In Brief
Research moving forward
UniSA researchers have been successful in securing almost $3.7 million in Discovery and Linkage funding in the latest round of Australian Research Council grants for commencement in 2009.
The six successful Linkage projects include research into the prevention of the financial abuse of older people; a project examining how journalists can be empowered and educated to report with more knowledge and understanding of society’s most vulnerable groups; new efficient methods to improve the recovery of copper in minerals processing; a security project examining ways to extract electronic evidence from voice over internet protocol conversations; the development of new nanocomposites that will more efficiently contribute to water purification; and the development of new nanoscale materials for use in local industry.
UniSA Deputy Vice Chancellor: Research and Innovation, Professor Caroline McMillen said the success in the latest round of Linkage grant funding followed a strong performance in the first round of Linkage grants announced earlier in 2008, bringing the total amount of UniSA’s Linkage grant funding this year to $3.5 million.
"There are some exciting examples of excellence in this round," Prof McMillen said.
"Associate Professor Linda Zou, who has only recently joined UniSA to take up the post of Deputy Director in the SA Water Centre for Water Management and Reuse, was awarded a Linkage grant to undertake a new research project - New nanocomposites of porous materials and visible light sensitive TiO2 for efficient wastewater purification."
The 12 successful Discovery projects cover research into everything from sleep and cooperative wireless networks, to statistical analysis of renewable energy systems and an examination of teaching reading in Australia. Of particular note is the achievement of UniSA’s mathematics and statistics researchers who achieved four Discovery grants totalling $870,000.
Prof McMillen said the efforts of all of the research teams who submitted grant applications should be acknowledged.
"More than 4000 Discovery grant applications were received by the ARC this year and only 20 per cent of those were successful," Prof McMillen said.
"UniSA researchers matched the national average success rate and surpassed the South Australian success rate of 17.6 per cent."
"It is a tough competition and all researchers who make the effort to develop their research goals and capabilities so that they can make a bid for funding should be encouraged and congratulated."
More details about the grants can be found at
www.arc.gov.au/ncgp/dp/dp_outcomes.htm and
www.arc.gov.au/ncgp/lp/lp_outcomes.htm
New maths leader
UniSA has just appointed Lee White as Professor of Applied Mathematics to lead new research in the School of Mathematics and Statistics.
Prof White has earned a reputation as one of the most outstanding theoreticians to ever have worked in the area of colloid and surface science where his research achievements have earned him a place at the forefront of the discipline internationally.
Prof White graduated from the University of Queensland (with a double major in chemistry and mathematics) and the Australian National University. He held a Chair in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Melbourne before taking up a Chair in Chemical Engineering at the prestigious Carnegie Mellon University.
He has made contributions to a number of areas of fundamental significance to colloid science, including electrostatic and van der Waals forces and electrokinetics. His work has formed the basis of what is now known as the standard model of electrokinetics. And that work has been applied in computer software now widely used around the world in the interpretation of electrophoresis, dielectric spectroscopy and electro-acoustic measurements.
The author of 138 journal articles in international refereed literature, his citation statistics are impressive - with more than 6030 citations for 130 papers. He joined UniSA this month.
Division of Business a founding member of Asia Pacific alliance
UniSA’s Division of Business has become a founding member of the Asia Pacific Academy of Business in Society (APABIS).
APABIS is an offshoot of the European Academy of Business in Society set up in 2002 by a consortium of leading European business schools and major companies including IBM, Unilever and Microsoft.
Pro Vice Chancellor, Business, Professor Gerry Griffin, said he welcomed the invitation to support APABIS at this early stage in its development.
"APABIS presents a great opportunity to work with other business schools and corporate partners in our own region," he said. "Issues of sustainability are becoming very pressing. Within our region, many small countries are at risk from climate change. The associated challenges of governance, economics, business management and social policy are very complex. We hope that through our involvement in APABIS we will be able to strengthen our own contributions in this area and develop some productive collaborations beyond our national boundaries."
The Division will be represented on the inaugural APABIS board by Dr Geoff Wells, who initiated and developed the Division’s recently introduced Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Business. For more information visit www.apabis.org
Social and Environment Accounting Research conference
UniSA’s School of Commerce will host the 7th Australasian Conference on Social and Environmental Accounting Research from December 7-9.
The conference is an informal gathering of researchers, teachers, students and practitioners concerned with social and environmental accounting in the very widest sense. Although papers from all areas of social and environmental accounting are welcome a main theme will be Sustainability Accounting – A Question for Management.
This year’s conference will also include a parallel stream on Environmental Management Accounting supported by the Environmental Management Accounting Network and the plenary speakers are Prof Katsuhiko Kokubu, Kobe University; Prof Lee Parker, UniSA; Prof Dr Stefan Schaltegger, Leuphana University, Germany; and Assoc Prof Carol Tilt, Flinders University.
For more information, contact conference coordinator Catherine Hughes at the University of Sydney on 0434 568 886, by email at C.Hughes@econ.usyd.edu.au, or visit csear.econ.usyd.edu.au
UniSA makes it on Broadway
Windmill Performing Arts’ production
The Green Sheep, based on
the book by acclaimed children’s author Mem Fox, has just finished a
"sold out" season on Broadway.
It is a special source of satisfaction for UniSA Professor of Early Childhood Education, Wendy Schiller and her team who played an important mentoring role in the development of The Green Sheep and another Windmill production, Cat.
Prof Schiller said the US success is the culmination of a long and happy association between early childhood education and the arts.
"UniSA has been working with Cate Fowler (director of The Green Sheep and Cat and former artistic director of Windmill) since 2001," she said.
"Since then, some 38,000 kids have seen The Green Sheep in Australia alone. It was a thrill to see it so well-received on Broadway.
"I’m also very pleased Cate is undertaking a Master of Early Childhood Education at UniSA, where she is investigating installation theatre for children."
The Green Sheep is being presented in the USA by Seattle Children’s Theatre. The New York season was held at the New Victory Theatre with the support of a grant from the Jim Henson Foundation.
"It is the first time New Victory Theatre has worked with such young children," Prof Schiller said. "And it really took off; all copies of Mem Fox’s book sold within two days."
Time Out magazine said the production "rocks one of NYC’s most kid-friendly stages with a show that’s perfect for theatregoers as young as a two-year-old".
Top Malaysian student recognised
Chia Ying Ng has been recognised as UniSA’s most outstanding
final year Malaysian student in this year’s Australia Malaysia
Business Council’s (AMBC) Merdeka Awards.
A candidate in the Bachelor of Medical Radiation (Diagnostic) program, Chia Ying was presented with $750 and a trophy by AMBC Patron and former Governor Sir Eric Neal at the AMBC gala dinner in Adelaide.
Chia Ying, who speaks five languages, left Malaysia more than six years ago to study medical science at Flinders University before starting her degree at UniSA.
Now, in addition to being on a clinical placement with UniSA, Chia Ying works part-time as a cardiac technician in a private clinic, and is a freelance interpreter, working mostly in hospitals.
"Next year I will undertake a traineeship for my professional development year and in 2010 will continue my studies, specialising in CT and ultrasound," Chia Ying said.
"I plan to stay in Australia for several years and once I gain more experience, I hope to travel interstate or overseas to broaden my horizons."
The AMBC awards are open to final-year students at the three SA universities. Students are judged on several criteria including that they should be good ambassadors for SA, have contributed towards developing strong relationships between SA and Malaysia, and can demonstrate community involvement and outstanding academic achievement.
Catherine House City to Bay team
Participating in this year’s City to Bay event was the first “UniSA – Catherine House” team. Catherine House is an Adelaide based organisation that supports homeless women. Links between UniSA and Catherine House have strengthened through Catherine House Director, Madge McGuire, being a Graduation speaker this year, and UniSA’s sponsorship of the recent Catherine House Birthday Breakfast event with guest speaker Thérèse Rein, attended by nearly 70 UniSA women.
The City to Bay team members (left to right) Lucy Schulz (Director SAS), Carol Sutherland (Division Manager BUE), Monica Behrend (Research Education Adviser LTU), Hilary Winchester (PVC Strategy and Planning) and Sarah Collyer-Braham (Coordinator: Global Experience BUE) (not pictured) were the UniSA contingent of a 40+ strong Catherine House team which in total raised around $11,000 toward assisting homeless women. Carol Sutherland is a member of the Catherine House Trust. More information is available from their website: www.catherinehouse.org.au
Budding writer with winning entry
St Aloysius Year 12 student, Sian Cain (pictured right), is the
envy of her schoolmates with a brand new iPhone for her winning
entry in the recent UniSA Career Shop competition. Cain liked the
easy access to information on the new career portal and says she was
surprised and pleased to receive the prize. She hopes to return to
UniSA next year for a double degree in Journalism and International
Studies or Visual Arts.