This week, we bid a fond farewell to Phil Dartnell who is leaving us for pastures new. Phil has been standing in for Caitlin while she was on maternity leave and has done an outstanding job in her absence, particularly through the craziness of COVID and the curriculum restructure. A big thankyou to Phil on behalf of the Department for his dedication and professionalism, not to mention being an all-round nice chap!

Unfortunately, this week we lament the passing of Ron Oldfield. I never got to meet Ron, but Alison Downing and colleagues have written a touching and informative tribute that we have included in Department Matters this week. Ron made a very substantial contribution to the development and success of Biological Sciences at Macquarie and I am sure he will be greatly missed by all that knew him.

Cheers

 

7th June: L&T retreat – save the date

 

8th – 9th June: HDR Conference – save the date

 

Admin notices 

Biology Admin team has relocated for the next few weeks to 7 Wally’s Walk ground floor (FSE offices).The best way to communicate with us is via email or by calling the team members extension. You can also set an appointment directly with the person you want to see. When you come to 7WW ground level, please call the extension numbers listed near the foyer phone.

 

Security concerns with after hours access: due to recent incidents, if you are entering Uni buildings after hours by swipe-card access, please do not allow unknown person to enter after you.

 

Travel: all travel, including fieldwork, must have Absence on Duty (AoD) submitted at least 2 weeks in advance of travel dates; this allows time for approvals and bookings. If you see the error ‘Disallowed Key Characters’, try deleting your browser cookies and logging in again.

 

Flu shots – book in for your free staff seasonal influenza vaccine, booking are open now with vaccinations commencing in May. More information can be found at the following link – https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/wellbeing/flu-shots

 

FSE staff are invited to submit an expression of interest for the following positions on the Committees of Academic Senate: 

Committee	Category of membership	New term of office	Current member
Academic Standards and Quality Committee (ASQC)	Faculty staff member nominated by the Faculty Board	1 July 2021 to 30 June 2023	Dr Ian Jamie
Senate Learning and Teaching Committee (SLTC)	Faculty staff member nominated by the Faculty Board	1 July 2021 to 30 June 2023	Dr Kerrie Tomkins

 Nomination process

Each nominee is invited to submit a statement of up to 150 words with their expression of interest. Nominations are welcomed from all Faculty staff and are not restricted to Faculty Board members.  All nominations should be submitted to fse_facultyboard@mq.edu.au, by 5 pm on Monday, 3 May 2021. 

 Role of the Faculty Board

• The Faculty Board will be asked to endorse/vote on the nominations via circular resolution, by Friday, 7 May 2021. 
• Endorsed nominations will be provided by the Faculty Board Secretariat to the Chair of Academic Senate and Academic Senate Standing Committee for approval. 

 Any questions about the roles can be address to Lucy Forshaw, Governance Officer, Governance Services

5.2 FSE Representatives on Academic Senate Committees

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Friends and colleagues will be saddened to hear that Ron Oldfield passed away peacefully on 25^th April, 2021. His funeral will be held on Friday, 7 May 2021, 10.30 am at Macquarie Park Cemetery & Crematorium, Macquarie Park. 

 

Over many years, Ron made a remarkable contribution to the Department of Biological Sciences. He was an integral part of the department from the very beginning of the university in the 1960s, until his retirement which must have been about 2000.  He continued as an honorary, until ill health caught up with him about 4 years ago.

 

 

New University Dive Officer – Jane Mitchell

Meet, greet and have lunch with Macquarie’s new University Dive Officer, Jane Mitchell. 4^th of May at 12 noon. Bring your lunch and meet at the Biology courtyard.

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Suchitra Patki Farewell Card

Staff and students at Biology around mid-2017 may remember Suchitra Patki. She was seconded to help Biology administration during the FSE administration restructure.

 It turns out she’s starting a new, undisclosed venture, outside of Macquarie University and a digital farewell card and gift contribution is being arranged. Click on the link below, if you were lucky enough to receive Suchitra’s help.

https://app.grouptogether.com/Farewell_Suchitra

 

The Department of Biological Sciences YouTube Channel currently has eleven ~2-min videos by different research groups (thanks to Prasanth for excellent editing and for adding branding). Videos are also linked on the MQ website. Contact Martin Whiting if you would like to contribute a video. 

 

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We want your plant snaps!

 

 

Nature Conservation Council’s 2021 Bushfire Conference

 Tuesday 4th, Wednesday 5th and Thursday 6th May – Online
Field Day 4th June – Face-to-face – GET TICKETS HERE

 

Want some help with your research or fieldwork? Contact Jenny Ghabache jenny.ghabache@mq.edu.au for the list of people that have registered their interest in doing volunteer work in our Dept.

 

 

Zoom link:  https://macquarie.zoom.us/j/87106503033?pwd=QUs2cVVUanQ4V3VRK3pSL2NPMTh5dz09&from=addon

 

 

The ARC Centre for Fruit Fly Biosecurity Innovation would like to invite you to join our fourth online seminar of 2021 on Wednesday, May 19 at 9 am (Sydney time – AEST).

 

In this occasion, our special guest will be Dr María Teresa Vera from Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) and Facultad de Agronomía y Zootecnia, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán (Argentina).

 

Seminar title:

We recorded this workshop last year and invite you to watch the recording in your own time, and then join us for an hour of Q and A.

Bring along your tidyverse issues or any questions you have about the tidyverse in general. Post a question on our slack channel beforehand to increase the chances of getting a good answer: https://mqcoders.slack.com

Pre-recorded workshop:  https://github.com/mqRusers/2020_03_Intro-to-Tidyverse

Make sure you download a zip file of all the workshop material before you watch the video (download from green button called “code”).  There are 3 files to open:

• a powerpoint (.ppt) – open in PowerPoint – go through this first up to slide 23.. and this is where the video starts.  
• .rmd file – open this in RStudio
• Video link – on your browser. The video starts quite abruptly, so you’ll need to have the other two files open before you start the video.

Q & A session:

Date: Thursday 6^th May  

Time: 3-4pm

Venue: Zoom meeting – please register for this workshop here.  This will ask you to register and then you will receive a confirmation email with information about joining the meeting.

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Tue 5th May: Sara Hamzelou (PhD student), Proteomics of rice in response to drought stress. 1 pm to 2 pm, 4WW 322 or https://macquarie.zoom.us/j/87366264571?pwd=ZDhteld6KzNMVUtxbFQyNTUvdjhlZz09#

Rescheduled Tue 25th May: Shane R Ellis – Mapping region-specific biochemistry using advanced mass spectrometry imaging technologies.

 

The COMBINE (Australian Computational Biology and Bioinformatics Student Society) is holding the below workshop for students, can we advertise this in your mailing list please? Registration deadline is at the end of next Monday (03/05/2021) AEST and the workshop runs on Tuesday and Thursday next week.

What: Introduction to Python Workshop May 2021

When: Day 1: 04/05/2021 – 1100-1500 AEST / 0100-0500 UTC (click here for your local time zone)

Day 2: 06/05/2021 – 1100-1500 AEST / 0100-0500 UTC (click here for your local time zone)

Where: Online via zoom 

Registration: https://www.combine.org.au/combine-python-workshop-2021/#!event-register/2021/5/4/introduction-to-python

For more information or to stay up to date with COMBINE events please join our mailing list and slack channels.

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Mock Interviews

For more information visit: https://venturecafesydney.org/whats-on-this-week

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HDR NEWS AND OPPORTUNITIES

 

 

NHMRC Postgraduate Scholarships
To support PhD or Masters degrees in public health, medical sciences, and “basic science research”. Applicants must be Aus or NZ citizens, or Aus permanent residents. Apply via grants.gov; closes 9 June 2021. 

 

 

 

Upcoming LGBTQ+ awareness sessions (online) – step 1 of becoming an Ally, or for a refresher: 

• 11^th May – https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/pride-in-diversity-online-learning-lgbtq-awareness-tickets-132206096995
• 8^th June – https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/pride-in-diversity-online-learning-lgbtq-awareness-tickets-132206147145

For step 2, on-campus training, visit the Ally Network SharePoint to register an expression of interest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have You Participated in an Activity for Biology Recently? Don’t forget to fill in the super-quick form here – ACCESS OUTREACH FORM HERE

Department Matters submissions now have their own email address. Please send all your news items for the newsletter to <fse.bionewsletter@mq.edu.au>

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Have You Missed Out on an Issue of Department Matters? Back issues can be found at this newsletter archive link for your reading pleasure.