Welcome to QUT's weekly round-up of news and events. For more updates as they happen, join 13,447 followers of @QUTmedia on Twitter. To subscribe to this news wrap, please email media@qut.edu.au.
Vital funds to future-proof crops: One of the world's leading discovery researchers, Professor of Molecular Genetics Peter Waterhouse (pictured), has been awarded a $2.7 million prestigious Australian Laureate Fellowship from the Australian Research Council to overcome a key barrier to future-proofing the world’s crops. Professor Dmitri Golberg has also been awarded a $2.6 million Fellowship to develop new ultralight and super-strong structural composites and ‘green-energy’ nanomaterials, such as solar cells, touch panels, batteries, supercapacitors, field-effect transistors, light sensors and displays.
#fashiondiplomacy: Indonesian fashion industry leaders visit Brisbane, Sydney: Twenty-five Indonesian fashion industry leading lights are this week attending the first Australia Awards’ short course for the fashion and textiles sector, run by QUT’s School of Fashion. The event is featuring industry guests such as QUT graduate Gail Reid (pictured below centre) of the Gail Sorronda label.
US attitudes to rich & poor gap based on beliefs about social mobility: QUT economics study: Concern for the poor is more likely to motivate support for policies to reduce income inequality than anger over the high incomes of the wealthy, a new QUT economics study of American attitudes to inequality has found.
Australia-wide autism report calls for 'agile' response in classrooms: Australia's first national report investigating the educational needs of students with autism, which was led by QUT Faculty of Education's Dr Beth Saggers and Professor Suzanne Carrington (both pictured), has identified social and emotional needs as the top priority to ensure success at school.
Scare campaign by publishers & authors not for Australians' benefit: The scare campaign by publishers and authors against the Productivity Commission’s latest report which recommends dropping parallel import restrictions is a ‘shame’, says QUT Professor of Intellectual Property and Innovation Law Matthew Rimmer.
'Circuit breaker' changes recommended to stop deepening rural debt crisis: Actions are urgently needed to break the downward spiral impoverishing too many rural Queenslanders – and a new report shows the way, says QUT economist Dr Mark McGovern (pictured below) who was on the 12-member Rural Debt and Drought Taskforce.
QUT develops new model to better predict crash blackspots: QUT has developed a new blackspot identification method which researcher Amir Pooyan Afghari (pictured below) says offers an unbiased prediction of crash counts and allows a more accurate way to identify high-risk crash sites.
Cambell on fast track to QUT Classic: Eight-year-old Cambell Johnstone and his dad, QUT academic Paul Johnstone, are just two of the runners gearing up for the annual QUT Classic on May 15.
May 10-12: Parent information seminars (free) @ Caboolture, Gardens Point & North Lakes
Now - May 13: Geek Girls exhibition (free) @ Creative Industries Precinct
May 15: QUT Classic fun run @ Gardens Point campus
May 29: 3D Printing Revolution talk @ STEMed Festival, RNA Showgrounds
June 4-8: DIS 2016 (ACM SIGCHI Conference on Designing Interactive Systems) @ Gardens Point
Now - June 17: Inspirations (free) @ William Robinson Gallery
July 31: QUT Open Day (free) @ Gardens Point
MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS
- The BBC credited Leicester City Football Cub’s premiership win in part to the NordBord invented by Dr Tony Shield (pictured).
- Professor Mia Woodruff and her a 3D-printed ear research were featured on Channel 7, The Courier Mail and across News Corp publications along with Dimity Dornan from Hear And Say suggesting Brisbane could become a bionics business cluster. Her team’s research was also reported internationally via Business Insider UK, MSN UK, EuroNews France and The Ghana Broadcasting Corporation.
- Australian Story featured Dr Danielle Tindle’s incredible cancer-survival story.
- Professor Axel Bruns took ABC’s 7.30 and Radio Australia behind the scenes of a modern election campaign. He also wrote a Conversation article revisiting the 2013 federal election social media campaigns.
- Cosmopolitan in the Netherlands covered Professor Selena Bartlett’s research into drugs to treat sugar addiction.
- The Australian reported on a paper co-written by Professor Benno Torgler calling for the scientific peer review system to be scrapped and replaced with a new system based on market principles.
- Associate Professor Dian Tjondronegoro was quoted in a Brisbane Times article on successfully developing a mobile app. The story ran Australia-wide on the Fairfax network, including The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.
- Professor Matthew Rimmer (pictured) was interviewed by ABC New Radio and Fairfax about the Productivity Commission Report’s recommendations which could foreshadow cheaper books and an end to geoblocking in Australia. His Conversation article about future-proofing Australia’s copyright laws was republished by PC World and LifeHacker. He also wrote about what the TPP means for New Zealand Indigenous IP in Elgar Blog.
- Dr Gary Mortimer’s comments about why Australians spend money on bottled water appeared on Fairfax news sites across Australia, 3AW, ABC Canberra and Stuff.co.nz.
- ScienceDaily, Technobahn and Before It’s News reported on Dr Stephen Cameron’s research linking dung beetle evolution to the dinosaurs.
- Dr Esther Lau and Professor Lisa Nissen wrote an article for The Australian Journal of Pharmacy urging people to take note of the signs of macular degeneration and get their eyes tested.
- Professor Simon Washington spoke to 612 ABC Evenings about his research to better predict dangerous roads and black spots. 4ZZZ also covered the story.
- RPA News and ABC North Queensland reported on Associate Professor Ian O’Hara and his team’s new project to reduce the sugar industry’s reliance on fossil fuels.
- The South East Advertiser reported lecturer and PhD candidate Mirandi Riwoe had signed a two-book deal with UK publishers Legend Press.
- Adjunct Associate Professor Phil Heywood told Quest Brisbane City Council should prioritise projects that serve the double purpose of flood mitigation and community amenity.
- Korea’s Chosun Biz reported on Dr Matthew Dunbabin and Dr Feras Dayoub’s COTSbot.
- High Beam Research spoke to Dr Alan McAlpine about how graduates can make themselves more employable.
- Peter Black was interviewed by the Gay News Network about his views on equality before the law.
- A ‘May the Fourth’ Star Wars-related post by QUT Digital Ambassador and student blogger Kelvin was picked up by Pedestrian TV.
- Indian Link reported on business students Harshitha Srinivas and Kunal Goyal becoming Brisbane International Student Ambassadors.
- Radio Republik Indonesia reported on QUT’s IndoFair 2016 at Kelvin Grove.
- The NZ Herald featured a story on Reds star and QUT business student Nick Frisby.
- Professor Kerrie Sadiq (pictured) and Megan Jones wrote a Conversation article about tax reform as a fundamental human right.
- Professor Rik Thompson co-wrote an article for The Conversation on how men get breast cancer too but face a stigma. The article was also published by IFLSciene.
- Professor Marek Kowalkiewicz’s Conversation comment about the federal budget was republished by Australian Business.
- Dr Sandra Phillips’ Conversation article discussed artist Boneta-Marie Mabo’s first solo exhibition, Black velvet: your label.
- Professor Jonathan Roberts’ Conversation article about what Mother’s Day would be like if you were born in a machine and raised by robots was republished by IFL Science.
- StartupSmart reported that QUT CEA had been named a host of Advance Queensland’s $8M Hot DesQ program, while Australian Anthill ran a story on QUT CEA's plans to invest $500,000 worth of seed funding in six creative startups.
- QUT CEA’s Startup Fund recipient Fame & Partners was also in the news, with the AFR and StartUpDaily covering its move to Los Angeles after raising $US7.6 million from two American venture capital firms.
Release date: Tuesday, May 10, 2016
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).
CRICOS No.: 00213J
