Bachelor of Business student Katie Curtis found herself in a dream position as the second season of the ground-breaking AON Women’s Rugby Uni 7s Series kicked off. As co-captain of the 2018 Griffith team she headed to Hobart a day early for the official Captain’s Call photoshoot that set the wheel in motion last August.
With a strong showing under her belt from the Uni 7s inaugural season, the 19-year-old took to the field at University of Tasmania the following morning rippling with ambition for the campaign ahead. Less than two games in and Katie’s campaign was sidelined.
“I hyper-extended my elbow in a tackle and ruptured two ligaments. My arm was in a brace for five weeks,” Katie, who majors in Sport Management at Griffith Business School, says. “It made for quite a challenging year for me compared to last year when I played all of the games.”
Katie only gained medical clearance to take to the field again last week, and has resumed full activity with a 24-strong squad that has demonstrated a genuine depth of talent as injury and national call-ups have challenged resources during the first four rounds. After strong showings in rounds one and two, Griffith put back-to-back series wins together in Queensland to charge to the top of the ladder ahead of this weekend’s final round of games.
“There has been no change to our game plan this week,” Katie says. “As with other weeks we’ve focused on the little things. We’ve reviewed the last tournament, looked at our tackles and turnover rate which was good last time out, and we’re looking to top that this weekend.
“We’ve been super lucky to come out on top in the last two series. I think it reflects the hard work within the group, two field sessions a week, three gym sessions. Over the last few weeks it has really started to come together both on and off the field.”
The group has gelled strongly with themed dress-up nights a part of the dynamic. Maria Sharapova and Stephanie Gilmore are among the star names to have made ‘aspirational appearances’ during the past three months. “We have a team culture where we come together both on and off the field. We train hard together but we also have fun together, and this has had a massive role in getting us over the line during the year.”
Katie Curtis will travel to Adelaide this weekend as the 13th player, ready to step in should any ailment or bad fortune befall any teammate. She will be one of six current students on the plane covering Public Relations and Communication, Oral Health Dental Science, Education, Sport Development, Exercise Science and Sport Management.
Griffith opens the final instalment of the 2018 AON Series against University of New England on Saturday (9.30am), followed by games against Bond University (1.50pm), University of Queensland (3.50pm) and University of Canberra in Round 5 on Sunday morning (8.50am).
Director of the Griffith Sports College, Duncan Free OAM, congratulated the Griffith players and coaching team on their progress to the top of the competition ladder leading into the final series of games this weekend. “High performance levels have been maintained throughout the AON Series by the entire squad. I’ve no doubt, while keeping their feet on the ground, this group will bring the same standards to this week’s exciting challenge. Griffith Sports College wishes them the very best.”
Griffith Squad: Ivania Wong, Charlotte Kennington, Kiri Lingman (captain, Public Relations and Communication), Rhiannon Blair-Revell, Laura Waldie (vice captain, Oral Health Dental Science), Alysia Lefau-Fakaosilea, Kahli Henwood (Education), Eliza Flynn (Sport Development), Kirby Sefo, Sophie Quirk (Exercise Science), Alana Elisaia, Georgia Devlin, Katie Curtis (13th player, Sport Management).
Scientists hard pressed to find a way to switch off forces that keep molecules stuck to 2D materials at the nanoscale say they have understood how it is possible, paving the way for the development of better filters that could be used to remove toxins from the air or store hydrogen and greenhouse gases.
The research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences points to a reassessment of how van der Waals forces function, with potentially significant implications for nanotechnology and nanomedicine.
The collaboration between Griffith University, Shanghai University and the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) used the concept of a Faraday Cage to theoretically model switching off the van der Waals forces that exist between molecules that, although considered weak, act as a “glue” keeping things stuck to them.
However, functionality is limited. So things stick, but stay stuck. What is needed is a way to release them on demand.
Co-author Emeritus Professor John Dobson from Griffith University says van der Waals force is usually thought of as being cumulative like gravity, “the more mass that comes together, the greater the force”.
“The insights revealed here have come following 20 years of research into the van der Waals force, showing that it is not always cumulative, unlike gravity. It is possible to switch it on and off and to amplify it, one just needs the right nanostructures,” he said.
PhD student Musen Li from Shanghai University, who conducted the research, took two silica bilayers, mimicking 2D materials of possible use in filters and other devices, and inserted in between them a sheet of graphene.
“First-principles quantum mechanical calculations using Dr Tim Gould’s code then showed how the quantum van der Waals force could be switched off by the graphene acting as a classical Faraday Cage,” he said.
“To make this work in practice now presents an engineering challenge. We need a way of inserting graphene between one 2D material to which the desired molecules have stuck, and a backing large material that provide the van der Waals force for the sticking.”
Lead researcher Dr Tim Gould, from Griffith University’s Queensland Micro- and Nanotechnology Centre, developed the methods used to model switching-off the van der Waals forces, bridging Professor Dobson’s higher theory with practical calculations.
“The fact that we know you can model it means that the engineers will someday find a way of doing it,” he said. “In particular, if you could switch this effect on and off you would have a way of storing stuff on a surface then releasing it in a controllable way.
“The next question is well what can we do with this. And the obvious one is we can control filtration — we can create systems where we can make things stick and then unstick, or we can make better glues, increase friction or reduce friction.
“There’s no evidence that you can switch off gravity, and previously people thought you couldn’t switch off van der Waals forces — we now have understood how you can. This opens up a wide range of new nanotechnologies that could exploit this effect. Rather than having to rely on mechanical release or by heating things up, processes that cost a lot of energy, you might be able to rely on the intrinsic properties of the materials you’ve got.”
Professor Jeffrey Reimers from Shanghai University and University of Technology Sydney, a co-lead on the study, first proposed the research during his national lecture tour, after receiving the Australian Academy of Science’s David Craig Medal for Chemical Research in 2016.
“The Faraday Cage Effect is well known. Examples of it include the blocking of radio signals by the Sydney Harbour Bridge, as well as the metal shielding that surrounds MRI machines in hospitals, used to reduce interference from microwave signals” he said.
“If we could replicate this at the nanoscale, using 2D materials such as graphene, then we could capture and ‘unstick’ molecules we want to remove on demand, making 2D filtering technologies feasible in principle.”
Professor Dobson said that, for more than a century, thinking about the van der Waals force as being cumulative, like gravity, has led to a great wealth of understanding concerning chemical, biochemical, and materials function.
“It is more subtle than that though, and we are just beginning to understand its potential as a control element in nanotechnology and nanomedicine,” he said.
Exciting new research from Griffith University is providing new hope for those with acquired brain injuries.
International trailblazer in stem cell rehabilitation and Griffith University Professor Emeritus Alan Mackay-Sim will explore the exciting opportunities being opened up by new research in neuroplasticity – at the National Brain Injury Conference at the Princess Alexandra Hospital on November 13 & 14.
“It’s very difficult to treat because the brain is such a complex organ it’s millions of cells connected to thousands of cells each of them,” Professor Mackay-Sim said.
“It gets damaged and then you have this inflammation reaction which causes more damage as the active brain cells change. The question is can you get the brain to work around that problem and recover function?
Professor Emeritus Alan Mackay-Sim
“So it’s not simply learning in circuits that are already there, but it’s getting other circuits involved, getting other circuits to change their functions to work around the problem.”
The 2017 Australian of the Year is one of a cohort of Griffith researchers taking part in the National Brain Injury Conference.
Griffith Business School students led by Dr Barry Fraser are assisting the conference via the school’s Work Integrated Learning program and GBS staff are also lending their expertise to ensure the conference is a success.
Professor Heidi Zeeman is also bringing her expertise in rehabilitation from the Menzies Health Institute and Hopkins Centre to the discussion on neuroplasticity.
She says the design of our buildings and spaces have an enormous and often underestimated impact on people’s recovery from catastrophic injuries.
“Urban design is at risk of becoming homogeneous and distracting, disengaging, at a time when there’s increasing need for our cities to be more inclusive,” Professor Zeeman said.
“We know that architecture can be cognitively supportive of cognitively stressful.
“The first area of focus really is the rehabilitation ward itself.
“A lot of what we think doesn’t matter actually does, the quality of sleep people have in these places, and it’s variable for people in there there’s lots of beeping in there at night.
“We have to focus on how much our environment can focus on those feelings of wellbeing.
Professor Heidi Zeeman
“Accessibility does not make inclusion. Accessibility is almost a work health and safety promise it’s also very focused on physical disability ramps and such but alongside that is cognitive disability. There can be a lot more done. And also with spatial design, disorientation, problems with way finding they’re all issues that people with brain trauma experience.”
Conference organiser Nick Rushworth knows all too well the impact that one moment in time can have on the rest of your life.
He sustained a severe traumatic brain injury after a bike accident in 1996.
He’s been the Executive Officer of Brain Injury Australia since 2008.
Mr Rushworth said this conference is a crucial forum for people to hear the latest research into the treatment of brain injury.
“For a lot of brain injury Australia’s constituents their injury is the watershed event of their life that divides their life in two.”
“For that reason a lot of people find it difficult to engage with not only the service system but also the wider world it’s referred to as the invisible disability.”
https://soundcloud.com/user-101730111/episode-7-6th-national-brain-injury-conference
When the decision to go to uni happens a little further down the track, the application process can loom as a potentially daunting experience.
Griffith University will host a series of Application Support Nights at its South Bank, Logan and Gold Coast campuses during the coming week to make it all a little easier.
The drop-in events are geared towards people who have no recent experience of high school and the guidance counsellors who put Year 12 students on the right path in terms of the dos and don’ts of applying.
Matthew Sue Yek (27), who is completing an honours year in a Bachelor of Languages and Applied Linguistics, believes this kind of support is invaluable for prospective students who don’t always have anywhere or anyone obvious to turn to for help.
Matthew (left) graduated from high school in 2008 and immediately entered the workforce as a pastry chef in the hospitality industry. Five years down the track and the seed had been sown in his mind to go to university. Matthew started to transition to study in 2013, eventually leaving work to become a full-time student in 2015.
“It was a different world and an entirely new experience for me alongside people younger than me fresh out of high school,” he says.
“It was quite challenging in ways I had not anticipated. The application process would not have felt as straightforward for me as it would have for a Year 12 student.
“I think the Application Support Nights are a great initiative and will be very useful for anyone who drops in.”
Non-school leavers and potential mature age students are invited to attend any of the Application Support Nights between 4.30pm and 6.30pm at South Bank (Tues, Oct 23), Logan (Wed, Oct 24) and Gold Coast (Thurs, Oct 25).
Expert study advisers from Griffith University and QTAC will be on hand to offer personalised advice and guidance.
There is also a bonus for the first 100 visitors on each night who are not currently in Year 12 who will receive a voucher code to cover the $99 fee difference for post-early bird QTAC applications.
We have seen some amazing opportunities and outcomes for Queensland College of Art (QCA) staff and students recently.
In August we hosted two new events for our distinguished Alumni at our South Bank campus, followed later that month by our most highly attended Open Day ever.
We are currently gearing up for our annual QCA Graduate Exhibitions, which showcase the outstanding work of our graduating students. The exhibition will open at 6 pm on 1 November at South Bank, and 6.30 pm on 2 November at the Gold Coast campus. Both events promise to be a spectacular evening of art, design, photography, food and entertainment. I welcome you all to attend.
To keep pace with demand, we have appointed four new Academic staff to the Fine Arts area and we will be making further academic appointments across the College in the coming months.
Further afield, the QCA recently attended the Georgetown Festival in Penang, Malaysia, which showcased our 3D design work, photography, as well as slam poetry.
The Australian Embassy also invited the QCA to participate in Beijing Design Week, a ten-day showcase festival in China that is always highly attended. Additionally, QCA art and design students are studying alongside their counterparts at Shandong University of Arts this month, as part of a 20-year partnership between the Queensland College of Art and Griffith University.
Our photography students are soon to jet off to New York on a highly anticipated study tour.
Closer to home, the QCA Pop Gallery has relocated to 381 Brunswick Street and is now open from Tuesday — Saturday, from 10 am – 4 pm. Our newest gallery, on the South Bank campus, is due to open this month.
I encourage you to follow our primary social media channels — Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter — for the latest news, events and information from QCA.
Professor Derrick Cherrie
Director, Queensland College of Art (QCA)
Griffith University
Professor Janet Ransley.
Police should be allowed to focus more on reducing crime and associated harms and less on law enforcement, according to leading criminologist Professor Janet Ransley.
In presenting the 2018 Griffith University Arts, Education & Law Professorial Lecture at South Bank last night, Professor Ransley said there was a disconnection between what police can do to reduce crime and improve community safety and what actually occurs most of the time.
“The investigation and arrest of offenders will always be a significant part of policing,” she said.
“This is an important contributor to justice for victims, and social retribution for the wrongs committed.
“But, police also have a role in harm reduction. However this requires a shift in mindset from officer as crime fighter to a broader policing role.”
She said a harm-reduction approach to policing would recognise that much crime co-occurs with other harms, like mental illness, addiction, homelessness and family dysfunction.
“Many of these harms are only made worse by standard policing and criminal justice models. This applies not just to individuals whose life prospects get worse with each arrest. It recognises that the warehousing in our prisons of people with mental illness, and the moving on of sex workers and the homeless, often to riskier environments, cause great harm.
“It is time to think of policing as part of a broader public safety and security agenda that addresses all of these harms in an integrated way.”
She said harm reduction was already important in some areas of policing such as road safety.
“For the past 20 years at least, most road policing activity has been directed at reducing deaths and injuries. We accept implicitly that speeding tickets and random breath tests are a means to reducing road trauma, not law enforcement for its own sake.
“With such an approach to illicit drugs for example, police would prioritise reducing risks to users. Needle exchanges might be joined by pill testing at festivals, rather than sniffer dogs as we see in some states. The target would be reduced overdoses, not drug arrests.”
She said there would also be close attention to harms that users impose on others — including victims and users’ families.
“A harm-focused approach to policing would reorient the system of policing to identifying and reducing harms, with arrests and law enforcement seen as just one worthwhile part of the toolbox for achieving this, just as it is in road policing.
“The other practices of proactive policing, especially community collaborations, would be equally important. Analysing underlying problems and developing lasting solutions would become the key role on which police are measured.”
Professor Ransley is the Director of the Griffith Criminology Institute based at Griffith University. Her research interests are in police governance, integrity and strategies and fairness in justice processes.
Griffith University will explore current Australian energy policies at a one-day symposium event in South Bank today.
Presented by Griffith Business School’s Economic Policy Analysis Program (EPAP), the symposium will bring together researchers and policy-makers from academia, industry and government to evaluate current policies and aims to create more useful discussion for improvement.
Following a welcome from EPAP director Professor Selva Selvanathan, topics to be covered range from how to future-proof the nation’s electricity supply, and the implications of natural gas extraction in Western Australia, to the effectiveness of renewable energy auctions, and the need to re-examine conservation behaviours in OECD countries.
Australians continue to pay more for power due to the relationship between energy and climate change, Prof Selva Selvanathan says.
“While Australia is rich in energy resources, Australians continue to pay a higher price for energy due to the intertwined relationship between energy and climate change,” Professor Selvanathan said.
“Average Australians think this is not fair, and politicians have now started to hear their cry, especially with a looming federal election, and policy debates are at the forefront of discussion.”
Representatives attending the symposium hail from a range of industry bodies and institutions including Griffith University, the University of New South Wales, University of Queensland, University of Southern Queensland, Australian National University and Murdoch University.
Also among the Griffith contingent are Professor Emeritus Michael Powell, Economics discipline head Dr Andreas Chai, Griffith Business School Dean (Academic) Professor Fabrizio Carmignani, GBS Dean (Research) Professor Andrew O’Neil, AGL Energy Ltd Chief Economist Mr Tim Nelson, Infigen Energy Executive General Manager Professor Paul Simshauser, energy expert Dr Liam Wagner, Cities Research Institute researcher Mrs Maryam Khoshbakht and Dr Parvinder Kler.
They’ll be joined by visiting experts including Dr Hugh Saddler (Australian National University), Dr Ursula Fuentes-Hutfilter (Murdoch University), Professor Iain MacGill (UNSW), Mr Paul Hyslop (ACIL Allen Consulting), Dr Sabah Abdullah (University of Queensland), Ms Ada Hosein (Murdoch University), Mr Rubayyat Hashmi (University of Southern Queensland) and former Greens senator Mr Andrew Bartlett.
“This symposium will gather high-quality research on most aspects of Australian energy policy to investigate key current issues in the field,” Professor Selvanathan said.
“It will bring together researchers and policy-makers from academia, industry and government to critically evaluate current energy policies and aims, in order to create a more useful discussion for improvement in Australian energy policies.”
The free Energy policies: Where is Australia Heading? 2018 symposium will be held at the Ship Inn, South Bank, from 9am-5pm.
Free heel bone density checks will be available at the Gold Coast University Hospital onTuesday16 October when it teams up with Griffith University forOsteoporosis Awareness Day(actual date 20 October).
Affecting both men and women – but more common in women because of the rapid decline in oestrogen levels during menopause – osteoporosis is a common condition affecting over 1 million Australians. Causing bones to become brittle, it results in a higher risk of fracture.
“Current statistics show that one in three women and one in five men aged over the age of 50, worldwide, will suffer an osteoporotic fracture,”saysProfessor Belinda BeckfromGriffith’sMenzies Health Institute Queensland.
“For women aged 45 and over, osteoporosis accounts for more days in hospital than breast cancer, myocardial infarction, diabetes and other diseases.”
Professor Beck is currently leading a studyat Griffith Universitywith the aim of preventing osteoporotic fracture in older women with vibration or exercise.
Pilot data has shown whole body vibration and certain exercises improve bone mass but it is unclear which strategy is most effective.
Professor Beck is hopeful that a head-to-head comparison of the two forms of therapy will provide the answer.
Date: 16 Oct (World Osteoporosis Day – Saturday 20 Oct, 2018) Time: 9am —3pm Venue: GC University Hospital.
Contact details:[email protected]
Website:www.griffith.edu.au/vibmor
Queensland College of Art alumnus Karen Black has won this year’s prestigious Artbank + QPAC Commission – creatinga large-scale work on paper inspired by the grand passions, drama and tragedy of opera.
The work being commissioned is titled I gaze at you, I possess you translated from a love duet in Montiverdi’s ‘Coronation of Poppea’ and will be unveiled at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre later this year.
Coming full circle
Karen said the commission drew on years of experience as a costume designer for performing arts companies.
“I was the Head of Wardrobe for Opera Queensland and various theatre companies, so this commission is really bringing me full circle,” she said.
“It’s going to be fantastic having a work hanging in QPAC, because it holds great memories for me.
“It’s also going to be satisfying having some of my work exhibited here in Brisbane because although I’m a Queensland artist, most of my work is held in Sydney and Melbourne.”
Returning to study
A painter and ceramicist, Karencompleted a Bachelor of Fine Art at Griffith University in 2011.
“I arrived at Griffith as a mature-aged student, and it gave me a chance to really use a lot of the skills I’d picked up in my career,” she said.
“I really benefited from being mentored by the wonderful staff at the QCA, and working with my peers.
“It also allowed me to read widely and research and put my practice in a historical and conceptual context.”
Making her mark
Since graduating, Karen has made her mark in Australia’s contemporary art scene.Earlier this year she was commissioned to create a new body of work for the Sidney Myer Fund Australian Ceramic Award at Shepparton Art Museum. Karen was a 2017 Artspace One Year Studio Artist and has also made the semi-finals of this year’s prestigious Doug Moran Portrait Prize.
She has exhibited extensively in Australia and overseas, including Art Gallery of New South Wales, National Gallery of Victoria and the Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA).
The Artbank + QPAC Commission provides the opportunity for Queensland- based artists to create a new, large scale work on paper for display at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre fortwelve months. The work is then available to lease as part of the Artbank collection.
Fellow QCA alumnus Claudia Moodoonuthi won last year’s commission with her work, Mapping the Modern.
Karen will appear at the Griffith University Art Museum on 16 October for an ‘In Conversation’ event, as part of the acclaimedWith Heart and Hand exhibition.
Researchers from Griffith University and the University of Southern Queensland, in partnership withbeyondblue, and the University of Queensland have launched a new online program for young children with anxiety problems.
The new program, BRAVE for Young Children, is designed to treat anxiety in young children aged 3-7 years and teaches parents new strategies to manage and reduce their child’s anxious behaviour.
There are four online sessions, each with a different focus. Parents simply follow the link to the BRAVE website https://brave4you.psy.uq.edu.au/ and register for the program.
Anxiety is the most common emotional problem in pre-schoolers, with between 10-20% of youngsters suffering with it.
Myths that ‘children grow out of it’
“Despite myths that all children simply ‘grow out of it,’ anxiety tends to persist if left untreated and is a risk factor for later anxiety, depression, and academic problems,” says Associate Professor Caroline Donovan from Griffith’s School of Applied Psychology and one of the developers of the BRAVE program.
“It is therefore important that anxiety is treated as early as possible in the preschool years. Unfortunately, more than 40% of young children with anxiety are not treated, despite the fact that psychologists can treat youth anxiety well.
“There are a number of barriers that get in the way of parents accessing treatment for their young children including cost, time, waiting-lists and stigma. The BRAVE for Young Children program gets around these barriers as it is free, and can be done at any time that is convenient for the family in the privacy of their own home.”
The program is free to all Australian families and is funded and supported throughnot for profit organisation beyondblue.
The BRAVE for Young Children program is the latest instalment in a suite of online BRAVE programs for youth. More than28,000 Australian families have already registered for the BRAVE for Children and BRAVE for Teenagers programs.
Associate Professor Caroline Donovan and Professor Sue Spence, as well as Associate Professor Sonja March from University of Southern Queensland, have been conducting clinical trials on the BRAVE Programs for many years, with results suggesting that the online programs can be just as effective as face-to-face therapy.
It is their hope that by increasing access to high-quality, evidence-based treatment for anxiety problems in young Australian children, that the lifelong problems otherwise faced by these youngsters, will be prevented.
The program is available through thebeyondbluewebsite or directly at https://brave4you.psy.uq.edu.au/
