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Queensland University of Technology Newspaper Issue 253 April 26 - May 16, 2005
www.news.qut.edu.au George Street Brisbane 4000 Telephone (07) 3864 2361 Registered by Australia Post – Publication No. QBF 4778. CRICOS No 00213J
Red Cross in historic $70M QUT move
Information technology
IT students at QUT will be taught how to develop Xbox games as part of new curricula being developed to help cement QUT’s reputation as a games industry development leader.
Dr Ross Brown (pictured above) and Dr Aster Wardhani from QUT’s Visual and Media Computing Group have received a US$15,000 research grant from Microsoft Research Asia to develop Xbox classes to teach students how to design games for the popular video game system.
Microsoft has sold about 20 million Xbox machines worldwide since the system was launched in November 2001.
Dr Ross, from the Faculty of IT, said the grant would fund course development and a new lab of Xbox consoles for students to work on.
He said many IT students were already enthusiastic games players – something that would give them a head start when they began experimenting with
Xbox game development later this year. Classes are expected to begin next year.
“Students will be able to do projects on the Xbox framework - which will be provided by Microsoft - and develop games as part of their IT course,” he said.
Dr Brown said the booming video game industry off ered one of the biggest employment avenues for IT students who could prove themselves to be talented games developers.
“Internationally, it rivals the size of Hollywood – it’s generating billions of dollars of income each year,” he said.
“It is also an expanding industry in Brisbane. The lifestyle is so good here that people in frostbitten Germany and England want to relocate their companies here. There’s also a strong group of young local designers emerging who are setting up new businesses in areas like Fortitude Valley.”
- Mechelle Webb
L to R, Baulderstone Hornibrook’s Mal McClelland, ARCBS Operations Unit Manager Garry Wolfe and V-C Professor Peter Coaldrake at the city launch.
Kelvin Grove Urban Village
PLANS by the Australian Red Cross Blood Service (ARCBS) to move to a new $70 million facility to be constructed on QUT land at Kelvin Grove have been welcomed by the university.
QUT Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Coaldrake has commended the announcement of the new development and the selection of the Kelvin Grove Urban Village as the preferred site.
ARCBS announced its operations centre would move from its current inner city location on completion of the new facility which would house research and administration functions, and be the most modern of its kind in the country.
The premises will be in a new multi- purpose building to be constructed on a 6896sq m site owned by QUT in the centre of the urban village.
It will be adjacent to QUT’s new Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, now under construction and due for completion in 2006.
“The location of the facility next to QUT’s new health institute would provide exciting opportunities for additional research and development for both organisations,” Professor Coaldrake said.
“The building will also house QUT health and physical activities facilities and provide an exciting environment for teaching, research and community development.”
Professor Coaldrake also welcomed the appointment of Baulderstone Hornibrook as preferred developer for the new facility, which is expected to be ready for occupancy mid- 2007.
B a u l d e r s t o n e H o r n i b r o o k is cur rently responsible for the construction of QUT’s Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation.
New Indigenous institute launched
QUT begins Xbox classes
Education
AN Indigenous leadership institute is being developed in Cherbourg by QUT in partnership with the Queensland Department of Education and the Arts.
The new Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Leadership was offi cially launched last week by Education Minister Anna Bligh and QUT Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Coaldrake at Gardens Point campus.
The institute aims to improve
Continued page 3 e d u c a t i o n a n d e m p l o y m e n t o p p o r t u n i t i e s f o r i n d i g e n o u s communities and will be led by the principal of Cherbourg State School, Chris Sarra.
“The institute will deliver leadership programs to principals and teachers to enhance the teaching of indigenous students,” Ms Bligh said.
“The aim is to equip these school leaders with the skills they need to tackle a range of issues including high absenteeism and poor student
COMMENT
Creative Industries
A FORMER head of dance at QUT, Professor Susan Street, pictured above, is returning to Brisbane from overseas to take on the role of dean of the Creative Industries Faculty.
A d i s t i n g u i s h e d d a n c e r a n d choreog r a pher by backg round, Professor Street has been Dean of Dance within the Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts for the last six years. She was previously a professor and head of QUT’s dance program.
A c c o r d i n g t o D e p u t y Vi c e - Chancellor Professor David Gardiner, the new dean’s current role in Hong Kong has combined artistic leadership
Dance diva to dean
QUT has presented UNICEF Australia with a slice of the more than $100,000 raised by the university for victims of the Boxing Day tsunami.
UNICEF was one of 10 charities to benefi t from a fundraising scheme established by QUT Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Coaldrake in early January.
As part of the scheme QUT donated
$10,000 up front and then matched dollar for dollar all staff contributions up to a ceiling of $45,000 in the hope of raising $100,000.
That amount was exceeded though thanks to staff pledges, taking the fi nal tally to $112,901 of which $7697 was donated to UNICEF.
Professor Coaldrake said the money would assist the humanitarian work of aid agencies in South Asia as they continue to help survivors rebuild their lives.
“QUT has a strong tr adition of community engagement and community service by its staff and students – and this signifi cant donation is a refl ection of the depth of the university’s commitment in this area,”
Professor Coaldrake said.
UNICEF chief executive Carolyn Hardy visited QUT recently and was presented with a cheque by the Dean of Health, Professor Ken Bowman.
“Fundraising is dependent on organisations such as QUT coming together,” Ms Hardy said.
During her visit to QUT, Ms Hardy and UNICEF Australia’s program co-
UNICEF accepts QUT gift
QUEENSLAND’S current and previous governors have joined forces to help mark the opening of an $11 million expansion of the QUT International College.
The redevelopment was opened by Queensland Governor Quentin Bryce in front of guests including new QUT Chancellor Major General Peter Arnison (the former governor), Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter
Coaldr ake and college director Elizabeth McDade.
The college, which attr acted 1500 students from 42 countries last year, caters for international students who want to study English or pathway programs to enter Australian universities.
The redevelopment has tripled its size and includes two new wings and a refurbishment of existing facilities.
Governors unite for College upgrade
From L to R, QUT Chancellor Major General Peter Arnison, Queensland Governor Quentin Bryce, International College director Elizabeth McDade and QUT V-C Professor Peter Coaldrake.
The Governor chats with international students during the opening.
TO kick off the QUT Urban Countr y Music Festival at Caboolture, IQ is off ering the chance for a lucky reader to win two free tickets to the festival’s concert on Saturday, April 30.
QUT’s Caboolture campus has embraced the popularity of the local event by securing the naming rights for the next three years.
The festival is scheduled to run from Friday April 29 to May 2 at a range of venues around Caboolture and festival organisers have built on the successes of last year’s event with a program full of concerts and activities.
Headlining the festival will be an eight-hour extravaganza on Saturday with stars including Lee Kernaghan and Sara Storer.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Coaldrake said QUT was proud to be associated with an initiative that supported country music and, more importantly, contributed to the f urther building of regional identity and community pride.
Full details of the festival program can be found at www.
urbancountry.com.au.
Two tickets to the concert will be given away to the fi rst caller to the campus at Caboolture on 07 5433 7400 who can answer the question:
Where is the campus in Caboolture located?
Win tickets!
UNICEF’s Carolyn Hardy and Sarah Lendon at QUT to accept QUT’s tsunami donation.
ordinator Sarah Lendon were special guest speakers at a seminar for staff and students studying the School of Public Health’s new International Health unit.
Both Ms Hardy and Ms Lendon were at the forefront of relief eff orts. Ms Hardy managed Australia’s emergency appeal and Ms Lendon worked in both Sri Lanka and Indonesia to manage the Back-to-School programmes.
“The greatest thing about working
in the Back-to-School programme was that it was positive, we were working on the future of the kids – it was the best way to help them get over the trauma,” Ms Lendon said.
“In Aceh the education system was devastated, we had to start from scratch re-educating and rebuilding.”
She said since the tsunami, UNICEF had provided 400,000 students with learning materials and 1000 teachers had been recruited.
Total
QUT
tsunami donations:Red Cross $33,353
Apheda $3400 AFAP $2283
Care Australia $14,402 Caritas $8404
Oxfam $8887 Salvation Army $8329
UNHCR $519 UNICEF $7697 World Vision $24,860
TOTAL: $112,901
w i t h s i g n i f i c a n t m a n a g e m e n t responsibilities.
“She has developed strong links with a range of arts-related organisations across north and east Asia, and her current commitments include that as Chair of the Artistic Advisory Committee for the Hong Kong Ballet,”
Professor Gardiner said.
“Before she left Australia a number of years ago, Sue Street had been a member of the Australia Council and Chair of that Council’s Dance Fund.”
Speaking from Hong Kong, Professor Street said she was honoured that QUT has placed their faith in her to lead the Creative Industries Faculty.
“Returning to Australia and to QUT truly feels like coming home, but it is also about moving forward to a new challenge,” she said.
“The value placed on creativity has risen exponentially over recent years to be seen as integral to developing societies.
“QUT, with its ambitious agenda, is the perfect ‘open-space’ incubator to assist in realising the full potential of this emerging sector.”
Professor Street will commence full- time duties as dean in September.
QUT is at an exciting crossroads.
It is a well managed institution, at the cutting edge of teaching and learning, and a signifi cant player in the Australian higher education scene.
A natural next step for QUT’s evolution is to increase the intensity of its research eff ort to achieve its goal of becoming a world-class university.
The pursuit of research is vital for a university from a number of perspectives.
When academic staff and students par ticipate in the knowledge creation process, the quality of the teaching and learning experience is enhanced.
Outcomes of research create economic opportunities, thereby increasing community support for the university.
Excellence in research also helps to strengthen the university’s brand name, which helps to attract talented students and academic staff .
In a globally competitive higher education sector, research excellence is a key diff erentiator.
Faced with an ageing population and rising health care costs, governments around the world are looking for priorities in public funding of research.
T h e A u s t r a l i a n F e d e r a l Government has initiated a Research Quality Framework whose outcomes will influence f uture research funding in universities.
The quality of research, its relevance to the solution of society’s problems and its ability to create economic opportunities are likely to be a priority.
QUT is in a good position to respond to such a chang ing scenario.
Solutions to society’s problems a n d c r e a t i o n o f e c o n o m i c opportunities cannot always be addressed in disciplinary silos, they often have multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary answers.
QUT’s strateg ic response to research capacity building includes identifi cation of a small number of interdisciplinary institutes that build on QUT’s existing strengths, align with national and state priorities, are relevant to the local economic c o n t ex t a n d wh o s e re s e a rc h outcomes have global opportunities – especially in the fast growing Asia- Pacifi c region.
The Institute for Health and Biomedical Innovation (IHBI) draws on the University’s existing expertise in health, science and engineering, and given Queensland’s population profi le, conducts research that is highly relevant both locally and globally.
T h e s e c o n d i n s t i t u t e , t h e Information Security Institute (ISI), builds on a strong existing talent pool in the IT, built environment, eng ineering, law and business disciplines.
With increasing dependence on technology for securing our infr astr ucture, and the global mood post 9/11, ISI is aligned with the national research priority of Safeguarding Australia.
Looking ahead, QUT is currently debating proposals for institutes around the themes of renewability and creative innovation.
While a significant proportion of QUT’s research eff orts will be around these institutes, excellent curiosity-driven research will always be nurtured, encouraged and celebrated.
On a completing note, QUT’s research capacity building cannot be at the expense of achievements in teaching and learning, but must further enhance it.
Professor Arun Sharma Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Commercialisation)
Law
QUEENSLANDERS who do not want to be resuscitated or receive other life-sustaining medical treatment have no way of guaranteeing that their wishes will be adhered to under current state legislation.
QUT law lecturer Dr Ben White said Queensland’s complex legislation gave doctors the right to veto a patient’s written directive if “good medical practice” disagreed with that directive.
A re c e n t ly l a u n c h e d i s s u e s paper authored by Dr White and Associate Professor Lindy Willmott,
“ R e t h i n k i n g L i f e - S u s t a i n i n g Measures: Questions for Queensland”,
has highlighted problems with Queensland’s legislation surrounding this sensitive issue.
Its launch came in the wake of the Terri Schiavo controversy in the United States where a Florida court ruled that the brain-damaged victim’s feeding tube could be removed after it had kept her alive for 15 years.
“Although Queensland’s legislation is relatively progressive, there are some real problems in this area of law that can cause diffi culties for patients, families, health professionals and lawyers,” Dr White said.
Dr White said two main problems currently existed - one concerned advance health directives while the second was the criteria that
guided decisions on withholding or withdrawing a life-sustaining measure.
An advance health directive (AHD) spells out how an adult expects to be treated once they lose the ability to make a decision but Dr White said doctors may be able to avoid following these instructions based on the current legislation.
“People are completing these AHDs thinking they will be legally binding but the way the law operates in Queensland, there are doubts as to whether their instructions legally need to be followed,” Dr White said.
“Doctors can rely on a defence of good medical practice if they don’t
want to follow an advance health directive.”
He said a problem also existed if a person failed to make their wishes known in a way that complied with the requirements of the legislation.
“If a person with full decision making capacity said they did not want to be fed in a similar way to Terri Schiavo and this was clearly verif ied, then the common law regards this as a binding direction,”
Dr White said.
“However, this legislation has had the effect of excluding common law directives so if I had expressed my wishes but hadn’t fi lled out an AHD with the witnessing and other requirements of the leg islation
then my instructions are not legally binding.”
Dr White also said the criteria guiding the decision on whether to withhold or withdraw a life- sustaining measure could lead to uncertainty and confusion for the person (usually a spouse, carer or relative) making the decision.
“Different criteria can indicate diff erent decisions may be appropriate in the circumstances of the one case.”
He said health professionals also had no clear guidelines on the meaning of “good medical practice”, an important concept under the legislation.
- Heath Kelly
Legal doubt on dying wishes
Life sciences
A 22-YEAR-OLD QUT researcher is heading to Harvard in a bid to unlock the secrets surrounding the spread of prostate cancer.
M i t c h e l l L aw re n c e h a s wo n a $40,000 Fulbright Postgraduate Award to conduct research at Harvard University’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre in Boston.
He is currently undertak ing a PhD at QUT through an Australian Postgraduate and Vice Chancellor’s Top-Up Award after graduating with fi rst class honours in biology.
His study focuses on specifi c proteins involved in the progression of prostate cancer and it’s hoped it will lead to better detection of the invasive disease.
The specific protein interactions that Mitchell is investigating, called kallikreins, have not been studied extensively in Australia and his access to biomolecular tools in the US will allow him to investigate his hypotheses in much greater detail.
“It’s hypothesized that these proteins may be involved in the transition from something that’s localised to something that’s more invasive and spreading,” he said.
“Most men die with rather than of prostate cancer.”
Men diagnosed with localised prostate cancer enjoy a favourable 100 per cent survival rate with a range of treatments however if prostate cancer has spread to other organs of the body the treatment options are more limited.
“At the moment the current marker for determining prostate cancer isn’t accurate enough to differentiate between cancer and a benign disease,”
Mitchell said.
Further research is needed to identify molecular mechanisms responsible for the spread of cancer from the prostate, as well as identify diagnostic and prognostic markers to discriminate between diff erent stages of the disease.
His project is part of a larger eff ort by the Prostate Cancer Research Program led by Professor Judith Clements at QUT to identify more effective biomarkers for prostrate cancer and new therapeutic approaches.
Mitchell, who will take up his studies in Boston in July, was formally presented with the Fulbright award at a special ceremony hosted by V-C Professor Peter Coaldrake who is chair to the Board of the Australian- American Fulbright Commission.
- Debra Nowland
Harvard mission boosts cancer research
Mitchell Lawrence will leave his QUT lab behind when he heads to Harvard in July on a prestigious Fulbright scholarship.
performance.
“The goal of the institute’s work is to create better education, training and employment opportunities for Indigenous students.
“The partnership is about drawing on what we already know and further exploring the specifi c educational needs and challenges of indigenous students so that principals and teachers can be empowered to be leaders of change.”
Mr Sarra, who is also Queenslander of the Year and QUT’s 2004 Outstanding Alumnus Award winner, has been appointed the institute’s director.
He will regularly report on the institute’s progress to the Board of Education Queensland and QUT representatives.
It is expected Mr Sarra’s vast experience and strong commitment to indigenous education would be the Institute’s driving force.
Under his leadership, Cherbourg
New Indigenous institute
Former Cherbourg State School principal and QUT alumnus Chris Sarra is the institute’s new director.
State School has dramatically reduced unexplained absences, raised community involvement and increased opportunities for local training and employment.
Professor Coaldr ake said the institute would also oversee Indigenous education research and liaise with universities to ensure Indigenous students had the necessary support services to help them undertake tertiary studies.
“Cherbourg State School is an ideal location for the institute because of its exceptional education outcomes and its already-close ties with QUT,” he said.
In October 2003, the school was recognised as a School of Excellence in Indigenous Education and its principal was named a High Achieving Principal as part of the department’s Partners For Success program.
The school has already developed a strong partnership with QUT through its Cherbourg Digital Project, which has seen many Indigenous teacher aides and students trained in various forms of digital multimedia technologies.
Professor Coaldrake said the institute would be a living laboratory.
“As the young people of Cherbourg go about their everyday school life, they will be contributing to our research eff orts,” he said. “This research will, in turn, benefi t future generations of Indigenous Queenslanders.
“While Cherbourg State School students and their teachers will be the fi rst to benefi t, it is envisaged that other schools will have access to the institute’s resources through online learning and video-conferencing.
“The institute’s work will involve a r ange of str ateg ies including strengthening links with governments, schools and universities in other states who face the same Indigenous education challenges.”
Professor Coaldr ake said the institute would play an important role in developing and delivering leadership development programs which, in the future, will also be available to community, business and education leaders.
The university’s undergraduate and postgraduate students will use the institute’s programs to enhance their tertiary experience.
From page 1
Social change
THE fi rst study to investigate why the test of time has transformed the image of the Medici dynasty’s founder from Father of the Renaissance to a mafi a- style Godfather is underway at QUT.
The family ruled Florence for over 300 years from the early part of the 14th century and is credited with transforming the city-state into the cultural centre of Europe.
History initially describes Cosimo de`Medici as a brilliant and kindly ruler averse to bloodshed.
But the intervening six centuries have transformed him into a cynical judge of character who ordered others to do his killing.
The researchers from QUT’s Centre for Social Change argue that the seismic shift in how Cosimo is perceived is a product of the social and historical period successive historians lived in.
“Historical characters come to us refracted through the lens of successive generations of observers and writers,” study leader and PhD researcher Jan Dickinson said.
“Language and imagery were more important for the Medici family than for almost any other rulers to the present, because they lacked offi cial or hereditary status of any kind.
“For this reason, the myth of Cosimo, begun by
him, gained greater momentum after his death by means of the eulogies written over the subsequent two centuries.
“His shadow looms over the whole period of development and realisation of the Renaissance in Italy, and while no story of one man explains an epoch, it was under his patronage that the Renaissance fl ourished in 14th century Florence.
“It’s easy to see why, especially to historians of the 18th and 19th centuries, he comfortably fi tted the model of the incarnation of the ‘Spirit of his Age’.”
More recently the image of Cosimo has been inverted to that of a machinating party boss - the father image in the mafi a sense of a Godfather.
Yet, Ms Dickinson says though he has been called a mafi oso, that control was fundamental to the realisation of his personal goals and ambitions.
“He was to some - by nature and by design - the very personifi cation of all ‘that made life worth living in the Florence of his day’,” she said.
“The 15th century was a period of ethical ambivalence and mor al par adox. Moder n interpretations of Cosimo’s character must refl ect upon this in deciding how to interpret the kind of man he was.”
- Judith Moore
Medici history challenged
Business
CLEARER guidelines are needed for companies tottering on the brink of collapse if we’re to prevent another Enron, HIH or Ansett, according to a QUT study.
Following a string of high-profi le corporate collapses, practising lawyer and PhD researcher Richard Copp, pictured at left, said a radical approach to reforming corporate law is needed.
He said the current hope that improved corporate governance alone would prevent corporate collapse was akin to using a series of band-aids without an overall strategy.
Instead accountants, directors and senior management need a clearer defi nition of solvency and more thought
must be given to linking Australia’s corporate governance legislation with its corporate insolvency legislation.
“The idea of improved corporate governance hinges on increasing the independence of company directors and auditors so they can better monitor what management is doing and act in the best interest of stakeholders,” Mr Copp said.
“Measures designed to encourage the impartiality of directors will help, as has recent legislation to prevent
‘audit shopping’ – where companies engage accountants who will give them favourable audits. But these measures don’t go far enough.”
Mr Copp, who has been working in the fi eld of company law since 1988, said the application of the current
defi nition of company insolvency in the legislation was murky.
“The answer is obvious if a company is practically bankrupt or they have a million dollars in the bank, but often companies lie on a spectrum between these extremes,” he said.
“Often there’s no black and white answer, and the decision as to whether the company is able to carry on trading is left in the hands of accountants and the company’s board.
“This is important because directors are personally liable if the company continues to trade while insolvent.
“Better guidelines must be put in place if we are to prevent the fi nancial shockwaves felt by so many following previous corporate collapses.”
- Judith Moore
Band-aid corporate reform not enough
Information security
RESEARCHERS from QUT believe it will be possible to piece together computer evidence of criminal activity that’s previously evaded detection.
By devising a novel way of searching through the mass of information a PC’s hard drives can store, they hope to provide a new tool in the arsenal of computer forensic investigators.
Normally, law enforcement or intelligence agencies with the appropriate authorisation seize computers when they believe they’ve been used to commit a crime and then search for specifi c information.
“The software and procedures we’re developing will make it possible to forensically reconstruct what a computer has been used for with no pre- conceived notions of its use or origins,” explained PhD researcher Andrew Marrington of QUT’s Information Security Institute.
“Recently cases where child porn rings have been broken by confi scating computers have relied on police using directed search techniques to identify evidence to back up their suspicions.”
Current technology fi nds fi les of interest on computer hard drives by sifting through data
and reconstructing documents even if they’re stored in chunks across diff erent locations.
But the system only works if you know what you’re looking for.
The process under development at QUT, under the supervision of Professor George Mohay, will profi le the contents and use of a computer by analysing information stored in the form of logs and meta-information.
The analysis will identify fi les, users, and applications of interest and trace other documents even if they’re hidden.
“Computers have so much information on them it’s almost impossible to look through them in a step by step fashion and determine any trends,” Mr Marrington said.
“As hard drives get bigger, which they will do, this will only get harder.
“The benefi t of our system will be an
investigator can set software to run, come back in a few hours and have a report that’s analysed the relationship between disparate information and worked out whether it’s signifi cant.”
The researchers say prototype software is two years away.
- Judith Moore
New tool detects fi ngerprints of cybercrime
Clockwise from above:
Florence today;
researcher Jan Dickenson;
and the subject of her study, Cosimo de`Medici.
‘Doctor of mosh’
Cameron Earl has spent fi ve years researching outdoor music festivals in Australia and the UK for a QUT doctorate and says we have a lot to learn.
A lot of these organisations are very protective of their volunteers and don’t always tell them all the risks - they don’t want to scare them off .
IF you are going to devote several years of your life to something, make sure it’s something you love.
That’s Cameron Earl’s advice to students contemplating research work.
He combined his interest in music, outdoor festivals, and public health and came up with a doctorate topic which he thought would sustain his interest for several years.
It did. Just.
“It’s a huge help if you are researching an area that you are passionate about,” he said.
“I have been involved with outdoor music festivals as a musician, a volunteer and through my work as an environmental health offi cer.
“And people weren’t doing research in this area – it was an area that needed work.”
Mr Earl is due to fi nish his doctorate this year.
He is a former QUT public health lecturer and currently works for the New South Wales government.
Love your work
Public healthBRITAIN’S famous Glastonbury Festival is embracing Aussie singers this year … now a QUT researcher wants Aussie music festivals to embrace British safety.
Musician and public health expert Cameron Earl has just completed fi ve years of research into outdoor music festivals in Australia and the UK as part of his public health doctorate at QUT.
He said there was a need for improved crowd management in Australia because of continued crowd-related incidents.
While he has plenty of praise for the quality of acts at Australian festivals, he believes the organisers could take lessons from Britain’s massive Glastonbury Festival – which will be staged in England in June and feature acts including Kylie Minogue and the John Butler Trio.
“It was the knowledge, skills and training of the Glastonbury volunteers that really impressed me,” he said.
“Glastonbury runs over three days and has an army of more than 5000 volunteers who are trained and organised with almost military-like precision. It is a very impressive event – the amount of planning that goes into it is staggering. For a few days a year, a paddock in the English country side becomes a city one-and-a-half times the size of Toowoomba.
“But most volunteers at Australian outdoor music festivals receive very little training and are mainly there for a free ticket.
“These volunteers are often the backbone of crowd management, such as supervising camp areas, and can be
the closest people to an emergency or dangerous situation – they need to know how to react.”
Mr Earl conducted fi ve studies over fi ve years and visited Glastonbury four times for research.
He surveyed Australian and British festival volunteers, Australian security staff , and Australian university students who frequent festivals, and conducted a study into Glastonbury’s security upgrades in recent years.
Mr Earl said he believed Australian organisers sometimes downplayed security risks.
“A lot of organisations are very protective of their volunteers and, for one reason or another, don’t always tell them all the risks – they don’t want to scare them off ,”
he said.
“So you’ve got people who don’t know what to do if 15 people suddenly charge at them at once and try to get through a gate.”
Mr Earl said outdoor music festivals required local government approval and that environmental health practitioners played a key role in this approval process.
He said he wanted to see Australian environmental health practitioners become more involved on crowd management, like their English counterparts, and not just focus on toilets and food.
“I’d also like to see tailored training programs, possibly web-based, which people could do and then show this qualifi cation to festival organisers when they apply to be a volunteer,” he said.
- Mechelle Webb
in BRIEF...
Smart Train
QUT’s Smart Train will once again take its message of innovation and technology to Queensland when it sets off from Brisbane on Sunday, May 15.
All faculties at QUT, from business and creative industries to law and science, are joining forces to create an informative and dynamic travelling roadshow which will visit 25 regional centres throughout the state over a six- week period, targeting school students and their families.
The train will contain highly interactive technology displays as well as live radio programs and forums.
The ABC will build and operate a working radio studio on the train, with staff from the nearest regional station carrying out outside broadcasts of their local morning programs in centres from as far north as Cairns and west to Mount Isa.
In conjunction with ABC local radio, QUT will also invite various schools to produce a two-hour radio program which will be broadcast via the ABC’s
on-board studio.
The content of the broadcasts will focus on issues faced by young people in rural communities and include, where possible, live or recorded local music.
In addition, forums featuring QUT experts will be held in Toowoomba, Gladstone and Townsville covering a range of issues such as the implications of genetic modifi cation.
The forums will either be broadcast live in the region they’re held, or recorded for replay.
Supporting QUT in rolling out this year’s Smart Train is a range of sponsors including Queensland Rail, Department of the Premier and Cabinet, Department of State Development and Innovation and Education Queensland.
QUT has launched three previous trains – the Science Train in 1997, the Science and Technology Train in 1999 and the Innovation Train in 2002 – which attracted almost 70,000 people.
For more information and the full train timetable visit www.train.qut.
edu.au.
QUT train set to make tracks again
QUT and Catholic Education partnership Brisbane Catholic Education and QUT have become partners in a new agreement to enhance educational opportunities between the two organisations. Under the deal, a new learning clinic has been established within Catholic Education to help children, adolescents and their families who have a range of educational and developmental concerns. The clinic, known as the Caroline Chisholm centre, located at Highgate Hill, equips QUT masters’ students to become fully registered as psychologists in Queensland.
A Memorandum of Agreement was signed by QUT Brisbane and Catholic Education on Friday, April 22.
Study addresses intelligence failures A major study to develop a theoretical framework for intelligence systems is underway at QUT. In the wake of September 11, Law Faculty researchers are trying to determine what characteristics are necessary for effective national security agencies.
One of the key weaknesses identifi ed is the lack of sharing of information, said PhD researcher Sally Hose.
That coupled with insuffi cient cooperation and integration meant that key signals that could have prevented 9/11 were missed.
“Through the development of this framework we hope to identify specifi c characteristics that if absent, may result in the overall failure of intelligence systems,” Ms Hose explained.
New QUT testing service saves fi nes - and lives A new testing service to help ensure electrical contractors in south-east Queensland are working safely within the law has been launched by the Faculty of Built
Environment and Engineering.
The new service will help contractors conform to State electrical safety regulations by offering testing to confi rm electrical instruments are correctly functioning and safe. According to project manager Robert Jensen, many electrical contractors in Queensland may unwittingly be in breach of the law which has fi nes up to a maximum of $3000. He said non compliance with the law may also involve contractors in protracted litigation or even worse, serious injury or death of staff or clients.
Stories shared on new KGUV website
A new website titled Sharing Stories, which uses community stories and images to capture the social heritage of the Kelvin Grove Urban Village site, has been launched. A collaborative effort by the Queensland Government Department of Housing and QUT, the project aims to recognise the evolving “urbanscape”
of the area, which has over the years encompassed schools, military barracks, private residences, and now university buildings. Housing Minister Robert Schwarten launched the website at the Creative Industries Precinct at Kelvin Grove campus on Friday 8 April. Sharing Stories can be viewed at www.kgurbanvillage.com.
au/sharing.
Mathematics
WAITING lists for elective surgery in public hospitals could be reduced thanks to an admissions management system under development at QUT.
U s i n g O p e r a t i o n s Research techniques, the study aims to devise a model that’s more eff ective at balancing acute admissions with elective surgery in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of
public hospitals.
T h e r e s e a r c h e r s from QUT’s School of Mathematics and the Princess Alexandra (PA) Hospital say more effi cient scheduling will maximise a d m i s s i o n r a t e s b y
reducing the number of elective procedures that have to be postponed, and the number of acute patients that are tr ansfer red to other hospitals.
Hospital waiting lists for elective surgery have recently raised concerns a n d f i g u r e s f r o m
Q u e e n s l a n d H e a l t h
show that almost 33,000 patients are waiting for elective surgery in the state’s major public hospitals.
“Balancing access for elective and emergency patients complicates the smooth running of an ICU,” PhD student Sam McHardy of QUT’s School of Mathematics said.
“We’re trying to develop a model that spots where bottlenecks arise in the system. One alternative is to effi ciently juggle the admissions schedule to prevent turning patients away.”
To determine what factors infl uence bed allocation Mr McHardy is using real data from PA Hospital that includes: arrival rates, length of stay and the reason for admittance.
“By varying each factor in the model it should be possible to determine which has the biggest infl uence on optimising admission rates,” he said.
“At the moment we’re looking at what happens to admissions when some factors are controlled but we plan to expand the study to mimic the unpredictable nature of real life.
“Ultimately the study should be completed in two years and we’re looking into the possibility of turning the model into computer software that could be integrated into a hospitals’
admission planning procedure.”
- Judith Moore
Model to cut
hospital wait lists
Flashback: children view the previous QUT train on its journey around Queensland in 2002.
A CHILDCARE ‘crisis’ is making motherhood and a career a near-impossible combination for university graduates and other young women, according to leading Australian feminist and author Anne Summers.
She visited Brisbane to speak at a QUT lunch this month as a guest of DVC Professor Sandra Harding.
Ms Summers said she feared that complacency in younger women and a change in government policy direction meant the fi ght for women’s equality in Australia was now going backwards. She said many young mothers were simply better off fi nancially to stay at home rather than pay childcare costs that were now hitting $350 a week - per child - in some cities.
“Twenty-eight percent of young women today will not have children at all,” she said. “It is women aged 30 and over, with a university degree, who have the lowest birthrate.”
Childcare ‘crisis’ makes babies & jobs tough work
Anne Summers in Brisbane.
Business
QUT will represent Australia in the international MOOT CORP final in Texas next month for the second year in a row after winning the Australian leg of the venture capital competition.
The team of QUT MBA students and graduates won over the judges with an invention by Brisbane man Gary Rayner – the PillowVue.
The simple device projects a TV image on to the bedroom ceiling – creating a big screen TV for a fraction of the cost, pictured at right.
MOOT CORP aims to simulate the process of raising funds for a new business.
The winner of the international fi nal will have the chance to earn some real cash – $US100,000.
That event will be held at the University of Texas in Austin from May 4 to 7.
Mr Rayner hand-picked his team for the Australian competition from QUT’s MBA program, with members including Kitty Hetzel, Jim
Efthimiou, Kristy Ouwerkerk, and Sergio Cueva.
Together, they beat off entrants from other Queensland and interstate MBA programs during a series of pitches in front of a panel of business development experts.
The inventor said he dreamt up the PillowVue idea last year while watching TV in bed.
“It was just a pain in the neck trying to watch TV,” he said.
“I was staring up at the roof thinking: Wouldn’t it be ideal if I could watch TV up there? You’ve got the perfect projection screen right above you.”
Mr Rayner plans to launch the product in the United States by Christmas 2005, with Australia to follow. He said 70% of Americans watched TV in bed and that he believed they’d be willing to pay
$US295 for a PillowVue.
“We hope to move 120,000 units in the fi rst year of sales, and reach
$180M of revenue by the third year,”
he said.
- Mechelle Webb
PillowVue invention off to Texas
Alumni
FOR a woman used to battling her way through tightly guarded checkpoints in the Middle East her Australian homecoming was simple.
No machine guns, no army tanks and, almost as importantly, no delays.
Dr Jean Calder recently returned to Brisbane to accept her belated QUT Faculty of Education Outstanding Alumni Award and Excellence in Contribution to the Community Award at a special function held at Gardens Point campus on April 1.
The honour was to be presented in 2001 but uprisings in the Israeli- controlled territory of Gaza where Dr Calder lives and works kept her extremely busy and before long nearly fi ve years had passed before she was able to make the journey.
During this trip she also travelled to
Canberra to be presented on April 8 with her Companion of the Order of Australia for humanitarian services, announced earlier this year in the Australia Day honours’ list.
“It is a great honour to receive such awards, however it is somewhat overwhelming as I am doing what I believe in,” she said.
For the past 25 years Dr Calder has devoted her life and career to improving the lives of disabled children throughout the Middle East.
Work ing for the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, part of the International Federation of Red Cross, she has been instrumental in the establishment of rehabilitation programs at Al Amal City, or City of Hope.
The unique community centre responds to the needs of up to 4000
people daily in Khan Younis and is a continuation of the Society’s centres in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Egypt.
She said children and teenagers in much of poverty-stricken Gaza had little opportunity for creativity and self-expression and the centre aimed to improve that.
“They are living in very dangerous areas, they’ve had family members killed or wounded, houses shelled and they’re traumatised,” Dr Calder said.
Dr Calder herself has been held at gunpoint, put in jail and forced to shelter under a staircase with half a dozen children while shells and bombs exploded in the streets outside.
But the 69-year-old, who has raised three disabled Palestinian children left orphaned by the ongoing troubles
in the region, hasn’t considered leaving her tiny apartment in the Gaza Strip.
“Why should I? When I went there in the fi rst place I knew it was dangerous,” she said.
It’s a life that Dr Calder never imagined when she completed her teaching qualif ication at QUT’s p re d e c e s s o r, t h e Q u e e n s l a n d Teachers’ Training College in 1954.
Sitting at her sister’s house at Capalaba in suburban Brisbane Dr Calder appears restful and relaxed.
She listens to the chuck les of a kookaburra and breathes in the aroma of the native Melaleuca trees.
It’s a world away from any guarded checkpoints.
- Debra Nowland
From war zones to awards
Pyschology
ACHIEVING a work-life balance has become an increasingly diffi cult struggle but QUT researcher Prue Millear is developing an alternative approach to the problem to help people regain control of their lives.
Ms Millear said while some employers provided the right environment to enable employees to combine work with other important parts of their lives, many people still found it diffi cult to achieve a happy balance.
Ms Millear, in collaboration with her PhD supervisor Dr Poppy Liossis, wants to help people fi nd that balance by developing a process aimed at changing a person’s thinking patterns rather than have to rely on surrounding resources.
“We want to give people the tools so they can respond to any challenge, where they can see problems as solvable rather than catastrophes,” Ms Millear said.
“By gaining an understanding of a person’s strengths and weaknesses we want to be able to teach people how to take control of their life.
“If an individual is resilient they can make changes, and that is what is equally if not more important than those human resource elements.”
As part of her research, Ms Millear will be implementing interventions in a number of workplaces to show employees that with the right attitude, life change is not impossible.
“For example, this could be the way you explain an event when something goes wrong. Instead of blaming yourself, those with the right attitude can put it down to the boss having a bad day or the kids being tired, depending on the situation,” she said.
Her PhD thesis stems from her recently completed honours in which she surveyed 166 people about their overall wellbeing based on their work- life balance.
She found several factors aff ected w e l l b e i n g a n d t h e y w e r e a n individual’s optimistic outlook, sense of competency and sense of control over their lives.
As part of her PhD research, she is hoping to identify the point common amongst individuals where they reach breaking point because of an inability to cope with competing stresses.
“I want to fi nd out at what point does it become too much, where you say, I am not going to do this anymore?”
“If you can see the contours of wellbeing there might be a part where there is cliff and that your resiliency can take you only so far and then you fall off .”
Ms Millear, married with two teenage children, said her research was the result of her ambition “to do all that I want to do and still feel normal”.
But she reinforced her point that achieving a work-life balance was not just about spending more time with the family.
“It’s also about wanting to spend more time playing with your footy team or doing community work, for example…this is about achieving your potential and living a good life.”
- Heath Kelly
Tools for achieving work-life
balance
Jean Calder back home in Brisbane, left, and family album images of life in the Middle East, above and at right.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.
Janne Rayner (Editor) 07 3864 2361
Heath Kelly 07 3864 1841 Judith Moore 07 3864 2130 Debra Nowland 07 3864 1150 Mechelle Webb 07 3864 4494 Tony Phillips/Erika Fish
(Photography) 07 3864 5003 Rachel Murray (Advertising) 07 3864 4408 Richard de Waal (Design)
about IQ
Cabaret
- Flat on your Bacarach A good laugh and a lot of love will be on show when Flat on your Bacharach visits the QUT Gardens Theatre on May 3 and 4. This acclaimed cabaret act has thrilled audiences across Australia with an award-winning show that pays tribute to some of pop music’s most exhilarating moments.
Tickets are $34 (adults) or $22 (students). Book with GardensTix on 3864 4455.
Events
APRIL 28 – JULY 3 The QUT Art Museum will launch its latest exhibition, The Recent Past, this Thursday.
It celebrates the 60th anniversary of the QUT Art Collection and features recent acquisitions by artists including Sidney Nolan, Judith Wright, and Jon Molvig. The museum is in Main Drive next to the City Botanic Gardens and opens daily.
APRIL 29 Support the QUT rugby team when they battle UQ in a Super 12 curtain raiser at Ballymore. The uni clash kicks off at 5pm and will be followed by the Queensland Reds versus the South African Cats. For details on Student Guild ticket packages, call 3864 5581
APRIL 29 – MAY 2 The QUT Urban Country Music Festival is on at Caboolture. Saturday night’s feature concert includes Lee Kernaghan, Sara Storer, Felicity and Beccy Cole.
The festival infoline is 1800 810 400.
NOW UNTIL MAY 8 Days are running out to catch the work of Queensland artist Leah King-Smith at the QUT Art Museum.
Her exhibition, Liminal Interstices, is the fi nal presentation of her Creative Industries doctoral studies at QUT.
MAY 13 –15 QUT staff will host information booths at the 2005 Careers and Employment Expo at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Entry is free. Visit www.eocexpo.com.au.
Seminars
MAY 5
QUT business experts Dr Carol Dalglish and Peter Evans will host a one-day Leading People workshop at the Brisbane Graduate School of Business.
It is open to the public at a cost of $660 per person. Email [email protected].
Conferences
MAY 11 The 12th National Women’s Professional Development Conference will be held at the Carlton Crest Hotel in Brisbane to provide an insight into success strategies.
Email women@qut.
edu.au.
Visit www.whatson.
qut.edu.au for more event listings and to submit your upcoming event.
WHATS on...
Applied science
WITH childhood obesity now at unparalleled levels in Australia, a motivational program for school kids designed by a QUT researcher could be the answer health experts are looking for.
F i t 2 P l ay i s t h e i n i t i a t ive o f postg raduate researcher Michael Georgalli aimed at primary school children to help them develop healthy eating habits and improve their physical activity levels to lower the risk of obesity and illnesses such as diabetes.
The preventative program, which combines learning with exercise and active play, has already been trialled with success in Gold Coast schools. It is soon to be launched on a trial basis in South Australia and New South Wales by Olympian Tatiana Grigorieva.
“Fit2Play is designed to educate children at an age when behaviour patter ns regarding food, health, physical activity and self-esteem are being established,” Mr Georgalli said.
“This is a sustainable behavioural change program - not a fi tness program - designed to improve the social wellbeing of the community.”
Mr Georgalli is currently analysing the results of a recent Fit2Play trial, which featured almost 1200 students,
as part of his QUT postgraduate research study.
Mr Georgalli said Fit2Play, which revolved around 15 minutes of physical activity a day and an interactive website, helped teachers meet their key learning outcomes by integrating the program’s elements into the curriculum.
“Fit2Play encour ages k ids to participate in a fun based online general knowledge health quiz and they retrieve daily tips from the website on healthy lifestyle, design their own personal activity programs and work toward improving their nutrition on a daily basis,” Mr Georgalli said.
“Teachers also have access to a resource where they can combine physical activity with subject matter.
For example, kids may be required to walk around an oval four times at the start of the program and graph the time it takes the class to complete the distance.
“It helps kids with their maths and their physical endurance improves as well. They repeat the exercise on a weekly basis and by the end of the program they are running around the oval 10 times.”
The program runs for the duration of a school term and Mr Georgalli said feedback from teachers, parents and the children had been overwhelming.
Program makes kids fi t to play
FIRST-YEAR QUT student Josh Thomas has become the youngest person to win the prestigious National Raw Comedy competition.
The fi nal, which was held at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival this month, saw 17-year-old Josh beat off tough competition from 14 fi nalists to win fl ights to the 2005 Edinburgh Fringe Festival - the world’s premier comedy event.
Competing against many much older and more experienced performers, the fi nal was only his fourth ‘grown-up’
gig ever.
Josh, who is studying television production, earned his place in the Melbourne final after winning the state competition at the Sit Down Comedy Club.
His fi ve-minute sketch, which was performed in front of a full house of 1300 people, played on self-deprecating humour based on the trials and tribulations of family life.
“It was nerve racking in front of all those people with their attention focussed on just me,” Josh said.
“At the state finals I was more relaxed and got into the atmosphere but this time I fl uff ed a few lines so I’m really surprised I won.”
Whilst this was Josh’s first year
perfor ming in the Raw Comedy competition, he has been a fi nalist for the last three years in the student version of the competition ‘Class Clowns’. Josh was also involved in every major production at Kenmore High in the fi ve years he attended the school, including Rock Eisteddfods, musicals and fashion parades.
Josh’s next gig will be at QUT’s open mic night on April 26 and long term he hopes to combine his comic skills with television hosting and producing.
Currently he’s involved in creating a cybersoap called “cleo-missing.com”
which will be launched online in a few weeks.
“I’ve heard my act described as engaging and original with a quirky sense of timing,” Josh said.
“Others have said it’s memories of a metrosexual geek. I’d say, going with the theme of self-deprecation, that I’m a scattered and unprepared loser.”
- Judith Moore
QUT funny boy shines
COMPUTER code, digital mutations and sensuous robotics come together in a compelling exhibition of electronic artworks currently on display at the Creative Industries Precinct at Kelvin Grove campus.
Comprising some of the key works from the Australian Centre for the Moving Image’s highly acclaimed original exhibition, Transfi gure, the current body of work titled
Transfi gure//Body melds technology and art to provoke questions about the broader implications of the technological age.
Curated by Alessio Cavallaro, senior curator at the Mebourne- based ACMI, the exhibition showcases works by a range of internationally renowned artists.
The exhibition is open until this Sunday, April 30, Tuesday to Friday 2pm to 8 pm, Saturday 4pm to 8pm at the block, Creative Industries Precinct, Kelvin Grove campus. Entry is free.
Technology and art meld
“One teacher had students with a number of behavioural problems and during the program, their homework improved, their spelling improved, they wanted to eat more fruit and vegetables and participate in more physical activity.”
Mr Georgalli said the fact that it was available online meant it was available to every school in Australia and was also a tool schoolchildren identifi ed with.
For more information visit www.
fi t2play.com.au.
- Heath Kelly
‘ It helps kids with their maths and their physical endurance improves as well.
Some of the highly-acclaimed works now on show at the Creative Industries Precinct.
Josh Thomas
