Archive for July, 2010

Dr Alessandra Bertini, Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Sydney, will officially open the 7^th Armidale International Film Festival.

The Institute is a sponsor of this year’s festival, which will run at the Belgrave Twin Cinema, Armidale, over the weekend of 6-8 August.

Dr Mario Inglese, a lecturer in Italian at UNE sponsored by the Italian Government, said that the Institute’s involvement in the film festival reflected Italy’s important contribution to the world of cinema, and the educational role of Italian films as a showcase of Italian language and culture. UNE has a strong and long-standing relationship with the Italian Government.

The festival will begin with the screening of the Italian film Pranzo di ferragosto (“Mid-August Lunch”) at 7.15 pm on Friday 6 August, after Dr Bertini’s opening talk at 7 pm. Pranzo di ferragosto is the winner of several international awards, including the Pasinetti “best film” award at the 2008 Venice Film Festival.

At 8.30 pm, after the screening of Pranzo di ferragosto, an “Italian wine reception”, with wine supplied by the Institute, will give ticket-holders a chance to savour tastes – as well as sights and sounds – of Italy. Finger food will also be served at the reception. The screening at 9.15 pm of El secreto de sus ojos (“The Secret in Their Eyes”) from Argentina, winner of this year’s Oscar for “best foreign language film”, will conclude the opening night of the festival.

The festival had its beginnings in 2004 as part of UNE’s 50^th anniversary celebrations, and is supported by the University’s School of Arts. Among other things, it celebrates – and fosters awareness of – the diversity of national cultures represented in the university city of Armidale.

The members of the organising committee are present and former staff members of UNE, as well as people from the wider Armidale community. The festival is held in close cooperation with Services UNE and the Belgrave Twin Cinema, and is also supported by ABC New England North West.

This year’s festival program comprises 13 recent, award-winning films from Italy, Argentina, Israel, Bulgaria, Germany, Turkey, the UK, Austria, Denmark, Japan, South Korea, France and Spain. They include Das weisse Band (“The White Ribbon”) from Austria, winner of the 2009 Palme d’Or at Cannes, Un prophète (“A Prophet”) from France, winner of the 2009 Cannes Grand Prix, and Madeo (“Mother) from South Korea, winner of the “best film” award at the 2010 Asian Film Awards.

For program and booking details, go to: www.belgravecinema.com.au.

Two young graduates in Theatre Studies from the University of New England are about to launch the first production of their newly-formed theatre company in Sydney.

Rachel Chant and Alanna Proud grew up in Armidale and met as Theatre Studies students at UNE. “Alanna and I began envisioning our own theatre company in 2006 when we met at UNE,” Rachel said, “and began putting things in place from early this year. We had a relatively small budget of $7,000, and we’ve already raised $4,000 of it through holding fundraisers in Sydney.”

The new company – Eclective Productions – is based in Sydney’s inner west, and its first production, Hybrid Dream, will be staged at PACT Theatre, Erskineville, from the 11^th to the 15^th of August.

“The creation of Eclective was driven by a need for artistic freedom, a hunger to perform with artists from different disciplines, and the intention of encouraging and consolidating a local, multidisciplinary artistic community,” Rachel said.

She describes Hybrid Dream as “a surreal re-imagining” of Strindberg’s influential A Dream Play (which is often regarded as a precursor of theatrical surrealism), using a “hybrid” mixture of new electronic media and live theatre, art and music. The audience is positioned in the centre of the theatre space, and is completely surrounded by the action of the performance. The staging of Hybrid Dream is the practical component of the Master’s program in Applied Theatre Studies that Rachel is undertaking through UNE.

“We began research for Hybrid Dream in March 2009 after realising the theatrical potential of Strindberg’s canonical text,” Rachel explained. “As Strindberg was writing (in 1901) for a theatre with technology that had not yet been invented, performances of the play never met his expectations. Now, with the possibilities that exist within “hybrid” theatre, we have the potential to produce a performance such as Strindberg might have envisioned.”

As it turns out, Hybrid Dream is largely an Armidale affair. “While all the roles in the production were open for application and audition, 13 of the 17 roles were filled by people from Armidale,” Rachel said. “These include the show’s directors, sound designer, lighting designer, new media artist, assistant stage manager, art department personnel – and three-quarters of the actors and musicians. Armidale (including its University) is such a hub of creativity.”

To book tickets for Hybrid Dream or make donations to Eclective Productions, go to the company’s Web site: www.eclectiveproductions.com

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here shows Rachel Chant working on the production of Hybrid Dream with Ben Horsley (left) and Joseph Dutaillis. All three come from Armidale.

Artificial intelligence experts at the University of New England are helping the Commonwealth Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry prepare for any potential outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in Australia.

The UNE team, led by Professor A.S.M. Sajeev, is updating the Department’s software model of the spread of such an outbreak. “While the existing model, developed some years ago, would be useful at a regional level,” Professor Sajeev said, “the new model -developed initially at CSIRO and now here at UNE – is designed to provide a national perspective. Modelling at the national level can capture the implications or regional differences in climate, environment and livestock practices. This is very important for a country such as Australia.”

FMD has never reached Australia, but a recent outbreak in Japan has highlighted the need to be prepared. Using an advanced computing technique called “massive agent-based modelling”, the UNE team has been able to create a model that takes account of the interactions of individual animals (the “agents”) with each other and with the environment.

“The model is designed to facilitate decision making and response strategies in the event of a disease outbreak,” Professor Sajeev explained. “It takes into account not only the movements of individual animals (as recorded by each animal’s Radio Frequency Identification tag) in transmitting the disease, but also indirect transmission pathways including movements of people, vehicles, and farm produce. In modelling wind-borne spread of the disease we’ve had to allow for the variability of wind speed, temperature and humidity.”

The other members of the UNE team are Dr Paul Kwan, Mitchell Welch, Dr Mark Evered, Professor Graham Leedham, and Dr Ashoka Jayawardena.

The first phase of the project, the prototype of which is now complete, focuses on the spread of the disease up to the point of detection (the “silent spread” phase, during which there are no control measures). The model produces a variety of graphs, tables and maps predicting the number of animals affected, the stages of the disease in each animal, and the pattern of transmission and spread of the disease from day to day.

“The Department contacted our group here at UNE because of our expertise in the fields of biosecurity, software engineering and artificial intelligence, and our involvement in the Australian Biosecurity Intelligence Network,” Professor Sajeev said.

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here shows Mitchell Welch, a PhD student  in UNE’s School of Science and Technology who, as a Research Assistant on the project, has done most of the programming. It expands to include Professor Sajeev and Dr Paul Kwan.

Libby Magann, who coached and captained the winning team in a national water polo tournament at Albury earlier this year, is preparing to travel to Hawaii to compete in next month’s 42^nd Annual Hawaiian Invitational Water Polo Tournament.

At Albury, Libby’s NSW Country water polo team was unbeaten throughout the Australian Country Water Polo Championships, defeating the Australian Defence Force team 14-6 in the final.

Libby, who works at the University of New England, has received sponsorship from Sport UNE and Armidale Dumaresq Council to help her compete in the Hawaiian tournament as a member of the Australian Country team. “I’m excited to be representing Australia in the Country team for the seventh year altogether, and for the third year in Hawaii,” she said.

The Hawaiian Invitational Tournament, from the 9^th to the 15^th of August, is the world’s largest and longest-running international invitational water polo tournament, with more than 100 teams from around the world competing – including some of the strongest college teams from the United States.

A graduate in Applied Science, Libby moved from the Central Coast to Armidale a year ago to take up a position as Research Support Officer at UNE. “This is the 19^th year that I’ve been playing water polo,” she said, “after starting when I was at school in Tamworth. Through water polo I’ve made so many friends – in all States, and overseas. The camaraderie with your team-mates develops into life-long friendships.”

She played National League water polo for Sydney University and the Hunter Hurricanes for three years from 2003 to 2005. Then, in 2007-08, she was in Hungary playing professionally for a team in the small town of Szentes. “It was a fantastic opportunity,” she said, “which provided me with experience I can use in coaching younger players.”

This is the third year that she has coached a NSW Country team that has won the Australian Country Championships, and it’s as a coach that she’s hoping to continue in water polo. “I find it satisfying to experience the enthusiasm of younger players,” she said, “and to hear what they’ve got to say.”

“I love anything to do with exercise and fitness,” said Libby, whose regular swimming, running, and gym training in preparation for the tournament in Hawaii has been keeping her fit through the winter.

She’s looking forward to the challenges of Hawaii. “It’s another great opportunity to connect with world-class international athletes and make new friendships within the Australian Country team,” she said. “As we’ve barely played together so far, we’ll need to come together as a team to be competitive – especially against the experienced American teams.

“I really enjoy playing at the university pools in Hawaii: in particular, there’s one on a hill overlooking the reef off Waikiki – an unbelievable sight as you’re jumping into the pool.”

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here expands to show Libby Magann at Sport UNE.

Students living at the University of New England’s Robb College will be raising funds for Angel Flight during the College’s annual Project Week from the 26^th of July to the 1^st of August. Throughout the week, the fund-raising students will be seen in and around Armidale wearing doctors’ lab coats and brightly coloured helicopter hats.

Robb College has been conducting its annual Project Week fund-raising activities for many years, choosing a different charity each year. Angel Flight co-ordinates non-emergency flights for financially disadvantaged people living in rural and regional areas who require specialist medical treatment in capital cities. This service – right across Australia – is provided by pilots who donate their planes and their time. Angel Flight relies solely on fund-raising and donations to fund its work.

“The money raised will go straight to the organisation to buy fuel for the ‘angel flights’ and to discount commercial flights,” said Robb College’s Project Officer, Lauren Burke.

“The students will be raising money through donations, and will be selling tickets all week for a raffle with prizes donated by local Armidale businesses,” Lauren said. “On Friday the 30^th of August they will be going around Armidale in wheelchairs, promoting the good work that Angel Flight does and raising money for the cause. They will be seen at the Grand Hotel at lunchtime and the Wicklow Hotel at 4:30 pm. They will also be conducting a barbecue outside Tattersalls Hotel at lunchtime on Friday.

“On Sunday they will be having a golf day at the Armidale Golf Club, which costs $20 to participate. Members of the public are most welcome to come and enjoy a brilliant day out, while contributing to the services that Angel Flight provides.”

“Angel Flight has strong connections with the New England region, helping many local families,” Lauren explained. “As Robb College accommodates many rural and regional students, we are proud to be supporting this worthy charity that helps rural families gain access to the medical attention they require.”

Anyone who wishes to support the Robb College students in raising money for Angel Flight can visit the Robb College office, or contact the office on (02) 6773 1700.

Clicking on the image displayed here reveals a photograph of Robb College students preparing for Project Week. They are (from left) Holly Ebbeck, Abbi Pratten, Matt Warne, Flora MacSmith, Camilla Bailey, and Phoebe Garling.

Students living at the University of New England’s Drummond & Smith College will be raising money for homeless children by holding a vintage clothing sale at the College this Saturday, the 24^th of July.

All the proceeds of the sale will go to Our Home – a permanent home for orphans and homeless children in the southern Indian State of Kerala.

Our Home shelters, educates and cares for a community of more than 40 children. The Our Home Charitable Trust also provides primary education for 200 local children who, in many cases, would not otherwise be able to afford to attend school. Working with the local community, the Trust aims to ensure that no child is denied the right to an education, adequate shelter, a nutritious diet, and loving care.

“We’re hoping the people of Armidale and surrounding areas will support this worthy cause,” said Jacquie Cope-Williams, the Our Home charity coordinator at Drummond & Smith College.

The vintage clothing sale will begin at 11 am and continue until 3 pm. “As well as vintage clothing bargains, there will be a silent auction (with some wonderful goods donated by local retailers), live music, and a sausage sizzle,” Ms Cope-Williams said. “If people have a donation for the silent auction, or clothing they’d like to donate for the vintage clothing sale, they can contact me on 0424 561 137.”

Drummond & Smith College is at the corner of Elm Avenue and Handel Street, Armidale.

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here, of Lachlan Brown preparing for the vintage clothing sale, expands to include (from left) Jacquie Cope-Williams, Daniel Hill, Emma Chapman, Trish Dutta and Holly Bartlett.

A trans-Tasman symposium at the University of New England last Thursday reviewed the current applications and future potential of new communications and remote sensing technology in helping graziers manage their livestock.

Dr Mark Trotter (pictured here), the organiser of the symposium – the 1^st Australian and New Zealand Spatially Enabled Livestock Management Symposium – used a hypothetical scenario to give an idea of that potential. “A grazier is alerted by SMS on his mobile phone,” Dr Trotter began. “One of his cows is roaming on a neighbouring property. A second SMS message informs him that another of his cows is down and having difficulty calving – time to call the vet. At breakfast the next day he uses his laptop computer to check on the grazing pressure in his top paddock. This herd doesn’t seem to be using much of the good feed in the north-west corner, so his first job of the day is to drop out some salt licks to attract them to the under-grazed area.”

“Does it all sound futuristic?” he asked. “This technology exists.”

Speakers at the symposium, sponsored by the CRC for Spatial Information and Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA), outlined the state of the art in the application of a range of remote sensing technologies (GPS, sensor networks, virtual fencing and other autonomous monitoring systems) in livestock management. They reported on research in progress, identified opportunities for future research, and opened communication between researchers, technology developers, funding bodies and producers.

Dr Trotter, from UNE’s Precision Agriculture Research Group and the CRC for Spatial Information, said that the participants – about 50 people from around Australia and from New Zealand – had discussed current and future work involving technologies for spatial tracking of livestock and dynamic monitoring of the grazing environment.  “A coordinated approach to research and development will help ensure we get practical outcomes for our livestock industries,” he said. “The interest in GPS-based monitoring of livestock and their environment has exploded in the past few years. We’re now seeing commercial monitoring technology being developed for producers. The developers need to know what the industry really needs, and the industry needs to be ready for it.”

One such development is a low-cost, radio-operated monitoring system for cattle. The small device, clipped on to a cow’s ear, can keep track of the animal’s location for three years. “It’s a simple, low-cost communications device,” said Chris Andrews from Taggle Systems Pty Ltd. Reporting to the symposium on the company’s development of the device, Mr Andrews said it had reached the commercialisation phase. The company hoped that, after the completion of current trials, the device would be commercially available early next year, he said.

Dr David Swain, a Senior Research Fellow from Central Queensland University (CQU) and a leading figure in the field of precision livestock, said that the next development phase in remote tracking would see an increasing emphasis on radio technologies.

Toby Patterson from CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research presented the Keynote Address, titled “The state of the art in movement and behavioural modelling in ecology”. Other symposium speakers included UNE’s Professor David Lamb (“Active optical sensors for grazing systems research”), Rod Dyer, Manager of MLA’s Northern Beef program (“The business case for investment in development of precision livestock management technologies and applications”), and Dr Rebecca Handcock from CSIRO Livestock Industries (“Linking GPS and satellite remote sensing to monitor animal behaviour and environmental interactions”).

The paper presented by Dr Handcock reported on a study combining the use of GPS collars and satellite images in a wireless sensor network to monitor behaviour (for example, maternal behaviour) in cattle as an aid to management.

More information, and copies of the symposium proceedings and podcasts of the presentations, are available from the Web site of UNE’s Precision Agriculture Research Group: www.une.edu.au/parg.

THE PHOTOGRAPH of Dr Mark Trotter dispalyed here expands to include Dr David Swain (centre) and Rod Dyer.

More than 20 students preparing for tertiary study met at the University of New England last Friday to share their enthusiasm for science and their interest in the contribution of science to agricultural industries.

For many of the students it was a reunion with fellow recipients of a scholarship that – last January – took them on informative visits to industry sites and agricultural research laboratories, and enabled them to work with scientists on individual research projects. For others – applicants for the next round of scholarships – it was a chance to meet former scholarship recipients and get a taste of what they could experience in January 2011.

The Industry Placement Scholarship program is administered by the national Primary Industries Centre for Science Education (PICSE), which has its NSW activity centre at UNE. Targeting talented science students who are about to embark on university studies, the program aims to inform the students about the wide range of scientific careers available in local primary industries.

The participants in last Friday’s reunion event travelled to UNE from throughout the New England North West region. Caitlin Berecry, a Year 12 student at Calrossy Anglican School in Tamworth who took part in this year’s summer scholarship program, said that she would “highly recommend” it for students interested in a scientific career. “It really gave me an idea of what I want to do,” she said. “I learnt a lot, and it was good to get a scientific-career-oriented perspective on local industries.”

Caitlin’s industry placement allowed her to spend five days at the Animal Genetics and Breeding Unit on the UNE campus, investigating factors related to fertility in animal breeding. At this stage, she’s thinking of doing a Rural Science degree at UNE after taking a break from study in a gap year.

Kellie Smith, who is in Year 12 at McCarthy Catholic College in Tamworth, did her industry placement at Tamworth’s Joe White Malting, investigating the effects of different varieties of barley on the malting process. Among other things, she said, working on the project had helped her with her HSC Biology and Agriculture studies. And the industry visits had, she added, introduced her to so much about “science in industry” that she hadn’t known before.

Susanna Greig, the UNE-based Science Education Officer for the NSW PICSE program, said that the students taking part in Friday’s event had been “challenged to solve problems using the tools of engineers and surveyors”, had “investigated UNE’s new micro-CT scanning facility”, and had “learnt about a range of postgraduate research projects undertaken at UNE”. They had also met former PICSE scholarship recipients who were now studying at UNE, she said.

“PICSE is a national organisation with six activity centres around Australia,” Ms Greig explained. “A bonus for teachers and students involved in the program is that we can offer them travelling scholarships so that they can see science working in industry – providing insights into career opportunities – beyond their own backyards. Between the 26^th and 28^th of July, students from across Australia who have completed PICSE Industry Placement Scholarship activities will be travelling to Canberra to tell industry leaders and politicians about the impact that their scholarship experience has had on them.”

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here shows Kellie Smith (left) and Caitlin Berecry at UNE on Friday.

An international meeting of botanists at the University of New England earlier this month represented a significant step towards maintaining Australia’s plant diversity through a period of climate change.

Ten botanists from universities and herbaria throughout Australia and from South Africa and Spain met for the four-day Sprouting Behaviour Workshop organised through the ARC-NZ Research Network for Vegetation Function.

“This was the first international meeting that has brought together leaders in sprouting behaviour,” said the convener of the workshop, UNE’s Associate Professor Peter Clarke. “Our aim was to develop new perspectives on the way plants resprout – a major challenge for plant biologists addressing the threats of climate change.”

“Resprouting allows plants – unlike animals – to persist through an ecological disturbance such as a bushfire,” explained Professor Jeremy Midgley, Head of the Botany Department at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. “It’s important for us to find out how they do it.

“Resprouting has been largely neglected by scientists, who have focused on plant propagation through seedlings.”

“We talked about Australian trees’ unique resilience in the aftermath of a bushfire,” Professor Midgley said. “In Australia – and in Europe – fire is the dominant environmental factor that promotes resprouting, but this is not the case in South Africa.”

One of the implications of climate change that the botanists discussed was that increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could make “resprouters” more vigorous – altering the balance between such plants and the “seeders”. This has important implications for environmental management. “Through reviewing and collating the available information on resprouting, our group will have an influence on such management in the future,” Dr Clarke said.

Supported by the Australian Research Council (ARC) and Landcare Research NZ, the Network for Vegetation Function organised the first Sprouting Behaviour Workshop at the 2009 International Ecological Conference in Brisbane. This month’s meeting at UNE was the second of the workshops.

Clicking on the image of resprouting displayed here reveals a photograph of (from left) Dr Fernando Ojeda (University of Cadiz, Spain), Professor Jeremy Midgley (University of Cape Town, South Africa), and Associate Professor Peter Clarke (UNE) taken during the Resprouting Behaviour Workshop.

Anne-Sophie Corallo, who studied at the University of New England throughout 2008 under an exchange agreement between UNE and Jean Monnet University (UJM) in Saint-Etienne, France, has just successfully submitted her Master’s thesis on female convicts in Australia.

Anne-Sophie (pictured here) is one of many third-year undergraduate students from UJM, two other universities in France and one in Canada who have spent one or two semesters at UNE under an agreement set up and administered by the former Chair of French at UNE, Emeritus Professor Chris Gossip.

UNE’s Dr Jane Southwood, who taught Anne-Sophie in 2008, met up with her in Saint-Etienne last month during a visit to France to present a paper at an international conference on the novelist Marguerite Yourcenar. “We discussed the value of her UNE study and experiences in 2008,” Dr Southwood said, “and her trip to Tasmania, where her imagination was fired to do a Master’s project on female convicts – which she did on her return to France.”

At UJM, Dr Southwood discussed the exchange program – and its further development – with Dr Béatrice Bijon, who is responsible for the partnership at the Saint-Etienne end.

“Dr Bijon said that those who return to Saint-Etienne are inspired by their time at UNE and frequently choose to write their Master’s thesis on an Australian topic,” Dr Southwood said. “As well as Anne-Sophie’s thesis on female convicts in Australia, she mentioned Marion Garde’s thesis on David Malouf’s Remembering Babylon, Mylène François’s on Tara June Winch’s Swallow the Air, and Sylviane Brossat’s on Gwen Harwood’s poetry.

“Dr Bijon also recalled former UJM student Thibaut Recorbet, who remained at UNE, where I supervised his Honours dissertation on the 1800-1804 French voyage of exploration to Australia  under the command of Post-Captain Nicolas Baudin. Thibaut has since expressed his intention to continue as a doctoral student at UNE.”

Last semester, four students from UJM and one from the University of Angers were studying at UNE under the exchange program; another four students from Angers are due to start classes at UNE next week. On the other side of the exchange, three UNE students spent Semester 1 at the University of Angers (two of whom are staying on for Semester 2) and three at UJM. They will be joined by one more UNE student at each of the two universities.

As well as doing units in other disciplines, such as English, communication studies, sociology, politics, history, linguistics and Asian and European languages, the students from Saint-Etienne and Angers are enrolled in UNE’s advanced translation units in French – units that expose them to a wide variety of texts, including extracts from Australian literature and the Australian press. This complements their study in other disciplines.

Dr Bijon visited UNE in October 2006, and again in March 2009, when she taught with Dr Southwood in the advanced translation unit and conducted research in the discipline of English. She intends to return to Australia in February 2011 to work on the links between British and Australian suffragettes, and to spend several weeks at UNE.

THE PHOTOGRAPH (by Jane Southwood) displayed here shows Anne-Sophie Corallo at Jean Monnet University.