The University of Queensland will show why it is one of Australia’s leading research-intensive universities next week when it celebrates its annual Research Week.
UQ's Research Week 2008 (September 22 to 26) aims to raise awareness of current UQ research amongst the university community, the general public, industry and government.
A highlight of the week will be the 10th anniversary of the UQ Foundation Research Excellence Awards.
UQ launched the Awards in 1999 and was the first tertiary institution in Australia to introduce an annual scheme promoting and rewarding early career researchers.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor David Siddle said after 10 years the Awards continued to go from strength to strength, with more than $800,000 to researchers who have demonstrated excellence and leadership potential this year alone.
“It is a great privilege for us to be mark a decade of honouring our best and brightest researcher,” Professor Siddle said.
“Many universities have since followed our lead in recognising their researchers, but we take enormous pride in having the vision 10 years ago to congratulate our people in such a way.”
This year’s Awards will be held at the UQ Centre on Tuesday, September 23, and will also feature the 9th annual Awards for Excellence in Research Higher Degree Supervision, which recognise the vital job of supervising the next generation of researchers.
ABC Radio National’s Robyn Williams, host of the Science Show and an Adjunct Professor with UQ’s School of Journalism and Communication, is the guest speaker for the evening.
Another highlight of the week will be the UQ Federation Fellows Public Lecture to be held at the Queensland Bioscience Precinct Auditorium at The University of Queensland, on Wednesday, September 24, from 6.30 to 9pm.
Now in its second year, the public lecture features two of UQ’s and Australia’s leading thinkers and promises to be informative and entertaining.
Professor John Quiggin, a Federation Fellow from the Schools of Economics and Political Science & International Studies, will present a talk on Climate Change and the Murray Darling Basin. Professor Quiggin is prominent both as a research economist and as a commentator on Australian economic policy. He has published over 750 research articles, books and reports in fields including risk analysis, production economics, and environmental economics.
Professor Paul Burn, a Federation Fellow from the School of Molecular & Microbial Sciences, will present a talk on Can light solve the energy crisis? A leading expert on organic semiconductors, Professor Burn said they have the potential to revolutionise technologies such as flat panel displays, solar cells and plastic electronics. Organic semiconductors have electronic properties similar to traditional semiconductors, but are as easy to work with as plastics.
Dr Greg Smith, the co-founder and Director of SciVentures, a venture capital fund, will be the facilitator for the lecture, which is open to the public with free refreshments to follow. To book a place, essential for catering purposes, email researchweek@uq.edu.au.
For further details on these and many other UQ Research Week events, visit http://www.uq.edu.au/researchweek/
Media inquiries: Andrew Dunne at UQ Communications (3365 2802 or 0433 364 181).
