Executive Dean's Message - March 2021
It was so nice to see blue sky again after so many days of rain. For me, the sun reappeared on my way to our Gatton campus last Wednesday for a great day of attending meetings and catching up with colleagues.
As always, we have lots to celebrate this month.
Congratulations to the following student and staff winners of the 2020 Faculty of Science awards:
- Future Superstar Awards (Students): Marley Chia, Germain Tobar, Lucas Ngo Dee, Daniel Fryer, and Leslie Roberson;
- Rising Star Awards (Staff): Amelia Wenger (SEES), Craig Jones (UQ Skills);
- Leadership and Mentoring Awards (Staff): Carissa Klein (SEES), Evan Morgan (Faculty Advancement);
- Partnership and Collaboration Award (Staff): SCMB EMCR Group;
- UQ Values Award (Staff): Rachel Stephenson (SCMB).
Well done all!
We’ve also recently celebrated the achievements of the following Faculty of Science staff:
- 2020 Australian Awards for University Teaching: Award for Australian University Teacher of the Year: Jack Wang (SCMB);
- 2019 Australian Awards for University Teaching: Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning: Rowland Cobbold (SVS);
- 2020 Higher Education Academy Senior Fellows: Poh Wah Hillock (SMP), Aaron Hendon (SVS), Rebekah Scotney (SVS);
- 2020 Higher Education Academy Fellows: Guta Motuma Bedane (SAFS);
- 2020 Higher Education Academy Associate Fellows Rodney Borrego-Acevedo (SEES);
- 2020 UQ Award for Teaching Excellence: Frances Shapter (SVS);
- 2020 UQ Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning: Sara Herke (SMP).
Congratulations also to Margie Mayfield (BIOL) who has been elected as a Fellow of the Ecological Society of America and to Eve McDonald Madden (SEES) who was awarded the highly prestigious Fenner Medal by the Australian Academy of Sciences. Congratulations Margie and Eve!
The Uluru Statement from the Heart is an invitation from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to “walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future”. This Uluru Statement video provides a sobering history of Indigenous people in Australia and a call for structural reform. I strongly encourage you to watch the video, pledge your support to consider submitting a response to the Australian Government's Indigenous Voice Discussion Paper.
Thank you to those of you who participated in International Women’s Day events and activities. There were many wonderful examples across the Faculty, including UQ Skills, who launched a special edition of their Farm Business Management Program: ‘For women, by women’. Great stuff!
There has been a flurry of activity across the Faculty in responding to the various funding schemes that are enabling us to address the impact of COVID-19 on research and teaching. The currently-active programs include the Faculty of Science COVID Research Recovery Scheme, for staff whose research has been impacted by an increased teaching load, the new UQ Fellowship schemes, to retain ECRs and recent PhD graduates and attract new research fellows to UQ, and new funding to alleviate the pressures on staff engaged in simultaneously teaching both internal and external mode students. I am greatly looking forward to seeing and supporting strong applications from across the Faculty.
You may be aware that the Australian Department of Education, Skills and Employment recently released a consultation paper on Research commercialisation. I encourage you to read the paper and either make a submission or contribute toa team submission. Please note that submissions close 11.59pm AEST on Friday 9 April 2021.
I hope you all enjoy the Easter break and a change in routine and scenery.
Kind regards,
Professor Melissa Brown
Executive Dean - Faculty of Science