The Shaping of Australian Diplomacy will be examined at a free University of Queensland Public lecture on Thursday, November 9 at Abel Smith Lecture Theatre, St Lucia at 8pm.
Founding Director of the Australasia Centre of the Asia Society and former diplomat Richard Woolcott AC will be guest speaker at the UQ public lecture.
The lecture will discuss how the future of Australia is becoming more and more closely linked to the political, social and economic development of its neighbours.
The Annual General Meeting of the University's Convocation at 6pm-7pm will precede the lecture. The Convocation comprises all graduates of The University of Queensland and the former Queensland Agricultural College (now UQ Gatton).
Mr Woolcott's distinguished career posts as a diplomat included being Australia's Ambassador to Indonesia (1975-78) and to the United Nations (1982-88), where he represented Australia on the Security Council (1985-86).
Mr Woolcott was Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (1988-92) and Australia's Special Envoy charged with bringing the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation Forum (APEC) to fruition.
He is a Director of three companies in East Asia and consultant to a number of Australian companies. He was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1985 and a Companion of the Order in 1993.
Enquiries to Dr Stephen Papas, Warden of Convocation, Telephone (07) 3365 1705, Fax (07) 3365 1740, Email stephenpapas@hotmail.com
the people for whom I'm designing equipment," he said.
A former school captain of Iona College (1996) and the School's first Rhodes Scholar, Mr Ward has been involved with the Rosie's Youth Mission and will work at Schoolies Week at the Gold Coast dispensing coffee to revellers later this year.
A president of the biomedical club at QUT, he presented a paper this year at the World Congress of Biomaterials in Hawaii on his work for the CRC for Cardiac Technology. Mr Ward has been involved in surf life saving, and recently took up ballroom dancing and rock climbing. He also tutors at Iona College.
Rhodes Scholarships, founded in 1902 under the will of the late Cecil John Rhodes, are tenable at Oxford University for an initial two years, with the possibility of a third. Candidates must be between 19 and 25 years old and citizens of the country from which they are selected. Since the scheme began, about 500 Rhodes Scholars have been selected. Women became eligible in 1972. The qualities set out by the late Cecil Rhodes for those seeking Rhodes Scholarships include academic and intellectual excellence, integrity of character, respect for fellow beings and a capacity for leadership. Sporting prowess is an advantage, but not a necessity.
Secretary of the Rhodes Scholarship Selection Committee, and UQ Secretary and Registrar Douglas Porter said this year four candidates were short-listed from 20 applications.
The Queensland Rhodes Scholar will join five winners from the other states and three from Australia-at-Large.
Media: For further information, contact Tom Ward, telephone mobile 0408 717 518.
by other institutions.
Other successful UQ applicants were:
o Professor David Adams, Centre for Advanced Light Microscopy, for Multi-Photon Confocal Microscopy $400,000; collaborating organisation, University of Southern Queensland;
o Professor John Devereux, WEBLAW - a subject gateway for Australian secondary legal material, $100,000; in collaboration with the University of Sydney, University of Melbourne, Murdoch University, National Library of Australia, the Australian National University, Parliamentary Library, Law Foundation of New South Wales; and the
o Centre for Hypersonics team led by Associate Professor Richard Morgan - Advanced Instrumentation and Facilities for Hypersonics - $200,000; collaborating with the Australian National University, ADFA, University of Southern Queensland and Yohoku University.
Projects in which UQ is a collaborating partner include:
o High-speed Digital Video Facility for Transient Flow Analysis (awarded to University of Newcastle) $195,000;
o the Australian Literature Electronic Gateway (ALEG): Enhancement Project (University of New South Wales ($350,000);
o A Polymer Rheology Facility (RMIT) $200,000;
o Integrated Dispersion Characterization Facility (Sydney University) $394,000;
o New Ways of seeing: Utraviolet Raman and imaging infrared microscopy (Melbourne University) $800,000;
o An Integrated Thermal Analysis Facility for Advanced Materials (QUT) $140,000; and
o Access for Australian Researchers to Advanced Neutron-Beam Techniques (AINSE) $245,000.
Media: Further information, contact Jan King at UQ Communications, 0413 601 248 or Associate Professor Jenny Martin telephone 07 3365 4942 or email: communications@mailbox.uq.edu.au.orm technology is applicable to a significant proportion of these new targets giving large leverage to value if this drug design approach is shown to be effective and efficient."
Dr Cassidy said the project planned to produce a selection of the turn mimetics (about 100 compounds) directed at a range of receptors from the large group known as G-protein coupled seven-trans-membrane-domaine receptors (GCPRs).
"These receptors are ideally suited to the application of the peptide turn mimetics technology, and the probability of generating a number of significant lead compounds is high," he said. "Any lead compound produced could form the basis of a drug development program collaboration, or be sold or licensed."
Drugs for GCPRS are a large and important group of products. The GCPRS are the single largest group of receptors in the human genome, and play a central role in regulating the processes of all eucaryotic cells. There are already several hundred GCPR sequences known from the human genome project, most with unknown function.
He said they were proven effective therapeutic targets. It was estimated that more than 50 per cent of modern drugs were targeted at GCPRs, and 25 percent of the top 100 drugs (by sales) were GCPR ligands, with total sales of about US$16 billion in 1997.
Dr Cassidy, who undertook his undergraduate and PhD degrees at UQ, has received some financial support from Australian Postgraduate Research Awards, and from the IMB.
"I've also supported myself because I believe in what I am doing," he said.
ftp site for pic of Dr Cassidy with a model of a peptide mimetic: http://photos.cc.uq.edu.au/PNF:byName:/ScienceWriters/
Media: Further information, Dr Peter Cassidy, telephone 07 3365 1271 (work), 0408 733 220 (mobile), p.cassidy@imb.uq.edu.au or email: communications@mailbox.uq.edu.au
