NEWS RELEASE
May 22 2002
SA
international education coup is out of this world
South
Australia has won the right to host one of the most prestigious space
education events in the world. Against tough competition from Canada, the
SA partnership of UniSA, Adelaide and Flinders Universities, supported by
the Adelaide Convention and Tourism Authority, and the State Government
through Australian Major Events, bid for and won the right to host the
2004 International Space University Summer Session Program. The bid was
coordinated by Michael Davis, a partner of local legal firm, Acutus Legal.
The
International Space University, founded in 1987 and headquartered in
Strasbourg, France, is the world’s leading space education institution.
Its programs are taught at graduate level and are dedicated to promoting
international, interdisciplinary and intercultural cooperation in space
activities. Each year the 9 week Summer Session Program is held in a
different part of the world. It provides an opportunity for the host city
to showcase its space capabilities to an international audience.
Although
called the Summer Session Program, it will be held over 9 weeks in our
winter from 27 June to 27 August 2004, attracting over 250 of the
world’s top space professionals, researchers and academics to live,
study and teach in Adelaide.
Key
selling points for the SA bid were the concentration of telecommunications
and satellite research being undertaken in the state at important research
centres such as UniSA’s Institute of Telecommunications Research and the
proximity of the space facilities at Woomera where experimental launches
will be conducted in conjunction with the program.
Vice
Chancellor of the leading host institution, the University of South
Australia, Professor Denise Bradley says the opportunity for SA to host
students and professionals engaged in frontier space research and
education was unique and exciting.
“These
sorts of events don’t happen every day and I believe this is a strong
indication that our local research community is indeed up there with the
best in the world,” Professor Bradley said.
“We have
an international reputation for leading edge space, satellite and
telecommunications research in this state but it is perhaps not as
recognised as it should be within our own community. This Summer Session
Program will highlight that talent not only internationally but at home
too.”
Special
features for those attending the program will include access to high-speed
intranet and Internet communications through the states’ pioneering
third generation wireless network along the North Terrace precinct.
Established by the m.Net Corporation, the technology will enable students
at the Summer Session Program to share data and work together on projects
with wireless connectivity.
Senior
lecturer in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Adelaide Dr
Gerard Schneider said the University was delighted to play a part in
boosting the profile of space research in South Australia.
The University of Adelaide is expected to host the important
opening and closing ceremonies for the event on its North Terrace campus.
Flinders
University’s role is likely to include hosting the international
visitors for lectures and workshops on topics in which it has particular
expertise such as oceanography, high altitude experiments and technology
commercialisation.
Media
contact: Michèle Nardelli (08) 8302 0966 or 041 8823673
email:
michele.nardelli@unisa.edu.au
