BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DEPARTMENT MATTERS | April 10,  2015

Dear all,

Please join me for our monthly Departmental Meeting, Tuesday, April 14, 1-2pm, E8 Tearoom. All staff, postdocs and HDR students are welcome to attend.

Agenda thus far:

• MQ Workshop
• Department Industry Liaison Committee
• New HOD
• Your Feedback – summary of your 2014 feedback and what we will do about it

Please send through any other agenda items! Oh, and there are drinks this afternoon! Courtyard!!!

cheerio

Mariella

General News and Announcements

New to the Department

Dr. Narit Thaochan

Narit is from Prince of Songkla University, Thailand, joined the lab in 2015 to carry out research on the role that gut bacteria play in the nutrition of larval Queensland fruit flies. Narit’s research is supported by an Australian government Endeavour Research Fellowship and by a grant from Horticulture Innovation Australia Ltd. Narit (narit_thaochan@yahoo.com) is located up on the Hill. 

Dr Feng Xu

I am Feng Xu from Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China. I will be here for one year as a Visiting Associate in Prof. Whiting’s group. My research have three main areas: 1) conservation biology of big mammals and birds; 2) animal behavior of lizards and birds; 3) the evolution of life histories of the frogs on the islands. I surveyed the distribution range and population size of some endangered species of mammals and birds in northwestern China such as Panthera uncia, Capra sibirica, Falco cherrug, and Chlamydotis undulata. By doing this we provided first hand data on the surviving status of these endangered species in China. I also detected the reason why the body size of the frog enlarged on the islands by the life history theory. We found that predator pressure is the most important reason shaped the pattern. Recently my research is about animal behavior and this is why I am here in Prof. Whiting’s group. I am interested about how the animal’s behavior affected by predators and by human disturbance. I want to learn the behavior experiment design and data analysis here.

Feng (fengxu0622@gmail.com) is located up on the Hill.

Rekha

As you may know by now, Rekha had an accident just before Easter and will be on sick leave for the next few weeks. She is recovering but bored!

Call for Applications – Next Step Initiative – Australia China Young Scientists Exchange Program

The Next Step Initiative will allow for follow-up face to face meetings to deliver the full potential of the YSEP activity by further developing longer term S&T relationships with bilateral partners. The Initiative will facilitate the translation of collaborative research activities towards commercialisation and end use products, cementing longer term outcomes from the S&T linkages formed by YSEP.  

The funding will contribute to travel and related expenses for an Australian researcher to visit China, and would support a 5-10 day visit between June and December 2015. Full details can be seen in the attached application form. Only Australian YSEP researchers who travelled to China and Australian researchers who hosted Chinese YSEP researchers during November 2014 are eligible to apply. We hope that you or one of your colleagues who was involved in hosting Associate Professor Nan Wu will consider applying for this program.

Applications must be submitted by 5.00pm AEDT Thursday 30 April 2015.

If you have any queries, please contact Anne on +61 (0) 3 9864 0920 / anne.houston@atse.org.au.

Australia-Germany research scheme 

The scheme will fund travel and living costs, enabling Australian researchers to visit their German counterparts and German researchers to visit Australia. There is also a strong focus on supporting early career researchers. The scheme is open to Australian researchers at participating Australian universities in all academic fields. Applications are invited from 9 April to 30 June 2015 (see attached).

UA-DAAD_AppForm2015

Home e-waste collection

Do you have e-waste at home?

Did you know your local Council may hold an annual e-waste collection?

Lane Cove Council is holding its annual collection on Saturday 18th April. Residents of the Lane Cove LGA are able to drop their e-waste off at St Ignatius College in Riverview.

E-waste collections are a great way of recycling electrical equipment, particularly small appliances. There are very few options for disposing of electrical appliances in an environmentally friendly way.

Here is a list of what can and can’t be collected: http://www.lanecove.nsw.gov.au/CouncilServices/WasteandRecycling/Pages/EWaste.aspx

North Ryde and Belrose e-waste collection centres

Residents and small business owners can now drop off their unwanted TVs and computers at the SITA locations listed below free of charge. This service is available all year round.

• SITA Australia, 145 Wicks Road, North Ryde
• http://www.sita.com.au/facilities/map-of-australia/ryde
• SITA Australia, Crozier Rd, Belrose
• http://www.sita.com.au/facilities/map-of-australia/belrose

A limit of 15 items per drop off applies. Under no circumstances will products be returned once disposed of.

What’s accepted

• All televisions, such as CRTs, Plasma, LCD and Projection televisions
• Personal computers
• Laptops, notebooks, palmtops and tablets
• Computer monitors
• Parts for personal computers – for example internal hard drives, motherboards, cards, internal power supplies, CPUs, DVD and CD drives
• Computer peripherals – for example mice, keyboards, joysticks, game pads, scanners & web cameras
• Printers – for example ink-jet, dot matrix, laser printers and multi-functional devices.

Temperature Data Loggers needed

If anyone has some temperature data loggers (e.g. tidbits or ibuttions) that can be left and buried in damp sediment for weeks at a time that they are not using and are willing to lend them out, could they please contact me (nicole.christiansen@students.mq.edu.au). Note, if I use them, I will replace any that get damaged or lost.

Jobs – Developer at the Learning & Teaching Center

The Learning and Teaching Centre is seeking an Academic Developer to work full-time until the end of the year.

Further details of the position can be found here

Please circulate to your networks and anyone you think may be interested.

Expressions of interest for Biological Sciences Industry Liaison Committee

Expressions of interest are requested for membership on the new Biological Sciences Industry Liaison Committee, which Phil Taylor will chair. The primary purpose of this committee will be to facilitate active engagement with industry partners and research agencies outside of the higher education sector.  Through these activities we will seek to broaden the scope of collaboration and funding opportunities to support research and research training in the department.  Anyone interstsed in membership of this new committee should contact Phil (phil.taylor@mq.edu.au).

Want new journals or databases?

Just a reminder that the deadline for new journal or database requests is 30 April. This includes anything that has to be acquired through an ongoing subscription. Please email mariette.leroux@mq.edu.au at the library

Register for Sharpen Your Grantsmanship Skills webinar – free with AAAS membership

See attached flyer

Register for Sharpen Your Grantsmanship Skills webinar free with AAAS membership

ABRS National Taxonomy Research Grant Programme – Student Travel Grants are now open!

The ABRS offers financial support to postgraduate students studying at Australian institutions to travel to national or international conferences or workshops relevant to both the student’s research programme in systematics or taxonomy and the Priority Areas for Research Grants.

The ABRS Student Travel Grants round for 2014-15 is now open.  Amounts of either $750 (GST exclusive) for domestic travel or $1,500 (GST exclusive) for international travel are available.  

For more information regarding the Student Travel Grants or for an application form, please see the ABRS website: http://www.environment.gov.au/topics/science-and-research/australian-biological-resources-study/grants/bursaries.

We would be grateful if you could please distribute amongst prospective applicants, place on institution notice boards and in newsletters, etc.

All applications close on 2pm Wednesday 6 May 2015. 

Please contact the ABRS on abrs.grants@environment.gov.au with any questions.

New Publications

In the Media

Recent Completions