3 August 2005
3 August 2005
Monash University is embarking on a major shift in research with the establishment of a $3 million centre devoted to nurturing the use of e-research.
E-research uses high-performance computers (or clusters of these computers), huge databases and massive or multiple scientific instruments, to link research teams internationally and solve previously intractable problems in areas as diverse as aeroplane engine design, climate modelling and drug design.
Professor David Abramson from the Clayton School of Information Technology is leading the development of the technology that will underpin the research. Other Monash researchers, including Federation Fellow Professor Amanda Lynch from the School of Geography and Environmental Science and Dr James Whisstock from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, are already applying e-research in environmental research and structural biology.
Deputy vice-chancellor (Research) Professor Edwina Cornish said the e-research centre would enable the university to capitalise on its strengths in structural biology, grid computing (where resources from many computers in a network are applied to a single problem), climate modelling and earth systems, computational engineering and multimedia, as well as develop areas in faculties such as Arts.
The centre's staff would maximise funding opportunities for Monash, promote and support new e-research projects and encourage the formation of collaborative and multidisciplinary research groups both at Monash and across the world, Professor Cornish said.
"The centre will position Monash to take a lead role in national and international e-research initiatives and participate in global e-research," she said.
The Australian government has recognised the potential of e-Research for Australia's research community. In October 2004 it set up an e-Research Coordinating Committee, of which Professor Cornish and Monash University librarian Ms Cathrine Harboe-Ree are members, to provide expert advice on developing Australia's e-research capacity and involvement.
"The virtual research environments emerging from the increasing use of high-performance computing, grid networks and communications technologies enable researchers to perform their research independent of local time and geographical locations and limitations," Professor Cornish said. "They can interact with colleagues, access remote instrumentation, share research data and computational resources and access information in digital libraries in ways never before possible. E-research is the way forward."
3 August 2005
A Monash academic has won the international SHARP DeLong book prize for the best work in print culture for 2004.
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| 2005 SHARP DeLong book prize winner, Dr Simone Murray. |
Dr Simone Murray, a lecturer in Communications and Media in the School of English, Communications and Performance Studies, received the award for her scholarly analysis of the history and politics of feminist publishing houses over the past 35 years.
Dr Murray is the first Australian to win the annual award and the youngest ever recipient.
The prize was awarded last month by the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing (SHARP), an international association established in 1991 for scholars and researchers of print culture - from medieval manuscripts to the Internet. The society received 60 entries for this year's prize.
Dr Murray's book, Mixed Media: Feminist Presses and Publishing Politics, took almost a decade to come to fruition. It is adapted from her PhD thesis completed at University College London (UK) in 1999, which analysed feminist book publishing in Britain across last century.
"The feminist press movement was talked about a lot in the general media, but not much of that work crossed over into academia," Dr Murray said. "This book is the first to try and fill that gap in knowledge from the past 35 years."
She said feminist presses were described as ‘mixed media' as they were always attempting to balance politics with profit making.
"These publishing houses had an enormous impact -- they changed the publishing industry, literary culture and academic curricula. It is now much easier to sell feminist writings to mainstream publishing houses."
Mixed Media: Feminist Presses and Publishing Politics (Pluto Press, London 2004), looks at the emergence of British feminist publishing houses during the second wave of feminism from the late 1960s and early 1970s, and the transformation of feminist publishing.
Publishers featured include Virago Press, Pandora Press, The Women's Press, Sheba Feminist Publishers and Sliver Moon Books.
3 August 2005
More than 6000 images of Monash life are now available online through the PictureAustralia internet-based service.
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| Students in a geography tutorial in 1963. Source: Monpix |
Vice-chancellor Professor Richard Larkins and National Library of Australia assistant director-general Ms Roxanne Missingham officially launched Monash's participation in the consortium last week.
PictureAustralia relies on organisations joining the consortium and making their digital collections available through a single search interface, so users can search numerous collections simultaneously.
Monash's pictorial collection covers all aspects of the university, including its history, buildings, students, staff and research activities, as well as posters and photographs of productions held at the Alexander Theatre, and images from the Sir John Monash collection.
Although many of the images have been available online via Monpix since 2000, they can now be searched alongside the collections of other archives, libraries and galleries throughout Australia.
Professor Larkins said the archives showed the vibrancy and range of Monash's activities, and that he was particularly pleased that Monash was collaborating with other institutions to make the collection accessible to a wider audience.
Ms Missingham said it was increasingly important for archives and libraries to work together to make electronic resources available for research.
"Monash has added a wonderfully varied range of images from the late-20th century to those already searchable via PictureAustralia," she said.
The university archives include early photographs of the Clayton campus as well as of institutes and centres that are now part of the university. Photographs and posters of productions held at the Alexander Theatre from the 1960s to the mid-1990s are also accessible.
The university's collection continues to grow with transfers and donations of photographs. There is also an active digitisation program to increase the number of images available online.
To search for Monash images and those from other archives, libraries, museums and universities, visit www.pictureaustralia.org.
The Monash University Archives online image database, Monpix, can be searched at www.adm.monash.edu.au/records-archives/archives/monpix/. Digital copies of images are provided free for administrative use within the university. Archives welcomes new images, and anybody interested in donating photographs or other pictorial materials should call extn 53674.
3 August 2005
A series of nine black and white prints showing acclaimed international performance artist and Monash alumnus Stelarc suspended in various poses has been donated to the Faculty of Art and Design Collection.
Dr Gene Sherman, director and proprietor of the Sherman Galleries in Sydney, and her husband Mr Brian Sherman have donated the Stelarc Suspensions Folio to the collection.
The occasion was celebrated at a luncheon at the Faculty Gallery at the Caulfield campus last week attended by Stelarc, Dr Sherman, Art and Design faculty dean Professor John Redmond, and 140 university staff, media, art patrons and art industry representatives.
Professor Redmond said he was delighted with the donation and Sterlarc's ongoing connection with Monash.
"Stelarc has developed into a truly international artist and an important figure within the contemporary arts scene," Professor Redmond said. "His work is confronting, difficult and challenging, and he asks questions that other people don't."
Dr Sherman, who is at the forefront of Australia's contemporary art scene, said she was pleased to donate the folio to Monash.
"Stelarc sees the body not as a subject, but as an object -- not as an object of desire, but as an object for designing," she said. "He has redesigned the body and stretched it to the limits. Today we celebrate Stelarc's life as a professional artist, his career as a performing artist, and the suspension event series."
Stelarc's suspension events unfolded during a 13-year period during the 1970s and 1980s, while living in Japan. He describes the events as physically and conceptually challenging.
Stelarc (Stelios Arcadiou) was born in Cyprus in 1946 and migrated to Australia in 1950. He trained at the Caulfield Technical College in the 1960s, an antecedent of Monash, and has gone on to achieve a high level of international recognition in the field of conceptual, performance and body art.
In 2002 Stelarc participated in the Faculty of Art and Design's Artist in Residence program and Monash awarded an Honorary Doctorate to him that same year.
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| Stelarc, 'Sitting/Swaying: Event for rock suspension', Maki Gallery, Tokyo, Japan 1980. Courtesy the artist and Sherman Galleries, Sydney |
3 August 2005
A staff team representing the Caulfield campus is striding ahead in this year's Global Corporate Challenge, a virtual walking race around the world.
The seven-member team is leading the pack of more than 1500 corporate teams from around Australia.
The challenge aims to bring together two common ambitions -- getting fit and travelling the world -- by encouraging participants to walk at least 10,000 steps each day.
They record the number of steps they take during their everyday activity over six months and are taken on a virtual tour of the globe.
Caulfield campus manager Ms Helen Dunne said the team was highly motivated, with team members committed to achieving more than 20,000 steps each per day.
"They are doing a magnificent job, and I am sure everyone joins me in wishing them continued great walking," Ms Dunne said.
The virtual journey takes teams to 46 countries, 112 destinations and covers 20,355 kilometres.
The contest started on 26 May at Noonamah, near Darwin, and will finish on 8 November in Antarctica. The Monash team is now in Haiti, about 800 steps ahead of its nearest rival -- one of the teams from Australia Post.
The Monash team members are: Dr Bala Balachandran, a lecturer in accounting and finance; Dr Jill Grogan, head of Monash Caulfield Health Service; Dr Margaret Croxford, financial services coordinator in the IT faculty; Ms Louise Oliaro, a lecturer in the School of Primary Health Care; Mr Martin Doulton, general manager, Monash Sport, Clayton campus; Ms Rosemary Demirtas, finance officer in the IT faculty; and Ms Lorraine Foxall, accounts assistant with the Monash Caulfield Bookshop.
Dr Grogan said everyone on this year's global team was benefiting from the extra exercise provided by their daily walks.
The virtual global walk is supported by the Caulfield campus fitness program called ACCTIVE -- Active Caulfield Community to Increase Vitality and Energy.
The program's first activity was last year's 10,000 Steps Coast to Coast Challenge in which teams 'walked' across Australia.
For more information on the Global Corporate Challenge, visit www.globalcc.com.au/.
3 August 2005
The Monash chapter of an international academic honour society has hosted a breakfast to strengthen ties between Monash's academic leaders and its elite students.
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| From left: Golden Key president for 2004, Ms Cecilia Chan; vice-chancellor Professor Richard Larkins and current Golden Key president Ms Sue Yen Wee. |
Vice-chancellor Professor Richard Larkins, Caulfield campus academic director Professor Rob Willis and pro vice-chancellor (Planning) Professor Merran Evans were among 50 guests at the breakfast hosted by the Golden Key International Honour Society at the Clayton campus last week.
Ms Sue Yen Wee, president of the Monash chapter of Golden Key, said the organisation was based on the notion of volunteerism.
"One of the most gratifying aspects of Golden Key membership for me has been meeting and working with a range of bright individuals from diverse backgrounds," she said.
Professor Larkins urged Golden Key members to take up roles as community leaders.
"We are living in a time of both incredible privilege and incredible difficulties and threats. We have a responsibility, through leadership, to address these issues," he said.
"Don't be daunted by the challenges confronting you. Today's graduates are better equipped than ever to cope with enormous challenges.
"Congratulations to members of Golden Key in becoming engaged with, and helping to develop, our community and for having accepted their role of potential leaders into the future.
"I hope you take advantage of opportunities to make the world a better place," Professor Larkins said.
Golden Key. which operates in 350 universities in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, Malaysia, New Zealand and South Africa, recognises and promotes academic excellence and achievement in all fields of undergraduate study.
The Monash chapter, established in 1996, now has more than 11,000 lifetime members, drawn from the top 15 per cent of students from each of the university's 10 faculties.
For more information, visit http://monash.golden-key.org/ or email monash@golden-key.org.
3 August 2005
Communication students from Monash University Malaysia have been on a six-day study tour to Bangkok to gain hands-on experience in journalism.
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| The children of Klong Toey Slum pose for the students. |
Nineteen students, with communication coordinator Dr Yeoh Seng Guan, visited the Thai capital last month.
Dr Yeoh said the study tour was designed to give students exposure to some of the social, cultural and political realities of a neighbouring ASEAN country.
"The tour also gave the students an opportunity to practise their journalistic and writing skills in an unfamiliar environment," he said.
"Hands-on experience provides students with the skills needed to face the challenges of an actual working environment, compared to the conventional classroom style of teaching."
The students met volunteers from the Foundation for Women, a non-government organisation that opposes human and drug-trafficking, travelled to the city of Pommahakan, and visited the Klong Toey slum -- the oldest and largest slum in Bangkok.
One of the students' greatest challenges was the language barrier, but this was overcome by Ms Kanokrat Lertchoosakul from Chulalongkorn University who volunteered her students as tour guides and translators.
The students created a daily blog on their experiences that can be viewed at http://insearchofbangkok.blogsome.com.
Ms Malina Shamsudin, who was chief editor of the blog, said the students worked past midnight each day of the tour to maintain the website.
"We would get back to the hotel late in the evening and hit the nearest internet cafe to update and upload. It was tiring but satisfying," she said.
3 August 2005
Monash South Africa has hosted dozens of school students participating in the Gauteng regional high school environmental quiz.
Several schools from the Gauteng province participated in the competition, which was supported by the Wildlife Environment Society of Southern Africa.
The competition was won by Johannesburg's Greenside High School. The Greenside team will now go through to the national finals in Pietermaritzburg, Kwa-Zulu Natal.