Executive Dean's Message - July 2020

Dear Colleagues,

Welcome back to campus! For those of you who returned on 13 July, I hope that you and your colleagues, your family (and your pets!) are adjusting to the transition back to campus, and that you are finding a routine that works for you and benefits from the many positive changes we experienced whilst working from home.

I also hope that you had, or will have, the opportunity for a break, even if only for a few days. I enjoyed time away from Zoom and it was wonderful to refresh and refocus before embarking on what will be a very busy second half of 2020.

I acknowledge that some staff will be concerned about the escalating number of COVID-19 cases in Victoria and the recent announcement of cases in Brisbane. We continue to be well informed by Queensland Health and to respond to their advice on any changes that may impact operations at UQ.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to the Semester 1 assessment process, which I know had its challenges. The results were released to thousands of students on 22 July. This has been a spectacular achievement under the current circumstances!

Congratulations again to the UQ COVID-19 vaccine team, this time for progressing the UQ-1-SARS-CoV-2-Sclamp vaccine candidate to Phase 1 clinical trials. This is very exciting indeed and I wish the team every success!

Congratulations also to Cath Lovelock in the School of Biological Sciences for being awarded an ARC Laureate fellowship. The prestigious Australian Research Council (ARC) award will provide over $3 million in funding to Professor Lovelock’s work in activating “blue carbon” – which she describes as the carbon stored in the soils and biomass of coastal wetlands.

And congratulations to Ian Gentle from the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences for leading the UQ component of an ARC Industrial Transformation Research Program on Energy Storage and Conversion Technologies.

Congratulations also to our new ARC Future and Advance Queensland fellowship awardees. 

You may be aware that a new category for the 2020 UQ excellence awards has been announced. The category is ‘Response to COVID-19’ and nominations close 17 August. This category will only be available in 2020 and winners will be announced at the ceremony for all UQ Excellence awards on 24 November.

There has been an enormous amount of discussion nationally about the proposed changes to funding Australian Universities in the future, including the potential impacts on tertiary science education and on funding the full cost of research. We are not alone in our concerns and continue to advocate and influence for the best outcome for our students and graduates, our researchers and higher education in Australia.

As you may know UQ has a strong partnership with the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi (IITD), which has led to the establishment of the UQ-IITD Academy of Research. As part of this, a joint PhD program has been created which provides opportunities for very high performing students to undertake collaborative projects between the two institutions. There is currently a call for new projects. Please see the proposal template and submit by 14 August.

And finally, congratulations to Nitika Davis in the Faculty of Science Engagement team for completing her Diploma of Business, which she commenced under the Indigenous Trainee Program. Well done Nitika!

Kind regards,

Melissa