UQ News 4 November 2013

04/11/2013 by
UQ email-header

Latest News Researcher to reveal dragon tales What began as a basic exercise to count endangered Komodo dragons on four Indonesian islands became a passionate quest for a UQ doctoral graduate. Editor's Pick BEE-ing perfect Incredible robot aircraft could be built following the discovery of how a honeybee can land perfectly on any surface. Genes behind brain tumours Researchers have identified genes that could drive the formation of the most aggressive and frequent brain tumour found in children. Big solar plant set for Gatton The University's Gatton campus will host a multi-million-dollar world-leading solar photovoltaic … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Research, Uncategorized, University of Queensland Tagged With: , ,

Pioneer in fight agains child virus awarded Florey Medal

01/11/2013 by
Ruth Bishop

Fairfax Media     |   29 October 2013 Until 40 years ago the cause of one of the most common types of gastro was a mystery.   But the consequences of infection were obvious. In developed and developing countries alike, babies and young children died from acute diarrhoea, which was sometimes called cholera infantum. Murdoch Children's Research Institute microbiologist Ruth Bishop explains: It was similar to cholera in that there was a huge outpouring of fluid and electrolytes.  And it's that loss that put the child's life at risk. It was Professor Bishop's pioneering work ''following the clues'' as she described it on Monday that led to her discovering the cause of the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Research, Science, University of Melbourne Tagged With: , , ,

Australian unis fail the business funding test

13/08/2013 by
dollar key

Australian Financial Review    |   12 August 2013 Australian universities perform far below the world’s best in attracting research money from business, according to a new innovation index. The index, produced by Times Higher Education from its world university rankings data, says Australia places 15th in the world and is outranked by key Asian nations in the amount of research money its universities get from industry. South Korea and Singapore lead the table, with the average per annum gained from this source by academics worth $US97,900 ($A106,262) and $US84,500 respectively. China is in seventh and India in 10th place.  In Australia, the $US25,600 figure means it is just behind … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ATN, Government, Group of 8, Higher education policy, Research Tagged With: , , ,

The Scan Main Edition 4 April 2013

04/04/2013 by
PhD1

# 112 ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Universities call for red tape to be cut A typical Australian university in 2011 spent almost a million dollars in meeting not even half of the reporting obligations of just one government department according a PhillipsKPA report, Review of Reporting Requirements for Universities, commissioned by the (then) Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education (DIISRTE).   Universities together allocated around 66,000 staff days and $26 million in 2011 to meeting just 18 of 46 reporting requirements.  Universites Austalia chief Belinda Robinson … [Read more...]

Filed Under: acer, ACPET, Budget, Campus Review, Chisholm Institute, Coalition policies, Conferences, CQUniversity, Government, Group of 8, Higher education policy, Holmesglen TAFE, International, LH Martin Institute, Monash, NCVER, Notices, Qualifications, Research, Scan Main Edition, Schools, TAFE, Technology, TEQSA, Tertiary media, Uncategorized, Universities Australia, University budgets, Vocational education & training Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Swarm of robots that could be a lifesaver

04/04/2013 by

The Age    |     31 March 2013 The idea of robots swarming through the air like bees sounds almost apocalyptic but Dr Jan Carlo Barca, a founding member of the new Monash Swarm Robotics Laboratory in Melbourne, sees only the good. ''My idea was that one could use such a tool for saving lives and in industry,'' he said. At the moment he's working with a platoon of eight robots, teaching them to talk to one another, with a view to having them work together as a search and rescue team. The ultimate goal is to develop swarm robotics for use in the search for natural resources, exploration, the mapping of unknown environments, border patrol, surveillance and construction. Swarm … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Life & stuff, Monash, Research, Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,

Wind turbine sickness ‘all in the mind’: study

22/03/2013 by
Wind turbine

Sydney Morning Herald   |     15 March 2013 There are all sorts of reasons why you might not build a wind farm in a particular location, such as the visual pollution it createsor that it transects the migratory path of the yellow-bellied parrot and might chop them up. But, happily, recent research shows that injurious effects to health is not likely to be one of them. A study by Simon Chapman, professor of public health at Sydney University, concludes that "wind turbine sickness'' is far more prevalent in communities where anti-wind farm lobbyists have been active and appears to be a psychological phenomenon caused by the suggestion that turbines make people sick. The study … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Research, Society Tagged With: , , ,

Benefits of precincts ‘a mystery’

19/02/2013 by

The Australian    | 18 February 2013 The Commonwealth government's plan to develop innovation precincts is a great idea but whether it will work is a mystery, says one of Australia's foremost innovation authorities, Terry Cutler (he chaired the government's review of innovation in 2008).  Cutler said the initiative is  great in theory, but it's a strategy without an implementation plan. I've been doing research into such precincts for about five years. I'm a big fan of them.  "But there is no evidence anywhere that can tell us which ones work and why.   We just don't know. He pointed out that precincts such as Silicon Valley and Parkville had grown "organically and over time". Jim … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Commonwealth policies, Research, Technology, University of Melbourne Tagged With: , , , ,

Innovation precincts will strengthen industry research – UA

19/02/2013 by

Universities Australia    |     17 February   2013 The government’s industry and innovation statement - A Plan for Australian Jobs - has the potential to unleash research and innovation as the key drivers of national productivity, according to Universities Australia (UA). A central component of the three-pronged strategy is introducing Industry Innovation Precincts, hubs of research and innovation to support industry competitiveness.  UA chief executive Belinda Robinson says This complements the National Research Infrastructure Plan and the five Breakthrough Actions for Innovation announced by the Chief Scientist last week. The Precincts are an exciting new approach to innovation … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Commonwealth policies, Research, Universities Australia Tagged With: , , , ,

Measuring the economic impact of research

09/11/2012 by

The Australian    |   7  November 2012 Measuring the economic impact and other flow-on effects will be part of a future national research audit, says Australian Research Council CEO  Aidan Byrne. A month before the release of the second research quality audit (Excellence in Research for Australia),  Byrne says that  while the initiative is rigorous in measuring academic excellence, "it's not the only thing that we are able to measure, or indeed, ought to measure for universities". Universities aren't uni-dimensional institutions, they perform a variety of roles and functions and academic quality is high up on the list of things they should be doing, but it's not the only thing they … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Australian Research Council, Research Tagged With: , , , ,

Bid to develop bushfire management system

24/05/2012 by
Uni Tas

 University of Tasmania Newsroom    22 May 2012 The University of Tasmania is hosting a Bushfires, Biodiversity and Climate Change workshop. The workshop will bring together a variety of participants hoping to develop a bushfire management system that will allowAustralia to cope with a changing climate that will almost certainly bring more bushfires. ___________________________________________FROM FRONT PAGE Professor David Bowman, UTAS School of Plant Science fire ecologist, will present at the workshop.   Climate change is likely to increase fire activity globally and south-eastern Australia is thought to be particularly vulnerable, as the 2009Victoria bushfire tragically … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Research, Science, University of Tasmania Tagged With: , ,
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