BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DEPARTMENT MATTERS | June 2, 2017

Dear all,

Thank you for all your patience with the admin staff changes and your support for our various team members, old and new. We will be holding a farewell and thank you morning tea for our admin people (specifically Jen, Hannah & Veronica) on June 16 at 10.30 in the biology tearoom. Please come along to wish them well! and meantime pop in to introduce yourself to Phil and Suchitra in the admin offices.

Reminder that next Tuesday is our regular monthly Department meeting – see you there!

Have a great weekend,

Michelle

Save the Date

This coming week 5th – 9th June

Tue 6th: REP Workshop – ‘Transparent practices in empirical science.’

Tue 6th: Environmental Sciences Department Morning Tea and Seminar; 10:30am – 12pm; Kitchen lvl4, 12 Wally’s Walk (E7A), then room 803. (see details below)

Tue 6th: Department meeting; 1-2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

Wed 7th: Morning Tea with HoD; 10:30am – 11am; The Hill.

Wed 7th: Department seminar Dr Ceridwen Fraser, ANU; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

Thu 8th: REP Workshop – ‘Leadership and Teamwork.’

Thu 8th: Writing Workshop; 2:30-4:30pm, E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

Following week 13th – 16th June

Tue 13th – Thu 15th: HDR Conference; Timetable see draft schedule; E7B Lecture Theatres.

Wed 14th: Dr Caragh Threlfall, The University of Melbourne; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

Thu 15th: Writing Workshop; 2:30-4:30pm, E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

Friday 16th; Farewell morning tea for our admin staff Jen, Veronica and Hannah; 10.30am (Biology Tea Room).

Coming up

Every Thursday for the next few months: Writing Workshop; 2:30-4:00pm, E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

June 16th & 23rd: REP workshop – ‘Non-research skills in job applications’

July 4th: Formal Department meeting for grading; 1-2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

July 12th: REP workshop – ‘Making lectures interactive’ 

July 19th: E8C Digital Teaching Lab Induction; 9am – 11:30am; E8C-106.

July 21st: F7B Digital Teaching Lab Induction; 9:30am – 11:30am; F7B-108.

July 24th: E8A Digital Teaching Lab Induction; 9am to 12 noon; E8A-120.

July 25 & 26th: REP Outlook conference 2017

Sept 19th: ECR Showcase, E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

Department seminar schedule

June 21st:  Professor Bill Ballard, The University of NSW; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

June 28th:  Professor Madeleine Beekman, The University of Sydney; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

July 5th: Prof David Haig, Macquarie University; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

August 2nd: Professor Rick Shine, The University of Sydney; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

General News and Announcements

VOTING OPENS MONDAY: Peer Prize for Women in Science

The Peer Prize for Women in Science is a novel prize where the winner is selected by our peers. Michelle Power has submitted an application, and I encourage everyone in the department to get behind her and vote. The prize is an impressive $20,000! Voting opens on Monday and will remain open for two weeks. To cast your vote from Monday onwards, go to: https://the-peer-prize-for-women-in-science-2017.thinkable.org/

In Case You Missed This Week’s Coverage of Our Lovely Technical Team

http://www.mq.edu.au/thisweek/2017/05/29/spotlight-on-technical-team-biology-and-cbms/#.WS0rzcYRWUl

DEPARTMENTAL SEMINAR SERIES

Day/Date/Time/Place: Wednesday, 7th June, 1-2pm, E8A-280 (Tea Room).

Speaker: Dr Ceridwen Fraser, ANU.

Title: The evolutionary consequences of long-distance dispersal versus long-term isolation: test cases from the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic.

Abstract: Dispersal is a fundamental process underpinning global patterns of biogeography. The capacity to disperse differs widely among taxa, and is not always predictable based on life-history and physiological characteristics. Furthermore, dispersal does not always result in ongoing gene flow among populations, but is critical for initial colonisation events. Taxa that readily disperse long distances are often well equipped to deal with climate change by shifting their distributions, whereas poor dispersers rely on refugia for long-term survival. In this talk I will provide a range of examples of my research on the biogeography of high latitude species in the Southern Hemisphere, testing the dispersal capacity of organisms and pinpointing the processes and locations that allowed survival through past climate cycles for non-dispersive taxa. Examples will range from penguin parasites and kelp crossing sub-Antarctic oceans, to mosses and invertebrates weathering ice ages in steaming volcanic caves in Antarctica.

2017 ECR Showcase

Following the success of our inaugural Early Career Researcher Showcase, we have our 2017 ECR Showcase scheduled for September 19th – put it in your calendar now!

The ECR Showcase is a 1-day mini-conference where you have the opportunity to communicate your current research or future research plans to the Department. The aim of this day is to bring all ECRs together to showcase and discuss their research in an informal and supportive environment that will facilitate new and existing research networks. Talks may be on a particular case study, collection of studies, or plans for the future, while there is also scope for talking about your career background and pathway to MQ. The talks will be open for everyone in the Department to attend, including students and faculty.

We are now calling on all ECRs to send us a potential talk title, so we can begin to create a schedule for the day. Talks will be 12-15 minutes in length, and the day will include refreshments and a catered social event afterwards in the courtyard.

We kindly request all Lab Heads to encourage ECRs in their group to participate in this event.

Please send your talk title to either <ajay.narendra@mq.edu.au> or <rachael.dudaniec@mq.edu.au> before August 4th.

New/Refresher Lab Inductions for Demonstrators

Staff/HDR students intending to demonstrate in teaching units (S2, 2017) run in E8A/E8C/F7B are requested to please contact Prasanth Subramani <prasanth.subramani@mq.edu.au> to sign up for lab inductions. These include new inductions as well as refreshers.

Plant Biosecurity in Theory and Practice workshop

PhD student Laura Fernandez is back from a successful CRC Plant Biosecurity workshop in Kansas – you can read about it here

http://www.pbcrc.com.au/news/pbcrc/learning-biosecurity-best-kansas-state-university

Sustainable Transport – M-Power Yourself: Change One Trip

Carpool, bike ride, switch to active or public transport, or simply commute outside of peak hour one day per week to help ease congestion on the roads and gain peace of mind. For this sustainable transport challenge, change one trip per week and log your trips through Co-Hop for your chance to win an electric-folding bike*

*Subject to competition terms and conditions

Studies show it’s good for your brain to do something different. Challenge your synapses by taking a different form of transport or a different route home. For example, if you drive every day, challenge yourself to take an active form of transport, such as riding or walking part of the way.

Co-Hop is Connect Macquarie Park’s new transport planning and ride-share matching tool that rewards you and your buddies as you commute. Free for Macquarie University staff and students, you can use the system to find alternative routes to campus and even match with bike buddies or find or start a carpool.

Find out more. Visit Sustainability’s M-Power website

Plant of the Week

Lantana camara  – might look lovely but is an aggressive, invasive and poisonous shrub originating from the tropical and subtropical regions of Central and South America. Please don’t plant this in your garden.

Outreach Opportunities and Requests – We Need Your Help

Outreach

The department has an unprecedented representation in this year’s upcoming Science Festival. The festival runs from 8^th-20^th of August. Effectively the department will have representation for every day of the festival. The events will include: Wild Science Race (16^th/17^th) in conjunction with Taronga Zoo, Night of Illusions (18^th/19^th) in conjunction with Department of Cognitive Sciences from MQ and USyd; The Great Evolutionary Arms Race: Emerging Pathogens and Rise of Superbugs (20th); and the Future of Human Evolution – these latter two are multi-department events; and lastly the Australian Museum Booth from 8^th-17^th which will involve PhD and Postdocs interacting with Primary, Secondary schools and the general Public. As a result we have a base level of around 20 individuals from academics to postdocs and postgrads representing 12+ labs. On behalf of the Outreach team I want to thank all those that have put their hand up for these events.

In the middle of all this is Open Day, which is the 19^th.  More will be made of this day in the next coming weeks. Some labs have already taken up the challenge of creating a new activity! Lastly please continue to enter details into the Outreach form. Our approach here has also been recognised at the Faculty level so all your efforts are hitting the desired mark! If you have any questions regarding outreach events or want to know how to get more involved or wish to propose an idea please contact any of the outreach team which includes Matthew Bulbert, Kath McClellan, Jemma Geoghegan, Chris Reid, Kerstin Bilgmann, Alex Carthey, Julian May, Ken Cheng and Ajay Narendra. – ACCESS OUTREACH FORM HERE

Science Festival Gigs for August – We Need You!

1. Excite schools and public at the Australian Museum

For this year’s science festival the faculty will have a booth/space at the Australian Museum. The museum is the central hub of the festival and hence has high flow through traffic including both public and high schools. This is a great opportunity for Macquarie and a great one for those of you wanting to increase your outreach profile as well as broaden the knowledge of the public.

We need volunteers for:

Primary school days: 8^th (AM) and 11^th (Anytime)

Super Public day: 12^th (Anytime)

High School days: 15^th (anytime), 16^th (AM), 17^th (Anytime), 18^th (AM)

Your commitment:

At minimum, a couple of hours with whatever display/activity of your choosing

Have fun telling passer-by’s about the cool stuff you do

I particularly encourage participation on the high school days.

2. National Indigenous Science Education Program (NISEP)

The National Indigenous Science Education Program (NISEP), Redfern Community Centre and City of Sydney are once again running the Indigenous Science Experience at Redfern – 16-18^th and 20^th August. If you would like to contribute an activity to this, please contact the biology outreach team or Joanne Jamie directly for more information. It’s a wonderful opportunity to showcase our disciplines. I highly recommend (for those who have not contributed previously) checking out the YouTube channel to see previous years’ events:www.youtube.com/user/NISEPmq

Annual Report Anecdotes

Did you do an outreach activity last year that you were particularly proud of?

I need some nice examples for the Annual report and apparently, I need them by like yesterday. So, if you do please send through a few lines about what it was and a picture or two (if you have one – if not please send details anyway).

For any of these items please contact: <matthew.bulbert@mq.edu.au> or talk to any member of the outreach team which include Kath McCellan, Chris Reid, Ken Cheng, Jemma Geoghegan, Alexandra Carthey, Kerstin Bilgmann and Julian May. It is important you talk to us about any activities. Thanks.

Environmental Sciences Morning Tea and Seminar

The next Department Morning Tea and Seminar is on next week on Tues 6 June, from 10:30 am – noon.

The morning tea will be in the kitchen on level 4 of 12 Wallys Walk (E7A) from 10:30 am. The seminar will be on level 8 in room 803 (the meeting room closest to the lifts) at 11 am.

This month, the seminar will be presented by Professor Pauline Ross, who is a Professor of Biology and Teaching Principal for Life, Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Sydney

In addition to being an internationally recognized researcher, Pauline is Australia’s most awarded biology educator. She will be presenting a talk based on her extensive experience in learning and teaching in the Life Sciences.

REP Workshop: ‘Transparent Practices in Empirical Science’ (Tuesday 6^th June)

Are you interested in transparency in your (and others) research? Then you should be interested in a half-day workshop running on Tuesday (6^th June, 9am – 12pm) ‘Transparent practices in empirical science’

In some disciplines, there is discussion of a ‘reproducibility crisis’ triggered by recognition that many published findings do not seem to hold up to further evaluation. Many published results, it seems, are wrong. At the root of this crisis is NOT fabrication of results, but instead a lack of transparency in how science is conducted and reported. Although direct evidence of low reproducibility has been generated for only a few disciplines, there is widespread evidence that the poor transparency which drives low reproducibility is worryingly common in many disciplines, including in ecology and evolutionary biology.

This hands-on workshop, convened by Associate Professor Tim Parker (Department of Biology and Interdisciplinary Program in Environmental Studies, Whitman College, Walla Walla, USA), is designed to help scientists (from any empirical discipline) navigate the reproducibility crisis in two ways. First, participants will learn some* methods for being more transparent in their own work. This should reduce unintended bias and increase the reproducibility of your work. Second, participants will learn to better recognize insufficient transparency in published work, and to understand the potential implications of this insufficient transparency.

All empirical scientists who wishes to improve their own transparency and to recognize insufficient transparency when they encounter it will benefit from this workshop.

Click here to register for ‘Transparent practices in empirical science’

REP Workshop – ‘Non-research Skills in Job Applications’ (16^th and 23^rd June)

How do you persuade other people (and yourself!) about matters such as your teaching strengths, your collaborative capabilities, your skills in managing finance or coordinating projects, your commitment to diversity, your initiative and entrepreneurship, your capacity to guide research students? What are some possibilities for conveying these skills through CV or job application materials or through questions at interview?

Organised by Mark Westoby with contributions from others, this workshop will operate mainly through group participation, putting yourself into the minds of selection committee members.

This workshop will run over two sessions, 2-5 Thursdays  15th and 22nd June. At the first session we will find out what skills people are most interested in, and discuss possibilities for presenting them. At the second session participants will bring draft materials. We will work through what sort of presentation might be more versus less convincing, and how each might be strengthened.

Click here to register for ‘Non-research skills in job applications’

REP Workshop – ‘Making Lectures Interactive’ (10:30 – 12, 12^th July)

This workshop, convened by Beverley Miles (Learning Designer, Faculty of Human Sciences) at the invitation of the Faculty of Science and Engineering, will explore why we need to think differently about lectures, and how to design lectures for active student engagement to deliver a deeper learning experience.

Participants will experience what is possible to accomplish with these strategies using Echo’s Active Learning Platform (ALP) and then apply these practical demonstrations and examples to their own lecture content, design and delivery. The strategies can also be used with other interactive tools.

The positive impact of implementing strategies and tools in live lectures on student learning (both staff- and student-perceived) will be discussed. Everyone is welcome to attend. We invite all lecturers; anyone interested in trying new interactive teaching techniques; those already delivering interactive lectures with other tools; and those who want to design for improved lecture learning.

Click here to register for ‘Making lectures interactive’

REP Outlook Conference 2017 (25 and 26^th July)

The Research Enrichment Program’s annual Outlook Conference – this year run with the Sydney School of Entrepreneurship in their new building in Ultimo – brings together leading thinkers in diverse disciplines, spanning molecules to landscapes, across deep time frames, and from scientific, historical and social viewpoints. Our objective is to immerse participants in the advancing fronts of research in adjacent, and more distant disciplines.

The 2017 meeting is called What Matters, and Why. Invited speakers will present ideas on why their discipline matters, and how research fronts in these disciplines inform diverse areas of human enquiry. These talks will not recount personal research findings, but will be future-scoping exercises. Our goal is to identify promising areas for high level trans-disciplinary collaboration, for novel commercial or industrial applications, and to expose researchers at all career stages to different ways of thinking.

The two day meeting will consist of seminars by invited speakers, followed by afternoon discussion and brain-storming sessions. A key feature of the conference is the opportunity to meet and interact with research leaders across the breadth of human enquiry.

Click here to register for ‘REP Outlook’

Cooks River Alliance – Culture, Country, Connection

Friday 16 June, 2017 from 9am – 4pm Addison Road Community Centre 142 Addison Road, Marrickville

Join the Cook River Alliance to discover and celebrate Aboriginal stories and associations with the Cooks River through sharing traditional and contemporary knowledge. Learn about a new and comprehensive Aboriginal history of the Cooks River Hear oral histories of local Aboriginal people in a special exhibition Explore the Cooks River in 1770 via virtual simulation Plus musical performances, bush tucker, tours and exhibitions

This project is supported by the Cooks River Alliance and the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council, through funding from the Australian Government.

Register here: culture_country.eventbrite.com.au, or call 02 9748 9644

This is a free community event, bookings are essential.

NSW Biodiversity Conservation Advisory Panel

The NSW Government is inviting applications for membership on the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Advisory Panel, which is to be constituted pursuant to section 14.2 of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016.

The Biodiversity Conservation Advisory Panel will provide independent, expert advice to the Minister administering the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 on management of biodiversity conservation and to the Chief Executive of the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage on any proposed declaration of an area of outstanding biodiversity value.

Panel members will possess relevant technical knowledge and expertise, and be able to demonstrate the following:

1. – expertise in one or more of the following fields: biodiversity conservation; ecologically sustainable development and land use planning; law, governance and public administration; and environment/natural resource economics and management
2. – capability to provide independent, expert advice to the Minister for the Environment on biodiversity conservation
3. – capability to provide independent, expert advice to the Chief Executive of the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage on any proposed declaration of an area of outstanding biodiversity value
4. – capability to conduct reviews, assessments and evaluations of the operation of the policy, legislative, regulatory, institutional and program framework for biodiversity conservation in New South Wales.

Appointments to the Biodiversity Conservation Advisory Panel are paid positions for an initial 18-month to 3-year term. Remuneration is $40,000 per annum for the chairperson and $20,000 per annum for members.

For further information, please email <biodiversity.reforms@environment.nsw.gov.au>.

To submit an application, please send a cover letter and resume to <biodiversity.reforms@environment.nsw.gov.au>.

Applications close 18 June 2017.

See the OEH website

http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/biodiversitylegislation/biodiversity-conservation-advisory-panel.htm

Researcher Position Being Advertised at the Climate Council

http://www.ethicaljobs.com.au/Members/climatecouncil/researcher-1

Position Just Advertised at WWF for a Conservation Scientist

https://hcm612.peoplestreme.net/wwf13m2015/erec_candidate_job.asp?id=2745&src=ext

Fieldwork Stories

Do you have stories of fieldwork that you would like to share?  Maybe about the day you first saw a wild elephant, or the biggest ant that has ever crawled on your pants, or perhaps fieldwork failures, challenges and surprises? Do you want to talk about science, or your ‘Attenborough’ moments, or maybe just communicate to the general public about what you do when you go on field trips?

Here is an opportunity to explain your fieldwork research to the general public through the Field Reports podcast hosted at the Journal of Animal Ecology (British Ecological Society). Take a look at the trailer and the first episode here to get an idea about the podcast.

New Publications

In the Media

Recent Completions