IQ inside
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Queensland University of Technology Newspaper Issue 275 July 17 - August 6, 2007
Marketing
Real-world QUT students and lecturers – and a big purple monster – are amongst the stars of a new QUT advertisement which has premiered on TV and in cinemas.
The new ad campaign has a global
“Go there!” theme and uses clever technology to depict students and staff in a range of exotic locations around the world – as well as on some familiar turf at Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove campuses.
More than 80 students and staff members can be seen throughout the 60 second version of the commercial, which is being screened in cinemas and on the QUT website.
Shorter versions are also currently playing on TV.
The main “stars” include QUT Associate Professor Sue Savage and lecturers Ben White and Simon Ridings, who all show off their soccer skills with the roaming QUT globe.
The leading students include Jodie Behrendorff and Srdan Radojevic.
Jodie is a fi rst-year acting student with QUT’s Creative Industries Faculty who lets her imagination run wild and dreams up a purple monster that romps through the ad.
Srdan is a third-year student doing a double degree in business and law who is also very handy with a soccer ball and was recruited for the commercial through the QUT Law soccer team.
Dr White is a researcher and lecturer with QUT’s School of Law – and a graduate of the university – and has a PhD from Oxford University which he
completed as a Rhodes Scholar.
Mr Ridings is a business lecturer who also heads QUT’s international business program.
Professor Savage is a national teaching award winner and an assistant dean with the university’s Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering.
QUT’s marketing and communication director, Tony Wilson, said the new commercial had been created with QUT’s long-time advertising agency, BCM Partnership, and would be
accompanied by a print campaign.
“As the ad says: If it f ires the imagination, inspires adventure, leads to new horizons – we say go there!”
he said.
QUT and BCM’s previous “graduate success” campaign has won local and international awards for advertising eff ectiveness during their eight-year association.
To view the new QUT commercial, visit www.qut.com and follow the link.
- Mechelle McMahon
QUT’s Smart State Fellows, l to r, Dr Timothy Dargaville, Dr Joanne Voisey and Dr Wayde Martens.
www.news.qut.edu.au George Street Brisbane 4000 Telephone (07) 3138 2361 Registered by Australia Post – Publication No. QBF 4778. CRICOS No 00213J
... Go there!
60 of fame?
Fellowships
A QUT health researcher has been honoured with a prestigious Smart State Fellowship to develop a genetic test that has the potential to revolutionise the diagnosis and treatment of people with schizophrenia.
Dr Joanne Voisey is one of three QUT researchers to receive a Queensland Government Smart State Fellowship worth $300,000 over three years.
The fellowship, which is funded by the Queensland Government and QUT, is awarded to early or mid-career researchers to undertake innovative research in Queensland.
Dr Voisey is part of a research team headed by Professor Ross Young based at QUT’s Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation.
She said her research would lead to the development of a genetic test for diagnosis of schizophrenia and early detection.
“Schizophrenia aff ects about one per cent of Queenslanders, making it 10 times more common than AIDS, cot death and melanoma combined,”
Dr Voisey said.
QUT’s Dr Wayde Martens who is working with Professor Ray Frost and Dr Timothy Dargaville who is working with Professor Zee Upton have also received Smart State Fellowships.
Dr Dargaville’s research will develop a new approach to treating burn-related scars using a special polymer bandage.
He said the bandage would be chemically programmed to release a special agent upon contact with human skin that would be able to
control the formation of scar tissue and also reduce the eff ect of existing scars.
Dr Martens’ research will use nano- technology to purify water.
He said his work aimed to develop photocatalytic water treatment technologies to break down organic chemicals such as pesticides, herbicides and oil in water, rendering it safe to drink and re-use.
Q U T a l s o c o - s p o n s o r e d a Q u e e n s l a n d C l i n i c a l Re s e a rc h Fellowship providing Dr Robert Henderson from the Royal Brisbane a n d Wo m e n ’s H o s p i t a l w i t h
$150,000 to research the diagnosis and treatment of motor neurone disease.
Dr Henderson is working with QUT’s Professor Tony Pettitt.
- Sandra Hutchinson
Smart State fellowships for top researchers
seconds
COMMENT
THE most recent edition of the OECD’s journal on higher education policy includes an article on branding, that is, the identifi cation and marketing of an organisational identity and image for a university.
The author took an international perspective, noting the growth of this activity, the misgivings that some more traditionally-minded people have to the idea of marketing universities at all, and the ways in which it can be done well or poorly, with consequent benefi ts and risks for the university.
The paper’s conclusions are particularly relevant for QUT’s most recent advertising campaign, highlighted in this edition of Inside QUT.
The researcher stated that eff ective branding cannot emerge simply from a marketing exercise, or sporadic changes in corporate slogans.
Instead it must “be a process of mobilising the best marketers there are – the staff and students of the institution” and “the image sought must be rooted in the distinctive institutional characteristics staff and students think are important”.
In addition, he observed that a university’s identity, while it may – and should – persist in some form over time, needs to be reinterpreted and transformed as
the university develops.
QUT’s “real world” identity is well-known and remains central to our strategic development.
It endures, and is refl ected in the new advertising campaign, because it represents an authentic feature of this university, the linkage of academic work to the issues of the wider world.
This linkage plays out across many dimensions, operating at local, national and international levels, and involving professional, i n d u s t r y, g ove r n m e n t a n d community connections.
This issue of Inside QUT alone provides ample evidence of the depth and breadth of these connections, from our success in ARC Linkage Grants, which join our researchers with external partners, to the achievements of our students who are making a real diff erence to their communities.
Th e m e s s a g e o f t h e n ew advertisements, and the exuberance they demonstrate, should not just be seen as marketing for prospective students, but as a sign of the enthusiasm and commitment we have in working for and studying in an institution which can make such a positive diff erence to the world.
Professor David Gardiner Acting Vice-Chancellor
More smart success
Scholarships
A QUT PhD researcher has won a prestigious Smart State Scholarship to study the dangers of illegal street racing and hooning.
Psychology researcher Nerida Leal, from QUT’s Centre for Accident Research & Road Safety - Queensland (CARRS-Q), is one of eight QUT researchers to be acknowledged in the latest Growing the Smart State PhD Program.
The Queensland Government- funded program recognises some of the state’s brightest emerging researchers and provides up to $5000 per annum in fi nancial support.
Ms Leal’s research will investigate
the road safety implications and potential risks of street racing and associated driving behaviours such as hooning.
“As part of my research I will be profiling street racing offenders, their off ences and whether or not they have been involved in a crash,”
she said.
Ms Leal said that, although there was community concern about hooning, there was limited research about the road safety risks associated with the behaviour.
“The aim of my research is to establish the risk associated with both street racing and street racers, which can inform the development of prevention strategies,” she said.
“Ultimately we want to make the state’s roads safer.
“I will also be investigating the eff ectiveness of current approaches in dealing with the problem of hooning, including whether or not penalties such as vehicle impoundment are working.”
Ms Leal said since the introduction of “anti-hoon” leg islation in Queensland more than 3200 vehicles had been impounded.
The Growing the Smart State PhD Program off ers competitive grants to help cover research costs and provide important mentoring support to open up data and doors.
- Sandra Hutchinson
SMAR T SCHOLARS
• Stuart Bell, Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering, to investigate the eff ect of high temperature and light intensity on the performance of photocatalytic reactions with the potential to produce hydrogen from water using sunlight.
• Cameron Brown, Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering, to investigate new techniques for assessing early stage osteoarthritis and improve surgical decision-making and treatment outcomes.
• Colin Edmonston, Faculty of Health, to compare the characteristics of crashes involving Indigenous and non-Indigenous drivers in rural and remote North Queensland.
• Leanne Jack, Faculty of Health, to promote intestinal health for patients in the intensive care unit.
• Mitchell Lawrence, Faculty of Science, to research the complexities of prostate cancer by investigating the role of the prostate- specifi c antigen and related enzymes which are erroneously secreted in prostate cancer and can cause distinctive cancer-associated changes.
• Jeremy Vrignon, Faculty of Health, to combine existing vigilance detection systems in order to obtain a better estimation of driver state linked to a probably of road crash accidents.
• Suzelle Waggett, Faculty of Science, to develop a system to enable the increased production of bioplastic compounds in sugarcane plant cells, thus increasing the yield of products produced through molecular farming and providing diversifi ed income streams to sugarcane farmers.
Research
QU T h a s t o p p e d t h e n a t i o n’s universities by successfully attracting 24 high-achieving students from leading Chinese universities to study PhD degrees at QUT.
The students will under take postgraduate studies at QUT as part of an agreement between the university and the prestigious China Scholarship Council.
The council is a nonprofi t institution affi liated with the People’s Republic of China’s Ministry of Education.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Coaldrake, who travelled to Beijing last
November to cement the QUT-China research links, said the university had successfully targeted particular areas of study to help build China’s capacity in emerging technologies.
“QUT has now been identifi ed by China as a key provider of research education for its high performing students,” Professor Coaldrake said.
“The attraction of so many PhD candidates provides the university with a great opportunity to build upon existing China research collaborations and grow our relationship with key Chinese institutions.”
The 24 Chinese scholarship recipients will embark upon their PhD studies at QUT this semester.
QUT targeted by China for its top research students
Appointments & achievers
New marketing director
Tony Wilson has been appointed director of the marketing and communication department, following the recent retirement of Peter Hinton.
Mr Wilson has undertaken a variety of roles during his 12 years at QUT, including marketing services manager, communications leader for the university’s national quality audit by AUQA, and most recently as associate director of marketing and communication.
Ex-Boeing boss on board
Former Boeing Australia managing director David Gray has been appointed to QUT as a visiting professor.
Professor Gray is the new CEO in Residence for the Faculty of Business and Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering – a position that involves strategic advice on research and education development, as well as strengthening QUT’s links to industry and government.
Nutrition expert appointed
A nationally recognised expert in nutrition and dietetics, Professor Lynne Daniels, has joined the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation.
Professor Daniels has attracted $2.1 million in funding including a recent primary health care grant from NHMRC for a project on positive feeding practices and food preferences in very young children. She has also conducted extensive research into nutrition for the elderly.
Forging a global reputation
A QUT academic has become the fi rst Australian to be recognised by the World Academy of Materials and Manufacturing Engineering.
Professor Prasad Yarlagadda was made a fellow of the academy and received the honorary Professor Fryderyk Staub Golden Owl Award at the academy’s recent general assembly held at its home base of Poland. Professor Yarlagadda is director of smart systems researchin the Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering.
Researcher Nerida Leal
Smart State Fellow and ARC grant recipient Dr Wayde Martens
Research funding
QUT achieved outstanding results in the latest round of ARC Linkage grants which commence this month.
The university had its best ever success rate of 53 per cent and its highest ever total allocation of $4.36 million, ranking sixth nationally.
In addition, QUT was ranked third in the country in terms of the number of new grants awarded (17) and fi rst in Queensland. These grants, announced in late May, support research conducted in partnership with external agencies.
QUT research to develop technology to purify unclean water supplies was one of the projects to receive a funding boost.
This project was awarded $375,000 over four years and is set to play a signifi cant role in delivering future water security to Australia.
Researcher Dr Wayde Mar tens said QUT had manufactured a novel nanomaterial from titanium dioxide that had the potential to revolutionise water purifi cation.
Dr Martens, who has also just been awarded a Smart State Fellowship, said the nanomaterial had been demonstrated to have a greater effi cacy for the breakdown of toxic material, than the most effi cient photocatalyst currently available.
“Titanium dioxide is able to break down oil, organic material, bacteria, viruses, mould and pesticides,” he said.
“This project directly addresses the national priority research area of water and international priorities involving greater re-use and recycling of water,”
Dr Martens said.
Th e L i n k a g e P r o j e c t s s c h e m e encourages traditional research academics and organisations outside the higher education sector to develop long-term strategic research alliances.
Other projects to receive funding include:
•$277,000 for the development of reliability driven rural electricity supply
•$262,000 to develop an understanding of small independent fi rms to improve business outcomes
•$228,000 for the development of a reputation management system to fi ght malicious websites
•$87,500 to improve child safety in cars.
- Sandra Hutchinson
QUT
cleans up in ARC
grants
Social change
RESEARCH to uncover heritable links between post traumatic stress disorder in parents and disorders such as ADHD and autism in their children is being conducted by QUT PhD student Ken O’Brien.
Mr O’Brien, from the Centre for Social Change Research, is seeking volunteers of children and grandchildren of Vietnam veterans to assist with his study into the social and genetic eff ects of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on subsequent generations.
He said volunteers would be asked about their experience growing up with the aim of developing strategies to help children with emotional management disorders to develop resilience to stress.
“Vietnam veterans are one of the most researched groups and have a relatively high PTSD rate,” Mr O’Brien said.
“However, their children have had very little research on them even though parents with PTSD often have children with emotional management conditions such as attention-def icit hyper activity disorder (ADHD), autism, Asperger’s syndrome, and depressive and anxiety conditions.”
He said many Australians had PTSD in some form and it could be caused by war, armed hold-up, rape, accident, hostage situations and even schoolyard bullying.
“My research is investigating the secondary characteristics of intergenerational transference of this condition. There are many diff erent ways PTSD can impact on
children’s emotional development,”
he said.
“The language used in the family environment is a powerful infl uence.”
Mr O’Brien said the eff ects of PTSD appeared to be able to be passed on to children and grandchildren through genes as well as through language, social factors and parenting styles.
He is incorporating the new fi eld, of epigenetics which studies the way signifi cant environmental events can alter a person’s genes which are then passed on to later generations.
“My research aims to support l i t e r a t u r e t h a t s u g g e s t s a n environmental event that leads to post traumatic stress disorder
‘switches on or off ’ a gene or series of genes that is then passed on to subsequent generations.
“We know that ADHD has been identifi ed on chromosome 5 in our
genome. It is a gene we all have but not everyone has ADHD. It could be that this gene has not been ‘switched on’ in the parent by a signifi cant environmental event.”
Mr O’Brien said it was time experiences of people with PTSD and their children were studied to
“build a bridge” between the medical model, which focuses the cause of the condition on the individual, and the sociological model which focuses the cause on social institutions.
“This ‘bridge’ can bring the two models closer together to forge appropriate and relevant management strategies.”
- Niki Widdowson
To be involved in Mr O’Brien’s s t u dy p l e a s e e m a i l h i m o n [email protected].
Gene link to Vietnam vets
Education
THE impact of digital technology on the mathematical development of our youngest children is under the spotlight at QUT.
PhD researcher Jill Fox, pictured left, will look at the amount of dig ital technolog y children are exposed to before formal schooling beg ins (in the new Prep Year) and the impact that has on their mathematical skills.
She said these young children were often referred to as “digital natives”
because they were surrounded by digital technology which required the development of mathematical concepts to understand.
“Before these young children enter formal schooling, they use digital technology and numeracy to meet their everyday needs, interests and motivations,” the Faculty of Education researcher said.
“From counting down the time on a microwave to playing computer games and keying a phone number into a mobile phone, these are everyday activities that people may
take for granted but which teach counting, patterning and sequencing of numbers.”
In the f irst study of its k ind in Australia, Ms Fox will hand out questionnaires to 150 parents at f ive schools in Brisbane and will interview teachers to gain an understanding of the technology that is available to children in the home and at school and what impact they think it has.
She will then do case studies of five children and how digital technologies fi t into their lives.
Ms Fox hopes her research will infor m school policy and curriculum.
“These children could potentially arrive in Year One with more advanced numeracy sk ills than previous generations,” she said.
“The information I will be gathering will give us an understanding of their prior knowledge so we can adequately accommodate them – it may even mean changes to our curriculum or methods of teaching.”
- Toni Chambers
Digital kids dig technology
Researcher Ken O’Brien
Environment
QUT environmental engineering student Katrina Bukauskas is another step closer to her mission to “change the world” following her appointment to the new Queensland Youth Environment Council.
Katrina, 18, is one of 30 young people selected for the council, which will advise the Queensland Government on key environment and sustainability issues.
The second-year student is studying civil and environmental engineering and where she also holds a Vice- Chancellor’s Scholarship and a Smart State Engineering Scholarship.
“I’ve always been interested in the environment and helping people,”
she said.
“My whole premise in life is to have an impact on the world and hopefully change it for the better.
“I believe that young people are the change leaders of tomorrow so it was amazing to meet so many other motivated and inspiring young people at the fi rst meeting of the Queensland Youth Environment Council.”
Katrina said she was studying eng ineering because she wanted to help reduce the impact that construction had on the environment and also contribute toward increasing the use of environmentally-friendly products in engineering.
The new Queensland Youth Environment Council is made up of a diverse mix of young people aged 16 to 25, who will serve three-year terms and meet twice a year, plus
attend separate committee meetings throughout the year.
Their goal is to provide the government with a youth perspective on key environmental issues aff ecting Queensland, such as climate change, water use, renewable energy and wildlife conservation.
K a t r i n a ’s c o m m u n i t y wo r k also includes being a member of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) – a group that works with disadvantaged communities inter nationally on sustainable engineering projects. She is the EWB education coordinator at QUT and one of four QUT students attending the EWB National Council in Melbourne this month.
- Mechelle McMahon
Katrina in right environment to spearhead green change
Education
THE idea that kids who turn to their dads for care tend to have a stronger father-child bond will be studied as part of a QUT research project.
Nicole Morel, from the Faculty of Education, is looking for Australian parents to take part in a nationwide study investigating the factors that can infl uence and strengthen father-child relationships.
The study will involve surveying parents of children in preschool about their parenting role.
“This study has a number of implications, the most important being to better understand father involvement in child-care,” she said.
“Traditionally father involvement in child-care has been looked at as a negotiation between the mother and father, with the child seen as a passive or silent recipient of care.
“What I will be looking at is the ways that
children’s behaviours of ask ing for fathers to help them in their care infl uences father’s involvement.”
Ms Morel said an earlier study which was part of her honours degree highlighted the importance of child-initiated care to the father- child relationship.
She said the study of parents with preschool- aged children revealed that a child’s preference for care from their father signifi cantly impacted on the level and types of care their father gave.
“Essentially, a child who asks his or her father to engage in care, has a father who engages more,”
she said.
“Children do have an effect on father involvement by asking their father to help them in care duties.
“When this occurs it reinforces the care relationship the child has with their father, which increases the likelihood of strengthening the
father-child relationship.”
Ms Morel said it was widely known and accepted that, when a father was more involved in the care of their child, the child benefi ted greatly.
“Involvement of fathers with their children is benefi cial for children while they are growing up as it helps their developing self-esteem, learning and socialising,” she said.
“It is also suggested that fathers’ involvement with their children has long-term benefi ts too, in helping them to have higher life satisfaction and being less likely to experience psychological distress.”
The study is being conducted via a questionnaire which will be sent to parents with a reply paid envelope.
To fi nd out more or take part in the survey, email Nicole Morel at [email protected].
- Sandra Hutchinson
Dads who share in care get on better with kids
Sustainable resources
GOVERNMENTS, industry and even company directors could be held liable for actions that contribute to climate change, according to new QUT research.
Nicola Durrant, a PhD student with QUT’s Institute for Sustainable Resources, is investigating international and Australian law to determine potential legal liabilities for greenhouse gas emissions and adverse climate change.
She said Australia had no limits on greenhouse gas emissions and no national market for trade in carbon credits unlike the European Union which permits trade in carbon credits.
Under this scheme, companies are allocated quotas on allowable greenhouse emissions, and must buy credits for emissions over the quota.
“The absence of legislation in Australia has not prevented industry from being held responsible for its emissions,” Ms Durrant said.
“There have been an increasing number of leg al challenges by environmental groups under existing environmental and planning statutes, seeking to hold industry responsible for its emissions.
“One question is whether the coal industry should be held responsible for greenhouse gas emissions resulting from its coal exports. For this to happen a link must be established between the use of coal and increases in adverse climate change – a New South Wales court has agreed there is a link.”
M s D u r r a n t s a i d bu s i n e s s e s, gover nments and even company directors could be potentially liable for millions of dollars for failing to act immediately to reduce their company’s greenhouse gas emissions.
“Even in the absence of statutory obligations to reduce emissions, companies may still be liable for the environmental effects of their emissions through court challenges,”
she said.
“Company directors have a fi duciary obligation to act in the best interests of their company, and given the risk of signifi cant fi nancial liabilities, it may be in the best interests of these industries to voluntarily reduce those emissions now.
- Toni Chambers
Climate liability
Researcher Nicole Morel
Katrina Bukauskas
Natural resource sciences
A CENTRAL eastern Queensland mine has turned up bat fossils which show climate change has had a negative impact on the state’s bat population.
QUT science PhD student Sandrine Martinez, pictured above, is currently sifting through what is the largest and best record of the state’s southern-most bat population from the late Pleistocene Epoch (beginning two million years ago and ending approximately 10,000 years ago).
The fossil deposits were uncovered
by mining operations at Mt Etna, near Rockhampton.
They contain a succession of bat remains ranging from the late Pleistocene Epoch to the present and span the transition from full tropical rainforest habitats to the more arid environment that currently characterises the Mt Etna region.
Ms Martinez will compare information obtained from fossil data to the bat communities that still occur in the Mt Etna caves.
“What I’ve found so far is an overall decrease in species richness – today the Mt
Etna caves are inhabited by fi ve species of bat (excluding fruit bats) while in the late Pleistocene there were at least eight,” Ms Martinez said.
“These bats are insectivores and their decline could be due to a reduction in their food sources in response to climate change – that’s something I’ll be investigating further.
“It’s important to understand what has happened to bats in the past to more accurately predict what could happen in the future and perhaps prevent any more loss of diversity.
“Bats play an important ecological role as natural insect control agents. They account for almost a quarter of all mammal species and are the only fl ying mammals.
“Bats are declining worldwide and any information about their ecology is crucial to their future management
“ B a t s a r e o f t e n e x c l u d e d f r o m palaeoecolog ical analyses due to their rarity in the fossil record and the diffi culty in identifying them to species level, so we know very little about them. We don’t want to let this lack of knowledge lead to extinction.”
- Toni Chambers
It’s important to understand what has happened to bats in the past to more accurately predict what could happen in the future and perhaps prevent any more loss of diversity.
Battle for bats
New QUT research shows climate change from rainforest to drought has been bad news for Queensland bats.
Graduates
MORE than 180,000 academic records of students dating back to 1966 are now available instantly thanks to a new simple to use online search facility off ered by QUT.
Qualif ications of g raduates of QUT or its predecessor institutions Queensland Institute of Technology (QIT) or Brisbane College of Advanced Education (BCAE) can now be accessed by simply logging on to a website and
using the graduate’s surname and date of birth.
QUT’s Student Business Services (SBS) has developed the Online Verifi cation of Qualifi cation Service in line with the university’s privacy policies and a successful search will confi rm a graduate’s qualifi cation and the date of conferral.
SBS director K athy Grg ic said there were many reasons people needed to confirm their academic qualifi cations.
“I think over time, people can forget the precise details of their educational history and qualifi cations – what and when they did certain things,” she said. “A graduation in 1980 can easily become a graduation in 1981 and a Bachelor of Business ( Journalism) can be confused with a Bachelor of Creative Industries ( Journalism).
“These details are important and it is essential that people have access to accurate information, particularly when it can aff ect their career prospects.”
Ms Grgic said the other big plus was that employers or third parties could use the service to confi rm the accuracy of qualifi cations of job applicants.
“Employers will be a big, if not the biggest user of this service,” she said.
“QUT currently receives a signifi cant number of inquiries to verify graduate qualifi cations, often from employers seeking to confi rm the legitimacy of applicant information.
“The new service removes the need for staff intervention in answering
many of these inquiries, and so staff resources can be re-directed to solving more complex problems.
“It is also much quicker and more convenient for the user.”
Ms Grgic said the information QUT was providing was limited to publicly available details and charges may apply for complex inquiries where staff intervention could still be required.
To access this new service log on to www.studentservices.qut.edu.au/grad/
quals/online/
New online service is degrees ahead for students
in BRIEF...
First Year survey The new First Year Experience Survey (FYES) will be open from August 6 to 26 on QUT Virtual to give QUT students a chance to provide feedback on their experiences with courses, support services and facilities at QUT, and interactions with other staff and students. The online survey is open to undergraduate students who have been enrolled in their current course for one semester. This survey is different from last semester’s Learning Experience Survey because it is about the whole experience of studying in a new undergraduate course at QUT and life as a fi rst year uni student so far.
First-year students can win one of three $200 Myer Gift Cards or four iPod Shuffl es by completing the survey.
START QUT at Caboolture School students in Year 12 in 2008 who are interested in pursuing a career in nursing will be able to start their studies at the QUT’s Caboolture campus. START QUT is an enhanced studies program that offers the university experience to Year 12 students by allowing them to complete a university
subject during school semester.
Israel research fellowships PhD researchers interested in studying in Israel have until July 27 to apply for the Australia-Israel Scientifi c Exchange Foundation Postgraduate Fellowship Award. The Australia- Israel Scientifi c Exchange Foundation was established in 1997 and aims to nurture ties between the academic institutions of Australia and Israel. Application forms for the six-month fellowship are available at www.swinburne.
edu.au/hosting/aisef/index.
html.
New Indigenous network A support network for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and staff has been established by the Oodgeroo Unit onsite at Caboolture campus. While the unit has had a presence in Caboolture in previous years, it now has a dedicated space on campus. Two new staff have been appointed to the unit - Sandra Delaney will coordinate the program and Charmaine Law will offer student support.
QUT staff , students and visitors have supported QUT Coffee Week and disadvantaged students by drinking around 6000 cuppas in fi ve days.
Five coffee outlets across three c a m p u s e s p a r t i c i p a t e d i n t h e week and donated $1 for ever y c o ffe e o r h o t c h o c o l a t e s o l d . The cafes’ fi nal tally – $6043.75 – was matched by the university dollar for dollar, creating a $12,087 donation to
the QUT Learning Potential Fund.
The Learning Potential Fund is a perpetual fund which has helped over 1500 disadvantaged QUT students through bursaries and scholarships in times of need.
The venues that supported Coff ee Week were Bar Merlo, Dusk, Beadles, Kelvin Grove Student Guild Bar and the Carseldine Student Guild Bar.
Interior design
AT fi rst glance it looks like a black box inside a sparse airport terminal but for QUT interior design student Zoe Thomas it’s a vision and place which leaves a lasting impression.
Winning fi rst place in the Design Institute of Australia’s 2007 Student Interior Design awards for The Black Box has been the perfect start to Zoe’s design career.
Zoe, pictured above, said The Black Box was a room-like, thought- provoking, space which challenged criteria and boundaries.
Her award-winning design is located within the isolated Macquarie Island air port ter minal. This air port is used predominately by scientists and environmentalists travelling to and from Antarctica.
“I took the concept ‘transaction without interaction’ and designed a space that gives visitors the opportunity to interact with each other without face-to-face communication,” the 21- year-old said.
“Essentially the room is a large black cube fi lled with drawers, mirrors and hanging globe lights which together evoke refl ection and prepare users for what lies ahead.”
Zoe, a third-year student from
QUT’s Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering, said the idea of the drawers was for people to put personal journals, photos, memories and experiences inside them for others to learn from.
“Antarctica is unlike any place on earth and it is important to be fully prepared for the culture change.”
Zoe said her design acknowledged the culture of isolation and displacement experienced by those in Antarctica.
“The concept of the room is about preparing people for a culture-shock.
Having a space which houses these items will aid the transition between the two realms.”
Zoe said she was grateful to be one of three QUT students to given the opportunity to take part in the national competition and winning the award was overwhelming.
“It’s the f irst competition I’ve entered a design into and it’s been a worthy experience,” she said.
Her award includes a monetary prize, magazine exposure and work experience.
“The whole experience has been a fantastic introduction into the industry.”
- Sandra Hutchinson
Flying high
Coffee Week raises $12,087
Engineering
QUT eng ineering students have showcased their construction skills to car giant Mazda in the lead-up to Australia’s biggest uni car race.
The QUT Motorsport team has secured sponsorship from Mazda for the fourth year in a row to help the students participate in the Formula SAE-A competition in Melbourne in December.
The team recently previewed its student-built car to Mazda staff at Clear Mountain in celebration of the new sponsorship deal.
The FSAE-A is an annual event that encourages students to design, construct and race a formula-style car against other university teams from across the Australasia region.
Th e s h owc a s e d ay g ave t h e students a chance to display last year’s competition car to Mazda staff and let them see how they are putting their sponsorship dollars to use. This year’s racing machine is taking shape in the workshop and will be tested soon.
More than 30 students make up QUT Motorsport’s 2007 team. Most are engineering students, but the group also includes business, design and creative industries students to add to the skills base.
Pictured above are team members Geri Napier, Dave Ozanne, Robert Hackwood, Jim Reardon, Elecia Douglas and Ross Cole-Hunter.
The team is currently seeking a QUT student with race experience to be the driver for the event. Visit www.
qutmotorsport.com.
QUT car showcased
Education
ABORIGINAL and Torres Strait Islander students from across Australia will benefi t from an expansion of the Indigenous Education Leadership Institute which from July 1 has become a part of QUT.
The institute is located at the Caboolture campus and will also maintain a presence at Cherbourg.
The institute, which was set up thanks to an innovative par tner ship between QUT and Education Queensland, seeks to improve the learning outcomes of Indigenous children by p r ov i d i n g p r o fe s s i o n a l development prog r ams for teachers and principals from across Australia.
QUT’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International and Development) Professor Vi McLean said the institute’s fi ve staff had this month swelled to seven, with additional appointments expected in the coming months.
“Some principals who have under taken the institute’s residential programs say they have been profoundly impacted by the experience,” she said.
“It is arming educators with the beliefs, skills and capacities to make positive changes to the learning outcomes of Indigenous students.”
The institute was recently awarded signif icant funding from the Telstra Foundation to establish a school-based program which will provide intensive training for 240 school principals nationwide each year.
According to institute director Dr Chris Sarra, the program will help school principals better understand the needs of Indigenous students and equip them with the tools to help their students reach their full potential.
“In a complex climate on Indigenous aff airs the institute brings a message of hope,” he said.
“The automatic assumption that Indigenous children are underachievers in schools will be challenged, and in three years time this perception will be obsolete.”
- Sandra Hutchinson
Dr Chris Sarra
Indigenous
institute
moves to
Caboolture
campus
Awards
Q U T j o u r n a l i s m s t u d e n t Michelle Mills has capped off an adventurous year by being named QUT Alumni’s Student Leader of the Year.
Michelle was presented with the award during a spe cial ceremony for the 2007 QUT Student L eadership Awards, which are an initiative of QUT Alumni and aim to recognise students for their contribution to the university and the wider community.
The multi-talented young woman has spent the past 12 months combining her studies with representing QUT at several national and international events, including Australia’s Brightest Young Minds Summit in Sydney and the Education Without Borders C onference in Abu Dhabi.
Michelle is also excelling academically and is in her fi nal year of a Bachelor of Journalism degree at QUT’s Kelvin Grove c a m p u s w i t h t h e C r e at i v e Industries Faculty.
Michelle, 25, said she moved to Australia from New Zealand to study at QUT aft er doing research on the best journalism courses she could fi nd.
“I really love Brisbane and I love QUT – when I look back on my life and the last three years I know this has been a time when I have been given so many fantastic opportunities,” she said.
She said the highlight of the
past year had been working on the global organising committee for the Education Without Borders conference and spending nine weeks in the United Arab Emirates over three separate visits.
She was one of just 16 students selected worldwide for the job and soon found her writing and communication skills in demand for the humanitarian event, which attracted 800 young people from more than 100 countries.
“I was w riting inv itation letters to Bill Gates, writing for the website, contributing to magazines and publications ... it was such a variety and all great,”
she said.
“The conference attracted students from 110 countries so it was like the world in one place – I now have friends in France, Italy, Sierra Leone, Papua New Guinea, all over the world really.
Th e experience also broke down my ideas about the Middle East and that region. Th e United Arab Emirates is so peaceful and the people are so hospitable and so welcoming.”
Michelle has her sights set on a career in the media aft er graduating and has already been seen by Brisbane viewers reading the QUT News on Briz 31. She will also undertake internships with Seven News and the Courier-Mail later this year.
“I’m keeping my options open at the moment but I do want to build a career in the media,” she said.
- Mechelle McMahon
New world opens up
for Michelle
Information technology
THREE PhD students from QUT have impressed judges in a national inventors’ competition by designing an IT system that allows students to receive lectures via their mobile phones or PDAs.
Andrew (Siak Chuan) Tan, David (Lei) Wang and Chien-Jon Soon placed third in the national Imagine Cup, which is run by Microsoft and attracts university teams from across the country.
The Brisbane trio have developed a system dubbed QAT (pronounced
“cat”) – Question Answer Technology
for a virtual learning environment.
QAT allows lecture notes to be downloaded onto a phone or PDA (personal digital assistant) for offl ine usage, with the student able to pause the information and ask questions by speaking into their device.
The lecturer – or fellow students – can then contribute answers, with the contributions synchronised when the viewer is next online.
“The primary goal of QAT is to facilitate classroom-like interaction between students and lecturer, remotely,” Andrew Tan said.
“Educators complain that there is too much lecture material online while too few students in seats. This creates
a lack of interaction between students and lecturers, which is not good for learning.
“But QAT helps solve that problem because it enables easy communication between students and lecturers no matter where they are. It’s state-of-the- art e-learning.”
Andrew, David and Chien-Jon are all postgraduate students completing their PhDs with QUT’s Faculty of Information Technolog y. Andrew and Chien-Jon are also tutors with the faculty.
The team’s Imagine Cup entry was overseen by QUT lecturer Dr On Wong.
No uni classrooms?
Now imagine that!
Community outreach
QUT biomedical engineering graduates Achi Kushnir and Taewon Kong want to enlist QUT students of all disciplines in an aid project in the impoverished East Sepik province of Papua New Guinea.
The pair have just returned from what they describe as a “life-changing”
visit to the province under the auspices of Monica Otto, a QUT alumnus who runs a grassroots women’s organisation there.
Members of the QUT chapter of Engineers without Borders, they have started the Medical Equipment Mission for Communities in Need project.
The project aims to collect redundant medical equipment from hospitals, repair it and then distribute it, along with spare parts, knowledge and training programs to communities who desperately need these facilities.
“Having seen the conditions of hospitals and communities fi rsthand, we know that the opportunities this project off ers our fellow students who want to make a diff erence are enormous,”
Achi said.
“It may involve many disciplines such as nursing, education and IT.”
He said the team was planning to present a short video from their trip during lectures to share their experience and increase awareness of the project.
For more information, contact Achi Kushnir on [email protected].
- Niki Widdowson
PNG mission
Michelle Mills David Wang, Andrew Tan and
Chien-Jon Soon with a PDA.
Achi Kushnir visited a hospital in East Sepik province.
Engineers Without Borders members, Achi Kushnir and Taewon Kong, in PNG.
Open day
- 2007 QUT Course & Careers Day It’s Course & Careers Day on Sunday, July 29. The annual event is on at Gardens Point campus (Main Drive) from 9am to 3pm and will off er lots of information stalls about studying at QUT and give visitors a chance to get to know the uni through campus tours and talks. Visit www.qut.com or call 07 3138 2000.
Events
JULY 16 - 20 It’s mid-year
Orientation Week. To check out the program of events across all campuses, visit www.
orientation.qut.edu.au.
JULY 23 - 24 The QUT Student Guild hosts two market days at Gardens Point campus from 11am at the Kidney Lawn.
JULY 24
Fostering Executive Women (a QUT alumni club) hosts a Christmas in July for QUT business graduates and students at the Brisbane Polo Club.
Call 07 3138 4499 for details.
JULY 25 The QUT Student Guild hosts a market day at the Carseldine campus main plaza from 11am.
JULY 26
Another market day hosted by the Student Guild – this time at Kelvin Grove campus on the A Block lawn from 11am.
JULY 27 The QUT Student Guild hosts a
“Welcome to Brisbane” party at the Gardens Point guild bar from 7pm as part of mid-year orientation celebrations. Entry to the 18+ event costs $15 and includes food and two drinks.
AUGUST 1 - SEP 30 The International Digital Art Exhibition is on across two QUT campuses. One exhibition will be held at QUT Art Museum at Gardens Point until September 30, with another shorter exhibition at the Creative Industries Precinct from August 28 to September 15.
AUGUST 9 The International Careers Fair is on at Brisbane City Hall from 11am to 4pm. The event brings together international employers with international students and Australian students keen to work abroad. www.careersfair.
org.au
Seminars
JULY 26 QUT company Creative Industries Pty Ltd hosts a one- day workshop for
creative entrepreneurs who want to boost their sales skills. The subsidised event at Kelvin Grove costs $95 (plus GST) to attend.
Call 07 3337 7800 to register.
Conferences
JULY 16 - 18 The Faculty of Education hosts the Stepping Out Conference for about 600 fi nal-year students to help them with their transition to a teaching career. Visit www.
education.qut.edu.au.
JULY 25 - 27 QUT and the University of Sydney host the 10th National Centre for Classifi cation in Health Conference at the Brisbane Hilton.
Visit www.ncch.com.au.
JULY 27 - 31 QUT hosts the 2007 World Communication Association
Conference at Gardens Point campus. Call 07 3289 5944.
Visit www.whatson.
qut.edu.au for more event listings and to submit your event.
WHAT’S on...
Creative industries
More than 80 QUT dancers and musicians have joined forces to experience the “world” of music, combining their talents to the sounds and steps of the samba and salsa.
The dance and music workshops
involved performers from two Creative Industries units, World Dance and World Fusion Ensemble, in a four-week collaboration.
Dance lecturer Rachel Pedro said the project enabled students to experience a range of dance and music styles from across the globe.
Music lecturer Jim Chapman, who
leads the 16-member band known as Umoja, said the interaction between the dancers and the musicians created a lively and exciting environment in which to teach and learn.
“When we all get together it really pumps up. There is a fabulous, vibrant energy in the room – lots of laughter and spontaneous applause,” he said.
Unity is their forte
. Around campus...
After 24 years at QUT, marketing and communication director Peter Hinton retired from the university last month.
He was farewelled by staff and colleagues, including former QUT V-C Professor Dennis Gibson who travelled from Melbourne.
Farewell Pete
A taste of Malaysia
Janne Rayner (Editor) 07 3138 2361 Toni Chambers (Mon/Wed) 07 3138 1150 Sandra Hutchinson 07 3138 2130 Carmen Myler (Thurs/Fri) 07 3138 1150 Mechelle McMahon 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.
Ninety-year-old Cyril Hesse was one of the many Queenslanders who took one last chance to walk the hallowed halls of Old Government House during an Open Day hosted by QUT on Sunday June 3. Th e event was held as a fi nal opportunity to give the public a look behind the scenes of the house before its doors close and work begins to restore the 145-year-old building.
This old house
A group of education students from Malaysia gave QUT a taste of their homeland at Kelvin Grove campus last month. Th ey held a cultural exhibition featuring traditional Malaysian dress, games, dance and food. Enjoying an authentic meal were Nadia Nawi, Norehan Khamsim and Niza Laki.
