leader Professor Zee Upton
www.news.qut.edu.au George Street Brisbane 4000 Telephone (07) 3138 2361 Registered by Australia Post – Publication No. QBF 4778. CRICOS No 00213J
Six grants for QUT health discoveries
• Professor Zee Upton, $157,500 for dressings for scar remediation
• Professor Zee Upton, $120,000 for treatment of chronic ulcers
• Professor Adekunle Oloyede,
$221,000 to develop a device that will distinguish between healthy and damaged tissue
• Professor Ken Beagley, $200,273 to develop a vaccine for genital chlamydial infection
• Dr Benjamin Goss, $82,500 for spinal fusion using biodegradable implants
• Dr Jonathan Harris, $160,500 for potential therapeutic roles for a protease inhibitor
QUT NHMRC grant recipients
Scholarships
MC Cerius’s spunky lyrics are not just for show, judging by the determination she displayed in over-coming fi nancial hardship to graduate from QUT.
MC Cerius, aka Cecilia Wade, threw herself into her twin passions of hip- hop and environmental science while a struggling student at QUT in 2003.
A $2000 QUT Learning Potential Fund scholarship, provided through QUT’s Equity section, in her second year
of university went a long way towards ensuring Cecilia finished her
Bachelor of Applied Science.
QUT assists a number of low income students with the special fund supported by donations from staff , alumni, and the general community.
Strutting her stuff in front of hyped crowds was
one of the few respites from her studies she allowed herself after refusing to jeopardise
her marks by taking an off-campus job during semester.
“I just wanted to put everything I had into my studies,”
Cecilia explains.
“I saw other students struggling to juggle work and study. And I just didn’t want
to do that. I wanted to get the full university experience and get good
grades.”
As a 29-year-old mature age student she was not eligible for rent assistance and she treated her uni studies as her full-time job, spending 40 hours a week studying, researching and preparing for lectures.
So she paid the financial price, scraping by on savings from her holiday jobs and what she earned taking lecture notes for Equity students, all while living on the “red and white diet” of home brand pasta and sauce and relying on occasional food parcels from the Student Guild.
“It was humbling at times,” she admits. “I spent all my time in the library using all the free resources that are available. But it made me realise that if you’re determined to learn all you really need is a pen and paper.
“It was such a huge weight lifted off my shoulders when I received the scholarship.
“But it went much further than that.
It also gave me a sense of moral support.
I felt like I was a valued member of the university community. I got the scholarship around the same time my marks started improving.”
In fact, by the time Cecilia graduated she had made the Dean’s List with a grade point average of 6.25, which she describes as a “proud moment”.
The now 34-year-old grad works in Brisbane City Council’s department of natural environment and sustainability while after work her alter ego MC Cerius performs on stage in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.
- Sue Gardiner
MC in da poor
house no more
Graduate Cecilia Wade, also known as MC Cerius in music circles, was able to reach her goals with the help of QUT’s Learning Potential Fund.
QUT will welcome United States information science postgraduate students in August to begin studying for a QUT PhD.
A small cohort of students will come through the San José State University’s (SJSU) School of Library and Information Science.
IT senior lecturer Helen Partridge, pictured, said the School was the world’s largest library science school with 2500 students.
“QUT has internationally recognised researchers in information science and we are delighted to be able to offer these students the chance to internationalise their degrees,” Dr Partridge said.
The part-time San Jose Gateway PhD
Program would be off ered online with short residencies in San José.
She said Californian legislation did not allow the school to off er a PhD program and so they had chosen to partner with QUT to off er their Masters students a pathway to the San José Gateway PhD Program.
“SJSU decided to partner with an Australian institution to offer their students doctoral degrees and, because QUT had similar philosophies and a strong focus on quality teaching, they invited the Faculty into a partnership.”
Dr Partridge said it was a “win/win”
situation because SJSU could give their academic staff the opportunity to start building their own research culture while it built QUT’s research capacity
in a dynamic, emerging discipline.
“The partnership benef its our Masters of Information Management students as they will be able to take elective units of study on line with SJSU and give their degrees an international dimension.”
- Niki Widdowson
Education
TWENTY-FOUR Malaysian graduates have begun teaching English to Malaysian primary school students thanks, in part, to their two years spent studying at QUT’s Faculty of Education.
The students participated in a joint four-year degree between QUT and Malaysia’s Ministry of Education graduated in Malaysia on April 6.
It is part of an ongoing relationship between QUT and the Ministry that has seen many Malaysian students studying on the Kelvin Grove campus.
Associate Professor Bob Elliott, Assistant Dean (International and Engagement) said the relationship with the Ministry was important as it helped to internationalise the university and provided overseas opportunities for staff .
“The program has helped us forge close links with the government of Malaysia,” Professor Elliott said.
“We’ve found that in many cases the Malaysian students performed better than domestic students because they are extremely motivated and the Malaysian Government provided them with lots of support.
“The teachers are in high demand because recent changes in the Malaysian education system have seen an increase in the importance of English as well as a couple of other subjects taught in English.”
QUT was one of fi ve overseas universities to be selected by the Ministry to participate in this program.
Professor Elliot said it would continue until 2012 and included QUT facilitation of workshops in Malaysia and Malaysian teacher educators visiting QUT for professional development.
In a separate degree program, the Faculty of Education is educating about 200 students in Malaysia to teach Science, and Design and Technology in Malaysian primary schools.
This group will graduate in 2010.
-Sue Gardiner
COMMENT
FEDERAL Education Minister Julia Gillard highlighted a persistent problem in Austr alian higher education when announcing the recently established major federal review of universities.
Despite many years of effort and targeted support, people who come from f inancially poorer backgrounds are not sufficiently well represented in the university student population.
Given the demonstrable overall benefi ts of higher levels of education, this lack of participation may be a major factor in locking in disadvantage from one generation to the next.
At one level, the cause of the problem undoubtedly lies outside the scope of universities, inequality being entrenched in various ways in families and communities over generations.
H oweve r, u n ive r s i t i e s a n d governments can do a great deal to assist at the point of entry to university and with continuation of studies.
Th e Fe d e r a l G ove r n m e n t ’s announced doubling of government scholarships by 2012 is therefore very welcome.
Q U T h a s a ve r y s t r o n g commitment to improving the accessibility of university for people from disadvantaged backgrounds, and for many year s we have provided our own scholarships and bursaries.
We have established the Learning Potential Fund to provide perpetual support, as featured in this issue of Inside QUT, and we also dedicate a
percentage of our annual income to such eff orts.
Our strategy is about more than money, however, and systematically a i m s a t r a i s i n g a s p i r a t i o n for university study in various communities.
We do this by assisting with entry to university, providing financial support for study, and providing targeted academic support when needed.
While fundamental changes will take time, some impressive eff ects can be seen at a more immediate level.
QUT data shows that attrition rates for scholarship-holders are 40 per cent less than for non-scholarship- holders, and that scholarships also have some eff ect on recruitment.
QUT also provides f inancial support targeted in other ways aimed at reinforcing various important aspects of the student body, alongside programs from several industry and non-government bodies.
T h e u n i v e r s i t y p r o v i d e s scholarships on the basis of high academic merit, through the Vice- Chancellor’s Scholarships and faculty-based programs, as well as for research activity and elite athletes, as featured in this edition.
Scholarships not only provide important relief from the pressures on time and money facing almost all students; they are also a tangible expression of our priorities as a university toward our student community.
Professor Peter Coaldrake Vice-Chancellor
2020 Summit
FIVE QUT academics were among the 1000 “best and brightest” to participate in Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s summit on Australia’s future this month.
Professor Stuart Cunningham, a leading researcher in media and communications, Executive Dean of Law, Professor the Honourable Michael Lavarch, Professor of Social Work Bob Lonne, senior business lecturer Dr Mark McGovern and Dr Chris Sarra, the Executive Director of the Indigenous Education Leadership Institute at QUT’s Caboolture campus, were in Canberra for the 2020 Future Summit staged on April 19 and 20.
The talkfest brought together prominent Australians with an aim to tackle issues like sustainability, social inclusion, education, indigenous people and services, the arts, and
national security.
Participants included media bosses, movie and sporting stars and religious and community leaders.
Professor Stuart Cunningham, director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation based at QUT, rubbed shoulders with the likes of Hollywood hear t-throb Hugh Jackman and comedian Andrew Denton when he participated in the ‘Towards a Creative Australia’ policy area of the summit.
Professor Michael Lavarch tackled the future of Australian governance.
Professor Bob Lonne and Dr Mark McGovern participated in the future directions for rural industries and rural communities sessions.
Dr Chris Sarra, the former principal of Cherbourg State School in South East Queensland, participated in the productivity agenda advising on education.
Academics part of Prime Minister’s brains trust
1. Prof Michael Lavarch 2. Prof Bob Lonne 3. Prof Stuart
Cunningham 4. Dr Chris Sarra 5. Dr Mark McGovern
1 2 3
4 5
QUT’s Malaysian graduates
Postgrads will soon know the way to San José
Malaysian students Sharifah Hidaya Syed Hussien, Izy Norman Effendy and Hanisah Bt Mohd Yunus have taken up courses in the Faculty of Education.
A REPORT into QUT’s Equity Scholarship Scheme has revealed that students who receive scholarships reduce their likelihood of dropping out by 40 per cent.
The Equity Scholarship Impact Sur vey showed students who received fi nancial assistance were able to reduce stress by cutting down their paid working hours, purchasing study tools, and devoting more time to study.
This meant they were less likely to give up before finishing their studies.
Mary Kelly, QUT’s Equity Co- ordinator, said the scholarships were given to those who needed them most.
“The scholarships have a very clear impact,” she said.
“Some use the money to meet an immediate fi nancial need, such as buying books or paying an overdue bill, but others use it to buy time, so that they can give more attention to their studies.
“With less stress and more time, the students are more focussed.”
Gemma O’Brien, 20, pictured, a QUT nursing student, is in her third year of receiving a Commonwealth Scholarship, and recognised the vast diff erence fi nancial assistance can make to a student’s life.
“It means that now I can aff ord to get all my textbooks, so it gives me peace of mind and not having to
work so much means I will be able to study a lot better,” she said.
The QUT Equity Scholarships Scheme has given fi nancial assistance to 2359 students this year, through QUT-funded scholarships, as well as Commonwealth Scholarships.
- Sharon Thompson
Students’ staying power boosted by scholarships
Research scholarships
WITH an Australian admitted to hospital every eight minutes suff ering from the brittle bone condition osteoporosis, a QUT researcher is using a Smart State PhD Scholarship to develop an early diagnostic tool.
PhD researcher Victoria Toal is one of six QUT students to each be awarded a $21,000 grant to fi nance their cutting-edge research under the latest round of the Smart State PhD scholarships program.
The prog r am is par t of the Government’s $200 million Smart State Innovation Funds, which are designed to help build world-class research facilities, attract top quality scientists and stimulate cutting-edge research projects in Queensland.
Ms Toal, from the Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering, said osteoporosis typically went undiagnosed until a fracture occurred
which dramatically increased the risk of further damage.
“There’s currently limited knowledge about how bone damage occurs in conditions such as osteoporosis,” Ms Toal said.
“I’ ll be using high resolution medical imaging, computer models and experimental tests to study how high loading events cause damage to osteoporotic trabecular bone which is the porous network in the middle of most bones.
“The laboratory testing will involve placing bone samples through carefully controlled stress, compression and tension tests and studying how they behave.”
Other QUT scholarship recipients:
- James Broadbent from the School of Life Sciences is exploring the uses of hyperbaric oxygen therapy which uses pure oxygen at greater than normal atmospheric pressures to heal chronic wounds. See page 4 for story.
- Security risk analyst Charles Knight from the School of Justice is examining whether governments could be playing into terrorists’ hands by launching heavy-handed military and legal operations in response to terrorist attacks.
- Tracy O’Mara from the School of Life Sciences is researching a better early screening procedure for womb or endometrial cancer.
- Craig Costello from the School of Information Technology is developing a complex piece of mathematics that can be used to encrypt security access to computers and communication networks to protect them from hostile attacks.
- Carly Lassig from The Centre for Learning Innovation in the Faculty of Education is studying the experiences of students doing the international high school curriculum, the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program.
Public health
MORE than half of all Australian men are overweight or obese, but less than a third of them think they are, according to new QUT research into perceptions of weight status.
The research, published in the latest issue of Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, reveals that many blokes are in dangerous denial about their weight, says Katrina Giskes, a researcher from QUT’s Institute for Health and Biomedical Innovation.
“There are some psycholog ical
benefits to positive perceptions of weight status, but the risks associated with incorrect perceptions cannot be ignored,” she said.
“Kidding yourself you’re lighter than you are, for example, makes it easier to ignore public health campaigns encouraging healthier food and more active lifestyles.
“Individuals may only be responsive to these efforts if they perceive themselves as having a weight problem,” she added.
The study, using data from the National Health Survey of more
than 34,000 men and women, found that men from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds were even more likely to discount the health risks associated with their beer bellies.
Women, on the other hand, were more likely to report that they were carrying extra kilos - even when they weren’t.
“Men tended to underestimate their weight status, whereas over-estimation was more common among women,”
she said.
The study found that 37.4 per cent of women were overweight or obese
according to self-reported height and weight data, but 42.8 per cent evaluated themselves as such.
This trend was particularly apparent amongst well-off, well-educated women, who were at increased risk of developing body image problems and eating disorders.
Overweight and obesity are key risk factors for the leading causes of death among Australians.
The report was co-authored by QUT public health researcher Jessica Siu.
- Denise Cullen
The future of
solar-powered houses is
clear
QUT students big winners in scholarship program
Blokes in denial over weight: study
Sustainability
PEOPLE could live in glass houses and look at the world through rose-tinted windows while reducing their carbon emissions by 50 per cent thanks to QUT Institute for Sustainable Resources (ISR) research.
Professor John Bell, pictured, said QUT had worked with a Canberra-based company Dyesol, which is developing transparent solar cells that act as both windows and energy generators in houses or commercial buildings.
He said the solar cell glass would make a signifi cant diff erence to home and building owners’ energy costs and could, in fact, generate excess energy that could be stored or on-sold.
Professor Bell said the glass was one of a number of practical technologies that would help combat global warming which was a focus of research at the ISR.
“The transparent solar cells have a faint reddish hue but are completely see-through,” Professor Bell said.
“The solar cells contain titanium dioxide coated in a dye that increases light absorption.
“The glass captures solar energy which can be used to power the house but can also reduce overheating of the house, reducing the need for cooling.”
Professor Bell said it would be possible to build houses made entirely of the transparent solar cells.
“As long as a house is designed throughout for energy effi ciency, with low-energy appliances it is conceivable it could be self-sustaining in its power requirements using
the solar-cell glass,” he said.
“Australian housing design tends to encourage high energy use because electricity is so cheap.
“But it is easy to build a house that doesn’t need powered cooling or heating in Queensland.”
He said the glass would be on the market a few years.
Professor Bell said the solar cell glass was the subject of two Australian Research Council Linkage grants to QUT researchers to investigate ways to increase its energy absorption and to reduce the eff ects of “shadowing”, where overcast skies and shadows from trees or other buildings can cause loss of collected power.
- Niki Widdowson
PhD researcher Victoria Toal is one of six QUT students to receive a State Government grant.
Scholarships
QUT’s latest graduate to be named as a Fulbright Scholar, Sarah Beavan, is at the forefront of the next wave of technology aimed at ramping up security for organisations like banks, telecommunications carriers and government defence agencies.
After being named as one of this year’s prestigious Fulbright Scholars, Ms Beavan, pictured, will from September this year through until May 2009 undertake quantum cryptography research at the Joint Quantum Institute ( JQI) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) at the University of Maryland.
She received the 2008 Fulbright P o s t g r a d u a t e S c h o l a r s h i p i n Technology and Communication and is developing a ‘quantum repeater’
which can send information, encrypted using the fundamental properties of quantum physics, over long distances - previously thought impossible due to technological limitations.
“The main impediment of such quantum systems is that information
is lost exponentially as the distance between the sender and receiver is increased,” Ms Beavan explains.
“A quantum repeater would be the solution to this problem of limited range and would form an essential component of any future quantum networks.”
During her studies at QUT Ms Beavan was recognised with a wide range of awards, including the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Honours, Head of School’s Award for Excellence in Mathematics, and the Physics Staff Prize, culminating in her winning the University Medal for Science.
She is now undertaking a PhD in Physics at the Australian National University (ANU) through an Australian Postgraduate Award and College of Science Distinguished Research Student Scholarship.
Created in 1946, the Fulbright program is the largest educational scholarship of its kind.
Ms Beavan is one of only 24 Australians to be recognised as a Fulbright Scholar in 2008.
- Denise Cullen
Research
CONCERN for climate change doesn’t always translate to action but a QUT student has helped research the problem of getting people to reduce, reuse and recycle.
Third-year creative industries student Greg Young, pictured, who is majoring in communication design, received an eight-week Vacation Research Experience Scholarship to study ways to get people to motivate themselves to live sustainably.
“My project was to identify and critique any digital systems, applications or devices that use interaction design to go beyond informing and into motivating and encouraging people to act sustainably,” Mr Young said.
“Creating a sustainable world requires a massive shift in our thinking to re-evaluate the everyday lifestyle choices we make.
“This project required me to review psycholog y of motivation studies that inform various methods of motivating and supporting individuals to change their behaviour to a sustainable level.”
He found studies arguing the key to self-motivation was to make sustainable behaviour “normative” or everyday.
“It needs to become socially commonplace to conserve energy,” Mr Young said.
“We have seen the gradual shift against smoking - it is now not acceptable in many places. Smoking is viewed as anti-social as well as dangerous to your own health. But it has taken a long time.
“ Fo r ex a m p l e , we n e e d t o m a k e unnecessary, high-energy consumption such as urban driving of 4WDs socially unacceptable and bike riding or using public transport the norm, and quickly.”
Mr Young said one way to encourage change in the upcoming generation was to create digital education tools that prompted sustainable behaviours.
He is currently co-developing a 3D game- like environment based on a bleak future world scenario, aimed at mobilising young people.
“Rather than preaching doom and gloom, players experience the natural consequences
of our actions on the environment, they can see what will happen if unsustainable activity continues. At the same time it shows what individuals can do to change their lifestyle right now,” he said.
Mr Young said he had discounted schemes that rewarded acting sustainably or punished high-energy use because these only worked in the short term and did not create intrinsic self-motivation.
“Similarly, schemes such as smart metering, which shows individual energy, could have the opposite eff ect because when people fi nd an appliance is using less energy than expected, they may increase their usage.”
Mr Young’s project informed a 2009 ARC Discovery grant proposal by Dr Marcus Foth (Creative Industries), Professor Margot Brereton (BEE), Professor Paul Roe (FIT), Dr Christine Satchell (Creative Industries) and Dr Karl Mallon (Climate Risk Pty Ltd, Sydney) which is currently being reviewed by the Australian Research Council.
- Niki Widdowson
Everyone’s doing it:
sustaining sustainable change
Power of oxygen therapy explored
Fulbright graduate steps up security
Life sciences
PURE oxygen therapy is reputed to have many medical benefi ts, including saving limbs from amputation, and a QUT researcher is setting out to explore its healing properties.
PhD researcher James Broadbent, from the School of Life Sciences, is studying pure oxygen, or hyperbaric, therapy’s eff ects on chronic wounds.
“An abundance of anecdotal evidence suggests that hyperbaric oxygen therapy signifi cantly reduces the need for chronic leg and foot ulcer suff erers to undergo limb amputation,” Mr Broadbent said.
“But there have been no scientifi c trials conducted to explain exactly why and how it works.”
Hyperbaric treatment is administered via a steel chamber that the patient enters spending up to 90 minutes per session.
Mr Broadbent said finding out why hyperbaric oxygen therapy was such a powerful healer had the potential to contribute to new treatment and monitoring strategies for chronic ulcer suff erers.
“It could lead to increased patient quality of life and relieve the fi nancial strain on the healthcare system with treatments
extending over long periods draining an estimated $500 million from the Australian healthcare system,” Mr Broadbent said.
“It may also make it easier for patients to be able to claim the treatment under Medicare and likely increase the popularity of the therapy.”
Mr Broadbent has been granted a $21,000 Smart State Government PhD scholarship to fund the research.
Chronic leg and foot ulcers are estimated to aff ect up to 3 per cent of people over 60.
Cur rent treatment often requires hospitalisation but despite such intensive care leg ulcers are diffi cult to heal.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy has also been used to treat conditions including burns, gangrene, near drowning, severed limbs, smoke inhalation, carbon monoxide poisoning and near electrocution.
Mr Broadbent is conducting the research with the assistance of the Wesley Centre for Hyperbaric Medicine and the Cell and Molecular Proteomics Mass Spectrometry Facility at University of Queensland.
- Sue Gardiner PhD researcher James Broadbent will use a Smart State scholarship to fund his research.
MORE than 100 crashes involving cyclists were recorded in Brisbane last year, and a new QUT research project is aiming to fi nd out how to make roads safer for those travelling on two wheels.
The safety of cyclists and the number of crashes recorded in various traffi c situations will be analysed to identify where they are most at risk, and how this risk can be reduced.
The project, being undertaken by the QUT Centre for Road Accident Research and Road Safety – Queensland (CARRS- Q), will, in its fi rst phase, look at whether high or low-density motor vehicle traffi c presents more of a risk for cyclists on the road.
Later, it will also see whether there are cyclist accidents on roads with bicycle lanes, and make recommendations for how cyclists could be safer on the road.
Senior research assistant Amy Schramm said cyclists were a vulnerable group of road users, and the rapidly increasing popularity of cycling meant the issue needed to be looked at.
“At the start of this year, it was recorded for the eighth year in a row that the number of people buying bikes outstripped motor vehicle sales,”
she said.
“Cyclists can be very vulnerable when on the roads and with this study we want to establish what the major issues are, and where cyclists are most at risk.”
She said the study would look at police reports of crashes in Queensland involving cyclists, as well as take data from cycling organisations, to see how the number of cars on the road aff ected the risk of cyclists being involved in crashes.
“We are not sure what we might fi nd at
Driver training at work could lower death toll
WORK-BASED driver education prog rams could help reduce the national road death toll of which 13 per cent occurs while people are driving for work, a QUT road safety researcher said.
Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety – Queensland (CARRS- Q) fleet safety program manager Darren Wishart said there could be many benefi ts to society if employees undertook education programs to improve their driving behaviour.
However, employers needed to remove potential conflicts between work demands and safe driving to allow
THE ROAD TO SAFETY
any such employee driver-training program to be eff ective, he said.
“If we can improve work-related driving then more than likely people’s driving outside of work would improve,” Mr Wishart said.
“Researchers have found work- related traffic injuries are about twice as likely to result in death or permanent disability than other workplace accidents and account for up to 26 per cent of work-related deaths in Australia.”
He said that as people’s lives became busier they spent more and more time in their cars and tended to use them as an offi ce.
“Even though driving is complex and probably the most risky thing you do each day, people do not realise the dangers or think a crash may not happen to them,” Mr Wishart said.
“They treat their vehicles as an offi ce – talking on mobiles, sending texts – and research has shown drivers using a mobile phone, whether hands-free or not, have a four times greater chance of a crash.”
Mr Wishar t said that under workplace health and safety laws a vehicle used for work purposes was considered a workplace and therefore
all employers and employees had an obligation to ensure a safe workplace and safe work practices.
“Organisations and managers need to be aware of their obligations to require safe work practices and promote a safety culture in relation to work-related driving,” Mr Wishart said.
He said understanding underlying reasons for dangerous work-related driving, such as unrealistic work schedules, was key to chang ing behaviour.
“Although training may provide the skills and awareness to drive safely, for example not to speed, the organisation’s processes and work tasks may create time pressures that compromise safe driving.
“If, for example, organisations create unrealistic work schedules and employees are expected to reach high targets or quotas, they may perceive they are being encouraged to drive dangerously.”
Dr Wishart said employers could contact CARRS-Q on carssq@qut.
edu.au for an analysis of their organisation’s work-related road safety processes.
- Niki Widdowson the moment, and are keeping an open
mind about it,” Ms Schramm said.
“In areas with a lot of traffi c the speed of each vehicle is lower, which might reduce the risk when compared to quieter areas where cars may be
going faster.
“On the other hand, in busier areas cars are concentrating on other motor vehicles, so there may be a risk they will not be on the alert for cyclists.”
- Sharon Thompson
Driver simulator set to slash road crashes
THE state’s f irst advanced driver simulator, expected to be up and running within six months, will help QUT researchers tackle the high death toll on Australian roads.
To be built at the Centre for Accident Research & Road Safety – Queensland (CARRS-Q), the $750,000 machine will give researchers the opportunity to study human behaviour in diff erent driving conditions.
A s s o c i a t e P r o f e s s o r A n d r y Rakotonirainy said road crashes were still the major cause of traumatic death and injury in Australia with an economic and social burden estimated at over $17 billion a year.
“This simulator will have the capability to study drivers safely in critical situations with a high degree of realism,” he said.
“It will help provide research answers that would be diffi cult, costly and often unsafe to obtain under real driving situations.
“Given most crashes can be attributed to driver errors, evaluating driver behaviour is essential.”
Professor Rakotonirainy said it was estimated that intelligent transport systems such as the driver simulator, could potentially reduce road crashes
by up to 40 per cent in Australia by 2012.
He said this advanced driver simulator would work by utilising seven to eight computers, projectors and a platform that moves in three dimensions.
“It will also incorporate a life-size vehicle allowing the simulator to reproduce real traffi c situations,” he said.
Professor Rakotonirainy said 11 research projects had already been earmarked for the driver simulator, including a study that would investigate reduced vig ilance as a result of monotonous road conditions.
“Vigilance is a contributing factor in seven per cent of all reported crashes and 15 per cent of fatal crashes,”
Professor Rakotonirainy said.
The driver simulator, which has been in part funded by the Australia Research Council, UQ, Queensland Transport, Department of Main Roads, RACQ and MAIC (Motor Accident Insurance Commission) will bring together researchers from multidisciplinary f ields including optometry, psychology, mathematics, physiology and road safety.
- Sandra Hutchinson
Safety focus on vulnerable cyclists
Researcher Amy Schramm
Researcher Darren Wishart
Associate Professor Andry Rakotonirainy
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High-tech glasshouses a boon to QUT research
Science
AG R I C U LT U R A L re s e a rc h a n d development at QUT received a significant boost with the opening this month of a new $8.6 million state-of-the-art glasshouse facility at Redlands.
Director of QUT’s Centre for Tropical Crops and Biocommodities Professor James Dale said the high-tech glasshouses at the new Queensland Crop Development Facility (QCDF) were crucial to the progress of three major research projects currently underway.
The most recently-launched project involves developing technologies to provide clean, green alternatives to fossil fuels.
Professor Dale has pioneered groundbreaking genetic technology
that can economically convert plant waste into sugars which can then be used to produce ethanol - and all without compromising the sugar potential of the cane.
“It’s the holy grail of biofuels,”
Professor Dale explained.
He said the fi ve glasshouses at the new facility would accommodate all crop species, including trees, and could replicate specifi c environments using computer-controlled temperature settings.
They were vital, too, as they represented the f inal step before fi eld trials in an international project designed to improve the production and nutritional value of bananas.
East African Highland bananas are the staple food of Uganda and their East African neighbours.
“But unfortunately these bananas
are low in essential micronutrients and as a result vitamin A defi ciency and iron defi ciency anaemia are major health problems,” Professor Dale said.
The project, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is working to develop East African Highland bananas that are high in pro-vitamin A and iron.
“QCDF will be critical in assessing the fi rst genetically modifi ed bananas prior to their fi eld trial later this year,”
he added.
QCDF is a joint project with investment of $5.6 million from the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, QUT and the University of Queensland, with an additional $3 million in funding from the Queensland Government Smart State initiative.
- Denise Cullen
Inexplicable ignition: study
Coffee Week
Quaffi ng a coffee during QUT Coffee Week (May 26- 30) will help disadvantaged students by raising cash for QUT Learning Potential Fund scholarships and bursaries.
For every hot beverage sold at Beadles and the Student Guild Bar (KG) and Bar Merlo and Dusk (GP), $1 will be donated by the café, and matched dollar for dollar by QUT. Trying their hand at the art of coffee- making will be guest baristas V-C Peter Coaldrake and all fi ve DVCs. The fund aims to beat the $12,000 raised last year.
Write it
A series of free lectures for QUT creative writing students has been organised to help them make a living from their writing by letting them hear from industry professionals.
Next up in the Write It series is The Independent Press on May 13. Getting Published will be held on July 29, while on September 2 students will be let into the techniques of successful grant applications by an Arts Queensland representative. All the talks are being held at The Glass House on the Creative Industries Precinct. Go to www.ciprecinct.qut.com.
Calling young entrepreneurs The search is on again for Queensland’s best young entrepreneurial thinkers.
Students, young professionals and tradespeople are all encouraged to compete to become the Queensland Business Icon for 2008. The competition, run by QUT students, in association with Australian Experiential Learning Centre, targets 18- to 25-year-olds who will be challenged with tasks to test their innovation, enterprise, creativity and
communication. Apply online until May 30 at www.qld.
australianbusinessicon.com.
The competition will be held in Brisbane in July.
e-Grad School for CRCs The Australian Technology Network’s eGrad School, which aims to help researchers build their
capacity to work with industry, has been selected as the preferred supplier for the CRC Association to deliver the Graduate Certifi cate Research Management to CRC researchers. QUT is one of fi ve ATN universities.
ePortfolio opens doors An online tool designed to document learning, experience and achievement is opening doors for students studying at QUT. ePortfolio is an internet-based resumé and project-building tool that allows students and staff record and present their academic, professional and personal development. QUT is leading a Carrick Institute- funded study into the use of ePortfolio in Australian tertiary institutions. Dominique Chora,
pictured above, a QUT media and communications/business double degree student, began using ePortfolio for an assignment and soon found it to be an excellent tool in helping to build job applications. “Because it’s online, you can access it anywhere,” she said. “I was in an interview with an employer who asked about one of my projects. I was able to log into my ePortfolio on her computer and show her what I had done.” For more information about the Australian ePortfolio Project, visit www.eportfoliopractice.
qut.edu.au.
Engineering
A QUT researcher has embarked on a study to demystify seemingly inexplicable blazes caused by static electricity, which can put petrol stations and newborn babies’ humidicribs at risk.
Engineering PhD researcher Yi- chuan (Owen) Su, pictured, said not enough was known about electro-static discharge (sparks created by static electricity) and has undertaken a study to determine which conditions were required to create ignition.
The study will determine what concentrations of oxygen, humidity, fuel and static discharge will lead to ignition, and will also look at how much charge can accumulate with diff erent materials and fabrics.
Mr Su said in cases of combustion where there was no evident cause of ignition, like a naked fl ame or live wire, static discharge was usually suspected.
“There is growing concern about the electrostatic hazards associated with the ability of modern materials and fabrics to accumulate electric charge,” he said.
“Currently, our understanding of static discharge is insuffi cient to identify hazardous situations.
“ We n e e d t o u n d e r s t a n d the mechanics of static ignition, quantif iably, in order to take the guesswork out of assessment of static hazards, especially where “new age”
materials are replacing traditional materials.”
Mr Su said static electricity was blamed for a fl ash fl ame at a United States gas station.
“A woman was fi lling her car with a fuel nozzle set to automatic, which cannot be done in Australia. She let it continue fi lling while she climbed into her car to grab something, and unknowingly built up charge.
“As she climbed out, the fi rst thing she grabbed was the nozzle, which earthed her charge and caused a spark that set petrol vapours alight.
“The fl ame only lasted a few seconds because a safety mechanism in the
pump prevented a disaster, and the woman was not injured.”
Mr Su said ongoing research had shown that the Hindenburg disaster of the 1930s, was caused by static electricity that built up between the outer fabric and the protective coating of the hydrogen-fi lled airbus and arced, causing an explosion, as the giant blimp grounded.
He said static discharge was a higher risk in situations where there were increased concentrations of oxygen, including hyperbaric chambers and humidicribs used for newborn babies.
- Rachael Wilson Professor James Dale at the new glasshouse facility at Redlands.
Education
WHETHER during a game of “mums and dads” or make-believe, kids at play can demonstrate highly developed skills in managing and manipulating peer interaction, a QUT researcher said.
After a month of “fl y on the wall”
observations in a prep year classroom, education PhD researcher Charlotte Cobb-Moore, pictured, discovered that children drew upon a variety of strategies to manage their play with peers.
“Children can be competent interactors and don’t always need adults to intervene,” Ms Cobb-Moore said.
“They are often capable of sorting out interaction problems on their own and have strategies to manage each other’s behaviour.”
Ms Cobb-Moore said she undertook her study to provide detailed accounts of what children actually did when they interacted with each other.
She spent a month videoing children aged four-and-a-half to almost six- years-old during free play time at prep, and spent many more months transcribing and analysing what they had said and done.
“It’s important for teachers to understand how kids interact with each other, because they are so busy when they are teaching, they often don’t have the time to simply observe children’s interactions in fi ne detail.
“In analysing children’s peer interactions in detail, I observed the children draw upon a variety of strategies to organise their play, including: the device of justifi cation, the categor y of ‘mother’ and pretence.”
Ms Cobb-Moore said pretence involved children pretending objects were something other than what they actually were, which enabled the children to prevent or enable peer participation.
“Drawing upon pretence, a child told his peers the pile of blocks he was playing with was a locked gate, thus locking others out,” she said.
“However, another child said a block he had been pretending was a car could fl y, enabling him get over the locked gate and gain access to the place beyond it.
“In playing the game ‘mums and dads’, one girl was seen to draw upon the category of ‘mother’ to organise play and discipline her peers. The other children took the game very seriously and reacted to her as if she really was their mother, thus co- constructing her authority.
“In another interaction, children used the device of justif ication to organise ownership rights of a wooden block. When the ‘owner’ of a block was called away from the area, the other children used justifi cation to debate possession of the block.
Upon the return of the ‘owner’, justification was used to provide reasons for possession of the block and fi nally for the owner to regain possession of it.”
Ms Cobb-Moore said it was important to know how children interacted.
“Both national and international policy relates to the importance of the early years and young people’s participation in activities, but it is not well-informed on how young children actually participate in their everyday lives,” she said.
- Rachael Wilson
Fraudsters getting
away with crime:
survey
Business
ONE in fi ve non-profi t organisations won’t sack an employee despite discovering they have dipped their hand in the till, according to QUT researcher Sherrena Buckby.
Ms Buckby, co-author of the BDO not-for-profi t fraud survey 2008, said non-profi ts were sending a dangerous message to other employees and volunteers by doing nothing when fraud was discovered within their organisation.
“It is interesting to note that 20 per cent of organisations did not terminate the employment of the person who committed the fraud,”
she said.
“By not terminating, an employee can continue to commit the fraud.”
Ms Buckby said while this might seem outrageous for most businesses, the feedback from nonprofi ts was the person had shown remorse, and therefore it was determined that no further action was warranted.
“Other reasons included the person had already resigned, the fraud was treated as unintentional use of company funds, and the person was acting as CEO at the time and there was limited opportunity and evidence to investigate further.”
The nonprofit sector covers a diverse range of organisations in areas such as culture and recreation, education and research, health, social services, environment, development and housing, law and politics, philanthropy, religion, and business and professional associations.
Ms Buckby said with more than 740,000 nonprof its across Australia and New Zealand with a combined income of $33.5 billion and employing 600,000 people plus a host of volunteers, keeping track of their fi nances was essential.
“The results of this survey can help organisations in determining future risk management strategies.”
Ms Buckby said the survey also found nonprofi ts were also less likely to report fraud to police, with 52 per cent of organisations saying they did not believe the police would be suffi ciently interested in the matter.
“A key deterrent for organisations is the possibility of bad publicity with 19 per cent of respondents expressing a concern about damaged reputation and three per cent about the potential loss of funding.”
The survey was co-authored by Lisa Bundesen from BDO Kendalls and Professor Peter Best from the University of Southern Queensland with support from the Not for Profi t Network, and conducted with 384 non-profi t organisations from Australia and New Zealand.
The survey can be downloaded at www.bdo.com.au/services/
forensic-accounting/resources/
not-for-profi t_fraud_survey_2008.
- Sandra Hutchinson
Study probes Australians’
disaster coping strategies
Child interactions more than child’s play
Psychology
FROM fl ooding in Queensland and bushfi res in Perth to gale-force winds and dust storms in Victoria and South Australia - Australians have had their fair share of natural disasters lately.
QUT psychology honours student Catherine Pritchard wants to fi nd out how people cope after such events and is looking for people who have been affected by a natural disaster to complete a survey about their experience.
Ms Pritchard is work ing with Professor Kathryn Gow, from the School of Psychology and Counselling, who has been researching the eff ects of trauma for many years.
She said she was surveying people who had lived through a natural disaster in the past year about how they felt physically and mentally after the event.
“I am look ing for people who have come through any type of natural disaster such as cyclones, severe storms, fl oods and fl ash fl oods, drought, bushfi res or hailstorms,” Ms Pritchard said.
“Natural disasters are unique among stressful events because people face them both as individuals and as a community.
“Each person deals with stressful events in a diff erent way and some have more eff ective strategies than others.
“That’s why I am looking for as many people as possible who have experienced some form of natural disaster in the past 12 months to share
their experience and how they coped following the disaster.
“The survey is designed to help uncover factors and coping strategies reducing natural disasters’ negative eff ects.”
Ms Pritchard said the research would aid understanding of coping with these types of stressors and ultimately increase awareness of counselling needs for people who experience natural disasters in the future.
Ms Pritchard said Australian Bureau of Statistics information showed Australia was particularly vulnerable to natural disasters due largely to its geographical location.
“We are all aware of climate change and the seemingly endless onslaught of natural disasters to strike Australia,”
Ms Pritchard said.
“Research on the experience of natural disasters has shown it to be the third most common traumatic event reported by the Australian population.
“Natural disasters are unpredictable, uncontrollable and are often unexpected events which increase the negative eff ects on people.”
To take part in the survey volunteers must be at least 18 years of age and have experienced any type of natural disaster in the past 12 months. The survey can be completed online at www.epicycles.com/qutsurvey or contact Ms Pritchard for a paper version of the questionnaire to be sent out by phoning 0403 077 792.
- Niki Widdowson Sherrena
Buckby
Psychology researcher Catherine Pritchard
Scoot’n action
- QUT Urban Country Music Festival MAY 2-5
Australian of the Year Lee Kernaghan will headline the main concert of the festival on Saturday, May 3 along with Troy Cassar-Daly, Beccy Cole, The McClymonts, Travis Collins, Kirsty-Lee Akers and Talia Wittman as part of the festival which features 500 artists on 11 stages at Caboolture. Phone 1800 810 400.
Seminar
APRIL 30
The Honourable Dean Wells MP will address the next Faculty of Law Free Public Lecture at Gardens Point on the section of the Criminal Code which makes it lawful for a parent to use “reasonable force”
against a child for the purposes of discipline.
Phone 3138 5344.
Exhibitions
APRIL 24 TO JUNE 29
Visit the QUT Art Museum on Gardens Point campus for a look at the works on paper of Ian Friend from the years 1977 to 2007.
MAY 1 TO 24 Head to the Creative Industries Precinct at Kelvin Grove to see VT2, a mix of internationally- recognised video, interactive media, installation and photo- media artworks. QUT has partnered with IDAprojects and the
Beijing Film Academy (China) for this touring exhibition. Phone 3138 5495.
Theatre
APRIL 28 TO 30 The musical Gospel According to Elvis features 19 gospel songs and is on at the Gardens Theatre on Gardens Point campus.
It follows Elvis’s life and the music he said
“touched him and made him whole”. Contact GardensTix on 3138 4455.
MAY 13 TO 17 Actor Toni Scanlan directs QUT second- year actors in Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard at the Gardens Theatre, Gardens Point campus. The play is about a spoiled, ageing aristocrat who returns from a trip to Paris to face the loss of her magnifi cent cherry orchard estate after a default on her mortgage. Phone GardensTix on 3138 4455.
Workshop
MAY 7
Concept artist Alex Drummond will lead a two-hour workshop demonstrating the job of a concept artist in preparation for the Game On Goes Virtual competition from May 7 to June 25. Go to www.
ciprecinct.qut.com.
Uni entry
MAY 14
Vital information for people wanting to use their work and life experience to enter uni will be provided at the Alternative Entry Information Evening at Kelvin Grove campus. On the same night at KG, a parents’
information evening will also be held. Both events start at 6.30pm.
Visit http://www.qut.
com/futurestudents/
events
Visit www.whatson.
qut.edu.au for more event listings and to submit your upcoming event.
WHAT’S on...
Janne Rayner (Editor) 07 3138 2361 Niki Widdowson 07 3138 1841 Rachael Wilson 07 3138 1150 Denise Cullen 07 3138 2130 Sharon Thompson 07 3138 4494 Erika Fish (Photography) 07 3138 5003 Marissa Hills (Advertising) 07 3138 2999 Richard de Waal (Design)
about IQ
Inside QUT is published by QUT’s Marketing and Communication Department.
Our readership includes staff, students and members of the QUT community. The paper is also circulated to business, industry, government and media. Opinions expressed in Inside QUT do not necessarily represent those of the university or the editorial team.
Acting
ONE of the most reviled men in history is being resurrected on the stage by final year acting students from QUT.
The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, a religious courtroom farcical drama, had its New York debut in 2005 and is being performed in Brisbane for the fi rst time this month.
QUT third-year acting student Wade Doolan, pictured above, plays Judas, while Gemma Yates-Round, also pictured, plays the trial judge who presides over all cases tried in purgatory.
“The play is set in a court room – it’s an appeal to get Judas Iscariot out of hell,” Wade said.
The play, directed by drama lecturer Leonard Meenach, is on at the QUT Gardens Theatre until April 24.
A GROUP of more than 150 Year 10 students was given a taste of life at QUT when they spent a day on campus late last month.
The students were selected from nine local high schools and attended interactive workshops at Kelvin Grove and Gardens Point campuses in a bid to show them what university is all about, and to open their eyes to study options.
It is the fi rst time that a general open day for high school students has been held across all faculties.
Pictured during forensic science work shops, at top, are Sar ah Alexander and Kate Platt, from Sandgate State High School and, below, Brendan Knight from Pine Rivers State High School.
Sport
JUGGLING elite sport with tertiary study can be a tough call but QUT’s expanding Sports Scholarship program is helping students make all the right moves.
M i c h a e l G e a r i n g , 1 7 , f r o m Toowoomba, is one of five Vice- Chancellor’s Sports Scholars this year, after placing in the top fi ve in the Australian Junior Chess Championship two years in a row.
“I started playing chess when I was four or f ive,” said Michael, also a keen cricketer and pianist, who is undertaking a Bachelor of Mathematics.
QUT and the QUT Student Guild this year awarded more than $135,000 in sports scholarships, designed to assist students fi nish their university degrees while continuing to compete in their chosen sport at an elite level.
The fi ve Vice-Chancellor’s Sports Scholarships are awarded to students who not only excel in sport (competing at a national or international level) but who are also high academic achievers (with an OP 1 to 5).
The scholarships provide fi nancial support and the chance to represent the university through the Student Ambassador program.
Edward Barry, a swimmer, and another of this year’s V-C Sports
Scholars, said the flexibility the program offers helps him manage his Bachelor of Pharmacy course requirements while still competing at an elite level.
He manages a gruelling schedule that involves both mor ning and afternoon training sessions.
“When I’ve had assignments due on days I’m racing, it’s worked out well, because I’ve been able to hand them in later,” he explained.
In addition to the fi ve V-C Sports Scholarships, 18 Sports Scholarships and 10 Development Sports Scholarships were awarded this year. (For a list of 2008 winners, see below.)
- Denise Cullen
Pressures of sport and
study kept in check, mate
Judas and the Judge at QUT
2008
Scholarship winnersVC Sports Scholars Edward Barry for swimming Darren Cash for rugby, cricket and athletics
Angela Faint for swimming Todd Garsden for athletics
Michael Gearing for cricket & chess Sports Scholars
Sam Carson for athletics Liam Zamel-Paez for athletics Justin Feuerriegel for beach volleyball
Jillian McLeod for beach volleyball Carla Hunter for hockey
Prue Eiser for hockey Laura Geitz for netball
Catherine Crane for rockclimbing Darryn Purcell for rowing Melinda Weaver for softball Christian Sprenger for swimming Kyle Richardson for swimming Josh Santacaterina for swimming Claire Campbell-Innes for table tennis
Richard Thompson for triathlon Jordan Mowen for volleyball Tom Knox for waterpolo Sophie Smith for waterpolo Development Sports Scholars Ashlee Wallis for basketball Jason Oliveri for bobsled Sarah Walker for indoor cricket Ayiesha Johnston for rhythmic gymnastics
Natalie Crick for hockey Jemma Wilson for motorcross/
enduro
Max Dudley for rugby league Laura Alleway for soccer Jessica Muller for softball Emma Jackson for waterpolo
Year 10s get sneak peek at uni life
Around Campus
Exchange places
KATIE Leadbetter, a Bachelor of Design student, reads about the possibilities of becoming an exchange student at the QUT Exchange Fair held at Gardens Point this month.
Chess champion Michael Gearing is a Vice-Chancellor’s Sports Scholar.
