23 July 2008
23 July 2008
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| Australian cyclist Cadel Evans. |
Cadel Evans will switch his focus from the Tour de France to the Olympic Games next week and the champion cyclist believes his partnership with Monash University's wind tunnel team could help him win gold.
Evans used the wind tunnel earlier this year in his Olympic preparation as part of a new partnership between Monash and the Australian Institute of Sport's (AIS) elite cycling program.
In a two-hour session, twin five-metre tall fans blew winds of up to 70kmh at Evans while he pedalled furiously on a stationary bicycle held in a specially-designed rig.
Monash's mechanical and aerospace engineering experts used sensitive equipment located in the wind tunnel's floor to measure the aerodynamic efficiency of various riding positions, as well as the amount of force placed on various types of wheels, handle bars, helmets, pedals, and even shoes and suits.
"In a short period of time, we got a lot of accurate information, which is most important," Evans said after the testing session.
"It's invaluable information in my profession, because if we can save one minute it might be the difference between winning a gold medal and winning nothing at the Olympics."
The AIS has a detailed computer model of the circuit Evans will tackle during the 245km road race at next month's Olympics and Evans' work in the wind tunnel was focused on maximising his aerodynamics over the circuit.
The AIS estimates a 10 per cent improvement in Evans' aerodynamics would shave up to a minute off his time.
Monash wind tunnel manager David Burton said the aim of the work with Evans was to find the options that attracted the least wind force but still allowed Evans to produce optimum power.
"It's important for us and the AIS to work together so you can combine expertise on aerodynamics and biomechanics -- the two really need to come together," Mr Burton said.
Monash's partnership with the AIS cycling program continues a long association between the Engineering faculty tunnel, located at Monash's Clayton campus, and elite Australian sports teams.
Skiers, the Winter Olympic female skeleton team (the sport involves sliding down a track head-first on a small sled), V8 super cars and sailing teams have all used the wind tunnel to boost their sporting chances.
The tunnel has a working section four metres high and 12 metres wide, making it the biggest in the Southern Hemisphere and large enough to fit a small truck. It can produce winds of up to 180kmh.
AIS physiologist David Martin said working with the Monash experts had been terrific because their professionalism was matched by their enthusiasm to get the best result for the Australian cyclists.
For more information on the wind tunnel visit the Faculty of Engineering website.
23 July 2008
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| Prospective students and their families can expect a fantastic day exploring Monash. |
Organisers expect more than 70,000 people will visit Monash campuses or log on to the Monash website during Open Day 2008.
Open Day will be held on the first weekend in August.
Berwick, Gippsland, Parkville and Peninsula campuses will host prospective students and their parents on Saturday 2 August, 2008 and Caulfield and Clayton campuses will host their Open Day on Sunday 3 August, 2008.
This year's events will include Jubilee celebrations and an introduction to the Monash Passport, a new concept in education that offers students a bold new promise drawing on the University's international presence, leadership programs and research opportunities.
On Saturday buses will be operating between Berwick and Peninsula, while buses will run from 10 am between Caulfield and Clayton campuses on Sunday.
Director of Caulfield and Clayton campuses Professor Rob Willis said this year's Open Day would be rewarding for future students.
"Our organising committee has planned many extra events and sessions -- prospective students and their families can expect a fantastic day exploring Monash," Professor Willis said.
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"There is a diverse range of information available to local and international students including accommodation information, admission and course information and scholarships."
"Prospective students can also expect to enjoy the Monash experience and learn first-hand what it's like to be part of the life of the University through tours of the campuses, libraries, lecture theatres, galleries and laboratories."
Professor Willis said it was an incredibly exciting time for Year 11 and 12 students.
"We're proud of our achievements as we continue to grow and develop -- there's always wonderful new facilities to explore."
For more information on the Open Day events, please visit the Monash Open Day website.
23 July 2008
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| Monash law students, including Tim McCulloch (centre, blond hair). |
Monash Law students have worked with Melbourne's growing population of Sudanese immigrants to produce an extensive report they hope will improve access to services.
Sixteen undergraduate law students produced the report in conjunction with the Springvale-Monash Legal Service. The report formed part of a final-year unit that gave students hands-on experience at the busy legal centre, which helps people who are marginalised or not adequately supported by the legal system.
The report was based on interviews conducted in 2006 and 2007 with more than 30 men, women and children who left Sudan to live in Melbourne's outer south-eastern suburbs. Seventeen government agency staff who work with Sudanese immigrants were also interviewed.
The students found that the immigrants were suffering hardships as a result of their lack of understanding of Victorian family law, driving laws, public transport ticketing, consumer and small business laws, real estate rentals and utility payments.
They found this lack of understanding resulted in the immigrants unwittingly breaking laws and being charged, entering into unfair and financially disastrous small business contracts, and struggling to obtain and keep rental properties.
The report calls for more appreciation of the immigrants' often troubled backgrounds and for greater efforts to be made to educate the immigrants on Australian laws.
Tim McCulloch, a student researcher who worked on the project and has since graduated, said he hoped the report would be an educational resource for workers who had regular contact with Sudanese immigrants.
"I hope it gets read by the frontline people -- by magistrates, police, people in community legal centres and other service providers," Mr McCulloch said.
"And if it does get read by people who are making policy and are in Government -- that would be great too."
Mr McCulloch said the students found the project enjoyable and rewarding.
"It put us in contact with people who we wouldn't otherwise have had anything to do with and it gave us a greater insight into the difficulties the immigrants face," he said.
For more information see Comparative analysis of South Sudanese customary law and Victorian law.
Find out about practical legal training at Monash.
23 July 2008
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| Associate Professor Wayne Hodgson with Spike. |
They might look scary and prehistoric but to those in the know they're called Rocky and Spike and they're helping shape research into the creation of new anti-venom.
These Barrier Reef stonefish aren't your typical aquatic specimen. They're venomous: one sting from their spines can cause intense pain, temporary paralysis, and sometimes death -- if untreated.
These fish live in Associate Professor Wayne Hodgson's laboratory in the Department of Pharmacology. His team works with dangerous creatures most people avoid: mouse spiders, taipans, death adders, tiger snakes and the Australian box jellyfish -- the world's most venomous animal. They are venom collectors.
Associate Professor Hodgson is unfazed about his stonefish. "They are not aggressive fish," he said. "As the spines are found along their backs, they are safe as long as you don't stand on them or push down on their spines. We handle them with protective mesh gloves."
Associate Professor Hodgson has shown in earlier work that "milked" stonefish venom causes cardiovascular collapse -- where blood pressure plummets and the heart slows down.
While the currently available stonefish anti-venom appears to work well, this isn't the case with box jellyfish anti-venom, with experimental and clinical evidence suggesting it is ineffective, so much so that the treatment is no longer used in Darwin, where stings are common.
Because anti-venoms are expensive to produce and the local market is small, Associate Professor Hodgson is working to find other drugs and strategies to treat box jellyfish stings.
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| Spike shows off. |
That's where Rocky and Spike come into the story.
Each stonefish has 13 spines along its gnarly back and a venom gland underneath each spine.
Associate Professor Hodgson places a stonefish into a tub of water, pushes down on a spine, venom squirts up and is collected for further research.
"We hope the stonefish venom will give us an insight into the mechanism of action of the jellyfish toxin as we believe they may work in a similar way," he said.
For more information visit the Department of Pharmacology website.
23 July 2008
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| Monash Director of Employment and Career Development Joanne Tyler. |
Fresh perspectives have led to ground breaking collaboration between universities, the community and industry in the development of effective workplace experience for university students.
A national symposium held recently in Melbourne examined current approaches to work-integrated learning, in an effort to better prepare students for their career following university.
Work-integrated learning is available through many Monash faculties including information technology, medicine, education, and business and economics.
Monash Director of Employment and Career Development Joanne Tyler is part of a five-member research team responsible for a year-long project that will develop new guidelines, benchmarks, products and services to increase the opportunities for students to get real-world experience during their degrees.
"Accessing and increasing these opportunities will ensure students are career ready as well as work ready upon completion of their university studies," Ms Tyler said.
The project team includes Monash University, RMIT University, Flinders University, University of Southern Queensland, and University of Wollongong.
For more information visit the National Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services ALTC Project website.
23 July 2008
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| WUWHS President elect Professor Gary Sibbald, Geoff Sussman and WUWHS President Professor Luc Teot. |
Geoff Sussman from the Victorian College of Pharmacy, has received a lifetime achievement award from the World Union of Wound Healing Societies (WUWHS) for his contribution to the development of wound care as a specialty -- the only Australian to be recognised.
Mr Sussman was one of 26 academics to receive the award in recognition of their contribution to wound management in research, practice and education at the recent WUWHS world congress in Toronto, Canada.
Mr Sussman has been involved in wound management for over 30 years in clinical research, product evaluation, teaching and clinical practice.
He graduated from the Victorian College of Pharmacy in 1961 and has published extensively in journals, books and educational publications.
Mr Sussman treats patients in the wound clinic at the Austin Hospital and is undertaking clinical research in areas including wound care and ageing, wound pain, post-operative wound and incision management and drugs and healing. He was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to pharmacy, wound care and sport in 2006. He also consults at Victorian zoos.
"I'm humbled to be considered in the same ilk as my fellow recipients, especially as there are many who I have looked up to in my own work," Mr Sussman said.
"Although wound management research is moving forward, wound patients have continuously fallen through the cracks because of a lack of government funding."
"There is a high cost to the community of recurrent wound treatment -- costs that could be avoided if proper treatment was made affordable."
"I hope the congress and these awards help to further raise awareness of this enormous problem, and those people, who are often the most vulnerable in our community, get access to the treatment they need and deserve."
The WUWHS is a consortium of associations of health care professionals that aims to enhance the lives of persons with wounds worldwide with an emphasis on developing countries.
The executive team of the WUWHS includes opinion leaders in wound care from Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Denmark, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The world congress is held every four years however this is the first time that lifetime awards have been presented.
Find out about studying wound care at Monash visit the Postgraduate studies in wound care website.
23 July 2008
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| Head of the School of Arts and Social Sciences Professor James Chin and Head of the School of Science Professor Pua Eng Chong. |
Malaysia's efforts to become a regional education hub have received another boost with the establishment of two new academic schools at Monash University's Sunway campus in Malaysia.
The move makes Monash the first private higher education institution in the region to establish a School of Arts and Social Sciences, and reflects the maturing of the Sunway campus.
Pro Vice-Chancellor and President (Malaysia) Professor Robin Pollard said the formation of the two new schools -- the School of Arts and Social Sciences and School of Science -- would attract more local and international students at the undergraduate and postgraduate level.
"The development of Malaysia as a regional education hub requires the availability of high-quality programs at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, as well as intensification of research activity," Professor Pollard said.
"The establishment of these schools will allow Monash to meet this requirement in a more comprehensive manner."
The School of Science will be headed by Professor Pua Eng Chong while the School of Arts and Social Sciences will be headed by established Malaysian academic Professor James Chin.
"The school will offer undergraduate programs that will support the development of Malaysia's intellectual capital and expand the pool of high-quality professionals with an arts or social science background," Professor Chin said.
"We also hope to increase our engagement with the community and develop academic and research collaborations with public and private universities in Malaysia to leverage on Monash's multinational presence and contribute to the development of the region."
For more information visit Sunway's School of Science and School of Arts and Social Sciences websites.
23 July 2008
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| Thom Woodroofe in the front of the White House in Washington DC. |
Monash undergraduate student Thom Woodroofe has returned from three weeks in the US where he met with youth organisations and think tanks about his new organisation called Left Right Think Tank.
The Bachelor of Arts (Global) student has developed Left Right to give young Australians the opportunity to contribute to the policies that shape their future.
The trip provided him with the opportunity to learn from the experiences of similar organisations including the Junior State America Foundation, Pacific Research Institute, the Global Youth Action Network, the Young Democrats, the Young Republicans, and the US State Department.
He also attended the annual conference of the Roosevelt Institution, alongside Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs-Jones of Ohio, and participated in a breakfast with Congressional Youth Leaders and members of the White House Press Corps at the National Press Club in Washington DC.
Mr Woodroofe said his degree, in particular his focus on international studies and politics, had helped shape his objectives for the think tank.
"My studies have given me a greater appreciation for the value of debate in politics; it is the bedrock of a healthy, progressive society," Mr Woodroofe said.
"Young people have a great interest and passion for politics and policy and want to be able to give reasoned, well-researched arguments to support their views."
"Unfortunately, no Australian think tanks recognise the strength of young people in the ideas debate."
"Through Left Right, we want to empower young people to contribute more fully to their community by providing avenues for their voices to be heard at a local, state and federal government level."
Left Right is currently building its executive before a planned public launch in early 2009.
For further information, including details of volunteer positions at Left Right, visit the Left Right Think Tank website.
Find out about the Bachelor of Arts (Global) degree at Monash visit the Faculty of Arts website.
23 July 2008
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| Professor Harish Trivedi |
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| Dr Chandani Lokuge |
The Centre for Postcolonial Writing has celebrated its sixth anniversary with an inspiring lecture from Professor Harish Trivedi, one of the leading scholars in the field.
Professor Trivedi is Professor of English at the University of Delhi, Vice–President of the Comparative Literature Association of India and the acclaimed author of Colonial Transactions: English Literature and India.
During the lecture Professor Trivedi outlined his concerns with the accepted model of postcolonial theory in the west, arguing that there was little effort made to discover or translate postcolonial literature written in languages other than English. The lecture was followed by a lively panel discussion.
The Centre for Postcolonial Writing, which forms part of the School of English, Communications and Performance Studies in the Faculty of Arts, was established in 2002 to critically examine the period from the moment of European colonisation to the present day. It is one of the first in the world to integrate creative writing with critical academic assessment.
Since its inception the centre has formed research exchanges with Oxford and Harvard and working with leading world publishers such as Routledge on long-term research projects.
Director Dr Chandani Lokuge said it was great to be able to celebrate the centre’s anniversary through such lively debate on postcolonial theory.
"The centre has made rich contributions to postcolonial studies and has evolved into a vibrant, international research base," Dr Lokuge said.
"In the years to come it will continue to contribute to the field of postcolonial studies and will no doubt make many innovations in this vital academic discourse."
For more information visit the Centre for Postcolonial Writing 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.
23 July 2008
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Name: Nick Economou
Org. Unit: School of Political and Social Inquiry, Faculty of Arts
Title: Doctor
How long have you been with Monash University?
16 years.
Prior to working at Monash, where were you located and what was your role?
I lectured in politics at the old Gippsland Institute of Advanced Education (now the Monash University Gippsland campus) for three years. Before then I had the classic sessional existence for some three years at the old Swinburne Institute of Technology (now university) which I really enjoyed.
What challenges are ahead in your current role?
Balancing teaching and research demands -- that and making sure that we don't lose sight of how important our students are (especially our undergraduate students) to our reason for being.
What is it about your job that holds your interest or is particularly satisfying?
What's not interesting or satisfying about studying Australian politics?
What is your favourite place in the world and why?
Oakleigh -- love the cakes, love the coffee, love the people (cheaper than flying to Athens!).
What is the best piece of advice you have received?
Get over it -- move on.
What is something about yourself that most of your colleagues wouldn't know?
I once played bass guitar in a band called Desperate Alliance that, as the Monash University entrant, won the 3RRR Victorian Battle of the Bands competition in 1986.
Archive of 60 seconds with...23 July 2008
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There are 1100 Monash graduates listed among the 13,200 biographies of Australia's most notable individuals in the 2008 edition of Who's Who in Australia.
This is a considerable proportion (8.33 per cent) for a university celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2008.
Who's Who is regarded as the pre-eminent guide to individual achievement in all walks of Australian life from politics to sport and philanthropy.