Executive Dean’s Message - May 2023
Dear colleagues
As Semester 1 comes to an end, I would like to thank all academic and professional staff who contributed to our many teaching programs and courses, and ensured that our students had the best possible experience. I acknowledge the enormous amount of care, passion and work that goes into this and the associated benefits and opportunities for students and their future employers. Thank you also for your ongoing contribution to UQ as we head towards exams and grade finalisation.
Congratulations
Congratulations to HDR student, Ariane Mora, (SCMB), who has been selected as a 2023 Schmidt Science Fellow. This is the first time a UQ student has been selected for this prestigious fellowship with candidates being selected from around the world.
Congratulations to Julie Pearce (SEES) for being awarded an ARC Mid-Career Industry Fellowship to partner with a carbon transport and storage corporation, to develop innovative methods for monitoring gas leakage contamination into overlying Australian aquifer water resources.
Congratulations to the 53 staff who received a Dean’s Commendation for Excellent Teaching in Semester 2, 2022. Congratulations to SEES for receiving the highest number of nominations in a school (15) and to Daniel Harris (SEES), John Dwyer (BIOL) and Taylor Jereley (SVS) for receiving the highest number of individual nominations.
Congratulations to Scott Chapman (SAFS) for his leadership in the establishment of Analytics for the Australian Grains Industry (AAGI), a $92M investment to support strategic partnerships between the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) with strategic partners Curtin University, The University of Queensland (UQ) and University of Adelaide.
Congratulations to Sue Lowrey and Felicity Ray for being appointed to the roles of the School Manager of the School of the Environment, and the School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability respectively (see below).
Please see this month’s e-newsletter for other success stories.
Events
This week is National Reconciliation Week, and this year’s theme is ‘Being a Voice for Generations’. To mark this important week, UQ is running a number of events, details of which can be found online. I also acknowledge that National Sorry Day was last week, as was the sixth anniversary of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, calling for the constitutional recognition and empowerment of Indigenous Australians.
Our two new schools, the School of the Environment (SENV) and the School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability (AGFS), will be launched on Wednesday 21 June (at St Lucia) and Thursday 22 June (at Gatton), by the Vice-Chancellor and Provost respectively, ahead of the schools being established on June 30. Staff and stakeholders of the two new schools will receive an invitation later this week.
The Semester 1 Faculty of Science All-staff Forum (replacing the Biannual Faculty Board Meeting) will be held at 9am - 11am on Thursday 22 June. An invitation will be distributed to all staff shortly. Please let me know if you have any topics that you would like added to the meeting agenda, or if there’s anyone you would like to hear from.
Please see newsletter below for other events, including the next BrisScience talk.
Project 2025
As highlighted in the last video message from our Vice-Chancellor and foreshadowed in the April Faculty of Science newsletter, a series of strategic projects have been established to find efficiencies and reduce expenditure at UQ. Collectively this work falls under the banner of ‘Project 2025’ which will focus on optimisation of procurement, student admissions, delivery of teaching and research, and professional services. I will continue to keep you informed on progress against these goals.
Distribution of Disciplines Project
We are making good progress in implementing the changes associated with establishing two new schools in the Faculty of Science. We now have a new staff-facing website that includes lots of information on the implementation phase of this project, including a list of professional and academic staff for each school and a number of FAQs. Shortly we will share the outcome of mapping our degree programs, plans and courses and HDR students.
Websites for the new schools have been drafted and are looking fabulous, and budget planning for the two new schools is well underway. Preparations are also being made to the reception spaces for the new schools. For SENV, this will be an existing reception space on Level 2 of the Goddard Building (St Lucia) and a new reception space in the Animal Studies Building (Gatton). For AGFS, this will be the existing reception spaces in the Hartley Teakle Building (St Lucia) and the Natural and Rural Systems Management Building (Gatton). Initially, this will include hanging primary signage, and will likely include some refurbishment towards the end of 2023.
As noted above, the School Managers of the two new schools have been appointed. Congratulations to Sue Lowrey (SENV) and Felicity Ray (AGFS). We are currently in the process of recruiting the Heads of Schools of AGFS and SENV and look forward to sharing the outcomes in due course. The Distribution of Disciplines Harmonisation Committee continues to align workload models, culture and support processes to guide and support consultation within the new schools. The Transition Committees for the School of the Environment and the School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability are also working well, as we move towards go-live on 30 June.
Kind regards,
Professor Melissa Brown
Executive Dean - Faculty of Science