Category: Griffith University Feed

One of Griffith University’s senior lecturers has won a prestigious Queensland Day Award during the 2017 annual celebrations.
Dr Tapan Sarker, from the Department of International Business and Asian Studies in Griffith Business School, was awarded the honour by the Minister for Innovation, Science and Digital Economy, Hon Leeanne Enoch MP at an event on June 10.

Dr Sarker was recognised for his contribution to community works including organising fundraising events for local schools, participating in a community tree planting program and organising multicultural events to promote social inclusiveness and cultural heritage of South Asian communities living in Brisbane.
Dr Sarker says he was honoured to receive such a commendation. “I am so excited to win the prestigious Queensland Day Award 2017,” he says. “I would like to thank Griffith Business School for all the support that I have received so far in furthering my civic duty and to help the broader

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By Dr Samara McPhedran, Senior Research Fellow, Violence Research and Prevention Program
After 18 months of false starts, Australia is about to hold another gun amnesty for three months from July 1.
Last week, Justice Minister Michael Keenan claimed the amnesty would take illegal guns off Australian streets. He went on to link the amnesty with terrorism, citing the Lindt Cafe siege and the murder of Curtis Cheng as examples.
In a time when the spectre of terrorism is increasingly used as both a shield to prevent scrutiny of policies and a sword to attack anybody who criticises government decisions, we would do well not to accept at face value Keenan’s claims. So, are gun amnesties an effective way of tackling serious criminal activity?
What is an ‘illegal gun’?
Dr Samara McPhedran
To legally own a firearm in Australia, you must have a licence.
Since 1996, all firearms must be registered. Unregistered firearms are illegal.
Anyone who possesses a firearm

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One of  Australia’s leading transport experts believes significant misconceptions prevail around Brisbane’s proposed Cross River Rail project.
“Yes, it’s creating new stations downtown and a big new tunnel,” said Associate Professor Matthew Burke, noting that’s often all that’s shown when a map features in the media.
“But the greatest impacts aren’t in the city centre – they’re in increased train frequencies and better travel times for people living in around 140 suburban stations.
“It’s places like Birkdale, Booval and Bald Hills that will finally be able to get decent train frequencies.”
The Queensland Government announced this week is would proceed with the $5.4 billion project with or without help from its federal counterparts, a move that Assoc. Prof Burke said is understandable.
“The timings are such that if we don’t get building soon, and if we get the projected growth in passengers, the rail system will again be plunged into crisis.”
Assoc. Prof Burke, of Griffith’s

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From August 2017, prospective teaching students will be required to submit a 1000-word essay on why they want to teach before being accepted into Queensland universities.
As well as meeting academic requirements, applicants will have to write 500 words about their motivation and suitability to teach and another 500 words about their learning or leadership activities that demonstrate a commitment to learning.
In this section they are encouraged to describe examples from school or work or personal experience.
Developed by the Queensland Council of Deans in collaboration with the Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre, the new requirement aims to select candidates with personal qualities that predispose them to become better teachers.
Attributes such as motivation to help others learn, organisation skills and being conscientious are all attributes that will be favourably looked upon.
Professor Donna Pendergast, School of Education & Professional Studies Dean.
Griffith University Dean of Education and Professional Studies and Chair of the Queensland Council

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This is just one of the Griffith University School of Nursing and Midwifery good news studies up for discussion at the upcoming International Confederation of Midwives Triennial Congress.
To be held in Toronto, Canada, on 18-22 June, the Congress represents and works to strengthen professional associations of midwives throughout the world and represents 114 countries.
Dr Kathleen Baird from Griffith’s Menzies Health Institute Queensland will discuss the training program that has been implemented with midwives from the Logan, Redland and Gold Coast areas, to promote antenatal enquiry and effectively reduce the incidence of domestic violence in this group of women.
Improved confidence to undertake enquiry
Results from the study showed that following a full day training workshop, 93 per cent of the participating midwives reported improved confidence to undertake routine enquiry.
“We know that in Australia between one and two women a week continue to be murdered and within Queensland alone from 2006 to 2016,

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Two Griffith University researchers have received special commendations at the inaugural national Excellence in Graduate Research Education Awards, hosted by the Australian Council of Graduate Research (ACGR).
Dean and Head, School of Education and Professional Studies, Professor Donna Pendergast, and Deputy Head (Research), School of Environment, Professor Catherine Pickering, received their awards at a special event in Sydney.
Professor Pendergast was recognised for her work in the Graduate Research Supervision category, and Professor Pickering was acknowledged for achievements in the Graduate Research Leadership space.
“This award represents the achievements of each and every HDR student I have had the privilege to supervise over the years,’’ Professor Pendergast said.
“HDR supervision is an exciting part of my work, with the opportunity to engage with people who are highly motivated and contributing to new thinking.”
Professor Pendergast’s approach to supervision, particularly her concept of Golden Threads, was shared at the awards ceremony.
“Golden threads run through students’ research

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The country’s first symposium on recycled organics will tackle their potential to create an industry worth more than $1 billion.
Australia produces 20 million tonnes of wasted organics – garden organics, forestry residues, municipal solid wastes, agricultural residues, biosolids, green waste and timber – each year.
Professor Chengrong Chen of the Griffith School of Environment, said currently 44 per cent of organics were recycled, 9 per cent were used to produce electricity and 47 per cent went to landfill.
“If we can recycle that remaining 47 per cent it could create an industry in recycled organics worth more than $1 billion,” he said.
“On the one hand we generate waste but on the other hand we’re saying how can we put that back to make things grow better?”
Held in partnership with Soil Science Australia and being opened by Queensland Chief Scientist Professor Suzanne Miller the symposium held at Griffith’s Nathan campus on Thursday (June 15)

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When Professor Michael Good first arrived at Griffith University seven years ago he never imagined that a vaccine to protect against the nasty Streptococcus A infection would already be at pharmaceutical development stage.
But with the support of Vice Chancellor Ian O’Connor, Institute for Glycomics Director Professor Mark von Itzstein and a remarkable research team working in the Institute’s Laboratory for Vaccines for the Developing World, the NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow was able to raise hope for millions.
Professor Good’s team’s outstanding work led to a major translational outcome for the Institute in 2016, with the signing of a significant licensing agreement with major international vaccine manufacturing company, Olymvax Biopharmaceuticals in China. It is for this achievement they have been recognised with the Vice Chancellor’s Research Excellence Award for a research group or team.

Their needle-free vaccine targets Streptococcus A infections, the cause of strep throat and rheumatic heart disease.
Globally it is

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Award-winning playwright, actor and Griffith PhD candidate, Margi Brown Ash, will present a double bill performance of her works He Dreamed a Train and Eve at the Brisbane Powerhouse in late June/July.
It will be the first time the works have been performed as a double bill. As part of her PhD Margi wrote the scripts for He Dreamed a Train and Eve (together with Home, presented by Qld Theatre in 2015). The three plays form a trilogy of belonging and how people find their place in the world.
Margi, who is completing her PhD under the supervision of Professor Michael Balfour, Dr Linda Hassall and Professor Emeritus Bruce Burton, came to her PhD as a mature-age student.
With two master’s degrees in drama and counselling, Margi is no stranger to academe, teaching both areas at QUT for many years, while fitting it around her family and theatre commitments.
“At 65 I’m doing my PhD for very different reasons than someone younger may,’’ she

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Griffith University rock art expert Professor Paul Taçon has been announced the winner of the Research Leadership Award in the 2016 Vice Chancellor’s Research Excellence Awards.
For more than 36 years, the director of Griffith’s Place, Evolution and Rock Art Heritage Unit and Chair in Rock Art Research has been exploring the rock art sites of Australia and south-east Asia, while collaborating with Indigenous peoples in archaeological research.  
In 2016 alone, he helped establish the Australian Research Centre of Human Evolution and the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research. He led a large field research team in northwest Arnhem Land which discovered 160 undocumented rock art sites. He also published more than a dozen research papers, as well as a book.
“In the more than 12 years I have been at Griffith University I have worked hard to build many successful research teams and projects, mentor junior colleagues and guide PhD

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