In brief
New faces, new places
UniSA has appointed a new face as Director of Human Resources. After an extensive search, Ruth Blenkiron won the position and began at the University just last month. Blenkiron’s previous role was as director of workforce development in the Department of Education and Children’s Services (DECS), an organisation employing around 25,000 people. Her career highlights also include Director, South Australian Centre for Leaders in Education in DECS, Manager Special Investigations Unit, Registrar of the Supreme Court of South Australia, Deputy Commissioner in the Office of the Commissioner for Equal Opportunity and both Deputy Principal and Acting Principal of Seymour College, a large independent R-12 school.
And UniSA Professor Nanthi Bolan has won the role of Dean of Graduate Studies, following a national search to fill the position.
Prof Bolan completed his PhD at the University of Western Australia in 1983 and moved to Massey University, New Zealand where he was Professor of Soil Science and Director of Postgraduate Studies.
He joined UniSA in February of 2007 as a Chair in Environmental Science in the Centre for Environmental Risk Assessment and Remediation and is researching the sustainable management of land and water resources and leading a program on Prevention Technologies for CRC CARE. He has also been actively engaged in teaching the MSc program in Environmental Risk Assessment and Remediation and has been Acting Dean of Graduate Studies for the past six months.
McDermott appointed to State Health Performance Council
State Health Minister John Hill has appointed Pro Vice Chancellor of the Division of Health Sciences, Professor Robyn McDermott to the State Government’s new Health Performance Council (HPC), an independent body to monitor the public health system and advise on how to improve it.
The HPC will specifically address the issues of country health, and the health of vulnerable groups, including Aboriginal communities and children. Its membership is drawn from a wide representation from the South Australian community, including doctors and nurses, a country GP, and representatives of Aboriginal health and veterans’ affairs.
Snake study with bite in Nature
UniSA’s
reputation for venom and snake research has received a boost with a
study published in Nature magazine that challenges previously
accepted notions of how fanged snakes evolved.
The paper is based on research partly conducted in UniSA’s histopathology laboratories by international scientists from the Netherlands, USA, Israel and Australia.
Led by Freek Vonk of Leiden University, the researchers looked at fang development in 96 snake embryos covering eight species to determine where the venomous teeth originate.
The researchers found that front and rear fangs develop in the back upper jaw, but the front fangs migrate forwards during embryo development while the rear fangs stay put in the tooth-forming layer. They become uncoupled from the rest of the teeth during evolution, enabling the back teeth to evolve independently with the venom gland.
Associate Professor Tony Woods of the Venoms Research Group at UniSA’s School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences said that UniSA played a significant role in providing the animals – with the help of adjunct research associate Peter Mirtschin – as well as devoting laboratory space and facilities for sample collection and processing.
Honours for Lee and Klingberg
Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academic, Professor Peter Lee and former Chancellor David Klingberg AM have been named by Engineers Australia in their list of Australia’s Top 100 most influential engineers.
Prof Lee has also been named Deputy Presiding Member of the South Australian Certificate of Education Board, charged with the responsibility of overseeing the new SACE throughout Catholic, Independent and Government secondary schools throughout SA from 2009.
The Board will accredit the range of subjects that will be eligible for the new SACE, and will work closely with schools, employers, teachers, universities, unions, training providers and other groups involved with young people. The term of appointment is for a period of three years, commencing July 1 2008.
Hawke Centre encouraging our future leaders
The Hawke Centre has just completed the first instalment of a free film series for years 7 to 12 school students, Sustaining our Global Future. Developed and led by Inspirational Cinema’s Susan Rooney-Harding, the series covers key issues pertaining to different UN Observances, such as World Environment Day and World Refugee Day.
Featuring inspiring and informative speakers such as Al Gore, Bono and Tenzin Pamlo, this series encourages students to think "outside the square" and highlights emerging youth leaders.
Information on the Sustaining our Global Future program for the rest of the year can be found at the Hawke Centre website.
The Hawke Centre also recently hosted ECOtvc and Ecovision winners at a presentation in the Bradley Forum. ECOtvc runs a competition to create a 30-second commercial that raises awareness about the sustainability of our planet and inspires action. More than 40 students and supporters were able to view entries and celebrate the winners of this year’s competition. These winning commercials will be screened throughout the Adelaide Film Festival and afterwards, on television and at cinemas.
Grant awarded for catchment research
Academic Director in Sustainable Business at the International Graduate School of Business (IGSB), Dr Geoffrey Wells last month secured a $100,000 research grant from SA Water to delve into the value of South Australian catchments.
The project, Valuation and investment in catchment management: methods for determining the value of catchments as assets for internal and external planning and policy development, focuses on the development of valuation techniques for environmental, social and economic dimensions of water catchments.
Dr Wells will work in conjunction with renowned global ecosystem valuation expert and environmental economist, Head of the Global Economics and the Environment Program with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Dr Lucy Emerton, who will act as the principal research adviser for the project.
Dr Wells says the aim of the project is to develop a best practice framework to place a true value on catchments and ongoing investment in them.
"Drawing on the disciplines of environmental and natural resource economics, and sustainable business, this project will develop an integrated framework for valuing catchments across the full range of values. This will make it possible for planners and policy developers to direct investment with precision and deliver the greatest value to all catchment stakeholders and users."
The research will be carried out through IGSB, in association with the Sustainable Communities Research and Innovation Cluster to provide a multidisciplinary base and will include case studies of two South Australian catchments.