The Leaf Raking Faries Are Back! If you missed the ephemeral art in the courtyard this week, check out these photos.

Science in the City Festival Display – We are looking for students and staff who would like to create an interactive display about science and their research for this year’s Science in the City (Sydney Science Festival) https://australianmuseum.net.au/learn/teachers/science-in-the-city/. This is an excellent opportunity to promote your research, develop your science communication portfolio as well as inspiring the general public. We have 2.5hr time slots available on the primary school (8th August), high school (13th August) and general public (10th August) days of the expo. If you’re interested in being involved please contact Vivian <vivian.cumbo@mq.edu.au>, or Juliano <juliano.morimoto@mq.edu.au> before June 21. The early date is because we wish to help foster your science communication skills. Prior to the event we will meet twice to help you develop ideas and ways to effectively communicate your display.

World Environment Day June 6th

We will be celebrating World Environment Day with a joint event with Diversity and Inclusion on Thursday 6th June [12-2pm]. There will be a fabulous lunch where people bring a plate of food to share that represents their culture. Everyone, of course, welcome!

RSVP via: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/morning-tea-brought-to-you-by-the-department-of-chiropractic-women-in-stem-tickets-62122829054

Plant of the Week – click the thumbnails for larger images –

Last Chance @ Your Say Survey – MQ is aiming for a 90% response rate to the Your Say Survey, and FSE is currently at 52% for fixed/term and continuing staff – and still the second lowest Faculty response rate – the Faculty of Arts is leading at 62%. The Department of Computing has taken the lead for fixed term/continuing staff at 70%, followed closely by Chiropractic at 68%, the AAO 56%, and EPS 52%. All other Departments have a response rate below 50%. I strongly encourage you to take some time to complete the survey and let us know about your experience working here at Macquarie, and within the Faculty of Science and Engineering. The survey is anonymous and your feedback is very important to us. The link to the survey was originally emailed to staff on 20 May from the Vice-Chancellor, and you can also access the Your Say survey here. The survey will take 15-25 minutes to complete. Please note that this survey is compatible with all mobile devices e.g. ipad and mobile phone. You just need to make the screen “landscape” for easier viewing.

The survey closes at 5pm on Friday 31 May.

New University RPA (Drone) Policy Incoming – A new remotely piloted aircraft (drone) policy is in preparation at Risk and Assurance. For anyone who is currently using or is planning to use drones in their research and are unaware of the upcoming changes and how they will affect you, please contact Nick Harris <nick.harris@mq.edu.au> to discuss how this new policy will affect you and if there are any added approvals you will be required to complete.

Call for Research and Professional Development Workshop Suggestions The Department is compiling a program of workshops focused on research and professional development for postgraduate students and ECRs in the Biological Sciences, and we want your suggestions! Perhaps there is a particular skill you want to develop or advice that you are seeking. Or you may want to deliver a session on something relevant! This could range from writing and data analysis, to publishing and interview skills, and anything in between. We are looking for suggestions of workshop topics as well as nominations for people or groups to run them.
Please submit your suggestions via this google form: https://forms.gle/KaYnCr4fp2b1ucWm8

OPPORTUNITIES

Higher Education Academy Fellowship Program Now Open for Mid-2019 Applications – Macquarie educators interested in having their professional practice in higher education teaching, learning support, and leadership recognised, can now register to apply for HEA Fellowship. Applicants must first attend a 1-hour information session; sessions will be held between 29 May and 15 July – register and see more information: https://teche.mq.edu.au/2019/05/macquarie-hea-fellowship-program-now-open-for-mid-2019-application/

Faculty Staff (Professional & Academic) Travel Grants – support for staff travel is now provided centrally by the Faculty.  Funding is available for ECR travel, international collaboration, teaching and professional staff development. If you would like to apply, please discuss with your supervisor and A/Prof Andrew Barron (for research travel) or Dr Drew Allen (for teaching travel). Research Eligibility and application details can be found here.https://staff.mq.edu.au/intranet/science-and-engineering/faculty-awards,-schemes-and-procedures
Two rounds remain for the rest of the year:
– Round 3 closes Friday 27 September 2019
Apply as soon as possible for any travel you intend on taking in 2019, that meets the criteria. Funds awarded must be spent in 2019 and will not be carried into 2020.

SEMINARS AND WORKSHOPS

Venture Café – Want to know more about innovation, and how to achive it?  Come along to the Venture Cafe, Thursday, 3pm – 8pm, 58 Waterloo Road, Macquarie Park, NSW (map). Find out what is on each week here – https://venturecafesydney.org/

Biological Sciences HDR Conference – Date/Time: Tuesday 11th to Thursday 13th June, 2019; see timetable, below. Venue: 14SCO T3 & T4 (level 3 lecture theatres). All are welcome to attend the annual Department of Biological Sciences Higher Degree Research conference!

Presentations from PhD students will be held in the mornings: 11th June 9am-12:15, 12th June 9:15am-12:15 13th June 9am-10am, with HDR Panel interviews to follow on the same days. Posters from MRes students can also be seen throughout the conference in the 6 Wally’s Walk (aka E8C) foyer, and a poster presentation session will be held on the Thursday afternoon.
A barbecue lunch will be held in the Biology courtyard on Thursday 13th from 12:45pm – vegetarian options available.
ABSTRACT BOOKLET + TIMETABLE

If you notice any issues, please contact <julian.may@mq.edu.au>.

Wildlife at the Watering Hole – 3rd Tuesday of each month, 6:30pm @ Botany View Hotel, King St Newtown!

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

HDR NEWS AND OPPORTUNITIES

PhD Students: got a grant? Dept. will co-fund up to $1500 – The Department would like to encourage students to seek external sources of funding, and has a small budget with which to support successful candidates.New limits from 2019:PhD students ONLY: Dept. will match up to $1500 of external (non-MQ) funding ONCE during the student’s candidature.

Are you a HDR student? Need help with writing? HDR Mentors in collaboration with HDR Learning Skills is running another round of Peer Writing Assistance (PWA) for the rest of the year! This program is designed to support MRES and HDR candidates in managing thesis writing and research-related concerns. All peer writing assistants have undergone training for their role and are current PhD candidates at Macquarie.
The PWA program is based on the principle of collaborative learning in which a more experienced research student helps you develop stronger academic and research skills. Peer Writing Assistants are not teachers. Rather, they are trained to function as a ‘friendly audience’ or ‘fresh pair of eyes’ to help you gain new perspectives on your writing or research ideas.
Registrations are now open for individual consultation bookings. If you are interested, please go to book in for a 45-minute session with a PWA here.

And:

ADMIN THINGS

Outreach Activities – Have You Participated in an Activity for Biology Recently? Don’t forget to fill in the super-quick form here – ACCESS OUTREACH FORM HERE

Building Name Changes – Cheat Sheet – If you are trying to identify buildings on campus with new names or old names, please use this link to convert them from old to new or vice versa.

THIS AND THAT

Call for Yellow Pages Books: Any unwanted yellow pages books old or new can be donate to PGF. Pages will be used to line pots. Kindly leave them outside office 14EAR(E8A)-175.

Harvest Hub – great food that doesn’t cost the earth

Do you want:

• To eat with the seasons?
• Have fresh fruit and veg delivered weekly?
• Buy from local growers and support local farmer more directly?
• Access weekly specials and a flexible, easy to use ordering system?
• Have produce delivered to you at work?
• Buy grains and cereals too?

Then try Harvest Hub www.harvesthub.com.au

Hub name: MACQUARIE04  F: @harvesthubau  

More information?

• Check out the website
• Talk to Samantha Newton <samantha.newton@mq.edu.au>.
• Orders are delivered weekly, on Tuesdays

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>

Also, please see the following to correctly format your additions, and keep them rolling in!

You may have noticed that we try to keep all the articles to the same format for the Department Matters, however, rest assured, they do NOT all turn up in this format! To help keep your Department Matters looking as good as possible, when sending in additions to the Newsletter, please try to keep these formatting guidelines in mind.

1. Please write in third person. The information is coming from the Newsletter, not directly from you.
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3. If sending via email, set your email output to basic. HTML output will add all sort of formatting that will have to be removed before your article can go into the newsletter.
4. Keep your submission short and direct (two paragraphs) and if possible provide a document, email or link where readers can get more information. Any long submissions will be cropped.

Keeping to these guidelines will streamline your article’s addition to the newsletter. Thank you.

Have You Missed Out on an Issue of Department Matters? Back issues can be found at this newsletter archive link for your reading pleasure.