Archive for September, 2011

Researchers and human rights advocates meeting at the University of New England have pledged their support for replacing mandatory detention with the processing of asylum seekers within the Australian community.

Their resolution to this effect was an outcome of the international conference “Regional Responses to Labour Trafficking and Refugee Movements in Asia-Pacific” held at UNE on Monday 26 and Tuesday 27 September.

“This year marks the 60^th anniversary of the landmark 1951 UN Convention on the Status of Refugees, defining their rights and States’ legal obligations to protect them,” said UNE’s Professor Amarjit Kaur (pictured here), the co-convener of the conference (along with Professor Ian Metcalfe). She said the conference resolution called for “the processing of asylum seekers in the community to replace mandatory detention in accordance with the Government’s ‘Detention Values Statement’ and in compliance with Australia’s obligations to international human rights conventions”.

“The general feeling among the participants was that the current approach of both of Australia’s major political parties – which relies on prolonged detention of many asylum seekers and ad hoc schemes for off-shore processing – is inhumane, counterproductive, massively wasteful of resources, and a violation of Australia’s responsibilities under international law,” Professor Kaur said.

A major focus of the conference was a comparison of the immigration policies of countries in the Asia-Pacific region over time, and an investigation of the causes and effects of immigration policies and their implementation.

Sharuna Verghis from Health Equity Initiatives, Malaysia, discussed the health-related vulnerability of migrant workers, refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia – a country, she said, with “a conspicuous lack of a comprehensive and coherent migration policy”. Robin Jones from UNE reported on the plight of the minority Karenni people from Burma who have fled persecution to arrive at refugee camps over the border in Thailand. Dr Jones, who spoke from her first-hand experience with the Jesuit Refugee Service, talked about “the general hopelessness that pervades camp life” and “the children’s behaviour – which demonstrates their emotional state and suffering”.

UNE’s Professor Helen Ware spoke about the experiences of Sudanese refugees coming to rural and regional Australia, while Judith Roberts from Northern Settlement Services and Kim Hastings from Regional Development Australia – Northern Inland focused on the New England region in discussing patterns of settlement under the Federal Government’s Settlement Grants Program.

On the subject of labour trafficking, Professor Kaur explained how government policies relating to migrant workers in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand had weakened the legal status of those workers – increasing their vulnerability to labour trafficking and people smuggling. Sister Margaret Ng from the Josephite Counter-Trafficking Project looked at trafficking in Australia, the Australian Government’s approach to trafficking and response to trafficked people, and the impact of trafficking on its survivors.

Other key speakers included Pamela Curr from the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre in Melbourne,  Professor Tessa Morris-Suzuki from the Australian National University (who focused on the situation in North-east Asia) and  Professor Farida Fozdar  from the University of Western Australia. Myat Mon from Thailand’s Assumption University described the situation of Burmese migrant workers and refugees in Thailand.  Four UNE PhD students presented papers on migrant workers and labour trafficking in Australia  (Melinda Sutherland), South Asia (Zahid Shahab Ahmed), Indonesia (Cakti Gunawan) and Macau (Pao Sio Iu), while Dr Zifirdaus Adnan (UNE) compared the labour-export policies of Indonesia and the Philippines. Dr Saroja Khrishnasawamy (Hunter New England Health and UNE) discussed mental health issues in refugee camps in Sri Lanka.

Do you speak a language other than English? Do you have an Indigenous background?   If you answered “yes” to one or both of these, and if you also have a good command of English and enjoy working with children, you may be interested in attending an information session at the University of New England next Wednesday about part-time work opportunities in the Australian Government’s Bicultural Support Program.

The Bicultural Support Program is run by Ethnic Child Care Family & Community Services Co-operative for Children’s Services Central (funded by the Australian Government under the Inclusion and Professional Support Program). It aims to provide additional resources to eligible children’s services to assist with the inclusion of children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds (CALD), refugee and Indigenous children by offering time-limited support from either bicultural support workers or bicultural support consultants.

The session will be presented by Ms Meni Tsambouniaris, coordinator of the Bicultural Support Program. It has been organised in conjunction with the BSP by a team comprising Lesley Nies of UNE International, Dr Liz Ellis of Linguistics, and Marg Hogan of NSW North Inclusion Support Agency, as part of an initiative to link the resources of UNE with those of the New England community.

Ms Tsambouniaris said, “We are always looking to recruit potential bicultural support workers and bicultural support consultants  and promote the program across the state, and look forward to providing information to interested people in your region.”

Dr Ellis said, “The program is open to any eligible member of the community, but we think this could be a particularly good opportunity for our international and Indigenous students to become involved with the local community and do some meaningful part-time work while they study.”

Part of the process of applying for the above positions requires a Working with Children Check.  The Employment Screening Unit of the NSW Government Education & Training carries out this check.  This check can only be done if you have been living in Australia for at least 12 months. Ms Tsambouniaris said applicants should be aware of this if they were considering applying for these positions.

The information session will take place at UNE’s Lewis Lecture Theatre (C028) on Wednesday, October 5, at 11:30 AM. Visitor parking is available in the Northern Carpark off Clarks Rd, and a campus map is available at http://www.une.edu.au/about/une/campus.php.

For further information, contact Lesley Nies at lnies2@une.edu.au.

A team of eighty-one students will represent the University of New England at the Australian University Games on the Gold Coast from September 25 to September 30.

UNE’s performance at the Northern University Games in July has seen many teams progress to the Australian University Games.

UNE won the Population Cup at the Northern University Games, awarded to the team who achieves the best results per capita.

Students from UNE will participate in athletics, mixed beach volleyball, men’s hockey, women’s soccer, women’s netball, taekwondo, women’s tennis and men’s and women’s water polo.

“I expect our women’s soccer team to perform quite well, and I’m hoping our taekwondo competitor, Alex Badoui, may be a dark horse,” said UNE Team Manager, Bradley King. “Emma Gillogly has a chance of a medal in the women’s heptathlon after coming fourth at last year’s Australian University Games.”

Team captains are Wayne Dillon who will be playing water polo and Jekka Lloyd who will represent UNE in netball.

The Australian University Games is  the largest annual multi-sport event in Australia and provides student athletes from across Australia a friendly and competitive environment to excel in sport and compete at an elite level.

The event has a strong focus on developing relationships between students from universities around Australia so is a great avenue to develop cross-university relations.

“Competing in the University Games has been one of my favourite experiences of university”, said UNE competitor, Emma Gillogly “I’ve made so many friends through getting involved in The Games, with athletes from UNE but also from universities across Australia.”

Professor John Geake’s family, friends and colleagues gathered at the University of New England last week to celebrate his outstanding life and legacy. John, who was Professor of Education – Learning and Teaching in UNE’s Faculty of The Professions, has been described as “one of the very few absolute best in his field, who was held in the highest respect because of his wisdom”. He died, aged 62, on the 8^th of September 2011.

John Geake received an Honours degree in Physics from the University of NSW, where he was President of the Students’ Union, an A.Mus.A. from the Australian Music Examinations Board with the flute, a Diploma of Education, a Master’s degree (with First-Class Honours) in Education, and a science PhD.

His passion for education led him from university to teach at the Sydney International Independent School, then on to Currumbena, an independent progressive school at Lane Cove.

John joined the hundreds of bright, energetic and progressive young dreamers who went to the Nimbin Aquarius Festival in 1973. In company with friends, he bought the “Paradise Valley” property just out of town, and was the first of the original communards to relocate from Sydney. First he built a communal space, then his own house. “He was a genius,” said fellow communard and long-time friend Dr Harry Freeman of Lismore. “There didn’t seem to be anything he couldn’t do.”

Turning his attention to the wider community, John teamed up with teacher Dorothy Smith to open the Nimbin Community School, where he taught maths and science.

In the early 1980s John exchanged the hippy mantle for more academic robes and left Nimbin to pursue his own studies, learning to play the flute to concert standard in just two years while gaining further degrees in science, mathematics and education. He performed at many classical concerts in Nimbin, which helped raise funds for the grand piano in the School of Arts.

By the late 1980s John was the Conservatorium director at Lismore and a college lecturer at the University of New England (Northern Rivers). Developing an interest – among his many passions in the sciences – for the teaching of gifted children, he taught at the new Southern Cross University in Lismore, and at the University of Melbourne, where he was a tenured Senior Lecturer. In 2002 he received an Eminent Gifted Educator award from the Australian Association for the Gifted and Talented.

He accepted the position of Professor of Education at Oxford Brookes University and lived for eight years in the UK, returning to Australia to take up his post at UNE in 2008. While in Oxford he conducted neuroscientific research into high intelligence and creativity at the University of Oxford’s Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain, Department of Clinical Neurology, John Radcliffe Hospital. He co-founded the Oxford Cognitive Neuroscience-Education Forum, and was adviser to the House of Lords All Party Group on the Future of Science & ICT Research for Education.

Professor Geake published more than 60 articles, book chapters and books on a wide range of educational issues, in addition to being a popular keynote speaker at international conferences. His latest publication was his book The Brain at School.

He is survived by his wife Ann, his sister Helen, children Sally and Jonah, stepchildren Paul and Hollie, and grandchildren Tom and Sophie.

Jennifer Star, a postgraduate Education student at UNE, was chosen to represent the entire Oceanic region in the lighting of the cauldron at the 26^th Summer Universiade in Shenzhen, China.

Jennifer was one of the five international athletes, representing more than 8,000 competitors from 152 countries, who lit the cauldron during the Universiade’s opening ceremony last month.

The Universiade, an international university sporting competition held every second year, is second only to the Olympics as the largest multi-sport competition in the world. Its aim is to promote peace and cultural exchange among the world’s youth through sport – an aim that Jennifer Star shares, having moved to India in 2009 to develop her charity Tara.Ed.

Tara.Ed works to improve cultural links between Australian and Indian schools, to offer practical training for Indian and Australian teachers, and to provide resources to rural schools in India.

Jennifer decided to develop skills for her work with this Non-Government Organisation by studying for a Graduate Diploma of Education at the University of New England by distance education. “I’ m always travelling, and I needed a university that was flexible and suited my travel,” she said. “UNE is well known for its distance education, so it was a natural choice.”

“When I moved to India, I thought that I’d have to let go of judo,” she said. “It took me four months to realise that I couldn’t possibly survive without it. I ended up with the Karnataka State Men’s Military team. In Australia, an elite athlete has a team: a coach, a physio, training partners, a sports psychologist and training facilities. In India, it was just me.”

Some of her challenges included dietary deficiencies, power cuts, heat, and lack of resources – especially for women. “I didn’t just have to fight on the mat; I had to fight stereotypes, injuries, facilities, and motivation,” she said. “But somehow I actually made it, and I was a better athlete at the end of it.”

She believes that “sport is all about the journey – not the destination”. “If you focus on getting it right in training, you’ll get it right in competition,” she said. “So make every session count. There are times when it all comes crashing down, but I have a great network of people who support me in my various roles and work really hard to make the way easier for me. It’s not hard to excel when you’ve got people cheering you on from the sidelines.”

Jennifer Star (pictured here competing in the Shenzhen Universiade) has been competing in judo for 16 years, and in international competition for seven. Her achievements include gaining bronze in the 2005 Youth Olympics and coming ninth in the 2009 Universaide in Belgrade.

“I still have a lot to do both in Judo and with Tara.Ed,” she said. “I’m just incredibly lucky that I have the opportunity to pursue the things I love.”

Educators from Australia and abroad are meeting at the University of New England this week to discuss new insights into the way language works within society, and the implications of those insights for the classroom.

For example, Dr Sally Humphrey (pictured here) from the Australian Catholic University is presenting a paper comparing the forms of expression – often quite passionate – used by teenage social activists in persuading audiences in the wider community, with the more academic conventions of argument and persuasion expected of them in the classroom. “Teachers need to be aware of that difference,” she said, “and perhaps encourage a bit more passion in the classroom.”

“Some of the most exciting discoveries occur at the interface between disciplines,” said the Vice-Chancellor of UNE, Professor Jim Barber, in officially opening this year’s national conference of the Australian Systemic Functional Linguistics Association (ASFLA). “This relatively new field is at the interface of disciplines spanning the humanities and the social sciences.”

The ASFLA President, Associate Professor Rosemary Huisman from the University of Sydney, explained that, while Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) was centred on the discipline of linguistics itself, it provided a framework for language to be studied within its “social contexts”.

The title of this year’s conference is “Language, knowledge & justice: new contexts, new questions”. “The conference themes – language, knowledge and justice – emerge from continuing and new research in SFL,” Dr Huisman said. “In the ‘justice’ theme, for example, we recognise important new work in youth conferencing, legal processes, and literacy research addressing inequities in education.” Dr Huisman’s own contribution to the conference is a paper (in collaboration with Professor Tony Blackshield from Macquarie University) analysing the language of a series of legal judgments between 1929 and 1987.

A paper by UNE’s Professor Len Unsworth draws on SFL-related research into the relationship between language and images in the education of young children. Professor Unsworth is leading a three-year project, funded by the Australian Government, exploring methods of teaching young students how to author their own digitally-animated stories. His conference paper discusses the use of multimedia publications such as the award-winning children’s book and animated film The Lost Thing, by Shaun Tan, in helping students to develop a strong narrative technique.

UNE’s Diane Hansford, co-convener of this year’s conference with her colleague Associate Professor Mary Macken-Horarik, said it was exciting to have key people in the SFL field meeting at UNE and sharing their ideas. “It’s stimulating positive dialogue,” she said. “We’re coming together to push our work – across disciplines – in new directions.”

Among the other invited speakers are Jim Martin, Professor of Linguistics at the University of Sydney, Andres Ramirez, Assistant Professor in the Educational Studies Department at Rhode Island College in the United States, and Dr Karl Maton from the University of Sydney, well-known for his innovative work in the sociology of education.

A new course at the University of New England is giving students experience in the training of dogs used in a variety of working contexts.

A residential school at UNE last week for those undertaking the course by distance education had the students working with beagles in training routines for quarantine detector dogs (as pictured here), and seeing demonstrations by dogs trained to detect termites in buildings.

“It was the best residential school ever,” said one of the students, Kelly Walton from Sydney. “I’ve always loved animals, and have had dogs since I was nine.”

Kelly, who is studying for a Bachelor of Science degree majoring in Zoology, interrupted a career in television production to follow her interest in animals. She and her fellow students agreed that the new unit – “Working Canines” – was opening up new options for careers with animals. “I’d really like to work in animal welfare one day,” Kelly said.

The “Working Canines” unit is part of the Bachelor of Animal Science degree program introduced at UNE this year, and it is also available – as an elective unit – to students in related degree programs. The Bachelor of Animal Science program has three specialist majors: Livestock Production, Wildlife Management, and Canine and Equine Science, with the Canine and Equine Science major being the first of its kind in Australia.

Geoffrey O’Neil, the quarantine dog handler who conducted the detector dog training sessions, said: “We’re putting what the students are learning into a real operational context, and giving them some ideas about employment opportunities.” It was Mr O’Neil’s wife, Alix O’Neil, who demonstrated termite detection with her own Labradors that travelled with them from Sydney.

“These students will be well prepared for employment,” Mr O’Neil said, “and the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service, for example, could potentially recruit graduates who have already done a lot of the training the Service would otherwise have had to put them through.”

During the four-day residential school, the students also travelled to a farm to see a sheep dog demonstration, to the Armidale Greyhound Racing Club to see racing greyhounds in training, practised obedience training with dogs of mixed breeds, and saw a sled dog demonstration by Neen Brown – a local woman who is the only Australian ever to have entered the Ititarod event in Alaska.

“There’s a wide range of uses for detector dogs,” said Dr Wendy Brown, the UNE Senior Lecturer who coordinates the Canine and Equine major of the Bachelor of Animal Science degree program, “and it’s expanding. There’s a big demand for expert dog handlers in customs, military, police and corrective services, and attention is now turning to the use of dogs in fields such as wildlife conservation and cancer detection. There’s actually a world-wide shortage of detector dogs, so there will definitely be a role for our graduates in the future.

“We’ve had positive feedback from people in the relevant industries, and they’re keen to employ people with this kind of training – training that hasn’t been available at tertiary level until the introduction of this course.”

A series of regional community workshops held around northern NSW in July and August has revealed the strong potential within those communities for the development of an “innovation culture” that leads to action.

Some of the ideas for innovation that emerged from the workshops involve linking with the National Broadband Network to develop business opportunities, capturing opportunities arising from mining activity, developing a regional approach to waste management, and developing and promoting “cultural hubs” with a focus on the music and creative arts strengths of the region – particularly Armidale and Tamworth. They address issues such as the engagement of the young, the ageing, and the Indigenous members of regional communities.

The workshops were held in Armidale, Tamworth, Moree, Narrabri and Bingara, with more than 90 people attending across the region. “Most of the ideas are strongly associated with specific places, but similar ideas emerged in places/communities right across the region,” said the leader of the “Unison” project, Dr Philip Thomas from the University of New England. “A common theme is that of taking advantage of particular local strengths – and even turning perceived ‘problems’ into opportunities – ‘reframing’, if you like. Basically it’s about identifying assets and building on them through ideas that lead to action.

“As an example of this, the workshop participants discussed the opportunities that will arise from increased mining activity, and ways of meeting any associated social challenges in order to prosper from the economic benefits. It’s a matter of getting the mix right to ensure a sustainable future.”

Dr Thomas, a Principal Research Fellow in Innovation within UNE’s School of Business, Economics and Public Policy, is the leader of the “Unison” project, which is funded by the NSW Department of Industry, Innovation and Investment (II&I). “Our aim is to draw innovative ideas from the wealth of knowledge and experience within communities, and to see how UNE might be able to assist in developing those ideas into action,” he said.

The project is also supported by the Cotton Communities Cooperative Research Centre, Tamworth Regional Development Corporation, and Armidale Chamber of Commerce.

Last week Dr Thomas and Professor Ted Alter from Penn State University (PSU) in the United States presented a report on the workshops to an audience of Government and community representatives at the MLC Centre in Martin Place, Sydney. Professor Alter and his PSU colleague Dr Michael Fortunato travelled to UNE to assist in the workshops as part of a collaborative program of research projects involving innovation and engaged scholarship within the newly-formed Ideas to Action Centre, based at UNE.

“With the fieldwork component of our project now completed, the debriefing session was held to share our results and insights with the Department and other interested people,” Dr Thomas said. “As a result, they recognised the ‘Unison’ project as a good example of the community engagement work possible through collaborations involving II&I and UNE.

“The final meeting under the current project is planned for early October and is likely to be held in Bingara. The aim is to identify ideas and opportunities for innovation that have potential – and particularly those that are relevant to communities across the region. The meeting will also explore the potential for creating a structure and process around the innovation network that has now formed, and discuss what is needed to support this community-based initiative.”

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here shows Dr Michael Fortunato from Penn State University (left) with UNE’s Dr Philip Thomas at one of the workshops.

Chief Justice Robert French will discuss the topic of “statutory interpretation and parliamentary intention” in a public lecture at the University of New England next Friday, September 23 at 5 pm at the Lecture Theatre 4 (EBL Building, next to the Law Library).

The Frank Kitto lecture is the annual lecture of the Law School and its main academic event of the year. The lecture is public and open to anyone who is interested. The Law School would particularly invite practitioners from the broader region to come and see the Chief Justice and the Law School.

Robert Shenton French was appointed Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia in September 2008. At the time of his appointment he was a judge of the Federal Court of Australia, having been appointed to that office in November 1986.

He graduated from the University of Western Australia in science and law. He was admitted to practice in 1972 and practised as a barrister and solicitor in Western Australia until 1983 when he went to the Western Australian Bar. From 1994 to 1998 he was President of the National Native Title Tribunal. At the time of his appointment he was an additional  member of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory and a member of the Supreme Court of Fiji. He was also a Deputy President of the Australian Competition Tribunal and a part-time member of the Australian Law Reform Commission. From 2001 to January 2005 he was president of the Australian Association of Constitutional Law. Chief Justice French was appointed a Companion in the General Division of the Order of Australia in 2010.

The lecture will commence at 5:30 PM in the John Dillon Lecture Theatre in the EBL building at the University of New England. Refreshments will be provided from 5 PM.

Enquiries: School of Law (Belinda Eastgate) on 6773 2091 or 6773 3598 or email belinda.eastgate@une.edu.au.

A finding that different sorts of music affect plant growth in different ways was just one of many intriguing research results to emerge when more than 100 science students from schools around the New England North West region presented their individual projects to scientists at the University of New England on Monday 12 September.

The students were competing for cash prizes in the Science Investigation Awards for 2011 – an event conducted nationally by the Primary Industry Centre for Science Education (PICSE) and locally through the PICSE activity centre at UNE – one of 10 PICSE activity centres across the nation.

Jamie Randall (pictured here), who is in Year 10 at Armidale High School, explained that she had conducted her experiment with butterfly plants (Gaura neomexicana) which had taken nine days to germinate, and which she had exposed to four different sorts of music – classical, country, pop and rock – over a five-day period. She found that those plants exposed to country music matured the fastest.

The students came from secondary schools in Armidale, Gunnedah, Inverell, Tamworth and Walcha. “They’ve spent months working on their projects and preparing for the event,” said Susanna Greig, the PICSE Science Education Officer at UNE.

Jamie Randall was one of two winners of the students’ choice award for “best display”. Speaking about the competition itself – culminating in the day at UNE – she said it had been “fun to meet other people and see their work”. The other winner of the “best display” award was Emily Gillham from St Mary’s College, Gunnedah, with a project on extending the life of cut flowers, and the students’ choice award for “most interesting project” went to Katie Anderson – also from St Mary’s College – with a project on the use of chemicals to remove flesh from the bone.

Another student from St Mary’s College won the award for “most outstanding project” presented by UNE’s School of Environmental and Rural Science. “I always go fishing,” said Tom Welsh, whose award-winning project investigated the relative strength of different knots used in fishing tackle. “What could be a better subject for investigation than something you enjoy doing and that you’re going to use?”

“Senior Scientist of the Year” awards went to Madeline Hine from PLC Armidale (1^st), Stephen McDonald from Carinya Christian School, Tamworth (2^nd) and Henry Davies from Carinya Christian School (3^rd). “Junior Scientist of the Year”: Faith Dennehy, Duval High School, Armidale (1^st); Tyson Smith and Jack Wake, Walcha Central School (2^nd). “High Achievement Award”: Eliza Scott and Hannah-Lee Hourigan from PLC Armidale. “Primary-industry-themed” award: Mollie Galvin, NEGS, Armidale (1^st); Winona Rumble, Duval High, Armidale (2^nd).

“The Science Investigation Awards are just one element in PICSE’s national program of activities designed to build relationships between school students and local scientists and employers in primary industries,” Ms Greig said. “The Awards were introduced into the UNE PICSE repertoire of opportunities for science teachers and students in 2009. In that year there were 27 student projects, which were judged by 9 scientists. In 2011 there were 106 projects presented by 114 students, and these were judged by 25 scientists.

“UNE PICSE has been thrilled to see the level of sponsorship for this event grow in accordance with the increasing number of student projects. Sponsorship has increased from $400 in 2009, to over $4,000 in 2011. Every dollar of sponsorship is directed entirely towards the students and schools with award-winning projects. We thank the national sponsors Dow AgroSciences, the Grains Research & Development Corporation and Woolworths, along with our local sponsors Armidale Central Rotary Club, UNE Marketing & Public Affairs, Walcha Council, East West EnviroAg, and Dr Hans Graser.