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Queensland University of Technology Newspaper Issue 278 September 18 - October 15, 2007
QUT’s Professor Ross Crawford and patient Carmel Allan who is testing the miniature Vascular Enhancement Device.
www.news.qut.edu.au George Street Brisbane 4000 Telephone (07) 3138 2361 Registered by Australia Post – Publication No. QBF 4778. CRICOS No 00213J
Orthopaedics
A TINY mechanical device that stops blood clots could eliminate one of the most common preventable causes of death in hospitalised patients, according to QUT’s Professor Ross Crawford.
Professor Crawford, who is a visiting medical offi cer at The Prince Charles Hospital and chair of orthopaedic research at QUT, said pulmonary embolisms or blood clots, accounted for about one death in every 1000 patients undergoing a total joint replacement.
“Patients are fi ve times more likely to suff er a pulmonary embolism post surgery mak ing it a very serious problem,” he said.
T h e m a c h i n e , k n ow n a s a miniaturised Vascular Enhancement Device (VED), is being trialled on patients undergoing orthopaedic surger y at The Prince Charles Hospital.
“The VED is an infl atable sleeve which is fi tted to the patient’s calf. It has multiple chambers which infl ate and defl ate in a wave like motion, increasing blood fl ow from the leg,”
Professor Crawford said.
He said there was always a possibility blood clots might form in patients who were sedentary for long periods of time or after complex surgery.
“Most clots stay in the leg, but can travel to other parts of the body such as the heart or brain which in some cases can be fatal,” he said.
The portable device can be both
mains-powered or battery-operated which allows the patient to remain mobile while they recover from surgery.
It provides an eff ective, economical and comfortable alternative to larger, more cumbersome devices which signifi cantly restrict patient mobility.
Sunshine Coast company Vascular Enhancement Technology has been developing the potentially life- saving apparatus for fi ve years, with collaboration from inventor Dr Greg Wren, instrument engineer Walter Meyer and research scientist Wayne Bennett.
Dr Wren said the device potentially had other clinical applications such as draining fl uid from swollen limbs and assisting in the healing of venous ulcers.
“It may improve the quality of life for people with damaged veins, or who have restricted mobility such as nursing home residents or stroke patients,” Dr Wren said.
“The device could also be used to prevent deep vein thrombosis caused by people who stay still for long periods during long distance travel or offi ce- based work.”
Development and trialling of the device is being jointly funded by Vascular Enhancement Technology and a Federal Gover nment Aus- Industry Comet Grant.
It is hoped the initial trial results will be available by the end of the year, enabling larger trials to be conducted in 2008.
- Sandra Hutchinson
Nick
reaches height of fashion
Fashion
THERE’S not a jewel or sequin in sight when emerging fashion talent Nicholas Wilsdon sends his haute couture-inspired designs down the catwalk.
Nonplussed by the outlandish and unwearable numbers passed off as ‘haute couture’ in recent decades, the award-winning fashion honours student from QUT said it was the original Parisian fashion houses that inspired him.
The 21-ye ar-old has b e en touted as Brisbane’s next big thing in fashion after winning the inaugural Australian Fashion Graduate of the Year award at the recent Mercedes-Benz Fashion Festival held in Brisbane.
He follows in the creative footsteps of other successful QUT
fashion graduates, including Gail Reid (label Gail Sorronda), George Wu and John Prikryl.
Nicholas has paid his stitching dues at fashion houses in Brisbane and New Zealand and has stocked his garments in the Fortitude Valley fashion boutique Blonde Venus.
“Th e couture industry of Paris in the early 20th century designed lavish, yet comfortable, clothing that was made to last,” Nicholas said.
“Th e clothing could be passed down through generations and could be recut to fit different bodies because there was always enough fabric in the garments.
“However in the last 20 years, haute couture has come to be about making a spectacle at fashion shows.”
Nicholas said he reinterpreted classic designs with flattering
cuts for stylishly inclined women of any age.
“ M y c l o t h e s d o c u m e n t experience and the passing of time, from youth and teenage rebellion as well as the mysteries of feminine sensuality,” he said.
His winning collection L a Metamorpheuse was initially inspired by the Virginia Woolf stream-of-consciousness novel Orlando and featured feminine tailored outfi ts cut from various silks and poly cotton in neutral hues.
Nicholas is currently working on a new collection, Spirit of the Age, for his graduating show in late November.
- Rachael Wilson
New device averts blood clot risk
Honours fashion student Nicholas Wilsdon with a model in one of his winning designs.
COMMENT
THE QUT Learning Potential Fund launched its inaugural Riverfire dinner on September 1 to raise awareness and f unds amongst alumni, and donors in the local community.
The fund has been in existence since 1998 and has already helped more than 1500 fi nancially-disadvantaged QUT students with their studies by providing scholarships and bursaries.
Nearly 100 guests enjoyed a three-course dinner while taking in a panoramic view of the fi reworks from the newly launched Gibson Room in Z Block on our Gardens Point campus.
A special feature of the night was when master of ceremonies and QUT alumnus, journalist Tracey Spicer conducted a panel interview which included one of the student bursary recipients, Serge Radojevic, who is studying for a double degree in law and business.
Serge was able to provide a moving and human face to the work of the fund by sharing his journey towards a university education.
Serge came to Australia as a refugee from the former Yugoslavia when he was eight years old.
Serge told us that coming to Australia had changed his family’s life profoundly.
He said the Learning Potential
Fund provided much needed fi nancial support at just the right time so that he could help pay for text books in his second year.
He now has positive opportunities ahead of him and will use his education to improve his and his family’s future.
The f undraising goal of the Learning Potential Fund is to raise a minimum of $20 million.
T h e f u n d i s a p e r m a n e n t endowment, which means the interest on the capital base is distributed each year.
In this year alone, by the end of August, generous donors have raised nearly $117,000, and this fi gure has been matched by QUT to bring the total raised to $234,000.
The Riverfi re dinner was a valuable opportunity for the university to celebrate and thank the many donors who have contributed to this vitally important fund, and for them to hear of the positive impact that their donations have had on the lives of students.
I also extend my thanks to the event sponsors of the dinner, Merlo Kitchen and Vending Solutions.
Professor Vi McLean Acting Vice-Chancellor
Business
SEVEN QUT students have won a place in the prestigious Discover DNA program off ered by Alcan, giving them a foot in the door to a job with the aluminium giant, when they graduate.
Discover DNA (Distinct Nature of Alcan) is an innovative program to give students a greater understanding of Alcan and what working in the company is really like.
The elite program which is off ered to only 20 university students across Australia every year, gives up-and- coming business leaders the chance to
work with one of the largest aluminium producing companies in the world.
Sarah Firth, who is studying a Bachelor of Business/Bachelor of Laws degree, said the opportunity to tap into the “brains trust” of Alcan was invaluable.
“Being part of the program means I get the chance to work with a mentor and put what I learn in the classroom into practice,” Sarah said.
“I am working with the community relations legal adviser at Alcan and this is giving me a good insight into law and business.
“I get exposed to the corporate world
and I can learn the reality of working within a world-class organisation.”
The Alcan prog ram also g ives students the opportunity to share their views on a range of topics on their own personal online blog.
QUT students involved in the program are Anita Terhost, Megan Hanbidge, Nicholas Pappas, Tania Lim, Tanya Purtell and Tereaze Hubner.
The Discover DNA program also includes a competition and the winner, to be announced on September 28, will receive an internship at Alcan’s headquarters in Montreal, Canada.
- Sandra Hutchinson
Learning on the job
Awards
THREE women from QUT have been recognised as some of the brightest and most innovative in the state taking top honours in the 2007 Smart Women – Smart State Awards.
Associate Professor Lin Ma, pictured above, PhD student Katrina McDonald and undergraduate student Helen Gorell, all from the Faculty of Built Environment and Eng ineering, won awards for making significant contributions within their industry.
The awards were presented across 13 categories by the Queensland Government late last month.
Associate Professor Ma was named
winner in the “Women in Community/
Public Sector” category for her work in developing state-of-the-art methods and systems to monitor the performance and condition of major assets such as machinery.
Professor Ma said her research sought to predict when major assets should be maintained and thereby prevent them from failing unexpectedly.
Her systems help companies maintain safety standards and avoid unnecessary loss of production, while allowing them to plan the most effi cient use of resources.
Ms McDonald won her award in the category of “Postgraduate Students - Engineers” for her research
which investigated the mechanics of bone fractures associated with osteoporosis.
Her research aims to develop biomechanical techniques to better understand the processes leading up to, and following, vertebral compression fractures.
Ms Gorell was named winner in the “Underg raduate Students – Engineering” category for her design and construction of a mock circulation which mimics the natural circulatory system of a human.
The awards aim to promote careers in the traditionally dominated industries of science, engineering, communication and information technology.
QUT toasts smart state women
New senior appointments
QUEENSLANDERS have a new link to environmental sustainability, thanks to the development of an online portal by QUT’s Institute for Sustainable Resources.
The Sustainable South-East Q u e e n s l a n d p o r t a l – w w w.
sustainableseq.org.au – helps the public navigate through the vast resources of the inter net by providing links to websites relating to sustainability.
It also showcases the state’s sustainability initiatives to the world and brings Queensland in line with other major urban hubs around the globe that have similar portals.
In addition to providing links to other sites, the portal provides
the latest news on sustainability t o p i c s a n d e n c o u r a g e s u s e r contributions.
ISR acting director Dr Peter Grace said public interest in sustainability and sustainable development was rapidly increasing.
“South-East Queensland is facing the need to source and use sustainability information due to an accumulating growth rate and the current climatic and environmental eff ects on the Australian continent,”
he said.
“This portal offers an ever- g rowing database of links to websites featuring aspects of the vast topic of sustainability.”
Sustainability online
QUT business student Sarah Firth (left) with Alcan mentor Emily Beresford-Cane.
QUT has announced signif icant changes to its senior staff lineup.
Professor Vi McLean is to take up the newly created position of Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Teaching Quality) from early next year, while Mr Scott Sheppard will become Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International and Development) also from early 2008.
V-C Professor Peter Coaldrake said Professor McLean’s new role would
draw on her expertise and national standing as an educator in the key area of teaching.
Mr Sheppard, who is fluent in Mandarin, is currently Minister- Counsellor, Education, Science and Training at the Australian Embassy in Beijing.
Prior to his cur rent role, he wa s E x e c u t ive D i re c t o r, QU T International.
Header
Life sciences
N O R T H E R N A u s t r a l i a should be on high alert for an outbreak of dengue fever this summer following outbreaks in neighbouring Asian countries.
QUT infectious diseases expert Associate Professor John Aaskov is also warning Australians planning to travel to south-east Asia to be
“mosquito aware”.
He said Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam were reporting much larger numbers of dengue cases than expected already this year – Indonesia 69,000 cases and 750 deaths; Malaysia 31,000 cases and 67 deaths; Vietnam 33,000 cases and 35 deaths.
“Typically, south-east Asian countries experience major outbreaks of dengue one year in every three to fi ve, but the outbreaks now commonly spread over two years,” he said.
“We’re not sure exactly why the outbreaks are getting larger but it may relate to the unplanned movement of rural populations to the large cities where they often end up living in squatter camps with no reticulated water or garbage disposal.
“This leads to the storage of water in containers in which mosquitos can breed and to the collection of water in discarded waste which are also ideal mosquito breeding sites.”
Professor Aaskov said there was a complacency in much of Australia about diseases like dengue but it was important to remember that as recently as 2003 we had cases of the fatal dengue shock syndrome.
“The extensive two-way travel between Australia and countries to our north ensures that dengue viruses are being constantly introduced into Australia with travellers,” he said.
Although sever al dengue vaccines are currently undergoing trials, none are yet available.
QUT is helping in the global fi ght against dengue fever with its work in Vietnam and Myanmar.
“Although the dengue vaccines are in trial, we know relatively little about the viruses at which they are directed,” Professor Aaskov said.
“Because of the way the viruses change, and the diff erent patterns of disease in developed and developing countries, the immunisation strateg ies may be as important as the vaccines themselves – that’s the area we are working in.”
- Toni Chambers
Summer dengue fever
warning
Business
IF you have been spat on, yelled at or threatened while at work, then chances are you have faced a disgruntled customer.
According to QUT PhD researcher D o m i n i q u e K e e f f e , c o n s u m e r misbehaviour is fast becoming the norm rather than the exception with customers regularly taking out their frustrations on service employees.
As part of her research to understand wh a t m o t iva t e s c o n s u m e r s t o misbehave, Ms Keeff e is looking for people across Australia who work in the health care and fi nancial service industries to take part in the study.
“The fi rst part of my study looks at consumer misbehaviour from an organisation’s perspective,” she said.
“I have targeted two very specifi c industries, the health care industry and fi nancial services industry, and I want
to speak with staff in both of these industries about their experiences in dealing with disgruntled customers.”
The health care industry takes in doctor s, nur ses, emergenc y departments and allied health care workers, while the fi nancial services industry includes banks, financial planners, mortgage brokers and insurance companies.
“Both of these industries have high service levels and require staff to have
expert knowledge,” she said.
Ms Keeff e, who has already started interviewing service employees, said physical and verbal abuse was, so far, the most prevalent form of retaliation by a customer.
“This is probably because it is easy for someone to lose their temper and lash out verbally,” she said.
But Ms Keeff e said there were many examples where a customer’s rage had gone beyond an angry rant.
“I have been told by ser vice employees that they have had keys thrown at them, they have been spat on and they have even had death threats,”
she said.
“One person was confronted with a customer who thrust a non-functioning gun in their face and told they were
‘lucky this time’.”
Ms Keeffe said the study would initially investigate how an organisation and their staff handled this type of behaviour and also look at what type of impact it was having on staff and the company.
“After focusing on staff experiences with consumer misbehaviour, I will be talking with the consumer to fi nd out what they have done and why.
“I hope my research will present a clearer understanding of what drives consumer misbehaviour so that organisations can be aware of the potential warning signs and take action to prevent it from happening.”
If you work in the health care or financial services industries and want to take part in the study email Dominique Keeff e on d.keeff e@qut.
edu.au.
- Sandra Hutchinson
Customers behaving badly
Human movement studies
IMAGINE an electronic hand-held device that can track your appetite, record feelings of hunger, monitor food intake and contribute to weight management research.
These are some of the applications of a tool being developed by QUT behavioural scientist Dr Neil King, and his colleagues Professor Andrew Hills and Dr Nuala Byrne.
Dr King, pictured right, from QUT’s Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation and School of Human Movement Studies, said the tool, known as an Electronic Appetite Rating System (EARS), allowed people to continuously track their motivation to eat.
“Periodically during the day people answer questions like ‘How hungry are you now?’ as part of studies relating to eating patterns and appetite control,”
Dr King said.
“This tool is a simple, reliable and very eff ective way of recording s u b j e c t i ve e a t i n g
behaviour data.”
Dr King said by using the tool it was possible t o a s k s t r u c t u r e d q u e s t i o n s a b o u t a person’s motivation to eat, which type of foods they preferred and potentially the amount and type of food they had consumed.
“This infor mation is entered into the hand-held device and can be downloaded
Hungry to lose weight?
Help is at hand
at a later date onto a computer and analysed to determine a person’s eating behaviour profi le,” he said.
Dr King said studying people’s food preferences and motivation to eat could be used to better understand and characterise their eating behaviour.
“For example, why some people prefer high-fat foods or experience strong urges to eat could improve our understanding of the susceptibility to gain weight,”
he said.
Dr King, who fi rst developed the tool a decade ago in the United Kingdom, said it was time to upgrade the device to include additional behavioural a n d p h y s i o l o g i c a l measurements.
“ Th e p a l m t o p c o m p u t e r wa s originally used to continuously record subjective states of appetite and mood in clinical trials,” he said.
“What we aim to do now is upgrade the system to produce a mobile device which has continuous recording capabilities to monitor a range of behavioural and physiological measures such as food choice, cognitive function, blood glucose, heart rate and physical activity.”
To do this, Dr King is look ing to collaborate with an academic, commercial or industry partner with the IT knowledge to upgrade the software.
“The applications for this device are far ranging,” he said.
“Whether it is for research in clinical trials, or as a home-based personal weight management device, there are plenty of uses that make it a commercially attractive venture.”
- Sandra Hutchinson Researcher
Dominique Keeffe
Business
ALL start-up businesses should consider marketing internationally via the internet from the moment they establish, a QUT researcher says.
Shane Mathews, from the School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations, said new SMEs should think globally and act digitally by
“internetalising” from the beginning.
“Micro and small businesses should not wait until they’ve grown to a certain size before they harness the international marketing capability of the internet to compete in the global marketplace,” Mr Mathews said.
“Many businesses that internetalise from the star t can experience phenomenal international growth.
For example, one fi rm distributed to 44 countries within six months of inception.”
Mr Mathews said consumers had matured and now trusted the internet for major transactions, as witnessed by the growth of online fl ight and accommodation sites which have partly replaced traditional travel agencies.
“The internet is now the primary source of information for travel consumers,” Mr Mathews said.
“Having a website is essential as it is the fi rst place prospective clients go to check if the company is real.
“This is especially important for the fi rm’s international customers as they don’t have a physical presence. So, without a website the company does
not exist in the consumer’s mind.”
He said websites gave a global presence so that even the most micro business owner could go from “garage to global”.
“Virtual intermediaries such as wotif.com and ebay.com mean even small fi rms can use the internet to capture international customers.
“These intermediaries create a market space with a vast pre-existing customer base. Fir ms can use virtual intermediaries to capture new international market revenue streams.”
He said although serendipitous internationalisation occurred whereby some firms received orders from overseas customers whom they hadn’t actively targeted, this could not be relied upon.
“Business owners must develop their inter net marketing sk ills including search engine marketing and optimisation, and use of virtual intermediaries.”
Mr Mathews said internetalisation heightened competition and put pressure on local markets as customers had the power and could choose products from virtual market spaces around the world.
“Also, it is diffi cult for Australian businesses to evaluate where or who their competitors are. Therefore, there is a definite need for both international and internet marketing capabilities within the fi rm.”
- Niki Widdowson
Garage
to global
Nursing
QUEENSLAND’S fi rst ophthalmic or eye course for nurses is being off ered by the School of Nursing in conjunction with the Australian Ophthalmic Nurses Organisation (Qld).
The course is off ered externally over one semester and is open to registered nurses working in ophthalmic theatres, wards or emergency departments and other areas where patients’ eye care is required.
QUT nursing lecturer Dr Yvonne Osborne said the course was written by eight leading ophthalmic nurses and was the fi rst one in Australia to be based on the new National Competency Framework for Ophthalmic Nurses to be released next year.
“This course is much needed because nurses who wanted an eye specialty either have to go interstate or learn on the job,” Dr Osborne said.
“ N u r s e s a re b e c o m i n g m o re proactive in developing their own careers and there is a shortage of specialised ophthalmic nurses.”
Dr Osborne said the certificate course was part of the academic point system and could contribute to a higher course.
“We have designed the course so that nurses can tailor the content to meet the needs of patients who require eye care in a variety of settings,” Dr Osborne said.
“Because it is offered externally, it is designed to fi t into the lives of practising nurses.”
For further details on the course go to: http://www.hlth.qut.edu.au/nrs/
courses/cpe.jsp or call 07 3138 3833.
New eye course for
nurses
Information security
Q U T h a s j o i n e d f o r c e s w i t h international enterprise software giant SAP to combat Australia’s worsening
$3 billion fi nancial fraud problem.
A r e s e a r c h t e a m f r o m t h e Information Security Institute (ISI) at QUT has embarked on a three-year project investigating approaches for automating the detection of fraud within organisations.
The project has the support of the Australian Research Council.
ISI researcher Andrew Clark said that, according to a recent survey by KPMG, fi nancial fraud committed by internal sources accounted for 54 per cent of fraudulent activity in the non-
fi nancial services sectors.
“Aside from outright theft, most fraud occurs through misappropriating funds, forged cheques, falsifying invoices and computer fraud,” he said.
He said SAP had put considerable eff ort into fraud prevention and was now eager to explore how they could enhance their systems to include an automated ability to detect fraud.
I n Au s t r a l i a , S A P e n t e r p r i s e applications are employed by many hundreds of midsized businesses as well as some of the largest organisations in the country.
“The idea is to monitor invoicing and salary payments, for example, and to try and identify unusual instances of those that may be indicative of
fraudulent behaviour by personnel within the organisation,” he said.
“For example, someone who works in invoicing might change the bank account details of a supplier so that an invoice is paid into their personal bank account, and then change the number back to avoid detection.
“At the moment, that k ind of transaction may only be picked up by accountants or auditors working manually through records.”
Dr Clark said the project’s goal was to develop algorithms and methods of aggregating diff erent types of event data about the activities that people in organisations perform on computer systems.
“These can then be applied to
a system that helps us identify anomalous behaviour and produces an alert which would then have to be manually investigated by the appropriate person.”
Dr Clark said it was important, in fraud detection, to apply more generic techniques rather than trying to prescribe the types of behaviour that might be equal to fraud.
“It is a cat and mouse game because once fraudsters know you’re looking for particular behaviour, they will change their behaviour in order to avoid detection.
“The SAP system will look for unusual activities, and that will give us a broader coverage.”
- Carmen Myler
Fraud detectives
Shane Matthews
Students have changed, I think, in their attitudes, their expectations and their backgrounds.
They defi nitely have higher expectations and expect everything to have lights and whistles.
Career shock
Career-change teachers not only experience the usual dose of stress and self- doubt, but may undergo a real culture shock.
Education
PROFESSIONALS who change careers to become teachers might need diff erent support than people who go into teaching as their fi rst job, a QUT researcher says.
Education PhD researcher Debbie Kember, pictured above, is embarking on a three-year study tracking students through a one-
year teacher preparation course and into their teaching career.
Ms Kember said, while all beginning teachers experienced
“varying degrees of stress, self- doubt and disillusionment”, there was evidence that career-change teachers experienced an additional culture shock.
“In Queensland we’ve got much higher than expected numbers of students enrolled in the one-year graduate diploma program for 2007,” Ms Kember said.
“That means there will be a signifi cant increase in the number of career-change teachers transitioning into the profession.
“While this will mean there are plenty of quality applicants for high-demand specialist teaching roles, it also means there will be more demand on employers to
provide additional support if they are to retain these new teachers.”
Ms Kember said previous research suggested that preparing students for the future raised challenges for teachers in relating to students in their digital world.
She said this may require more than the information and communication technology (ICT) skills that a career-change teacher may bring to the profession, a notion she wanted to explore further.
Ms Kember said that research suggested teachers’ beliefs about how students learn were more important than knowing how to use a word processing or presentation package.
“Drawing on memories of how classrooms functioned from their own experience is problematic for
career-change teachers,” she said.
“Mak ing the transition into teaching is about letting go of redundant practices as well as learning a new way of working.”
Former police officer Andrew McCoola has been in the classroom for seven months since graduating from QUT.
He agrees the career change has come as a bit of a culture shock and says he has found the environment
“completely diff erent” from when he was at school.
Mr McCoola, who teaches Year 6 at Our Lady of Lourdes at Sunnybank in Brisbane, was a tiler, and then a Federal and Queensland police offi cer before he decided to become a teacher.
“It’s been a pretty diff icult transition, not matching up to my ideals exactly,” he said.
“Students have changed, I think, in their attitudes, their expectations and their backg rounds. They defi nitely have higher expectations and expect everything to have lights and whistles.”
However, the rewards are never far from view for Mr McCoola whose two sons attend the school where he teaches.
“I became a teacher because I liked guiding my boys and I realised I had a bit of a skill at communicating with kids after doing a little bit of coaching,” he said.
“I realised I could probably help kids through teaching them, rather than working as a police offi cer where I might pick the same kids up again and again for doing something wrong.”
- Carmen Myler QUT graduate Andrew McCoola is pictured at Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School with his son Lachlan.
in BRIEF...
New prof of architecture Leading sustainable development expert Janis Birkeland has joined QUT as its new Professor of Architecture based in the Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering. Professor Birkeland, pictured above, brings a wealth of experience to the position, having worked as an artist, advocacy planner, architect, urban designer, city planner and attorney in San Francisco before entering academia in Australia.
Equity Awards now open Know someone who is making a contribution to supporting equity in lecture halls and workplaces across QUT?
The opportunity to have their efforts recognised is now open with nominations being called for QUT’s Equity Awards.
Nominations close on October 12. For more information go to www.equity.qut.edu.au/
programs/other/equityawards.
Brisbane book launched QUT alumnus and staff member Dr Bill Hatherell recently launched his new book, The Third Metropolis – Imagining Brisbane through Art and Literature, as part of the Brisbane Writers Festival.
With a focus on the literary
and visual arts – in particular poetry, the novel, and painting – The Third Metropolis
considers the relationship of these works of art to the actual history of Brisbane – political, economic and demographic. Dr Hatherell has worked at QUT since 1992 in a variety of policy, writing and teaching roles.
Top students gather Some of the best and brightest QUT students will gather next Monday night (September 24) at Brisbane City Hall to be inducted into the Golden Key International Honour Society. Students in the top 15 per cent of the university are invited each year to become members of the society which provides opportunities for industry networking. Golden Key is an international non-profi t organisation affi liated with more than 335 universities around the globe. For further information visit www.
qutgoldenkey.org.
Commercialisation retreat bluebox will hold a free two- day commercialisation retreat for QUT PhD candidates at Novotel Twin Waters on the Sunshine Coast from November 1-2. Researchers will meet leading professionals from the legal, patent
attorney and venture capital fi elds and learn about the commercialisation process at QUT. Free attendance includes travel, accommodation and meals. enquiries@qutbluebox.
com.au or 07 3138 9420.
graduate teaching course
EDN-07-462 CRICOS no. 00213J
Degree holders can now change careers and become qualified teachers with QUT’s Graduate Diploma in Education.
You can complete this program full-time in one year or part-time in two years – either on-campus at Kelvin Grove (internal) or online (external).
You can focus your studies on:
Early Years – early childhood teaching, prep to year 3 Middle Years – primary and middle years teaching Senior Years – secondary teaching*
Reflecting the latest policies and priorities in Queensland, these study areas establish QUT’s Graduate Diploma in Education as an innovative and progressive qualification.
On-time applications through QTAC close 28 September 2007.
More information
For further details, please phone (07) 3138 3947, email
educationenq@qut.edu.au or visit Studyfinder at qut.com
* Some Senior Years teaching areas are only available on-campus
Queensland University of Technology Victoria Park Road Kelvin Grove Q 4059 qut.com
Early childhood
TEACHERS are being urged to keep the lines of communication open with parents to prevent potential discontent over the new Prep Year.
Early childhood PhD g raduate Lyndal O’Gorman, pictured above, interviewed parents of Prep-aged children at a non-government school in South-East Queensland.
She found that the majority of the parents at that school liked a more structured program with elements of formal schooling such as homework and teacher-directed activities as preparation for Year 1.
But she said the evidence was clearly in favour of Prep programs that still
enabled children to play as this was best for a child’s long-term development.
“The new Early Years Curriculum which Prep Year is based on advocates a mix of both teacher- and child-initiated activities and is actually very good preparation for formal schooling,”
she said.
“A play-based prog r am allows children to follow their own interests and prepares them socially and emotionally while introducing them to literacy and numeracy without the workbooks and take-home readers.
“You don’t make a person more intelligent by introducing formal, teacher-directed learning earlier.”
Dr O’Gorman said the majority of parents in her study thought
the opposite with only one parent strongly opposed to a structured start to school.
“What I hope will come of my research is to g ive teachers an understanding of what parents may be expecting from the Prep Year and educate parents on the merits of a play- based start to school,” she said.
“ I t ’s i m p o r t a n t d u r i n g t h i s introductory phase of Prep that teachers communicate with parents about the benefi ts of what they are doing.
“Also, we need to understand that diff erent parents may want diff erent things from the Prep Year. We’ve got a real challenge ahead of us.”
- Toni Chambers
Less work more play equals smarter children
Open access
QUT is leading the world in open access to research papers and Professor Ray Frost is at the vanguard.
QUT was one of the world’s fi rst research institutions to provide cost- free open access to electronic copies of peer-reviewed research journal articles
and conference papers for everyone through QUT ePrints, available at http://eprints.qut.edu.au.
A staggering 50,000 downloads of Professor Frost’s papers have been made in the past year by people around the world which has helped him achieve more than 4000 citations in the past 12 months.
Professor Frost, pictured, from QUT’s School of Physical and Chemical Sciences, is a prolifi c author and has more than 250 papers in which he is the lead or co-researcher available on QUT’s ePrints.
Being open is something to get ’cited about
QUT scholarships off ered to low- income students are helping relieve the fi nancial burden of studying, and lowering attrition rates.
QUT Equity coordinator Mary Kelly said a survey of students who had received fi nancial assistance in 2006 revealed the scholarships had a real impact on a student’s fi nancial situation which in turn improved
their academic prospects.
“Students report that they are able to focus on their study due to the alleviation of stress and the ability to reduce their paid working hours,”
she said.
“Eighty-six per cent of students said the scholarship had made the diff erence between staying at university or leaving, and data analysis
confirms that scholarship-holders have drop-out rates over 40 per cent lower than other students.”
Ms Kelly said each year QUT provided thousands of scholarships and bursaries to low-income students, and that the attrition analysis had vindicated the worth of the program as a tool for learning.
“We want all students to have a
chance to complete their degrees undistracted by fi nancial worries.
The scholarships help students learn, pass and complete,” she said.
“QUT has one of the largest scholarship schemes for low-income students in the country,” she said.
QUT’s Equity Scholarship Scheme provides diff erent types of support for low-income students including
one-year scholarships, bursaries and free computers. These supports are valued from $500 to $3000.
The Federal Government also provides QUT with signif icant funds through the Commonwealth Learning Scholarships Scheme.
For more information visit www.
scholarships.qut.edu.au.
- Sandra Hutchinson
Scholarships for low-income students stop them dropping out
Do you have a story or tale to tell about Brisbane? Perhaps its mystery, crime, romance or even speculative fi ction.
Write your story about Brisbane and you could win $6000 and be published in the 2008 One Book Many Brisbanes anthology.
For details and entry forms visit your local Council library, log onto www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/libraries or phone Council on (07) 3403 8888.
COMPETITION CLOSES MONDAY 10 DECEMBER 2007
One Book Many Brisbanes is another way Council is achieving our vision
for the city’s future. OBMB-3380/F
W rite a B risbane story
and you could win $6000
Writing students acclaimed
QUT creative writing students have been making their mark this month with placings in national and state writing awards.
Rich pickings
MASTERS student Angela Betzien has won Australia’s richest playwriting prize at the Australian Writers’ Guild AWGIE awards.
A Master of Arts (Playwriting) student, Angela received the Theatre for Young Audiences award, as well as taking out the inaugural $40,000 Richard Wherrett Prize for her play, Hoods.
The play focuses on two storytelling hoods who travel the train nightly and, on the night the play is set, they tell the story of three children left in a car at a shopping centre.
Angela, whose research focuses on political theatre for young people, said the play had been touring schools in Queensland, regional Victoria and South Australia since premiering at the Sydney Opera House studio in May.
“I think it’s really important to express issues of social justice to young people. What’s presented in TV and fi lm isn’t necessarily politically
oriented,” she said.
“There can be a perception that young people are apathetic and don’t care about social justice issues but my experience has been that they do care very much about what happens in their world.”
Angela said she had received plenty of “honest” feedback about her play from students who have watched the performances – she has been stage manager and sound operator at around 100 shows.
The play’s two actors, Jodie Le Vesconte and Chris Sommers, and director Leticia Caceres are all QUT graduates, and are part of the
“travelling troupe” that Angela works with on the production through her company, Real TV.
The playwright is now working on another commission from the Sydney Opera House which will premiere in late 2008, and preparing for another schools tour of Hoods.
- Carmen Myler
A new career in writing
ALSO shortlisted for an award recently was creative writing and journalism undergradate student Leigh Wayper, who was a fi nalist at the Queensland Media Awards.
The nomination for Most Outstanding Journalism Student (Metropolitan) was validating for Leigh, who did not begin his fi rst university degree until he turned 60 – and after Parkinson’s disease forced a career change.
Leigh said he was forced to review
his work options after the debilitating disease made his previous sound recording job too diffi cult.
“Now I’m into writing, it’s not just that I want to do it, I really want to do it – I need to write. There’s something in it, it is a bit of therapy,” he said.
Leigh’s nomination was for a story published in Life etc magazine, about a courageous couple rebuilding their life after a farm accident, and whom he met while working on the ABC documentary series, Australian Story.
A premier novel
RESEARCH masters student Lee McGowan was shortlisted for a Queensland Premier’s Literary Award, announced at the Brisbane Writers’ Festival last week.
Lee’s struggle to settle in to Australian culture after moving from Scotland nine years ago was the inspiration for his unpublished novel, Some Tartan Hyde, which was shortlisted in the Emerging Queensland Author – Manuscript category.
The awards are coveted in the Queensland writing community and just being shortlisted can
attract interest from publishers, as it did for Lee’s supervisor and QUT lecturer Craig Bolland, whose 2001 entry I Knit Water was subsequently published by UQP.
Lee’s novel, which he wrote as part of his Master of Arts (Creative Writing) project, sees a soccer-mad expatriate from Scotland called Mish move to Brisbane to follow his Australian girlfriend.
H e s ay s t h e b o o k i s n o t autobiographical but it does explore themes that have had an impact on his life, such as fi guring out how to bridge the cultural gap.
“When I went to play soccer with some other lads from Scotland I
found some of them had been in Australia for 20 or 30 years and were still struggling to fi t in,” he said.
“I realised we all faced the same obstacles, the main one being that Scottish people are really pessimistic and Australian people are really optimistic.”
And it seems the Aussie optimism is wearing off on Lee who sees a bright side to not taking home the big prize at the literary awards.
“Even getting shortlisted gives some sort of higher authoritative validation for what you’re doing in the fi rst place so you’re not just sitting in a room thinking ‘I hope someone will read this?’”
Masters student Lee McGowan
Angela Betzien
Leigh Wayper
Events
SEPTEMBER 27
Dr Ziggy Switkowski will discuss the potential role of nuclear power in Australia’s energy and climate change strategy at the next QUT Business Leaders’ Forum luncheon in Brisbane. Phone Brisbane Hilton for tickets 07 3231 3231.
OCTOBER 5-17
Brisbane theatre luminary Bille Brown will direct QUT’s second- year acting students in William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night at QUT Creative Industries Precinct on Kelvin Grove campus.
Bookings 07 3138 5495.
Conferences
SEPTEMBER 25-27
The 2007 International Conference on Business Process Management will be held at QUT’s Gardens Point campus. The conference seeks to combine principles from management science with information technology to improve work practices and technology use in organisations.
http://bpm07.fi t.qut.edu.au/
SEPTEMBER 28
Australia’s fi rst user-generated conference on the legal, business, political and more uses of blogs will be at QUT’s Kelvin Grove campus.
The free conference will cover citizen journalism, defamation, business and corporate blogging and how to build a better blog.
www.freedomtodiff er.com/blogoz/
Seminars
SEPTEMBER 26
QUT Associate Professor Cushla Kapitzke will discuss the emergence of public-private partnerships in terms of knowledge cultures in global ‘innovation’ economies at IHBI on Kelvin Grove campus.
www.education.qut.edu.au/resources/
deansseminarseries.jsp
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 Sandra Hutchinson 07 3138 2130
Carmen Myler
(Thurs/Fri) 07 3138 1150 Rachael Wilson 07 3138 4494
Niki Widdowson 07 3138 1841 Erika Fish
(Photography) 07 3138 5003 Marissa Hills
(Advertising) 07 3138 4408 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.
Engineering students, l-r, Justine Yeong, Bertrand Bapst (kneeling) Luke Joplin, Jason Almeida, Jonathan McCallum, Achi Kushnir, Samuel Baker and Jessie Reeve.
Engineering
A GROUP of QUT eng ineering students got together recently to dismantle medical equipment donated by a Queensland hospital that will be shipped to needy communities in Papua New Guinea.
The students belong to the QUT chapter of Engineers without Borders whose MEMCI (Medical equipment mission for communities in need) project is well underway to deliver the life-saving equipment to hospitals in
the PNG’s East Sepik province.
MEMCI project leader and QUT biomedical graduate Achi Kushnir visited PNG in June to discover the needs of villagers around the towns of Maprik and Wewak and was shocked at the lack of basic medical equipment.
“We realised there was a lot of redundant medical equipment in Queensland that could do a lot of good in the under-resourced clinics and hospitals,” Achi said.
“Our project focuses not only on delivering the equipment but also
training local health workers to use the equipment to its full potential and maintaining it.”
The students dismantled and packed 25 hospital beds, 20 hospital mattresses, six examination beds, three wheelchairs, two ambulance trolleys and a lot of other medical furniture that was donated by Greenslopes Private Hospital.
“We plan to ship the equipment to PNG and visit again in January to assemble it and train the staff there,”
he said.
Achi said the MEMCI team would
welcome business, marketing, fi nance, fi lm and television, and IT students to participate and use their skills to support the project.
“It’s not just for eng ineering students. It is such a large-scale project it requires support from a lot of other disciplines,” he said.
“MEMCI is also looking for investors and sponsors who wish to come on board.”
Contact Achi on memciqut@gmail.
com.
- Niki Widdowson
Students help PNG villages
Postgraduate training
MOST people might think undertaking doctoral research while running your own business is suffi cient eff ort to put into your career but Kerryn Griffi ths does not think like most people.
A former teacher and, for the past fi ve years, a life coach, Kerryn said she leapt at the opportunity to grow her business through further study while doing her PhD.
Kerryn is one of 35 students enrolled in the new Graduate Certifi cate in Research Commercialisation off ered through the Australian Technology Network’s (ATN) virtual graduate school, e-Grad School (Australia).
The online course encourages researchers and research managers to unlock the commercial potential of their work.
It provides skills and knowledge in research commercialisation, research project management, entrepreneurship, leadership and workplace communication, and the public policy/research interface.
Kerryn’s graduate certifi cate study is being funded by a Commonwealth Training Scheme Scholarship and involves studying one unit through four of the fi ve ATN universities. Units
are designed to enable researchers to work with peers interstate.
She said the course was providing her with the entrepreneurial foundations she needed to expand her research and business, EVOLVEDUCATION, into something bigger, “but anchored in reality”.
She said her own PhD research, which she has just completed through the Faculty of Education, was helped along by receiving life coaching herself.
“Coaching can help researchers to eff ectively manage what can otherwise be a potentially messy (and highly
‘procrastinatable’) task, to meet deadlines more quickly and makes the research process more meaningful personally.”
Kerryn will graduate with her PhD qualifi cation later this month.
The e-Grad School is funded by the Australian Government through its Collaboration and Structural Refor m Fund, and by the ATN, which includes Curtin University of Technology, QUT, RMIT, University of South Australia and University of Technology Sydney.
For more information, visit www.
rsc.qut.edu.au/studentsstaff /gradcert/
index.jsp.
- Carmen Myler
Research pays
Theatre
The Club
SEPTEMBER 28 AND 29 John Wood (Blue Heelers) pictured will star in David Williamson’s The Club at QUT Gardens Theatre. The popular Australian play tackles the business of sport and the behind-the-scenes boardroom brawls
of a footy club that is languishing near the bottom of the ladder.
Tickets from GardensTix 07 3138 4455.
Kerryn Griffi ths
