BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DEPARTMENT MATTERS | December 5 2014

Dear all,

All marking is done and dusted, thank you all for another mammoth effort to finish off the year. All that’s left is the formal Department meeting on Monday!!!

cheerio

Mariella

General News and Announcements

Formal Departmental meeting

All staff are requested to attend this formal meeting (please email through any apologies) on Monday at 2pm in the E8 Tearoom. The minutes of the previous Formal meetings are attached and the Agenda is listed below.

1. Apologies
2. Minutes of previous meeting (to be circulated prior to the meeting)
3. Business arising from the minutes
4. Consideration Of Examination Results For Second Half Year Units Offered By The Department
5.  Consideration of examination results of students who have requested Disruptions
6. Discipline Cases
7. AOB

DepartmentMeeting Minutes 07-07-14

End of year Party

The party is shaping up to be an excellent event with lots of shenanigans in the making! Please pay a $5 contribution to Anne-Marie for drinks (soft drinks and alcohol) the food will be covered by the Department.

RSA servers needed for the Christmas party. If you have an RSA and are willing to help serve drinks at the christmas party for about an hour, please e-mail Martin Whiting.

Christmas invitation

Congratulations to Simon Griffiths who has joined the Scientists in School program: http://www.scientistsinschools.edu.au/

Charity Secret Santa

The boxes for our department’s Charity Secret Santa are ready in the E8A coffee room and the W19F foyer….come and participate!! Leave your envelope for your chosen cause (but don’t pick one up yet until everyone is in!)

Here are the rules:

1. Choose a foundation or cause that is close to you heart and would like to support. It can be anything- environment, health, human and animal rights, education, a particular group or person in need…
2. In a piece of paper, write information about this cause, their mission, why you want to support them. Add information about how to donate to them and websites. If possible, include brochures or flyers. Put all this in a sealed envelope. Write you name in the paper inside (but not on the envelope where it is visible).
3. Place your envelope inside the Secret Santa charity box in the main coffee room and W19F foyer.
   
4. When everyone who wanted to participate has placed their envelopes, I will send out an announcement to come and randomly pick up someone else’s envelope from the box.
5. Pledge to donate a small amount (can be $20-30, or more if you are feeling generous) to the foundation in the envelope that you picked. You have become someone else’s charity Secret Santa!!

Pay it forward!

Cheers,

-Dalila

Email Creep

Exhausted by the constant arrival of emails in your inbox????? You can help reduce that by sending information for the Department to me or Anne-Marie for inclusion in the weekly matters. We are trying to keep email traffic down by collating all news and announcements into a single email announcement.

Short-term accommodation needed

Short-term accommodation is needed for an international visitor from 13-22 December. If you have a room and need some help with rent please drop Martin Whiting an e-mail.

Keeping Cool This Summer

Here’s a few tips to keep you cool this summer, thanks to Tanya Ha and the ABC.

Stay_cool_this_summer

Rekha Joshi wins Excellence Award

Congratulations to Rekha who won the 2014 National Excellence Award for Tertiary Technical Staff.

Breakfast Burrito Time

Join us for the last Burrito Breakfast of the year!

• When: Wednesday 17th December
• Where: E8B 215 tearoom
• Cost: $10 per burrito
• Orders due: Monday 15th December by 10am.

Please deposit your payment with Anne Marie by Monday morning. No money, no burrito.

Order form: http://goo.gl/forms/HUFMry4xmZ

Want more than one burrito? Put in an extra order.

Extra hot? We will have extra hot sauce on hand at breakfast.

Questions: Ask Sam Newton or Toni Mizerek

Plant of the week

This week: Jacaranda

Next week: Oleander

Session 1 2015 Submission of Reading Lists to the Library

The closing date for receipt of Session 1 reading list material for the Unit Readings collections (print Reserve, 7 Day Loan, and online readings) is Monday 19^th January 2015.

Reading lists received after this date may not be processed by the beginning of the Session.  

Information about the submission process can be found on the Learning and Teaching page via the Science Intranet. It is also listed on the Learning and Teaching Calendar.

More Reproductive Success

Congratulations to Robby for the early arrival of Adrian, born 1 Dec. 3.3kg and 53 cm long at 38 weeks. All are well and happy!

HDR conference winners

Many thanks to everyone for their excellent talks and attendance at this week’s HDR conference. A special thanks goes out to all the judges and staff who helped with organising the conference schedules, abstract book, lunch and drinks! The winners for the Rice Memorial Fund, best field-based, best lab-based and best modelling talks are:

• Rice Memorial Fund for Best Field-Based Talk: Emma Gray

• Best Field-Based Talk Runner-Up: Oded Keynan

• Best Lab Based Talk: Gemma Carroll

• Best Lab Based Talk Runner-Up:  Sarah Jacquet and Giselle Muschett

• Best Modelling Based Talk: Lisa-Marie Harrison

• Best Modelling Based Talk Runner-Up: Guangqi Li and Nicholas Chan

Jobs – James Cook University

Lecturer/Senior Lecturer – Zoology/Ecology Ref. No. 14283 – Townsville

The College of Marine and Environmental Sciences has an enviable international research reputation, and is a leading Australian University in the ISI field of Ecology and Environment. We are seeking to appoint a Lecturer in the Terrestrial Ecosystems and Climate change group, to contribute to and complement our current teaching and research profile. The appointee will have a strong interest in teaching and research in the tropics. He/she will have demonstrated experience and success in tertiary teaching, student supervision and research. The appointee will be required to teach in appropriate areas of zoology, ecology and/or quantitative biology, including their area of special expertise. Preference may be given to applicants with interests in one or more of the following: terrestrial vertebrate ecology, ornithology, mammalogy, wildlife biology, plant-animal interactions, conservation, quantitative methods, and/or terrestrial invertebrate biology.

Applications close on 11 January 2015.

Applications must be lodged electronically using the online facility located at http://www.jcu.edu.au/jobs/

Lecturer/Senior Lecturer – Marine Biology Ref. No. 14282 – Townsville

The College of Marine and Environmental Sciences is a recognised world leader in coral reef research. We are seeking to appoint a Lecturer in the Discipline of Marine Biology, within the Marine Ecosystems and Impacts Group, to complement our current teaching and research profile. The appointee will have a strong interest in teaching and research focussed on marine invertebrate biology and ecology in the tropics. He/she will have demonstrated experience and success in tertiary teaching, graduate student supervision and research. This is a joint research and teaching appointment, and the appointee will be required to teach undergraduate and postgraduate subjects in marine biology, ecology, and/or quantitative biology. Preference may be given to applicants with interests in coral biology and ecology, and/or marine invertebrate biology.

Applications close on 11 January 2015.

Applications must be lodged electronically using the online facility located at http://www.jcu.edu.au/jobs/ 

Scientists in School

Congratulations to Simon Griffiths who has joined the Scientists in School program: http://www.scientistsinschools.edu.au/

Promotion Success

Congratulations to Ian Wright, Melanie Bishop and Jane Williamson, all of whom have been promoted to Level D!

Volunteers

Attached is the updated volunteers details spreadsheet

Volunteers DEC 5

Department Teaching Awards (CACTA)

The winners for this semester are: Ken and Phil for their work on BBE100 and Grant for his work on BIOL362.

DECRA/Early Career Researcher – Track Record workshop, 9th December 1pm

Details of this workshop are as follows:

Date: Tuesday 9 December 2014

Time: 1-3 pm

Location: C8A 310 Senate Room, Macquarie University

Speakers:           

Dr Ross Hill – Research Office

Prof Brian Opeskin – Macquarie Law School and ARC College of Experts

Prof Michelle Leishman – Department of Biological Sciences and ARC College of Experts

Please RSVP by replying to this email (research.preaward@mq.edu.au) by 5pm on Friday 5^th December 2014.

CAPA International Education – interns for 2015

CAPA International Education (CAPA) facilitates study abroad and unpaid internship opportunities for U.S. university students whilst they are here in Sydney. CAPA has partnerships with over 100 top universities in the US (including but not limited to New York University, University of Southern California, University of Pittsburgh, University of Minnesota and Arizona State University).

Currently, CAPA has students majoring in Biological Science who are interested in expanding their knowledgebase in Animal Behaviour and are available to undertake an unpaid internship on the following dates in early 2015:

·         19 January – 5 March AND/OR

·         27 January – 23 April

For more information, please contact Tamara Sales, Program & Internships Assistant, at tsales@capa.org or 9929 5253.”

Post-doctoral positions: insect pheromones and cognition, University of Paris

The successful applicants will have a Ph.D. in behavioural biology, evolutionary biology or chemical ecology with a solid track record. Experience with insects, learning paradigms, and/or neurophysiology (in vivocalcium imaging) is welcome.

Position 1: focus on ants and honey bees. The post-doc will be based at the Laboratory of Experimental and Comparative Ethology, University of Paris 13 (http://leec.univ-paris13.fr/new), working with Prof. Patrizia d’Ettorre but will spend extended periods of time at the CNRS Research Center on Animal Cognition, University of Toulouse (http://cognition.ups-tlse.fr/uneEn.html), working with Prof. Martin Giurfa.

Position 2: focus on the black cutworm moth. The post-doc will be based at the Department of Sensory Ecology (INRA Versailles) of the Institut d’Ecologie et des Sciences de l’Environnement de Paris (http://www-physiologie-insecte.versailles.inra.fr), working with Dr. Nina Deisig.

Candidates should send, in one single PDF file:

• letter of interest
• Curriculum Vitae with publication list
• contact information (e-mail, phone) for two referees who can provide letters of recommendation.

DEADLINE for receiving applications: 15 January 2015 (position 1), 31 March 2015 (position 2)

Contact for position 1): Patrizia d’Ettorre, dettorre@leec.univ-paris13.fr

Contact for position 2): Nina Deisig, nina.deisig@versailles.inra.fr

2015 Women of the Year Awards

Nominations for the 2015 NSW Women of the Year Awards are now open. There are so many exceptional women in NSW who deserve to be acknowledged, by nominating someone and promoting the awards you are helping to recognise them.

Nominations close on Thursday, 18 December 2014. We are once again looking for:

• inspiring female role models
• women who have demonstrated excellence in their career and elsewhere
• women who make significant contributions in their community
• young women whose achievements make them young leaders in changing the social and business landscape for women.

To read more about each award and to make a nomination visit Women of the Year Awards. 

The closing date for nominations is 11.59 pm on Thursday 18 December 2014.

Nature Workshop in February

Nature publishing has just established an office in Sydney and will be running a workshop in early February for early career researchers to develop skills and strategies for publishing in the prestigious stable of Nature journals. The Department will fund 5 participants to attend the workshop, subject to 2015 budgetary considerations. 

Here are the details of the workshop:

Date: 2nd February 2015

Time: 9.30am – 3.30pm

Location: Nature Aus head office – Level 25, 1 Market Street Sydney

Catering: Lunch + tea breaks

Participants: 15 x Sydney researchers in total (most likely 5 each from three institutions) 

Participant preparation required: Participants are required to submit their current research abstract a week prior to the event. They should also bring their laptop and charger to the workshop.

We expect these 5 places to be keenly sought after. If you are a postdoc or other ECR please email me (Mariella) with a short outline of the research you would like to present at the workshop by the 12th December. “Winners” will announced before the Christmas break.

Research grants from the US Defence Department

See attached info for funding opportunities

An Informal Guide to Key United States Defence Research Agency Funding for Australian Researchers (November 2014)

Fellowship success

Congratulations to Penny Ajani for winning a 4-year UTS Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for 2015 for her project: Diatom Innovations: Ecological Success in a Warming Ocean. Best of luck, Penny!

Training scientists to be science communicators

See this competition at UNSW:

http://www.unsw.edu.au/top5under40

Painful Administration Points

Remember to send your most painful admin processes through to Darrell by Monday morning.

Bush Blitz Tactical Taxonomy

Expression of Interests are invited for Bush Blitz Tactical Taxonomy contracts and Bush Blitz Applied Taxonomy Grants. Expression of Interest forms are now available on the Bush Blitz website at www.bushblitz.org.au/taxonomy.

Workshop on gender selection

Date: Thursday 18 December

Time: 9:20 – 16:30

Venue: Zofrea Room, The Hub (C10A, level 3)
, Macquarie University

RSVP: tereza.hendl@mq.edu.au

The workshop will launch and discuss the first empirical study of parents who have selected, or desire to select, their child’s gender. The main objective of the workshop is to facilitate discussion around the topical subject of using assisted reproductive technologies for gender selection for non-medical reasons in Australia. Currently, the NHMRC ART Guidelines regulating gender selection are under revision. While bioethicists raise concerns about the negative implications of preconception gender selection for social reasons, there is demand among Australian reproducers and ART clinics to legalise the practice. Informed by the empirical evidence, the workshop will discuss arguments in favour and against gender selection and host a panel on policy in Australia.

This workshop aims to investigate some of these important questions:                      

• Is gender selection for non-medical reasons a harmful practice?        
• Should gender selection for non-medical reasons become legal in Australia?  
• What are the best policy approaches to gender selection?

Speakers for the workshop will include:

• Professor Colin Thomson (University of Wollongong)
  
• Dr. Sonia Allan (Macquarie University)
• Dr. Jennifer Germon (University of Sydney)
  
• Tereza Hendl (PhD student, Macquarie University)
• a member of the AHEC Committee
• a fertility specialist

Volunteers needed for WildCount fieldwork

Volunteer info_2015_1

Call for Abstracts NCC 2015 Bushfire Conference May 26-27

Nature Conservation Council’s 10th Biennial Bushfire Conference

Tuesday 26th and Wednesday 27th May 2015, 9am – 5pm
NSW Teachers Federation Conference Centre, Surry Hills, Sydney
The Nature Conservation Council of NSW Bushfire Program presents its 10th Biennial Bushfire Conference ‘Fire and Restoration: working with fire for healthy lands’ and is now accepting abstracts for oral papers, speed talks, and posters.

Please submit abstracts by Wednesday 4th February, 2015.

Conference Registrations are now open!
Visit our registration platform here.

Dog sitter no longer needed 

Yuna and her dogs have already found someone!

New Publications

In the Media

Recent Completions