Executive Dean’s Message - June 2021

Here we go again with another COVID-19 lockdown! I hope you’re all doing OK and able to navigate all of the associated challenges. We’re of course all becoming much more adept at working from home, but even so, I appreciate the enormous impacts a lockdown has on many events and activities. Thanks for your ongoing flexibility and agility in these challenging times.

Thanks so much to the more than 190 attendees who attended the Faculty of Science Board Meeting on Friday 4 June. This included academic and professional staff from across the faculty, 11 undergraduate and postgraduate coursework students, Associate Deans from several faculties, and the Provost. The presentation and draft minutes are now available on SharePoint.

Other highlights this month have included attending a fun speed-mentoring event at the SAFS school retreat, providing an opportunity for me to chat to many of the school’s amazing early and mid-career staff. I also enjoyed the Faculty of Science Teaching and Learning Forum and participating in some great conversations about the future of teaching and learning, including assessment, in a post-COVID world.

The June 2021 UQ Researcher forum was an insightful conversation between Hugh Possingham (BIOL and Qld Chief Scientist) and Bronwyn Harch (DVCRI), including some great advice for emerging research leaders and mentors. The Universities Australia Conference 2021 was also interesting, including an address by Alan Tudge, the Federal Minister for Education and Youth, who clearly articulated the government’s priorities for higher education, including research commercialisation, international student engagement, educating Australians and freedom of speech. The minister’s speech is online.

Congratulations to Honorary Professor John Jell AM (SEES) for being made a Member in the General division (AM) in the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours, in recognition of his significant service to environmental science education, and to geological societies. More information on UQ’s success in these honours can be found online.

Congratulations also to the School of Mathematics and Physics for receiving a Silver Pleiades Award, by the Inclusion, Diversity and Equity in Astronomy Chapter of the Astronomical Society of Australia, in recognition of ‘a sustained record of monitoring and improving the working environment and leadership in promoting positive actions as examples of best practice to other organisations in the astronomy community’.

And congratulations to Tamara Davis (SMP) who has been awarded the Robert Ellery Lectureship from the Astronomical Society of Australia, which is given for outstanding contributions in astronomy or a related field, and to Halina Rubinsztein-Dunlop (SMP) for being awarded the 2020 Harrie Massey Medal from the Institute of Physics and to Magdalena Zych (SMP) for being awarded the 2020 Ruby Payne-Scott Award.

Congratulations to those researchers who were successful in attracting RSP3 funding to support new research programs. Successful applications in the Faculty of Science were:

• Yoni Nazarathy (SMP) and colleagues: AI for Pandemics
• Scott Chapman (SAFS) and colleagues: Agricultural Supply Chain Digital Twin
• Carissa Klein (SEES) and colleagues: Sustainable urban seascapes in Moreton Bay
• Mark Schembri (SCMB) and colleagues: Priming support for UQ-based bacterial vaccine development
• Ricardo Soares Magalhaes (SVS) and colleagues: Queensland Alliance for One Health Sciences

We were also successful in attracting RSP3 funds for much-needed crop and plant science infrastructure at Gatton, in partnership with QAAFI.

We are sorry to farewell the Faculty of Science Director of Advancement, Evan Morgan, who has accepted a new role at The University of Sydney as the Director of Development, Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths (STEM) & Business. Evan has done a fantastic job of establishing an Advancement function in the Faculty of Science, developing numerous new partnerships with alumni and donors, and attracting a significant amount of funding to support our students and our research.

I hope you take the opportunity to have a well-earned break and to refuel before Semester 2 commences.

Kind regards,

Professor Melissa Brown

Executive Dean