9 July 2008
9 July 2008
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| Monash University's Sunway campus in Malaysia, will commemorate its ten-year anniversary later this month and a full week of celebrations has been planned to mark the occasion. |
Monash University's Sunway campus in Malaysia will commemorate its ten-year anniversary later this month and a full week of celebrations is planned to mark the occasion.
The Sunway campus was established in 1998 and was the first Monash campus outside of Australia. More than 250 students started courses at the campus in July 1998.
Today more than 4000 students study courses in arts, business, engineering, information technology, medicine, nursing and science at the campus.
The 10th Anniversary Celebration Week will see the Sunway campus highlight its accomplishments in research and teaching, as well as showcase staff, student and alumni achievements.
In line with the campus aim to contribute actively to the Malaysian community, events such as public lectures on research and teaching innovation have been planned.
Exhibitions and tours of the campus and facilities will also be conducted to showcase the steady growth and expansion of the campus. There will also be lively student participation as the celebration coincides with the Monash University Student Association's Clubs and Societies week.
The celebration will culminate in a gala event on Thursday 24 July which will give representatives from government, industry and the education sectors, as well as alumni, staff and students, the opportunity to recognise the achievements of the campus.
"Now over ten years old, the Sunway campus, is an exemplar of trans-national education," Pro Vice-Chancellor and President (Malaysia) Professor Robin Pollard said.
"We are committed to being a premier teaching and research institution, making significant contributions to Malaysia and South-East Asia.
"The emphasis at Monash -- on teaching and research -- is unique among private providers in Malaysia.
"The Sunway campus provides an ideal learning environment with first-rate facilities and a strong collegial structure."
For more information or to register for planned events visit the 10th Anniversary website.
Students from other Monash campuses can study at Sunway as part of the Monash Intercampus Exchange Program.
Students going on intercampus exchange will normally be paid A$3500 towards their expenses for one semester and A$4000 for two.
If you are interested and would like further information, visit the Study Abroad Program website.
9 July 2008
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| Head of Monash Climate Professor Amanda Lynch is a co-author of a submission that calls for the creation of a new National Sustainability Policy. |
Monash's most senior governance and climate change experts have called for the creation of a new national sustainability policy aimed at creating a framework for monitoring and mitigating activities that contribute to climate change.
The experts -- Director of Monash's Governance Research Unit Associate Professor Ken Coghill; Head of Monash Climate Professor Amanda Lynch; Director of Monash's Centre of Policy Studies Professor Philip Adams; and University of Melbourne Professor David Karoly -- said the policy should include wide consultation with Australian organisations and the public in a manner similar to the highly successful National Competition Policy process of the 1990s.
In a submission to the Victorian Government's Climate of Opportunity Green Paper, the group argues major innovation in governance is essential to achieve the big reductions in carbon emissions required to curb dangerous climate change.
"The nature and extent of the changes required are extraordinary and exceed those required at the outbreak of World War II," the researchers said.
"The changes must occur in almost every aspect of life. Government must establish a framework within which individuals, households, businesses and communities are given a clear sense of leadership and direction, and the capacity to respond with high levels of autonomy."
The experts call for an initial wide-ranging public inquiry to report to the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) on "the governance arrangements needed to effectively implement carbon trading and the myriad other changes we need to make in the way we live".
Under the Monash submission:
The Commonwealth would make payments for satisfactory progress with policy implementation and related reforms. A National Sustainability Council would oversee the new sustainability system and advise COAG on further reforms.
For more information on sustainability research at Monash, visit the Sustainability Institute website.
9 July 2008
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| VCP graduate Michael Nunan is one of six pharmacists working in the Solomon Islands. |
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| Graduate Erin Mitchell runs pharmacy education programs to train pharmacy officers in the Solomons. |
The Solomon Islands has a population of 500,000 and 94,000 cases of malaria each year. The country has only six pharmacists, two of whom are graduates from Monash's Victorian College of Pharmacy.
Michael Nunan (BPharm 2006) reports to the director of pharmacy in the Solomon Islands. His role is to develop and strengthen pharmacy services for the country's public health system.
"I learn something new every day working here -- it's an incredibly different environment to work in for all sorts of reasons," Mr Nunan said. "I'm learning about malaria treatment protocols one minute and supply issues the next."
"The locals here are such nice, gentle people and they're emerging from a pretty bleak period in their history. It's a good time to be here and as long as we go about it in the right way, they really value what we do."
Erin Mitchell (BPharm 2006) runs the country's pharmacy education programs.
Her role includes training pharmacy officers -- a two-year intensive course is the country's standard pharmacy qualification -- and redeveloping the curriculum for the pharmacist trainee year. She also runs a continuing education course for current staff.
"Working here has given me the opportunity to do something out of the ordinary, but still in my field -- which feels like a good career move at this age!" Ms Mitchell said.
"We are combining work and travel, and living somewhere we wouldn't otherwise have gone. It is a really exciting job, as we are given so much responsibility and there are challenges every day."
Both Erin and Michael found their positions with the Ministry of Health in the Solomon Islands through Australian Volunteers International.
For more information on pharmacy courses and research visit the Victorian College of Pharmacy website.
9 July 2008
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| Chancellor Dr Alan Finkel, Dame Elisabeth Murdoch AC DBE and Vice-Chancellor Professor Richard Larkins. |
Dame Elisabeth Murdoch AC DBE has received an honorary Monash degree in recognition of her passionate advocacy for a range of causes including health, the arts, and education.
The honorary degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred by Chancellor Dr Alan Finkel and presided over by Governor of Victoria Professor David de Kretser AC.
Dame Elisabeth Murdoch has made important contributions to a host of important Victorian institutions including the Royal Children's Hospital (serving as its President from 1954 to 1965), the National Gallery of Victoria, the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, the Australian Ballet, the Victorian Opera, the Royal Botanic Gardens, the Deafness Foundation, and the RSPCA, along with a number of Victoria's leading educational institutions.
Vice-Chancellor and President Richard Larkins paid tribute to Dame Elisabeth's achievements.
"It is not only that the community, the state and the nation have received immeasurable benefits through all that Dame Elisabeth has done and continues to do in promoting research, in fostering health, in nurturing growth, and in creating beauty. It is also that her personal commitment and involvement has been made with a degree of warmth and humanity such as the world all too rarely sees," Professor Larkins said.
The award of an honorary degree from Monash University is the latest in a long list of distinctions that Dame Elisabeth has received for her lifetime of community service.
In 1963 Dame Elisabeth was invested by the Queen at Government House as Dame Commander in the Order of the British Empire. In 1989 she was appointed a Companion in the Order of Australia.
In 2003 Dame Elisabeth was awarded the Centenary Medal, and she received the inaugural President's Award of the Law Institute of Victoria, and was presented with the Keys of the City of Melbourne.
She was named as Victorian of the Year in 2005, and Senior Australian of the Year for Victoria in 2006.
9 July 2008
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| Professor James Whisstock said it was an honour for him and his team to be recognised for their contribution to molecular biology. |
Australian Society for Medical Research Professor James Whisstock has received the Commonwealth Health Minister's Award for Excellence in Health and Medical Research.
The award is granted to an internationally-renowned scientist who has completed their PhD within the last 12 years, has an outstanding record of accomplishment in medical research, is an inspiring role model and mentor, and skilled health communicator.
Professor Whisstock said he was delighted to receive the award.
"I have a great team who work hard and make amazing contributions. So it's an honour for my team and me to be recognised in this way," he said.
Professor Whisstock, from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, has spent the past nine years studying the structure and function of a family of perforin-like proteins that kill bacteria, virally infected cells and cancer cells. They also play a role in developmental and neural biology.
Last year Professor Whisstock's group published the first three-dimensional structure of a perforin-like protein in the prestigious journal Science.
Remarkably the work showed that this disease-fighting molecule is also related to deadly bacterial toxins that cause anthrax, scarlet fever and flesh-eating disorders.
Professor Whisstock's award builds on a distinguished research career at Monash, which includes a 2007 NHMRC Principal Research Fellowship, a 2008 ARC Federation Fellowship and the 2006 Science Minister's Prize for Life Scientist of the Year.
To find out more about Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Monash, visit the Department website.
9 July 2008
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| Dr Ingrid Boccardi from UCL London, Professor France Houle from the University of Montreal, Professor Susan Kneebone from Monash University, and Professor Francois Crepeau from the University of Montreal at the conference at Monash’s Prato Centre. |
An international conference held at the Monash Prato Centre in Italy will lead to a greater understanding of the legal processes in place to determine refugee status in different countries across the world.
The conference attracted almost 100 practitioners, academics, decision makers and policy makers from more than 15 countries including Brazil, Israel and the Ukraine, which are currently developing systems for refugee status determination, and Canada and the United Kingdom, which have well-established systems.
Conference co-organiser Professor Susan Kneebone from Monash’s Faculty of Law said the conference examined the responsibilities of the states to asylum seekers under international human rights law and under the Refugee Convention.
"It also provided a forum for the exchange of practical experiences from different jurisdictions and guidance to emerging jurisdictions such as South Africa, Israel and African nations," Professor Kneebone said.
"As we would all be well aware, the trend in developed countries is to introduce increasingly restrictive measures on access to asylum procedures.
"Meanwhile, in many less-developed countries there is a crisis of asylum with many long-term refugee situations seemingly without solution."
Professor Kneebone said the conference provided delegates with a greater understanding of the context for refugee decision-making and a need to protect the rights of asylum seekers.
"The number of young scholars we attracted demonstrates the interest in refugee law as an interdisciplinary field of scholarship and the need for such a forum," she said.
Professor Kneebone said organisers would look to hold a bi-annual event to review the standards and responsibilities in relation to refugees and asylum seekers.
Find out about undertaking law studies in Italy by visiting the Monash Law Prato Program webpage.
9 July 2008
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| Sirvard Nshanyan, Lynn Tai, Amalia Prada Fernandez, Arielle Yablonovitch, David Wong, Haley Hunter-Zinck, and Randy Lee from the University of California, San Diego, are in Melbourne on a nine-week internship with the Faculty of Information Technology. |
Seven students from the University of California, San Diego, have swapped a California summer for a Melbourne winter in the name of science, participating in a highly-sought after e-research internship program at Monash's Faculty of Information Technology.
The Pacific Rim Undergraduate Experiences (PRIME) internship program gives students the opportunity to undertake international collaborative research in a Pacific Rim country.
The students Lynn Tai (2nd year Biology), Arielle Yablonovitch (2nd year Physics), David Wong (3rd year Chemical Engineering), Randy Lee (2nd year Bioengineering), Sirvard Nshanyan (3rd year Computer Science/Engineering), Amalia Prada Fernandez (3rd year Bioengineering/Biotechnology) and Haley Hunter-Zinck (3rd year Bioengineering/Bioinformatics) will work under the mentorship of Professor David Abramson in Monash's e-science and grid engineering lab (message lab).
The students will learn how to work with Nimrod, a software tool developed at Monash that enables users to harness multiple computers for large-scale simulations.
Professor Abramson visited UCSD in May to prepare the students for their visit, the fifth such Monash exchange.
"In previous years students have spent the first week becoming familiar with the Nimrod software," Professor Abramson said. "This year we decided to get a head start so they could get straight into the science when they arrived."
Dr Peter Arzberger from the PRIME program said it was great to get the students up and running before they left the US.
"It was terrific to see their enthusiasm and to see them achieve something in only a few short hours," Dr Arzberger said.
The students said they were enjoying their time in Melbourne and the opportunity to work with the Nimrod creators.
"It's great to see how our different major research projects align with Monash," Ms Prada-Fernandez said.
"Melbourne's a fantastic place to live, everyone is so welcoming and there's so much to do," Ms Hunter-Zinck added.
The students will be at Monash for nine weeks.
Meanwhile, Monash undergraduate students studying computer science, software engineering or related areas can undertake an eight-week summer semester international research project at UCSD.
Potential Monash Undergraduate Research Projects Abroad (MURPA) students will have the chance to meet with UCSD professors, including Dr Arzberger, during a seminar series starting next week.
For more information on the seminar series and MURPA visit the MURPA website.
For more information on the Pacific Rim Undergraduate Experiences (PRIME) internship program visit the PRIME website.
9 July 2008
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| The work of renowned Australian artist Diena Georgetti features in a new exhibition at the Monash University Museum of Art. |
The Humanity of Abstract Painting 1988-2008 is the poetic title of the latest exhibition at the Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA).
Presented by MUMA in partnership with the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, the exhibition is the first major survey of renowned Australian artist Diena Georgetti.
From early blackboard paintings, which achieved considerable critical attention when first shown in 1989 at Brisbane's Institute of Modern Art, and subsequently at the 1992 Biennale of Sydney, to recent paintings co-opting early modernist styles, this exhibition presents the full scope of Georgetti's intriguing and diverse catalogue.
Director of Monash University Museum of Art and co-curator of the exhibition Max Delany said the exhibition, which includes ten works, revealed Georgetti's enigmatic and elusive artistic practice and granted her overdue recognition.
The exhibition brings together works from various private collections in Australia and New Zealand, as well as from several public collections.
Georgetti has a longstanding relationship with the museum, having been included in a number of significant group exhibitions at MUMA over the past decade.
For further information on the exhibition visit the Monash University Museum of Art website.
9 July 2008
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| Professor Yuri Estrin addresses a general meeting of the Russian Academy of Sciences. |
Professor Yuri Estrin from the Faculty of Engineering's Department of Materials Engineering has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).
The Doctorate is one of the highest distinctions the RAS awards foreign scientists.
Professor Estrin is the only academic in the area of chemistry and materials science to receive the honour and is believed to be the only Australian awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the RAS in recent times.
In awarding Professor Estrin the RAS said: "This Honorary Doctorate has been awarded to you in recognition of your world-class achievements in materials science and engineering, particularly in the areas of physical metallurgy, materials modelling, and development of new materials."
Professor Estrin, who was born and educated in the former Soviet Union, came to Australia in 1992 and joined Monash's Materials Engineering Department last year on a shared appointment with the CSIRO.
He said he felt very proud and honoured to receive the Honorary Doctorate.
"Going back to Russia after 30 years in the west to receive the award was very exciting and moving," Professor Estrin said.
"It is a very rare distinction and means a lot to me because of my special relationship with the Academy -- it's where my research career started."
Professor Estrin's research focuses on the mechanical properties of metallic materials, particularly on modelling the mechanical response of conventional and novel materials.
He said the ultimate goal of his research was to equip engineers with physically sound, user-friendly modelling tools that could be used for efficient simulations of metal forming operations.
"In recent years I have placed special emphasis on modelling the mechanical properties of nanomaterials," Professor Estrin said.
For more information visit the Materials and Engineering website.
2 July 2008
As we enter the budget setting process this year, we are faced once again with the dilemma of trying to deliver education at world's best standard and internationally first rate research in the face of funding for Commonwealth-supported undergraduate places and funding for research projects from ARC and NHMRC which fail to meet the real costs of these activities.
This problem has progressively worsened over the last dozen years with an absurdly inadequate formula for indexing the Commonwealth Grants Scheme which has delivered approximately two per cent per year increase when real costs have been rising by four to five per cent over the same time. By contrast, the secondary schools allocation has been fully-indexed and we now have the paradoxical situation where the Commonwealth allocates more funds each year to private schools than it does to its public universities for education.
The extent of the problem we face in this country was reinforced to me when I spoke at the National University and Design Forum. The speaker immediately preceding me was from the University of Pennsylvania. She stated that the student number at her university was 20,000, the recurrent budget $4b and the endowment $6.6b. In other words each year they have three times as much money as we have to educate one third the number of students and an endowment 25 times ours. Even so, their endowment is modest when compared with Harvard's $36b.
I mention this not in the sense that we should despair, but rather to emphasise that like other Australian universities we have to be both very smart and very efficient to be able to compete internationally. Monash has performed superbly in these respects but each year the dual constraints of decreased public funding for education and a highly regulated environment with respect to the fees we can charge undergraduate domestic students make the problem more difficult.
In this context, it is essential that the Bradley Review of Higher Education and the Cutler Review of Innovation convince the Government that our universities must receive more funding if they are to continue to be internationally competitive. This is necessary not merely because of our international standing and reputation but because the future of our economy depends on an adequate supply of well-educated and innovative new graduates and on research to allow our industries to compete on innovation and quality rather than forlornly trying to compete on price. We must also have quality universities to do the research necessary for environmental sustainability. This of course relates to water, clean energy and agricultural sustainability where technological and economic solutions are urgently needed.
At the very least, an outcome of the Bradley Review has to be either markedly elevated public funding of Commonwealth supported places or else deregulation of the fees charged to undergraduate domestic students. More radical solutions such as portable learning scholarships for students in a deregulated environment make a lot of sense from the point of view of flexibility of choice for students and breaking down boundaries between the VET/TAFE sector and universities so they should also be considered.
The Cutler Review must lead to full-funding of research. At present, for every dollar of research funding received from ARC and NHMRC the University has to subsidise around 40c as the infrastructure funds attracted by the grants have not kept up with the increase in the research funding. Quite simply, it costs forty per cent more to do the research than the funding granted.
Of course, more profound outcomes from the Cutler Review might also be hoped for, such as major funding to encourage research clusters incorporating universities, CSIRO and industry – there is no more exciting such cluster than that around the Monash Clayton campus.
Another element contributing to the eddies and currents of the debates around the reviews is the concept of "Compacts". They have been a feature of the Labor Party platform since the Macklin white paper of 2006. Nobody is sure what they will encompass and how they will be administered. They are intended to cover areas such as community and industry engagement, regional development and special initiatives for disadvantaged groups and to encourage diverse missions for different universities.
The sector in general and Monash University have high hopes that the real value to the Australian community of our universities might be recognised following the handing down of the reports of the two reviews. It is essential that this leads to significantly more funding or a more deregulated environment. Anything less will be to the real detriment of the future of our country.
Meanwhile, we face a very difficult budget setting process for 2009.
9 July 2008
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| Associate Professor Craig De Wilde |
Name: Craig De Wilde
Org. Unit: School of Music -- Conservatorium, Faculty of Arts
Title: Associate Professor and Head, School of Music --
Conservatorium and Associate Dean Education, Faculty of Arts
How long have you been with Monash University?
I started officially at Monash on New Year's Day, 1992
Prior to working at Monash, where were you located and what was your role?
I came from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where I taught music history to over 1500 students a year. Before that, I taught for the City Colleges of Chicago and the University of Maryland at their international campuses in Munich, Germany.
What challenges are ahead in your current role?
I have only just started my role as one of the two Associate Deans, Education, in the Faculty of Arts, so the learning curve is nearly vertical at present. Fortunately I have some supremely competent and patient staff members working with me to keep me out of trouble. As Head of Music, my greatest challenge is always keeping a balance between all the many activities taking place in the school, as well as with my own teaching and research activities. I have become particularly interested in recent years in how the business of music influences artistic decisions, both for the better and for the worse.
What is it about your job that holds your interest or is particularly satisfying?
Working with incredibly talented and dynamic people, both students and colleagues, is very inspiring. I also have a one-hour weekly radio program on Thursday evenings with Derek Guille on ABC 774, where I can share my enthusiasm for music with those outside Monash as well.
What is your favourite place in the world and why?
This is an impossible question for me to answer definitively, as I have been fortunate to have travelled fairly widely in my life, and every place I've been has had something very special to offer. Two particularly memorable occasions include visiting Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and St Mark's Basilica in Venice, and being weak at the knees while thinking about all the incredible music history that has originated from those two locations. Also, being on a cruise ship on the Rhine River between Koblenz and Bingen in Germany, watching the castles slowly pass by while enjoying an excellent bottle of reisling, is hard to beat.
What is the best piece of advice you have received?
Learn when to keep your mouth shut and your ears open. You'd think being a musician that skill would come naturally to me, but regrettably that was not always the case.
What is something about yourself that most of your colleagues wouldn't know?
I'm a bit of a petrol head, with a particular love for classic cars. I own a Jaguar saloon which I show occasionally in various motorcar events. In addition, this past January I lived out a long-held dream by driving an Indy-style, open-wheeled racecar at speed at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. My fast lap averaged 247.28 kilometres per hour.
Archive of 60 seconds with...9 July 2008
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Monash is ranked among the top 50 universities in the world in the 2007 Times Higher Education Supplement (UK) world university rankings. It is one of only three post World War II universities in the group, the majority being well-established European, British and American universities.
The oldest university in the top 50 is the University of Oxford (ranked at 2), founded in 1167. The oldest Australian university in the top 50 is the University of Sydney (31), founded in 1850.
The three post World War II universities are the University of New South Wales (44), founded in 1949, Monash (43), founded in 1958, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (38), established in 1963.