Professor Cynthia Stuhlmiller from the University of New England’s School of Health will draw on her pioneering work with Vietnam veterans, and on individual and collective responses to psychological trauma and disaster, when she gives a public lecture in Armidale on “the importance of human connections” in mental health.

Titled “Health Disorder and the Psychiatric Enterprise: The Importance of Human Connections”, this will be Cynthia Stuhlmiller’s “inaugural lecture” to the Armidale community as a newly-appointed Professor at UNE. She will discuss the importance of human connectedness in preserving the sense of dignity and self-worth that is necessary for health and healing.

Her lecture, aimed at a general audience, will trace concepts of health and disorder that have shaped our understanding of psychological experiences. It will be in the Armidale Town Hall at 6.30 pm on Wednesday 17 August.

Professor Stuhlmiller will use diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder, seasonal affective disorder and schizophrenia to illustrate the dangers of classification systems generally. “While diagnoses can bring meaning to experiences and join individuals in suffering, they can also serve to disconnect individuals and communities when the meanings are based on a ‘deficit’ view of the person or persons,” she said. “This view undermines personal and collective strength and cultural resilience and coping practices.”

Cynthia Stuhlmiller (pictured here) has held leading clinical and academic positions in the United States, New Zealand, Norway, Australia and the UK – including those of Professor of Mental Health Nursing at the University of Technology, Sydney, and Professor of Mental Health Nursing at Flinders University, South Australia.

Her position on mental health is critical of narrow, decontextualised views of what constitutes disorder, and honours the experiences of individuals and communities who confront and live through challenges. She will argue that interventions derived from an interpretative approach pave the way to restoring human connections that can preserve the sense of dignity and self-worth, and that the “salutogenic” model (i.e. one that focuses on factors that support human health and wellbeing) holds the most promise for promoting mental health in a global society.

Professor Stuhlmiller will conclude her presentation by talking about her current education and research focus, which aims to increase accessibility to health information and help, while reducing the costs associated with suffering.

Everyone is welcome to attend this free lecture, which will be the third in UNE’s 2011 Inaugural Lecture Series.  The Director of the UNE Foundation, Dr Geoffrey Fox, will – on behalf of the Chancellor – welcome guests to the lecture, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Jim Barber, will propose a vote of thanks, and the event will include the traditional academic procession.

Drinks and canapés in the Town Hall foyer will follow the lecture. RSVP (for catering purposes) by Friday 12 August to Susan Delpratt on 6773 2960, or e-mail events.pr@une.edu.au.

Broadband, gigabytes, megabits, SMART houses, fibre and the National Broadband Network (NBN) are terms cluttering our TVs and computers – but why is light important to them all?

In his Inaugural Lecture, entitled ‘The Light Fantastic’, to be held next Wednesday, June 15th, Professor of Physics and Precision Agriculture at the University of New England, David Lamb, will seek to enlighten members of the University and the community on the physics of light.

Professor Lamb will be using the occasion to bring together two of his research passions: the development and application of new tools in agriculture, and optical fibre technologies.

‘The Light Fantastic’ will be a one-hour presentation, filled with practical demonstrations, that will take the audience through the fundamentals of light, the development of optical technologies and their convergence in the creation of communications systems like the National Broadband Network.

Starting with a basic discussion of what light actually is and the rudimentary use of fires and candles for ‘signalling’, the lecture will examine methods of modulating and guiding light signals and what they can be used for. It will begin with Alexander Graham Bell’s ‘Photophone’, first demonstrated in 1880, and end with recent technology such as lasers and optical fibres.

At each step of the way the lecture will explain, at a level suitable for a general audience, the underlying physical principles and the terminology that is finding increasing use on our TVs, personal computers and communication devices.

Given the means to communicate large amounts of data and information (there is a difference!), the lecture will conclude with a discussion on the application of these technologies in the NBN, and how it can benefit regional communities as well as major cities – including SMART (Sustainable, Manageable and Accessible Rural Technologies) Houses, SMART Communities and SMART Farms.

Everyone is welcome to attend this free lecture by Professor David Lamb, which will be held in the
Armidale Town Hall at 6.30 pm on Wednesday, 15 June. As the second lecture in the UNE 2011 Inaugural Lecture series, ‘The Light Fantastic’ will be a major ‘town and gown’ event with all the traditional pomp and ceremony of an Academic Procession. It will be followed by drinks and canapés in the Town Hall foyer.

In his Inaugural Lecture to the Armidale community on Wednesday 18 May, the UNE economics professor Mahinda Siriwardana will outline his approach to modelling the impact of a carbon tax.

Professor Siriwardana’s lecture, titled “Carbon tax, the economy and carbon dioxide emissions: Measuring the effects”, will be presented in non-technical terms by a politically neutral, independent expert. It is designed to help members of the community understand this nationally significant issue.

Professor Siriwardana (pictured here) is an expert in the “computable general equilibrium” approach to such modelling, and has developed numerous models using this approach over the past 30 years. After considering a range of tax levels ($5-$40 per tonne of carbon) he will discuss the impact of a $30-per-tonne tax using a model he has recently developed for this purpose.

“A preliminary analysis undertaken by simulating the impact of a carbon tax of $30 per tonne using this new model reveals that, in the short run, Australia’s real GDP may decline by 0.71 per cent, consumer prices may rise by 0.77 per cent, and the price of electricity may increase by about 29 per cent,” he said. “The good news is that a carbon tax of this magnitude may allow Australia to make a substantial cut in its carbon dioxide emissions. The simulation results imply an emission reduction of about 9.2 per cent of the 2005-based emissions.”

“The lecture will also propose an appropriate compensation package to ease the pressure on households due to rising costs of living after the tax,” he added.

Everyone is welcome to this free lecture by UNE’s Professor Mahinda Siriwardana, which will be in Armidale Town Hall at 6.30 pm. In the tradition of UNE’s Inaugural Lectures, there will be an academic procession.

Supper in the Town Hall foyer will follow the lecture.