Executive Dean’s Message - January 2024
Dear colleagues,
Welcome back! I hope your break was filled with relaxation and good times. I greatly enjoyed spending time with family and friends in Melbourne followed by a road trip in California. Sincere thanks to Avril Robertson for her outstanding work as Acting Executive Dean during my absence, including navigating the complexities of QTAC offers and ATAR cut-offs!
Congratulations
Congratulations to Bostjan Kobe (SCMB) who received an NHMRC Investigator Grant and Ariel Isaacs (SCMB) and Mariusz Skwarczynski (SCMB) who received NHMRC Ideas Grants.
Well done to Grace Li (FoS), Avril Robertson (FoS, SCMB) and colleagues for securing a New Colombo Plan Mobility Grant that will fund eight Australian students studying science to have a two-week study experience in China hosted by one of our university partners, Sichuan Agricultural University.
Congratulations to Neal Menzies AM (AGFS) for being recognized for his significant service to science, and to tertiary education through the award of a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2024 Australia Day Honours. It was also wonderful to see the well-deserved success of other UQ colleagues through this process including our VC Deborah Terry AC and Bruce Abernethy AM.
Congratulations to Artem Pulemotov (SMP) who was awarded the Australian Mathematical Society’s (AustMS) 2023 Teaching Excellence Award and to the two UQ students (Tara Kemp and Rhuaidi Bourke) who won best student presentations at the 2023 AustMS Annual Meeting in December, the opening of which I was delighted to attend along with our Vice Chancellor, Deborah Terry AC and Queensland’s new Chief Scientist, Kerrie Wilson.
Congratulations to Aude Bernard (SENV), who recently received a 2023 Early Career Award from the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population in recognition of her international reputation as an innovative migration scholar.
Events
On Saturday 9 December, I had the pleasure of opening the 38th Australia and New Zealand Society for Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry (ANZSCPB) Conference at UQ’s Gatton campus. Congratulations to Edward Narayan (AGFS) for his leadership and to all members of the organizing committee for delivering such an excellent conference, and particularly for the focus on HDR students and EMCRs. Please see a photo and article in the ‘News and Notices’ section of the newsletter below.
Other news
A reminder that the UQ Leadership Programs are running again in 2024 and that expressions of interest are open until Monday 19 February.
As many of you will know, our Faculty Executive Manager, Patrick Testa, has been appointed as the new Faculty General Manager of the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Science at Monash University in Victoria. This role presents a next-level challenge in terms of scale and complexity and the wonderful benefit of returning to his previous hometown and his family. Patrick’s last day at UQ will be Thursday 8 February. Please congratulate and thank Patrick for his exemplary service to UQ!
Leading on from this, I am pleased to announce that Helen Weir, Chief Operating Officer of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Quantum Biotechnology, has commenced as Interim FEM. Welcome Helen!
Welcome also to Rebecca Dorman, who has commenced as the Senior Manager, Human Resources Client Partnering (HRCP) supporting the Faculty of Science.
This year the Faculty of Science will be involved in two Academic Board reviews. The review of the School of Veterinary Science and the review of the Bachelor of Science. I encourage all staff to contribute to either or both of these reviews. Most immediately, all staff in the Faculty of Science have been invited to make a submission to the review committee for the review of the School of Veterinary Science. Details and instructions can be found here. Submissions should be sent to the Review Coordinator (email: uqreviews@uq.edu.au) by Monday 8 April 2024.
And finally, course coordinators interested in obtaining student engagement and satisfaction data during semester 1 2024 should express their interest in partnering with the Science SLOCI team, closing on 5 February 2024. Further information can be found here.
Wishing you all well in the lead-up to O-week and the start of semester 1!
Kind regards,
Professor Melissa Brown
Executive Dean - Faculty of Science