Welcome to QUT's weekly round-up of news and events. For more updates as they happen, join 16,128 followers of @QUTmedia on Twitter. To subscribe to this wrap, please email media@qut.edu.au.
NEWS
Pepper a peek into the future of social robotics: It may be petite, but Pepper carries the future of robotics on its narrow shoulders.
Leading from the top: $400 million gift coincides with wider philanthropy ‘flatlining’: QUT philanthropy researcher Associate Professor Wendy Scaife has welcomed today’s $400 million national gift by Twiggy and Nicola Forrest as a ‘role model’ act of generosity in a time of wider philanthropy ‘flatlining’.
Public parks designed to entice people of all ages & abilities a must to prevent obesity: Well-designed local parks full of stimulating and challenging experiences could inspire people of all ages to be physically active and help prevent obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, says QUT landscape architect Dr Debra Cushing.
The heat is on: urban planning risks raising Brisbane suburb temperatures: The number of Brisbane suburbs suffering “extreme” temperature rises will increase unless effective planning policies are introduced, QUT research has found.
The science of comfort: a good night’s sleep rests on your spine’s biomechanics: A three-year study by QUT biomedical researchers in the Paediatric Spine Research Group (PSRG) aims to deepen our understanding of the concepts of comfort by using new techniques to look at how the spine reacts in different lying positions.
How much do you know about your rights under end-of-life law?: Australia has a complex array of end-of-life laws because each state and territory has its own laws, say QUT’s Australian Centre for Health Law Research (ACHLR) directors Professors Ben White and Lindy Willmott
Entrepreneurship course gives rise to med-tech startups: A fashionable pair of earrings for women with gestational diabetes that automatically monitors and helps control blood glucose levels and a device to help brain to bladder function among geriatric patients are among the newest medical innovations being built in Brisbane.
Toy unboxing: it’s a thing; it’s lucrative but sensitive – QUT research: New research examining the global social media phenomenon of toy unboxing, which is causing concern for parents and other child welfare advocates, concludes it engages children beyond passive consumption but also recommends regulation to address it.
The Great Disrupter: eight things you need to know about Artificial Intelligence: If it hasn’t already, AI is going to change a whole lot of things in your life, says QUT Associate Professor Michael Milford who every day has multiple requests to explain to all of us how AI is seeping into every corner.
Chanel boomerang flies in the face of Indigenous intellectual property: Global fashion house Chanel’s AU$1930 boomerang raises questions about Indigenous intellectual property, QUT IP law expert says.
EVENTS
May 24: Business Leaders’ Forum with Sam Walsh @ Hilton Brisbane
May 26: IFE Grand Challenge Public Lecture with John Gunn @ Institute for Future Environments
May 29-June 11: Reconciliation events @ QUT
June 2-3: Careers and Employment Expo @ Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre
June 12-13: Shirley Valentine @ Gardens Theatre
July 20: Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame 2017 Induction Dinner @ Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre
July 24: Rhodes Scholarship information session @ Gardens Point
Now - June 18: William Robinson: Genesis (free) @ William Robinson Gallery
Now - Sept 13: Season 2017 @ Gardens Theatre: Stories that connect @ Gardens Theatre
Now - Nov 24: STEM for Schools: What's on in 2017 @ QUT
MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS
- Associate Professor Gary Mortimer spoke to Channel 9 and Channel 7 about Aldi’s new marketing push and was a panellist for ABC Radio Brisbane’s Morning program. He also talked to Nine News about home owners being paid to have billboards on their property, the Decathlon sports goods chain arriving in Australia, and Click Frenzy.
- Dr Liton Kamruzzaman and PhD researcher Kaveh Deilami’s study into Brisbane suburbs suffering extreme temperatures featured on Brisbane Times, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, news.com.au and Channel 7 News.
- Melbourne’s Sunday Age wrote about ‘micro charities’ and direct giving and interviewed Associate Professor Wendy Scaife. She also talked to ABC outlets including ABC Radio Canberra about Twiggy Forrest’s $400 million gift to Australian charities and research.
- ABC News TV and Online ran a story about Queensland start-ups who have created medical breakthroughs and were part of the MIT Bootcamp at QUT.
- A Domain article in papers including The Saturday Age featured QUT graduate Claire Stevens and other young guns of interior design.
- Professor Matthew Rimmer spoke to Managing Intellectual Property about plain packaging of tobacco products, and to Mashable about Chanel’s $1930 boomerang and Indigenous IP. The story was also on ABC News and startsat60. Professor Rimmer was also on Radio National’s The Drawing Room and ABC Rural regarding the ownership of a cow genome.
- Brisbane Times profiled marketing graduate Edda Hamar who runs Undress Runways which promotes ethical fashion.
- Dr Debra Cushing was interviewed by Nine News about good and bad community parks, and an ARC project on how to make them better.
- The Courier-Mail reported on the Eternime start-up moving in to QUT CEA, with the help of funding from the Queensland Government’s HotDesQ.
- Theatre graduate Genevieve Butler was on the cover of The Courier-Mail’s Qweekend and told the magazine why she chose to rent in New Farm rather than chase home ownership. The housing affordability story also featured business graduate Kara Lucas.
- The Sydney Morning Herald spoke to food culture researcher Katherine Kirkwood (pictured) about watermelon water.
- Dr Mary Crawford joined Steve Austin for his weekly federal politics segment on ABC Radio Brisbane.
- The Courier-Mail interviewed QUT staffer David Cohen about his new novel Disappearing off the Face of the Earth, which is set in a Brisbane self-storage facility.
- Professor Peter O’Connor's research about introverts featured in an article in the Chicago Tribune and the Northwest Herald.
- The Bayside Star featured the 2017 Student Business Competition run by QUT’s Caboolture campus, which was won by St Paul’s School.
- Gladstone News Weekly published a local student’s experience at the QUT STEM Girl Power Camp.
- ITWire, ZDNet and Campus Morning Mail reported on how QUT has become Australia’s first university to use the Pepper humanoid robot specifically for a social robotics research platform.
- Associate Professor Evonne Miller spoke to the New Daily about a newspaper story that ‘body-shamed’ Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and was quoted by ABC Online and Radio Australia for body image stories.
- The Senior Living Innovation led by Professor Laurie Buys was in Inside Ageing.
- Dr Sandra Phillips was a guest on the Eat the Week segment on ABC Brisbane Radio Evenings, talking about how people like Ivanka Trump are given labels.
- Associate Professor Gene Moyle was named the new national president of Ausdance.
- Dr Mary Crawford spoke about housing affordability for millennials, tow truck operators, and public transport on ABC Radio Brisbane.
- A Conversation piece on flying cars by Professor Jon Roberts and Associate Professor Michael Milford was published by Cosmos Magazine.
- QUT alumnus Naomi Price was interviewed on the ABC Radio Brisbane Evenings program about her new show Lady Beatle which opens at La Boite this week.
- Information Nigeria and Uncova.com published a story on Professor Robert Schweitzer’s research on post-sex dysphoria.
- Campus Morning Mail reported the Australian Centre for Robotic Vision team, led by Dr Jurgen Leitner, making the finals of Amazon’s 2017 Robotics Challenge.
- Creative Industries graduates Gwan Tung Dorothy Lau, Callum McGrath and Hannah Gartside were featured in a Creators.vice story on how art school graduates feel about their future.
- Creative Industries student Hanna Sloan’s blog was published on fashionweekly.com.au.
- Dr Sonia White and Professor Joanne Wood’s research on uncorrected eye problems and school performance ran in The Statesman, The Financial Express, zeenews.india.com, The Economic Times, The Han India, Deccan Herald, Business Standard. Dr White was also interviewed by Hot FM and 4BC.
- Lecturer James Morton’s appointment as magistrate for Mt Isa was reported by the North West Star.
- Dr Kenan Degirmenci’s research on renewable energy and electric vehicle adoption was run by the US’s Marketing & Advertising Industry News.
- Stock and Land featured an image of Professor Sagadevan Mundree at Cape York’s cropping field day.
- The Sydney Morning Herald, WA Today and other Fairfax titles carried a story on 17-year-old Small Business Awards finalist Riley Tanton who hopes to study at QUT next year.
- The Canberra Times and other Fairfax outlets reported that law lecturer (and former transport minister) John Mickel has been appointed to the Queensland Art Gallery board.
- Quest Newspapers published a piece about QUT scientists working with Iona College students studying coral and the Moreton Bay ecosystems.
- ABC Radio Brisbane spoke to Professor Paula McDonald about the changing face of Australia’s employment market.
- Michael Klaehn spoke with ABC Brisbane Radio Evenings program about company branding and social media campaigns.
- Professor Hilary Bambrick wrote a piece for The Conversation about why the proposed Carmichael Mine is bad for our climate, health and economy.
- Dr Monique Mann was part of a Conversation feature on the WannaCrypt malware, which also ran in International Business Times, Australasian Science, Echnonet Daily, and the Daily Bulletin.
- Professor Tristan Perez spoke to ABC Ballarat about QUT’s crop-picking robot research.
- Associate Professor Linda Graham co-wrote an article in EduResearch Matters about the website Leading Learning 4 All.
- Lawyers Weekly reported Perth firm Murfett Legal had appointed QUT law graduate Kanchana Dissanayaka.
- Research by Dr Rebecca English on home schooling was in MyExpress.
Release date: Monday, May 22, 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).
