Welcome to QUT's weekly round-up of news and events. For more updates as they happen, join 13,292 followers of @QUTmedia on Twitter. To subscribe to this news wrap, please email media@qut.edu.au.
Nanostructures grown on fabric can mop up oil spills: Oil spills at sea, on the land and in your own kitchen could one day easily be mopped up with a new multipurpose fabric covered with semi-conducting nanostructures, developed by a team of researchers from QUT, CSIRO and RMIT, including QUT's Associate Professor Anthony O’Mullane.
QUT leads world-first new treatment for alcohol addiction: Alcohol addiction causes almost 3.8 per cent of deaths worldwide but a study led by QUT researchers offers new hope in the form of a drug already approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Back on the market: understanding condom use in the over-50s: Sexually transmitted diseases are on the rise in the over-50 age group and, in fact, could surpass the infection rates of younger people, says a QUT researcher investigating the low use of condoms in this age group.
How sleepiness affects young daredevils’ risky behaviour: Risky behaviours such as dangerous driving, violence, and substance use are some of the leading contributors to rates of injury and death in young adults aged 18-25 and a QUT sleep researcher wants to find out if too little sleep is partly to blame for their daredevil behaviour.
Student success at International Human Rights Moot: QUT law students demonstrated their strength in litigation by winning the Red Cross International Humanitarian Law (IHL) Mooting Competition in Hong Kong.
QUT gene patents forum looks at conflicts and legal milestones: QUT's Intellectual Property and Innovation Law Research Program has hosted a forum on gene patents to look at the dramatic developments in respect of intellectual property and biotechnology over the past few years.
April 19 - May 13: Geek Girls @ QUT Creative Industries Precinct
April 19: Orange Sky Laundry (Young Australians of the Year) Wellness Matters talk @ Room Three Sixty
April 20: Learning Potential Fund Breakfast with Don Meij (sold out) @ Room Three Sixty
April 27: QUT EMBA evening information session @ Gardens Point campus
Now - May 1: Painter in Paradise: William Dobell in New Guinea (free, pictured) @ QUT Art Museum
Now - May 1: Charles Robb: Catacoustics III (free) @ QUT Art Museum
May 5: MBA & postgraduate business information evening @ Gardens Point campus
May 7: Kazka - A Fairytale @ QUT Gardens Theatre
May 10-12: Parent information seminars @ Caboolture, Gardens Point & North Lakes
May 15: QUT Classic fun run @ Gardens Point campus
June 4-8: DIS 2016 (ACM SIGCHI Conference on Designing Interactive Systems) @ Gardens Point
Now - June 17: Inspirations (free) @ William Robinson Gallery
MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS
- Research on 3D printed ears by a QUT and Hear and Say team including QUT Associate Professor Mia Woodruff received wide coverage including the ABC Online, ABC News 24, Seven News, Nine News, Ten News, Brisbane Times, and Daily Mail Australia, with the AAP story run by outlets including Sky News, news.com.au, The Australian, The Courier-Mail, Daily Telegraph, and The New Daily.
- US-based Wired Magazine ran a story on QUT’s COTSbot- the world's first robot designed to seek out and control the Great Barrier Reef's crown-of-thorns starfish.
- The Huffington Post reported on a research project by QUT social marketing masters student Natalie Bowring looking into sexually transmitted diseases in over-50s and the low use of condoms in this age group. The study was covered by AAP and 612 ABC.
- Professor Kerrie Mengersen (pictured) and Associate Professor Tomasz Bednarz featured in a 7 News story about the future of conservation using virtual technology.
- The world-first study led by Professor Selena Bartlett that found drugs used to treat nicotine addiction could be used to treat sugar addiction continued to gain international coverage, featuring in Britain’s Telegraph, Evening Standard, Independent, and Bakeryinfo.co.uk, as well as the US-based Women’s Health, France’s Yahoo News, Times of India, Congleton Chronicle ,MSN Philippines and domestically in bodyandsoul.com.au, the Australian Journal of Pharmacy and Perth Now.
- Professor Bartlett’s study about heart medication to treat alcohol addiction was published in Fairfax publications including Brisbane Times, The Age and Canberra Times.
- The University of Oxford’s Professor Paul Newman, who gave a free public talk at QUT, told Brisbane Times and Sydney Morning Herald the gap between sci-fi and reality with robots was significant.
- The Australian profiled 1500m swimmer and QUT engineering student Jack McLoughlin, who is off to the Olympics.
- Fellow QUT students Cate Campbell (media & communication) and Bronte Campbell (business) made a splash all around the country after securing their Olympic berths, including stories in the Sydney Morning Herald, Courier-Mail, and ABC.
- Dr Andrew McGee shared why he disagreed with Bob Hawke on euthanasia in the Brisbane Times and Canberra Times.
- Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Coaldrake wrote about overcoming academic barriers to innovation on Science Meets Business.
- Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Scott Shepherd spoke to ABC Radio in Brisbane about the role of international students at universities.
- Dr Gary Mortimer (pictured below) was interviewed by Seven News about a new smartphone app for supermarket specials, and by Nine News on Woolworths’ struggling revamped loyalty scheme.
- The Daily Mail also interviewed Dr Mortimer about the future of Target which has been struggling, in contrast to Kmart which is powering, with another Daily Mail story carrying his comments on Coles Online customers paying more for some products. And his predictions on older shopping complexes becoming apartments was in The Australian and on news.com.au. He also talked to The Courier-Mail on how Queenslanders need to be told of the benefits of assets sales of education, hospitals and transport if they are going to approve of government plans.
- Associate Professor Michael Dezuanni was quoted in The New York Times Magazine in a special feature on the Minecraft generation.
- The Australian and The Courier-Mail’s Q Weekend wrote about QUT associate lecturer Lydia Pearson and Pamela Easton closing their Easton Pearson fashion label after 27 years.
- QUT Head of Fashion Professor Jennifer Craik also talked to the Courier-Mail about the label's closure.
- Professor Axel Bruns’ latest Australian Twitter News Index, published in The Conversation, revealed The Conversation had become Australia’s third most shared news and opinion website.
- Professor Brian McNair talked to Radio 2SER about why hackers leaked the Panama Papers the way they did.
- Susan Hetherington reviewed Educating Rita at Gardens Theatre and two other shows for Spencer Howson on ABC 612.
- Forte Magazine plugged Shario – dubbed the musicians’ Gumtree – which won QUT CEA’s recent Startup Weekend.
- QUT architect and PhD student Matthew Hutchinson featured in an ABC Southern Queensland radio and online story about the growing trend towards smaller houses for older people.
- An entertainment studies tour to Cannes by QUT’s Creative Industries students was featured in French publication MIPTV News.
- Professor Lionel Page’s comments on the effects of tax promises by US presidential candidates featured on US news website vice.com.
- Motorbike Writer reported on a West Australian government study into motorcycle safety which follows a 2015 QUT CARRS-Q study which found repeat high-speed offenders are more likely to hold a motorcycle licence and have a criminal history.
- CARRS-Q sleep researcher Kalina Rossa’s study looking at how sleep, mood and stress influence young people’s decision making was covered by Medical Express and the APN network.
- Justice researcher Dr Cassandra Cross explained to The Conversation how the victim of online fraud can became the offender.
- Adjunct Professor Noel Whittaker spoke to 612 ABC Brisbane about a banking royal commission.
- Professor Per Davidsson spoke to 666 ABC Canberra about the potential introduction of an entrepreneurial visa for new starters in Australia.
- Associate Professor Ian O’Hara told the Daily Mercury Queensland could become a leader in the advanced biofuels industry.
- Associate Professor Scott Read’s research showing increasing exposure to outdoor light can reduce short-sightedness in children was featured on WellBeing.com.au.
- City North News featured a CARRS-Q survey of parents whose children have quad bikes.
- Sustainability Matters reported on the latest projects to be supported by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency industry-researcher collaboration R&D funding, including QUT’s work with industry to explore how to produce biogas from sugarcane to further reduce the sugar industry’s fossil fuel use.
Release date: Monday, April 18, 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
