The winner of Griffith’s 2014 Three Minute Thesis Challenge is Leah Coutts, a PhD student and piano teacher who is researching how to help adults overcome self-criticism when it comes to learning to play the piano.
During the three minute challenge, each contestant must explain the significance of their research in a way which makes it interesting and engaging to a non-specialist audience.
Leah’s presentation was entitled “I should be able to play already!” Silencing adult piano students’ inner critics”
“As a piano teacher, I have always desired to resolve the issue that adult students tend to be extremely hard on themselves and lack the focus and patience to develop good learning and practice strategies,” Leah said.
“My research explores the reasons this occurs and develops teaching and learning strategies to overcome them.”
As the first place winner, the Queensland Conservatorium student has won a thousand dollars and the opportunity to represent Griffith at the Trans-Tasman semi-finals of the Three Minute Thesis Challenge being held in Perth on 3 November, 2014. Should she succeed there it will be straight through to the final.
Runner up, PhD candidate Helen Leung is a student of the Griffith School of Languages and Applied Linguistics. Her presentation, which provided a fascinating insight into Cantonese language, was entitled “”What do Cantonese utterance particles mean?”
The undergraduate award went to Honours student Madison Kelly from Griffith’s School of Medical Science for a presentation on how her research is tackling cervical cancer through the development of a HPV specific molecular targeted therapy.
PhD candidate Jane Remington-Gurney from the School of Human Services and Social Work explained her research into improving strategies to enable people with communication impairments have their voices heard. Her powerful presentation won her the People’s Choice Award.
Dean of the Griffith Graduate Research School, Professor Sue Berners-Price said she is delighted by the growing enthusiasm for this challenge and ever increasing standard of entries.
“This is the fifth year Griffith has staged the Three Minute Thesis Challenge and I’m so pleased to see more and more students taking an interest, as it helps to develop critically important skills for early career researchers,” Professor Berners-Price said.
“Researchers must to be able to explain succinctly what their research is about to people who may not be experts in the same field. This will help them make successful funding applications, as well as allowing the broader community to understand the significance of their work.
“I would like to congratulate all of those who took part in this year’s challenge and I wish Leah all the very best for Perth.”
Gold Coast financial adviser Frank Byrne has been recognised for 20 years’ mentoring of Griffith Business School students as part of the Griffith Industry Mentoring Program.
Frank, who is now 73 years old, was one of the first mentors to join the program when it began in 1994. That was just four years after he graduated from the Griffith Business School himself.
“I just wanted to give back to Griffith in return for all the opportunities I have been given as a result of my studies there,” Frank said.
Frank graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce in 1990 when he was 50. He completed his studies part-time while working at the Department of Primary Industries, where he had been employed as an administration officer for 37 years.
With his new degree a whole world of opportunities opened up.
Frank went on to become a partner with an investment company on the Gold Coast. His areas of expertise include financial planning, strategies for wealth creation, self-managed superannuation funds, Australian and international equities, fixed interests and bonds.
“I’d always been a bit interested in the stock market and so I did some additional study and set up my own firm with two other people,” Frank said.
“One thing you can guarantee is that the stock market is never dull.”
Through the Industry Mentoring Program he has given young people much more than just work experience.
“Being an older person I have lots of experience. I think one of the advantages of the program is that young people can tap into that lifetime of knowledge. It’s all about contacts in the end; all about networking.”
Sometimes he even helps them land a job at the end of their studies.
Frank has remained in contact with quite a few of his mentees across the years. He takes pride in the fact they have valued his guidance so much.
“You tend to become involved in their futures and their lives. One of the students I mentored even invited me and my wife to attend her graduation ceremony along with her parents.”
Frank says sometimes one of the most valuable things mentoring can do for a young person is help them identify the things they don’t want to do.
“It may be that they discover it’s not what they thought it was going to be. That has happened maybe twice in the 20 years I have been involved.”
A major focus of Frank’s professional life has been helping his clients prepare with Retirement Planning and Transition to Retirement Strategies. And now he is making that transition himself. And just like the stock market, Frank’s life is never dull.
He devotes his spare time to singing, volunteering and gardening, and he continues to mentor Griffith students and help other young people reach their academic and professional goals. Through the Wesley Mission he regularly helps refugee high school students at a homework club in the Southport library.
He says it is all about social consciousness.
“We do, after all, live in the lucky country and we should do anything we can do to help people less fortunate than ourselves. That’s what drives me to do this sort of stuff.”
Frank is currently mentoring a Law and Commerce student and they meet regularly in coffee shops.
“I organise for him to get work placements including with my own company, as my two partners are still there, and in other places. I also still take students to workshops and different things.”
Frank urges anyone thinking about taking on a mentoring role to give it a go.
“Most older people don’t realise just how much they know, and it’s not all one way.
“You will learn quite a few things from the students too. They tell you about what they are studying and it is different from what you know.
“And through it all you get to help someone grow and become more self confident. You can’t really measure that can you?”
Whether the G20 can manage infrastructure investment to nurture economic growth was up for discussion at the second of three G20 Business Leaders’ Forums, hosted by Griffith Business School and law firm Minter Ellison.
Three industry experts analysed the case for using infrastructure as a driver of gross domestic product (GDP) and the emergent role of private capital in the infrastructure equation.
In the opening address Dr Doug McTaggart (below), non-executive director at UGL Limited, described a less than optimistic landscape where a projected rise in population figures in Australia and across the world will lead to a greater demand for energy.
He outlined a productivity gap in Australia where the population hike will bring a rise in infrastructure needs. He said freight needs were expected to go up by 50% by 2030.
“Unless we increase productivity through innovation, we are going to be sorely disappointed when the future arrives,” he warned.
“The costs associated with infrastructure have to fall,” he said. “The key with infrastructure investment is not economic growth but the efficiency of productivity.”
Andrew Rentoul, a partner at Minter Ellison, predicted the G20 Summit could be a platform for Treasurer Joe Hockey’s aspirations of linking private sector financing with public projects.
“There is a real potential for the G20 to be a lot more focused on infrastructure investment on this occasion,” he said.
With an eye on an alternative future, Associate Professor Robert Bianchi (below) from Griffith Business School examined past and present perspectives of infrastructure. He offered a glimpse of how infrastructure strategies could be reshaped going forward through a social benefit bond concept and an inverted bid model he is researching.
“The inverted bid model tries to bring the long-term interests of parties together earlier in the project, thereby generating better outcomes for long-term investors,” he said.
The third G20 Business Leaders’ Forum will complete the series on October 30 with the spotlight on countering international tax avoidance.
When Bulgarian firefighter Mr Darek Fidyka ‘s spinal cord was severed in a knife attack, his future seemed destined to be confined to a wheelchair. Medical science, however, had other ideas.
Four years later, 38-year-old Mr Fidyka is walking again and in no small part due to the work conducted at Griffith University’s National Centre for Adult Stem Cell Research within the Eskitis Institute for Drug Discovery.
Medical scientists are hailing the contribution by the Director of the Centre, Professor Alan Mackay-Sim, and his team. Some are even claiming the breakthrough as more impressive than man walking on the moon.
In an operation performed in Poland by Polish and British surgeons, olfactory ensheathing cells from Mr Fidyka’s nose were injected above and below where his spinal cord was severed. Nerves from his ankle were used to bridge the scar tissue.
Leading the surgery was Professor Geoffrey Raisman, from University College London’s Institute of Neurology, who consulted with Professor Mackay-Sim in Brisbane in 2012.
This followed an operation performed by a team led by Professor Mackay-Sim and the Princess Alexandra Hospital’s Dr Tim Geraghty — also an Adjunct Professor with the Griffith Health Institute — in which olfactory cells from a paraplegic Australian man were transplanted into his spinal cord.
While neither the patient nor subsequent others regained movement in their legs, vital information gleaned during those operations fed insight into neural regeneration and has culminated in the revolutionary procedure and positive outcome for Mr Fidyka.
Understandably delighted at the news, Professor Mackay-Sim told The Australian newspaper there was still much to do before the operation became routine. He also noted the irony of his own condition, undergoing stem cell therapy for multiple myeloma.
More than 12,000 Australians are living with spinal cord injury and there is at least one new occurrence every day, but as this latest development indicates, the prospects of regeneration and recovery are much more positive.
Perry Cross and Dr James St John at the Eskitis Institute for Drug Discovery
Gold Coast man Mr Perry Cross was just 19 when he was left a C2 quadriplegic after breaking his neck playing rugby. In the 20 years since, he has dedicated himself to finding a cure for paralysis.
Through his Perry Cross Spinal Research Foundation, scientists at the Eskitis Institute for Drug Discovery are midway through a three-year, $150,000 research project into spinal cord injury.
“It’s been 20 years since I was injured and it was a different world back then, especially when it came to the treatment of paralysis,” says Mr Cross.
“Now, given advances in medical technology, scientific research and understanding, attitudes are changing as the possibility for recovery becomes ever more real.”
Project Leader Dr James St John and his team of researchers are working on processes by which glial cells from the olfactory mucosa — located in the upper region of the nasal cavity — are relocated to the damaged spinal cord. Glial cells are the supporting cells of the nervous system and can help nerve fibres to regenerate.
Researchers are also trialling specialised growth factors that can both reduce the damage that occurs after a spinal cord injury and improve recovery of function.
“Technology and techniques have come so far,” says Dr St John. “We’re using live cell imaging, 3D complex cell assays, in vivo spinal injury models, natural product analysis and many other processes as we seek the key to restoring movement after paralysis.”
Meanwhile, Professor Mackay-Sim told The Australian that Mr Fidyka’s case underlines the importance of Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s proposed $20 billion medical research fund, announced in May and aspects of which are scheduled to begin rolling out early in 2015.
To hear more about the work being done on spinal cord injury at Griffith University, see our Know More In Sixty Seconds video at http://youtu.be/BQAyfnPlKHAand also go tohttp://www.abc.net.au/overnights/stories/s4113552.htm
On Monday 29 September 2014 Prof Sarah Todd, Pro Vice Chancellor (International), Griffith University hosted a delegation from Thammasat University at the Gold Coast campus. The visit saw the signing of a Letter of Intent with Associate Professor Kammal Kumar Pava, Dean of Chulaborn International College of Medicine, Thammasat University. The Letter of Intent focused on the recognition of mutual benefits derived from scholarly interaction and collaborations for postgraduate medical degree curriculum development.
Established in 1934, Thammasat is the second oldest and one of the most well respected universities in Thailand. The University has evolved over time from an open university for law and politics, to a prestigious international university offering alllevels of academic degrees across a broad spectrum of fields and disciplines.
Since its inception more than 300,000 undergraduate and graduate studentshave graduated, greatly contributing to the development and progress ofThai society and national politics.
Thammasat University delegation members, which also included Professor NithiMahanonda, Vice President and Acting Director of Chulabhorn Hospital, were given an in depth tour of the new $150 million purpose built Griffith Health Centre. As one of Australia’s largest Heath faculties, the new Griffith Health Centre houses the schools of medicine, dentistry and oral health, and psychology under the one roof, as well as the delivery of anatomy, social work, and nutrition and dietetics programs.
With state-of-the-art facilities, and an interdisciplinary teaching focus, Griffith Health is well placed to engage with international partners.
Written by Ms Michelle Craig, International Relations Officer
Griffith business graduate Sherifaye Jalloh is now a research analyst with Oliver Hume Corporation after being named the inaugural recipient of the real estate industry leader’s bursary.
The initiative involves a $2500 cash bursary and a six-month paid internship with Oliver Hume for the 21-year-old, who studied a double degree in Business and Commerce, majoring in Accounting and Real Estate and Property Development, before graduating in July.
Through the bursary she is gaining invaluable industry experience and has the opportunity to make connections with property development leaders in a range of fields.
This is precisely the aim of Andrew Perkins, National Head of Research at Oliver Hume, who originally devised the concept and successfully rolled it out in Victoria. Now the project is gaining similar momentum in Queensland after Griffith University linked up with Oliver Hume.
“Through the six-month paid internship, students will gain the kind of experience that will stand to them in the years ahead,” Andrew said.
“I’m confident it will provide a solid and exciting platform for successful and sustainable careers in the real estate industry going forward. I’m aware of how hard it can be for graduates to get into the industry
“The university link means we have highly-educated, industry-aware individuals connecting with our business, which ultimately improves the industry.”
Oliver Hume’s link with Griffith also incorporates $1500 support of an industry study tour undertaken by third year students.
The emphasis Oliver Hume places on client relationships and providing knowledge that leads to real estate solutions was among the factors that excited Sherifaye Jalloh when she applied for the bursary.
“Once she became aware of the bursary and the opportunity it could potentially lead to, Sherifaye started to consider how she would manage it if successful. “I thought if I secured the bursary it would be great to free up six months so I could take full advantage of the opportunity rather than combining it with my studies.
“I investigated the possibilities and found I was able to study two subjects during the summer semesters at the end of 2013 and the start of 2014. It meant I was able to complete my university studies ahead of schedule, which was fantastic.”
Her work as a research graduate analyst has demonstrated to her the value of research within the industry and it is an area she is interested in pursuing as a career. “Research is the foundation on which other industry business is built. I’m happy to know my work in that area can potentially be the cornerstone of further achievements in the future for other people.
“This opportunity has enabled me to apply the various skills I acquired through my studies at Griffith,” she said.
Further information on the Oliver Hume Corporation Bursary is available here.
Researchers at Griffith University’s Institute for Glycomics have moved a step closer to identifying a treatment for the dreaded Human parainfluenza virus (hPIV).
This highly-infectious virus are the leading cause of upper and lower respiratory tract disease in young children, including Croup, responsible for thousands of hospitalisations in the developed world, and hundreds of thousands of deaths each year in developing countries.
Institute Director Professor Mark von Itzstein said his Group’s research findings published in the prestigious journal Nature Communications today (Monday 20 October) provided a new direction towards the discovery of anti-viral drugs against hPIV.
“hPIV gains entry to human respiratory epithelial cells by attaching to carbohydrate receptors. They then enter cells and reproduce rapidly, causing illness,” he said.
“In this study, we used a multi-disciplinary approach to develop potent inhibitors that target a structural feature within the hPIV type 3 haemagglutinin-neuraminidase (hPIV-3 HN).”
“These dual acting designer inhibitors represent the most potent designer compounds and efficiently block both HPIV cell entry and virion progeny release.”
“To date, neither antiviral drugs nor vaccines are approved for clinical use against human parainfluenza virus, which reinforces the urgent need for new therapeutic discovery strategies.
“This discovery will advance research in the design and synthesis of new drugs that may stop infection by hPIV,” said Professor von Itzstein.
The Institute for Glycomics is a world leader in the study of glycans and carbohydrates (sugars) and how they behave in terms of disease prevention and cure.
Funding for the research has been provided by the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Australian Research Council.
Internationally acclaimed Australian artist Gordon Bennett has been posthumously awarded the 2014 Outstanding Arts, Education and Law Alumnus of the Year Award.
Announced at the AEL Awards night on Friday, October 17 Gordon’s award was accepted by his wife Leanne.
One of Australia’s most significant and critically engaged artists, Gordon’s success came quickly after he graduated from the Queensland College of Art with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1988.
He achieved a level of critical recognition rarely achieved by any artist, and will be remembered for the prominent role he played in questioning and exposing Australian racial categorization and stereotypes.
Primary school teacher David Hartley was awarded the 2014 Young Outstanding Alumnus of the Year. Principal at Woodridge North State School, Mr Hartley was recognised for his contribution to numeracy and driving high expectations in socially disadvantaged schools.
He has written a series of books aimed at closing the gap and promoting the importance of reading in indigenous communities.
Held at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, the AEL Alumni Awards recognise the achievements and successes of the Arts, Education and Law graduates.
The event was hosted by Radio National’s Paul Barclay, with performances from final-year Musical Theatre students and Conservatorium graduate and urban country songstress, Taylor Moss.
Outstanding Alumnus of the Year School category winners
Griffith Film School
Matthew Schofield — Supervising Storyboard Director for The Simpsons
Griffith Law School
Glenn Vassallo — GRT Lawyers Managing Director
Queensland Conservatorium
Tim Munro — award-winning flutist and international music mentor
Criminology and Criminal Justice
Heather Nancarrow — CEO, Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety
Education and Professional Studies
Wendy Thomas — Titans Learning Centre Foundation Teacher
Humanities
Dr Mark Copland — Social Justice Commission CEO and board member of Ability Enterprises
Young Outstanding Alumnus of the Year finalists
Griffith Film School
Peter Ireland — Senior Director MTV networks UK
Griffith Law School
Ruth Link — Kuwul Group Founder and CEO
Queensland College of Art
Tony Albert — Award-winning artist
Queensland Conservatorium
Samuel Johnson — Opera singer
Criminology and Criminal Justice
Krystal Lockwood — Criminology researcher
Humanities
Gemima Harvey — Freelance journalist and photographer
Languages and Linguistics
Harry Harding — Guangdong Television TV show host and musician
Find out more about the AEL Alumni Awards at griffith.edu.au/ael/alumni
Griffith University’s Institute for Glycomics has figured prominently in the National Health and Medical Research Council’s latest funding round.
Announced on October 17 by the Prime Minister, The Honourable Tony Abbott MP, and Federal Health Minister, The Honourable Peter Dutton MP, the NHMRC grants were part of a $539.8 million allocation across a broad range of diseases and health conditions.
Griffith University received a total of $11,140,557 in research funding.
Of that allocation, Director of the Institute for Glycomics, Professor Mark von Itzstein, received $1,030,527 carrying through 2015-18 for his project, New insight into glycan requirements for rotavirus-cell attachment and entry.
Dr Lara Herrero
Professor Suresh Mahalingam was awarded $752,388 (2015-18) for his work on Arbovirus activation and modulation of NLRP3 inflammasome, while Professor Michael Good received $516,864 (2015-18) for his project, Developing a vaccine to protect against hypervirulent strains of group A streptococcus.
For her project, Glycotherapeutics: A New Class of Treatment for Alphavirus-Induced Musculoskeletal Disease, Dr Lara Herrero received $435,785 (2015-2017).
Griffith University will lead a nation-wide search for a memorial design to honour all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander military personnel who have served in armed conflict.
Lord Mayor Graham Quirk and Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Multicultural Affairs, Glen Elmes have announced that the memorial is to be erected in Anzac Square.
Mr Vern Hopkins, Vietnam veteran and co-Chair of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Dedicated Memorial Committee, said it was a proud moment to be in Anzac Square to hear the announcement.
“This where we come on Anzac Day and Remembrance Day and to know there will be a memorial here for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander service men and women makes me so proud,” Mr Hopkins said.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander defence personnel have been involved in conflicts since the Boer War of 1899.
Now that the site for the memorial has been established the next step will be to hold a competition for how the memorial should look. Griffith’s Queensland College of Art will play a leading role in running the design competition and in overseeing the development and installation of the monument.
Griffith University Pro Vice Chancellor Professor Paul Mazerolle said it was a privilege and an honour to be involved in the project but it takes a community to make something like this possible.
“This is a community initiative and it will need the support of all Australians,’ Professor Mazerolle said.
“Griffith is well placed to encourage the whole community to get behind it and we can provide the platform for this to take place.”
More information about the memorial and how to donate to the fund can be found here.
Mr Kevin Alcock,President of the Sherwood/Indooroopilly RSLSub-branch and who served in Vietnam and Malaya, said the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Dedicated Memorial was highly appropriate.
“We are only too happy to lend our support as such recognition is long overdue,” Mr Alcock said.
Next year will mark 100 years since Gallipoli, but it is hoped the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Dedicated Memorial will be finished by 2017 to coincide with the 100 year anniversary of the Australian Light Horse Brigade battle atBeersheba.
