Category: Griffith University Feed

Griffith filmmaker Claire Randall has won an award for Best Documentary at the Uni Shorts Film Festival in New Zealand for her film, Wolfe.
The acclaimed documentary continued its dream run, beating out entries from film schools in the US, Switzerland, China and New Zealand.
“This entire experience has been so unexpected, ” Claire said.

“Every time we recieve this kind of recognition it’s surreal. I’m so grateful the film has resonated with so many audiences.

“UniShorts is one of many festivals that has granted us opportunities we never saw coming.”
The film was motivated by Claire’s own encounter with mental illness as a teenager. It uses interviews and animation to explore a young man’s journey through adolescence with undiagnosed schizophrenia, and his relationship with an imaginary friend, Mister Wolfe.

The Bachelor of Film and Screen Media Production student has spent the past 12 months accompanying the film to festivals around the world.
The journey began in

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Queensland Conservatorium alumnus Kate Miller-Heidke has been announced as the first headline act for Festival 2018.
The multi-platinum selling artist will be a major drawcard at the multi-arts festival, which will run alongside the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games from 4-15 April.
Miller-Heidke graduated from the Queensland Conservatorium in 2002 with a Bachelor of Music, majoring in classical voice.  She will feature on the Queensland Music Stage, which will showcase Queensland’s best musical talent.
Queensland Conservatorium Director Professor Scott Harrison said the Con had produced many remarkable vocalists who had transformed the Australian music scene – from Dami Im to Katie Noonan and Megan Washington.
“Kate Miller-Heidke is one of many talented alumni making their mark on the world stage,” he said.
“We remain the dream destination for aspiring young musicians from around the world – this has been confirmed by our position among the top 50 performing arts programs in the world, and our

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Griffith University has teamed up with Deakin University to develop ‘Why Research Matters’, a two-week online course which is now available for enrolment on the global social learning platform, FutureLearn.
The research methods needed when undertaking a PhD and carrying out research will be demonstrated during the free course which starts on December 4. Learners can complete it at their own pace.
The course has been designed by Professor Nick Barter (left), Academic Director, Griffith Online, and Associate Professor Christopher Stevenson, Deakin University.
“Research has the power to transform lives and make the world a better place in which to live,” Professor Barter said. “It is central to the changes that are happening around us day after day, year on year. Our world evolves because of research.”
The free online course will explore the influence and impact of research on government policy, improvements in healthcare and quality control in the manufacturing industry.
World-class partnership
Mark Lester,

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The Griffith Business School has recognised five outstanding researchers as the winners of this year’s Pro Vice Chancellor’s Research Excellence Awards.
From the Griffith Asia Institute, Associate Professor Robin Roberts has been named as 2017’s most remarkable Individual Early Career Researcher for her work in the University’s Agribusiness stream, with recent ARC Discovery grant recipient Dr Lee Morgenbesser earning a high commendation in the category.
Associate Professor Roberts said she appreciates the award and recognition that comes with it, which adds to an existing research portfolio that currently spans eight different grants worth more than $2.5 million.
Among those pursuits are a four-pronged Mango Agribusiness R&D Program (which includes research into quality, information, biosecurity, and markets and trade) as well as a Vietnam mango study, Indonesia strawberry R&D project and a passionfruit R&D project.
The Department of Employment Relations and Human Resources‘ Dr Rebecca Loudoun (pictured right) earned the Individual Mid-Career Researcher award in light of her extensive contributions

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Translational medical research has been given a major boost with the introduction of a new biobanking resource at Griffith University’s Gold Coast campus.
The Gold Coast Biobank is a purpose-designed biostorage facility bridging the gap in translational clinical research. A first for the Southern Hemisphere, GCBiobank recently installed an automated biostorage, the Arktic, capable of catering for a library of up to 100,000 specimens in a compact package, along with OpenSpecimen, a biostorage management system.
“With this new state-of-the-art technology, we now have the resources to improve the management of our existing samples and the capacity to take on new projects,” says Professor Nigel McMillan from Griffith’s Menzies Health Institute Queensland (MHIQ) and who will speak at the Gold Coast Health Research Week Conference (28-30 November).
“MHIQ is committed to translating innovative health research into better outcomes and so now we are able to offer research collaboration for academics and clinicians whose work

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Investigating a treatment for Ross River virus infection is just one of the clinical research trials underway at Griffith University’s Clinical Trials Unit designed to improve patient care and health outcomes on the Gold Coast.
It’s an arrangement made possible by the newly signed Memorandum of Understanding between Griffith and Gold Coast Health.
The trial – being run for Paradigm Biopharmaceuticals – is one of several commercially sponsored trials being undertaken at Griffith’s Clinical Trials Unit. The trial is hoping to show that the tested intervention may be useful in providing relief from the often excruciating joint pain associated with Ross River virus infection, which has impacted an average of 220 Gold Coasters each year over the past five years.
Gold Coast Health rheumatologist, Associate Professor Jenni Ng is the principal investigator for the trial.
“It’s a great thing for the Gold Coast community to have access to clinical trials that might improve their

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First year Gold Coast IT student, Dylan Birot has become the third member of the Studio 39 group to complete the Startup Catalyst program in California in November.
Startup Catalyst aims to change Australia’s digital enterprise culture by exposing as many people as possible to the new digital companies changing our business and technology world from Silicon Valley.
The continual success of Griffith students in the Startup Catalyst program is building the University’s capacity for a student entrepreneurial culture that compliments the university’s teaching and learning resources.
Fresh from visiting major companies in Silicon Valley including Google, Facebook, Atlassian, Dropbox, Twitter and many others, Dylan hit home on the run, determined to change his own approach to business.
“It’ll sound strange, but it’s almost like I’ve taken on this more VC (venture capitalist) like perspective towards startups now. I’m a lot more critical about ideas and value propositions,” he said.
“I don’t want be another

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While Australia’s road toll has reduced considerably in a generation, Griffith University’s Dr Lyndel Bates will spend the next few years helping to bring the numbers down even lower.
In 2011, Australian drivers aged 17-25 comprised 13 per cent of the population yet this demographic accounted for 22 per cent of all the national road fatalities.
Dr Bates, from the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, is a recipient of the Australian Research Council’s latest award funding outcomes and receives $365 996 for her project “The road to compliance: Integrating three theories.”
“It sounds technical but it really is all about reducing young driver fatalities and injuries by developing a new, integrated theory of policing combining several key elements, some tried and true and some fresh approaches.”
Dr Bates said her research will be framed around the elements of deterrence, procedural justice and third-party policing approaches and will shy away from traditional policing models

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A new Griffith University scientist has revealed plans to potentially save the struggling Queensland oyster industry.
With the pressure of supplying sustainable food to a growing population, Dr Carmel McDougall of Griffith’s Australian Rivers Institute has plans to revolutionise aquaculture by developing a new species of edible oyster.
Dr McDougall has a history of working with oysters and, more specifically, with pearl development. Now she has set her sights on feeding the masses by developing a disease-resistant species known as the Blacklip Oyster.
This species can be used to replace the Sydney Rock Oyster which is extremely susceptible to QX disease, making it difficult to farm.

The Blacklip Oyster has a much faster growth rate than the Sydney Rock Oyster which helps farmers to distribute their product more quickly.
Being a tropical species it will also open up Queensland’s northern coastlines to the potential of oyster farming.
Oyster aquaculture in Queensland has been in a downward

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Up to 70 year nine students from around the Logan and Redlands regions will take part in the second annual GLO@Logan Innovation Challenge this month, giving them the chance to hone their entrepreneurial abilities by drawing on the realms of both business and science in order to address topical health issues.

Held from 28-30 November at Griffith’s Logan campus, the challenge encourages 17 young teams to employ an entrepreneurial mindset combined with the principles of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to solve problems in the health field, Logan campus Innovation Project Officer Ms Celeste Alcaraz said.
“The challenge is about inspiring and creating, but mostly about learning across the disciplines and enjoyment,” Ms Alcaraz said.
“Students can learn about entrepreneurial thinking and topical health-related issues, engage in human-centred design, and employ creativity.”
The competition’s participants will be introduced to health and aged-care issues on the first day, culminating with an intensive brainstorming exercise. On day two,

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