By Diego Leiva, School of Government and International Relations
The rise of China has raised concerns in the region and in the West, particularly over the South China Sea disputes and China’s new Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Scholars debate what the impacts of China’s rise are on the current US-led liberal order. Is China going to challenge the existing order? Does China want to replace it with a new order? These are significant questions that were the central theme of a workshop titled “Looking to the future: China and Regional Order” hosted by Griffith Asia Institute on August 28. The workshop was attended by distinguished scholars from Australia and China, with heated discussions on Chinese foreign policy under Xi Jinping and its new assertiveness, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and the implications on the existing regional order.
Understanding China’s institutional strategies
On China’s institutional strategies and the challenges posed to the existing
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2017 Pat Weller Prize shared by a trio of outstanding students
The 2017 Pat Weller Prize has been awarded to three Government and International Relations students.
Dahlia Bar, Shannon Labuschagne and Jake Koerts tied for the award, all receiving the highest final marks in the course.
Shannon Labuschagne said she is proud to have received the award and be recognised for her efforts.
“I believe that politics is a defining feature of humankind and there is nothing else I would rather be studying,” Ms Labuschagne said.
The Pat Weller Prize was established in 2013 in honour of the Centre for Governance and Public Policy’s founding Director Emeritus Professor Patrick Weller.
Since then, Griffith University’s Centre for Governance and Public Policy has given the award to six students for receiving the highest marks in Introduction to Politics.
Students were awarded $500 and a copy of ‘The Craft of Governing’; a renowned textbook on Professor Patrick Weller’s contribution to Australian political science.
Professor Weller has written thirty-nine books on Australian
HRH Duke of York visits Institute for Glycomics
His Royal Highness, The Duke of York KG seen first hand the lifesaving and groundbreaking work Griffith University’s leading Institute for Glycomics is doing.
After unveiling a plaque at the neighbouring Gold Coast University Hospital, His Royal Highness met with Griffith University Vice Chancellor and President Professor Ian O’Connor AC as well as researchers and Institute Director Professor Mark von Itzstein to learn about breakthroughs in its malaria and cancer work.
His Royal Highness has been touring Commonwealth Games venues and educational facilities on the Gold Coast during a short royal tour.
HRH Duke of York Speaks to Professor Michael Good
Meeting Professor Michael Good and researchers Aloysious Ssemaganda and Danielle Stanisic, His Royal Highness toured the lab where scientists are developing a vaccine for malaria they hope will one day rid the world of the devastating disease.
Skyrocketing tourism growth reveals worrying trend for Australia
A United Nations World Tourism Organisation and Griffith University report has found a substantial increase in Asia-Pacific tourism growth will impact Australian markets.
The report, released at the UNWTO General Assembly in Chengdu, estimates that international arrivals to Asia and the Pacific will increase to 353 million, a mammoth 90 per cent jump from 2015.
Deputy Director of the Griffith Institute for Tourism (GIFT) Professor Noel Scott said tourism development in neighbouring Asian countries will lead to increasing tourist numbers in Australia.
“Tourism in Asia and the Pacific is growing at a far greater rate than any other in the world,” Professor Scott said.
“This means that future development will occur in our existing popular destinations such as Sydney, Melbourne and the Gold Coast, creating hotspots and perhaps sparking adverse reaction from local residents.”
Professor Scott also said that many tourism hotspots such as Hong Kong and Bali are grossly underprepared for the rapid growth in
GRIDD Director honoured by Duke of York
Professor Jennifer Martin has been honoured by HRH Prince Andrew as a Bragg Remember with the Royal Institute of Australia.
Prominent Australian scientists were presented with the prestigious membership by the Duke of York on Wednesday, September 20.
Named after prominent Australian Pioneer scientists, Sir William Henry Bragg and Sir William Lawrence Bragg, the membership is the highest category of membership awarded by the Institution and recognises excellence in scientific achievement and commitment to science communication.
Professor Martin is Director of the Griffith Institute for Drug Discovery and this is among a swag of accolades already awarded to her this year.
She has been awarded the Wunderly Oration Medal and was elected to the Australian Academy of Science.
Commonwealth Games Internships among university innovation
Griffith University is featured in the Innovative Research Universities National Innovation Case Study Collection.
As the first digital repository of its kind, the collection showcases the extraordinary ingenuity and hard work ongoing at universities to equip students and graduates with the skills and abilities to meet the challenges of life in the world of work in our time.
IRU Vice Chancellors’ Fellow Jessica Vanderelie said no longer did we accept a courtesy visit to the careers office post exams pre-graduation – IRU members were working to support student and graduate employability from the moment students stepped on campus or clicked to enrol.
The publically available resource has been developed to encourage broader collaboration across the sector and provides a powerful means through which to prevent institutions ‘reinventing the wheel’.
Within the repository, case studies are presented across 20 high level themes, each providing a detailed summary of the rationale for the innovation, description of the
Griffith-led bid for funding a success for QLD Universities
Griffith University will lead a consortium of Queensland Universities following a successful funding bid from the International Education and Training Partnership Fund.
The project is designed to enhance the experience of international higher degree by research (HDR) candidates at Queensland Universities.
The $90,000 project is to deliver an employability program while building cultural competency and global citizenship capabilities in international and domestic HDR candidates.
Professor Sue Berners-Price, Dean of the Griffith Graduate Research School and Convenor Elect for the Australian Council of Graduate Research, said a key strength of this project was that it was supported by all the eight Universities in Queensland, both financially and conceptually and was set to become a project of national interest to the sector.
“The representatives from the eight Universities are from an already established Queensland Deans and Directors of Graduate Schools network who meet quarterly and are committed to the success of this project,” she said.
“This project
Fulbright fellow creates art for the digital age
As a Fulbright fellow, Dr Jason Nelson has joined the ranks of Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners and heads of state.
The American-born Queensland College of Art digital art lecturer undertook his fellowship at the University of Bergen in Norway.
The Fulbright Program is the largest educational exchange program in the world, operating in more than 160 countries.
“The application process took almost a year, so it was quite surreal and strange when the news finally came through,” he said.
“It is a massive amount of work to get there, but I was honoured – it’s such a prestigious fellowship.”
In Norway, Dr Nelson created digital art and poetry, and taught courses on digital culture, writing and art.
“I wanted to foster an interest in creative engagement with technology,” he said.
“I had a huge burst of creativity during my time largely due to being inspired by Norway.
“I walked almost 500km over the year I was over there –
Ground-breaking virtual reality initiative nominated for education award
A world-first virtual reality project, created by a Griffith Business School lecturer, is in line for a national education award.
Blurred Minds, the brainchild of Griffith University’s Timo Dietrich, is a finalist in the ‘Best Educational App or Ebook’ category in this year’s Australian Teachers of Media (ATOM) Awards.
The alcohol education program features the world’s first virtual house party which was shot and produced by Griffith Film School students in Brisbane. It is being rolled out in 20 schools across Queensland in 2017.
“It is aimed at 15-year-old Australian students and the decisions they have to make about alcohol,” Dr Dietrich said.
“The primary objectives of Blurred Minds are the reduction of peer pressure susceptibility and positive expectancies surrounding drinking.
“We also want to encourage teenagers to look out for and after their mates.”
The ground-breaking project, which is directed and produced by Griffith students Claire Randall, Jessica Dee and Gabrielle Kempe, will have a
GBS prize honours memory of the late Professor Russell Trood
During a distinguished life and career, Professor Russell Trood embodied qualities including a belief in education, a spirit of philanthropy and the desire to shape and inform policy towards a better and fairer world.
A great friend of Griffith University, his example lives on thanks to the generosity behind the establishment of the Russell Trood Prize for International Relations, donated through Professor Trood’s estate and administered by the Griffith Business School.
For the next 10 years, this $500 annual prize will go to the highest achieving first-year international relations student at Griffith University.
When Professor Trood passed away from thyroid cancer in January 2017, his loss inspired a stream of tributes acknowledging a long and admirable contribution to politics, education, philanthropy, international diplomacy and the community. These were led by the Prime Minister of Australia, The Honourable Malcolm Turnbull, who described Professor Trood as “one of Australia’s finest foreign policy minds” and “an unfailingly