BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DEPARTMENT MATTERS | November 25, 2019

Dear all,

Greetings from the Ecological Society of Australia’s Annual Conference in Launceston where I am enjoying a few days of ecology.

Lots of things coming up soon, most importantly the formal Department exam meeting followed by the End of Year Party next Tuesday. Preparations are well under way for a great celebration of 2019 in the Department! Get your nominations for Department awards in as soon as possible.

cheers

Michelle

Save the Date

This week 25th – 29th November

Tue 26th: DVCR Weather Report 2019; 3 – 4pm; Macquarie Theatre, 21 Wally’s Walk. Register here.

Wed 27th: Department Morning Tea; 10.30 – 11am; 14EAR-280 (Biology Tea Room).

Thu 28th: AARGH: R-Users Group (RUG) Help Session; 3.30 – 5.30pm; Continuum Room (75 Talavera Road, room 3114).

Thu 28th: Biology Social Club; 5.00 – 7.00pm; Biology Courtyard.

Following week  2nd – 6th December

Dec 3rd: Department Formal Exam Meeting followed by

Dec 3rd: End-of-Year Party; 12:30PM – 4:00PM 205B Culloden Rd (RSVP to Calli Miller).

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Wed 4th: Department Morning Tea; 10.30 – 11am; 205b Culloden Road Tea Room.

Dec 5th: Department Research Retreat for Academic Staff.

Weekly Events

Wed: Shut up and Write Sessions; 11.00am – 12.00pm; 6WW(E8C)-212 or 14EAR(E8A)-360A.

Thu: Venture Café; 3–8pm; 58 Waterloo Road, Macquarie Park, NSW (map). Find out what is on each week here – https://venturecafesydney.org/

Fri: Writing Workshops with Prof Ken Cheng – to support HDRs and ECRs with scientific writing; 2 – 4pm; Ken’s office at 205b Culloden Road, G12.

Fri: Behaviour and Evolution Journal Club; Friday at 12:30pm (bring your lunch); 205B Culloden Rd Boardroom.

Weekly Biological Sciences seminar program is here

Future Events

Dec 25, 2019 – Jan 01, 2020 Inclusive: University Shutdown.

General News and Announcements

Christmas Party Fun – One fun activity at this year’s Christmas Party is a caption contest for photos of anyone in the field (or lab!). Postgrads, feel free to send photos of your supervisors! Send photos of sufficient resolution for printing to Martin Whiting <martin.whiting@mq.edu.au>.  These will be printed and displayed at the Christmas party and we will have a caption contest. There are prizes to be won!

Lesley Hughes Podcast – For those that missed it because Lesley is not one to self-promote, have a listen to an Australian Geographic podcast from a few months ago entitled “Lesley Hughes – A rock star of climate change science”. It is well worth a listen.

DVCR Weather Report 2019 – Professor Sakkie Pretorius, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) invites you to this presentation. He will provide an update on Macquarie University’s research excellence, engagement and impact in 2019. In particular, he will be sharing some insights and strategies based on Macquarie’s results from the 2018 Excellence in Research Australia and Engagement and Impact exercises.

Looking to the future, he will talk about initiatives in our research pipeline that will shape the future of research at Macquarie University.

WHEN – Tuesday, 26 November, 2019, 3.00 pm – 4.00 pm.

WHERE -Macquarie Theatre – 21 Wally’s Walk.

RSVP – Friday, 22 November, 2019.

REGISTER NOW

Teaching in Vertebrate Physiology 2020 – The department is seeking applications for sessional teaching in Advanced Physiology in S1. This includes convening, lectures, pracs and assessment grading. Please send an expression of interest and a short CV to <fse.biol-hod@mq.edu.au> by 9 December 2019.

International University Staff Appeal to End Police Violence on University Campuses in Hong Kong – You may be aware of the escalating unrest in Hong Kong, however you may not be aware that the violence has now entered university campuses; at CUHK over 1000 bullets and tear gas have been used.

Please consider signing the letter from international academics calling for police to not infiltrate and bring violence into university campuses.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSehVEvi5T0HllCRSIWAKQ5ygXbh2GnWE_2BpOtJIPoyJikOew/viewform?fbclid=IwAR39LPimhLeBV6iYiMhZRQryJLM4VdARNXRLJExR92Zor_3pTCJ14T0HsEo

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

OPPORTUNITIES

Session 1 2020 Tutor Applications are Now Open!

Click here to apply

Applications close Friday 13 December, 2019.

Please contact <caitlin.kordis@mq.edu.au> with any questions.

Biology Tutor Needed for Curious Minds 8-13 December 2019 – the Program Director for ‘Curious Minds – girls in STEM’ is looking for a biology tutor for their December camp at ANU. A PhD candidate or masters student would be perfect. This is a late request as one of their regular staff members has recently dropped out. This is a live in role arriving 9am Sunday 8 December, staying at Ursula Hall at ANU, and leaving Friday 13. A small honorarium is available. The role is to support the Biology teacher and provide pastoral care/supervision to students.

Curious Minds is an Australian Government funded national program addressing the underrepresentation of females in STEM.  The six-month program targets year 9 & 10 girls with an interest and ability in STEM, but who have not had the opportunity to explore it further because of their socio-economic background or where they live (regional/rural).

For more information contact Associate Professor Kelsie Dadd <kelsiedadd@gmail.com> and visit https://www.asi.edu.au/programs/curious-minds/

Volunteers Wanted – The National Herbarium of NSW is imaging its 1.4 million specimens ahead of its move to the Australian Botanical Garden, Mt Annan in April 2021. This is the first project of this scale to happen in the Southern Hemisphere.

And they NEED YOUR HELP!

By volunteering you will have the opportunity to see their incredible collection up close and meet expert plant scientists. There are two sessions per weekday (morning and afternoon). Each session runs for three hours.

If you would like to help and gain valuable experience, please contact Floret Meredith <floret.meredith@bgcp.nsw.gov.au> with your availability.

Research on Plant-Pollinator Relationships – opportunities for involvement as student, volunteer or collaborator, with field trips scheduled to Port Macquarie during Nov/Dec 2019 and Jan 2020. If interested, please contact Professor Graham Pyke at <Graham.Pyke@mq.edu.au>.

For more details, please consult this word document

eFLOWER Summer School Down Under – Royal Botanic Garden Sydney and UNSW, Australia; 1-10 April 2020.
Applications are now open for the eFLOWER Summer School Down Under to be held at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney and the University of New South Wales (Australia) from 1 to 10 April 2020. The goal of the eFLOWER Summer School Down Under will be to deliver high-quality training in the modern comparative methods used to study plant macroevolution, while at the same time offering the students the opportunity to contribute to future targets of the eFLOWER project.

For all details about this event, please see the RBG’s webpage: https://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/eflowerdownunder.

SEMINARS AND WORKSHOPS

AARGH: R-Users Group (RUG) Help Session – Do you have a problem with data analysis? You might want to give R a go which is a fantastic analytical and plotting tool. For all your R-related queries, drop by the ‘Ask An R Geek for Help’ (aaRgh) session where you can get one-on-one assistance. Or just come by, have some tea, and work on your code. For more details, visit https://github.com/mqRusers.

Date: November 28th, 2019. Time: 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM. Venue: Continuum Room (75 Talavera Road, room 3114). There will be snacks and beverages (BYO mug).

If you’re unable to attend a help session and would like some help from the MQ R user group community – try posting your problem on our Talkyard page! This follows a stack-exchange format and anyone can post questions and answers – all questions across all platforms are permitted as long as they’re about data/stats.
Sign up and follow the discussion here:  https://mq-data-advice.talkyard.net

Lunchtime Litter Collection – The days may be cooler, but they’re also clear and sunny. Lunchtime is a great time to go for a walk and get some vitamin D! It’s also a great time to join the Biology Litter Collection competition! The next event will be Tuesday 10th December, 1pm. Meet in the Biology courtyard, bring a bucket or bag if you can.

We’ll be holding events throughout the rest of the year, every few weeks. At each event you go out to collect litter, between 1 and 1:30pm. Collections will be assessed at the end of each collection and gold stars awarded accordingly. Event results are tallied at the end of the year with a prize for the best collector.

Event dates: Tues 10th December.

Shut Up and Write Sessions – every Wednesday 11am. It’s pretty simple, we shut up… and we write. Using the pomodoro technique we’ll meet at 11am to write, stop 25 minutes in for a 10 min break, then settle down again for another 25 minutes of writing. You’ll be amazed how productive you can be. More details on the concept here: https://thesiswhisperer.com/shut-up-and-write/

Room will be either 6WW(E8C)-212 or 14EAR(E8A)-360A, email <lizzy.lowe@mq.edu.au> to confirm or with any questions.

All welcome!

Venture Café – Want to know more about innovation, and how to achieve 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/

This week: 3.00pm: Demo Tables: 28 November Thursday Gathering; 3.00pm: Drone Wars; 4.00pm: Workshop: Rapid Prototyping 101; 5.00pm: Panel: Drones for Good; 6.30pm: Panel: The Deal with Drones.

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

Events from AINSE (The Australian Institue of Nuclear Science and Engineering)

Australian X-ray Analytical Association (AXAA) 2020 Conference & Exhibition (29 April – 1 May 2020) – Call for Abstracts now open (deadline 29 November 2019). For more information, please visit the conference website.

HDR NEWS AND OPPORTUNITIES

Val Williams Scholarship 2020 – The North Shore group of the Australian Plants Society would like to invite Masters, Honours and PhD students of Botany to apply for the Val Williams Scholarship (worth up to $3000).

Research Enrichment Program (REP) Workshop Series – The Department now has a fully fledged research enrichment program for 2019 – you can find out about upcoming workshops here (click on this PDF). All HDR students are encouraged to attend several of these workshops each year to develop their skills and track record for the post-PhD world. Supervisors please encourage your students!

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.

If you have received a grant (student as chief investigator) and wish to request co-funding, please forward a copy of the award letter to <sharyon.odonnell@mq.edu.au> and <wenjing.wang@mq.edu.au>.

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:

Writing Workshops – Convened by Ken Cheng, running weekly for most of the year: Fridays 2-4pm in Ken’s office at 205b Culloden Road, G12.
These writing workshops are meant for HDR students and early-career researchers. In these face-to-face encounters, writing at any stage of any genre is welcome, from first draft to final polish, from empirical paper to literature review to popular news story. Ken envisages personal feedback linked perhaps with rounds of revisions on selected passages during the session. The aim is not just to get stuff written, but to write everything well.
Those interested in attending a session should email Ken Cheng <ken.cheng@mq.edu.au> by Wednesday 12:00-noon, preferably with a draft attached of what they are working on and some indication of what they especially need help with.

ADMIN THINGS

Notes From the Previous Faculty Research Committee Meeting
Please let Nathan Hart know if you have:
1. Significant collaborations with CSIRO to include in Macquarie’s MOU to enhance CSIRO/MQU relationship
2. Existing collaborations with IIT Madras (Chennai) and BITS Pilani (Hyderabad), particularly project ideas to develop existing links & collaborations; more engagement with Indian Universities and HDR resource allocation is the aim.

Notifications
Externally funded PhD scholarships list. Click below link, under “PhD Studentship Opportunities – Science and Engineering”.
https://staff.mq.edu.au/intranet/science-and-engineering/faculty-awards,-schemes-and-procedures

Cloud Based Lab Notebook App, Lab Archives:
– 3 year agreement signed to record lab notes with file uploads, instead of paper
– Data kept in Australia, unlimited file storage, max file size 250MB
– Sign in and up via web site, https://au-mynotebook.labarchives.com/login
– Data can be exported if Mq Uni does not renew its licence
-Data and notes can be shared without and outside of MQ

Want help to commercialise your research? See attached Impact Canvas. Potentially also useful for your National Interest/Benefit ARC application.

Research Commercialisation Impact-Canvas

Department Meeting (Nov) 2019 – PowerPoint slides.

The Department’s Annual Report 2018 is now published and available here. It is packed full of news and events and showcases our people and achievements for the year. A cracker of a read! It will be available on the website very soon, so please pass on to your networks, colleagues and friends.

Need to Contact the Biology Admin Team via Email? Please send your email to <fse.bio-adm@mq.edu.au> or drop in and see us. The old google group (sci.bio-adm) email no longer works, if you have this email as a remembered address please delete.

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

Weekly Fruit and Harvest Hub – The fruit you’ve been eating in department gatherings has been coming from Harvest Hub for the last few years. Harvest Hub has now closed and moved to a new arrangement called Box Divvy. The new arrangement doesn’t suit us so we will trial a few different fruit providers over the next couple of months. If you have any feedback on what you like and what you don’t, please email your comments to <samantha.newton@mq.edu.au>.

Box Divvy – You might be interested in signing up to Box Divvy for your home fruit and veg orders. https://www.boxdivvy.com/

What is Box Divvy? Harvest Hub has worked closely with NSW Health, Western Sydney Diabetes Alliance and various councils to re-develop Harvest Hub into an ordering platform that provides fresh, local produce that is easy to access anywhere, affordable to anyone regardless of income, and is easy to use.

The Benefits

• Reduce your food bill by 40% compared with regular retail
• Same quality produce and range as Harvest Hub, but even fresher as direct
• Growers are getting paid a fair price for their produce: 65c in every dollar you spend goes back to the farmers and food producers, and they get paid on order. (Supermarkets pay around 35c in the dollar, and usually pay after 30-60 days).
• A growing range of grocery products, and next year: dairy, sustainable seafood and meat
• Minimal packaging
• A 90% reduction in carbon emissions compared with supermarkets

How Does It Work? Box Divvy is a box-sharing App – everything that is supplied to the Hub is in wholesale-size quantities to the Hub to share but it’s shared through the App between those members wanting that particular item: a 10kg box of tomatoes or cucumbers; Groceries are about to change in the way they are sold so it will be a total minimum spend for the whole Hub – you can pick and choose with these.

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