Fostering outstanding performances from higher degree, postdoctoral and early career researchers is a key UQ objective that meshes with other discovery-related aims, including building and sustaining excellent infrastructure.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Greenfield

More than 8000 people have received a UQ PhD since the program began six decades ago, and research higher degree candidates set a new 12-month benchmark in 2008 when UQ awarded a record 599 Doctors of Philosophy and Masters of Philosophy.

Each has been a deposit in humanity’s bank of knowledge, with the potential to influence other endeavours and contribute to life-altering breakthroughs. Research higher degree projects can also generate economic wealth, and augment societal and workforce qualities such as analysis and problem solving.

Fostering outstanding performances from higher degree, postdoctoral and early career researchers is a key UQ objective that meshes with other discovery-related aims, including building and sustaining excellent infrastructure.

In some areas it takes tens – even hundreds – of millions of dollars to establish the facilities needed for entry to the global league, followed by large ongoing outlays to maintain the position. Given heavy reliance on imports for necessities ranging from medical imaging equipment to library books, the challenge escalates when the Australian dollar slides.

The right infrastructure sets off a virtuous cycle, helping the University recruit and retain exceptional people who in turn make UQ more attractive to other high achievers. Large research infrastructure grants from government, industry and philanthropists are harbingers of a strong, sustainable academic community.

A striking 2009 example of this is a genomics program targeting pancreatic and ovarian cancers, bringing in $27.5 million from the National Health and Medical Research Council and $5 million from the Queensland Government.

Genomics is a “watch this space” field, potentially allowing treatments for serious illnesses to be individualised for patients. Its pace of development is rapid because new generations of the enabling sequencing technology are continuously being released to – and mastered by – specialist scientists.  It is fortunate – but not accidental – that UQ has a cadre of world leaders on staff.

They can sequence a human genome in a matter of months for $US100,000, whereas the initial sequencing was a worldwide 13-year effort that cost $US3 billion. Some impressive young UQ researchers are already at the candidacy or post-doctoral stage, and the advent of the international cancer program will fuel interest.

Another recent Australian Government grant with vast implications is $47 million for the School of Veterinary Science’s new headquarters at Gatton. It supports stage two of a plan to assert UQ as a world force in teaching, research and technology transfer related to animals and plants, and will impact on areas including food security, biosecurity and animal welfare. The completed first stage is the Centre for Advanced Animal Science at Gatton (strongly backed by the Queensland Government), and the next step will involve plant sciences.

Engineering was a pillar discipline when UQ began almost 100 years ago, but it will take major investments to maintain international esteem in the second century. A new $50 million Australian Government commitment for the Advanced Engineering Building, along with $15 million from the State Government for the Queensland Centre for Advanced Materials Processing and Manufacturing, seeds the rejuvenation of the engineering precinct at St Lucia.

At our Herston Campus, $104 million from Canberra will build the Oral Health Centre, the most advanced facility of its type in Australia and a long-overdue new home for the UQ School of Dentistry. It will, among other things, speed the translation of research findings into high quality clinical care, enable UQ to educate more dentists and oral health therapists, and treat about 17,000 dental and cancer patients per year.

The signature of our newly-retired Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), Professor David Siddle, is a consistent feature of our strategic research successes. David could secure deals with corporate boards and policy units, and at the same time reward early career researchers and recruit ascendant stars. I thank him for his immeasurable legacy.

For enduring focus on the individual and personal as well as the corporate, I doubt anyone will out-perform our former Chancellor, Sir Llew Edwards AC. Sir Llew unassumingly announced his retirement late in 2008, after almost 16 years as Chancellor. He is missed, but the University is fortunate that John Story agreed to succeed him. It is a pleasure to welcome John as UQ’s 13th Chancellor.

Former UQ Chancellor Sir Llew Edwards presents Governor-General Dr Quentin Bryce with the 2008 Alumnus of the Year award

The University of Queensland recently presented a distinguished graduate and Australia’s first female Governor-General with a special award.

Australia’s first female Governor-General, Dr Quentin Bryce AC, was presented with the University’s Alumnus of the Year award for 2008 in February.

Dr Bryce, who was Governor of Queensland from 2003 until 2008, was announced as UQ’s Alumnus of the Year late last year, along with UQ’s International Alumnus of the Year, Cambodian labour camp survivor Path Heang, and Young Alumnus of the Year, music therapist Alissa Phillips.

Dr Bryce received her award at a special presentation ceremony at Customs House, which was attended by UQ’s former Chancellor Sir Llew Edwards AC, and Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Greenfield AO, as well as President of the Alumni Friends of The University of Queensland Inc. Feona Walker and the group’s Senior Vice-President Dalma Jacobs.

Dr Bryce, who was the official Visitor to the University, is a University of Queensland graduate, former UQ academic and an honorary Doctor of Laws recipient.
She was sworn in as Australia’s 25th Governor-General at a ceremony at Parliament House in Canberra on September 5.

Professor Greenfield said UQ was privileged to have alumni of Dr Bryce’s calibre.

“A university’s reputation is determined largely by the character of its graduates, and Quentin Bryce is a great example to students, staff and other UQ graduates,” he said.

“She has put her UQ education to excellent use by improving conditions for people who have not shared in her advantages.”

Ms Walker said the Alumni Friends were honoured Dr Bryce had accepted the award of Alumnus of the Year for 2008.

Dr Bryce graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws from UQ, where she later spent 14 years teaching Introduction to Law, Criminal Law, Administrative Law and Legal Aspects of Social Work.

Some of her appointments have included founding Chair and Chief Executive Officer of the National Childcare Accreditation Council and Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner.

Call for nominations

The University of Queensland seeks your help in locating young and international alumni whose achievements qualify them for these prestigious annual awards.

These awards honour alumni who have made outstanding contributions to their community by demonstrating exceptional leadership in their field or stimulating their community through creativity and innovation.

If you know a UQ alumnus who deserves recognition for their exceptional achievements, submit a nomination. Nominations open July 6 and close September 4, 2009.

For further details, visit www.alumni.uq.edu.au/alumni-awards

By Shirley Glaister

The University of Queensland’s creation of a high-quality built environment has earned the 2008 Australian Institute of Architects President’s Prize.

The UQ Centre for Clinical Research

Queensland Chapter President Bruce Medek presented the award to Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Greenfield and  outgoing Property and Facilities Director Alasdair McClintock during the President’s Dinner held in November.

“This has special meaning for UQ, because it recognises the priority attention paid to the built environment at all our campuses and facilities,” Professor Greenfield said.

“Hundreds of people – UQ staff as well as consultants and contractors – have earned this prize, and I congratulate them all.”

Professor Greenfield said the University appreciated the Australian Institute of Architects’ recognition of UQ’s respect for the architecture profession.

“It is the University’s honour to work with exceptional architects – including many UQ alumni – who consistently deliver designs that are innovative, practical and sympathetic to our ethos,” he said.

Established in 1998, the President’s Prize recognises individuals or organisations for their contribution to, and support of, the architectural profession.

Mr Medek congratulated UQ on recognising and appreciating the benefits of exceptional architecture and creating buildings that were cleverly linked with surrounding structures.

Recent architecturally designed projects at UQ include the $33 million Centre for Advanced Animal Science at UQ Gatton, the $54 million environmentally friendly Sir Llew Edwards Building (formerly known as General Purpose North 4), and the $63 million Queensland Brain Institute.

by Penny Robinson

A turtle hatchling on Heron Island

Research is uncovering the true cost of how baby turtles make their dash from hatching in the dunes to the relative safety of the ocean.

Zoologist Dr David Booth, from UQ’s School of Integrative Biology, said his research was aimed at discovering how much energy the hatchlings needed to reach safe deep water.

“Having run the gauntlet of air and land predators to make it to the sea, the tiny voyager must also evade hungry fish patrolling the beaches in its bid for freedom,” Dr Booth said.

Curious to know how much energy the youngsters needed to reach safe deep water, Dr Booth measured the hatchling’s oxygen consumption and found they had enough energy reserves to survive 10 days at sea without feeding.

Basing his research at UQ’s Heron Island Research Station, Dr Booth took advantage of the unique laboratory facilities that are within metres of a green turtle nesting beach.

“At hatching time, I corralled the nest in order to catch several youngsters as they reached the sand’s surface about 100 metres away from the lab before they could reach the sea,” he said.

“I then fitted each hatchling with a lycra swim suit with a cord attached to a force transducer, before setting the youngster free in a seawater aquarium.”

Dr Booth said initially the animals swam very hard using their front flippers with their heads down, only switching to a “doggy paddle” as they came up for air before returning to fast front-flipper swimming.

“But as time drew on, the youngsters’ activity slowed,” he said.

“They spent more time doggy paddling and less time pulling with their front flippers until they eventually began taking the odd break after about 12 hours.”

Calculating the amount of energy the hatchlings consumed during their 18-hour swim, Dr Booth said the turtles carried almost 10 times as much energy in their yolk remnants as they needed to reach safety.

“So the youngsters aren’t at risk of running out of energy before making it to safety,” he said.

“They can probably survive 10 days in the open ocean before finding food.”

Dr Booth said the baby turtles were released into the ocean following the experiment. The experiment was conducted with the approval of the Environmental Protection Agency as well as UQ’s ethical research guidelines.

The research was published in The Journal of Experimental Biology.

By Andrew Dunne

What do you do when you have competing loves of music and writing? Combine them, of course.

Juliet Hoey (Courtesy Notebook: magazine. Photo: Fran Flynn)

Arts graduate Juliet Hoey has done just that, marrying a flair for writing with a passion for music in her recently released suspense novel, The Sixth Partita.

Based on Bach’s keyboard composition of the same name, the book is a psychological thriller that follows a young Brisbane pianist who overcomes debilitating stage fright to win a scholarship to study music in London.

Having conquered her fear of performing, the pianist is soon faced with the terrifying danger of a stalker who shadows her, basing his stalking upon Bach’s Sixth Partita, which the heroine is studying.

Mrs Hoey’s own history parallels some of the heroine’s experiences – except for the stalking part, of course.

After graduating from Queensland Conservatorium in piano, she studied the Sixth Partita in England under acclaimed pianist Denis Matthews, a specialist in Bach’s keyboard works.

“I performed the Partita several times, including a broadcast with 4MBS radio,” Mrs Hoey said.

“For years afterwards, I was haunted by this dark and unusual work, one of the most profound pieces Bach ever wrote.

“Gradually, the very character of the music itself suggested to me the scenario of someone being stalked.

“This germ of an idea took hold of my imagination and grew into a full-blown novel.

“The partita has six movements (sections) and I could so clearly envisage a disturbed personality using each movement as a template for tormenting his victim.”

The Sixth Partita is Mrs Hoey’s second published book after Under the Mulberry Tree, a non-fiction description of a Bulimba childhood.

She has also written numerous articles and poems, and three mini operas for children, including The Loaded Dog, which toured throughout Queensland with the Arts Council.

Mrs Hoey said her novel-writing career stretched back to a family holiday on Bribie Island when she was just nine years old.

“I had forgotten to bring any books. What better solution than to write my own?” she said.

“I was very lucky to come from a family of voracious readers of Celtic extraction who were more than blessed with the Irish gift of the gab.

“So for a young future writer, this was a huge advantage, because not only did I hear nothing but the very best of English in the home, but I grew up loving words for their own sake and discovering just what you could do with them.”

While Mrs Hoey said music had always won over writing “by a whisker” throughout her life – she has performed, taught, adjudicated and examined on piano and cello – she could see writing coming increasingly to the fore in her latter years.

“Now that I am older and family responsibilities are so much less, I would like to concentrate more on my writing,” she said.

“I think that, chronologically, the music had to come first. You see, for physical reasons, you have to develop musical technical skills when young or at the latest, middle age.

“However, you can write at any age because, unlike music practice, which is extremely demanding physically as well as mentally, writing is only mental.”
Mrs Hoey credits much of her skill with the English language to her studies at UQ.

“I’d have to say that the best thing about my arts course at UQ was the training of a capacity for critical thinking,” she said.

“I was taught to think for myself – regurgitations of ‘expert’ commentaries swiftly got the red pen from such exalted persons as Professor Russell, Andy Thompson and Cecil Hadgraft – wonderful academics who demanded nothing but the best.”

The Sixth Partita is published by Zeus Publications.

By Tegan Taylor

Ms Marliza Abdul Rahim, Mrs Jamilah Mohamed Jamil, Miss Lily Tan and Professor Zab Ismail celebrate in Kuala Lumpur

UQ graduates and industry representatives from south-east Asia were able to meet the Vice-Chancellor and other senior UQ representatives when they visited the region recently.

Between April 15-22, Professor Paul Greenfield met business partners, local education providers and alumni in Singapore and Vietnam, with acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International) Professor Mick McManus hosting events in Malaysia.

The trip provided an opportunity to discuss current and potential university partnerships, explore commercial opportunities and host graduate celebrations in concert with local alumni chapters.

Malaysia

Over 100 guests attended an alumni and business reception at the Shangri-La Hotel in Kuala Lumpur on April 15. Professor McManus promoted key alumni developments for 2010, including UQ’s centenary celebrations, a new online community and the International Alumnus of the Year award.

At a luncheon earlier that day in the presence of the Australian High Commissioner Penny Williams, Datuk Dr Rosti Saruwono (winner of the 2007 UQ International Alumnus of the Year Award) was congratulated on his new appointment as Vice-Chancellor, Universiti Industri Selangor (UNISEL).

Singapore

More than 150 guests attended an alumni and business reception on April 18. The UQ Alumni Association of Singapore committee was introduced by the new chairman Dr Angelo Venardos who showed a presentation of the association’s current activities.

The Vice-Chancellor was also guest speaker at a Faculty of Business, Economics and Law graduate employment seminar, which explored strategies for surviving the current economic crisis. Participants included Stephen Tjoa, an executive director at KPMG Singapore, and Jerome Yeo, General Manager of TopCable Singapore.

Vietnam

Professor Greenfield hosted alumni receptions and education seminars in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in addition to meeting with partner institutions and government officials between April 20-22.

One of the highlights of the visit was the announcement of the five winners of the UQ Vietnam-Australia 35 Year Commemorative Research Higher Degree Scholarships.

Network analysis and tourism are two areas of study that sound wildly apart, but PhD graduate Rodolfo Baggio has used these concepts to explain why some tourist destinations are more successful than others.

Rodolfo Baggio

Network Analysis and Tourism: From Theory to Practice examines how tourist destinations can be seen from a social perceptive as a group of people or businesses.

Mr Baggio said tourism destinations benefited when relationships between the public and private organisations operating in their territory were well developed.

Studying these groups allowed for increased efficiency in improving the competitiveness of the destination.

Mr Baggio’s PhD thesis found network analysis could explain how collaboration and interaction worked at different locations.

By treating organisational relationships as networks within a tourist destination, it is possible to test different configurations to discover their efficiency.

“We may change the capacity of the organisations in the network to transfer information and see how the speed of diffusion changes,” Mr Baggio said.

“For example, we may see how effective an ‘education’ program can be for the whole system. Or we can modify the linkages and find out whether fostering collaboration among operators can provide better results.”

Mr Baggio shows no signs of slowing down with his studies in tourism and network analysis.

He has recently been appointed chair of the Information Technology and Tourism session at the next International Federation for Information Processing World Computer Congress.

By Matthew Bassos

Ruth Link

Ruth Link, LLM

A responsibility to her people and their culture is the driving force behind Ruth Link’s passion for law.

Ms Link graduated in December with a Master of Laws from UQ’s TC Beirne School of Law, majoring in Litigation and Dispute Resolution, and Criminal Law and Criminology.

As an Aboriginal Australian from Western Yalangi (Cape York of Queensland) and a descendant from Woppaburra (Great Keppel Island), Ms Link has witnessed first hand the effects of the justice system on Aboriginal people.

“Many people in my family are locked up in jail, so I wanted to gain a deeper understanding of the criminal justice system to be able to seek solutions to the discrimination and overrepresentation of Aboriginal people,” she said.

“I chose to major in criminology and criminal justice to understand the system and to see if the bama (Aboriginal) perspective could influence policy in the future for the betterment of all Australians who want to live in a just, democratic society.

“UQ gave me this opportunity through the decent amount of subjects available and a deeper insight into these issues.”

Ms Link will now take the knowledge and skills learnt to the Bar where she will be one of just a handful of Indigenous people in Queensland admitted to practise as a barrister.

“I have a responsibility to myself, land, water and culture to ensure that my University studies can actually be of some assistance to the community,” she said.

“I am at the forefront of giving legal advice that incorporates bama and non-bama ways to ensure bama peoples are treated with dignity, humanity and peace.”

During her studies, Ms Link received the Richard Cooper Scholarship to assist with living expenses.

“The Richard Cooper Scholarship allowed me to just breathe and not have to work so many hours,” she said.

While studying, Ms Link lectured in Administrative Law and Introduction to Public Law and tutored in a number of law courses at various universities in south-east Queensland.

By Teola Marsh

UQ journalism graduate and netballer Jacqueline Russell is on track to a career in sports journalism after being accepted into the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS).

Jacqueline Russell

Miss Russell graduated last year from a Bachelor of Journalism and began at the AIS in January, having been introduced to netball at age eight.

She aims to become a sports journalist and help increase media coverage of women’s sport.

“Being at the AIS will help me achieve my career goals as it means I will constantly be around athletes and not just netballers, but people from a wide range of sports,” Ms Russell said.

“I will hopefully be doing an internship with the AIS media department while I’m in Canberra. The internship would be a very useful starting point for my career.”

Miss Russell balances work commitments with morning and evening court sessions as well as fitness, strength and conditioning training.

“It’s a fairly rigorous program, so fitting in work commitments will be tough but a good challenge,” she said.

Miss Russell intends to use her training at the AIS as a stepping stone into an ANZ Championship team such as the Queensland Firebirds.

During her final year of studies at UQ, Miss Russell travelled to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing as a volunteer cadet.

Twenty-one UQ students were given the opportunity to participate as volunteer cadets, working for the Olympic News Service.

The students’ main role was to gather responses from athletes directly after their competitions and rush them to foreign journalists.

“We learnt so much and we had an absolute ball,” Miss Russell said.

“We got to interview all sorts of different athletes, climb the Great Wall and I even met Usain Bolt.”

Miss Russell’s career highlights have included playing for Queensland at the national championships, representing Australia at schoolgirls level and training in the Firebirds squad in 2008.

By Eliza Plant

UQ postgraduate Sean Mitchell tested both sides of his brain recently in Africa as part of his medical studies.

Mr Mitchell works with high school students in Rwanda

Using his science and French language skills, Mr Mitchell spent six weeks in Rwanda as part of an elective undertaken through the School of Medicine.

In conjunction with St John Ambulance, Mr Mitchell spent the first two weeks with a colleague teaching 200 Rwandan high school students basic first aid in the French language.

He then went on to spend four weeks at the Nyanza District Hospital working in the maternity and surgery departments, where he saw donated equipment from Brisbane hospitals put to good use.

UQ students are involved with Towards International Medical Equality (TIME), which sent almost $15,000 of equipment to hospitals all over the world last year.

Prior to commencing his studies in medicine, Mr Mitchell completed a Bachelor of Science/Bachelor of Arts dual degree, with his knowledge of French proving invaluable during his visit.

“Most of the doctors and nurses were trained either in Rwanda or the Democratic Republic of Congo, and as such French was used clinically for communication between the staff, and also between the Congolese doctors and their patients,” he said.

“This also meant that doctors were accessing Francophone clinical aids from the World Health Organisation and UNICEF.”

Mr Mitchell said he was fortunate to have studied several different disciplines before deciding to become a doctor.

“An Arts degree offers a great opportunity to explore both the theoretical underpinnings of various intellectual movements and critique your own way of thinking,” he said.

“Having a strong understanding of who you are, the way you think and what you stand for before you begin to study medicine will make you a better doctor at the end of the day.”

In the future, Mr Mitchell said he hoped to improve his clinical French so he could work in places such as Rwanda with Médecins Sans Frontières.

By Wendy Burford