Talented alumni from the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University have won international scholarships to pursue their studies abroad.
Benjamin Crocker and Julia Hill are embarking on postgraduate studies in the US and Switzerland thanks to prestigious scholarships from the Ramsay Centre and the ThinkSwiss program.
Benjamin Crocker
After completing a Bachelor of Music at Griffith University, Benjamin won the Australian Conductor’s Scholarship and later worked as a music educator at The King’s School and the University of Sydney. In recent years, he has developed an interest in arts and education policy.
The high achiever received a place to read history at the University of Oxford, but ultimately decided to head to America after winning the Ramsay Centre Postgraduate Scholarship.
He will join the famed ‘Great Books’ program at St John’s College, a liberal arts college in Maryland. The scholarship will also give him the opportunity to intern with a think tank in Washington DC.
Benjamin Crocker
“It’s a radically traditional take on education, which is designed to refine your thinking and hone your debating skills in a multidisciplinary environment,” he said.
“Music will always be my first love, but by getting experience in arts and education policymaking, I hope I can make a real difference.”
Benjamin grew up in a tiny sugarcane farming community in north Queensland and is a passionate believer in music as a social mobility tool.
“I got a fantastic foundation in music at the Con, and was exposed to some phenomenal teaching, and my career since has shown me the full potential of the arts.
“Music is the ultimate social mobility tool. If you grow up in a rural town where there’s not that much opportunity, it can quite literally be a ticket out or a way to go out into the world and experience something different.
“Music can be a great leveler and social unifier — when you’re playing together in a band or orchestra, it doesn’t matter where you come from, or who you are.
“I want to use this scholarship to advocate for a bigger seat at the table for music in Australian public life.”
Julia Hill. Photo: Katelyn Gillard Photography
Fellow Bachelor of Music alumnus Julia Hill won a ThinkSwiss Research Scholarship that will allow her to spend three months completing a research project at the Conservatory of Music in Geneva.
Julia plans to look at how culture influences art by collaborating with a group of Swiss student composers on a new musical work.
Due to COVID travel restrictions, Julia will complete the first part of her research project online before travelling overseas.
“We will collaborate on a new work for violin, piano and electronics and through the rehearsal process and the music itself, I will explore how our different identities come together,” she said.
“I’ve been involved in performing many new works by composition students at the Con, and that kind of collaboration has been really rewarding. I can’t wait to get started.”
Currently completing Honours at the Queensland Conservatorium, Julia is also a New Colombo Plan Scholarship recipient and a member of the Griffith Honours College.
“Being involved with the Honours College really opened my eyes to the potential of research.”
“One of the highlights of my time at Griffith was working as a research assistant for Dr Leah Coutts at the Con.
“That sparked my interest in exploring how music can tell stories, change the world and speak to the heart.”
A research team co-led by Griffith University archaeologists has discovered DNA in the remains of a hunter-gatherer woman who died 7200 years ago on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. Nicknamed Bessé’, she is the first known skeleton from an early foraging culture called the Toaleans.
Genomic analysis shows that this ancient individual was a distant relative of Aboriginal Australians and Papuans. But it also revealedthatBessé’is a rare ‘genetic fossil’,in the sensethat she belongedto agroupwith an ancestral history thatwasunlike that of anypreviously known human population.
Excavations at Leang Panninge cave. Credit: Leang Panninge Research Project.
This surprising find, published in the journalNature, is the first time ancient human DNA has been reported from ‘Wallacea’, the vast group of islands between Borneo and New Guinea and the gateway to the continent of Australia.
The Sulawesi remains were excavated in 2015 from a cave calledLeangPanninge(‘Bat Cave’). They belong to a young female hunter-gatherer who was about 17-18 years old at time of death. She was buried in a foetal position and partially covered by rocks. Stone tools and red ochre (iron-rich rock used to makepigment) were found in her grave, along with bones of hunted wild animals.
The University ofHasanuddinarchaeologists who discovered the woman affectionately dubbed herBessé’, following a custom amongBugisroyal families of bestowing this nickname onnewly bornprincesses before theywereformally named.
This is the first relatively complete skeleton to be found alongside securely dated artefacts of the Toalean culture, according to study co-leader Professor Adam Brumm from Griffith’s Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution.
“TheToaleanswereearlyhunter-gatherers who lived a secluded existence in the forests of South Sulawesi from around 8,000 years ago until 1,500 years ago, hunting wild pigs and collecting edible shellfish from rivers,” ProfessorBrummsaid.
Professor Brumm’s team re-excavated Leang Panninge in 2019 to clarify the context of the burial and collect more samples for dating. Through radiocarbon dating the team was able to constrain the age of Bessé’ to between about 7300 to 7200 years old.
Toaleanartefacts have only been found in one small part of Sulawesi, encompassing about 6% of the total land area of the island, the world’s eleventh largest.
“This suggests that thispastculture had limited contact with otherearlySulawesi communities or people in nearby islands, existing for thousands of years in isolation,” said study co-author AdhiAgusOktaviana, aresearcherin Indonesia’s national archaeological research institute (PusatPenelitianArkeologiNasional)andadoctoral candidate in the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research.
Archaeologists have long debated the origins of theToaleans. But now analyses of ancient DNA from the inner ear bone of Bessé’partly confirm existing assertions thatToaleanforagers were related to the first modern humans to enterWallaceasome 65,000 years ago, the ancestors of Aboriginal Australians and Papuans.
“These seafaring hunter-gatherers were the earliest inhabitants of Sahul, the supercontinent that emerged during the Pleistocene (IceAge) when global sea levels fell, exposing a land bridge between Australia and New Guinea,” ProfessorBrummsaid.
Professor Adam Brumm.
“To reach Sahul, these pioneering humans made ocean crossings throughWallacea, but little about their journeys is known.”
The genomic analyses were led by SelinaCarlhofffrom the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History at Jena, Germany, under the supervision ofProfessorCosimoPosth(University of Tübingen) and ProfessorJohannes Krause (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig).
The results show thatBessé’shares about half of her genetic makeup with present-day Indigenous Australians and people in New Guinea and the Western Pacific islands. This includes DNA inherited from the now-extinct Denisovans, distant cousins of Neanderthals whose fossils have only been found in Siberia and Tibet.
“In fact, the proportion of Denisovan DNA in Bessé’relative to other ancient as well as present-day groups in the region may indicate that thecrucialmeeting point between our species and Denisovans was in Sulawesi or another Wallacean island,”ProfessorPosthsaid.
The research could suggest that ancestors of Bessé’were among the first modern humans to reachWallacea, but instead of island hopping eastward to Sahul they remained in Sulawesi.
If so, it may have beentheforebearsofBessé’who created the very old cave paintingsfoundin South Sulawesi. As recently shown by Griffith University researchers, this rock art dates to at least45,500 years agoand includes what may be the earliest known human representations of animals.
But analyses also revealed something unexpected in the genome of Bessé’: a deep ancestral signature from an early modern human population of Asian origin. This group did not intermix with thepredecessors of Aboriginal Australians and Papuans, suggesting it may have entered the region after the initial peopling of Sahul.
“It is unlikely we will know much about the identity of these early ancestors of theToaleansuntil more ancient human DNA samples are available fromWallacea,” said Indonesian senior author ProfessorAkinDulifrom the University ofHasanuddin.
“But it would now appear that the population history and genetic diversity of early humans in the region were more complex than previously supposed.”
The researchers could detect no ancestry resembling that of Bessé’in the DNA of people who live in Sulawesi today, who seem tolargelydescend from Neolithic farmers (‘Austronesians’) who arrived in the region from Taiwan some 3,500 years ago.
This is not unexpected, given that the last traces ofToaleanculture vanishedfrom the archaeological record by the fifth century AD. The scientists do note, however, that more extensive genomic sampling of Sulawesi’s diverse population could reveal evidence for the genetic legacy ofToaleans.
“The discovery ofBessé’and the implications of her genetic ancestry show just how little we understand about the early human story in our region, and how much more there is left to uncover,” ProfessorBrummsaid.
Archaeological research conducted at Leang Panninge involved a formal collaboration between Griffith University and Indonesia’s national archaeological research institute, the Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi Nasional (ARKENAS). Also involved in the archaeological research were Griffith University PhD students Basran Burhan, Adhi Agus Oktaviana, David McGahan, Yinika Perston, and Kim Newman.
Dr Amelia Green is an expert on silo art tourism.
Silo art alone will not automatically save local economies and long-term plans for activating and developing both the site and town should be in place a new Griffith Business School report recommends.
Griffith Business School’s Dr Amelia Green and Professor Scott Weaven have released the first Australian Silo Art and Wellbeing report with a suite of recommendations based on over 1100 responses to the first national silo art survey focusing on the experiences and perceptions of visitors, residents and local business owners.
Dr Green says while the report confirms that silo art consistently attracts visitors, the extent to which it directly stimulates local economies and individual businesses varies widely across each of Australia’s silo art sites.
“What happens after visitors view silo art is shaped by what they interact with when they arrive.”
Of the 183 local business owners surveyed, 64% reported that silo art attracted customers to their businesses. Only 47% responded that it had a noticeable positive impact overall on the businesses in their town.
“Whether an individual business benefits from silo art visitors depends on many factors such as where the business is located within the town, if other businesses are closer to the silo art site and if the business offers facilities like toilets,” Dr Green said.
“While some business owners and managers attributed the survival of their business entirely to silo art visitors, others reported that silo art has made no difference to their trade.”
The report recommends that silo art towns provide up-to-date online information about the art, local businesses and opening hours to assist visitor’s trip planning.
Similar information should also be displayed at the site with a map identifying walking or driving distances to local business and other nearby experiences.
“The perception amongst visitors that these towns want to attract tourists sets up their expectations when they arrive and information before and during visits is crucial,” Dr Green said.
“The research shows a current disconnect between visitors eager to give back to local communities but frustrated when nothing is open, and business owners keen for more customers.”
Dr Green said silo art presents a ‘golden opportunity’ economically, but the broader challenges lie in deepening the visitor experience, inspiring return visits, and re-framing silo art as a launching pad for broader tourism strategies and revitalisation.
“Visitor awareness and attraction are two initial hurdles. The question then becomes, how do you make visitors fall in love with your town?”
The report also highlights that ongoing activation of existing sites and towns may require funding and collaboration with local councils, community groups, government, arts organisations and tourism bodies to address issues and opportunities.
Silo art ‘stimulates happiness’ in local communities
Coonalpyn Silos in South Australia. Painted in 2017 by artist Guido van Helten. Photo by Karen Simpson.
When it comes to social impacts, the report found silo art benefits local communities by stimulating happiness through enjoyable interactions with high quality art (according to 70% of all resident participants), beautification of the everyday environment (72%) and reinforced or increased town pride (65%). Of the residents surveyed, 88% consider silo art a worthwhile investment for regional Australian towns and communities.
However, the report also found highly isolated cases of some residents experiencing adverse impacts associated with silo artworks that lack a connection to the local area.
“Visitors have come to expect that silo artworks represent the local community, so they naturally ask questions about the artwork when they arrive.”
“Answering these questions can be difficult if the artwork depicts symbols or stories that are not present in the town,” Dr Green said.
Visitors ‘feel positive’ for giving back to communities
Benefits for visitors include expanding arts engagement, inspiring arts participation, positive re-discovery of Australian art, culture, history and towns, and positive emotions stimulated by opportunities to give back to struggling rural and regional communities in small yet symbolic ways.
“44% of the 714 visitors surveyed reported that they spend approximately between $11 and $50 in each town they visit for silo art. A further 25% reported that they spend between $50 and $100,” Dr Green said.
“But participants repeatedly emphasised that the specific amount they spend varies depending for instance on what businesses are open and whether the silo art site is connected to a town or not.”
“Our findings reinforce the potential for silo art to benefit visitors and local communities alike. Now is the time to plan strategically and make informed actions to foster the potential and longevity of this art tourism movement.”
Jackson Tuckwell starting playing the piano from the age of 5 and later found himself drawn to double bass. His love for music has taken him down many avenues such as playing in a jazz band and performing Celtic music as a part of the State Honours Ensemble Program.
Why did you choose to study at Young Conservatorium?
From a young age, performing as part of an orchestra is what I wanted to do. So being part of the Young Conservatorium was a dream come true. I have studied double bass at Young Conservatorium since 2017 and during that time I’ve progressed through several conductors, orchestras and life lessons. Double bass has always allowed me to formulate my perception of the world into something that words can’t evoke and the Conservatorium has helped me cultivate these ideals into skills.
In fact, my participation in the Young Conservatorium is like medicine against a long-term illness. No matter how ill I felt I would still want to go to rehearsals. Last year I was in the Children’s Hospital for 6 weeks. While in hospital I still continued going to each rehearsal. This is how strong my desire to play with the Young Conservatorium is.
What do you love most about Young Conservatorium?
I love the experience of being part of large orchestras such as the Symphony Orchestra and Strings Symphony (I’m in both). I really like all the conductors from the various ensembles and orchestras I have been in. They have a wealth of knowledge and have been amazing inspirations. I learn so much from the conductors who support me and help me build on my strengths.
The people in the Young Conservatorium are incredibly supportive and understanding and the staff value the kids above all else. They are some of the most understanding and supportive individuals who continue to encourage me during my ups and downs. The Young Conservatorium also allows people to grow as musicians in a range of different orchestra levels.
What advice do you have for students looking to study at Young Conservatorium?
Have fun! Music isn’t meant to be a chore or something you dread, but rather an art form and something that you thoroughly enjoy experiencing. The orchestras and conductors are all lovely and no matter what level you are at, they always allow you to enjoy yourself rather than stress you out.
Young Conservatorium 2022 applications are now open! Visitgriffith.edu.au/youngconfor more information and to apply.
Ella Hicks is currently enrolled with Young Conservatorium‘s Wind Orchestra and Symphony Orchestra playing percussion and has played in multiple ensembles since 2017!
Why did you choose to study at Young Conservatorium?
My percussion teacher recommended the Young Conservatorium to me to extend my musicianship and ensemble playing. I wanted to gain more experience in larger ensembles and increase my musical awareness.
What do you love most about Young Conservatorium?
There are countless things that I love about Young Con but in particular, I absolutely love playing awesome music in such a supportive, encouraging and nurturing environment with other amazing musicians in which I have created such strong bonds with. I have loved working with such incredible conductors who have all helped me grow musically and succeed in my musical endeavors.
Young Conervatorim has opened up so many doors and provided me with endless opportunities which have also pushed me to improve.
I am extremely thankful to Young Con for providing me with invaluable skills and such wonderful memories that I will never forget.
What advice do you have for students looking to study at Young Conservatorium?
I would advise prospective students to really get involved with as much as they can and take opportunities available to them. Young Con is an excellent platform to grow as a musician and learn valuable musical knowledge that really benefits individuals throughout their musical journey. I would encourage students to work hard, put themselves out there and network with other musicians surrounding them. Young Con is simply such an outstanding experience, so I would really advise students to enjoy every second of it.
Young Conservatorium 2022 applications are now open! Visit griffith.edu.au/youngcon for more information and to apply.
(L-R) Professor Bernd Rehm and Phd candidate Stefanie Buchholz socially distanced in the GRIDD courtyard.
Scientists from the Griffith Institute for Drug Discovery (GRIDD) have won a worldwide search for new ways to recover lifesaving antibodies from human plasma.
Global biotechnology leader CSL Behring, has awarded $40,000 to a team led by Professor Bernd Rehm, Director of the Centre for Cell Factories and Biopolymers for their early research work that may have future implications for the isolation of immunoglobulins and other plasma-derived proteins to meet future demands of these products.
Professor Rehm says creating something in the lab that can be translated into real world solutions with a major biotechnology company is an exciting moment for his close-knit research group.
“It is very rewarding to have our research valued and considered one of the top innovations in this space against competitors internationally and in Queensland.”
Despite the challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic, biotechnologist and PhD candidate Stefanie Buchholz developed an impressive first-round pitch that resulted in the recognition of the work in the Rehm lab.
Stefanie had to start her research locked down and unable to access the GRIDD laboratory.
Stefanie’s research was delayed after arriving from Germany in 2020, only to be met with a hard Queensland lockdown soon after.
Confined to her Nathan student accommodation and restricted from entering the laboratory, Stefanie joined a generation of research scientists put on hold.
“It was really tough in the beginning, not being allowed to get set up properly, not meeting friends and you have to keep going with your PhD.”
“But we got a lot of support from Bernd and others in GRIDD, they put a lot of effort into checking in on us.”
Professor Rehm recalls the challenges it imposed, but his research group used the time to delve into scientific literature, develop detailed hypotheses and have in-depth discussions.
“We are experimental in our approaches and it was holding us back. But the students were still motivated hoping to get back into the lab,” he said.
“Everyone has been keen to be in the lab and do what we have extensively discussed on paper during that lockdown.”
(L-R) Stefanie and Bernd working together in the lab.
After returning to the lab and helping to win the Plasma Protein Purification Challenge, Stefanie finally feels more at home in Australia, encouraged by a chance to work side by side with a major industry partner.
“GRIDD has a supportive culture, you can draw from different skills across all the research groups to get help.”
“We have a lot of promising data about what we’re doing and I’m confident about the next steps for our research.”
Teenagers who spend a few hours online after a stressful experience fare better than those who frequently use this strategy or not at all a Griffith University-led study published in the journal Clinical Psychological Science has found.
Researchers from the “How do you feel” project conducted “in vivo” in-the-moment research with adolescents living in low socio-economic areas, and lent them new iPhones to report on their technology use, stressors, and emotions five times daily for a week.
“Because adolescents in disadvantaged settings have fewer local supports, the study sought to find out whether online engagement helped reduce their stress,’’ said lead researcher Associate Professor Kathryn Modecki, from Griffith’s Menzies Health Institute Queensland and School of Applied Psychology.
“In the face of daily stressors, when adolescents engaged in emotional support seeking, self-distraction or information seeking online in a moderate capacity, they experienced better short-term stress relief,’’ she said.
“Teens showed smaller dips is happiness and smaller surges in emotions like sadness, worry and jealous in the hours after a stressor when they used online coping techniques for some of their stress relief.
However, adolescents who didn’t use technology or who routinely used technology as a coping mechanism did not experience these benefits.
“There has been a tendency to assume that technology is negative and harmful, but such a broad assumption isn’t borne out by what we know about the developmental stage of adolescence.”
Dr Modecki wanted to test the “Goldilocks Hypothesis,” where moderate health-seeking behaviour is beneficial but extreme use or non-use less so.
When adolescents engaged in moderate amounts of emotional support seeking online in the hours after a stressor, they were protected against dips in happiness and against surges in loneliness. Likewise, moderate use of online self-distraction versus high or no distraction resulted in reduced worry, jealousy and anger, while moderate amounts of online information-seeking protected against dips in sadness.
“This study works to reframe technology’s effects towards potential benefits for adolescents, in this case enhancing their ability to cope effectively with day-to-day stressors,’’ Dr Modecki said.
“The online space is an unequalled resource for adolescents to find support and information about what is troubling them as well as short-term distraction.”
She said it was even more pertinent for teens living in low-income settings where technology can help even the playing field for accessing helpful systems of information and additional supports.
“Teenagers benefit from the online space when managing stressors encountered in everyday life; they can discover accurate information, connect with support systems and take a break from daily hassles.”
The study has been published in the journal Clinical Psychological Science.
One of Griffith University’s newest students says without the lifeline it provided, her International Baccalaureate (IB) achievements would have counted for nothing.
Australian born Dubai based high school student Lucy Watson was turned away from several Australian institutions earlier this year, advised her IB results as a Course Candidate student were not recognised and unable to be converted to any useful metric that would allow her to begin tertiary studies.
“Everything kind of felt like it was falling apart, because everything that I’d worked for (at school), for the past two years, suddenly didn’t exist anymore,” she said.
“There was never any sort of sign that there was going to be an issue with my grades.”
Lucy Watson with her brother Jonah in Dubai
She was looking to return to her birthplace after 14 years living in Dubai with family. A partial completion of her IB Diploma was rejected by at least four NSW based universities.
“It was a massive shock to everyone in my family, because we had planned my return to Australia and we were just waiting for the acceptance.”
Griffith University is one of the only Australian universities to recognise the efforts of IB students who, for a range of reasons, have performed highly across core subjects but did not receive a full Diploma or are classified as Course Candidate students.
Keen to follow her heart and study drama and literature, Lucy has now been offered a place in a Bachelor of Arts at Griffith, based on the number of core subjects she completed towards the IB, which is known internationally for its unique academic rigour and emphasis on students’ personal development.
“Ironically, Griffith was the first university that my mum actually suggested to me, but we were looking at somewhere in Sydney, because then I could be closer to the family.
“Thankfully, as a Course Candidate student, I got just the amount of points that I needed to automatically get in to Griffith.”
“I had to speak to a few people, I had a zoom meeting but once they heard about my issues, I was accepted and it’s honestly so easy and really comforting after the absolute mess that happened in regards to my grades with the other universities.”
Professor Liz Burd
Griffith University Deputy Vice Chancellor (Education), Professor Liz Burd, said their new Guaranteed Admission Schemeprovided more opportunities for students from a range of backgrounds.
It has expanded guaranteed admission forATAR90+ orIBScore 33 students to include those who have anATAR80+ orIBScore 28 and a completed VET qualification.
“Griffith University recognises that some IB students will experience circumstances that prevent them from being awarded the full Diploma,” Professor Burd said.
“We strongly encourage all tertiary-bound IB students to focus on completing the Diploma to obtain a tertiary selection rank but if for some reason they are unable to, students can apply to QTAC for a place at Griffith and will be assessed on the study that has been completed towards the Diploma.
“You don’t need to apply separately for the Safety Net, as you will automatically be considered when you apply to QTAC. Any eligible adjustments will also be applied to your rank.”
Cleveland District State High School Deputy Principal and IB Schools Australasia Association Standing Committee member Karen Abraham said Lucy Watson’s story was unfortunately all too common and she hopes other universities follow Griffith’s lead.
“Fortunately for these talented students Griffith takes the time to consider the whole picture of a student’s school life, not just casting them aside because they may not have finished all of the requirements for the complete IB Diploma,” she said.
“The IB is a prestigious program preparing students globally for not only University entrance but also success in tertiary studies.
“IB graduates are critical thinkers with a true social conscience and global perspective who are fluent in two languages.
“In recent years, the IB Diploma Programme (IBDP) has flourished in Queensland schools and many talented students now study this program. It isn’t just overseas institutions who offer it.
“In Queensland alone we have 12 schools (independent and government) who deliver the IBDP. Between them we have approximately 500 Year 12 students preparing to graduate, with a similar number coming through in the 2022 graduating class.”
Griffith University Vice-Chancellor Professor Carolyn Evans has welcomed news that three leading tech companies have based themselves in the growing Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct (GCHKP), home to the University’s Gold Coast campus.
BiVACOR, a US-based company behind the world’ first rotary artificial heart, another developing novel surgical laser technology in the San Francisco Bay area, Precise Light Surgical (PLS), and Netherlands-founded blockchain technology company TYMLEZ,will each establish a presence in GCHKP.
Strong research collaboration opportunities at Griffith University, together with investment attraction incentives endorsed by City of Gold Coast, helped attract the companies into the Precinct, where they join a growing cluster of medical, health and digital technology businesses.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Carolyn Evans feels the pulse on the BiVACOR total artificial heart
Professor Evans, who joined Gold Coast Mayor Tate on a visit to the university’s mechanobiology lab to view the BiVACOR artificial heart being tested for optimum blood-flow, said industry co-location was critical to taking research out of the lab and providing jobs for graduates.
“There is an increasing focus on linking university research with industry for commercial outcomes and social impact,” Professor Evans said.
“Working with these co-located companies, our researchers will be able to directly contribute to translating improved healthcare and initiatives for a sustainable future, while our students will have access to internship and training opportunities, and our graduates will have great local job opportunities.”
BiVACOR, founded in Brisbane by biomedical engineer and CEO Daniel Timms and headquartered in Houston Texas, has based its international office and software, electronic hardware, and blood compatibility R&D in the Precinct as it collaborates with the university’s world-class Mechanobiology Research Laboratory, and prepares its durable total artificial heart for use in the first patients.
Precise Light Surgical (PLS) will base its CEO, Australian R&D and commercial team in the Precinct and plans to roll-out Australian manufacture of its patented Optical Scalpel (O-Pelâ„¢) system that precisely removes selected tissue while sparing surrounding anatomy such as nerves and blood vessels. PLS has approval in Australia, the US, and Europe for more than 80 different surgical indications, across eight specialties.
Mayor Tom Tate views the artificial wrist model being tested for strength and durability
ASX-listed TYMLEZ, founded in the Netherlands and also operating in Germany, offers enterprise-grade blockchain solutions with a focus on supporting clean energy sustainability, along with other opportunities to develop healthcare products that rely on secure, trackable and traceable data transfer.
Mayor Tom Tate and the Vice-Chancellor also viewed Griffith-developed artificial wrist technology being tested on a specialised orthopaedic robot. He said the GCHKP provided the perfect place for innovative companies to scale-up and grow knowledge-based jobs for the city.
“These companies are in the growth industries of the future and will build the ecosystem of innovation that is developing in the Precinct alongside Griffith University and the hospitals,” Mayor Tate said.
“Our incentives are aimed at supporting their early growth phases so that they can expand highly-skilled jobs here and undertake collaborative research locally to commercialise these exciting new technologies.”
BiVACOR CEO Daniel Timms said the company, which has recently raised a further $22milion to develop its device as a viable alternative to transplantation for end-stage heart failure, was confident in the opportunity on the Gold Coast for successful research translation, and a smooth pathway to bringing the technology to the first Australian patients, as part of a consortium of universities and hospitals.
“After coming back from the US where we work very closely with the world-renowned Texas Heart Institute, to see the expansion of this area was really attractive for us to bring our technology back to work with a world-leading laboratory at Griffith, which didn’t exist when we started almost 20 years ago,” Mr Timms said.
“Central to our device is one spinning disk that pumps the blood, and we use magnetic levitation technology so that it is suspended in the blood and there is no mechanical wear, which has been the limitation of artificial hearts to date, with pulsing sacs that will eventually wear out and break.
“We’re going to be able to have a situation where the heart device is unlikely to fail, and the patient is able to rely on their implanted artificial heart to pump the blood they need for the rest of their life.”
(L-R) Professor Evans with Precise Light Surgical CEO Richard Nash and Mayor Tom Tate
Precise Light Surgical CEO Richard Nash, an experienced medical technology executive with more than 10 years in management with industry giant Medtronic, said support from City of Gold Coast added to the attractiveness of the Medtech ecosystem in Southeast Queensland as an Asia Pacific base, working alongside their global headquarters in Silicon Valley.
“The GCHKP offers a unique opportunity for medical device companies, in having major hospitals and a reputable university,” Mr Nash said.
“Combined with all resources within Southeast Queensland, the region provides everything required to establish and commercially scale a technology company.
“There is a significant opportunity for future market validation clinical trials, with an initial company focus on robotic urology procedures in Australia.
“In five years, we hope to have built a successful international HQ on the Gold Coast, with local APAC manufacture and significant employment.”
TYMLEZ CEO Daniel O’Halloran said local connections and support, together with its growing Australian investment base, were key factors in the decision to shift the Rotterdam-based company’s global headquarters down-under.
“Our software is designed to create enterprise-grade solutions that can build and manage blockchain-based ecosystems as quickly and as cost-effectively as possible, replacing traditional databases with decentralised records that can’t be disputed,” Mr O’Halloran said.
“We are focusing our product development on disruptive applications to enhance sustainable green energy through smart buildings and smart cities, while also enabling the exploration of major healthcare opportunities for our platform software.
“Our aim is to attract and train local talent as much as possible and transfer knowledge from our senior development staff in Europe.”
The three new companies join Belgian-based global 3D printing pioneer Materialise, who located key Australian staff onto the Griffith campus in 2018 to work alongside experts at the University’s Advanced Design and Prototyping Technologies (ADaPT) facility and grow opportunities for medical additive manufacturing.
The Gold Coast Health & Knowledge Precinct is a unique partnership between City of Gold Coast, Griffith University and Gold Coast Health, in conjunction with the Queensland State Government.
From baristas to barristers, Griffith University experts insist it will require the efforts of people from all walks of life to fight climate change.
Students from Years 10 to 12 attending the recent virtual Climate Action Leadership Conference heard from a panel of Griffith voices speaking about the importance of cross-disciplinary collaborations to climate action.
Panel members said there were a myriad of challenges in motivating people to do their part, as many accept climate change is an issue but felt powerless to help or that it was not an urgent priority.
Professor Paul Burton.
“They accept the science but they are not sure how they can use that information in their day to day job as a town planner, social worker, GP, barista or even barrister,” Cities Research Institute Director Professor Paul Burton said.
“I think one of the biggest challenges is to persuade people that it’s happening now.
“We’re always setting dates in the future, which is important for some things, but it can create this impression that it’s not with us yet… and we’re not very good at taking seriously big global threats that are a long way into the future.”
Professor Burton was joined on the expert panel by School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science journalism expert Associate Professor Kerrie Foxwell-Norton, Griffith Law School Deputy Head (Research) Professor Elena Marchetti, School of Health Science and Social Work Deputy Head (Learning and Teaching) Associate Professor Jennifer Boddy and Climate Action Beacon Head of Practice Sam Mackay.
Sam Mackay
With climate change set to impact everything from the kinds of cars we drive and where we live, to the meats we can produce and the way we consume goods, Mr Mackay said it was vitally important to build resilient economies that could support a sustainable future for all.
“Much of society has not had the realisation that we’re not talking about just an environmental issue,” he said.
“We’re talking about an issue that goes to the core of how we function as a society and what we value, how we value things in an economy, and how those values may impact on basic stable decisions we would have made in the past.
“Let’s think about it as what type of economy and what type of society we want to envision being in 10, 20, 30 years’ time, and what are the actual measures that we can put in place.
“The only way we can do this is if we do it together.”
Associate Professor Jennifer Boddy.
Associate Professor Boddy, a social worker, said while it could be felt by everyone, the immediate effects of the changing climate would be more devastating for certain groups.
“The effects of climate change will be disproportionately felt by those who are marginalized and vulnerable, but the reality is that climate change affects all of us, every single one of us,” Associate Professor Boddy said.
“We all need to be taking action in multiple ways to address it and it is just as relevant for those in the health professions, as it is for those in the sciences or the arts and elsewhere. “
Professor Elena Marchetti.
Professor Marchetti said law played a significant role, from the implementation of The Paris Agreement and regulations that impacts climate change, to holding those who do wrong to account.
“When it comes to law, I think people think they’re powerless over changing policy or how corporations behave, but I actually think that, as a society, we have a lot of power,” Professor Marchetti said.
“We can exercise that power by making different choices in terms of what we consume and that affects the laws, and we can do it in the way we vote.
“We can also lobby (and) it really does force governments to think differently about how they’re addressing this climate change issue.”
Communication of information about climate change by journalists was also fundamental to the public’s understanding of what needs to be done and how they can take part.
“A more sophisticated understanding of communication certainly is able to identify where science communication can play a role, and where other types of communication might be better poised to engage people in communities, who aren’t so interested in science, in climate action,” Associate Professor Foxwell-Norton said.
Professor Burton said by people from all areas chipping in, major progress could be made.
“Whilst we need to recognise the enormity and the urgency, incremental changes are a sensible way forward – taking lots of small rapid steps rather than waiting and anticipating a great leap forward.”
