Queensland College of Art lecturer Professor Susan Best has been appointed a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities, joining luminaries like former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, historian Manning Clark, and renowned artists like Margaret Olley, Sidney Nolan and Arthur Boyd.
The Australian Academy of Humanities was founded in 1969, and Fellowships are awarded to accomplished individuals who have made a contribution to society in a cultural or arts-related sphere.
The Academy’s 600-fellows are leaders in their areas of study and come from a range of diverse disciplines including art, archaeology, history, literature, religion and politics.
Professor Best said she was honoured to have been elected to the prestigious Fellowship.
“I feel privileged to be recognised by the Academy,” she said.
“This is the highest honour for achievement in the humanities in Australia.”
As a renowned art historian, Professor Best’s research has focused on art and affect, and re-examined the relevance of aesthetics in feminist thinking about art.
She
Category: Griffith University Feed
Blues Awards celebrate magnificent year for Matildas
Matildas stars Clare Polkinghorne and Tameka Butt have jointly taken out the 2017 Most Outstanding Sporting Achievement at the Griffith Sports Blues Awards.
The Griffith postgraduate students were part of the Australia team that dominated world soccer during the year, defeating traditional powerhouses Brazil and the United States in the process. Tameka proved the game-breaker in the historic first-time triumph over the US with the winning goal.
After completing a Bachelor of Business, Tameka has started a double degree Master of Business/Master of Marketing. Clare completed a Bachelor of Psychological Science (with honours) before embarking on her current studies, a Master of Criminology and Criminal Justice.
“It was a privilege to watch Clare and Tameka on top of their game as part of a Matildas team very much on top of the world game,” Duncan Free OAM, Director of Griffith Sports College, said. “They have done their country and they have done their
Griffith NDS Roadshow a resounding success
Providing industry relevant employment for Griffith Health students was the aim last week (13 November) when Griffith teamed up with National Disability Services (NDS) and WorkAbility Queensland in a Jobs Roadshow.
Held at Griffith’s Logan campus, the NDS Jobs Roadshow was exclusively offered to Griffith students interested in working for disability organisations following the roll out of the National Disability Insurance Scheme in our region.
Eight service organisations participated in the Roadshow including House with No Steps, Centacare and Real Community Services. All were looking to recruit students studying health-related disciplines, for a large number of positions in and around the Logan/Ipswich and Gold Coast regions.
Follow Up
One of the coordinators for the Roadshow, Dr Rebecca Eaton, said that the event was a big success with many organisations now following up with students regarding employment positions.
“We had 94 students attend the Jobs Roadshow, all of whom were studying a wide range of health-related disciplines,
Education the key to a better life for Griffith grad
When Barat Ali strode across the stage to receive his Bachelor of Animation this month, it marked the end of a long and difficult journey.
That journey has taken him from his home in war-torn Afghanistan, where he left behind everyone and every thing he knew in search of a better life.
At the age of 16, Barat braved a perilous boat trip to claim asylum in Australia, and has spent the past six years carving out a new life in his adopted homeland.
“The situation in Afghanistan is still very bad – there is so much violence, so much poverty,” he said.
“My mother put me on a boat to give me a chance to get an education and a new life.
“Every part of it was hard, but it has been worth it.
“My family still can’t believe I have graduated – I am the first person in my family to have ever gone to
Sustainable growth in the spotlight at 2017 East-West Dialogue on Tourism and the Chinese Dream
The region’s foremost experts in tourism will converge at the Marriott hotel in Surfers Paradise this week for the third annual East-West Dialogue on Tourism and the Chinese Dream conference.
Spearheaded by the Griffith Institute for Tourism (GIFT) and Griffith Tourism Confucius Institute (TCI), the three-day event will be held from Thursday 23 November through Saturday 25 November, and explore a diversity of issues facing the contemporary Asia-Pacific tourism market, unified under the need to address the topic of managing tourism in a way that supports sustainable growth.
The conference will feature opening speeches on the Friday from Tourism Australia chairman and Mantra Group chief executive Bob East, and Griffith University Vice Chancellor Professor Ian O’Connor AC, with an official welcome from Professor Bin Dai, the CEO of the China Tourism Academy, and a dinner keynote from former Tourism Australia and Tourism Queensland chair Don Morris AO.
Also on the keynote speakers bill are
OzHarvest founder Ronni Kahn awarded Griffith honorary doctorate
Lauded social entrepreneur Ronni Kahn has been awarded an honorary doctorate by Griffith University.
As the founder of food-rescue charity OzHarvest, the South Africa-born Kahn was recognised in November for her considerable work and leadership in the realms of entrepreneurship, sustainability, innovation and social impact, which have all been key tenets of her decorated career over the past two decades.
South African-born Kahn founded OzHarvest in 2004 following a stint in hospitality as an events manager, during which she became aware of the sheer amount of still-edible excess food being thrown out by businesses.
In response, she set out to collect the surplus to deliver meals to people in need. What started with one van driving around Sydney – delivering 4000 meals in its first month – has since grown to also encompass services in Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Canberra, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Newcastle and Perth.
Built on four pillars driving the company – Rescue, Educate,
Symposium explores a new way to listen
How does sound help us chart the health of the environment?
Researchers from around the world will explore this question at “Perspectives on Listening”, an international symposium hosted by the Queensland Conservatorium Research Centre and Biosphere Soundscapes next month.
The three-day symposium features live performances, immersive installations, sound walks and field trips across the rainforests of the Sunshine Coast and aquatic ecosystems in Noosa Biosphere Reserve.
The project is part of an exciting portfolio of collaborations across the creative arts and environmental sciences at Griffith University that are investigating the creative and scientific possibilities of acoustic ecology. This has involved environmental field recording, biodiversity monitoring and creative projects that span four continents.
Symposium keynote speaker Steven Feld is a leading American ethnomusicologist, anthropologist, and linguist who will present the 25th anniversary edition of ‘Voices of the Rainforest’ – a composition that captures a day in the life of the Bosavi rainforest and Kaluli people in
Global opportunities for fine arts graduate
Bachelor of Fine Art graduate Zoe Bergmans recently returned from a 3-month study tour in Indonesia after winning a sought after scholarship.
Zoe was one of 60 young people from around the world who won the prestigious Indonesian Art and Cultural Scholarship.
The program was established in 2003, and is designed to share Indonesia’s diverse arts and cultural heritage.
Zoe was based in the country’s cultural capital, Yogyakarta, where she learned the local language and mastered traditional Javanese dance, gamelan music and batik printing.
The experience culminated in a performance for dignitaries including the Indonesian Minister for Foreign Affairs.
For Zoe, the experience was life changing.
“Not only has this last few months taught me so much about Indonesia, but it has also taught me so much about myself,” she said.
“It was incredibly challenging, but also really rewarding.”
A highlight was being taught by local Indonesian artists and craftsmen.
“I spent a lot of time with amazing artists,
After university comes a place by the pool
Chris Wright’s studies were always going to play a part once he called time on life as an elite swimmer. And so it has come to pass with his Bachelor of Environmental Design if not quite as he originally planned.
“A lot of architecture is about thinking outside the box,” Chris (29) says. “And it’s not just about thinking outside the box but also thinking about over there, somewhere different; thinking about and solving a problem for someone else. In many ways that’s what coaching is about.”
Working out what makes them tick
The former Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games swimmer has just taken up the role of assistant coach at the Griffith University pool at the Gold Coast campus, supporting the work of Olympic super coach Michael Bohl.
He is now focused on developing a feeder squad of talented up-and-coming young swimmers who could potentially graduate to Michael Bohl’s high-performance program in the
Women in contact sport research set to be a game-changer
The incredible surge in popularity of women’s contact sport is a key discussion topic and for a Griffith University academic, it forms the framework of the next phase of her research career.
In November’s Australian Research Council Discovery Programmes Scheme funding outcomes, Dr Adele Pavlidis was awarded $317,185 for the project “Women and the rise of contact sport”, to be hosted by the Griffith Centre for Social & Cultural Research.
Dr Pavlidis, an interdisciplinary sociologist, will look at the rise in women’s contact sport and whether this will shift attitudes towards women from an individual and societal perspective.
“What we are concerned with is the transformation of gender identity through the prism of females now being able to participate in physical sports usually the domain of men.
“Women’s contact sporting pursuits, like the burgeoning AFL competition, rugby sevens and rugby league are now commanding serious media and audience attention and become permanent fixtures on our sporting calendars.
“There has