Archive for June, 2010

The Australian Centre for Agriculture and Law (AgLaw Centre) at the University of New England has been recognised at a national irrigation conference for its significant contribution to research on water law and water institutions.

The AgLaw Centre has been pivotal to a number of studies of laws and institutions impacting on water markets conducted through the Cooperative Research Centre for Irrigation Futures over the past five years. Staff members of the AgLaw Centre were presented with three awards earlier this month at the Australian Irrigation Conference & Exhibition 2010. The conference, held in Sydney, was organised by the CRC for Irrigation Futures and Irrigation Australia.

Professor Paul Martin, the Director of the AgLaw Centre, received the “CRC Values Award for Excellence” for his leadership and for his contribution to the work of the CRC.

Dr Jacqueline Williams, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the AgLaw Centre, received the “Board Award for the Quiet Achiever / Trans-discipline”. This was particularly in recognition of Dr Williams’s achievement in integrating the work of other science and policy teams with that of the AgLaw Centre, and her commitment to engagement with communities. This has resulted in tangible applications of the research work of the AgLaw Centre and the CRC.

Professor Martin, Dr Williams, and Christopher Stone won the “2010 Science Award” for their technical report Transaction Costs and Water Reform: the devils hiding in the details. This report, published in 2008, is a cornerstone of recently-commissioned studies for both Federal and State agencies on the effectiveness of environmental laws and markets, and has resulted in a number of peer-reviewed publications. Further development of the approach is occurring with colleagues at Penn State University in the United States, and in the EEC. The report has been the most-downloaded report from the CRC Web site since 2003.

The AgLaw Centre is working closely with colleagues from across UNE in developing new approaches to the integration of science, law and institutional research relating to water. The researchers expect that two more studies will be published before the end of the term of this CRC for Irrigation Futures in August 2010.

Clicking on the image displayed here reveals a PHOTOGRAPH of Dr Jacqueline Williams after receiving her award at the conference, with the Chair of the CRC for Irrigation Futures, Peter Hayes.

Researchers at the University of New England have a new window into the mind. The University has recently upgraded its EEG equipment, allowing them to record more accurately the timing and location of “brain waves”.

“The electroencephalograph (EEG) uses physiological methods similar to the well-known electrocardiograph (ECG) machine that provides a visual representation of a patient’s heartbeat,” said Hans Receveur, a Psychology Honours student who is conducting an experiment with the new EEG equipment.

“With the EEG, however, recording electrodes are placed against the scalp rather than the chest,” Mr Receveur explained. “This provides us with a precise method of assessing the various ways in which our thoughts, feelings and behaviour correspond to the brain’s electrical activity. It gives neuroscientists new and improved methods of bridging the gap between the brain and the mind.

“Additionally, EEG technology can be used for diagnostic purposes (in epilepsy, for example) and to help researchers investigate the neural bases of disorders such as ADHD and schizophrenia.”

The new EEG equipment, bought at a cost of $80,000, has an array of 64 electrodes – providing much more accuracy than the University’s older equipment (with 40 electrodes) in identifying the location of electrical events in the brain. More importantly, the new equipment provides greatly improved temporal resolution, allowing more precise measurement of the timing of neural and cognitive events.

Mr Receveur is investigating the functional relationship between activity at the front and at the back of the brain during directed visual attention. “We know that, generally speaking, the frontal lobe is involved in directing our attention, whereas the occipital (back) lobe is involved in visual processing,” he said. “This new equipment allows us to accurately record the timing of events at both locations simultaneously. I hope to demonstrate how signal synchronisation facilitates the relay of information between these anatomically remote areas.

“More importantly, however, I hope to demonstrate that this type of functional connectivity underpins the subjective experience of intentionally directing our visual attention.”

In another experiment using the new EEG equipment, a PhD student in Psychology, Bernie Cocks, is looking for neural differences in the cognitive processing of nouns and verbs. “Although we know a significant amount, from an acoustic perspective, about how the sounds of spoken language are perceived by the ear, what happens between our perception of the sounds and our conscious understanding of them as speech is less well understood,” Mrs Cocks said.

In addition, she will be looking for evidence of “mirror neuron” activity in relation to language learning. “Originally discovered in monkeys about 10 years ago, ‘mirror neurons’ are motor neurons with mirror-like qualities that are thought to underlie imitative learning and may well explain how human infants are able to master spoken language in just a few years without any formal instruction,” she said.

Both Mr Receveur and Mrs Cocks are seeking volunteers for their research. “It will require about two hours of your time (including 60 minutes to prepare and calibrate the equipment and 30-60 minutes for the experimental testing),” Mr Receveur said. “The electrode cap (pictured here) is non-invasive, painless, passive and completely safe, and subjects are free to withdraw from the experiment at any time.”

“Participating in the research in the Psychology discipline’s neuropsychology laboratory is a unique opportunity to gain a new appreciation of how the mind and brain interact to make us who we are,” he said.

For more details, or to arrange a time to participate in the study, contact Hans Receveur at hreceveu@une.edu.au or on 0429 183 460, or e-mail Bernie Cocks at bcocks2@une.edu.au.

Clicking on the EEG image displayed here reveals a photograph of Hans Receveur preparing Eric Fay for a test run in his visual-attention experiment.

A researcher developing a national strategic plan for the future of Indonesian language teaching in Australian universities visited Armidale last week to investigate an innovative language-teaching model developed at the University of New England.

“I’m conscious that UNE has a long and respected history in scholarship on Asia,” said David Hill, Professor of South-East Asian Studies at Murdoch University, “and that it has put a lot of effort into teaching Asian languages – particularly in the distance mode.”

“I wanted to hear more about the ‘UNE blended model’ of language teaching,” Professor Hill said. This model combines distance education – much of it online – delivered from the University’s Armidale campus with face-to-face tuition at the point of delivery. It is used in UNE’s delivery of its language programs to several other universities – including Indonesian to students at the University of Southern Queensland and the University of Wollongong.

Under a National Teaching Fellowship awarded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council, Professor Hill is visiting every Indonesian-teaching university in Australia, as well as language teachers’ associations and government Departments of Education, in a consultative process aimed at forming a coordinated strategic plan for the reinvigoration of Indonesian language learning throughout Australia. “This is not a commissioned report,” he said. “It emerged from within the teaching institutions themselves. But we’re hoping that the Minister for Education will pay attention to it.”

“Due to dispersed student populations and geographical challenges, regional universities are often the birthplaces of innovative models of program delivery,” Professor Hill said. “The provision of Indonesian language programs to other universities that might not have the staff and facilities to provide such programs themselves is an interesting model.

“UNE’s development of this model is a reminder of the benefit of having Indonesian at regional universities. It’s important for government to remember that language skills are not the exclusive preserve of the metropolitan elite.”

Professor Hill also learnt more about UNE’s leadership of the Commonwealth-funded Regional Universities’ Indonesian Language Initiative (RUILI), which has enabled four universities – UNE, the University of the Sunshine Coast, the University of Tasmania, and Charles Darwin University – to develop and deliver Indonesian language programs based on common curricula.

He explained that languages in general were in a relatively “weak” position when it came to decision making within universities. “I’m aiming to develop structural models of Indonesian teaching – models that find a place for Indonesian teaching in the organisational structures of institutions,” he said. “I’d like to see Indonesian available to every Australian university student.

“My message to students would be that learning Indonesian enhances your career prospects in Australia.”

“The dynamism of the Indonesian economy is not appreciated in Australia,” Professor Hill said. “That dynamism is based in the provincial economies, and the provincial governments are looking overseas for models of regional development. Rather than talking in a hotel in Jakarta through an interpreter, our business people need to be able to go out into regional Indonesia and have productive discussions with the provincial governments. We’re not producing enough graduates in Indonesian.”

Clicking on the image displayed here reveals a photograph of Professor David Hill (right) with UNE’s Convener of Indonesian, Dr Zifirdaus Adnan.

The Vice Chancellor of the University of New England, Professor Jim Barber, outlines his initial plan for the introduction of trimesters from 2012 for staff and students.

http://www.une.edu.au/governance/p2012-video/trimester-update.flv

A UNE graduate who is a leading international advocate of human rights and educational equity for women was named an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List announced earlier this month.

Professor Shirley Randell (pictured here), the Director of the Centre for Gender, Culture and Development Studies at the Kigali Institute of Education in Rwanda, graduated from UNE with a PhD degree in 1987.

Professor Randell was honoured for “distinguished service to international relations, particularly through the promotion of human rights of women and through public sector reform in developing countries”. This is her second Australian Honour: she was named a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1988 for “contributions to public service, particularly to education”, after a 15-year career in the Commonwealth Public Service and while serving as Director of Programs in the ACT Department of Education.

As a leading expert on public sector and institutional reform in developing countries, Professor Randell has helped governments in the Asia Pacific region and in Africa over the past 14 years in many important projects – some of them funded by those governments themselves, and others by the Australian and New Zealand Governments, the European Union, the United Nations, and the Asian Development Bank.

Professor Randell said her latest Australian honour was “representative of the efforts of many wonderful women working internationally who deservedly share this honour”. “I want to reiterate my acknowledgement and admiration/appreciation of the many women who have worked with and alongside me to promote women’s rights and build organisations, policies, programs and systems that advance gender equality,” she said.

During her doctoral studies at UNE, Shirley Randell lived for some time at both Mary White College and Robb College. She served as Deputy Principal of Mary White College in 1984 – “in charge,” she said, “of overseas students at the beginning of my journey into international relations”. She donates the Shirley Randell Prize – awarded annually to an overseas resident of Mary White College who makes a significant contribution to College activities and maintains a high academic standard.

Mrs Edwina Ridgway, Principal of Duval College and Drummond & Smith College, was honoured with a Medal of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List (see the posting on this Web site for Tuesday 15 June), and several of the UNE graduates who were similarly honoured with a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) have strong college connections as alumni.

Mr Jeffory Bishop, who attended Armidale Teachers’ College in the 1948-49 session and graduated from UNE with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1964, was named a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for “service to people with disabilities and their carers through the Stepping Stones for Life project, and to the community as a contributor to a range of charitable organisations”.

Stepping Stones for Life is a support network for people who are ageing, people living with a disability, and especially families in which ageing parents are caring for an adult family member with a disability. It is an activity of St Margaret’s Uniting Church, Hackett, ACT.  Mr Bishop has been a lay preacher in the Methodist and Uniting Churches for over 40 years.

Another new Member of the Order of Australia honoured for his service to people with disabilities is Mr Bruce Bonyhady, who graduated from UNE in 1976 with an Honours degree in Applied Economics (winning a University Medal and the Edgar H. Booth Medal and Prize), and went on to a distinguished career in investment finance. His award was for “service to people with disabilities, their families and carers, particularly as Chairman of Yooralla, and to the community as a contributor to a range of charitable organisations”.

Yooralla is a community-based organisation that each year provides services to around 30,000 Victorians with disabilities.

An award-winning research project at the University of New England is breaking new ground in improving the efficiency of water desalination plants.

The project, conducted by a Saudi Arabian student at the University of New England, has been recognised as outstanding by the Government of Saudi Arabia, where 70 per cent of drinking water is produced by desalination.

Ali Alhamzah, a PhD student in Chemistry at UNE, is investigating the use of polymers to inhibit scale formation in water undergoing desalination treatment. His work promises to enhance the scale-inhibiting function of polymers when used at the higher temperatures required for maximum efficiency of the desalination process.

Mr Alhamzah (pictured here) is one of about 12,000 students from Saudi Arabia currently studying at Australian universities. During a graduation ceremony for 850 Saudi students in the Exhibition Centre at Sydney’s Darling Harbour last month, the Saudi Arabian Minister for Higher Education, Dr Khalid Al-Anqari, presented Mr Alhamzah with an award recognising the quality and potential of his research. Mr Alhamzah was one of 10 Saudi research students honoured in this way at the ceremony; their project reports were selected from those submitted by Saudi research students at universities throughout Australia.

Mr Alhamzah’s research involves making small modifications to a polymer at the molecular level and observing the results on the desalination process in the laboratory. “Very small differences in the structures at one end of the polymer can have big effects,” he said. He and his supervisor at UNE, Dr Chris Fellows, are pleased with the results so far. “It’s been successful at room temperature,” Mr Alhamzah said, “and also at 100 degrees centigrade.”

The work has applications in other industries – such as the sugar and dairy industries – that involve heating liquids. Mr Alhamzah and Dr Fellows have already published the results of experiments, conducted in collaboration with researchers at Queensland University of Technology, applying their work to the sugar industry.

“This is important research because very small amounts of scale inhibitors can have a big economic impact,” Dr Fellows said. “It will have applications in Australia as well as in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. We knew this was a good project, but it’s pleasing to have that recognised by the Saudi Government.”

THE PHOTOGRAPH of Ali Alhamzah displayed here was taken at the Darling Harbour ceremony.

A partnership between the University of New England and Chubu University in Japan has seen the seventh annual visit of Chubu students to Armidale for a five-month program of English language studies at UNE and linguistic and cultural immersion in the local community.

The 18 students are all in the second year of degree programs at Chubu University with a major English-language component. They arrived at UNE in February, and left at the end of last week after completing more than 300 hours of tuition at UNE’s English Language Centre and joining UNE undergraduates in a semester-long full academic unit of “Cross Cultural Communication Studies”.

During a farewell ceremony for them at UNE on Friday 11 June, Associate Professor Katsuko Matsubara, Assistant Director of Chubu University’s English Language and Literature Department, said that the students’ participation in an undergraduate course conducted in English was a unique feature of the program provided by UNE.

An important part of the students’ learning experience during the program is their time spent living in the homes of Armidale families, and Dr Matsubara said that their “homestay” experiences were among their most cherished memories of Armidale.

Mark Cooper, the Deputy Director of Studies at the English Language Centre, thanked all members of the “homestay” families (some of whom were present at the farewell function), as well as the Heads of the UNE residential colleges in which the students had gained on-campus living experience. He also thanked everyone else involved in the program – including the teachers, and the UNE students who had acted as “buddies” to the visitors.

Speaking on behalf of Chubu University, Dr Matsubara said: “We truly appreciate having this good relationship with UNE.” UNE’s Chief Development Officer, Mr Chris Patton, emphasised, in his turn, the importance to UNE of the relationship with Chubu University. As well as the annual visits of students for the English language program, the partnership includes various forms of staff and student exchange.

“I believe this experience will be good for our future,” said one of the departing students, after explaining how much they had all enjoyed their time in Armidale and at UNE.

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here expands to show (from left) Associate Professor Katsuko Matsubara, Chubu University students Akemi Hasegawa and Azusa Hasegawa, and Mr Mark Cooper.

The opening of an exhibition of school students’ art work in Armidale last Friday evening was the occasion for a community-wide celebration of emerging artistic talent in regional NSW.

The New England Regional Art Museum (NERAM) was crowded with family members, friends and teachers of the young artists, as well as people from throughout the local community – all admiring the 60 works on display in the “Let’s Hang It!” exhibition.

Those works were chosen from the 500 entries – from all over NSW – in the seventh annual University of New England Schools Acquisitive Art Prize (UNESAP) competition.

Speaking at last Friday’s opening, the Head of UNE’s School of Education, Professor Len Unsworth, praised the founder and director of the competition – his UNE colleague Dr Frances Alter – for initiating and developing what had become, he said, “one of the most important university-community events of the year”.

The Acting Director of NERAM, Dr Leigh Summers, said that the Museum’s staff and board of directors were “extraordinarily impressed” by the standard of the works in the exhibition. Young people’s art work “cheers” gallery directors and curators, she said, by reassuring them that “art really does exist”, and that its future is in good hands.

“If only I could paint like that!” said the artist Jonathon Larsen in his comments on the winning entry in the Infants category of the competition: “Playing Soccer” by Brooke Riggal, who is in Kindergarten at Martins Gully Public School. “I love the way Brooke uses oil pastel and watercolours to produce a vibrant action painting,” said Mr Larsen, who was the guest judge for this year’s competition.

Second place in the Infants category went to Riley Hayne, who is in Year 2 at Nemingha Public School, for a pencil drawing of Tamworth Post Office. “This is an inspired drawing of a local icon,” Mr Larsen said. “David Hockney’s efforts to distort perspective seem contrived in comparison. The drawing by Riley has an honesty and an immediacy not yet tainted by such artistic follies.”

Daniel Bodey from Wollongong won the Primary category with a pencil drawing of a horse’s head that Mr Larsen said was “a very expressive and confident drawing that would stand on its own anywhere”. Daniel is in Year 5 at Mount St Thomas Public School.

Maddison Boxsell (Year 3, St Joseph’s Catholic School, Uralla) was second in the Primary category. Junior Secondary: Jessica Graham (Year 8, Duval High School, Armidale) 1^st; Brad Burton (Year 8, Armidale High School) 2^nd. Senior Secondary: Anna Bruce (Year 11, NEGS, Armidale) 1^st; Annabelle Russ (Year 10, PLC Armidale) 2^nd. The “People’s Choice” prize went to Tara Riley, a Year 11 student at Armidale High School, and the “NERAM Director’s Choice” prize (awarded for the first time this year) went to Sophie Corbett, who is in Year 1 at Nemingha Public School.

The UNESAP competition (and associated “Let’s Hang It!” exhibition) is sponsored by UNE’s Faculty of The Professions, NERAM, and the art supply company S&S Creativity Unlimited. Professor Victor Minichiello, UNE Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of the Faculty of The Professions, said that it had been established in 2004 to support the teaching of visual arts in schools throughout regional NSW. “It’s clear there is a real depth of talent out there,” Professor Minichiello said after viewing the exhibition that will continue at NERAM until the 27^th of June.

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here, showing Tara Riley with her prize-winning work “Stay on Track”, expands to include Dr Frances Alter.

Edwina Ridgway’s outstanding service to the community is recognised by former students of the University of New England now living all over the world.

She’s been receiving messages of congratulation from many of them – from Australia and abroad – ever since the announcement yesterday of her inclusion in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours List. “The first one from overseas was from Paris,” she said. “They’ve all been such appreciatively warm messages.”

Mrs Ridgway, who has assisted the personal growth of almost 5,000 students within UNE’s residential system over the past 38 years, has been honoured with a Medal of the Order of Australia for her “service to the community – particularly through the University of New England”. “It’s a very humbling experience,” she said. “My first thought was: “Why me? I’ve just been doing all the things that I really love to do.”

Mrs Ridgway joined the staff of UNE’s Duval College in 1973, became the College’s Acting Principal in 1976, and Principal – a position she still holds – in 1978. She has also been Principal of Drummond & Smith College since 2000, and Head of the University’s Wright Village apartments since 2009.

“It’s very rewarding to be able to provide young people with a value-added experience of university life, and to see them going on to take up responsible positions both within their chosen professions and within the community,” she said. “They become like an extended family: there’s hardly a day goes by that I don’t get an e-mail from somewhere in the world with wedding photographs or photographs of the latest offspring.”

“I’ve been extremely fortunate,” Mrs Ridgway said. “It’s been an enormous privilege to spend this time working at UNE within its residential system – a unique college system that I believe will continue to enhance and contribute an aspect of personal development to students’ lives.”

In welcoming the news of Mrs Ridgway’s award, the Chancellor of UNE, Richard Torbay, said: “When I started work at the UNE Union in 1980 Edwina Ridgway was already an institution and a legend. This award is an appropriate acknowledgement of her many years of dedicated service, leadership and genuine care for students in the UNE college system, and for the University as a whole and the wider community.”

Mrs Ridgway served as President and Treasurer of the Australian Heads of Colleges and Halls Association from 1982 to 1989, and was the Association’s regional representative from 1978 to 1986. She also served as the elected General Staff Representative on the UNE Council from 1999 to 2002.

“It’s all been an extremely enriching experience – and so fulfilling,” she said. “That’s the real reward.”

Clicking on the image of the Medal of the Order of Australia displayed here reveals a photograph of Edwina Ridgway OAM.

Ask a farmer his opinion on the weather, and you’ll get a succinct answer. Ask his opinion on climate change … well, the answer is bound to be more complicated. That’s why an honours student at the University of New England is conducting a survey of Australian farmers and their perceptions of climate change, their attitudes to the environment, and their levels of trust in government.

Methuen Morgan – himself a beef producer on a property outside Armidale – is a fourth-year honours student in psychology at UNE, and for his thesis is attempting to develop cognitive profiles of Australian farmers. To do so, he has chosen to focus on farmers’ attitudes to climate change, which, he says, are not generally well understood.

“Farmers in this country are too often considered as climate change rednecks,” Mr Morgan said. “Yet many of them are engaging in climate change mitigating behaviours, and studies have shown that over the past 10 years primary industry has been the largest single sector of greenhouse gas reduction in Australia.

“By conducting this study, we’re hoping to develop profiles that could be used by policy makers to better understand and engage with farmers on important issues such as climate change.”

Mr Morgan is seeking about 500 participants for his survey, which takes 20-30 minutes and can be completed online. He said he had received an excellent response to the survey so far, but still needed many more participants.

“This is a chance for farmers to have their say on climate change, rather than people, governments and academia assuming they know what farmers are thinking,” he said. “As a farmer myself, I’m keen to see the horse put in front of the cart by asking farmers what they think about climate change before attempting to impose policy on them.”

To participate in the survey, which is completely anonymous, you must be 18 years of age or older, and should be an owner, co-owner or manager of a property/farm. To receive a copy of the survey, Mr Morgan can be e-mailed at mmorgan5@une.edu.au; alternatively, the survey can be completed online at http://unebcss.qualtrics.com/SE?SID=SV_720fKz3dTeK0IDO&SVID=.

Clicking on the image displayed here reveals a photograph of Methuen Morgan.