The assassination of a hypothesis by non-critical interpretation of molecular data: A comment on Sharma et al.
By: Machado G & Wolff JO | Find with Google Scholar »
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Hi all,
So it really is upon us – we are moving into the new Biosciences building from next Thursday! The Fauna Park people will be busy packing their boxes. And the following week we will have our first department morning tea in the new space – come along to check it out and eat cakes, all welcome!
Just a quick reminder that everyone should put November 5th in their diary for the HDR supplementary conference – there is a great morning of talks scheduled, and all HDR panel members should check the schedule below (and their Panel number) for interview times.
cheers,
Michelle
Save the Date
This coming week 22th – 26th October
Tue 23rd – Nov 1st: Staff Wellbeing Week; MQ Campus events; registrations open now!
Wed 24th: The Great Biology Bake Off Morning Tea; 10.30am; 14EAR (E8A) 280 Biology Tea Room.
Wed 24th: Department Seminar; 1.00pm – 2.00pm; 14EAR (E8A) 280 Biology Tea Room.
Thu 25th: aaRgh – R Users Group; 3.00pm – 5.00pm; 14EAR (E8A) 280 Biology Tea Room.
Following week 29th October – 2nd November
Mon Oct 23rd – Nov 1st: Staff Wellbeing Week (2nd half!); MQ Campus events; registrations open now!
Wed 31st: Department Morning Tea; 10.30am; Biosciences building – Fauna Park
Wed 31st: Department Seminar; 1.00pm – 2.00pm; 14EAR (E8A) 280 Biology Tea Room.
Wed 31st: Mental Health Seminar – Toolkit for leaders and staff, Dr Ben Wilkes; 1pm – 2pm; Room A, Level 3, MUSE 18 Wally’s Walk.
Thu 1st: Biology Social Club Drinks; 5.00pm – 7.00pm; Biology Courtyard.
Future Events
Nov 5th: Supplementary HDR Conference; 9am – 1pm; 14EAR (E8A) 280 Biology Tea Room. Interviews: 2pm – 5pm.
Nov 6th: One Health Antibiotic Resistance Science Fair; 12pm – 2pm; Biology Courtyard – register here.
Nov 7th: Volunteers Thank You Lunch; 12pm – 1pm; Biology Courtyard – register here.
Dec 4th: Exam Meeting followed by Dept EOY party – more details soon.
Dec 10-11th: Department Retreat for academic staff; MQ city campus.
Want to know what Department seminars are coming up? You can check out the Dept webpage at any time!
General News and Announcements
2018 Milthorpe Memorial Award
Congratulations to Nola Hancock who received the 2018 Milthorpe Memorial Award (shared with Alex Carthey).
Supplementary HDR Conference – 9am – 1pm; 14EAR (E8A) 280 Biology Tea Room; Interviews: 2pm-5pm – Please join us for some excellent PhD student talks.
HDR Panel interviews will follow in the afternoon; meeting rooms TBD. See DRAFT Schedule HDR Suppl conf schedule 20181019 DRAFT – Biology HDR Panels-20180924; If you have any issues with scheduling, please contact <julian.may@mq.edu.au>, and we will do our best to accommodate you.
One Health Antibiotic Resistance Science Fair – Come along to the BIOL364 Symbiosis in Health and Disease and participate in activities developed by the students to showcase the issue of antibiotic resistance. The students have some great ideas, so it would be awesome to see strong participation from the Department. A light lunch will be provided. Register now here – http://events.mq.edu.au/antibiotic-resistance-2018
New Book Published by our MQ Research Fellow, Simon Clulow!
Simon Clulow & Mike Swan (2018). A Complete Guide to Frogs of Australia. Australian Geographic: Sydney. 336 pages.
Campus Wellbeing Week Oct 23-Nov 1 – During the eight days of activities there will be a range of exciting activities including informative lunchtime sessions, campus walks, exercise classes, FREE massages and art classes for staff to attend. View the full program here. Wellbeing week is a collaborative effort brought to you by MQ Health, Campus Life, Centre for Emotional Health, Sustainability, Campus Wellbeing, and Human Resources. Registrations are a must so book in to avoid disappointment.
SEMINARS AND WORKSHOPS
Biological Sciences Weekly Seminar – Date/Time/Venue: Wednesday, 24th October 2018, 1 – 2pm, 14EAR (E8A) 280 Biology Tea Room.
Speaker: Panos Vlachopouos, Quality and Standards, MQ. Title: Joining the dots: using structured e-portfolio assignments to enhance reflection and professional skills. More information on this and all department seminars ON OUR WEBPAGE HERE
Transparent data practice for reliable and reproducible research
Date/Time/Venue: Wednesday, 7th November 2018, 10 am – 1.30pm, Library Room M4.02
Facilitators: Shawn Ross (Data Science and eResearch) and Susan Shrubb (Research Skills Librarian). Details: TThis workshop will focus on the importance of transparent data practices. It will involve a mix of presentation and hands-on activities and is relevant for all researchers who collect, analyse, collaborate and publish data. Topics covered will include, making data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR), the use of code for analysis, open-source software, reproducible analytical environments and will be given the training necessary to implement these approaches. Everyone welcome, please register now here!
Futures of Neurorobotics
Date/Time/Venue: Monday, 19th November 2018, 11am – 4:30pm, Senate room (16 Wally’s Walk, room 310)
This workshop explores how robotics and computer science can accelerate understanding the brain, how understanding the brain can accelerate robotics, and the future of brain-machine interfaces. The workshop will consider the scientific, ethical and philosophical challenges posed by new developments in A.I. and autonomous machines. Please register now here!
PCA: When? Why? How? – R Users Group
Date/Time/Venue: Wednesday, 25th October 2018, 3pm – 5pm, 14EAR (E8A) 280 Biology Tea Room.
Anika Immer will be talking about the ins and outs of Principal Components Analysis in R. There will be an introduction on when principal component analyses are useful, what they are and how to implement them and also an overview of related analyses. Anika is a PhD student in Simon Griffith’s Lab Group working on ecology of fear.
Night Talk: Whales, Drones and the Future of Marine Mammal Research – 15 Nov 2018 5.45pm – 7.45pm – Australian Museum. Hear from Vanessa Pirotta of the Marine Predator Research Group, Macquarie University, whose investigations into threats facing cetaceans has taken her around the world including Australia, Tonga, Madagascar and Antarctica. Pirotta uses drone technology to track whale health by collecting whale snot – her work highlights the use of drones as non-invasive research tools for marine mammal research. She seeks to apply theoretical frameworks to change our thinking about how to better manage human activities in the ocean and promote wildlife conservation. More information – https://australianmuseum.net.au/event/night-talk-whales-drones-and-the-future-of-marine-mammal-research
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. Registrations are now open for individual consultation bookings. If you are interested, please go to book in for a 30-minute session with a PWA. If you have questions about the PWA program please email hdrmentors@mq.edu.au
also..
Weekly Writing Workshops for HDR Students and Early Career Researchers – Convened by Ken Cheng – Running weekly for most of the year: Fridays 2-4pm in room E8B 111
If you are interested in attending a session email Ken Cheng <ken.cheng@mq.edu.au> by Wednesday 12:00-noon, preferably with a draft attached of what you are working on and some indication of what you especially need help with.
Molecular Sciences Seminar #1
Date/Time/Venue: Tuesday, 31th October 2018, 12 – 1pm, 4WW (F7B) 322 Seminar Room.
Speaker: Dr Belinda M. Abbott, Department of Chemistry and Physics, Le Trobe University. Title: The Importance of Being Assayed: Design, Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Isoquinolines as Antimalarial Agents. https://goto.mq/7n
Molecular Sciences Seminar #2
Date/Time/Venue: Thursday, 1st November 2018, 1 – 2pm, 4WW (F7B) 322 Seminar Room.
Speaker: Dr Peter Duggan, Biomedical Manufacturing Program, CSIRO Manufacturing. Title: Natural Projects & Extracts Research at CSIRO. https://goto.mq/7l
ADMIN THINGS
Travel Bookings Absence on Duty (AOD) Submissions – Due to the recent trend of last-minute AOD requests, any late submissions will not be approved. Please give a minimum of 3 weeks before you travel domestically, and 6 weeks internationally, for approvals to be processed and bookings made for you. The more notice you give, the easier it is, and the better prices you can get.
Not receiving general emails?
We have had some trouble with the email lists. If you or anyone you know seems to have dropped off the email lists to receive department seminar notices, Department Matters, etc, please email or drop in to see Jenny Ghabache in the admin office.
Photo Competition – OCTOBER 2018 – go into the draw to win a $100 Gift Card this month! This month’s theme is YOUR BEST SHOT! Your images could be used on our Department website, this newsletter, on our social media and in other biology publications. A lucky person’s name will be drawn each month, and they will receive a $100 Gift Card! Criteria: you must provide caption information including details of what/where/who(names of people)/date & you must have taken all photos & the image must have been taken in the last five years. Please follow the dropbox file request link to submit your images.
Submission close: 31 OCTOBER 2018. You can enter as many photos as you like – one entry to the draw per photo with caption info, good luck!
Congratulations to Francisco (Paco) Martinez Baena, last months draw winner!
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.
RESEARCH FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
CSIRO Postgraduate Scholarships – CSIRO is currently offering top-up postgraduate scholarships for students enrolled at an Australian University and holding a RTP scholarship (or equivalent), commencing in 2019. These scholarships are for PhD projects in priority research areas for CSIRO. The closing date for applications is Wednesday 31st October. Students must apply via the Careers webpage.
STEP’s John Martyn Research Grant for the Conservation of Bushland in Sydney – applications are welcomed from honours, masters and PhD students. To apply, complete the application form electronically, save it and email it to secretary@step.org.au by 31 March 2019. We will announce the winner by 7 April 2019. For more information go to http://step.org.au/index.php/grants and if you have any queries, please email or call Helen Wortham on 0423 534 148.
Lake Macquarie Environmental Research Grants 2018 – 2019
Letter to researcher – Lake Macquarie Environmental Research Grants 2018-2019
Information package – Lake Macquarie Environmental Research grants 2018-2019
Application form – Lake Macquarie Environmental Research Grants 2018-2019
Ecological Society of Australia Student Research Awards – closing date 31st October – Ten student research awards of up to $1,500 will be available to Australian postgraduate and honours students conducting ecological research. The award can be used to cover expenses such as field travel, research assistance, equipment or consumables. Applicants must be a member of the ESA and not have previously won a research award from the Society. Info here
OPPORTUNITIES
Exciting opportunity in the outback for all MRES students, with expenses paid!
If you are ready for some new excitement after just handing in your MRES thesis, Stephan Leu might just have the right opportunity for you. He is accepting students and volunteers to help him during a great trip to the outback, leaving on 29th of October and will be out there until mid-December. Dates are a little flexible. Stephan is working on animal movement, social networks and collective behaviour and decision-making. The days will be full of exciting work in the outback, ranging from working with GPS collars, moving sheep around, equipping them with collars and monitoring a cool experiment. There is also plenty of free time to experience the beauty of the outback with its vast openness, amazing views and plenty of sunshine – if you like a great tan. Email stephan.leu@mq.edu.au as soon as possible if you are interested.
BLOGS AND OTHER THINGS OF INTEREST
Plant of the Week – click on thumbnail to enlarge the image
This week – Echium candicans – Pride of Madeira
Worldwide, there are about 60 species of Echium, but almost half (27) of these are endemic to the archipelagos of the Macronesian Islands (Canary, Madeira, Cape Verde) off the coast of west Africa; the other species are found in countries around the Mediterranean, or in western Asia. However, the endemism is strict, so no island species occurs in continental floras, and no species from North Africa, Europe or western Asia occur on the islands. Echium candicans, the Pride of Madeira, as its name would suggest, is endemic to the Island of Madeira!
Calling all academics and PhD candidates interested in rivers – Dr Ania Kotarba-Morley from the Dept of Ancient History is gathering prospective stakeholders that may be interested in helping get the project “Cultural History of Australia Rivers” off the ground. The idea is to have a board range of individuals from academia, government and industry in a brainstroming session that will be held in early November. The focus will be on land use from archaeological and historical perspectives including,indigenous cultures and contact period but with some potential forays into more recent past. Including the use of environmental, and climatic datasets along with archaeological and anthropological ones. If you are interested in attending the upcoming workshop please email natalie.mylonas@mq.edu.au so that she can forward you a formal invitation.
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.
- Please write in third person. The information is coming from the Newsletter, not directly from you.
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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.
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Vanessa Pirotta was interviewed on ABC Radio Sydney on using whale snot to examine whales’ health.
Vanessa Pirotta from the Department of Biological Sciences was interviewed on ABC Radio Sydney on using whale snot to examine whales’ health.