I would like to thank everyone for helping me settle in to my new role as Head of School. It is with great pride that I take on this job and I really look forward to working with both staff and students over the next 5 years. I have to give special thanks for their assistance  and direction to our School Manager Marni Bower, my PA Marrianne Hamlet and of course, the support of our new Deputy Head of School Shaun Collin.

I know this is a hectic time of the year as semester one kick starts. The School truly appreciates all the background effort that is going on to simultaneously deliver our new B. Sc. and B. Biomed. Sc. curricula to our students. Despite the additional pressures of grant writing, academic staff have rallied to kick-start a continuing series of discussions to provide advice to me on the future direction of the School.

In mid-February I gathered together 10 of the School’s Professors in one room. This was an historic event. Never before had we met as a group to formalize a shared vision for the School. This and subsequent discussions generated a concise vision which is reproduced below under the theme “Discovering your future now”. The take-home message is very clear. Our goal is to create “world-class biomedical scientists through excellence in research and teaching”. It is hoped that each and every one of us focuses on realizing this vision. I encourage all of us to be creative and ambitious and to be open to new ways of improving our business. I will be seeking input from all areas across the School to help us develop plans to achieve our goal.

On the afternoon of February 15th the School held a “think-tank” where about a dozen staff gathered in the James Birrell room to discuss ways of building on, and improving our Honours and PhD programs. This process crystallized how important our research students are to our activities. Consequently we are now planning for a welcome function to introduce our 2008 Honours class to the academic staff. The School is very privileged to have such a talented cohort of students working with us in 2008.

I look forward to future school meetings when I will report on further plans. I want to gather and harness the ideas of all our staff and students.

“Discovering your future now”

Our goal is to create world-class biomedical scientists through excellence in research and teaching. Our School must attract and nurture the best students, the finest educators, dedicated support staff and internationally-competitive researchers. We will continue to strengthen our resources, explore niche areas and focus on our research training. We value curiosity, creativity, commitment and collegiality. We will build on our strong foundation to create a School that is admired locally, nationally and internationally.

Brian Key
Head of School

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2008 brings new staff members to various research areas of the School. We welcome the following new Academic staff:
Professor Chen Chen, Chair in Endocrinology, located in room 410 on Level 4 of MacGregor Building.
Professor Walter Thomas, Chair of General Physiology, located on Level 7 of Otto Hirschfeld Building.
Dr Mary-Louise Roy Manchardi, Lecturer, located on Level 5, Skerman Building.

We also welcome Thomas Orth to the school. Tom has been working in our Dispatch area for the past couple of months and will shortly be taking up a fixed term appointment with SBMS to work in Finance, primarily as a Project Officer supporting the implementation of the New Finance System.

Shannon Rawding has taken up a new appointment with the School. Shannon is now working in Student Admin and is taking on the Honours Coordinator role.

Many general staff moves have taken place in the last couple of months. They are:

The Finance Team have moved to room 321, Level 3 MacGregor Building .
Neville Barry and Robyn Oram have moved down to room 117M, Level 1 MacGregor. Leanne Ritchie is also located in this room.
Michelle Hall and Veronica Futo will move over to room 300b, Level 3, MacGregor Building early next month.

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I arrived in Brisbane this past November, and am beginning to feel pretty well settled.  I am originally from Delaware on the East coast of the US, and after university in North Carolina, I moved out to the San Francisco area for postgraduate and a postdoc.  The Queensland climate is requiring a little bit of adaptation after California, but I’m extremely grateful that my first summer here has been such a cool, mild one. 

My work at UQ will focus on brain function in the zebrafish model system.  At first, this will involve detailed imaging of single neurons in regions equivalent to the human amygdala, hippocampus, and thalamus.  Then, we will prevent activity in these brain regions, and look for changes in the fishes’ behaviour.  If everything works out, we will learn about the structure and arrangement of the brain, and also how these structures produce behaviour.

When not working, I can often be found outdoors.  In California, this usually meant a trip to the Sierra Nevada Range for backpacking in the summer or snowshoeing in the winter.  While I’m not expecting to use my shoeshoes much (yes, I brought them), I’m excited to get into the hinterlands and learn about my new natural surroundings.  My other major hobby is woodworking and furniture making, which I will eagerly resume once I’m fully settled in.  My wife and I recently moved into an old Queenslander, and I’m hoping that my little bit of carpentry experience will give me the upper hand when it comes to defending our cute little house against the bugs and weather.

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Find here the list of SBMS Equipment and those people who have been nominated as caretakers of that equipment.  This list is undergoing constant change and is not yet 100% accurate.  Your feedback and input is encouraged to get this listing accurate and up to date.  Changes or questions should be directed to Neville Barry at n.barry@uq.edu.au.

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Marketing -
Karissa Douglas, the Marketing Manager in the Faculty, has organised monthly marketing meetings in 2008 (first Tuesday of every month). Shaun and Michelle will be the SBMS representation at these meetings. If anybody has anything that they would like discussed/promoted/advertised or any suggestions they would like to put forward, then please email it through to Michelle. Alternatively, why not come along and find out what is happening at UQ in 2008! Meetings are usually held at 3pm and afternoon tea is provided.

Events -
The School will hold a ‘welcome’ function for new Honours students on 6th March 2008 at the Staff Club Restaurant from 3.30 to 5.00pm.  Attendance is by invitation.

The planning of the Annual Public Lecture is well under way for 2008. It will be held on 2 April 2008 at the QBI Seminar Room from 5.30pm. Further details on this event are above.

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BITS has advised that any non Preferred Supplier Agreement (PSA) computers will need Executive Dean approval prior to BITS installing and supporting this non standard equipment.  You will find the up to date PSA list here.

The School still currently has around 10 ex-leased computers, that have been wiped for home use. The price has been reduced to $100 in order to get rid of them. If you are interested in buying one for home use (ONLY), then please contact Michelle Hall (m.hall@uq.edu.au). First in basis.

The School has recently purchased a new X-ray Developer which is in the process of being installed in Room Skerman 315.  Once this new machine is fully installed and operational, the old X-Ray Developer in the Ritchie Building will be decommissioned.

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Bachelor of Biomedical Science Room – You may have seen work being undertaken on the 1st floor Macgregor.  A  ‘home’ room for the Bachelor of Biomedical Science degree has been built by Faculty (where the BACS store used to be).  This room will also be used to run PASS sessions.  The room is scheduled for completion by Friday 29th February 2008 – in time for Semester One PASS classes to commence.

Skerman Seminar Room – The Seminar Room has had the carpet replaced and a fresh coat of paint.  New chairs have been ordered and will arrive shortly.

Centrifuge Room – on Level 4 MacGregor has been refurbished.

Work will shortly commence on the renovation of the 4th floor tearoom in MacGregor Building.

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In Brief:
The coffee machine will be available for high-level and ‘special’ meetings. The coffee machine will not be available for

• Lab meetings
• Tutor meetings
• Group meetings

If someone wishes to use the coffee machine they will need to book it via the sbms@uq.edu.au email address.  The email will need to contain detail on whom, when and why for the meeting.  The decision will then be made based on the details of the meeting by a senior staff member.

More information here.

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Reminder: OH&S Incident Reporting

All work related injuries, illnesses, dangerous occurrences and near misses must be reported ASAP. The report form is accessed from the UQ Current Staff and Current Students pages on the UQ website.
Inform Supervisor, Safety Manager (Robyn Oram, Ext 53221 or 0422008967) of all incidents ASAP (immediately after incident, if possible).
Head of School & Director of OHS Unit (Ext 52365) must be informed ASAP for a fatality, serious bodily injury (eg. Amputation or injury which results in an absence for more than 4 days), work-caused illness or a dangerous events (explosion, fire etc).
Contact Work Injury Management Team (Ext 56022) for application of worker’s compensation if required.

Win a Holiday

UQ staff can win a holiday for two to Hamilton Island, including airfares, by completing the new online safety induction. Runner up prizes include dinner-for-two vouchers or iRiver X20 MP3 players and there will be a winner drawn every week. To enter complete the online safety induction program at the my.UQ staff webpage. Entries open Monday 4 February
and close Friday 28 March, 2008. To find out more visit the my.UQ staff web page or email d.martin1@uq.edu.au

It was Organ Donor Awareness Week – Sunday 17 Feb to Saturday 24 Feb. Sign on to save lives.  Australian Organ Donor Register,  Phone 1800777203 or email: queenslanders_donate@health.qld.gov.au

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Lesley Lluka February 21 - March 3 (7 days)
Ian Shiels Recreation Leave from February 18 - March 28 (30 days) Long Service Leave from March 31 - July 4 (70 days)
   

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Travel Support

SBMS is making a transition to distribute travel funds as part of the annual URG distribution process, rather than through individual requests to the HOS. During this transition phase (prior to the URG distribution in August/September 2008), there will be the opportunity for academics to apply for up to a possible $1000 to attend an international or nationally recognised conference to present a paper. Approval by the HOS will be discretionary rather than automatic.

Leave Application & Approval process

Major changes to the SBMS leave application and management processes have been implemented to:

• Improve use of ESS
• Streamline approval processes

The details of these changes can be found on the sbms intranet.

Home Internet Access

SBMS academics will now be able to use URG funding to fund the work component of their home internet access.

To take advantage of this:

• Internet access must be sourced though UQ Connect
• Academics will need to complete a statutory declaration declaring the % split between home and work usage and will need to personally fund the private usage and FBT on the home use component

Academics wishing to take advantage of this offer, who find that UQConnect does not offer a service in their area should speak directly with the School Manager.

Redevelopment of URG Distribution Policy

Over the coming weeks a review of the SBMS URG Distibutuion Policy will be taking place. Academic Staff will be kept fully informed on the progress of this review.

Professional Development Scholarships for General Staff

This Program consists of up to 4 x $2500 scholarships that will be awarded to members of the SBMS General Staff to attend a professional development activity of their choice. These Scholarships will be awarded based on applications submitted by members of the General Staff and everyone is encouraged to apply. The Head of School will assess the applications and select the Scholarship winners. Closing Date: Friday 21st March 2008.

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