Research into sports activity in Australian children suggests that non-elite participants are losing interest in sport more rapidly and disengaging, not just from sport, but all physical activity. While the leading sports keep growing, their supporting communities are struggling.
It once seemed the sporting fields of suburban and rural Australia churned out world champions at will. The clubs that developed the children into champions also fostered a culture of amateur competition that kept communities connected and healthy.
But the world is now a more complex and demanding place for children and research by Griffith, in partnership with some of the major sporting codes, is trying to turn this trend around.
Dr Wayne Usher is an education researcher at Menzies Health Institute Qld and in 2016 he formed a commercial research partnership with the National Rugby League (NRL) to look into some of the social issues affecting sporting clubs and communities around Australia.
At the
Category: Griffith University Feed
MBA students excel at Global Business Challenge finals
A team of students from Griffith University’s five-star MBA program has enjoyed remarkable success at this year’s Global Business Challenge finals, taking second place among an overall competitive field comprising 98 teams from 38 universities across 14 countries.
This year hosted by Griffith and administered by the Queensland University of Technology, the fourth Global Business Challenge presented its participants with the project of designing ‘sustainable solutions to global problems’, a challenge to which Wendy Zernike, Erik Malan and Les Adams rose with aplomb through LRES (Long-term Renewable Energy Storage), their concept for making the move from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
From left: MBA Director Associate Professor Chris Fleming, Erik Malan, Les Adams, Wendy Zernike, team mentor Andrew Zaniewski and Pro Vice Chancellor (Business) Professor David Grant at the 2017 Global Business Challenge.
MBA Director Associate Professor Chris Fleming congratulated the team on their competition result, saying that he is “incredibly proud” of their achievement.
“The team has gone to
Rehabilitation needs to ramp up to improve lives and save money
In a year when the World Health Organisation (WHO) has demanded action to lift rehabilitation services globally to improve patient lives and save money, Australia’s leading rehabilitation research group, the Hopkins Centre, is arguing that rehabilitation represents both value for money and better outcomes.
Hosting its first international research symposium (Tuesday 14 November), the Hopkins Centre – a joint initiative of Griffith University and Brisbane’s Metro South Health Service – will present evidence that rehabilitation makes a difference at every stage, from the acute ICU environment for critical spinal injury patients to prevent respiratory failure, through to vocational programs to get people with spinal injuries back to work earlier.
The WHO has endorsed a 2030 Call for Action on rehabilitation, describing the un-met need worldwide as ‘profound’.
Access to services has significantly declined
A leading policy expert from Canada will tell the symposium how access to services has significantly declined over the past few
Industry looking for answers when it comes to lack of employee engagement in Australia
According to a recent Gallup poll, only 14% of employees in Australia and New Zealand feel they are engaged with their workplace, which is a 10% drop from a similar poll in 2012. This significant decline has HR practitioners in the country wondering what the cause is? And what can be done to stop it?
Centre for Work, Organisation and Wellbeing researcher Dr Paula Mowbray was invited to speak on the topic for the Australian Industry Group (Ai Group) in Melbourne in October.
During her presentation, she spoke about the latest academic models of engagement, approaches to building a modern and engaged workplace and possible pitfalls of work intensification.
“I guess there’s this big concern that we’re spending all this money on engagement surveys or researchers who are doing research, so why aren’t we seeing any improvement?” said Mowbray.
According to Mowbray, researchers are now pointing out that there needs to be a better
Griffith Business School attracts over $850,000 in research funding through ARC Discovery Program
A trio of Griffith Business School researchers has been awarded significant funding through the Australian Research Council’s Discovery Program, collectively attracting more than $890,000 in grant money for their projects.
GBS academic Dr Kerry Bodle and the Centre for Governance & Public Policy’s Dr Lee Morgenbesser and Professor Renee Jeffery together represent nearly 13 per cent of total funding for Griffith University through Discovery schemes, with the broader institution seeing 20 successful projects approved for a total of more than $7.5 million.
Dr Kerry Bodle
Dr Bodle, a multi-grant recipient and long-time contributor to the ongoing development of research into First Peoples, is the project head for the University’s sole successful project to earn funding under the ARC Discovery Indigenous program, attracting $320,249 for her project, “Empowering Indigenous businesses through improved financial literacy”.
Dr Bodle is an active participant within the tertiary Indigenous education sphere and driver of the first Indigenous business course at
Seagrass study key to ecosystem success
Declining seagrass meadows in Moreton Bay will be studied by an international team of researchers to overcome the largest remaining barrier to effective management of the world’s marine resources.
The team, led by researchers from the Australian Rivers Institute at Griffith University and funded by the Australian Research Council, will develop new software tools that will help manage the cumulative impacts that threaten coastal ecosystems.
Ecosystems like seagrass meadows, mangroves and coral reefs are highly threatened but globally important. They provide habitat for fish, support fisheries, capture carbon from the atmosphere and are food for many animals including dugongs.
Lead Dr Chris Brown said decision makers must manage a bewildering array of threats that coastal ecosystems face.
“Many coastal ecosystems are threatened by urbanisation, overfishing, pollution and climate change all at once,” he said.
“Managers are often unsure about how to plan for cumulative impacts. They typically have very limited data on how cumulative impacts
Australian Research Council success for Griffith
Griffith University has been awarded more than $7.5 million for research into everything from frogs to disease in plants and batteries.
The Australian Research Council announced the outcomes from the Discovery Programmes schemes today (November 10), with Griffith receiving 13 ARC Discovery Projects, one Discovery Indigenous, five Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards (DECRA) and one Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) grant.
The $1.7 million DECRA awards had an outstanding success rate of 22.7 per cent in a national success rate of 16.3 per cent.
Vice Chancellor Professor Ian O’Connor AC and and Senior Deputy Vice Chancellor Professor Ned Pankhurst congratulated the recipients on their achievements.
The successful projects are:
ARC Discovery Projects
Dr John Atack from the Institute for Glycomics was awarded $482,299 for project “Phase-variable epigenetic regulators in bacterial veterinary pathogens”.
Project team: Dr Patrick Blackall (The University of Queensland)
Dr William Bennett from the Environmental Futures Research Institute was awarded $327,316 for project “Unravelling vanadium biogeochemistry in modern marine sediments”.
Project team: Prof Enzo Lombi (University
Griffith MBA achieves five-star GMAA ranking for another year
Griffith University has again been recognised for its commitment to delivering outstanding educational experiences and outcomes following the unveiling of the Graduate Management Association of Australia (GMAA) five-star rankings for 2017.
Building on the success of last year’s result, the University’s Master of Business Administration (MBA) program has once more attained one of the GMAA’s coveted top ratings, less than 10 of which have been issued across the country this year.
Pro Vice Chancellor (Business) Professor David Grant said that the consecutive five-star rankings continue to strengthen the Griffith Business School’s reputation as a highly respected hotbed of innovation and excellence in its field.
“We are exceptionally proud to see the Griffith MBA again recognised as a market leader by the GMAA,” Professor Grant said. “The program’s consecutive five-star rankings in 2016 and 2017 are indicative of its comprehensive and progressive scope, in line with the University’s aim of fostering outstanding graduates who
Waste management recognised by the United Nations
Griffith University has been recognised by the United Nations as an expert in waste management.
The UN has shown the university is one of the top in Australia in this area, hosting a workshop on waste management at the Nathan campus in a first for Queensland.
A 15-member Vietnamese delegation from the country’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment attended the workshop, funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), looked at ways to encourage the private sector investing in the country.
The workshop was conducted by Dr Sunil Herat, Senior Lecturer in Waste Management, who provides training in Municipal Solid Waste Management, Hazardous Waste Management and Cleaner Production & Eco-efficiency, with a special emphasis on developing and emerging nations.
Dr.Herat is a member of the Expert Subsidiary Group of United Nations Regional 3R Forum for Asia and Pacific providing his expertise on sustainable management of electronic waste
Griffith academic receives prestigious award for fight against child trafficking
Child rights lawyer and Griffith Law School academic Kate van Doore has been recognised at this year’s prestigious Anti-Slavery Australia Freedom Awards after more than a year working to increase awareness around the insidious problem of child trafficking through orphanages in developing countries.
Founded in 2011 and held biennially since 2013, the Freedom Awards recognise outstanding individuals and organisations working to fight against human trafficking, slavery and slavery-like practices.
Ms van Doore’s work has been groundbreaking in starting a global conversation about orphanage trafficking and how we can practically combat it.
She said that receiving the award was unexpected but welcome following her efforts both domestically and internationally to bring awareness to the trafficking of children into orphanages.
Ms van Doore has focused on formalising a legal definition of the practice of paper orphaning – which involves children being recruited from their families into orphanages to meet the demand of orphanage tourism and funding