Past and Future
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Researchers at the University's Gatton and Ipswich campuses are delivering a host of scientific breakthroughs.
The University's Gatton campus has a long and proud tradition of research excellence, while staff at UQ's newest campus at Ipswich have already produced research with practical benefits to people in surrounding communities.
The announcement of $18.5 million in funding to establish a world-class facility for research into livestock health and production was a highlight at UQ Gatton this year.
The Centre for Advanced Animal Science (CAAS) will further research into animal nutrition, diseases and vaccines, biotechnology, animal welfare and food quality and safety.
CAAS will be a partnership between UQ and the Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries aimed at building a critical mass of research in animal science.
Another important milestone at UQ Gatton was the completion of a world-class, horse-breeding complex with an with embryo transfer laboratory. Part of an $800,000 upgrade, the refurbished stallion yards, round yards, dressage arenas and teasing lanes will lie adjacent to historic farm square ? a stable complex dating back 100 years.
The centralised precinct, which included an upgrade of part of the campus' old dairy site, includes eight crushes for mares and associated yards for foals. The multi-purpose crushes are used in reproductive, dental and physical examinations, as well as assisting in horse restraint.
In addition, a state-of-the-art onsite laboratory allows semen evaluation, embryo transfer and a clean or dust-free area for semen collection.
Equine research conducted at the Pinjarra Hills facility will be relocated to UQ Gatton as part of a coordinated equine precinct.
"Gatton has all of the major ingredients for increased equine research and will allow easy and safe movement of horses and students," said Professor Wayne Bryden, Head of the School of Animal Studies.
The facilities will be put to good use with groundbreaking research such as that on back pain in horses, which has already attracted international interest.
Leading animal and human physiotherapist Narelle Stubbs said little study had been done on equine back pain despite its effects on the industry. Ms Stubbs, who is doing the research as part of her PhD studies, said equine back pain had a major economic impact on the racing industry. Back pain could make a big difference to performance across horse sports from racing and show jumping to dressage and polo.
"We hope to develop diagnostic and treatment tools for back pain as part of my research and build a base for further study in this field," Ms Stubbs said.
Another major research project at UQ Gatton will help decide the future use of the agricultural chemical diazinon, used to control ectoparasites on sheep.
Crucial data on worker exposure to the chemical has been gathered from extensive field trials on sheep in the Stanthorpe district of Queensland and at Trangie in NSW.
The results will contribute to an occupational health and safety assessment on diazinon by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority.
The $400,000 project was commissioned by Australian Wool Innovation Limited and coordinated by the National Farmers Federation. The project uses the combined livestock and chemical expertise of key staff from the Centre for Pesticide Application and Safety (CPAS), School of Agronomy and Horticulture, and the School of Animal Studies at UQ Gatton.
Gatton research is not only animal-centered. Postgraduate student Cameron Wearing is studying a by-product from burning coal that could fix Australia's soil sodicity and salinity problems and help reduce greenhouse emissions.
Reporting the findings of a four year trial, Mr Wearing said native trees were established in what had been a barren, salt-infested paddock with a by-product from coal-fired power generation called Flue Gas Desulphurization (FGD) Gypsum.
"In less than four years the site has gone from being nothing more than a salt pad to now growing over 1000 trees, the majority of which are more than four-metrestall," Mr Wearing said.
"This is truly a win, win, win solution," Mr Wearing said. "Sulphur emissions from coal- fired power stations in Japan are reduced by producing FGD Gypsum, which can then be used to reclaim sodic and salt affected land.
In the process,we're establishing forests that accumulate carbon emissions which would otherwise contribute to global warming."
Based on trial results to date, both foreign and domestic firms could soon be employing the technology to earn valuable carbon credits from some of Australia's most degraded land areas.
The Community Services and Research Centre at UQ Ipswich continues to implement programs resulting from its research to benefi t the people of Ipswich and surrounding areas.
The Centre encourages new and creative initiatives linking UQ and the community, and works with stakeholders to introduce new models of service provision, learning experiences and programs, involving collaborative community, government and corporate partnerships.
UQ Ipswich researcher Sue Scull has completed a study which showed there was no evidence to suggest the prevalence of problem gambling in people from non-English speaking background (NESB) communities was any different to the general Queensland population.
Her report, Problem Gambling within non-English speaking background (NESB) communities in Queensland: A Pilot Study, was funded by Queensland Treasury and examined the underlying reasons why people from NESB communities were not seeking assistance for gambling problems.
Despite the stereotyping of NESB communities, nearly half of Chinese and Vietnamese community members who participated in the study reported no gambling during the last 12 months, compared to just over 15 percent of the general population.
Ms Scull said a major barrier to seeking help for those NESB community members who were experiencing problems was the lack of appropriate services and language and cultural barriers.
Also at UQ Ipswich, Professor Jeff Wilks, director of the Centre for Tourism and Risk Management based at UQ Ipswich is researching the potential for a new tourism avenue for Australia.
He said Australia should be offering elective surgery and other medical treatments as part of holiday packages for international tourists.
"A health and tourism industry partnership, based on Australia's leading reputation in both areas, could deliver important economic and health benefits," Professor Wilks said.
"With Australia's reputation as a safe, stable, clean destination with a high quality medical system, combined with our tourist attractions, there is enormous potential for health tourism."
He said Hawaii had already positioned itself as a destination for eye surgery holidays and Singapore and other Asian destinations were gearing up for similar promotions, highlighting their modern private clinics staffed by clinicians trained at Harvard and UQ.
"This is a smart approach for Australia," he said. "It would require a close partnership between healthcare providers and wholesale tourism packagers, but the economic benefi ts through increased international tourism are obvious.
"There is no added burden to the public health sector, but there is a flow-on effect to the private healthcare sector, creating an incentive for increasing infrastructure and staff."
Dr Wilks, co-author of the 2004 APEC Tourism Risk Management Report, said following the outbreak of SARS, tourism was only now recognising the importance of its relationship with the health industry.
Dr Margot Brereton, Associate Director of the Information Environments Program in the School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering at UQ Ipswich, is using an Australian Research Council Discovery Project Grant to explore and develop a framework for understanding interactions in complex information environments.
The results could revolutionise many work environments, although Dr Brereton and her team are focusing their research on a dental surgery.
"Dentists are engaged in a myriad of simultaneous tasks including social interaction, skilled practice, manipulation of instruments and reading and updating patient records," Dr Brereton said.
She said interaction with a mouse and keyboard in this environment was cumbersome.
"We have been using participatory design methods with dentists and dental students to explore better computer interfaces that fit with dental practice," Dr Brereton said.
"We have prototyped systems that detect speech, gesture with instruments and the picking up of instruments.
"By using small gestures with particular instruments, the dentist is able to select the area of the patient record that they wish to modify.
"By using gesture detection coupled with speech, we expect to be able to reliably detect information for input that can be done in a fairly natural way.
"As well as exploring the design of new computer interfaces, and employing state-of-the-art pattern recognition methods, this work enables us to develop new theories of human-computer interaction and new methods in participatory design."
