Congratulations to all 2014 Queensland College of Art (QCA) graduates including the following students awarded across the 2014 QCA graduate exhibitions at the Queensland College of Art, QCA Gold Coast and the Griffith Film School.

The GAS: Graduate Art Show and The Survey Co. Art Award 2014 was announced at the Griffith University Art Gallery during the QCA Showcase.

MAJOR AWARDS

Andrea Higgins, Claire 2013, digital print on rag paper.

The GAS & The Survey Co Art Award – Winner
Recipient: Andrea Higgins

The GAS & The Survey Co Art Award – Highly commended
Recipient: Corrie Furner

The GAS & The Survey Co Art Award – Highly commended
Recipient: Sancintya Simpson

Tony Albert Encouragement Award
Recipient: Soulla Porfyriou

QCA Showcase 2014 – Winners
Recipients: The creators of the game Mage Rage OSX; Nathan Jensen; Tylah Heil; Tim Horvat

QCA Showcase 2014 – Highly commended
Recipients: Ashleigh Barrett, Michael Rimando, Rosie Gardner, Megan Rowe, Felicity Walsh

 

DIGITAL MEDIA (QCA Gold Coast)

Sebastien McNamara — Best Graphic Design portfolio

“With all the current and emerging graphic designers it is forever important to build a personal brand identity. There should be a visual brand image attached to your personality, individual and design style that communicates and sells yourself to people and future employers.” Sebastien McNamara is a developing multidisciplinary individual that focuses on graphic, web and apparel design with a bright future.

$2,000 ADFAS Scholarship for outstanding performance by a student continuing on to study Honours
Recipient: Monique Montfroy

3 Dimensional Design Academic Achievement Award
Recipient: Shari Lyon

Best 3 Dimensional Design Portfolio
Recipient: Shari Lyon

3 Dimensional Design Student Culture Award
Recipient: Cassie Tapper

Digital Design Academic Achievement Award
Recipient: Tomoko Suzuki

Best Digital Design Portfolio
Recipient: Tomoko Suzuki

Digital Design Student Culture Award
Recipient: Mitchell Hickey

Photo Media Academic Achievement Award
Recipient: James Darlington

Best Photo Media Portfolio
Recipient: Monique Montfroy

Photo Media Student Culture Award
Recipient: James Darlington

Studio Art Academic Achievement Award
Recipient: Melissa Spratt

Best Studio Art Portfolio
Recipient: Christopher McKenzie

Studio Art Student Culture Award
Recipient: Christopher McKenzie

Graphic Design Academic Achievement Award
Recipient: Libbi Reed

Best Graphic Design Portfolio
Recipient: Sebastien McNamara

Graphic Design Student Culture Award
Recipient: Natasha Smith

Typism Encouragement Award
Recipient: Jacinda Baird

Honours Excellence in Research Award
Recipient: James Novak

Best Honours Research Project
Recipient: James Novak

Honours Student Culture Award
Recipient: Junichi Harada

QCA Gold Coast Overall Student Culture Award
Recipient: Jens Granmorken & Soren Hornum

 

DESIGN

Aquaponics Kitchen Bench, Food Security: addressing the issues of food mileage, Callum Burgess, 2013.

After years of designing in his parent’s garage and stealing tools from his father, Callum Burgess decided to turn his childhood passion into a career. Callum’s desire for product design has led to a passion to re-develop the world we live in. He is actively trying to connect and explore different facets of design; this is evident through his activation of internships with local and international businesses.

Liveworm Award for excellence in Design
Recipient: Joshua Kenzie

Design Excellence Award (Visual Communication)
Recipient: Joel Matheson

Design Excellence Award (Product Design)
Recipient: Callum Burgess

Design Excellence Award (Interior Design)
Recipient: Emma Williams

Design Institute of Australia Encouragement Award (Visual Communication)
Recipient: Tamati Currie

Design Institute of Australia Encouragement Award (Product Design)
Recipient: Megan Rowe

Design Institute of Australia Encouragement Award (Interior Design)
Recipient: Ashlee Barker

 

FINE ART

Lucy Tyler – Trevor Lyons Award for commitment and passion in printmaking:
Vernacular, Silkscreen print on paper, 16cm x 20cm each, total dimensions variable, 2014

“Pattern, and the human compulsion to recognise it, has been essential to our survival and our humanity. When life becomes chaotic, a common response is to order things in an attempt to reassert control. In the words of Umberto Eco, ‘We make lists because we are afraid to die’. My work explores the sense of satisfaction obtained through the recognition and creation of patterns. The final work will include a total of 224 images.” — Lucy Tyler

Iain Turnbull Memorial Award presented to the fine art student at QCA judged to have displayed the most outstanding progress and potential for future development in printmaking
Recipient: Tim Mosely

St Andrew’s War Memorial Hospital Award recognising artistic merit
Recipient: Pippin Blackwell

The Trevor Lyons Award: an annual award in memory of Trevor Lyons for presentation to a print media student of the QCA who has displayed commitment and passion in printmaking during their studies and is likely to continue working in this field.
Recipient: Lucy Tyler

Bonnie English Memorial Award presented to the fine art student with the highest academic achievement in 3rd year Art Theory courses
Recipient: Michelle Gunther

QAGOMA Bookstore Book Prize for Best Presentation in Graduate Show
Recipient: Penelope Grills

Painting Faculty Book Prize for best average grade across painting 3 and 4 courses
Recipient: Trevor Tierney

ADFAS Brisbane Young Arts Award 1st Prize – Painting
Recipient: Anya Swan

ADFAS Brisbane Young Arts Award 2nd Prize – Painting
Recipient: Todd Whisson

ADFAS Brisbane Young Arts Award 1st Prize – Print
Recipient: Tess Mehonoshen

ADFAS Brisbane Young Arts Award 2nd Prize – Print
Recipient: Christine Scott

ADFAS Brisbane Young Arts Award 1st Prize – Sculpture
Recipient: Alrey Batol

ADFAS Brisbane Young Arts Award 2nd Prize – Sculpture
Recipient: Aishla Manning

ADFAS Brisbane Young Arts Award 1st Prize – Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art
Recipient: Dianne Hall

ADFAS Brisbane Young Arts Award 2nd Prize – Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art
Recipient: Bridget Broderick

Oxlades Art Essentials Undergraduate Painting Award
Recipient: James Barth

Oxlades Art Essentials Undergraduate Print Media Award
Recipient: Fred Gooch (Kyle Gooch)

Oxlades Art Essentials Undergraduate Sculpture Award
Recipient: Sally Molloy

Oxlades Art Essentials Undergraduate Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art Award
Recipient: Bridget Broderick

Art Shed MAVA Graduation Achievement Award of Accomplishment
Recipient: Maryrose Moxham

 

JEWELLERY AND SMALL OBJECTS

Congratulations to the recipients of 2014 J&SO Graduate Awards. Thank you to the sponsors: Australian Jewellers Supplies, Peter W Beck, Morris and Watson, A&E Metal Merchants, Emmanual and Cox and thank you to our guest judge, Pia Robinson, Public Programs Curator, QUT.

Rachel Mathews-Fredrick – A+E Metal Merchants Outstanding Series of Work award: Two Dreams of Death, Bronze, 5cm x 5.5cm x 17.7cm, 2014

“Within my practice I explore the ability of objects to act as both the subject of a story and as forms for telling. Generated during a process of intuitive making, the forms are symbolically charged and address notions of mortality, existence, and transience. They are records of memory and experience, melancholic works that are metaphysical mythologies given physicality.” — Rachel Matthews-Frederick

Oxlades Art Essentials Undergraduate Jewellery and Small Objects Award
Recipient: Monique Tregenza

ADFAS Brisbane Young Arts Award 1st Prize – Jewellery and Small Objects
Recipient: Rebecca White

ADFAS Brisbane Young Arts Award 2nd Prize – Jewellery and Small Objects
Recipient: Jen Eales

Australian Jewellers Supplies Award
Recipient: Veronica Silva

Australian Jewellers Supplies Award
Recipient: Laura Burstow

Australian Jewellers Supplies Award
Recipient: Tegan Rynne

Pallion Group Award for outstanding individual piece
Recipient: Helen Bird

Peter W Beck Award for outstanding individual piece
Recipient: Angela Fok

A+E Metal Merchants Award for outstanding series of work
Recipient: Rachel Mathews-Fredrick

A+E Metal Merchants Award for outstanding body of work
Recipient:Ari Fuller

Morris and Watson Award for outstanding body of work
Recipient: Monique Tregenza

Aspirational Award for the greatest improvement
Recipient: Sarah Gillow

Emmanual and Cox Award
Recipient: Veronica Silva

 

PHOTOGRAPHY

Joseph Byford — Allchromes Award for Most Creative Folio: Analogue Camera, Digital Image, 22.5 x 22.5, 2014

“There is something melancholic about the obsolete – a physical reference to times that cannot be revisited, despite our constant endeavours to do so. An obsolete object reminds us of our own progress just as much as it does our own mortality. This work is from a series that celebrates the obsolete. I have manipulated the objects, using paint, fabrics and various lighting techniques, to underscore the inevitable demise of these outdated items.” — Joseph Byford

The St Aiden’s Anglican Girls School Award recognising artistic merit from a photography student
Recipient: Cory Wright

St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School Award recognising artistic merit from a photography student
Recipient: Victoria Nikolova

The Sun Studios Award presented to the student whose work best demonstrates, technical excellence and conceptual depth within any of the three photography majors
Recipient: Dominique Mills

Kayell QLD Award for excellence in Creative Advertising in still and moving image
Recipient: Breanna Sheather

AIPP Photography Business Mentoring Award presented to a student with the highest standard of visual and lighting ability
Recipient: Dominique Mills

Anna Smith Prize for innovation and excellence in portraiture
Recipient: Simon Hardy

Allchromes Award for most creative folio
Recipient: Joe Byford

TEDS Camera Stores Photography Award presented to a graduating photography student in recognition of excellence in portraiture
Recipient: Andy Willis

CameraPro Award presented to a graduating photography student in recognition of excellence in an advertising body of work with a strong conceptual framework in still and moving image
Recipient: Adam Green

John McKay Memorial Scholarship presented to the photography student with the highest GPA continuing into Honours.
Recipient: Cory Wright

Street’s Imaging Award for the student with the best overall series from any major, presented to a graduating student going into Honours
Recipient: Victoria Nikolova

DES Beyond Creation Award in recognition of print mastery within a conceptual framework
Recipient: Adam Green

RGB Digital Prolab Award in recognition of excellence in Creative Advertising
Recipient: Alex Coppo

The Queensland Centre for Photography Award for experimentation and innovation within Photographic Art Practice
Recipient: Laura Seeds

Jacky Owens Photography Staff Award presented to a student for significantly adding to the culture of the Photography department
Recipient: Cherie Blyth

APJ Award presented to a continuing or graduating student for the best example of social documentary photography
Recipient: Chelsea Miller

ADFAS Youth Arts Photography Prize – Winner (for artistic merit)
Recipient: Jaala Alex Lee-Emery

ADFAS Youth Arts Photography Prize – Runner-up (for artistic merit)
Recipient: Katelyn-Jane Dunn

Surrounded by journalists in the G20 Media Centre at the height of the leaders’ summit, third-year journalism student Audrey Courty was in her element.

“It was exciting to be working alongside thousands of professional journalists from all over the world,’’ the aspiring foreign correspondent recalled.

Audrey was one of five G20 media-accredited Griffith University journalism students who were able to broadcast live from the International Media Centre mingling with international and local journalists.

“Itwas thrilling to be in the media scrum at press conferences competing for that little bit of audio.

“I feel very lucky to have been selected for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,’’ she said.

Griffith Journalism Media Centre manager Faith Valencia said she was proud of the journalism students’ work during the G20.

“Our newsroom covered many stories ranging from hard news such as security and the political situation, through to more human interest ones such as what locals thought of theevent and even plane spotting.”

As well as the five G20 media-accredited students, another25 Griffith journalism students and five photojournalism students undertook shifts at the Griffith Media Centre at South Bank.

Students produced and published across all facets of a multi-platform news room as part of the project.

“Theyfilmed and edited video news, wrote and produced audio packages for radio, and published print articles gaining valuable experience of what it’s actuallylike working in “modern journalism”.

“Working closely with Industry partners, students had stories and interviews broadcast on 4BC,and stories published in Brisbane Times in the lead up to and including the Summit.”

The student journalists also harnessed the power of social media, tweeting their stories as well as using Facebook and engaging in online conversations,aftertheir stories were published onThe Source News.

Obama visit

Audrey was one of 200 Griffith students who attended US President Obama’s speech.

“Obviously, I was very excited to listen to Obama in person and the atmosphere in the room was electric.

“What really stuck with me though was just how fast the other journalists were working. Some of them were filing three stories in the time it took me to write one!”

Jakarta calling

Already a well-travelled citizen of the world French-born Audrey has lived in Turkey, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Canada and mainland China.

“But nowhere has felt like home until I came to Brisbane,’’ she says.

Audrey will return to Jakarta, where she lived for eight years while completing her schooling, this month to undertake an internship at Tempo Magazine.

“I’m really excited. This will give me an opportunity to flex my investigative journalism skills as the magazine focuses on politics and in-depth features.”

She also hopes to gain more broadcast experience while in Jakarta.

“In Brisbane I’ve interned at SBS in Sydney and Channel 10, as well as the Griffith newsroom, but I’d really love to get a job with SBS or another international news and documentary station when I finish university.”

 

 

As debate swirls at a state and national level on the most cost-effective way to provide a universal health service, award winning Griffith research has found Australians are clearly averse to paying for emergency health care.

The findings were part of a PhD thesis by Mr Paul Harris from Griffith Health’s Population and Social Health Research Program. Mr Harris was presented with a national award for best PhD research paper by Health Services Research Association of Australia and New Zealand (HSRAANZ) at a ceremony in Sydney late last week.

“International evidence shows that more than half of all visits to Emergency Departments (EDs) are classified as non-emergencies, but our research indicates Australians make different choices depending on the situation and generally prefer to access a GP for less urgent problems,” Mr Harris says.

However, nearly all the (over 1800) respondents to Mr Harris’ research demonstrated a consistent aversion to a co-payment to access emergency or primary care alternatives.

“Even paying $1 towards the cost of care resulted in a significant reaction which increased with every minute of waiting. This suggests many people will not support such reforms if introduced in the future and for some it may influence their preparedness to seek medical care.”

It has been well-established in many studies that delaying care can have negative health outcomes for patients and result in more complex and expensive care in the long term.

“Governments looking to reduce healthcare budgets need to be mindful of ingrained public perceptions of quality healthcare and the different scenarios which drive those expectations,” says Mr Harris. “The worst outcome would be people turning away from care when they really need it.”

He also surveyed subjects to find if they’d use other services, like Britain’s new Emergency Care Practitioners, who can treat emergencies in the home but are not doctors.

“No matter the condition, Australians wanted to see a doctor and want quality care and seem quite emphatic about it — and are prepared to wait to see the doctor opposed to being treated sooner by an expert nurse or paramedic,” he said. “People want that reassurance.”

Mr Harris believes extraordinary support is the reason his research has been so well-received.

“The quality of the research is the result of our industry partnerships (including Queensland and South Australian Health policy professionals and clinicians and other researcher partners). Without them we could never have created such relevant work.”

Mr Harris is a registered psychologist and former manager at Queensland Health, he will complete his PhD in January thanks to an APAI scholarship through the Australian Research Council.

 

A 2012 report from The Franchise Council of Australia highlights around 700 000 people to be employed by franchises nationally. Interestingly though, only one third of franchisors employed human resources (HR) or industrial relations (IR) professionals, or provided access to such advice for franchisees; nor did they conduct internal audits into how franchisees executed employment processes in their operations.

A team of WOW researchers, led by Research Fellow, Dr Ashlea Kellner, have considered how the franchise model influences the way people are managed in Australian cafe sector franchises. Conducting interviews between 2009 — 2011, the team (which includes Ashlea’s PhD thesis supervisors, Associate Professor Keith Townsend, and Professors Adrian Wilkinson and David Peetz) undertook case studies with three market-dominant Australian-owned food service franchises to determine the role of franchisor control, compliance monitoring and responses to franchisee misconduct relating to their industrial relations (IR) obligations.

Taking a step back, we asked Ashlea to first explain how the franchisor-franchisee relationship works:

“A franchisor owns and controls a brand while the franchisee owns and operates the (typically small or medium-sized) business. The support that the former provides the latter can vary, but it typically includes a full system for business operations.”

Such an arrangement has its pros and cons, Dr Kellner adds:

“Efficiencies and consistency of the product (such as the eponymous ‘muffins’) arise from greater control and intervention from the franchisor, but result in decreased franchisee autonomy. However, too much autonomy can lead to franchisees misbehaving. This is the case in franchises; agreements that specifically address in detail a franchisee’s responsibility in the area of employment relations are uncommon.”

Could a higher level of compliance to IR come with more franchisor control?

Although many things contribute to how a franchisee operationalises its industrial relations obligations, the view that they work in the best interests of the franchisor, and that both seek to ensure the success of the franchisee’s business, does not always play out. Particularly, where opportunistic behaviour of the latter prevails in their strive for profit, and the former seeks to maximise turnover and preserve the brand:

“…high rates of compliance with IR standards become unlikely in a business model that uses the advantages of control over product and processes of a large organisation, with the low-wage and low-compliance model of small business. Findings from our case studies support this,” says Dr Kellner.

In the three case studies, low levels of franchisor IR involvement was present at the same time as high instances of misconduct — both intentional and unintentional — which were represented by interviewees as the consequence of misinterpretation or oversight of their responsibilities, and/ or a lack of franchisor support in this area.

How was IR compliance monitored and how did the franchisor respond to franchisee misconduct around this issue?

Previous studies report that non-compliance by businesses to IR obligations is generally a purposeful decision prompted usually by intense competition, non-unionisation, under-resourced agencies of enforcement, and the precarious nature of work of those they employ e.g. youth, female.

Franchisors in all three of Ashlea’s case studies reported a clear understanding of what constituted, and were the consequences of, critical breaches (relating to regulation or legislative compliance), compared with the far less serious nature of non-critical breaches (relating to company-specific guidelines or recommendations). Most topically too, because franchisors tend to deflect the responsibility for breaches of industrial relations law onto the franchisee, the underlying threat of terminating the franchisee agreement was seen as a major deterrent in franchisees engaging in negative, opportunistic behaviour.

Did differentiating the risks between preserving the product/ brand reputation and labour compliance explain franchisees’ responses to enacting their IR obligations?

The team found that it was in the best interest of the franchisor to maintain tight control over the areas of product quality and labour conditions because, unlike other small and medium sizes businesses, both parties are accountable to the customer for the product. Whilst franchisees were found to continue focussing their resources on maintaining product quality rather than IR compliance, by disassociating themselves from the legal and moral accountabilities of misbehaving franchisees, franchisors also relied on administering heavy penalties to bring franchisees into IR compliance.

In concluding, Dr Kellner called for more research into the global context under which franchises operate in an effort to better understand IR within in them. And of the three Australian case studies, says Ashlea:

“To franchisors, ‘good IR’ was exhibited by a lack of known indiscretions [about employment matters]. They were more focussed on the muffins [the product] – on the internal regulation of product quality – than on IR.”

 

Under the banner of the ‘Asian Century Futures Initiative’, Griffith University and Peking University have established a Griffith-Peking University Collaborative Research Scheme to facilitate reciprocal research exchanges and joint funding proposals for the purpose of developing collaborative research.

2014 Collaborative Research Scheme Projects

The development of empathy in Chinese and Australian Children

Collaborators: Dr Glenda Andrews, School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University and Professor Yanjie Su, Department of Psychology, Peking University

Responses of soil carbon under different land uses of Australia and China to global warming: biogeochemical mechanisms

Collaborators: Assoc Professor Chengrong Chen and Professor Tony Carroll, School of Environment, Griffith University and Professor Jin-Sheng He, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University

Anti-infectious drug discovery from traditional Chinese medicines

Collaborators: Dr Yun Jiang Feng, Eskitis Institute for Drug Discovery, Griffith University and Assoc Professor Yafen Wu, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Peking University

Tandem nanocatalyst for carbon dioxide hydrogenation

Collaborators: Dr Ziyang Huo, QLD Micro- and Nanotechnology Centre, Griffith University and Professor Yawen Zhang, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University

Enhance and promote the use of waste stabilisation ponds for wastewater treatment in Australia and China

Collaborators: Dr Miao Li, Smart Water Research Centre and Professor Charles Lemckert, Griffith School of Engineering and Smart Water Research Centre and Associate Professor Mingquan Yan, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering and Professor Hansong Zhang, Peking University – Ministry of Water Resources Joint Research Center for Safe Drinking Water in Rural Areas, Peking University

Implementing research evidence into clinical management of Peripheral Intravenours Catheter (PICV) in a Chinese tertiary hospital – a pilot knowledge translation study

Collaborators: Dr Frances Lin, Griffith Health Institute, Griffith University and Professor Shaomei Shang, School of Nursing, Peking University

Managing rapid urbanisation in an age of climate change and increasing environmental concern – lessons from China and Australia

Collaborators: Professor Darryl Low Choy, Urban Research Program, Griffith University and Professor Canfei He, Centre for Urban Development and Land Policy, Peking University

To establish the reliability and validity of the Beijing Performance-Based Functional Ecological Test (BJ-PERFECT) in individuals with Schizophrenia

Collaborators: Professor David Shum, Griffith Health Institute and Professor Raymond Chan, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Science and Professor Xin Yu and Dr Chuan Shi, Institute of Mental Health, Peking University

Sweet approach to Sino-Australian drug discovery

Professor Mark Von Itzstein, Institute for Glycomics, Griffith University and Professor Xin-Shan Ye, State key Laboratory of Natural and Biomimetic Drugs, Peking University

Rule-based systems for Wasterwater Resource Control

Collaborators: Professor Kewen Wang, Institute for Integrated and Intelligent Systems, Griffith University and Professor Kedian Mu, School of Mathematical Science, Peking University

Investigating the potential of sustainable tourism to enhance the bilateral relationship between Australia and China

Collaborators: Professor David Weaver, Dr Ying Wang, Dr Anna Kwek, Griffith Institute for Tourism (GIFT) and Professor and Director Tiger Wu, The Centre for Recreation and Tourism Research, Peking University

Low cost and environmentally benign 3D graphene networks for energy storage devices

Collaborators: Assoc Professor Shanqing Zhang, Griffith School of Environment and Professor Yanglong Hou, College of Engineering, Peking University

Griffith University can officially declare it has the best teachers in Australia. Associate Professor Brydie-Leigh Bartleet from Griffith’s QueenslandConservatorium has been named Australian University Teacher of the Year.

The announcement was made by the Federal Minister for Education, The Honourable Christopher Pyne MP, at an awards ceremony in Canberra.

The Australian University Teacher of the Year award recognises an academic with an exceptional record of advancing student learning, educational leadership and scholarly contribution to teaching and learning. It has a value of $50,000.

And in an extraordinary achievement, Griffith received a further four prestigious Australian Awards for University Teaching.

Vice ChancellorProfessor Ian O’Connorhas warmly congratulated Associate Professor Bartleet and the other Griffith winners.

“These awards are an acknowledgment of the quality teaching and outstanding contributions made to student learning here at Griffith,” Professor O’Connor said.

“I am so very proud that the commitment and dedication of Associate Professor Barleet and her fellow recipients has been recognised on the national stage.”

In addition to the Teacher of the Year Award, Associate Professor Bartleet also received an Award for Teaching Excellence for her work in the development of innovative practices and community engagement initiatives in music learning and teaching. She is a national leader in arts-based service learning with First Peoples and internationally recognised as a catalyst for the creation of learning programs that mobilise and connect students, educators and community partners.

Associate Professor Leonie Rowan, from Griffith’sSchool of Education and Professional Studies, is another recipient of a Teaching Excellence Award. Associate Professor Rowan has made an extensive practice and scholarly contribution to developing our “teachers of the future”. She has been particularly influential in developing transformative strategies to facilitate quality educational outcomes for diverse learners. In 2013, Associate Professor Rowan was awarded the Australian Teacher Education Association: Teacher Educator of the Year.

The Griffith English Language Enhancement Strategy (GELES),implemented by Ms Pamela Humphreys, Dr Ben Fenton-Smith, Dr Ian Walkinshaw, Dr Rowan Michael, Dr Ana Lobo, Mr John Smith and the Student Linx Team, received the Award for Programs and Teams that Enhance Student Learning.

GELES is designed to enhance the academic success of both international and domestic students with English as an Additional Language (EAL) background. Its systematic service delivery across the student life cycle is unique in Australia and a series of state, national and international awards have benchmarked GELES as best practice in its field.

The Griffith University Widening Tertiary Participation Program for Pasifika Communities (Pasifika),implemented by Ms Suzanne Wilkinson (Lead), Ms Glenda Stanley, Mrs Francella Timu, Dr Judith Kearney, Ms Martina Donaghy andAdjunct Associate Professor Barrie O’Connor, was also acknowledged with the Award for Programs and Teams that Enhance Student Learning.

This program supports Pasifika peoples by encouraging aspirations for university study, building the capacity of future and current Griffith University students, and enhancing community engagement with higher education.The program has received recognition at state, national and international levels and has been influential in shaping education policy for Pasifika students.

Academic Provost Professor Adam Shoemaker also thanked the winners for their sustained contribution to outstanding learning and teaching at Griffith: “Added to the six out of six national citations we received mid-year, this is a terrific and well deserved achievement.”

A challenging and inspirational film demonstrating the life-changing power of education will be screened by the Asia Pacific Centre for Sustainable Enterprise at Griffith University’s South Bank campus on Friday (December 12).

‘Girl Rising’ spotlights the lives of nine girls growing up in different parts of the developing world, from Nepal to Haiti, from Cambodia to Afghanistan, and tells their individual stories through the voices of renowned actors like Meryl Streep, Liam Neeson and Cate Blanchett.

The documentary-film presents the harsh realities encountered by girls around the world, and the positive impact that education has on their future lives.

The ‘Girl Rising’ event at Griffith Film School brings the curtain down on a year of intense outreach activity at APCSE, which is part of the Griffith Business School.

“Our events aim to support and promote new and innovative business models and in this case we are focusing on school as sustainable enterprise,” APCSE Director, Professor Jeremy Williams, said.

“For this screening we are working with Melbourne-based enterprise One Girl.”

Anyone interested in seeing the film can log on to Asia Pacific Centre for Sustainable Enterprise website for more information and details about how buy tickets, which cost $20. Proceeds go to One Girl.

The screening starts at 6pm at the Griffith Film School at Dock Street, South Brisbane.

Meryl Streep said the movie delivers tangible hope that ‘the world can be healed and helped to a better future’.

Tickets are also available through Eventbrite.

Forty-plus degree temperatures could not keep delegates–including Centre members Kate Shacklock, Georgina Murray, Elliroma Gardiner, and Higher Degrees Research (HDR) students Jessica Blomfield (pictured right), Mahan Poorhosseinzadeh and Vishal Rana–away from the G20 International Dialogue on Women in Leadership held at South Bank, Brisbane on the 16-17 November, 2014. With welcomes from Professor Ian O’Connor, Vice Chancellor Griffith University, and The Hon. Dame Quentin Bryce AD CVO, delegates were encouraged to focus conversations on action and progress. The inclusion of a target in the G20 communiqué to reduce the gender gap in the workforce by 25% by 2025 (which will bring 100 million women into the workforce) was a hot topic for all speakers in the opening sessions.

Griffith University Chancellor The Honourable Leneen Forde AC.

Griffith University Chancellor The Honourable Leneen Forde AC.

Griffith University’s own Chancellor, the Hon. Leneen Forde AC (pictured left), told interesting tales of her younger years as a lawyer, receiving much less pay than male counterparts doing exactly the same job!In a sign of dramatic changes having since occurred in pay equality, the audience drew breath in disbelief! Winnie Byanyima(Chief Executive, Oxfam International) was a highlight from the first evening. She argued that women’s participation in work is a human rights issue, not an economic one, but commented that if making it an economic issue is what was needed to get it on the global agenda – then ok! There was a heated debate around quotas for women in leadership roles as Michaelia Cash (Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women) outlined the Liberal National Party’s (LNP) position on quotas in parliament. She claims that women should be elected based on merit, not gender. The opposing argument (which the crowd seemed most in favour of) was that quotas create the opportunity for women to be elected based on merit, made memorable by one delegate commenting “if you don’t have a seat at the table, you are probably on the menu”!

Day two saw seven panels and three keynote speakers. The panel on ‘Women in politics and government: alliances, strategies and power’ was particularly excellent. Professor Anne-Marie Slaughter (President and CEO, The New America Foundation) and Professor Jane Halton PSM (Secretary, Department of Finance, Australian Government and the highest ranked woman in the public service), advocated for flexible working conditions and mentoring. Professor Slaughter sparked many Tweets (#IDWL14) when she declared that men who take the role of primary caregivers are breaking boundaries in gender equality along with women in leadership roles.

A key theme to emerge from all discussions was the need to shift social norms around gender, with many speakers affirming that women’s participation in leadership roles creates a symbol for broader social norms and change. Delegates were also urged to remember the varying contexts and conversations of gender equality across cultures and development. The final session closed on a positive note, with agreement that while much has been achieved for women in leadership and in the workforce, there is still much more to be done.

WOW members’ and affiliated HDR students’ attendance at the Dialogue was sponsored by Griffith University and the Centre for Work, Organisation and Wellbeing (WOW).

Story by: WOW and Department of Employment Relations and Human Resources HDR student, Jessica Blomfield, and WOW member, Associate Professor Kate Shacklock.

 

For the sixth year in a row, students from the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University have made the incredible 2,484km journey to Tennant Creek in remote central Australia

The Winanjjikari Service Learning Program, run in collaboration with Barkly Regional Arts, is an immersive project bringing together students and Indigenous musicians for a cross-cultural learning and performing experience.

The initiative was established in 2009 and then expanded on a national scale in 2012, following the awarding of an Office for Learning & Teaching grant to Associate ProfessorBrydie-Leigh Bartleet.

Intercultural friendship

According to Associate Professor Bartleet, the annual trip allows students to experience first-hand the “richness of Indigenous cultures”.

“The project develops intercultural understanding, deepens students’ appreciation of Indigenous culture and also supports Indigenous communities through arts activities that directly benefit them,” she says.

“Each year the students are able to collaborate with the local musicians and ultimately develop wonderful relationships with each of the artists they work with.”

A digital story showcase has since been created to present student experiences from the latest trip, which Associate Professor Bartleet describes as being embedded with “some wonderful insights about music, culture and life”.

Queensland Conservatorium students and local Indigenous musicians in Tennant Creek.

Queensland Conservatorium students and local Indigenous musicians in Tennant Creek.

Success from thelatest trip

“Our sixth year was bigger and better than ever!” she says.

“Students performed under the stars at a special jam night as part of the Desert Harmony Festival to an audience of over 600 people, including both locals and others via online streaming, as well as taking part in BAMFest.

“They also worked on sound recording projects, mixing, camerawork for live broadcasts, lighting and stage set-ups, workshops in the local schools, painted backdrops, catalogued paintings and artworks, attended cross-cultural classes and acted as roadies.

“As always, there were tremendous lessons in music, culture, festival work, and life in remote Australia and our students certainly did us proud this year.”

This year’s students included Caleb Colledge (classical percussion), Madi Morris (jazz guitar), Mikayla Birthisel (popular music), Ben Lamberton (music technology) and Anders Pize Teo (music technology).

Influencing national curriculum

Associate Professor Bartleet explains that the original intention of the national project was to incorporate Indigenous arts into Australian universities and colleges.

“While some educators have brought Indigenous artists into creative arts classrooms, the inclusion of Indigenous content is often tokenistic and abstract,” she says.

“This arts-based service learning project aims to demonstrate how collaborative partnerships between students and Indigenous communities can create Indigenous curriculum content in a culturally appropriate way.

“Tennant Creek and the Barkley region are rich in Indigenous cultural life with about 70 per cent of the populations Indigenous, so made for an ideal location.”

Partner Barkly Regional Arts provides an interface between Indigenous and on-indigenous cultures, providing 50 annual programs and projects to more than 800 artists across the region.

Winanjjikari Music Centre, run by Barkly Regional Arts, is a music production house and training centre for Indigenous musicians and music production technicians in Tennant Creek.

Tertiary partners include Curtin University and the University of Western Sydney.

To learn more about the research that informs this work, click here

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The clarion call for feminists — male and female — from the G20 summit and the subsequent International Dialogue on Women in Leadership was the triumphant 25% for 2025. That is, we will get women to be 25 % of the paid workforce by the year 2025. We are not saying how we will do it, but we will do it.

And why not?

Isn’t it emancipatory to get women into the paid workforce away from the drudgery of the kitchen, unpaid child-care and the penury of unpaid domestic labour?

Maybe-maybe not.

Maybe the reality of having a tough domestic situation would be made twice as tough, overlaid by a challenging paid work situation where you have to work anti-social long hours or undertake anti-social work — a brothel, for example, is one of the few relatively well paid jobs for working women.

This is the current deal:

Why don’t we go back to giving men and women real choices?

Solutions

First we do not blame the victims, as in Julie Bishop’s words –

“Women can also hinder themselves by their own attitudes. Senior women should not be waiting around for the right male mentor to come along, but they do need support to network and create their own opportunities.” Or “[s]ometimes perception is part of the problem. Women need to put themselves in the centre of the picture, or the business problem.”

Or have an Abbott paid parent maternity leave scheme that gives to the rich disproportionately.

But look instead to structural solutions such as –

Having a single non-means tested lump-sum payment per child. This would give mothers or fathers a real chance to stay at home with the child or get high quality child care. This could be assisted by having a single family unit based tax as currently allowed in other OECD countries.

How do we pay for all of this I can hear the Neo-liberals cry: through a Robin Hood tax or the Financial Transaction Tax (FTT), or as referred to in this case, to the European Commission’s proposal for a tax of 0.1% on the transfer of shares, bonds and other financial instruments, and 0.01% on derivatives.

Making real well funded choices for women and men with excellent child care means that women would really have a choice not be driven by necessity as they currently are into a workforce that continues to exploit their labour and stress their home lives.

(This opinion piece is by G20 International Dialogue on Women in Leadership delegate and Centre for Work, Organisation and Wellbeing member, Associate Professor Georgina Murray).