How countries can best implement a sustainable refugee action plan was the focus of recent UN talks in Geneva attended by Professor Pene Mathew, Dean of Griffith Law School.
The High Commissioner’s 10th Dialogue on Protection Challenges held at the Palais des Nations on December 12 and 13, evaluated the progress of a global compact on refugees.
The compact is under development by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees following last year’s New York Declaration on Refugees and Migrants.
The dialogue focussed on the outcomes of the five thematic discussions held between July and November 2017 and the roll-out of the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF) in 13 countries.
Professor Mathew said the dialogue showcased significant achievements by host countries in the developing world.
“There are many countries in such areas that are implementing good practices under the CRRF such as avoiding housing refugees in camps and providing refugees access to livelihoods,’’ Professor Mathew said.
“The refugee youth delegates provided a
Category: Griffith University Feed
Griffith in first Defence Cooperative Research Centre
Griffith University will look for smart machine technologies in the first Defence Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Trusted
Autonomous Systems.
Minister for Defence Industry, the Hon Christopher Pyne MP, announced the formation of the centre being set up under the Next Generation Technologies Fund, with $50 million invested over seven years to deliver trustworthy smart-machine technologies for new defence capabilities based on advanced humanmachine teaming concepts.
Minister Pyne said the headquarters of the Defence CRC for Trusted Autonomous Systems would be located in Queensland.
“This announcement is great for the state of Queensland, and clearly proves that our biggest build-up of defence capability in our country’s history is truly a national endeavour”, Minister Pyne said.
There will be three Defence CRC research projects led by BAE Systems, Thales Australia and Lockheed Martin in the land, maritime and aerospace domains.
Griffith is part of the aerospace domain.
One project will develop a trusted event analytics framework that can
Democracy’s at home with Anne
Political expert and Griffith University scholar Professor Anne Tiernan has been appointed to the board of the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House, an honour that brings with it professional and personal confluence for the lauded academic.
Professor Tiernan, who is the Dean (Engagement) for Griffith Business School and was foundation Director of the university’s Policy Innovation Hub, has spent her career fostering knowledge and understanding of Australian governance and public policy, but her interest in such topics actually extends back to her childhood.
She recalls listening to AM and PM in the car with her father as a child, and remembers “as clear as anything” the day the Whitlam government fell, when she was seven. Unsurprisingly, Professor Tiernan has been enchanted by the “iconic” building of Old Parliament House since.
“I was always interested in politics and current affairs, and politics and current affairs was, growing up, Old Parliament House,”
End the ivory trade deadlock to protect elephants
A team of leading international researchers is working to break the stalemate on ivory trade policy.
For decades there has been a deadlock on the controversial issue.
One side promotes regulated ivory markets as a way of raising much needed funds to fight poaching, while the other side argues that prohibiting all ivory trade is the best solution for saving elephants.
Researchers from 14 organisations including Griffith University, the University of Queensland, Oxford, Cambridge, Yale and Monash Universities have outlined their concerns and recommendations in Science today.
Lead researcher Dr Duan Biggs, of Griffith’s Environmental Futures Research Institute, said the 30-year-old deadlock on whether to trade ivory was bad for elephant conservation and wasted valuable conservation resources.
“Scientific information alone will not solve contentious issues like ivory trade,” said Dr Biggs.
“The continued polarisation of this debate stems from a failure to recognise the different moral perspectives of stakeholders.
“Identifying people’s beliefs, values and perspectives on ivory
Persistent pain a research focus for new Menzies Foundation Professor
Improving musculoskeletal health and reducing persistent pain are some of the research areas of Professor Michel Coppieters, the newly appointed Menzies Foundation Professor of Allied Health Research at Griffith University.
Professor Coppieters has a special interest in neuropathic pain, which is pain that originates from the peripheral or central nervous system. His research aims to increase understanding of the mechanisms of neuropathic pain, how it evolves, improving the way it is diagnosed and the potential for non-surgical and non-pharmacological management.
“Neuropathic pain is common, but typically difficult to treat,” he says.
“For example, following breast cancer treatment, a significant proportion of women develop neuropathic pain in their arm, and some may experience significant functional limitations.”
“Considering the increased survival rates and longer life expectancy, prevention and successful management of these side effects is important as they can have a significant impact on people’s lives,” he says. “Similarly, neuropathies are increasingly common in people with
Griffith professor appointed President of ANZ Academy of International Business
Griffith-based International Business and Investment scholar Professor Sara McGaughey has been appointed as President and Chair of the Australia and New Zealand chapter of the Academy of International Business (AIB-ANZ).
Professor McGaughey, a member of Griffith Business School‘s Department of International Business and Asian Studies and the Griffith Asia Institute, will be joined by fellow IBAS and GAI academic Dr Dhara Shah, who has also joined the AIB-ANZ executive committee.
“The AIB-ANZ annual chapter meeting is hosted each year in a different location within Australia or New Zealand, and is very multi-disciplinary,” Professor McGaughey (pictured right) said.
“It typically involves a full-day research symposium and a paper development workshop, with distinguished scholars of international business providing feedback on research at all stages of development. Participants come from Australia and New Zealand, as well as further abroad.”
The Academy of International Business is regarded as the leading association of scholars and specialists in international business. Drawing from academics, consultants,
Mental health of emergency services personnel and HRM: preliminary findings
The results of a survey conducted by researchers at the Centre for Work, Organisation and Wellbeing with 272 Australian paramedics has revealed the invaluable role of family, friends and work supervisors’ support as they go about their job.
With three years’ funding from the Australia Research Council Linkage program (LP160100004) and industry partners United Voice (QLD and NT branches) and the Ambulance Employees Association SA Inc., the study is looking at the human resource management (HRM) and employee support systems in place in emergency services organisations, with a particular focus on employee experiences of trauma and its associated mental health outcomes.
Dr Ashlea Kellner
“Progress on the project over this year has been very good, with a large portion of survey data collected and a high response rate achieved”, noted Dr Ashlea Kellner (pictured left), one of two Research Fellows working on the project. “Phone surveys are being conducted across three Australian states by union employees, and data for one state has
Griffith Research Fellow to join panel with ex-president of Costa Rica on US sojourn
Griffith University Research Fellow Dr Ferran Martinez i Coma is set to find himself in internationally esteemed company when he travels to the United States on a speaking trip this month.
Dr Martinez i Coma has been invited to speak at both the Organisation of American States and the US Department of State Bureau of Intelligence and Research as part of his week-long sojourn.
During his engagement at the OAS – an event to which he was the only academic invited – Dr Martinez i Coma will share a panel with former President of Costa Rica Laura Chinchilla as well as Craig Jenness, the Director of Electoral Assistance at the Department of Political Affairs at the United Nations.
His presentation there will centre on research analysing the degree of implementation for more than 1000 recommendations in over 100 election observer missions that have been deployed by the organisation in the past 15 years.
At the Department
National Teaching Award for Griffith Midwifery Program
Griffith’s internationally acclaimed Bachelor of Midwifery program has been recognised with a prestigious 2017 Australian Award for University Teaching (AAUT) for Programs that Enhance Learning.
The award was announced at the Department of Education and Training’s Australian Awards Presentation Ceremony in Melbourne.
The Federal Minister for Education and Training the Honourable Simon Birmingham MP acknowledged the innovative and outstanding contribution which Griffith’s Midwifery program has made to the quality of student learning and experience.
“The range of programs acknowledged this year have set a benchmark for ongoing learning and teacher activities in Australian higher education institutions,” Senator Birmingham said.
Led by Head of Midwifery, Professor Jenny Gamble, Griffith’s Midwifery program was singled out for its excellence in delivering innovation, flexibility, and quality in curricula in both learning and teaching.
“Having a clear vision about what our teaching and learning program should be while also being adaptive with new technologies has been instrumental in achieving our
Upper body strength key factor in men’s bodily attractiveness
What makes a man’s body attractive? In many mammalian species, females evolved to prefer the strongest males. According to research from Griffith University, the same is true of humans.
Dr Aaron Sell from the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice said cues of upper body strength make a man attractive, including having wider shoulders, being physically fit and having greater handgrip strength.
“Evolutionary psychologists have shown that women’s mate choices use many cues of men’s genetic quality and ability to invest resources in the woman and her offspring,’’ he said.
“Among our ancestors, one variable that predicted both a man’s genetic quality and his ability to invest was the man’s formidability. Therefore, modern women should still have mate choice mechanisms that respond to cues of a man’s fighting ability.
“One crucial component of a man’s ability to fight was his upper body strength.”
In the study, the researchers tested how important physical strength is to