BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DEPARTMENT MATTERS | October 31 2014

Dear all,

Here is this week’s edition of the Matters! There will be a department meeting on Tuesday – agenda below

Cheerio,
Mariella

General News and Announcements

Department Meeting

Department Meeting, Nov 4, 1-2pm in the E8 tearoom. All staff, HDR students and post-docs are warmly invited to attend Department meetings. Please email me if you want to add any matter to the agenda.

On the Agenda so far:

• Tech resources software – Rekha and Adam
• Publishing in TREE – Michael Gillings
• Seminars – Mariella
• End of year exam processing – Sharyon
• End of year finances – Veronica
• Synthetic Biology update – Mariella
• Refurbishment – Mariella
•  Any other business

Aboretum working bee

During November there will be three Arboretum working bees to tidy up our special gardens and add new plants. I hope you can join us for some enjoyable gardening followed by lunch/afternoon tea.

Indian Spice garden

Tuesday 11th November, 2-3:30pm

W6 courtyard

Tasks: fertiliser, mulch and planting

Afternoon tea provided

Bush Tucker garden

Wednesday 12th November, 11″30-1pm

Wally’s Walk next to building F7B

Tasks: Planting

Lunch provided

Earth Sciences garden – Proteaceae annexe

Thursday 20th November, 10:30am-12pm

West side of building E5B, next to Christopher Ondaatje walkway

Tasks: Planting and mulching

Lunch provided

Please RSVP to Samantha Newton <samantha.newton@mq.edu.au> for catering purposes.

Please wear appropriate protective gear for sun protection and working in soil ie closed shoes, long sleeved shirt, hat and sunscreen. BYO water.

Gloves and tools will be provided.

End of year financing – Admin Availability

Due to the high volume of work admin are processing doors will be open at specific times during the day;

Open 9am-1:00pm  Closed 1:00-5:00pm

• E8B204 – Laura McMillan and Marie Howitt
• E8B206 – Anne Marie Monchamp 

(For any appointments with Mariella please knock)

Closed 9am-1:00pm Open 1:00-5:00pm

• E8B203 – Sharyon O’Donnell’s Office
• E8B205 – Katherine McClellan (Wedpm, Thur, Fri), Lara Ainley (Tue, Thur)
• E8B207 – Teresa Potalivo and Veronica Peralta

Fine-leaved Tuckeroo – Lepiderema pulchella 

A rare species from north-eastern NSW and south-eastern Queensland

Durham International Fellowships for Research and Enterprise (DIFeREns)

The Durham International Fellowships for Research and Enterprise (DIFeREns), which are administered by the Institute of Advanced Study, are now open for recruitment for the academic year 2015/16.  This includes the Junior Research Fellowship programme (2 year post) and the Senior Research Fellowship programme (6 weeks to 6 months starting between October 2015 and September 2016).

https://www.dur.ac.uk/ias/diferens/junior/

https://www.dur.ac.uk/ias/diferens/senior/

Absence on Duty Survey

We have not received many responses to our survey yet. Please help us improve our processes. The survey can be found here

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/L7RL3L7 

Tell us so that your suggestions/frustrations can be solved.

New online accident and incident reporting system

Please use this link for any incidents reports

http://staff.mq.edu.au/human_resources/health_and_safety/accident-injury-hazard_notification_page/

Updated General Laboratory Safety Guideline

See attached pdf.

GENERAL LABORATORY SAFETY GUIDELINES V2 2014

Media training

The Media and Communications team have organised some training courses for  for research staff. If you are interested please contact Chloe Braithwaite <chloe.braithwaite@mq.edu.au>

1. Foundations of media engagement seminar with Richard Morecroft (now including practical activity) Wed October 29. These mid-large group seminars typically see ~20 early career/new-to-media researchers join with Richard Morecroft to discuss interview performance skills and tips. NB: these seminars now include a practical activity to put these skills into practice.
2. Rescheduled Australian Science Media Centre science media engagement workshop (now with optional extension, inc practical exercises) Thurs November 13. This is a great opportunity to focus on science media engagement, and to learn more about the work of our partner, the Australian Science Media Centre. NB: the new November session also now includes an optional practical exercise section after lunch.
3. Foundations of media engagement seminar with Richard Morecroft (now including practical activity), Wednesday December 10 
4. Intensive small group media training with Richard Morecroft – either 16 or 17 December (depending on preferences). These recommendation-based small group workshops are aimed at senior researchers or those who are likely to be speaking in the media about controversial areas. We take recommendations for these sessions, as we can generally only have 3-4 people in them for individual attention, (including interviewing on camera) from Richard.

Lane Cove National Park – control burn

Lane Cove National Park staff have advised that the NPWS fire mitigation crew will be working in the ecology reserve this week with a tritter mulcher to prepare control lines for an upcoming control burn. 

Texan BBQ

Staff and student flocked to th tearoom on Friday for the Texan BBQ lunch prepared by Dan Warren. A stupendous amount of delicious pulled pork, chicken, beans, corn bread and salads were devoured by all. But still there were left overs.

A big thanks to Dan for the delicious food, and to Kath, Tom, Peri and Tarun for helping with everything else.

Gender and Conferences

Here is an interesting article (thanks Koa)

Gender differences in conference presentations: a consequence of self-selection?

TM Jones, KV Fanson, R Lanfear, MRE Symonds & M Higgie – PeerJ 2:e627, 2014

URL: https://peerj.com/articles/627/

Senate Summary: 7th October 2014

The summary report of the October 7th meeting of Academic Senate is now available on the Teche blog

MQSIS L&T, Teaching delivery and Faculty Partnership grants

1.  MQSIS: Strategic Infrastructure Scheme, Learning and Teaching.  You will find information about these grants here: 

http://staff.mq.edu.au/teaching/grants/internal_lt_grants/#strategic_infrastructure 

As these are strategic, you will need to get signoff from your Head of Dept.  The Faculty will then rank the applications and I will need to write a combined application from the Faculty.  As this takes some time, although the deadline for submission to the University is 28 November, we are asking for them to be submitted to Jamie Gabriel, by email, by Wednesday 19 November.  You will receive an email acknowledging receipt of your application.  It would be helpful if you could let us know that you are intending to submit an application as soon as you can.

2.  Teaching Delivery grants.  These grants are also due to the University by 28 November.  You will find information and application forms here: 

http://staff.mq.edu.au/teaching/grants/internal_lt_grants/#Teaching%20Delivery%20Grants

If you would like feedback on your application, which is highly advisable, they need to be submitted to the Faculty by Friday 21 November.  In any case the final date for submission of the grants for signoff is COB, Thursday 27 November by email to Jamie Gabriel.  You will receive an email acknowledging receipt of your application.  Once again, it would be helpful if you could let us know you are planning to put in one of these.

3.  Faculty Partnership Program.  For these grants, rather than money, you receive assistance from educational developers and designers from the Learning and Teaching Centre to develop new approaches and technology for your teaching. 

http://staff.mq.edu.au/teaching/workshops_programs/fpp_overview/

Over the past few years these grants have led to a considerable number of valuable innovations, as you can see from the list of completed projects:  http://staff.mq.edu.au/teaching/workshops_programs/fpp_overview/completed_projects/   These applications are due by 7 November.  We highly recommend that you talk to Iain McAlpine from LTC [CCed] about your ideas for this before putting in your application, and also advise James Downes and me of your intentions.

Upcoming BIOLOGY unit reviews

We will be reviewing two of our 200 level units in coming weeks. If you would like to attend the review (other than the designated panel who will have been contacted already) please email Michelle Power for further information. 

BIOL262 Evolution on November 13, 10-12pm

BIOL210 Plant structure and function on November 17, 10-12pm

Bioinformatics 14: Advanced Bioinformatics Workshop for Early Career Researchers

The Australian Centre for Ancient DNA (ACAD) is pleased to announce its 5^th ECR workshop, which will be based on the very successful Bioinformatics workshops of 2012 and 2013. This workshop is an intensive 5 day hands-on training course tutored by international experts (Dan Huson – metagenomics, Ryan Lister – epigenetics, Stephan Schiffels – population genomics and Paul Gardner – genomics), utilising the latest available software (often authored by the tutors) for the analysis of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS), genomic, methylome and metagenomic data. The program combines seminars from the leading tutors with extensive hands-on practicals involving the analysis of a range of model and empirical datasets, focusing on current approaches in field-leading groups. There will also be an opportunity to work on your own dataset with the tutors. Early registration is essential as seating is limited to 35 places with very strong demand.  Previous workshops have been sold out requiring a waiting list.    

Pre-requisites: Delegates must be familiar with UNIX environments and basic command lines, and will require an intermediate knowledge of the technology and analytical tools of NGS.

Hurry last days: seats still available, closing date 27^th October, 2014. For registration details and further information please visit the workshop website here.

3-day software workshop thingy for PhD students and ECR people at the University of Melbourne – Feb 16-18, 2015

Here’s the relevant section of their website: http://resbaz.tumblr.com/conference

Call for nominations: WWF Event with WWF-International President, Yolanda Kakabadse

A special event has been coordinated for 15 young, emerging conservation leaders to join WWF-International President, Yolanda Kakabadse, on Friday, November 14^th in Lane Cove National Park. This is an exciting opportunity to spend time with Yolanda, who is an inspiring leader herself, with a wealth of experience, knowledge and passion. You can see more about Yolanda’s background here.

The group will participate in an interactive bushwalk (approximately 90 minutes, easy grade track), taking in the local flora and fauna of the Lane Cove National Park, followed by an open discussion over a picnic with Yolanda.

 The event will run from 9.30am – 2.00pm. It will include a picnic lunch and participants will be picked up/dropped off by bus at Sydney Olympic Park. Please note that no other costs are covered for participants and anticipate  nominees to have some affiliation with the World Parks Congress, or to arrange their own way to/from the pickup point.

We are calling out for nominations for young leaders to attend, aged between 18-35 and request that you share this with your networks.

Names should be submitted to Leanne (lelliott@wwf.org.au) no later than COB Monday, 3^rd of November and include a brief background (up to 200 words) of the person being nominated and why you are nominating them.

Seeking keen students as citizen scientists for the World Parks Congress BioBlitz

The World Parks Congress is coming up in Sydney in November. The NSW Office of Environment and Heritage is running a BioBlitz as part of PlanetFest, an action packed eco festival with entertainment and activities for young and old on Sunday 16^th November held at Sydney Olympic park.

The World Parks Congress BioBlitz is a free all-ages citizen science event that brings together scientists, naturalists and the community to create a snapshot of biodiversity in the Sydney Olympic Park area. Our experts will run guided surveys where participants will go hunting for birds, insects, plants, frogs, or water bugs! If you’re savvy with a smartphone camera you can also go solo using the iNaturalist app to snap and identify as many species as you can. There will be hands on displays in the BioBlitz marquee where you can experience some of the species you’ll be spotting on the day thanks to some of our wonderful partners.

As an university student group interested in Biology we thought your members and community would be interested in being part of the World Parks Congress BioBlitz event whether that be registering to join a survey on the day or sharing the event with your networks through your social media channels, newsletters or your direct contacts would be greatly appreciated. The event registration page is now open! The link to the registration for the surveys is here.

Various jobs – Ethology

The Department of Zoology at Stockholm University has just opened a search for an Assistant Professor in Ethology. This is a four-year tenure-track position, with a career path with the opportunity for promotion to a permanent position as Associate Professor in Ethology at the department.

Informal inquiries can be made to Prof. Olof Leimar (olof.leimar@zoologi.su.se). Note that applications should be submitted through the Stockholm University website, where further details also are available:

http://www.su.se/english/about/vacancies/lecturers-researchers/assistant-professor-in-ethology-1.208390

Closing Date: Monday 15 December 2014

More Jobs – Animal Physiology

The University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM), Department of Biology, invites applications for a tenure-stream faculty appointment in Animal Physiology at the rank of Assistant Professor effective 1 July 2015. 

Applicants must have a Ph.D. in Biology or related fields (e.g., Physiology, Biophysics, etc.), post-doctoral experience, an outstanding academic record, demonstrated research excellence, ability to recruit and supervise graduate students, and excellence in teaching. The successful candidate will be expected to have the ability to teach within the comparative physiology program and to contribute to the teaching program of the department. Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience. The appointee will be located in the Department of Biology (http://www.utm.utoronto.ca/biology), University of Toronto Mississauga, and will also be a member of the tri-campus graduate Department of Cell and Systems Biology (http://www.csb.utoronto.ca).

All qualified applicants are invited to apply online by clicking the link below. Applications must include a cover letter, curriculum vitae, a statement outlining current and future research interests, a statement on teaching philosophy and experience, and three representative publications. Submission guidelines can be found at: http://uoft.me/how-to-apply. We recommend combining attached documents into one or two files in PDF/MS Word files in the following format: Letter, CV and research and teaching statements, Publications

Applicants should arrange for three signed letters of reference from individuals familiar with the candidate’s research and teaching to be sent directly to: Dr. Sasa Stefanovic, Chair, Department of Biology, University of Toronto Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Road, Mississauga, ON, L5L 1C6, Canada, or by email to: biochair.utm@utoronto.ca.

If you have any questions about this position please contact Prof. Sasa Stefanovic at biochair.utm@utoronto.ca.

Closing date for submissions is 14 November 2014.

And one more job: Population Genetics and Computational Biology

The Biology program within the Division of Science and Environmental Policy at California State University, Monterey Bay seeks a population geneticist with strong computational biology skills to fill a tenure track assistant professor position. The applicant should be a dedicated teacher capable of successfully involving undergraduates in research. The successful candidate will work with other faculty to develop undergraduate curricula, professional outreach programs, and extramural research or programmatic funding. Additional information on the Division and the Biology program can be found at sep.csumb.edu, the university and its vision at about.csumb.edu/vision-statement, and our exceptional undergraduate research program at uroc.csumb.edu.

 All prospective applicants must apply on-line at https://mocha.csumb.edu/uhr/jobs/login_applicant.jsp

• Letter of Interest
• CV
• Teaching Statement (2 page max)
• Research Statement (2 page max)
• Contact information for 3 professional references

Apply here.

New Publications

In the Media