QUT News & Events Wrap - August 7 edition

NEWS




QUT's 2017 Robotronica: Your guide to Australia's biggest one-day robotics festival: From Robowars and a Robo-Panda, to surgical robots and interactive big screen coding for kids – this year’s free Robotronica event at QUT on Sunday, August 20, is a must for lovers of technology, robotics and AI.

Ready for the robotics revolution? You should be: The robotics revolution has arrived - and it’s far friendlier than you think. QUT is the first university in Australia using humanoid robot Pepper specifically as a social robotics research platform.



Robotics professor inspires next gen with stories: If a picture tells a thousand words then an illustrated storybook designed for young children may inspire a new generation of scientists.



Aussie plant could be new ‘antibiotic’ weapon against Golden Staph: QUT researchers and Australian biotech company HFPA are hoping to turn a native Australian plant into a major new antibiotic after discovering the plant possesses antibacterial activity equivalent to some antibiotics currently used to treat Golden Staph infections.

Darryl McDonough named QUT’s Outstanding Alumnus of the Year: One of Queensland’s most experienced company directors and respected legal practitioners, Darryl McDonough, is QUT’s Outstanding Alumnus of the Year. The 2017 QUT Outstanding Alumni Awards also honoured Queensland MP Leeanne Enoch (Faculty of Education), journalist Peter Greste (Creative Industries Faculty), organ donation advocate Tina Coco (Faculty of Health), Australia Post communications specialist Christine Corbett (QUT Business School), and Ezidebit co-founder Michael Dempsey (Science and Engineering Faculty).



Optometrist named QUT Young Alumnus of the Year: Optometrist Kate Gifford is a pioneer in her profession. Not only is she the youngest, and only the second woman, to become National President of the profession’s peak body, Optometry Australia, she is an internationally recognised leader in clinical management of myopia (short-sightedness) in children and young adults.




Young innovator makes quantum leaps in computing: At just 33 years of age, Michael Brett has made quantum leaps as an innovator and entrepreneur in the field of avionics and computing and in recognition of his achievements has been named winner of the QUT Young Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award.

Joel Pobar wins QUT Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award: Joel Pobar speaks a language many people will never understand but it is one that has helped land him jobs at Microsoft and Facebook. He speaks computer.



Carbon Media boss honoured with QUT Special Excellence Award: Founder of Carbon Media, a creative agency designed to give a positive voice to Indigenous Australians, Wayne Denning has been named a Special Excellence Award winner at the QUT Outstanding Alumni Awards.

QUT response to national report on sexual assault and sexual harassment: Australia’s Vice-Chancellors - through their peak body, Universities Australia - have commissioned an important study on sexual assault and sexual harassment, to obtain a clearer evidence base to guide further work to prevent and address sexual assault and sexual harassment. 

International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy Australia’s top law journal: QUT is celebrating the rapid climb of The International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy to the top-ranked law journal in Australia by Scopus.

Retirement Village review long overdue but a good start: QUT researchers: Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s recent call for an urgent review of Queensland’s Retirement Village laws has been welcomed by QUT experts as a significant step but they urged the government to proceed with caution.

EVENTS

Aug 8: Public lecture: Advance Care Planning: Can one size fit all? @ Gardens Point
Aug 10: Public lecture by Dr Raia Hadsell (Google Deepmind UK) @ QUT Institute for Future Environments
Now-Aug 11: Murri-Ailan Way 2017 (free) @ QUT
Aug 11: IFE Grand Challenge Lecture with Professor Peter Coaldrake: Going for the higher fruit: Universities post peak public funding @ The Kindler Theatre
Aug 8-12: Breaking the Code, featuring QUT final-year actors  @ QUT Gardens Theatre
Now-Aug 12: Blackrock (featuring QUT final year actors) @ Roundhouse Theatre, Kelvin Grove
Aug 20: Robotronica (free) @ QUT

Aug 20-Oct 29: Machination (free) @ QUT Art Museum
Aug 20-Oct 29: Why future still needs us: AI and humanity (free) @ QUT Art Museum
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
Sept 1: QUT Public Lecture: The Delicate Tension of Digital Technology (free) @ Gardens Point
Sept 9: QUT Business Leaders' Forum with Lance Hockridge @ Hilton Brisbane
Sept 12-30: Brisbane Festival Theatre Republic @ QUT Creative Industries Precinct
Now - Nov 24: STEM for Schools: What's on in  2017 @ QUT

MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

- QUT and the Australian Centre for Robotic Vision’s big win at the international Amazon Robotics Challenge in Japan made Sky News, Australian Financial Review, the Courier Mail, Sunday Canberra Times, 7 News, 2UE, APN, the UK Star, GhanaWeb, RoboHub, CIO Australia, New Atlas, BBC News  Planet Genius, US Story and Campus Morning Mail.
- Brisbane Times previewed Robotronica with a feature on QUT’s Pepper robot.  
- Research by Associate Professor Scott Read confirming playing outdoors can help children’s eyes was featured in Australian Geographic.
- The Huffington Post reported on Dr Grant Hamilton’s research using drones to help find and protect koalas.
- Associate Professor Gary Mortimer talked to Internet Retailing about online retailer Catch Group, to 7 News about bulk buying at markets, and joined ABC Brisbane Mornings for the weekly discussion on retail issues.
- Campus Morning Mail reported on the 2017 QUT Outstanding Alumni Awards.
- Professor Selena Bartlett’s research into sugar addiction was in the UK’s You.com. She was also quoted in the Sunday Mail (and other News Corp papers) saying stress was to blame for the national obesity epidemic and a sugar tax was useless until we sort out our brain health.
- Associate Professor Martin Obschonka’s Twitter study about entrepreneurs including Donald Trump continued to attract media attention, with reports in Campus Review, True Viral News, INC, Psychology Today, IFL Science, AOL News New York, and Times Higher Education.
- Dr Trudi Collet (pictured) was interviewed about her research into wound management using native plants as part of 7 News and Today Tonight stories on superbugs and antibiotics.

- Professor Doug Baker commented in an ABC News story about a controversial high rise aged care development proposal for Taringa. The story appeared in Medical Health News.
- Associate Professor Anthony Shield told the Courier-Mail and News Corp gym junkies with six packs were not always the fittest; a point proven by Australian Ninja Warrior.

- The Toowoomba Chronicle and Triple M Darling Downs reported on QUT student engineering team Animatronics Anonymous who took part in the Queensland Assistive Devices Hackathon.
- Lismore’s Northern Star interviewed engineering student Jaden Partridge who’s doing a one-year dream job placement in Formula One.
- Brisbane Development featured 11 QUT students’ designs that have been entered in a King George Square ideas competition, including the ‘Urban Growasis’ concept (pictured) by Jessica Sy.



- The Sunday Mail ran an opinion piece that mentioned a review by QUT’s Commercial and Property Law Research Centre of body corporate laws.
- Lawyers Weekly ran a feature quoting Dr Deanna Grant-Smith on how the absence of level-entry jobs is driving the rise of the intern.
- The Senior News ran a story on an airport guide for people with dementia, developed by the QUT-based Dementia CRC: Carers and Consumers. The Senior also reported Dr Andrea Blake and Dr Lucy Cradduck’s views on retirement village laws, with Dr Cradduck also on 4BC.
- Michael Klaehn joined ABC Radio Brisbane for his regular segment about social media, this week discussing the ‘Phelps vs. Shark’ race on Discovery Channel and Centrelink's social media presence.
- Professor Tommy Chan spoke with ABC Radio Brisbane about bridge design.
- The Sunshine Coast Daily talked to Dr Piet Filet, who is involved in a flood impact event this week, about keeping development off land subject to natural inundation.
- On The Conversation,  Dr Mark Gibbs wrote about the Great Barrier Reef, Professor Terry Flew tackled the need for new global rules for the web, Professor Axel Bruns covered ABC’s good showing on the Australian Twitter News Index for July, and Professor John Scott wrote about sex work industry regulations.
 
Media release date: Monday, August 7, 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).