Executive Dean's Message - May 2020

Dear colleagues,

Welcome to June 2020! It’s hard to believe we are almost halfway through the year already.

Optimism for our post-COVID-19 future continues to grow, in Australia at least, with ongoing relaxation of restrictions. Most recently, these include the option to travel anywhere in Queensland, have larger gatherings and to open more shops, services and hospitality in Queensland.

This message is also available on YouTube.

It’s also great to see UQ’s safe return to campus roadmap and to have some more certainty about the future for teaching and research and work arrangements at UQ.

Please read the document, but especially please note:

• Phased return to campus is currently scheduled to commence no earlier than June 12, and so you should start discussing transition plans with your supervisors. You should also start planning to resume working on campus under COVID safe conditions after mid-July;
• Research should continue from home unless you need access to specialised facilities. Planning should commence to resume all research on campus no earlier than July 10;
• F2F teaching and support will resume where possible no earlier than July 10, and potentially in time for Semester 2.

Please also note that, for the foreseeable future, we will be continuing to observe social distancing and promoting healthy hygiene practices on campus. Whilst this may be relaxed in the future, for the time being we need to configure work arrangements accordingly.

Whilst challenging, it also good to be making some progress on planning for Semester 2 teaching. I am aware that the uncertainty, the planning workload and the prospect of an increase in teaching responsibilities has been difficult for many staff and am actively trying to address this by escalating these concerns and issues.

What is certain however is that all teaching activities will be delivered online, to ensure that all students can access our programs regardless of COVID-19 associated risks and the physical location of students. In addition, some appropriately modified practicals, tutorials and field trips that can happen in a COVID-safe way will be available to students who are able to come to campus. The challenge now is landing the logistics in terms of room capacity and usage. Thank you to everyone in our schools and faculty who have been contributing to this massive project and are already making modifications to Semester 2 courses.

The changes to Queensland restrictions will make it easier to do field-based research and teaching.

Congratulations are in order for some significant grant successes, including Mark Walker (SCMB) who has been awarded a prestigious NHMRC Investigator award valued at $3.4M, Jimmy Botella (SAFS), Warwick Bowen and Chris Baker (SMP). Phil Hugenholtz (SCMB), Scott Chapman (SAFS) and Farbod Roosta-Khorasani (SMP), Alan Mark (SCMB) and Paul Burn (SCMB), and their colleagues, for being awarded ARC Linkage grants totally $2.9M in this round and contributing to UQ’s success in being the recipient of the largest linkage investment for any Australian university.

Congratulations also to the recipients of Dean's Commendation for Excellence in Teaching in Semester 2, 2019. Thirty-nine staff in the Faculty of Science received a commendation. Those with two or more commendations are Sarah Meale (SAFS), Tyron Venn (SAFS), James Fraser (SCMB), Jack Wang (SCMB). Philip Stewart (SEES), Poh Wah Hillock (SMP), Alan Huang (SMP), Phillip Isaac (SMP), Barbara Maenhaut (SMP), Timo Nieminen (SMP).

It was been fantastic to see examples of some amazing approaches to online teaching in Semester 1 this year. The VC’s management conference had the privilege of hearing from Steve Salisbury (BIOL) and his online field trip. Susan Rowland and Carla North have captured a range of examples from across the faculty.

In other news you may have seen that the UQ Winter Wellness challenge is running again this year. I am delighted to have joined the Science Steppers team and will be wondering the streets of St Lucia to meet my daily target. I encourage you to consider leading or joining a team yourself to stay fit and well especially as we continue to spend so much time on Zoom and so little time walking around campus.

After an incredibly busy and challenging first half of the year, please do think about taking some leave in the mid-year break. I appreciate that it is compressed this year and that for many staff there is a lot of work required to prepare for Semester 2, but it's also important to take a break and refresh.

Kind regards,

Professor Melissa Brown

Executive Dean