BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DEPARTMENT MATTERS | August 28, 2015

Michelle

General News and Announcements

Professor Geoff Sharman

Last week one of the founding professors of the Department of Biological Sciences, Professor Geoffrey Sharman, died at the age of 90 in a nursing home at Deloraine in Tasmania.

Professor Sharman was not only one of our foundation professors and our 2nd Head of School, but our first Fellow of the Australian Academy of Sciences. He was Head of the School of Biological Sciences 1971-1973 and 1982-1984 and was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Sciences in 1980. He made major contributions in the field of marsupial evolutionary biology, particularly in the field of cytogenetics, reproductive physiology and taxonomy. Professor Sharman established the Biological Sciences Fauna Park which housed the most important collection of research marsupials in Australia. Using this facility he initiated a major, long-term study of rock wallabies that resulted in fundamental taxonomic revision of these important native species. He was the first to establish the chromosome number of many Australian marsupials and show that marsupials have a unique form of X-chromosome inactivation.

Congratulations to Melanie Bishop!!

Mel has received the 2015 Vice-Chancellor’s Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning! She’s been recognized for leadership in implementing active-learning approaches in the Sciences through developing and delivering a lecture-less flipped classroom unit.

Seeking Employment

Hi, my name is Fernando Viscardi. I am a biologist from Brazil who will be in Sydney on a Working Holiday Visa (Italian passport). I would like to apply for jobs in behavioural or environmental areas of Biology. If you are looking for any help in the lab or field please email me <viscardi.biologist@gmail.com>.  Anne Marie also has a copy of my CV which she can send if you’d like to review that first.

REMINDER: 2017-18 call for applications for sea time on RV Investigator

This is a friendly reminder that if you lodged a pre-proposal a few weeks ago that you’ll need to submit your full application for sea time on RV Investigator in 2017-18 by Friday, 4 September 2015.

Further details on applying for use of Investigator and application forms are available through the MNF website here.

Paddock/large area needed for sound propagation experiment

HEC Pakistan Document of Understanding

Please direct any potential Pakistani candidates to this opportunity.

No Seminar this Week – Call for Speakers in 2016

Elizabeth Madin and Mel Zeppel are your seminar series co-ordinators.  They are now taking speaker nominations for first semester 2016.

We want to continue to have a diverse and exciting lineup and we need your help! We’re particularly interested in bringing in any overseas/interstate visitors that may be in Australia or Sydney for conferences, meetings, etc. Please send any nominations to Elizabeth (dr.elizabeth.madin@gmail.com) or Mel (melanie.zeppel@mq.edu.au) by next Friday, Sept. 4.

Please also note that due to a recent cancellation, there will be no department lunchtime seminar next week (Sept. 2).

OLT Announcements

A new Learning and Teaching institute
As of 1 July 2016 a new learning and teaching institute will be established. Further information about this is on the OLT website here.

2016 Information and Application Instructions for Grants
Information and application instructions have been released for the following OLT grant programs in 2016:
• Innovation and Development grants
• Strategic Priority Commissioned grants

Information and application instructions can be found on the OLT website here.

In 2016, one round of grants will be offered by the OLT, accepting both Innovation and Development grants, and Strategic Priority Commissioned grants. Expressions of Interest will not be accepted in 2016 by the OLT. Seed grants and extension grants will not be offered by the OLT in 2016.

The closing date of the 2016 round is Monday 2 November 2015.

Some minor changes in comparison to the 2015 application instructions are:
1. The set up application instructions applies to both Innovation and Development grants and Strategic Priority Commissioned grants;
2. Priority areas:

• For Innovation and Development grants: the same priority areas as in 2015, with some re-focused – see updated information provided per priority area;
• For Strategic Priority Commissioned grants: new priorities for 2016, to reflect current and emerging priorities as identified by the higher education sector;

3. Project duration and funding: project duration is a maximum of two years, and funding is up to $500,000; and
4. Further changes are outlined on page iv of the application instructions.

*Nomination instructions for Awards will be uploaded to the OLT website by the end of August 2015.

Klaus Koop Seminar – Biology Tea Room Tuesday 1PM

Klaus Koop will be talking about “university-government partnerships”, reflecting on a career of observations of what works and what doesn’t. Klaus is on the board of the Environmental Trust, and would be happy to field questions about the trust. It is a good opportunity to think creatively about government research partnerships.

Please see here & here for further details.

Boy’s Soccer Boots – Free to Good Home

#likeagirl from Deloitte

Scan news headlines and you will find technology companies coming under increasing pressure to be more inclusive of diversity. Women in STEM – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – is a particular hotspot of concern. We profile two great case studies on what Deloitte Australia is doing to address the experiences of women in our Technology Advisory and Enterprise Information Management practices. We also look at UK research on the impact of career breaks on women’s career trajectories in STEM: reboot, reroute or retreat?

And for something different – click here to view #likeagirl.

Biology Garden – changes

You may have noticed (and heard) some tree removal over the past few weeks. This is the first stage in a project to renew the biology garden.The Frank Mercer Biological Sciences garden is a very important teaching garden for our department and an integral part of the Arboretum and the campus.

A working group has been formed to plan the future arrangement and type of plants in the garden. If you have suggestions or would like to be involved in the working group please contact Samantha Newton (samantha.newton@mq.edu.au).

S2 TEDs

Teaching Evaluation and Development surveys are open for ordering for S2. Please ensure you that order your surveys at least 21 days in advance of when you need them. This makes the earliest date for surveys now Friday 18th September.

As we have had very low completion rates using online surveys we encourage you to use paper forms where possible and to get students to fill out surveys during pracs or lectures to maximize student responses.

Please go here to order your survey. Let Katherine McClellan know if you need any help – she works in Admin on Thursdays and Fridays.

HDR Prizes

At the HDR conference there will be 3 prize categories:
1. Field based talk – 1 winner (Barbara Rice prize + Austral Ark), 2 runner ups (Austral Ark + $50 voucher)
2. Lab based talk – 1 winner (Austral Ark + $100 voucher), 2 runner ups (Austral Ark + $50 voucher)
3. Theoretical/Modeling based talk – 1 winner (Austral Ark + $100 voucher), 2 runner ups (Austral Ark + $50 voucher)

Plant of the Week – Banksia spinulosa

New Publications

In the Media

Recent Completions

PhD – Henrique Furstenau Togashi: Analysis and Prediction of Plant Functional Traits in Contrasting Environments: information for next-generation ecosystem models

Supervised by Colin Prentice & Ian Wright

---