Journalism students should be excited about working in the industry as the demand for content has never been greater says Matthew Condon, Griffith University’s new journalist-in-residence.
The award-winning journalist and author said even though people may be less attached to some elements of the media such as newspapers there was still a permanent and rising demand for good, solid journalism.
“There’s always a demand for news, for great storytelling, for long reads people can sink into or so they can get a better idea of an issue or a human being. And as long as there’s this need, there will always will be journalists.
“I want young people to be excited about their career, about their future. Being able to report from multiple platforms means there’s enormous opportunities and students should be encouraged to explore as many as possible.”
Matthew said he was thrilled and honoured to be appointed as journalist-in-residence.
“I hope to bring a measure of reality to Griffith’s students — I’m someone who is still at the coalface of journalism and writing non-fiction and fiction. If I can be an inspirational mentor to young writers, journalists, novelists or historians then I’ll be happy.
“It’s particularly exciting for me as I want to get young people involved in researching and podcasting as well as imparting some of my 30 years of journalism knowledge to them. I hope to be the person I would have liked to have had at university.”
Matthew Condon has been a journalist for more than 30years,and for almost a decade has been investigating crime and corruption in Queensland. He interviewed disgraced former Queensland Police Commissioner Terry Lewis for over three years and had exclusive access to his private papers. That research became Condon’s bestselling true crime trilogy —Three Crooked Kings,Jacks and JokersandAll Fall Down. Most recently he has been investigating the fatal Whiskey Au GoGonightclub firebombingin Brisbanein 1973. His book on the subject —The Night Dragon— willbe published in 2019.
Professor Carmignani said it was an honour to be nominated by the university and a great opportunity to be contributing research quality across Australia.
“It’s also recognition of Griffith’s growing reputation as a research institution to delivering these strong research outputs. It’s indeed exciting and challenging and I really look forward to providing a contribution.”
There are 195 members on the ARC College of Experts. They play a key role in identifying research excellence, moderating external assessments and recommending fundable proposals.
The College of Experts also assists the ARC in recruiting and assigning assessors and in implementing peer review reforms in established and emerging disciplines as well as interdisciplinary areas.
Griffith University researchers have dated cave paintings in Borneo to as early as 40,000 years ago, showing that these enigmatic artworks are among the world’s oldest examples of figurative depiction.
This finding adds to the mounting view that cave art — one of the most important innovations in human cultural history — did not arise in Europe as long believed, and that ‘ice age’ artists in Southeast Asia played a key role in its development.
Maxime Aubert and Pindi Setiawan inspect the site. Credit: Kinez Riza
Since the 1990s, caves in remote and rugged mountains of East Kalimantan, an Indonesian province of Borneo, have been known to contain prehistoric paintings, drawings, and other imagery, including thousands of depictions of human hands (“stencils”), animals, abstract signs and symbols, and related motifs.
These near-inaccessible artworks are now known to be far older than previously thought, according to a study led by Griffith’s Associate Professor Maxime Aubert, along with Indonesia’s National Research Centre for Archaeology (ARKENAS), and the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), published today inNature.
Associate Professor Aubert’s team reports Uranium-series dates obtained from calcium carbonate samples collected from the Kalimantan cave art, providing the first reliable estimates for the approximate time of rock art production.
“The oldest cave art image we dated is a large painting of an unidentified animal, probably a species of wild cattle still found in the jungles of Borneo — this has a minimum age of around 40,000 years and is now the earliest known figurative artwork,” Associate Professor Aubert said.
The Kalimantan stencil art was shown to be similar in age, suggesting that a Palaeolithic rock art tradition first appeared on Borneo between about 52,000 and 40,000 years ago.
Dating also indicated that a major change occurred within this culture around 20,000 years ago, giving rise to a new rock art style (including rare portrayals of humans) at a time when the global ice age climate was at its most extreme.
“Who the ice age artists of Borneo were and what happened to them is a mystery,” said team co-leader DrPindiSetiawan, an Indonesian archaeologist and lecturer at ITB.Setiawanhas studied the art since its discovery, and, along with ARKENAS rock art expert Adhi AgusOktaviana, leads expeditions to the Kalimantan caves.
“The new findings illustrate that the story of how cave art emerged is complex,”Oktavianasaid.
Europe has longbeen seen asthe centre for cave art development. But although Borneo is the Earth’s third largest island, throughout most of the ice age it actually formed the easternmost tip of the vast continental region of Eurasia — at the western extremity ofthis 13,000 km-wide landmasswas Europe.
Ochre and mulberry panel of hand stencils. Credit: Kinez Riza
“It now seems that two early cave art provinces arose at a similar time in remote corners of Palaeolithic Eurasia: one in Europe, and one in Indonesia at the opposite end of this ice age world,” said Associate Professor Adam Brumm, a Griffith archaeologist also involved in the study.
A 2014 Nature paper published by Associate Professors Aubert and Brumm (with ARKENAS) revealed that similar cave art appeared in the island of Sulawesi about 40,000 years ago.
Sulawesi lies off the edge of Eurasia and is a vital stepping-stone between Asia and Australia.
“Our research suggests that rock art spread from Borneo into Sulawesi and other new worlds beyond Eurasia, perhaps arriving with the first people to colonise Australia,” Associate Professor Aubert said.
Associate Professor Aubert is an ARC Future Fellow and a member of Griffith’s Place, Evolution, and Rock Art Heritage Unit (PERAHU) and the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution (ARCHE). Associate Professor Brumm is an ARC Future Fellow within the ARCHE. Other Griffith researchers involved in the paper are ARC Laureate Professor PaulTaçonand Dr Jillian Huntley (PERAHU/ARCHE).
Japanese lecturer Dr Taeko Imura has won the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Griffith University Teacher of the Year. The award was presented at the Vice Chancellor’s Teaching Excellence Awards at the Gold Coast campus on November 5.
“I love to see my students keep trying and never give up. A lot of them already know Japanese from high school and, or exposure to, Japanese through anime, manga and games from a young age,” she says.
“Other students don’t know much Japanese at all so we start from the basics.”
But no matter the skill level, Dr Imura said the most important thing about learning a new language is persistence.“It’s not something you can cram for, it must become part of your life.”
Dr Imura is celebrating not only her teaching excellence award but also the 30-year anniversary of her arrival in Australia from Japan. She joined Griffith in 1991 and then completed her Masters and PhD.
“I am very honoured to win this award, it means a lot to me and other language teachers who have been working so hard to foster students who can communicate with empathy, respect and openness with other people to make a difference.”
Over the years Dr Imura has seen many changes in the way students study Japanese language and culture.
“Technology has definitely transformed the way students learn and it opens up many opportunities.
“In the age of information when students can find reliable resources online, teachers need to shift from imparting information to facilitating students’ learning. I strongly feel that controlled teaching for controlled learning does not well align with the new generation of learners.”
Griffith Asia Institute will this month welcome Dr Raden Mohammad Marty Muliana Natalegawa — a renowned diplomat and the former Foreign Minister of the Republic of Indonesia — to deliver this year’s Griffith Asia Lecture in Brisbane.
Dr Natalegawa brings deep insights on the challenges and prospects for leadership in Southeast Asia, having served in his role as the Indonesian Foreign Minister for five years, from 2009 to 2014.
The Director of the Griffith Asia Institute, Professor Caitlin Byrne, said the University is excited to hear from Dr Natalegawa, whose career has also included a stint as Director General for ASEAN Cooperation within Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and an ambassadorship to the United Kingdom and Ireland.
“Dr Natalegawa is a distinguished diplomat, an experienced politician, and an incredibly influential figure in foreign policy circles across Southeast Asia,” Professor Byrne said.
“We are naturally excited and humbled to be hosting such a respected leader at this year’s Asia Lecture, and we expect the evening to be a truly enlightening, thought-provoking affair.”
Dr Natalegawa will use his platform at the Griffith Asia Lecture to delve into a range of regional issues, especially within the context of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
“At a time of tectonic geopolitical and geoeconomics shifts as well as of other complex changes in the region, the Griffith Asia Institute — including its Asia Lecture series — provides a unique opportunity to deliberate on their potential critical ramifications,” Dr Natalegawa said of his visit.
In the years since leaving his governmental post, Dr Natalegawa has gone on to serve as a member of the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Advisory Board on Mediation, a Distinguished Fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, and a member of several international academic advisory bodies.
Dr Natalegawa is also the author of Does ASEAN Matter? A View from Within, published in July this year, exploring the role of the association from an Indonesian perspective.
Griffith Asia Institute’s annual Asia Lecture series has become a signature event for the centre since its inaugural staging in 2016, when former prime minister John Howard delivered the first address.
The series further supports Griffith’s lifelong mission to be one of Australia’s most Asia-engaged universities, realised through extensive teaching and research programs and partnerships with government, industry and educational institutions throughout the region.
This year’s event will take place on Wednesday 28 November, at the Queensland College of Art, from 5.30pm for a 6pm start.
RSVPs are open until COB Friday 23 November. Click here for more information.
Griffith University researchers havedemonstrateda procedure for making precise measurements of speed, acceleration, material properties and even gravity waves possible, approaching the ultimate sensitivity allowed by laws of quantum physics.
Published inNature Communications, the work saw the Griffith team, led by Professor Geoff Pryde, workingwith photons(single particles of light) and using them to measure theextra distance travelled by the light beam, compared to its partner reference beam, as it went through the sample being measured — a thin crystal.
The researchers combined three techniques — entanglement (a kind of quantum connection that can exist between the photons), passing the beams back and forth along the measurement path, and a specially-designed detection technique.
“Every time a photon passes through the sample, it makes a kind of mini-measurement. The total measurement is the combination of all of these mini-measurements,” said Griffith’s Dr SergeiSlussarenko, who oversaw the experiment. “The more times the photons pass through, the more precise the measurement becomes.
“Our scheme will serve as a blueprint for tools that can measure physical parameters with precision that is literally impossible to achieve with the common measurement devices.
Lead author of the paper Dr ShakibDaryanooshsaid thismethodcan be usedto investigate and measure other quantum systems.
“These can be very fragile, and every probe photon we send it would disturb it. In this case, using few photons but in the most efficient way possible is critical and our scheme shows how do exactly that,”he said.
While one strategy is to just use as many photons as possible, that’s not enough to reach the ultimate performance. For that, it is necessary to also extract the maximum amount of measurement information per photon pass, and that is what the Griffith experiment has achieved, coming far closer to the so-called Heisenberg limit of precision than any comparable experiment.
The remaining error is due experimental imperfection, as the scheme designed by DrDaryanooshand Professor Howard Wiseman,is capable of achievingthe exact Heisenberg limit, in theory.
“The really nice thing about this technique is that it works even when you don’t have a good starting guess for the measurement,” Prof. Wiseman said. “Previous work has mostly focused a lot on the case where it’s possible to make a very good starting approximation, but that’s not always possible.”
A few extra steps are required before this proof-of-principle demonstration can be harnessed outside the lab.
Producing entangled photons is not simple with current technology, and this means it is still much easier to use many photons inefficiently, rather than each set of entangled photons in the best way possible.
However, according to the team, the ideas behind this approach can find immediate applications in quantum computing algorithms and research in fundamental science.
The scheme can ultimately be extended to a larger number of entangled photons, where the difference of the Heisenberg limit over the usually achievable limit is more significant.
For Griffith students studying abroad, the destination isn’t a place, but a new way of seeing things.
One of the university’s most successful short-term mobility programs is the bi-annual photography in-field trip to Cambodia, where students spend time on assignment with local NGOs to capture the country’s untold stories.
The awards reward academic leadership that supports the university’s international engagement, from faculty-led study tours to global partnerships and experiences for international students at Griffith.
Dr Faulkner said she was honoured to be recognised.
Dr Heather Faulkner
“It is fantastic to be part of an institution like Griffith that has a strong international outlook and a focus on global social justice issues,” she said.
“We’ve been running the program since 2010 and it has changed each and every student who has been a part of it,” she said.
“It is great watching their confidence as practitioners grow day by day while they are out in the field.
“Some of them start completely over their heads, and finish the trip with incredible confidence.
Dr Faulkner with Cambodian musicians in Siem Reap
“They come back with on a whole new level in terms of their technique, research, interpersonal skills and collaboration – everything that’s important as a professional storyteller.
“I learn a lot from the students on these trips – seeing the world through their eyes and making discoveries together is incredibly rewarding.”
Dr Faulkner said the in-field experiences had opened up the region for students, many of whom have secured employment as professional photographers across the Asia-Pacific.
“I think this wakes them up to the possibilities out there and gives them the confidence to move outside their comfort zone here in Australia,” she said.
“A lot of the students who come on these trips are the first in their family to go to university and haven’t travelled before.
Student photography from the Cambodia In-Field trip is available to view on Instagram.
Griffith University students, staff, alumni and industry partners gathered together in celebration amid the resplendence of the Hilton Brisbane’s Grand Ballroom last week at the annual Griffith Business School Gala Dinner.
Designed by Hilton Brisbane’s chefs, the menu was based on the ideals of minimising food waste, ensuring that as little produce as possible went unused.
Professor David Grant addresses the audience at the 2018 GBS Gala Dinner.
In his opening retrospective for the gathered friends of GBS, Pro Vice Chancellor (Business) Professor David Grant acknowledged Ms Kahn’s “incredible contributions to social entrepreneurship, sustainability, innovation and social impact”, and explained the University’s partnership with Hilton Brisbane had arisen in honour of the revered social entrepreneur.
“Tonight, we’ve partnered with the Hilton Hotel to ensure our event is food waste-free,” Professor Grant said. “This wonderful initiative supports Ronni and OzHarvest’s food rescue mission.
“The chefs have designed a menu that uses ingredients top to bottom across all the courses, and any surplus food will be collected by OzHarvest and distributed to their charity partners for those in need.
“A big thank-you to the Hilton Brisbane for their support of this initiative and for sharing GBS’s vision for sustainability and responsible leadership.”
One lesson that became swiftly clear during Ms Kahn’s Q&A with GBS Dean (Engagement) Professor Anne Tiernan is that this precise vision must extend beyond mere mantra and good intentions; in fact, the time for action has never been more immediate.
In explaining OzHarvest’s new campaign, Fight Food Waste, Ms Kahn said: “There is no national consumer campaign to teach us how not to waste food, and … $20 billion of food goes to waste every year in Australia, of which $10 billion is caused by [individuals].
“Now, I might be talking to the converted, but the point is some of us — many of us — still need to understand what we can do.
“So we’ve been working very closely and we will be working very closely with the likes of Griffith University to look at research how to look at human-centred design to change behaviour, because these problems are very complex, and we need support, research and understanding as to how to solve, shift and change them.”
Ms Ronni Kahn during her keynote Q&A at the 2018 GBS Gala Dinner.
In the face of a seemingly insurmountable problem, Ms Kahn assured the audience that their actions at an individual level can still have far-reaching impacts.
“I think the exciting thing is that we all have the potential to do is something,” she said. “For some of us, that might be a bigger action, and for some of us, it’s a smaller action. But in each and every one of our homes, for example, we absolutely can minimise food waste.
“We have a new mantra: Look, Buy, Store, Cook … Research has shown that we, households, waste the equivalent of $3800 a year. Who doesn’t want to save $3800 a year?
“By looking what’s in your fridge, looking what’s in your pantry and making a shopping list, by buying what you need, by storing it appropriately, using the freezer as a pause button, and cooking what you bought and eat — not wasting it and using it as leftovers — even if you adopt one of those things, you’ve all taken action.”
In addition to Ms Kahn’s galvanising address, the Gala Dinner paid tribute to the remarkable students, staff and industry partners who have helped make 2018 such a success for the Griffith Business School, seen in results such as its ranking at #1 in Australia and #2 in the world for Hospitality & Tourism in the 2018 ShanghaiRanking Global Ranking of Academic Subjects.
The efforts of GBS students Eden Peterson, Jake Matthews, Enoch Pun, Denis Vukova and Andrea Crespo Wong — who collectively shone on the national stage with a second-place result in the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Research Challenge — were also recognised, alongside their mentors Dr John Fan and Mr Ken Howard.
In his speech, Professor Grant also highlighted the efforts of students Max Punin, Matthew Neave and Caitlene Hillman, currently on an all-expenses-paid trip to New York as finalists in the annual Point72 Academic Global Case Competition, coming up against teams from a range of respected international universities.
In a Griffith Business School first, Gold Coast Hospital & Health was awarded the inaugural title of Outstanding Industry Partner for its ongoing support of, and commitment to, GBS, its vision and mission, with the board’s chairman, Mr Ian Langdon (incidentally, the founding Dean of Business at Griffith), accepting on the company’s behalf.
However, as successful as 2018 has been, there is always room for improvement and, in light of that, Professor Grant outlined the journey ahead for Griffith Business School on the road to achieving its forward-focused, future-ready goals in 2019 and beyond.
“Tonight is always a wonderful opportunity to celebrate and reflect on what we — the GBS community — have achieved so far,” Professor Grant said. “But, of course, we can’t stand still. There’s a whole lot more work to be done.”
“Our mission is to work with the government, industry and social communities that we serve in order to deliver outstanding business education and scholarship and in doing so contribute to a sustainable, equitable and prosperous society,” he continued.
“Achieving that is what’s going to make us a world-class and internationally renowned business school, one that’s fit for the dynamic Asia-Pacific region that we’re in and one that Queensland can be proud of.”
Griffith Law School academics welcome Queensland’s Human Rights Act Bill and are available for comment
Associate Professor Sue Harris-Rimmer, Australian Research Council Future Fellow says: “This is an importantbill for Queensland, especially remote and regional Queensland. This bill will focus on equity for all Queenslanders in access to government services.”
Professor Penelope Mathew is a refugee law expert, andwas alsothe Human Rights Legal and Policy Adviser to the Human Rights Commission in the Australian Capital Territory. During her time at the Human Rights Commission, Pene conducted the Human Rights Audit of the ACT’s Correctional Facilities — a year-long empirical project which documented and assessed practises in the ACT’s remand centres against international human rights standards for the treatment of prisoners.
ProfessorDon Antonlooksforward to helping to pioneer research focusing on the Act’s application to the intersection between human rights and the environment.
ProfessorElena Marchettiis keen to ensure that the rights of Indigenous Australians are protected particularly when it comes to their involvement with the criminal justice system.
ProfessorCharles Sampfordisinterested in the protection of social and economic rights and their interaction with civil and political rights- in drafting, in institutional support and in judicial interpretation.
Dr Chris Butleris interested in following how the new QueenslandHuman Rights Actmay:encourageforms of democraticparticipation in public affairs; enhance procedural protections in relation to public decision-making; and contribute togreatersocial and economic equality.
DrTim Cadmanwill contribute to exploring the interaction between free, prior and informed consent, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, international environmental policy, and human rights.
Mr Shahram Dana– says all at Griffith Law School will be watching the implementation of the QueenslandHuman Rights Act to ensureQueenslanders have effective avenues for redress and remedy of human rights violations.
Joanne Stagg-Tayloreagerly anticipates researching how the Act will protect and impact on patientrights, privacy, gender-based issues and the rights of LGBTQI people.
Jovana Mastiloviclooks forward to contributing to research focusing on the Act’s application to human rights, particularly refugee studies, and how it can improve the lives of displaced people and their access to education and protection.
Elizabeth Englezosis currently reviewing the rights and protections for data subjects and hopes to contribute to the development of a rights-protective framework that is appropriate to the modern online environment.
Marissa Bowden and Sarah Schoeller have been announced as the joint recipients of Griffith Business School’s Outstanding Entrepreneurial Alumnus Award at the School’s annual Gala Dinner.
The news of their win couldn’t have come at a better time either, with the pair celebrating an important milestone in their business lives as the founders of The Village Markets in Burleigh.
“It really is such an honour receiving this award especially after we just celebrated 10 years in business last month,” former Bachelor of Business student Sarah says. “Running your own business certainly is hard work and it’s moments like this that make it really worthwhile.”
Marissa, also a Bachelor of Business graduate, is similarly thrilled with their win. “We are so grateful to Griffith University for recognising our achievements.”
Outstanding Entrepreneurial Alumnus Award recognises exceptional success in the areas of start-ups or other entrepreneurial ventures, significant contribution to industry and the profession, and contribution to the community.
And The Village Markets definitely embodies all of that. It’s an iconic boutique market and community for creative entrepreneurs held at Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast, with a second location to be launched at Stones Corner in Brisbane in December. The event showcases a carefully curated line up of 100 fashion, vintage, art, and homewares designers; food stalls; a monthly pre-loved designer and vintage rack sale; and live music in a relaxed outdoor setting. The thriving event has provided a launch platform for more than 200 emerging creative and continues to go from strength to strength.
The idea came to them when they were struggling during the Global Financial Crisis, with Marissa and Sarah joining together to develop a business plan for the markets. “Marissa and I believed the Gold Coast lacked a cultural event that catered for all ages and we longed to bring together the creative community,” Sarah explains. “Having visited markets in London, Melbourne and Sydney, we created The Village Markets as a unique boutique market that showcased a curated selection of stalls, great food and amazing live local music.
“We then pitched it to interested parties and kicked off in October 2008,” she says.
Their creative idea blossomed and is now a Gold Coast institution, helping to foster the careers of other designers and artists. Sarah says a number of their early stallholders that launched at the markets have become huge successes in their own rights. They hope to replicate the same success when their markets launch in Stones Corner, Brisbane, later this year.
