Executive Dean's message - January 2020
Dear colleagues,
Happy New Year to all of you! I hope that you had a restful break and are ready for 2020. After a wonderfully relaxing few weeks with family and friends in Melbourne, Sydney, Queenstown NZ and Brisbane, I am delighted to be back and looking forward to another great year working with you to achieve amazing things in science teaching and research. My sincere thanks to Neal Menzies and Jenny Seddon who did a fabulous job as Acting Executive Deans during my absence, and to Patrick Testa and the Faculty office for their always outstanding support during this very busy time.
Bushfires
It was certainly a sad start to 2020 with the devastating Australian bushfires. I recognise that many of us have family, friends and colleagues directly affected by these events, and may need more understanding and support at work than usual. I also note the echo the comments and support available to UQ staff and students outlined in the Vice Chancellor’s email on 7 January, along with the support available from NHMRC to affected staff applying for research grants.
I would also like to acknowledge the many amazing researchers in our faculty who are actively involved in studies relating to the causes and impact of the bushfires. This includes (but is by no means limited to) work on managing fire fuels and determining the carbon footprint of a bushfire (Philip Stewart, SEES); the impact of the fires on threatened species (Michelle Ward, James Watson, Martine Maron, Daniella Teixeira, Hugh Possingham et al (SEES, BIOL and CBCS), the resilience of rainforests to fire (Rod Fensham, BIOL), the phenomenon of wildfires triggering supercell thunderstorms (Hamish McGowan (SEES) and the impact of the smoke on glaciers in New Zealand (also Hamish McGowan SEES).
Research accolades
Major kudos to Paul Young, Keith Chappell and Dan Watterson from SCMB, who have been recognised for their outstanding work in virology and vaccine development by being invited by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to develop a vaccine for the Wuhan coronavirus with colleagues in SCMB and AIBN. This builds on the $14.7m grant awarded to the group in 2018. Further information can be found here. Thanks to the research partnerships team, engagement team and the School for their excellent support in enabling this project to proceed.
Our faculty has also made a significant contribution to UQ, being ranked as the 3rd in the Asia Pacific region Nature Index, surpassed only by The University of Tokyo and Peking University.
Research funding
Congratulations to a number of staff who have been awarded new grants in the last month, including Craig Franklin (BIOL) for a CRC-P, Alan Mark and Paul Burn (SCMB) for a linkage grant, Brian Fry (BIOL) for leading a successful ARC LIEF grant, and Warwick Bowen (SMP) and Michael Landsberg (SCMB) for being CI’s on ARC LIEF grants led by other universities.
Now is a busy time for many staff involved in writing research grant applications. Just a reminder that most schools and the Faculty run grant readership schemes and I encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity.
Teaching and Learning matters
A huge thank you to the very many staff who participated in Faculty of Science graduations in December. We were involved in six ceremonies, including two at Gatton on a 41-degree day (not the day to be wearing a woolen grad gown from the southern states), and the last UQ ceremony of the year at which we had over 400 graduates!
With only a couple of weeks until O-week, we are all greatly looking forward to welcoming our 2020 commencing and returning students. I am certainly looking forward to a number of opportunities to speak to new students and their families during O-week. Thanks to everyone involved in the preparations for the beginning of semester.
We are also looking forward to welcoming recipients of the new Destination Australia scholarships to support both domestic and international students studying at regional campus locations. UQ Science has 40 scholarships to offer, out of a total of one thousand Australia-wide.
Just a reminder that the Faculty is running a T&L forum again this year on Thursday 6 February. Please register here.
I am also pleased to share a couple of fascinating T&L articles from recent editions of Campus Morning Mail that may be of interest. One focusing on strategies for engaging students in large lectures – whereby students in a lecture can ask a question live online and get a direct response from classmates and tutor using an open-source program called ‘QBot’ – and one on the importance of teaching in the life of university schools and departments.
2020 Award opportunities
There are a number of opportunities to apply or be nominated for prestigious awards and prizes including the 2020 Queensland Women in STEM Prize (nominations close 4 February) and the UQ Awards for Excellence (nominations close 2 March) and the Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science (nominations close 12 March). Other opportunities can be found here.
And just a reminder that the UQ Faculty of Science awards event is on Wednesday 12 February at 3pm in the AEB. Hope to see you there!
Kind regards,
Professor Melissa Brown
Executive Dean