Griffith University students have been given a flying start to a new career following a new agreement signed with Queensland Airports Limited (QAL).
Under the terms of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed today, QAL and Griffith University have formalised existing working relationships and extended it to benefit both the University and QAL.
After years of collaboration with Griffith Aviation, QAL has broadened its engagement in recent months, accepting Griffith Business School student interns to work across a broad range of business activities, including the development of employee support materials and research.
Now under the MOU, this agreement has been extended to Griffith students from a wider range of disciplines, including engineering and information and communications technology. Ongoing research collaborations are also being jointly developed within Griffith Aviation.
QAL is the operator of Gold Coast Airport, one of Australia’s fastest growing airports, welcoming more than six million passengers in the past year. QAL Chairman, Ms Annabelle Chaplain, is a Griffith alumnu, having graduated in the second cohort of students. Ms Chaplain received the Griffith Business School Outstanding Alumni Award in 2015.
Sharing of skills and knowledge
“This agreement is a major step towards the sharing of skills and knowledge between our two organisations,” said Associate Professor Alan Blackman, the Director of Work-integrated Learning at Griffith Business School.
“It is an opportunity to broaden the scope of student mentoring, while creating new channels for senior staff at QAL to engage with students at Griffith University through avenues such as guest lecturing and for Griffith University faculty to provide executive development training and collaborate in research projects of benefit to both organisations.”
QAL’s Beau Tydd (from left) and Chris Mills with Griffith University’s Professor Martin Betts, Professor David Grant and Associate Professor Alan Blackman.
Queensland Airports Limited CEO Chris Mills said the partnership is mutually rewarding.
“This partnership offers students the unique opportunity to gain valuable on-the-job experience while continuing their studies. We’ve welcomed five students into our business since we implemented this initiative and they’ve worked within our team across a broad range of departments,” said Mr Mills.
“Our staff have also embraced this opportunity and are finding it rewarding to play a part in the professional development of their allocated student. We look forward to the continued development of this partnership.”
Griffith Business School’s Pro Vice Chancellor Professor David Grant has welcomed today’s milestone agreement.
“Griffith Business School prides itself on developing strong and strategic ties with industry. Today’s agreement builds on the success of our existing partnership and clearly signals the ways in which we can deploy our academic expertise so as to make a real and positive difference to business,” said Professor Grant.
“It will also deliver ongoing benefits to Griffith students, as they seek to develop the skills necessary to prepare them for entering the workplace.”
As a Peer Assisted Study Session (PASS) leader Emily Smith combines her love of literature with a desire to help others.
The second-year Bachelor of Arts student and Emily Bronte fan, whose middle name also happens to be ‘Bronte’ insists it’s a mere coincidence that she so admires the Wuthering Heights author.
“It wasn’t part of some grand plan by my parents,’’ she laughs. “I just really love Emily Bronte’s writing — she inspires me.”
In her role withPASS, Emily helps arts students with first-year courses in weekly one-hour group sessions.
Emily stresses that she isn’t a teacher as such but a facilitator.
“I guide the students to find the answers themselves,’’ she says.
“It’s a great position because it helps students become more confident to in their knowledge. It also helps me with strengthening my knowledge of the courses.
“All types of students attend the classes — some not doing so well, others who are and those who just want to come along for some interaction and fellowship.”
Emily came to study a Bachelor of Arts after a couple of false starts. A classically-trained trumpet player she started a music degree but found the theoretical content took away the passion she had for music.
Not quite sure what to do next and being ‘good’ at science at school, Emily enrolled in a Bachelor of Biomedical Science at Griffith.
“But after I studied a semester I realised it wasn’t for me,’’ she said.
“So then I thought what do I really want to do? And I love literature so enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in literature and linguistics.
“It was the best decision. I’ve found my niche.”
If her role as a PASS leader and study wasn’t enough to fit into a busy schedule, Emily has also found time to establish the Humanities, Languages and Social Sciences Society which aims to create a community of like-minded students who can come together to discuss careers, study and university life. She is also an Academic Excellence Society Ambassador where she assists HLSS students with peer support.
When she graduates Emily wants to find work as an editor and writer. But first, she’s planning on completing her Honours degree followed by a PhD.
Watch this space for another ‘Bronte’ author.
Bachelor of journalism graduate Sarah Dionysius obtained a position with country newspaper The Western Star in Roma prior to graduating.
“I started work in June and graduated in July 2016,’’ she said.
Sarah credits her internships with the Tweed Daily News, Quest Newspapers and the Australian Good Food Guide with helping kick-start her career.
“You have to be open to anything and get all the experience that you can possibly can,’’ she says.
“I was offering story ideas, producing copy, my whole attitude and mindset was that I could do anything I wanted to. I wanted to explore everything I could.”
Working on a small newspaper means that Sarah certainly has a hand in everything — from sourcing and writing stories, taking photographs, page layout and editing and contributing to social media.
“Even though it’s print, we also have a digital presence, so it’s exciting to be part of both platforms.”
Community connections
“It’s a fantastic newspaper to work on as the community is small and connected and everyone is friendly and welcoming,’’ she said.
Sarah’s career-path was firmly set when in Year Seven as part of an English class she toured the offices of Toowoomba newspaper The Chronicle.
“I knew then that journalism was for me,’’ she recalled.
Reaffirming her decision, as a Year 12 student she spent a week working for the Sunday Telegraph in Sydney.
Sarah said she enjoyed studying journalism at Griffith as it was a very hands-on program.
“All the lecturers and tutors had worked in the industry so their experience helped prepare us for life as working journalists.
Now she’s focusing on her attention on being the best journalist she can be and contributing to the close-knit country community of Roma.
A Griffith University senior postdoctoral research fellow is among five talented Australian researchers who have been recognised for their inventive work by theBupa Health Foundation.
Dr Johana Paola Tello Velasquez, of the Eskitis Institute for Drug Discovery, has been awarded $5000 as part of Bupa’s annual Emerging Health Researcher Awards.
The Foundation’s purpose is to support the role that research plays in improving the delivery and efficiency of our health system, as well as improving sustainable quality of life.
Johanais an emerging innovator in neuroscience who is preparing for an upcoming trial that aims to repair spinal cord injuries; a devastating condition that currently has no effective treatment.
With more than 12,000 Australians currently living with spinal cord injury, the total economic cost in Australia is $2 billion annually.
The upcoming trial follows recent exciting results — including successful restoration of partial function in a human — that indicate we are on the verge of a life-changing discovery.
The trial will involve transplanting olfactory ensheathing cells taken from a patient’s nose into their injured spinal cord, to promote repair and regeneration. Dr Velasquez will provide intellectual input in preparation for the clinical trial as part of a large team of experts.
Bupa Health Foundation Executive Leader Annette Schmiede said the Awards support the bright future of Australia’s health researchers to become global leaders.
“Australia has a proud history of pioneering and life-changing health science and research,” Ms Schmiede said.
“Supporting and funding emerging researchers is vital to our country remaining a leader in the field of health research. If we want to protect and enhance that reputation it’s critical that we nurture these skills and expertise.
“We want to keep encouraging our Australian researchers to think big and make discoveries that can change the health landscape.
“Young researchers in particular need a stable working environment to reach their potential, and the Bupa Health Foundation’s funding helps to deliver this support.
“Our 2016 Emerging Researcher Awards finalists have already made significant contributions that have been recognised at home and globally.
“I congratulate them on their achievements and work so far, and look forward to watching their potential progress our society’s health and future,” Ms Schmiede said.
The Bupa Health Foundation has invested more than $29 million to support over 100 projects to improve the health and wellbeing of Australians since its establishment in 2005.
More information about the Bupa Health Foundation 2016 Emerging Health Researcher Awards can be found at www.bupa.com.au/foundation.
Strategies police can use to improve relationships with immigrant communities is the focus of a new Griffith University Australian Research Council grant.
“Police rely heavily on the public to report victimisation, crime incidents and terrorist threats,’’ says Professor Kristina Murphy from the Griffith Criminology Institute.
“However, people can be reluctant to engage with police. This can be especially so for new immigrants.
“This project explores why immigrants disengage from police. It also examines how immigrants perceive and respond to procedural justice policing; an approach that emphasises respect, voice, and fair treatment.
“We want to know whether this approach increases immigrants’ willingness to cooperate with police in crime and terrorism prevention.”
Professor Murphy said promoting immigrants’ willingness to engage with police is important because new immigrants are over-represented in Australian victimisation statistics.
“With crime and terrorism costing Australia billions of dollars annually, understanding why immigrants are reluctant to engage with police is crucial.”
The three-year project will use focus groups and surveys with three immigrant groups – Middle Eastern Muslims, Vietnamese and Anglophone immigrants from the UK.
“Immigrants from the Middle East and Vietnam were chosen because both have had difficult relationships with police in Australia. Both groups are also less trusting of police than other immigrant groups in Australia.
“It is anticipated the project outcomes will improve police relationships with immigrants, and assist in the prevention of crime and terrorism.”
Brittany Graham has always had a great love of horses. She is involved in her family’s harness racing business and has an A-Grade trainer and driver licence. So when the time came to narrow down where she wanted to do her Griffith University Work Integrated Learning placement, she knew she wanted to aim high.
“I’ve always known about Magic Millions because of my family industry,” she explains. “They’re such a huge part of the industry. When I was thinking about doing an internship I thought I would like to do it somewhere where I already have an interest.”
Her parents tried to ensure their daughter’s expectations were realistic. “When I told my parents about it they thought it would be great if I could do it but said it was such a big company and busy and probably too hard to take on an intern. When I got it they were all really excited as was I and it’s been wonderful.”
And Magic Millions Marketing Manager Val Hayward wasted no time giving the Bachelor of Business student plenty to do, and was very pleased with the results.
“I’ve given her things and projects that I thought would take from the day she started right through until the end of her internship, and she’s basically completed everything!” Val said. “She’s been a star.”
The biggest project Brittany has had to work on in her time was a sale of two-year-old horses in training to be attended by Magic Millions boss Gerry Harvey.
Val charged her with coming up with marketing slogans for different demographics and was thrilled with the outcome, deciding to use all her ideas in the official campaign.
“I’ve just given her carte blanche to come up with headlines and slogans and catchy taglines… Something that would probably take me days to mull over and get it right, and she just comes up with them!” Val enthused. “In about an hour she had 20 of them and they were perfect. So she’s very good.”
Brittany Graham. Photo: Michael McInally and Magic Millions.
Gerry was reportedly also extremely pleased with her work. “There are people out there with a heck of a lot of ability,” said the business mogul, who employs more than 20,000 workers across his businesses. “They don’t know they have got it, no one else knows they’ve got it and they can go through life and nothing ever happens. And then others, they discover themselves or are discovered by others.
“I think they discover themselves and they achieve wonderful results. But it is mostly in an area that they have some sort of passion for,” he explained. “It is just very satisfying when you see that. You say, “Wow, you have surprised yourself, you have surprised me and everyone around the place,” and their self-esteem goes through the roof. It’s one of the more pleasurable things when you are an employer seeing those sorts of things”.
He was apparently rather impressed with Brittany’s whole campaign for the sale, dubbed the “breeze up” sale, where she came up with the slogan “Make buying a breeze”.
Gerry continued: “There are different forms of marketing but at the end of the day it’s being able to relate to that public out there or that section of the public in a way that they respond to, and you’ve got to be able to tap into them.”
Brittany’s ideas were used in print and digital such as daily newsletters, industry websites including Racing Australia, Breeding & Racing, Breednet, the ANZ Thoroughbred Daily News, as well as in all Racing Calendars across Australia and Bluebloods magazine.
Val says she’s brought fresh ideas for the marketing of the business and for that, she’s very thankful. “From my perspective she’s been a massive help to me at a time when I am very short staffed and she really didn’t need any hand holding, she’s just come up with some brilliant ideas all on her own.”
For the Griffith student, she says it was surreal to see her own work distributed so far. “It’s a bit weird! I got the magazine at home when it came out and showed mum. I know I didn’t make the ad itself, a designer did that but, everything that went into it I came up with it. It was like: ‘Oh, ok this is kind of a big deal. Everyone in the industry in the country has seen this now!’”
Brittany has indicated that her dream job would be able to continue in the horseracing industry in whatever capacity possible. “The horse industry is my passion first and foremost, but being able to work within marketing on top of that is something I would love to make a career out of,” Brittany emphasised. “This experience has made me realise this position is the sort of job I would like to have in the future.”
And of course, she says it was both what she’s learnt at Griffith and her support from the staff that helped her come to that realisation. “The lecturers at uni have a really keen interest in making sure you know what you need to know to succeed,” Brittany says. “That’s what you need, that little push to tell you, ‘This is what you gotta know.’”
Story created in collaboration with Lynlea Small.
A Griffith University researcher and her collaborators have found that choosing the right partner could mean the difference between survival and death for certain coral species.
The finding has significant implications for understanding thermal bleaching tolerances and coral’s potential for survival in a rapidly warming world.
Dr Emma Kennedy, of Griffith’s Australian Rivers Institute, undertook the “mammoth task” of studying more than 600 colonies of an endangered coral that is a keystone species in the Caribbean and fundamental to coral reef building. It was the biggest study done on a single coral species.
Institutions from around the world, including The University of Queensland and lead Exeter University in the United Kingdom collaborated in the paper ‘Symbiodiniumbiogeography tracks environmental and geographic patterns rather than host genetics in a key Caribbean reef-builder,Orbicella annularis’, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
The authors found interesting biogeographic patterns in the species of symbionts they found associated with the coral.
The researchers genetically typed colonies of the endangered boulder star coral species Orbicella annularis as well as all the symbionts that were found living inside its tissues.
“As well as being of high conservation and ecological importance, the coral is unusual as it can pair up with a number of different symbiotic algae species; different symbiont types can confer different properties (growth rates, bleaching tolerances) to the coral host,” says Dr Kennedy, who undertook the research during her PhD at Exeter.
“This means that even genetically identical (twin) corals will behave and respond differently to environmental stress if they happen to partner with different symbionts.”
For example, more northerly corals in the Bahamas almost always teamed up exclusively with a hardy and common generalist species called ‘SymbiodiniumB1’, while in easterly Barbados corals appeared to pair with more diverse mixes of more thermally-sensitive species.
“These relationships are particularly interesting to scientists, as the coral-symbiont pairing can affect bleaching outcomes for corals – literally choosing a different partner could mean the difference between survival and death when sea temperatures become too warm and start disrupting the coral-symbiont relationship,” Dr Kennedy says.
“This relationship breakdown occurs as part ofa phenomenacalled ‘coral bleaching’, where symbionts are lost/expelled from their coral host when they become heat-stressed, eventually causing the coral – which relies on the tiny photosynthetic algae for nutrition – to starve to death if they don’t return/recover to healthy levels in time.
“Sadly, coral bleaching is being seen more frequently around the world as a result of rising global sea temperatures: this summer we saw the third ever global coral bleaching event, which also happened to be the most severe coral bleaching on record.”
The study found that the local reef environment tended to determine which symbiont species paired with the corals;boulder-starcorals living on reefs which have cooler summers had very different symbionts than those living on naturally warmer reefs.
The findings enabled the researchers to link, for the first time, some specific symbiont species to environmental conditions. For example “SymbiodiniumB1j” were often found in corals that lived on reefs with more nutrients in the water.
Dr Juan Ortiz, of The University of Queensland, said the study highlights how important it was to consider the holobiont — an entire community of living organisms that make up a healthy coral head – if researchers were to understand past and future responses of coral reefs to a rapidly changing environment.
“Reefs that look exactly the same when you dive on them may have completely different ecological properties as a consequence of the different types of algae that the same corals may host,” Dr Ortiz said.
Proposed recreational fishing zones in Queensland may fail to meet their objectives in guaranteeing weekend anglers the chance of a better catch, a new Griffith University study has found.
In a paper published in Marine Policy Dr Chris Brown, of Griffith’s Australian Rivers Institute, examined the case for Queensland’s ‘net-free zones’ — areas that ban certain types of commercial fishing.
The net-free zones aim to benefit Queensland’s recreational anglers with more and bigger fish. Several net-free zones were put into place last year and the government is currently considering proposals for net-free zones in Moreton Bay.
“Simply banning commercial fishing may not be sufficient to protect many of our favourite sport species,” says Dr Brown.
The Queensland Government’s own stock assessments indicate significant fishing pressure from recreational fishing on many species, such as coral trout, tailor and red snapper. Other work has shown that red snapper catch rates are 10 per cent of what they were historically.
Over the past two decades commercial fishers have been subject to tighter management controls, including marine protected areas, license buy-backs and now net-free zones.
“These changes have helped bring commercial fishing pressure under control in Queensland and will help ensure we have sustainable fisheries for the future,” says Dr Brown.
Recreational fishing
“The same cannot be said for our recreational fisheries, where there have been few management changes over the years.
“Recreational fishing is largely managed through a system of bag limits, gear restrictions and size limits. However, unlike commercial fisheries there is no limit to the number of participants or the total amount of fish taken. This makes recreational catches effectively open-ended.
“Because most recreational fishers fish only occasionally, we tend not to appreciate the cumulative impact of their actions on fish stocks.”
Dr Brown says the Labor government’s plans for fisheries reform is an opportunity for government and communities to reconsider what is needed to keep our fisheries healthy.
He suggests that the ‘net-free zones’ could become focal points for the community to work together with government for the management of fisheries.
“For instance, other countries have very effectively used tagging schemes for high-value, recreational species. These help set a cap on the total number of fish taken and have helped support lucrative sport fishing industries, as customers know they have a good chance of catching a big fish.”
“A greater allocation of catch to recreational fishers also imparts a greater responsibility for the management of fisheries.”
A Griffith University study has found that wave power along the southeast coast of Australia is a viable source of renewable energy.
A team of researchers from Griffith’s School of Engineering and Centre for Coastal Management, along with a senior research scientist from CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, have based their wave energy model on data collected over a 31 year-period from 1979 and 2010.
The data was collected along the southeast coast of Australia, extending from Fraser Island in the north to Eden in the south.
In the paper ‘Wave energy resource assessment along the Southeast coast of Australia on the basis of a 31-year hindcast’, published in Applied Energy, the team provides a detailed assessment of the availability of the wave energy resource in the region.
The assessment improves on existing wave energy resource assessments in the region by dynamically downscaling global scale model hindcasts into shallow coastal waters with a high-resolution wave energy transformation model.
In an effort to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, the Australian Government legislated a renewable energy target (RET) scheme to ensure that at least 23.5 per cent of Australia’s electricity generation by 2020 will come from renewable energy sources.
In order to meet this target, Australia will need to generate about 17 Terawatt-hours of additional renewable energy per year by 2020. The study found wave power could significantly contribute to achieving the target.
Wave power sustainable
Results indicate annual mean wave power levels are quite high and sustainable across the continental shelf, with the highest-energy concentrations located off the central coast of NSW, between Sydney and Crowdy Head and near the border between NSW and Victoria.
“The annual electric power that could be potentially generated by a number of pre-commercial wave energy converters such as the Pelamis, Wave Dragon and Aqua Buoy was estimated on the basis of their wave power conversion matrixes in conjunction with our modelled wave energy distribution matrices,” say authors Joao Morim Nascimento, and Drs Nick Cartwright and Amir Etemad-Shahidi.
These results indicate the potential to generate about 17 Gigawatt-hours of electricity annually from a single wave farm. In other words, by installing 1000 of them the government can reach its renewable energy target.
The reports authors say overall the study findings are encouraging for the further development of wave energy conversion technology as a viable source of renewable energy into the future.
A Griffith University researcher has helped create a first-ever global gap assessment of the protection of the world’s rivers to identify where river conservation priorities need to be focussed.
Dr Simon Linke co-authored the study with freshwater scientists from the Nature Conservancy, McGill University and the World Wildlife Fund who used a high-resolution dataset of the world’s rivers to assess protection levels for systems globally. Such an assessment had previously not been possible.
In the paper Looking Beyond the Fenceline: Assessing Protection Gaps for the World’s River, published in Conservation Letters, the authors explain that in 2010 the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) set a 17 per centtarget for the protection of ‘inland waters,’ including rivers.
While it was an accomplishment for countries to commit to a global conservation target for threatenedfreshwater systems worldwide, there was no good way to measure progress toward that target. This is because rivers are a connected system with local protection measures as well as upstream catchment protection contributing to the overall river health.
The study found that most river systems around the world fall far short of the 17 per cent CBD target, both for local protection and especially for protection of the upstream catchment.
About 70 per centof river reaches, by length, have no protected areas in their upstream catchments, and only 11 per centof river reaches (again by length) achieve integrated protection.
Worrying protection gaps for rivers
Robin Abell, the lead author of the paper, says: “These findings help to highlight where there are worrying protection gaps for rivers, putting aside functional gaps arising from poor protected area management and ‘false’ gaps where landscapes and rivers receivede facto protection outside formal protected areas”.
Levels of protection vary widely by region; South America, dominated by the well-protected Amazon, has average local and integrated levels approaching 30 per cent, whereas both levels are under 10 per cent for the Middle East. Levels also vary within individual basins for different river size classes.
In general, large rivers, such as the Volga, Colorado, Mississippi or Murray-Darling are the hardest to strategically protect and hence have the largest gap between the amount of local protection and upstream protection.
Dr Linke says measurement doesn’t equal conservation, but researchers can’t assess progress without it.
“It helps to guide us where future priorities for river conservation need to be set,” he says.
Dr Linke is one of the key experts in the field of river conservation planning, and has led and contributed to conservation plans in Australia, Africa and the Himalayas.
