Long-forgotten images of peoples from the South Pacific and South America have been revitalised in a new photographic exhibition at Griffith University Art Gallery.

Opening on Thursday 28 April in South Bank, Reparative Aesthetics features the work of renowned contemporary artists Rosângela Rennó (Brazil) and Fiona Pardington (New Zealand).

Gallery Director, Angela Goddard, says the photographic works adopt a reparative approach to the representation of the disempowered.

“This is a compelling and powerful exhibition that will have strong resonance, providing a new perspective on artefacts and archives with dark histories,” Ms Goddard said.

Exhibition curator Susan Best, Professor of Art History and Fine Art at Griffith University, says “to date, the critical literature on the trend of the “archival turn” in contemporary art has paid little attention to artists from the southern hemisphere”.

“As a result, Rennó and Pardington’s unusual reparative approaches to historical archives have passed unnoticed,” Professor Best said.

“The work of these two artists makes us look again at the treatment of the vulnerable, their objectification in the interests of science and/or security, while also surprising us with their sensuous depictions of anthropological specimens and the convict body.”

Pardington’s works feature photographs of life-casts made during the 1837-40 voyage of French explorer Dumont d’Urville to Oceania, now held at the Musée de l’Homme in Paris.

The series has a strong personal resonance for Pardington: included among the images are some of her Māori ancestors from the iwi (or tribe) Ngāi Tahu. Given this connection, Pardington adopts what she calls an ‘animistic’ Māori perspective on these anthropological artefacts.

“The power of the portraits partly derives from this underpinning philosophy — Pardington has photographed inanimate objects as if they are alive,” Professor Best said.

Rennó’s work is drawn from her series Vulgo [Alias], which features archival images from the Penitentiary Museum of São Paulo. She personally intervened to rescue thousands of identification portraits of prisoners taken between 1920-40, which were otherwise destined for oblivion.

Rennó then selected, enlarged and tinted images from the archive taken of the crowns and backs of prisoners’ heads and the way the closely-cropped hair reveals individual patterns of growth and scars like the unique whorls of a fingerprint.

Reparative Aesthetics is on tour from the University Art Gallery, University of Sydney.

28 April to 2 July, 2016
Griffith University Art Gallery
Queensland College of Art, 226 Grey Street, South Bank, Brisbane
Open 11am to 4pm Tuesday to Saturday (closed public holidays)

The Queensland Minister for Housing and Public Works, the Honorable Mick de Brenni recently launched a discussion paper on housing for Queensland at a recent symposium hosted by the Urban Research Program at South Bank campus.

The paper takes a broad perspective on housing and examines issues such as affordability, appropriate housing design for all residents and the need for more flexibility in the market. It builds on the government’s recent Fairness Review.

These important questions were further addressed by Griffith colleagues who also spoke at the the Housing Futures Symposium: Dr Judy Kraatz on new ways of valuing social housing; Dr Heather Shearer on young people’s housing needs and Dr Margaret Ward on how we can design better homes for disabled people.

“We all now have the opportunity to respond to the discussion paper and contribute to a new and better housing strategy for Queensland,’’ said Professor Paul Burton, Director of the Urban Research Program.

The discussion paper has been released on the Queensland Government’s website, Get Involved.Online responses are open until 20 May 2016.

Dinesh Palipana was a focused, determined, enthusiastic medicine student at Griffith University when his life changed forever on a rainy night in 2010.

Today, the 32-year-old remains equally determined and just as focused on forging a career in medicine in spite of the road traffic accident on Brisbane’s Gateway Bridge that left him without feeling or movement from the chest down. “It was weird as the car just started aquaplaning down the highway,” he says.

“I tried to gain control but suddenly I was going down the embankment and there was nothing I could do. The car was upside down, rolling front to back. All I could do was surrender to the inevitable, eventually coming to a silent standstill, in and out of consciousness, but just knowing how very, very bad this was.” Dinesh eventually woke up in Brisbane’s PA Hospital, three days later, his mother’s face apprehensive but encouraging.

“I knew I’d been paralysed before anyone even mentioned it to me, I just didn’t realise it was to the extent of becoming quadriplegic. Even in the ambulance, the first thing that occurred to me was, I still need to get this medicine degree done and get on with my career. That was so important to me.”

A long road ahead

But there was a long road ahead; Dinesh’s spine had been dislocated at the neck, essentially squashing the cord that supplies feeling and movement to any part of the body from the chest down.

“My chest was crushed too unfortunately, so it was really painful to breathe as they tried to stabilise me and clear out all the gunk that had been accumulating in my lungs for days.” After intensive care and the high dependency unit, Dinesh spent a gruelling seven months in the spinal unit at the PA Hospital where he undertook regular physio and occupational therapy. He couldn’t speak well initially either but that improved when his lungs strengthened. “It was a dark time of my life; but I knew I had to make the best of what I was left with and all the while I had some great friends around me plus wonderful support from my mum, who has really given up so much of her life for me.” Eventually Dinesh and his mother Chithrani found themselves leaving Australia to go to their native Sri Lanka, where they had decided to go to take a break and think about what their next move would be.

“We were in Sri Lanka for about three years, and I met some great people there who kept my enthusiasm for life alive. But they knew I was still interested in a medical career and encouraged me to keep in contact with the Griffith School of Medicine.

“Professor Harry McConnell and others from the School of Medicine were fantastic incommunicating to me about how it could work if I came back to my studies and thoroughly
supported me in my decision to eventually return to year 3 medicine in January 2015.”
Dinesh was met with warmth back at Griffith, and if there were ever any doubts over what hecould achieve as a trainee doctor, they were sorely mistaken. First off, he got great grades in the
mid-year exams, despite having had the five-year break from medicine.

Although classified as a quadriplegic, he has some feeling on the outside of his forearms. He isable to feed himself and get around in his wheelchair without help, having learnt various intricate
ways of getting around the lack of hand movement over the past six years.

“It does take me longer than most to get myself ready in the morning and I need help for that, butas far as medical duties go, I can carry out a good medical examination and consultation on a
patient.

“I can’t however carry out a rectal examination! And I may have typical doctor’s handwriting!“I am thinking now that I may specialise in radiology. Neurology is appealing too. Medicine is so
broad with so many fantastic options. Luckily I have some fantastic people around me at Griffith,who have been great advocates of me, as well as my amazing mother who has always been there
for me.
“I am pretty lucky really. Yeah I guess I must have wanted this career pretty bad.”

Recent chaos over federal tax proposals and state complaints over funding reinforce the need for a stronger consensus approach to Federation reform, according to the first Australian Constitutional Values Survey of federal and state politicians.

Results from the Future of Australia’s Federation (Parliamentarians) Survey, conducted by a Griffith University-led team over the last quarter of 2015, reveal:

Project leader, Professor A J Brown of Griffith’s Centre for Governance and Public Policy, said the results show the Prime Minister’s tax plan was ‘more than just a random thought bubble, and actually represented a genuine option’.

‘More importantly, these results confirm that where that plan ended up is both logical, and historic, in terms of locking in ongoing federal government commitment to the reform discussion.’

‘With Labor MPs supporting federal reform just as, or more strongly than the Coalition, at state and federal level, the question becomes whether both sides of politics will commit to a stronger, ongoing federation reform process — irrespective of who wins the 2016 election,’ Professor Brown said.

Conference

The survey reports the views of 201 sitting MPs across all parties, and all federal, State and Territory parliaments. It parallels related surveys including the nationwide Australian Constitutional Values Survey, last conducted in 2014 and due to be fielded again in coming months.

Results from both surveys will be profiled at the important pre-election conference, A People’s Federation for the 21st Century?’, being held in Brisbane on 16-17 June.

Other key results:

Data release: www.griffith.edu.au/federalism
June conference: www.griffith.edu.au/sir-samuel-griffith-legacy-series

The crucial role of big data in analysing visitor experience and tracking the popularity of tourist destinations will be examined at a tourism networking event hosted by theGriffith Institute for Tourism.

“New trends and ways of doing tourism are emerging by the day and it is very important that the tourism industry takes advantage of what the digital age has to offer,” GIFT Director, Professor Susanne Becken (right), said.

SusanneB“The collection and analysis of information has long been at the core of the tourism industry, and the insights to be drawn from big data to identify new patterns of visitor behaviour and manage tourism more efficiently are both valuable and extensive.

“Social media analysis, for example, is already vital for tourist operators and marketers looking ahead. They can identify trends and shifts in visitor behaviour and experience which can inform future campaigns and initiatives.”

Associate Professor Bela Stantic, Director of Griffith University ‘Big Data and Smart Analytics’ lab will deliver a keynote address on big data and the tourism industry at the networking event on Friday, April 15 at Griffith’s South Bank campus.
The event, which will bring together industry representatives from across the sector, will take place the Queensland College of Art in South Bank, starting at 5pm.

WHAT: Big Data — Big Deal (hosted by the Griffith Institute for Tourism)

WHO: Associate Professor Bela Stantic

WHEN: Friday, April 15, 5pm

WHERE: Level 7, Webb Centre, QCA, South Bank, Brisbane

Centre for Work, Organisation and Wellbeing Higher Degree Research student member, Jessica Blomfield, won an Australian Government Endeavour Postgraduate Scholarship in 2015 to travel to the United States of America to conduct research as a part of her PhD studies into sustainability professionals. We caught up with Jess recently to discuss her time there…

PhD Research in the USA: An update from Jess Blomfield

University of Colorado Boulder campus (image courtesy of Jess Blomfield)

University of Colorado Boulder campus (image courtesy of Jess Blomfield)

From June to December in 2015, my PhD candidature was based at the University of Colorado in Boulder, CO, U.S.A….[where]I was hosted by the Centre for Education on Social Responsibility within the Leeds School of Business.

My PhD explores the emotions of professionals working as change agents for sustainability within organisations. Being at the University of Colorado facilitated my access to a large number of sustainability professionals, as both the university and the town of Boulder itself are hubs for sustainabiltiy research, practice and innovation. I conducted a number of interviews with sustainability professionals, and attended sustainability and social impact conferences. Data collection in this context has informed my research with a wide range of experiences relating to the emotional dimension of working in sustainability, including stress, emotional regulation and strategies for success in the role. Drawing these insights into my research will maximise outcomes for improving the emotional resilience, performance and retention of sustainability change agents to progress sustainability in Australia.

When in Rome!: pedal power is the preferred means of transport in Boulder, CO, USA

When in Rome!: pedal power is the preferred means of transport in Boulder, Colorado (image courtesy of Jess Blomfield, pictured above)

There was also lots to learn about and experience beyond the research tasks.

I was very fortunate to be able to take a research methods course with Professor Russell Cropanzano and gain insights into the culture of academia in the U.S. The local mountain landscape also had many outdoor activities and adventures to offer, including hiking and skiing. It was a wonderful opportunity, and thanks to my supervisors Professor Peter Jordan and Associate Professor Ashlea Troth, as well as WOW, for supporting me to undertake this great experience.

If you are interested to find out more about the Endeavour Scholarships and Fellowships, collaboration opportunities with the University of Colorado, or see more pictures, please let me know ([email protected]).

(This article was authored by Jess Blomfield).

By Dr Chris Irwin, Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University.

The Royal Australasian College of Physicians wants to see blood alcohol limits for Australian drivers drop from .05% to .02% and then zero.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a good argument for lowering the blood alcohol driving limit in Australia to zero. It sends a very clear message that alcohol and driving just don’t mix — and they don’t. Alcohol influences brain function, behaviour and performance on a range of tasks and there’s certainly good evidence that alcohol can impair a person’s ability to do complex tasks like driving a motor vehicle.

But a zero-tolerance approach is unlikely to curb the behaviour of individuals who choose to drink then drive.

How many road accidents involve alcohol?

Historically, road toll statistics have been used to support a hard line against drink drivers. In the 1990s, about one-third of all fatal traffic accidents on Australian roads were associated with drivers having an illegal blood alcohol concentration (BAC).

Our most recent crash data continue to highlight the dangers of combining alcohol and driving, though the proportion of fatalities linked to alcohol has declined. Alcohol was implicated in around 15% of fatal crashes in New South Wales between 2013-2015 and more than 20% in Queensland between 2014-2015.

The most catastrophic accidents involving alcohol are associated with mid- to high-range drink-driving.

Queensland crash data for 2011 show that 76% of all drink drivers involved in fatal crashes had a BAC between .10% and .24% (between two and almost five times the legal BAC limit). Only 4.4% (two cases) of fatal crashes involved a driver with an alcohol limit below .05%.

Fatal crash data from NSW show that, in 2012, only five out of the 49 drivers (where a BAC was registered) had a level below the legal limit. Of these, three were aged 17-20 years (and were likely to be on their P plates, where zero alcohol legislation already exists).

So most people who die drink-driving (or cause other casualties) are well over the legal BAC limit. Perhaps it’s because these people never cared about the legal driving limit in the first place. Or maybe they only care about themselves, not the safety of other road users.

A zero-tolerance alcohol approach is unlikely to influence this irresponsible behaviour.

The case for and against

Of course, you could argue that a zero-tolerance approach may stop people from ending up over the limit, because they would choose not to drink then drive in the first place.

One of the strongest reasons for a zero drink-driving alcohol limit would be to provide a “no room for error” approach. The effects of alcohol are not uniform across all individuals and it can be difficult to judge your own BAC after having a few drinks. Yet this is what we expect people to do: have one or two drinks and predict if they are below the legal limit before hopping behind the wheel.

Many factors influence a person’s BAC after drinking. The amount of alcohol or type of drink consumed, the person’s age, gender and weight, their drinking history and whether they have eaten are all potential factors. Even when all of these factors are controlled for in research studies, people still often report different ratings of intoxication and impairment at the same BAC level.

A zero-alcohol approach would certainly save the confusion.

But millions of people do the right thing each and every day and a move to zero tolerance would clearly affect all the people who drink responsibly and drive home safely.

Fatigue, lack of sleep, or dehydration also have the potential to affect cognitive skills to similar levels as a person blowing .05%. Fatigue is implicated in around 17% of all fatal vehicle accidents.

But it seems inconceivable to enforce a minimum number of hours of sleep or a certain hydration status before driving (both of which could be objectively determined at the road side) across the entire population.

Instead, we ask people to take responsibility for their own actions and ensure that they aren’t driving tired.

The same goes for alcohol.

 

This article first appeared on The Conversation athttps://theconversation.com/booze-and-driving-dont-mix-but-a-zero-blood-alcohol-limit-isnt-the-answer-57270

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By Rebecca Turner

Selling genotyping solutions for human and agricultural biology research and routine screening is all in a day’s work for Cerissa French.

Based in Berlin, Germany, the Griffith University Bachelor of Biomedical Science graduate now works for Affymetrix, a leader in genomics analysis.

Genotyping is the process of determining differences in the genetic make-up (genotype) of an individual by examining the individual’s DNA sequence and comparing it to another individual’s sequence or a reference sequence.

“I am solely responsible for the sales of a specialist and high throughput genotyping portfolio called Axiom which has both human and agricultural applications.

“Working with distributors in the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe and Russia, I assist the distributors to sell my product by providing them with sales and marketing support including visiting customers and giving seminars, as well as training their teams on the technology and sales arguments.

Understanding the applications

“One of the biggest challenges in my role is understanding all of the different applications in genotyping, especially in the agricultural world which is quite different from where I have traditionally sold before.

“I have to tailor my style to these customers’ expectations scientifically and culturally as different cultures and market conditions make it difficult to have a ‘one size fits all’ approach.

“I try to overcome this by really taking on board the information the distributors can give me about the customers they work with.”

Cerissa finds that travelling as often as she does can prove quite challenging from a physical and mental perspective, however she sees the travel as an adventure.

“I like it when I can try the cuisine of the country or see something that is at least, not the inside of a lab!

“It’s so long ago since I studied at Griffith, but what I really liked about the biomedical science degree was the down-to-earth and approachable nature of the academic staff.

“I found the subjects engaging and at the time we did a lot of laboratory pracs which I think is so important in a science degree.”

Undertaking the Bachelor of Biomedical Science, says Cerissa, set her up with her first job as a research assistant, with the qualification certainly facilitating a fantastic career so far.

“Affymetrix has just been bought out by Thermo Fisher, which is a huge organisation. I’m hopeful there will be some career advancement opportunities.

“My goal is to get back into a leadership position in the next 1-­2 years, or perhaps take a sideways step into a marketing role,” she says.

“Eventually, I will probably come back to Australia where I hope my international experience will enable me to have the pick of a variety of roles.”

byLynne Weathered – Director Griffith University Innocence Project

Many times, people have said to me “Everyone in prison says they are innocent.”The truth is, some are. We now know a little about how wrongful convictions occur — incorrect eyewitness identifications; false confessions; unreliable scientific evidence; misconduct; incentivised testimony; false accusations and more.

There are 337 DNA-based exonerations in the United States to date.[1] These people have between them, spent over 4500 years in prison.[2] In almost 50 per cent of the DNA exonerations in the United States, the real perpetrator has been uncovered through that same DNA testing.[3] And while the wrongfully convicted innocent people were in prison, the real perpetrators went on to commit further violent crimes.

Wrongful conviction is a hidden phenomenon — a thing that cannot be measured. After all, how do you do a test for wrongful conviction? Some wrongfully convicted people will be fortunate enough to have their innocence identified through DNA testing or other newly uncovered and highly probative evidence of innocence. But other individuals will remain wrongfully incarcerated because evidence of their innocence is unavailable, lost or destroyed, or they have simply no opportunity or means to pursue ‘justice’.

University-based innocence projects are one part of a larger group, many of whom are members of the Innocence Network, [4] that investigate claims of wrongful conviction – and where evidence of innocence becomes available through that investigation, attempt to have those wrongful convictions overturned.

There are three essential ingredients to university-based innocence projects: lawyers, academics and students. It is the students who offer the unique resource — a resource that enables the projects to operate as they do. My students between them dedicate well over a thousand hours each semester to investigate the cases allocated to them — all under the watchful supervision of lawyers and academics.

While the task is difficult, the learning experience for students and the proximity to the real impact of the law allows them an opportunity to realise first hand why and how things can go wrong within the criminal justice system, and the importance of their roles — and everybody’s role, within the criminal justice system.

Students also get to see that convictions — and claims of innocence — are not always black and white. In many cases and often in part due to the lack of discovery powers that would enable claims of innocence to be fully investigated, many questions will remain unanswered. Many claims left unresolved.

Reform is needed so that we can better identify and correct wrongful convictions. While innocence organisations offer an essential service, Australia needs a bigger response – such as the Criminal Cases Review Commission in the United Kingdom. Australia may have a good criminal justice system, but we need to be humble enough to recognise that it makes mistakes. It is not infallible. Nobody wins when an innocent person is in prison.

[1] Home Page (2013) Innocence Project <http://www.innocenceproject.org/ > at 9 September 2013.

[2] Factsheet: DNA Exonerations Nationwide (2013) Innocence Project <http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/DNA_Exonerations_Nationwide.php> at 9 September 2013.

[3] Ibid.

[4] See Innocence Network. Membership in the Innocence Network. Retrieved 6 March, 2008, from http://www.innocencenetwork.org/docs/criteria_web.pdf

Griffith’s Institute for Glycomics have made a promising discovery in the treatment and prevention of human parainfluenza virus.

Institute Director Professor Mark von Itzstein and his team have shown that two existing drugs readily available on the market can work together to more effectively treat the virus.

Currently no therapies or vaccines are available to treat or prevent human parainfluenza virus (hPIV), the second most prevalent cause of acute respiratory tract infection in infants in the world.

Professor von Itzstein said his team’s research showed the drug Suramin, an antiparasitic drug used to treat human sleeping sickness, when combined with the anti-influenza virus drug Relenza had a much higher ability to block the infection.

Professor von Itzstein co-discovered Relenza 20 years ago. It was the world’s first anti-flu drug.

“This study offers a potentially exciting avenue for the treatment of parainfluenza infection by using a combining and repurposing approach of well-established approved drugs,” he said.

“Together they complement each other to inhibit parainfluenza growth and may mean it can be prescribed as a lower dosage of each for treatment.

The research is published in Nature journal Scientific Reports, titled ‘A dual drug regimen synergistically block human parainfluenza virus infection’.

Professor von Itzstein said his team discovered the potential of Suramin to be used in parainfluenza treatment during screening tests of a wide range of approved drugs, currently used to treat a variety of other diseases.

The research was undertaken in collaboration with Professor Ralf Altmeyer from the Institute Pasteur Shanghai-Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai and joint PhD student Benjamin Bailly with other Institute for Glycomics researchers Larissa Dirr, Patrice Guillon and Ibrahim El-Deeb.

The Institute collaborates with leading scientists around the world to build a critical mass around multidisciplinary research to control a wide-range of medical conditions such as cancer, diabetes, infectious diseases, inflammation and immune disorders.

The Institute’s unique research expertise makes it the only one of its kind in Australia and only one of a handful in the world.