Archive for June 10th, 2008

Dr Col Gellatly, a graduate of the University of New England and a current member of the UNE Council, has been named an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the 2008 Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

Dr Gellatly, who was Director-General of the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet in 1994/95 and then from1996 until his retirement in 2007, received the honour “for service to the community as a leader in policy reform and administration in the NSW public sector, particularly through the coordination of whole-of-government program initiatives”.

After joining the NSW Public Service as a trainee in 1968, Dr Gellatly gained an Honours degree in Agricultural Economics from UNE in 1972, followed by a Master of Commerce degree from the University of New South Wales and a PhD from North Carolina State University in the United States.

He served the State of NSW in a series of senior positions, including Director-General of the Department of Industrial Relations, Employment, Training and Further Education (1989-1994), and Director-General of the Department of Land and Water Conservation (1995-1996). In 1995 he successfully managed the merger of the NSW Departments of Water Resources and Conservation and Land Management with elements of the Public Works Department.

In recognition of his outstanding contribution to public sector management he was made a Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration in 1997.

UNE’s Chancellor, Mr John Cassidy, was named an Officer of the Order of Australia in last year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours List. (The medal associated with the Officer of the Order of Australia award is pictured here.)

Among those named yesterday as Members of the Order of Australia (AM) are six UNE graduates and an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University – Karen Wilson. Professor Wilson, who is Acting Manager, Plant Diversity Section, of the Botanic Gardens Trust in Sydney, received her award “for service to botany as a researcher and through the recording and documentation of Australian biodiversity”. Another UNE graduate, Lieutenant Colonel Paul Nothard CSC, was named a Member (AM) in the Military Division of the Order of Australia for his “exceptional service” as Commander and Staff Officer, described as being “in the finest traditions of the Australian Army”.

Among the UNE graduates named as recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) are the former UNE history lecturer and New England local historian Graham Wilson (”for service to the community of Armidale through roles in heritage organisations”), and Andrew Lu, winner of UNE’s Young Distinguished Alumni Award for 2007.

Mr Lu, who holds a Master of Laws degree from UNE, is a Senior Associate with Minter Ellison Lawyers. His award, “for service to the arts through a range of administrative roles, and to the community”, recognises his contributions to cultural, legal and philanthropic organisations around Australia. His current positions include those of Deputy Chairman of Canberra Symphony Orchestra and Chairman of the Canberra-based Jigsaw Theatre Company. He is a Life Governor of the National Gallery of Australia Foundation and a Governor of the Art Gallery of New South Wales Foundation

Debra Dunstan and Nicole Turner want to hurt you. Afterwards, they’ll give you a cup of tea and a biscuit - and ask you how it felt.

No, they’re not sadists. They’re researchers, and their work has potential benefits for millions of sufferers of chronic pain worldwide. But first, 100 brave souls have to front up and enter their “room of pain”.

Ms Turner, a fourth-year psychology student at the University of New England, is studying the link between emotional intelligence and adaptive responses to pain. Specifically, she wants to find out whether people high in emotional intelligence - the ability to adaptively perceive, understand and regulate emotions - are better at handling pain than others. If they are, then that’s good news for people suffering from chronic pain, since many of the skills associated with emotional intelligence can be learned.

“What we do know about pain is that the physical component is only one part of the experience of pain,” said Dr Debra Dunstan, the clinical psychologist supervising the study. “The emotional and psychological aspects of pain are equally important.”

Dr Dunstan gave the example of a professional footballer playing in a grand final, who might not even be aware of an injury until after the game due to the emotions involved.

“Different people will react differently to the same physical experience of pain, depending on the situation and their psychological makeup,” she said.

The purpose of the experiment she and Ms Turner would be conducting was to identify traits common to those people who handled pain well, she said. Participants will be led to a room, where, after completing a questionnaire, they will be exposed to experimentally-induced pain that creates painful, but harmless, sensations in their arm. Afterwards, they will be given a cup of tea or coffee and a biscuit and asked to describe how the pain felt.

Dr Dunstan emphasised that the procedure was totally safe and said participants would be in complete control of the pain’s duration and free to end the experiment at any time. The levels of pain involved fell well within safe medical criteria, she said, adding that a list of referral numbers would be supplied in the unlikely event a participant’s discomfort continued after the experiment had ended.

Dr Dunstan and Ms Turner hope to recruit a range of people for the study, including people who are scared of pain, as well as those who are less afraid. Participants will initially be restricted to people working and studying at UNE’s Armidale campus.

“We’d really like it if people unnerved by the idea of experiencing pain turn up, along with the braver ones, since these are the people we’re trying to help,” Dr Dunstan said.

Those interested in participating in the study should contact Nicole Turner at nturner2@une.edu.au or on 0411 085 999.