Thanks for keeping up with news from QUT throughout 2016. We’ve enjoyed sharing QUT’s innovative research and activities, including new technologies to boost conservation, colourful events celebrating creativity and world-leading studies that reveal new insights into our brains and behaviours.
Here's our pick of the QUT stories that piqued the interest of journalists all over the globe.
A special mention goes to Associate Professor Gary Mortimer for his extensive public engagement throughout the year, including his research around unit pricing. He’s in high demand with journalists around the country, regularly helping them unpack a wide range of issues in the retail sector. Watch a video.
It was a huge year for Dr Matthew Dunbabin and Dr Feras Dayoub and their COTSbot. The pair proved COTSbot can autonomously detect and inject crown-of-thorns starfish, they were Eureka Prize finalists and they won a $750,000 Google Impact Challenge grant to transform their robot into an all-purpose RangerBot. Watch them on Catalyst. Read the WIRED coverage.
The Creative Industries Faculty’s spectacular housewarming party, CreateX, attracted thousands of people to our newly-opened precinct expansion and sparked a storm of media interest in CIF’s research including Dean Brough and Dr Alice Payne’s kombucha clothing, (video) Distinguished Professor Stuart Cunningham’s ‘communitainment’ and Dr Deb Polson’s Museum of Colliding Dimensions. Watch a video.
Brett Lewis and Dr Luke Nothdurft filmed for the first time ever the behaviour of a mushroom coral while bleaching. Watch a video.
Professor Richard Brown and Farhad Hossain proved that a fuel reclaimed from old tyres provides a cleaner diesel blend. This was our outstanding social media story of the year. Read Gizmodo’s coverage.
Professor Selena Bartlett led world-first research that showed an addictive link between the sugar and the brain. Watch a video.
Professor Matthew Brown led a global study that found genetic links for five common inflammatory diseases. Read ABC Online’s coverage.
Associate Professor Mia Woodruff helped announce Australia’s first biofabrication institute, a partnership between QUT and the state government. Watch a video.
Dr Cassandra Cross’s research into online dating scams headlined the QUT Crime and Justice Research Centre’s Tainted Love symposium. Read Women’s Weekly coverage.
Stephen Whyte and Professor Benno Torgler’s world-first behavioural economics study revealed that younger, educated men were in demand as sperm donors. Read Huffington Post Australia’s coverage.
Dr Judith Locke’s research found that helicopter parents are too involved in homework and tend to stalk teachers. Listen to an RN Life Matters interview.
Professor Zoran Ristovski led a world-first mission to the Great Barrier Reef to discover whether coral creates rain. Watch a video.
Distinguished Professor Kerrie Mengersen led a jaguar conservation project into the Amazon, using statistics, mathematical modelling, virtual technology and local knowledge to protect jaguar habitats. Watch a video.
Associate Professor Felipe Gonzalez, Dr Sandra Johnson, Dr Grant Hamilton and the IFE’s Flight Operations team worked with local councils using drones, AI and statistical analyses to better manage koala populations. Watch a video.
‘Rollercoaster academic’ Malcolm Burt created a thesis/documentary Signature Attraction on why we love rollercoasters. Watch the documentary.
Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries Costume Exhibition had fans and media flocking to Old Government House. Watch a video.
Sean Druitt and the Cube Studio team let 10 artificially intelligent prehistoric beasts loose into Dino Zoo - a world first in combining large-scale interaction and the latest scientific understanding about dinosaurs. Watch a video.
Media contact:
Kate Haggman, QUT Media, 07 3138 0358, kate.haggman@qut.edu.au
After huorsRose Trapnell, QUT Media team leader, 0407 585 901, media@qut.edu.au
