Olympic gold medallist Emma McKeon claimed the Most Outstanding Sporting Achievement Award at the 2016 Griffith Sports Blues Awards.
Fellow Olympian and Matildas co-captain Clare Polkinghorne (below) shared the podium with the Academic of the Year Award.
The annual awards ceremony is hosted by the Griffith Sports College, Griffith Sport and Griffith University Student Guild.
Matildas star Clare Polkinghorne took out the Academic of the Year Award.
In total, 28 half blues and 41 full blues sporting awards were presented to students throughout the evening.The origin of the Blues Awards dates back to the early 19th century, and the first boat race between Oxford and Cambridge Universities on the River Thames.
Guests heard from inspirational rower and Paralympic triathlete, John Maclean OAM, about his experiences in sport and in life after a tragic road accident in 1998 which left him a paraplegic.
A Q&A panel, led by Director of the Griffith Sports College Duncan Free, and which included Ashleigh Southern (water polo), Matt Denny (discus) and Cara Koenen (netball) offered a glimpse into the experiences and successes of the student athletes.
“It has been another stellar year on the world sporting stage for students at Griffith University,” Duncan Free said.
“From the Olympic and Paralympic Games to renowned sporting venues around the globe, we have seen our students compete and succeed at the highest levels.
“They have been worthy ambassadors for the University, and the Blues Awards gave us an opportunity to acknowledge their remarkable achievements in a fitting way.”
International stage
Olympic gold medallist and former Hockeyroos captain Nikki Hudson presented the event, which took place at the Gold Coast campus Function Centre (G07).
Current students Emma McKeon (left), Madi Wilson, Cameron McEvoy, Jessica Ashwood and David Edwards brought medals home from the Olympics, as part of an extended Griffith contingent in Rio.
Other students to excel at international level in 2016 included Australian Diamonds netball team member, Gretel Tippett, who helped secure the Constellation Cup; Titans co-captain Ryan James who lined out for the Prime Minister’s XIII in Papua New Guinea last month and upcoming discus star Kirsty Williams who won silver at the U20 World Athletics Championships.
To qualify for a Blues Award, students must have represented their nation in international competition during the past year while achieving sound academic results.
“We do not always agree with the Chinese perspective…But it is necessary to understand it, since China will play such a big role in the world that is emerging inthe twenty-first century.”
Henry Kissinger (2011: VXI)
Congratulations to GAI’s Associate Professor Kai He and Dr Huiyun Feng whose research project has been successful in gaining support from the John D. and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation.
How to understand China’s rise and its implications for Asia and the world is an imperative task for both scholars and policy makers. China has become the second largest economy next to the United States since 2010. China is also the major trading partner for over 140 countries in the world. As United States-China relations will define the next century, it is essential to build mutual understanding for policy makers. If strategic distrust is a major obstacle in US-China relations, as Kenneth Lieberthal and Jisi Wang have suggested, deepening our understanding of Chinese perceptions and views on international relations will be a crucial task for bridging the perception gap and mitigating the strategic distrust between the two nations.
This project aims to make sense of China’s rise in world politics through examining Chinese International Relations (IR) scholars’ perceptions and debates on key issues in international relations and Asian security. This project will deepen our understanding of Chinese scholars, especially regarding how they perceive world politics and how they can impact Chinese policy making via internal debates.
With generous support from the MacArthur Foundation, the Griffith Asia Institute is able to successfully collaborate with Tsinghua University’s Institute of International Relations to carry out survey research as well as conduct the research project on the Chinese IR debates through expert conferences and other academic exchanges. This working paper series will feature major Chinese scholars’ analyses of internal debates and our survey findings.
The world’s leading researcher in adventure tourism, Griffith University’s Professor Ralf Buckley, will be part of a stellar cast of speakers at the 2017 International Surfing Symposium.
The Currumbin event, which wasformally launched today (Friday) by Dr Steven Miles MP, Minister for Environment and Heritage Protection and Minister for National Parks and the Great Barrier Reef, will acknowledge the Gold Coast’s inclusion in the prestigious club of World Surfing Reserves.
Many of surfing’s leading figures will be on the Gold Coast for the March Symposium, including the first world champions to come out of the Coast, Peter Townend and Wayne Rabbit Bartholomew.
“The conference will examine how the experience of surfing can be sustainable into the future,” Dr Rob Hales, a researcher at Griffith’s Department of Tourism, Sport and Hotel Management, said.
“The unique experience of connecting with the forces of nature in our oceans is today being accessed by more and more people as our population increases.”
Dr Hales is also Program Director of the Griffith Centre for Sustainable Enterprise.
“Increased media coverage of surfing and its beach culture has also contributed to its growth in popularity,” he said.
“This hasbrought significant economic benefits to local communities across the globe but also has other social and environmental effects, and all of this will be discussed and explored next March.”
Preservation of surf zones
The program director of Save the Waves, Nick Mucha, will travel from California to attend the 2017 International Surfing Symposium at Currumbin RSL from March 13-17.
Save the Waves is the world’s governing body of world surfing reserves.
The Gold Coast became the eighth location to be identified as a World Surfing Reserve in 2015, joining a host of celebrated venues in California, Portugal, Peru, Mexico, Chile and Manly Beach in NSW.
World Surfing Reserves identify, designate and preserve outstanding waves, surf zones and surrounding environments around the world.
The Gold Coast World Surfing Reserve has secured the support of the Queensland Government and the City of Gold Coast.
Architect James Pearce has been named the inaugural recipient of the QBM Griffith MBA Responsible Leadership Scholarship for 2016.
A senior associate with international industry leader Populous, James has been project coordinator on the International Convention Centre Sydney which will open in December.
Pro Vice Chancellor (Business), Professor David Grant, and the editor of the Courier Mail’s Queensland Business Monthly, Natalie Gregg, have led the congratulations for James and runner-up Patricia Liebke.
James decided to submit an entry for the $50,000 full MBA scholarship after his fiancée Morgan Goss spotted an advert in the Queensland Business Monthly at breakfast one morning and encouraged him to have a go.
“An MBA isn’t necessarily always the next step for architecture graduates but seeing the possibility to learn from other fields and bring that to my work was really exciting,” he said.
His work with Populous has involved major projects in Los Angeles, New Zealand and Beijing. Sustainable practice, innovation and an eye to the future are at the heart of what he does each day. He is also part of the company’s Asia Pacific regional leadership team.
“Completing an MBA had been in the back of my mind for a while. I was looking for the next evolution in my career. The knowledge I would gain from an MBA seemed to sit perfectly with where I was looking to head.”
Terrific asset to MBA
ProfessorDavidGrant congratulated James Pearce and each of the other five finalists.
“The Griffith MBA is focused on developing future-focusedleaders and instilling in them the skills and attributes needed to meet thesignificantchallengesthat they and their businesses will face,” he said.
“James has shown himself to be ideally suited in this context.Throughout the competition heveryeffectively communicated a clear understanding of the MBA’s core values and their significance to businessandwe were impressed with his vision of how he might implement these inrelation to his ownleadership and practice.
“James embodies the values and themes that make the Griffith MBA one of the highest-ranked programs in Australia. I am sure he will be a terrific asset to our program and we look forward to his joining us in the New Year.”
James Pearce says the core values and flavour of the Griffith MBA sank in for him during the MBA masterclass. Photo: Mark Cranitch, Courier Mail.
The competition process proved a rewarding experience for James, not least the MBA masterclass where four Griffith Business School academics delivered a series of lectures on sustainable practice, international business, and leadership and emotions at South Bank.
James, at that time, was in Kansas City at an industry conference to deliver a presentation on design process and understanding the challenges a global company has to negotiate when working across different countries and cultures.
He logged on to the masterclass at 3.30am.
“It was the masterclass where the core values and flavour of the Griffith MBA really sank in for me. The topics they discussed were enlightening, and I found myself thinking this is exactly what I need to be doing next.”
James expects the majority of his postgraduate studies to be online, but is also keen to take part in classroom sessions at South Bank when the opportunity presents itself.
“We work across cities in different countries so I need to stay quite nimble and be flexible in terms of timing. Studying online will give me the benefit of being able to do that.
“I love what I do and I love where I work. I have every ambition of applying what I learn in the MBA to Populous and the work that I do. I want to use it as a learning tool to develop my current skills.”
Using MBA to challenge thinking
Patricia Liebke, a Learning and Change Manager and e-health business analyst with UnitingCare Health, received a half-scholarship worth $25,000.
Patricia Liebke is the runner up in the QBM/Griffith MBA Scholarship. Photo: Annette Dew, Courier Mail.
After working on the design and development of Australia’s first fully-integrated digital hospital in Hervey Bay over the past two years, Patricia is excited about the prospect of applying her MBA studies to related projects.
“We will be continuing with that change momentum and embedding new practices at St Stephen’s Hospital,” she said.
“We are using new technologies to not only improve efficiencies in the workplace but also to continue to improve patient safety.
“I’m looking forward to using the MBA to challenge my thinking and identify opportunities to improve the way we do business.”
Patricia was both delighted and a little surprised when she got the call to inform her of her success.
“I knew there was such a high-calibre of candidate applying for it, and it’s such a highly-valued degree.”
Professor David Grant, Pro Vice Chancellor (Business) with Natalie Gregg, editor, Queensland Business Monthly.
Understanding sustainable leadership
Editor of the Courier Mail’s Queensland Business Monthly (QBM), Natalie Gregg, congratulated all six finalists, also including Stacey Coburn, Jai Sudholz, Lisa Flower, Kellie Mayo, on their progress through a highly competitive process.
“It was a natural fit for QBM to partner with Griffith for the MBA Responsible Leadership Scholarship as a significant number of our readers and the people who feature in the magazine are senior corporates who have benefited from their MBA studies,” she said.
“Those who have undertaken an MBA accelerate their career by broadening their business knowledge and also through the valuable networks they gain connecting with like-minded students who bring a wealth of experience from a range of industries.
“This is particularly true of the two scholarship winners, James and Patricia, who were chosen for their depth of understanding of the concepts of sustainable leadership and their ability to articulate how they will use this learning to advance their careers.”
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. A new pop-up exhibition at Southport’s Brickworks Centre showcases the work of Griffith University graphic design students.
Their works are part of an Action Research course at the Queensland College of Art, Griffith University that uses design to raise awareness about issues like global warming, mental health and organ donation.
Queensland College of Art graphic design lecturer Lorraine Marshalsey said the students were passionate about using design to raise awareness of global and local social issues.
“The students are trying to inspire people to take action on a whole range of issues,” she said.
An interactive e-book by Odette Bettany is part of the ‘Design + Research = Change’ pop-up exhibition
“They are using a variety of channels to reach the public, including social media, animation and poster design.
“This is a fantastic way to really engage audiences and get them thinking – design can be a powerful tool for change.
“The new Bachelor of Design, launching next year at our Gold Coast and South Bank campuses, will educate designers to be future agents of change.”
Odette Bettany is in her third year of a Bachelor of Design degree at the QCA, and has an interactive e-book on display at the exhibition.
How music influences creativity
The e-book is a compilation of interviews with high profile artists and designers about how music influenced their creative process, with accompanying playlists.
“We were able to use our design skills to get people thinking about the issues that we are passionate about,” she said.
“This project allowed me to dig deeper into the creative process and present it in a really visual, immediate way.”
Odette said that the exhibition was an opportunity to share her work with a wider audience.
“It is great to have it out there after putting in all of the hard work,” she said.
“I can’t wait to see people’s reactions.”
WHAT: ‘Design + Research = Change’ pop-up exhibition
WHERE: Brickworks Centre, 107 Ferry Road, Southport (opp Cardamom Pod and Snap Fitness)
WHEN: Launch — all day Saturday 29 October. Exhibition runs until Friday 4 November. 9am — 5pm.
A new world first Centre for Research Excellence in Prostate Cancer Survivorship, based in Queensland, is just one of the beneficiaries of new funding from the prestigious National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).
Professor Suzanne Chambers and Professor Paul Scuffham from Griffith University’s Menzies Health Institute Queensland (MHIQ) were awarded $2,498,842.20 for their project titled “Centre for Research Excellence in Prostate Cancer Survivorship.”
The nation’s top prostate cancer experts will lead the multi-disciplinary survivorship centre, the first of its kind in the world.
Every hour at least 10 Australian men are diagnosed with the disease and around 200,000 Australian men are living with prostate cancer today.
Professor Suzanne Chambers, MHIQ Director and Menzies Foundation Professor of Allied Health Research, said Australia’s leaders in prostate cancer survivorship would work closely to benefit the community.
“The Centre for Research Excellence will translate research into action across four main themes for the benefit of men diagnosed,” Professor Chambers said.
Cost ofprostate cancer examined
“We will examine psychosocial and psychosexual health, exercise medicine, the economic cost of prostate cancer and geographic inequalities in prostate cancer outcomes.”
In total, Griffith has received $2,817,610 in the latest round of funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) withDr Haitham Tuffaha, alsofromMHIQ, awarded $318,768for his project titled “Improving patient access to novel cancer drugs in Australia: striking the balance”.
Federal Minister for Health, The Honourable Sussan Ley MP, announced the funding today as part of 320 new health and medical research projects, which shared in $190million in NHRMC funding.
Professor David EllwoodfromMHIQwas also successful in receiving NHMRC funding as part of a team led through the University of Queensland. The total amount funded is $2,496,348, which has been awarded for the project titled “Centre for Research Excellence in Stillbirth”.
Senior Deputy Vice Chancellor, Professor Ned Pankhurst offered his warmestcongratulationsto the academic staff and theircolleaguesat other institutions who have achieved this tremendous success and to the many other staff within academic elements and central administration who have provided support during the busy grant round.
From the moment Wendy Zernike was selected to do a Graduate Certificate in Leadership and Management at Griffith University through her work, her eyes were well and truly opened to the world of business.
After more than 25 years in healthcare in frontline nursing through to various educational roles, the Wesley Hospital Director of Clinical Education has always had a voracious appetite for learning and knew it was time to take the next step in her career: completing an MBA.
“There was a four-year gap for me between when that certificate finished to me studying now, and I was READY, you know? It was quite exciting. It was time for me to take it further,” Wendy says.
So she enrolled in the MBA, but as a mother working full time, she wasn’t entirely sure how she was going to afford it. Enter the Griffith University Scholarship for Women.
“I was just on the Griffith website and I saw the scholarship and I thought “Oh! I fit that profile!” so it was actually quite enjoyable doing the application and putting my story forward,” Wendy explains. “I was lucky because I had completed my application to apply for the MBA itself just recently, which had really made me think about why I wanted to do it and what I was going to achieve in it. Winning the scholarship was a dream come true, really.”
Wendy says one of the things that surprised her was just how much she learnt from people outside her own industry that she could apply to the world of healthcare.“I spent my entire career in healthcare and by doing an MBA, I got to meet people that were in finance, or who were environmental scientists… all these other people you insulate yourself from,” she says.
“Having the exposure to so many different industries is absolutely amazing and I learnt so many things I never would have imagined would have been useful to me in my line of work.”
Wendy Zernike
She says one of the biggest things she’s taken on as a result of the Griffith MBA program is a commitment to more environmentally friendly and sustainable practices. “I went in to the sustainability subject thinking ‘Oh, I don’t know whether this really applies to me,’ but really, this subject has just changed my views on what’s happening in our world, and how we are all responsible for it,” she explains
“I’ve already started conversations in our organisation with what I’ve learnt about how we can put new, more sustainable practices in place at the Wesley.”
Wendy says she’s so glad she made the decision to choose Griffith for her MBA studies because of the high level of student support right through the University.
“It’s the personal touch,” she says. “Any time I’ve had trouble, I’ve been able to pick up the phone and actually speak to the course co-ordinator to help me figure it out. They get that you’re a very busy person and a working professional and it’s such a supportive environment.”
She continues: “Right from being accepted into the MBA program, the assistance that I’ve had from the faculty and program itself has been amazing.
“If you’re worried about how you’re going to cope, are stressed about how you might get the coursework or your assessment done, or you’re stressed about not knowing what to do, the comforting thing is that all all works out because the Griffith staff are so good at helping you work that out. You can concentrate on what you NEED to do, and that is study and learn.”
One of the main reasons Christian Biegert chose Griffith University for his MBA studies was the myriad of international opportunities on offer. So when he saw a notice calling for applications for a scholarship to support an Asia Study Tour, he couldn’t ignore it.
“I thought it was a good chance to continue my studies over there in an Asian context and get some international cultural experiences,” the German international student said. “In Europe you don’t have that many touch points with Asian countries.”
Christian’s application was strong and he was awarded a financial incentive to attend the tour. But as much as he was looking forward to expanding his learning sphere over in South Korea, he says he even benefited from the application process.
“When you write your application, thinking about why you are the right person for a scholarship makes you think about the program as well,” he explains. “It really helps you realise why you wanted to do the course in the first place. It gets you excited about study and the outcome.”
A self-confessed travel lover, Christian says there were two main reasons he felt the need to learn in South Korea. “One reason was the culture I could experience,” he said. “By going there and actually living somewhere you get more insight into their culture and how they behave and do business.
“I’d studied and read a lot about South Korea and it’s completely different to our western culture, especially in how they do business. So I thought the tour would teach me a lot about other cultural business behaviours that could benefit me in my career.”
But the other reason was one that he believes will help him through his university journey.
“The MBA Director [Chris Fleming] comes with you on the tour, so it’s a really good opportunity to learn from him personally, one I didn’t want to miss.”
Christian says he’s particularly eager to get started on the projects he will have to complete while on the Tour.
“While over there we have to develop a business idea that we want to do with South Korea so I will learn a lot about making a company both in Australia and over there,” he says.
And rather than just going over to the country to work, Christian has decided to extend his trip at the beginning and go a week earlier, to really give himself time to immerse himself in South Korean life.
“If I just go there for the study I’ll be totally busy the whole time and won’t have time to explore, so I want to experience the culture and everything else.”
Griffith University has been placed among the top 20 research universities in Australia for a third consecutive year, according to the latest Nature Index.
Griffith University is positioned 18th overall in the academic listing with the 2016 Index revealing the University’s key strengths are in chemistry, life sciences, and earth and environmental sciences.
The Nature Index, which is collated from research articles published in an independently selected group of quality science journals, has placed Griffith 14th in chemistry research.
The Nature Index report revealed that this was aided by $11.79 million in funding for chemistry research achieved through competitive funding programs between 2011 and 2014.
Griffith was also placed 14th in life sciences, while earth and environmental sciences and physical sciences were each ranked 15th and 16th respectively.
The Nature Index has revealed that Australian universities had more physical sciences articles included in the index between 2012 and 2015 than any other field.
It has revealedthat high-quality research output rose 10 per cent in Australia in the past three years, placing the country 12th in the index’s global standings.
“Australia and New Zealand may have small populations and be geographically remote from the world’s research giants, but their high-quality science competes on the global stage set by the United States, Europe and China,” said Nicky Phillips, the Editor of the Nature Index.
Three Gold Coast High School girls have dominated the top awards at the annual Gold Coast Schools Legal Essay Competition.The prize ceremony was held last week at SP&G Lawyers in Bundall.
Miami State High School’s Zuzana Harmaniakova won first place alongside runners up Grace O’Reilly from Kings Christian College and Tayla Kamura from Coomera State College.
Zuzana impressed the judges with her essay on the effect of the media on the rule of law. By pinning down a thorny legal concept through her research and applying it to our contemporary debates around democracy, she won cash prizes for herself and her school.
Grace came in second place with an essay that tackled the controversial practice of sharing sexual material of ex-partners online and without their consent. The judges commended Grace for her compelling arguments for law reform.
Tayla won third place by grappling with the overrepresentation of Indigenous youths in the criminal justice system. She impressed the judges with her passion and commitment to finding policy solutions to address this problem.
Griffith Law School Dean Professor Pene Mathew said the competition was growing each year.
“We’ve attracted a bumper number of entries from high schools around Queensland and New South Wales. The top 15 essays were all impressive in their quality and would not be out of place among university essays.”
Our partners at SP&G Lawyers generously support the Gold Coast Schools Legal Essay Competition each year.
