Welcome to QUT's weekly round-up of news and events. For more updates as they happen, join 17,530 followers of @QUTmedia on Twitter. To subscribe to this wrap, please email media@qut.edu.au.
NEWS
Bots + Brisbane = brilliant day out!: Does Brisbane love robots? A crowd of around 22,000 people can't be wrong! Bots of all shapes, sizes and abilities came, saw and conquered QUT's Robotronica 2017 on the weekend, much to the delight of families, tech heads, and the plain curious.
QUT researchers find biological factors contributing to post-traumatic stress: A world-first study investigating the genetics of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in Vietnam veterans, conducted by QUT in collaboration with the Gallipoli Medical Research Foundation and funded by RSL Queensland, could help explain why some people develop PTSD after exposure to trauma while others do not.
Slow down: The data on who’s driving too fast: Would you get behind the wheel drunk? Would you travel 65km/h in a 60 zone? The impact on driving performance is roughly the same, and is the message QUT’s Centre for Accident Research & Road Safety - Queensland (CARRS-Q) is highlighting on the first day of Queensland Road Safety Week 2017.
Queensland sea squirt and rainforest tree advance cancer treatment: Compounds from a sea squirt and a rainforest tree, both native to Queensland, could hold the key to providing more effective treatment for prostate cancer patients.
QUT research partnership with Rheinmetall Defence: QUT’s pioneering research into autonomous systems will be an initial focus for a research partnership with Rheinmetall Defence Australia, announced in Canberra last week.
Should robots ease the looming loneliness epidemic?: How would you feel if your best friend in your twilight years was a robot?
RoboCops in the frontline: Robotronica sorts fact from fiction: Brad Wright has been a police officer for more than three decades and has led the introduction and use of drones and other human-operated robotic technology in the Queensland Police Service (QPS) over the past eight years.
Backyard robotics mix brains and brawn for Robowars: By day, he’s a mild-mannered commercial builder. But by night – and at QUT’s Robotronica – Steve Parker is the master of a robot warrior.
Back to the future with retro robots: He was a hit in the ‘70s and Mr Partybot proved just as popular when he joined the Robotronica party at QUT on Sunday.
EVENTS
Aug 21: Workshop: Machine learning for creatives @ QUT Art Museum
Aug 28: Public lecture by Mark Dreyfus: Terrorism, Law Enforcement and the Challenges of Countering Violent Extremism @ Gardens Point
Aug 30: Elder abuse: Free public forum on power of attorney & financial abuse @ Gardens Point
Aug 30: IP Symposium - The Third Industrial Revolution: Designs Law and 3D Printing @ Gardens Point
Sept 1: QUT Public Lecture: The Delicate Tension of Digital Technology (free) @ Gardens Point
Sept 5: IP Workshop - Climate Change, Capitalism and Corporations @ Gardens Point
Sept 8: Grand Challenge Lecture by Hasan Bakhshi: The Future of Skills @ Gardens Point
Sept 5: QUT Business Leaders' Forum with Lance Hockridge @ Hilton Brisbane
Sept 12-30: Brisbane Festival Theatre Republic @ QUT Creative Industries Precinct
Sept 22: QUT CEA's Creative3 @ Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre
Sept 30: QUT Learning Potential Fund Riverfire Celebration @ RoomThreeSixty
Now-Oct 29: Machination (free) @ QUT Art Museum
Now-Oct 29: Why future still needs us: AI and humanity (free) @ QUT Art Museum
Now-Nov 24: STEM for Schools: What's on in 2017 @ QUT
Now-June 25, 2018: Eternal Present: The Still Life paintings of William Robinson (free) @ William Robinson Gallery, Old Government House
MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS
- Robotronica attracted media before, during and after, including ABC TV and ABC Online, Radio Australia, ABC Radio Brisbane, Radio National’s Future Tense, ABC TV Weekend Breakfast, 10 News, AAP, 7 News, Sky News, 9 News, Gizmodo, Must Do Brisbane, Weekend Notes, The Australian’s High Wired, Brisbane Times and Fairfax nationally, NZ Herald, Cairns Post, NT News, Public Now and Fiji Times. 
- Robotronica trended on social media all Sunday, and was turned into Twitter Moments in Australia, Canada, UK and by Gizmodo. @KetanJ0’s Chair Walker post was retweeted 381 times. QUT’s Facebook Live events of the Australian Centre for Robotic Vision contingent, Dr Sarah Jane Pell and the Australian Robowars Championship reached a combined audience of 420,000. #Robotronica was mentioned 2900 across social media platforms, more than 1700 times on the day alone.
- ABC TV and Online, Radio Australia and Public Now joined Professor Zoran Ristovski and QUT undergraduate students into their floating classroom on CSIRO’s RV Investigator research ship.
- Professor Michael Milford was quoted in a story on AI and the concept of robots stealing jobs published by London-based AltFi News.
- Associate Professor Gary Mortimer spoke to 9 News about Masters’ makeover, and he and Dr Edwina Luck were on a retail panel discussion on ABC Radio Brisbane, which was also broadcast live via Facebook. Dr Mortimer also appeared on Nine’s A Current Affair about the future of Costco.
- Dr James Davis was interviewed by Education Review about the importance of STEM education for an article on National Science Week.
- A prescriptions toolkit led by Lynda Cardiff and developed with three other universities featured in Brisbane Times and other Fairfax titles Australia-wide.
- Dr Jennifer Gunter research about a species of tree and sea squirts in prostate cancer treatments featured on Brisbane Times and in other Fairfaix publications including The Age.
- Campus Morning Mail named QUT’s Tall Poppy winners Dr Anjali Jaiprakash and Indira Prasadam.
- Professor Matt Brown was on 7 News and 10 News talking about a new test that cancer patients can take to determine which treatments are likely to be the most effective to them.
- Professor Chamindie Punyadeera was on 7 News about her work to develop a world-first saliva test that could detect cancers of the mouth and throat at their early stages.
- News.com.au featured an article on Evie Willsteed and her boundary-pushing, gender neutral designs being showcased in the QUT Creative Enterprise Australia Fashion Accelerator program.
- Research by Professor Selena Bartlett into the addictive nature of sugar and its effect on the brain was mentioned in the Irish Times.
- Brisbane Times ran a story about 17-year-old entrepreneur Scott Millar who will be talking at the QUT Creative Enterprise Australia Creative3 conference, which included an interview with the CEA’s Mark Gustowski.
- Dr Monique Mann was interviewed by The Guardian and 4ZZZ about the proposed marriage equality postal vote.
- Professor Matthew Rimmer spoke to Talking Technology about panning pirate websites in Australia.
- North Queensland Register, Daily Mercury and Queensland Country Life reported on Dr Kameron Dunn’s $1.8 million Advance Queensland Research Fellowship.
- The Courier Mail, other News Corp publications, Defence Connect and Australian Defence Magazine reported on the QUT research partnership with Rheinmetall Defence.
- The Weekend Edition featured an article about fashion lecturer Alice Payne and QUT’s Revive Second-Hand Fashion Festival at South Bank.
- Dr Trudi Collet discussed the antibiotic being developed from an Australian plant with ABC North Queensland. 4ZZZ also covered her research.
- BNE Art talked up the mural competition the Creative Industries Faculty is running with partner Collins Food Group.
- Public Now reported on Australia’s water polo team winning World Uni Games gold, which includes QUT’s Pat Flannagan.
- Distinguished Professor Stuart Cunningham’s Conversation article about the rise of Australia’s online content creators was republished by Australian Business and Daily Bulletin.
- EduResearch Matters published Professor Annette Woods and Dr Aspa Baroutsis’ article about why learning to write shouldn’t be hijacked by NAPLAN.
- Dr Michael Klaehn joined ABC Radio Brisbane to talk about digital marketing.
Media release date: Monday, August 21, 2017
Media contact: media@qut.edu.au
QUT is part of a national collaborative group of five major Australian universities that form the ATN (Australian Technology Network of Universities).
