Exploring the key drivers of forest flammability in wet eucalypt forests using expert-derived conceptual models
By: Cawson, Jane G., Victoria Hemming, Andrew Ackland, Wendy Anderson, David Bowman, Ross Bradstock, Tegan P. Brown et al. Landscape Ecology (2020): 1-24. | Find with Google Scholar »
|
Dear all,
This is my last day as Head of Department after five years in the role – while it has been at times challenging (especially this year!) it has also been very enjoyable and I have learnt a lot about people, processes and how to get things done. This is a great department full of wonderful people who love biology and are a pleasure to work with. I feel that the department is in a good place and that it will be in very good hands with Nathan as our new (Interim) HoD. We will have a proper ceremonial handover when we can all gather together again, but meantime I wish Nathan all the very best and no doubt I will be seeing many of you around the corridors and in the courtyard!
I’m off on holiday for a week – I hope that you can take the opportunity between teaching sessions to have a break also.
cheers
Michelle
Save the Date
Next Week:
Wed 15th July, 10:30am – 11:30am: Franklin Women Event: Reducing Stress and Building Resilience Workshop (more info below)
Future Events
Tues 21st July: Orientation Day
Thurs 23rd July, 12-2pm: L&T retreat – Unit reviews (ecology and skills units) and S2 unit learning outcomes (by zoom). All academic staff to attend.
Wed 22nd July, 12.30-1.45pm: Research workshop ‘Pathway to Impact’ for Mid-career and Senior career academics. Brought to you by the Department Research committee
Fri 24th July, 11am-12.15pm: Research workshop ‘Pathway to Impact’ for Early career academics and postdocs. Brought to you by the Department Research committee
Sat 15th August: MQ’s Open Day (mostly online)
15 August – 15 September: Sydney Science Trail (more info below)
Weekly Events
Wed: Shut Up and Write sessions – now online! See below for further details
Wed: Department seminars; HAVING A BREAK until S2.
General News and Announcements
MRes Presentation Award
Congratulations to Casey Forster who was awarded the best MRes presentation by all examiners. It was a wonderful presentation and a very nicely presented bee story!
iLearn Drop-in Clinic Session 2, 2020 – 3 July, 2020 – 31 July, 2020 @ 11:00 am – 1:00 pm
The iLearn Drop-in Clinic is back for Session 2 2020 where help is on hand for all things iLearn. This session will be very different from previous sessions, but we are aiming to provide you with the same level of face-to-face service via Zoom.
From 13 till 31 July between 11am and 1pm you can click on a Zoom link where you will find support staff there waiting to assist you. Our concierge will take your details and sign you in, then you will be assigned to a breakout room where you will receive one-on-one help.
Get help with:
- iLearn – Editing and building your unit
- iTeach – iLearn Spaces (in plain English, creating/activating your iLearn unit for the new session)
- iTeach – Unit Guides
- Echo360 and Active Learning Platform
- Turnitin and Feedback Studio
Drop in any time via the Zoom Link on the following dates:
Open 11am till 1pm
Monday 13 – Friday 17 July
Monday 20 – Friday 24 July
Monday 27 – Friday 31 July
No need to register, just log in during the opening hours.
The Top 5 Drop-in clinic questions from last Session were:
- How do I set up my unit guides assessments in the gradebook so they are correctly weighted? (Gradebook quick guides)
- How do I create my Turnitin assignments? (Turnitin quick guides)
– How do I allow resubmission
– How do I create & attach my Rubric - How do I get my unit to show on iLearn and the unit guide? (iTeach quick guides)
- How do I create and set up a quiz (Quizzes quick guides)
– How do I add questions from a question bank? - How do I add a lecture / Echo 360 recording from last sessions unit to this sessions unit? (Echo 360 quick guides)
Continue here for more iLearn quick guides for Staff.
If you can’t make it to drop-in you can always request support via an email to ilearn.help@mq.edu.au and a team member will get back to you to help with your issue.
Plant of the Week
This week: Buddha’s Hand Citron
The Buddha’s Hand Citron, Citrus medica var. sarcodactylis, would have to be the most unusual of all Citrus. Instead of rounded or oval fruit with which we are more familiar, the fingers develop as the carpels separate into segments, splitting the fruit longitudinally.
Buddha’s Hand is much prized in Asian societies as a symbol of wealth, happiness and longevity. Plant of the Week – Citrus Buddha’s Hand 2
OPPORTUNITIES
Positions vacant: Threatened Species Scientific Committee
The Australian Government is currently seeking leading scientists to play a critical role in protecting native species and ecological communities by joining the Threatened Species Scientific Committee. The Committee is central to the protection of native species and ecological communities, providing independent scientific advice to the Minister for the Environment on the listing, conservation and recovery of threatened species and ecological communities, and the listing and abatement of key threatening processes.
Multiple positions will be filled. MORE DETAILS
Applications close COB 20 July 2020.
Free online media training from the AusSMC
The Australian Science Media Centre is offering 10 researchers from the Faculty the opportunity to participate in an online training workshop delivered via Zoom. The session will focus on dealing with and understanding the mainstream media, explaining tricky science simply, and preparing for media interviews.
Registration for the sessions can be accessed via EventBrite.
The workshop will run from 09:30 AEST – 12:30 AEST on Friday July 24th
SEMINARS AND WORKSHOPS
Upcoming Franklin Women Event: Reducing Stress and Building Resilience
Working in the health and medical research sector brings unique stressors and we often hear about how important resilience is for a successful career; however, we’re rarely told how to develop this resilience. To teach us how to reduce stress and build resilience, we are thrilled to host mindfulness and meditation practitioner and R u Ok? Ambassador, Chelsea Pottenger, for this online 1-hour workshop. Chelsea will share some tools to help you become calmer and enhance your productivity so that you can maximise your output while performing under pressure. Take a break for morning tea to learn some valuable new skills and connect with women from across the sector!
All the details are in the Reducing Stress and Building Resilience_Flyer
When: Wednesday 15 July 2020
Time: 10.30 to 11.30 am
Inclusions: Inspiring speaker and new skills
Registration: Essential via our website – spaces are limited
Cost (excl GST): Members – $14.50 Guests – $35
July Online Workshops – MQ
Please see below some online workshops that will be taking place in July. Staff can register by logging into HR Online > My HR > Training and Development > Training Requests > Register for a Course > SD – Skill Development > (select workshop of their choice). If anyone has issues registering, they can contact Katrina Hizo katrina.hizo@mq.edu.au and she will manually add the staff member to the workshop.
|
Online Workshop |
Date |
Time |
|
Strengthening Personal Resilience: Staff
|
Wed, 15 July |
9.30am to 11.30am |
|
Managing Projects Participants need to attend all four sessions (the full day workshop has been split into 4 sessions) |
Session 1: Tues 21 July Session 2: Tues 21 July Session 3: Tues 28 July Session 4: Tues 28 July |
9.30am – 11.30am 1pm – 2pm 9.30am – 11.30am 1pm – 2pm |
|
Responding to Mental Illness |
Wed, 22 July |
10am to 11am |
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
PhD extensions for COVID-19 disruption
The HDRO office has now clarified the policy and procedure for extensions required as a result of COVID-19 disruption to PhD scholarship and submission deadlines. All of the details are now lodged on the HDR iLearn page under Announcements here.
The university and department are very sympathatic to the issues that are likely to have disrupted students plans, and will endeavour to help where possible. Please direct any questions you may have to Emma and Simon, and we will try to address them and support any applications made.
For those who are not able to submit an extension request at the moment, make sure that you are documenting any issues that you are currently facing, to support a case made later in your candidature.
IASS Fellow Programme: Call for Applications for 2021 – Potsdam Germany
The Institute of Advanced Sustainability Studies is in Potsdam and covers work across;
• Perception, values, orientation
• Democratic transformations
• Governance for the environment and society
• Systemic interdependencies: technology, nature, society
• Energy systems and societal change
• Forums: science, policy and society
Applicants should have a recent PhD or equivalent experience and can apply here;
See more info via the following:
PhD scholarship available in MQ Neurobiology Lab
“Genetic and anatomical basis of brain lateralisation”. One of the ultimate goals of neuroscience is to link genes to anatomy and behaviour. This Project aims to understand how the left and right sides of the brain become specialised for different cognitive functions—a phenomenon called lateralisation. The Project is funded by the Australian Research Council and the work will be conducted primarily at Macquarie University (Sydney), but with opportunities to work with collaborators at the University of Queensland (Brisbane). Using a chicken model of brain lateralisation, you will quantify patterns of differential gene expression that give rise to anatomical and functional asymmetries during development and localise changes in gene expression to specific brain areas and circuits. The successful applicant will conduct gene expression microarray/RNAseq analysis, in situ hybridisation and immunohistochemistry experiments, and potentially behavioural testing of birds.
Scholarship type: Domestic/International Scholarship (direct entry to PhD, or MRes Yr2 + PhD) see website for more information.
Contact Nathan Hart for more information: <nathan.hart@mq.edu.au>
THIS AND THAT
Plastic Free July – register today
Join millions of people reducing their plastic waste.
Plastic Free July is a global movement that helps millions of people be part of the solution to plastic pollution – so we can have cleaner streets, oceans, and beautiful communities. Will you be part of Plastic Free July by choosing to refuse single-use plastics? Plastic_Free_July2020 pdf
Macquarie Uni’s Waste – Explained
Many people have asked about how the one bin system works and if Macquarie Uni does any recycling. The MQU Waste Explained provides an overview of waste management at Macquarie.
International MRes Student Seeking Housing
Greetings! As I enter my second term of my first year of MRes at Macquarie, I have found myself in need of a new place to live. I am a single, non-smoking female person with no pets who is working on a palaeobiology thesis. I’m seeking a lease for the next six months, but potentially for the next year and a half (end of the MRes). Happy to contribute to household chores and shared expenses!
If you or someone you know is currently in need of an additional housemate, or has a studio apartment/granny flat/other single person living situation, please contact Alyssa Fjeld at 0450-357-762, or by email at alyssa.fjeld@students.mq.edu.au
Do you want to share a piece of your research, or want to brag about a cool fieldwork trip you have been on?
Send your photos and a blurb to post on the Biology Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts to Calli Miller: <calli.miller@mq.edu.au>
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
Changes in floral nectar are unlikely adaptive responses to pollinator flight sound
By: Pyke, Graham H., Zong‐Xin Ren, Judith Trunschke, Klaus Lunau, and Hong Wang. Ecology Letters. | Find with Google Scholar »Calculating effect sizes in animal social network analysis
By: Franks, Dan W., Michael N. Weiss, Matthew J. Silk, Robert Perryman, and Darren P. Croft. bioRxiv (2020). | Find with Google Scholar »Comparing the efficiency of conventional and novel methods of virus elimination using molecular techniques
By: Kazemi, Nooshin, Fariborz Zaare Nahandi, Ali Akbar Habashi, and Farhad Masoomi-Aladizgeh. European Journal of Plant Pathology (2020): 1-11. | Find with Google Scholar »Strong and Tough Silk for Resilient Attachment Discs: The Mechanical Properties of Piriform Silk in the Spider Cupiennius salei (Keyserling, 1877)
Greco, G., J. O. Wolff, and N. M. Pugno. Front. Mater. 7: 138. doi: 10.3389/fmats (2020). | Find with Google Scholar »A synthesis of bacterial and archaeal phenotypic trait data
By: Madin, Joshua S., Daniel A. Nielsen, Maria Brbic, Ross Corkrey, David Danko, Kyle Edwards, Martin KM Engqvist et al. Scientific Data 7, no. 1 (2020): 1-8. | Find with Google Scholar »A Novel Framework to Protect Animal Data in a World of Ecosurveillance
By: Lennox, Robert J., Robert Harcourt, Joseph R. Bennett, Alasdair Davies, Adam T. Ford, Remo M. Frey, Matt W. Hayward et al. BioScience 70, no. 6 (2020): 468-476. | Find with Google Scholar »The role of attractive and repellent scene memories in ant homing (Myrmecia croslandi)
By: Murray, Trevor, Zoltan Kocsi, Hansjürgen Dahmen, Ajay Narendra, Florent Le Möel, Antoine Wystrach, and Jochen Zeil. Journal of Experimental Biology 223, no. 3 (2020). | Find with Google Scholar »Habitat value of Sydney rock oyster (Saccostrea glomerata) reefs on soft sediments
By: McLeod, Ian M., L. Boström-Einarsson, Colin Creighton, Blanche D’Anastasi, Benjamin Diggles, P. G. Dwyer, Lauren Firby et al. Marine and Freshwater Research 71, no. 7 (2020): 771-781. | Find with Google Scholar »In the Media
Associate Professor Michelle Power was featured in Tasmanian Times regarding how integrating a more diverse set of species and environments could enhance the biomedical research cycle.
Read more »
Dr Vanessa Pirotta was interviewed on ABC Radio Sydney Drive about Greenland sharks.
Read more »
Professor Mark Westoby provided comment to ABC News about the evolution of flowering plants.
Read more »
Professor Lesley Hughes, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) provided comment to The Sydney Morning Herald on the new emissions targets announced by the Australian Greens.
Read more »