Effect of large visual changes on the navigation of the nocturnal bull ant, Myrmecia midas
By: Islam, Muzahid, Cody A. Freas, and Ken Cheng. Animal Cognition (2020): 1-10. | Find with Google Scholar »
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Dear all,
It’s been decided – this year’s HDR conference will be via Zoom 9-10-11 June (not all day each day, you will get some time away from the screen!). Please put these dates in your calendars now – all HDR students and staff wherever they may be will be expected to join, so it will be a great experiment in communication and connection!
Otherwise, not much to report. S2 unit convenors are now gearing up for online delivery blended with some face-to-face pracs later in the year. I’m sure S1 unit convenors will provide a treasure trove of useful information based on their experiences!
cheers
Michelle
Save the Date
This Week
Wed 29th April: Zoom meeting for teaching staff to share ideas and experiences on online delivery (organiser is Linda Beaumont)
30th April: MRes application deadline
Next Week
5th May: Department Meeting via Zoom; 1pm – 2pm
Future Events
Tuesday 9th – Thursday 11th June: HDR Conference via Zoom; three days; 9:00am-12:30pm.
Weekly Events
Wed: Shut Up and Write sessions – now online! See below for further details
Wed: Department seminars; Schedule ON OUR WEBPAGE HERE – Chris Reid will send out notices for future seminars to be held on Zoom
General News and Announcements
COVID-19 need to know
GENERAL
- everyone who has been approved to access campus facilities should now have received their official letter. You must call Campus Security on arrival and departure. Otherwise, enjoy working from home!
RESEARCH
- facilities are currently open for essential research. If you are not approved for campus access but would like to be, you should contact Calli Miller. Access to labs/facilities will require sign-off by academic supervisor, lab supervisor, HoD & ExecDean. Physical distancing and working alone guidelines apply.
- only very limited local fieldwork is being approved. Please discuss with our fieldwork managers – Josh (terrestrial) or Nick (marine) – if you would like to go in the field
L&T
- Wednesday regular zoom drop-in sessions for teaching staff to exchange ideas and stay connected
- S2 unit convenors providing feedback this week on how their unit will be delivered
- Reminder that information about resources for online delivery are available at the FSE000 iLearn site, including the Biology section. The Faculty L&T April Newsletter also has lots of tips for online teaching
MRes Recruitment
We need your help to encourage our students to continue into our HDR program.
- We know that HDR research is key to our department research productivity, and the best HDR students heard about the program early in their Bachelor and volunteered with research groups before becoming MREs and/or PhD students.
- Please take the opportunity to make a sales pitch for you, the department and the university!
- Please see the 2020 MRes-Recruitment slides for advertising on iLearn etc.
- Encourage students to contact Matt Kosnick <matthew.kosnik@mq.edu.au> for more information about the Master of Research (Biology) program.
- Encourage them to use the volunteer contact page on the departmental website.
Should students email you – please be nice and encouraging!
The mid-year (July 2020 start) MRes application deadline is the 30th of April. There is another deadline at the end of the year for starting in 2021.
New ICT asset management and expenditure approvals protocol
Effective 1 May 2020 all purchases of ICT hardware, software and services (including ICT related consulting and as-a-service subscriptions) across the University and its controlled entities must follow an established process via the OneHelp (Service Now) platform. For items not available on the Service Now Catalogue, Chief Information Officer (CIO) approval must be obtained in advance of the commencement of a procurement process or a purchase. This approval can be initiated via a OneHelp ticket under the CIO Approval for ICT Expenditure request type in OneHelp. Purchase requisitions and procurement processes for ICT related expenditure will require a copy of the completed OneHelp approval in order to proceed.
If the purchase is intended to be made using a corporate credit card, approval from the CIO via OneHelp must be obtained before purchasing on a credit card and a copy of the OneHelp approval must be attached to the credit card claim.
The ICT asset management and expenditure approval protocol does not replace normal financial delegations required for procurement, it is an additional approval protocol established to complement the financial approval process.
Do you have great ideas for staying connected? Want to share what your friends and colleagues are doing to stay physically distant but socially close?
Send us ideas to share, images to post on the Biology Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts to Calli Miller: <calli.miller@mq.edu.au>
Plant of the Week
This week: Blue Waterlily, Nymphaea caerulea
Many waterways of eastern Australia are enhanced by the presence of Nymphaea caerulea – a beautiful blue waterlily. This splendid aquatic plant may seem to be at home here, but it has its origins in Africa, probably along the River Nile and other waterways of East Africa.
Read more about the origins of the Blue Waterlily: Plant of the week – Blue Waterlilly – Nymphaea caerulea
OPPORTUNITIES
Teaching in BIOL2220 Systems Physiology
We are seeking expressions of interest for casual teaching, specifically convening and lecturing, for BIOL2220 Systems Physiology in S2. If you are interested please send a short CV with a letter outlining your teaching experience to <fse.bio-hod@mq.edu.au> by May 8th. Any enquiries please contact Michelle Leishman at the same email.
Student Bird Data Collection during COVID – BirdLife
BirdLife Australia is currently helping research students affected by the COVID-19 shutdown with a community-, volunteer-led data collection. If your project /data collection has been affected, please consider contacting Katherine Aburrow (katherine.aburrow@birdlife.org.au), indicating your contact details, project title, location and details/methods for data collection. Kathrine will be advertising student projects in the 29th April BirdLife eNews as well as social networks and email channels to seek community and volunteer support, and link students with dedicated volunteers able to help. Citizen-science with a COVID flavour!
The 2020 ECA Research Grants are now extended!
The Ecological Consultants Association of NSW supports ecological research in Australia and would like to award three grants each year to assist researchers to carry out their ecological projects.
- ECA of NSW Conservation Grant ($2000)
- Ray Williams Mammal Research Grant ($2000)
- Bushfire Ecology Research Grant ($1000)
Download a PDF Information and Application Form – Grant Application 2020
Download a Word Application Form – Grant Application Form 2020
Due to the uncertainty of how long the university-imposed restrictions will be in place as a result of COVID-19, the ECA NSW has decided to extend the deadline for the receipt of student grant applications to 30 June 2020.
Winston Churchill Trust is offering funding to do research overseas
See the Churchill Trust website to apply. Closes 30 April
Note: NOT suitable for HDR candidates
2020 Eureka Prizes program announced
The Australian Museum Eureka Prizes are back – and in 2020 we’re marking 30 years of celebrating outstanding scientific achievement. This year, there are 17 prizes on offer across the categories of Research & Innovation, Leadership, Science Engagement and School Science.
Prizes cover a broad spectrum of scientific disciplines, aiming to recognise the work of scientists, researchers and science communicators at all career stages. There’s a prize pool of $170,000 to be shared between winners, and it’s free to enter!
Entry deadline extended to 7pm AEST Friday 15 May.
SEMINARS AND WORKSHOPS
Shut Up and Write Sessions now online!
We have a WhatsApp group and we make times as they suit us, so if you’re interested in being involved, pop Lizzy Lowe an email with your phone number and she’ll add you to the group.
Venture Café – will be convening their community online, via Zoom, and offering the #ThursdayGathering programming in a Virtual format.
For more information visit: https://venturecafesydney.org/whats-on-this-week
HDR NEWS AND OPPORTUNITIES
News from the Palaeobiology Lab
Three Palaeontology HDR students had recent success with external grants: Brittany Laing (Co-tutelle PhD) received funding from the Explorers Club Mamont Scholar Grant. Jack Jones and Leyla Kabaran (MRes Year 2) were both successful in obtaining research grants from the Betty Mayne Scientific Research Fund of the Linnean Society of NSW. Well done to all!
Free one-year RZS NSW membership for students
The Royal Zoological Society of NSW (RZS NSW) is offering free one-year student membership. The benefits of membership of the RZS NSW include:
- The ability to interact with zoologists from Australia and around the world (e.g., at the monthly Wildlife at the Watering Hole)
- Full and open access to Australian Zoologist, the oldest Australian journal of Zoology
- Reduced ticket prices for RZS NSW events, such as:
- The annual forum
- The biennial student career forum
- Ability to apply for grants including the Ethel Mary Read Research Grant and the Paddy Pallin Research Grant.
- Avenues to have a say on topics that concern the Society, such as land clearing, climate change and environmental legislation.
Students can join online at: rzsnsw.org.au
THIS AND THAT
The funny sides of working from home:
Correct Method for Submitting to Department Matters
Department Matters submissions now have their own email address. Please send all your news items for the newsletter to <fse.bionewsletter@mq.edu.au>
Have You Missed Out on an Issue of Department Matters? Back issues can be found at this newsletter archive link for your reading pleasure.
New Publications
Mars Rover Techniques and Lower/Middle Cambrian Microbialites from South Australia: Construction, Biofacies and Biogeochemistry.
By: Teece, Bronwyn L., Simon C. George, Oluwatoosin Bunmi A. Agbaje, Sarah M. Jacquet, and Glenn A. Brock. Astrobiology (2020). | Find with Google Scholar »Retinal topography and spectral sensitivity of the Port Jackson shark (Heterodontus portusjacksoni)
By: Peel, Lauren R., Shaun P. Collin, and Nathan S. Hart. Journal of Comparative Neurology (2020). | Find with Google Scholar »Effect of large visual changes on the navigation of the nocturnal bull ant, Myrmecia midas
By: Islam, Muzahid, Cody A. Freas, and Ken Cheng. Animal Cognition (2020): 1-10. | Find with Google Scholar »A new species of turtle-headed sea Snake (Emydocephalus: Elapidae) endemic to Western Australia
By: Nankivell, JAMES H., C. L. A. I. R. E. Goiran, M. A. T. H. E. W. Hourston, R. I. C. H. A. R. D. Shine, ARNE R. Rasmussen, VICKI A. Thomson, and KATE L. Sanders. Zootaxa 4758, no. 1 (2020): zootaxa-4758. | Find with Google Scholar »Mars Rover Techniques and Lower/Middle Cambrian Microbialites from South Australia: Construction, Biofacies, and Biogeochemistry
By: Teece, Bronwyn L., Simon C. George, Oluwatoosin Bunmi A. Agbaje, Sarah M. Jacquet, and Glenn A. Brock. Astrobiology (2020). | Find with Google Scholar »Parenchyma Abundance in Wood of Evergreen Trees Varies Independently of Nutrients
By: Kotowska, Martyna M., Ian J. Wright, and Mark Westoby. Frontiers in Plant Science 11 (2020): 86. | Find with Google Scholar »Uncovering the function of an enigmatic display: antipredator behaviour in the iconic Australian frillneck lizard
By: Perez-Martinez, Christian A., Julia L. Riley, and Martin J. Whiting. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 129, no. 2 (2020): 425-438. | Find with Google Scholar »The draft nuclear genome assembly of Eucalyptus pauciflora: a pipeline for comparing de novo assemblies
By: Wang, Weiwen, Ashutosh Das, David Kainer, Miriam Schalamun, Alejandro Morales-Suarez, Benjamin Schwessinger, and Robert Lanfear. GigaScience 9, no. 1 (2020): giz160. | Find with Google Scholar »Fast reaction of carbon free radicals with flavonoids and other aromatic compounds
By: Nauser, Thomas, and Janusz M. Gebicki. Archives of biochemistry and biophysics 674 (2019): 108107. | Find with Google Scholar »In the Media
Dr Lizzy Lowe provided comment to Yahoo News identifying pods hanging from a tree made by a Bolas spider.
Read more »
Dr Vanessa Pirotta contributed to the article ‘Sparkling dolphins swim off our coast, but humans are threatening these natural light shows’ to The Conversation.
Read more »Recent Completions
Thomas Claybourn completed and submitted his Co-tutelle PhD thesis titled “Systematics and biostratigraphy of Cambrian Small Shelly Fossils from East Antarctica and South Australia” on 13 April, 2020
Supervised by Prof. Glenn Brock