An artistic and cultural collaboration between Australia and China spanning 15 years will be celebrated by a joint exhibition in South Bank this December.
The Queensland College of Art Griffith University (QCA) and Shandong University of Arts (SUA) will present a collection of 80 artworks, including paintings, prints, water colours and other various media, created by staff and postgraduate students from both institutions.
The exhibition follows the renewal of an agreement signed last weekend at a ceremony attended by a host of esteemed guests.
Professor Ian O’Connor, Vice Chancellor and President of Griffith University, welcomed the international cohortand highlighted the deep understanding and philosophical thinking evident in the works.
“While artistic styles and media choices vary greatly in this show, there is a surprising resonance evident in the scenes of daily life, respect for people and also for the natural world,” he said.
Professor O’Connor and Mr LI Zongwei sign the new agreement at a ceremony on Saturday 15 November
Timing the signing of the official renewal agreement to coincide with the G20 Leader’s Summit was also significant according to Professor O’Connor.
“Each artist here explores a new way of thinking and I believe it is particularly meaningful that this extraordinary work be formalised and celebrated today not half a kilometre from where world leaders are meeting to discuss world problems,” he said.
“We hope they will show creativity similar to that which we see today in developing solutions,” Professor O’Connor said.
Mr LI Zongwei, Chairman of Administration Committee at SUA, joined Professor O’Connor in the official proceedings, speaking of the great honour seen and felt in such a cultural and artistic exchange.
“Both universities have seen tremendous achievements from this partnership and we have forged deep friendships and complementary advantage,” he said.
The exhibition was presented in the Griffith University Art Gallery over the weekend as a special preview event leading up to the show’spublic launch on 9 December.
“It demonstrates our cooperative accomplishments in bridging the teacher / student experience to advocate more than just art and education but peaceful ideologies for greater contribution to our societies.”
The renewal of the partnership agreement will now initiate further exchange opportunities for students in the Bachelor of Design Futures (Honours), Bachelor of Digital Media and the Masters and Doctorate programs.
A long term artistic partnership
According to QCA Director Paul Cleveland, the latest exhibition of 80 works, which will open to the public from Tuesday 9 December, is a true celebration of a long term partnership to encourage cross-cultural artistic interaction.
“Since the first agreement was signed in 2000, we have enjoyed annual reciprocal visits, joint performances and exhibitions, and ongoing exchanges for students and staff,” he explained.
“These experiences have deepened cultural understanding through common interests and built an enduring link between the two institutions.
“With visiting experts and scholars sharing their talents and knowledge with students each year through a mutual teaching relationship, it has offered many emerging artists an insight into the importance of a shared cultural perspective.
“The hundreds of students who have travelled abroad over the past 15 years as part of this initiative have also had the opportunity to expand their artistic horizons internationally with the support of like-minded peers,” he said.
The exhibition will be on displayin the Project and Webb Galleries of the QCA South Bank campus(226 Grey Street) from 9 — 20 December open Tuesdays to Saturdays from 10am to 4pm. It will close over the Christmas/New Year period and will then reopen 6 January running through to 28 February 2015.
The fully-flexible MBA program is among three finalists selected in the Blended Learning category of an event that puts innovation in education on a world stage.
“This prestigious competition highlights the world’s leading innovations in higher education and it is a great honour for the Griffith Business School to be shortlisted,” he said.
“We have thoughtfully developed the MBA program at Griffith to meet the emerging needs and ambitions of the modern student and this nomination reflects the success of that work.”
More than 400 submissions from 43 countries were received for the first Wharton-QS Stars Reimagine Education Awards, an indication of its immediate strong standing on the international landscape.
Reimagine Education aims to share innovative ideas and approaches to teaching by bringing together some of the world’s leading minds in this area.
Griffith University is taking an increasingly innovative approach to how programs are delivered, with emerging student expectations to the forefront. This is demonstrated by a sophisticated new online MBA program rolled out in November.
“Griffith University aims to meet these demands on a domestic and international scale with high quality program initiatives, and the development of the Griffith MBA online program makes it an increasingly attractive degree in this context.”
The three day Reimagine Education event, from December 8-10, will endeavour to explore the full range of ground-breaking innovations being developed in higher education.
Associate Professor Barter will make a 10-minute presentation on the Griffith MBA during his time in Philadelphia.
With the agreement-in-principle announced last week by the USA and China to set much higher emissions-reductions targets, the global debate on carbon management has moved to a new level.
The follow-up discussions with other G20 nations during Brisbane’s summit, drawing in, among others, the already complicit European nations, led to the explicit inclusion of a focus on climate change and carbon-emission reduction responses in the final communiqué from that meeting — one of only four focal points highlighted in that document.
So where does this leave Australia?
As recently as six months ago we could have taken the moral high ground with an, albeit weak, carbon pricing scheme in place — one of only a handful of visionary schemes at the time. Yes, the carbon emission targets espoused then and now by our government, as has now been confirmed by the US/China statements, were far too low but at least we had taken a leadership role globally in showing a way forward.
Instead we had to bear the implicit opprobrium of being the only nation to have consciously taken a backward step in the fight to keep the planet habitable. Not only that, we had achieved this at almost exactly the same time as the series of IPCC 5th Reports demonstrated unequivocally the threats, impacts and necessary responses to our warming planet.
All this leaves Prime Minister Abbott and his cabinet in a tricky position. Mr Hockey has denied any essential connection between economic growth and responses to climate change. While an argument could certainly be mounted that this does not need to be the case, although levels of innovation and outside-the-box initiatives would be required to make it so, the statement seems strangely out-of-whack when we consider coal.
Coal exports
Coal exports account for about 13% of Australia’s total export of goods and services worth. In 2012-13 that was about A$22.5 billion, down from A$36 billion in 2008-2009. In terms of tonnage, actual volumes have been more or less steady at between 140 and 160 million tonnes each year since 2009-2010, even though the dollar value of these tonnages has dropped. One interpretation of these figures (the industry’s own, by the way) is that demand has peaked. Alternative explanations are possible of course and whether this peaking is a temporary phenomenon or not remains to be seen.
Geoscience Australia, the government’s own department, estimates that, in 2013, Australia had about 166,000 million tonnes (combining figures for black and brown coal) in ‘proven’ coal reserves. In order to meet targets for limiting future emissions, almost all known fossil fuel reserves would need to be left in the ground. This will not happen. And it certainly will not happen in Queensland, where recent announcements of new developments in the Galilee Basin, estimated to hold 1.619 billion tonnes of thermal coal, have been supported strongly by the State Government.
One website statement claims ‘In recent years, international demand for thermal coal has been growing steadily’. If this is indeed the case, it has not yet shown up in the Geoscience Australia statistics.
All that notwithstanding, if even half of the emissions targets are adopted globally then demand for coal will inevitably drop. I hasten to add this will not happen tomorrow, perhaps not even over the next decade but, inexorably and inevitably, it will drop within the projected life of many of the mining developments currently being approved. Of course, these developments will, in the short term, create local prosperity and jobs, but at what cost, and for how long?
Investment in alternatives
The other side of the coin in recent times has been the removal of subsidies and high-level support for investment in so-called ‘alternative’ energy sources. These are undoubtedly the industries of the future and, given the same levels of implicit and explicit subsidy given currently to the fossil fuel industries, would rapidly blossom to create at least as many jobs and as much prosperity as the up-coming coal mining projects — without their dark side.
Globally the mechanisms for generating energy without coincident greenhouse gases will vary from location to location. In Australia some combination of solar, wind, geothermal, tidal and even new forms of non-uranium nuclear energy generation all have potential. Innovations in all of these areas (and no doubt others), together with implementation at scale, will readily meet the ambitious targets currently being talked about by China and the USA. These new developments and their implementation will be worth big bucks and the opportunity for Australia to profit in exporting them.
And what is the alternative? The earlier target of restricting global warming to 2°C over pre-industrial levels seems a distant dream. We now hear the 3°C figure as aspirational. A global rise of 3°C will change many things — the distribution of agricultural capabilities, the reliance on myriad ecosystem services, human health, urban living, water resources, biodiversity, decomposition processes and so on. Coupled with locked-in population growth such a rise in temperature will challenge human ingenuity to its very limits. Yet without action on the management of global carbon emissions, even 3° will rapidly become a major challenge.
Beyond that we don’t want to imagine the consequences.
Ignoring climate change is not an option, Professor Jeremy Williams told a Brisbane conference just a month before the G20 Leaders Summit.
The Director of Griffith’s Asia Pacific Centre for Sustainable Enterprise was speaking at an‘Economic Growth, Climate Change and the G20’ event at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.
His words proved prescient as climate change emerged as a key topic in the build-up to and during the weekend’s G20 discussions and deliberations.
The impact and importance of the ‘Economic Growth, Climate Change and the G20’ conference has been considered by fourof the delegates who attended.
Griffith University alumni Elsbeth Fahrner, Christopher Hill, and Brittany Laidlaw joined forced withDr Stefanie Celine Roth, IMEMS Environmental, to produce this key paper on the conference.
President of the People’s Republic of China, His Excellency Mr Xi Jinping has praised Griffith University’s Emeritus Professor Colin Mackerras AO during an address to the Australian Federal Parliament.
President Xi spoke of his travels here and his enduring fondness for Australia.
“This is the fifth time I have set foot on this ancient and dynamic continent of Australia. Since my first visit in 1988, I have visited all five states and two territories of Australia except Tasmania,” President Xi said.
“Everywhere I have been, I have personally experienced the goodwill of the Australian people towards the Chinese people.”
“I am delighted to see that Emeritus Professor Colin Mackerras, of Griffith University, is with us today. In 1964, Professor Mackerras went to China for the first time. Over the past five decades he has visited China over 60 times and has made tireless efforts to present a real China to Australia and the world based on his personal experience of China’s development and progress.
“It is worth mentioning that his son Stephen was the first Australian national born in China since the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949. With his unremitting efforts and devotion, Professor Mackerras has built a bridge of mutual understanding and amity between our people.
“Last September, he was conferred the Friendship Award by the Chinese government. Professor Mackerras, I wish to express deep appreciation to both you and many other Australians for what you have done to enhance the friendship between our two countries.
“As an old Chinese saying goes, the ocean is vast because it admits numerous rivers. It is the steady streams of mutual understanding and friendship between our two peoples that have created the vast ocean of goodwill between China and Australia. I am greatly heartened by the immense support for China-Australia relations in both countries.”
Prime Minster Tony Abbott warmly welcomed the President Xi and Madam Peng.
“With free trade negotiations concluded and with a comprehensive strategic partnership established, this is a historic and memorable day,”Mr Abbott said.
“No Chinese President has ever known more about Australia than President Xi.”
As the curtain falls on the Brisbane G20 Leaders Summit, six Griffith University experts offered their thoughts on the summit’s legacy. Their responses were mixed, covering a shift towards the Asia Pacific, the move on climate change and a significant change in international economic policy-making. They also considered how the summit was run, the Obama factor and how the Australian government came out of it all.
Professor Andrew O’Neil, Head of School of Government and International Relations
What has the Brisbane G20 Summit achieved? “A recommitment to global tax reform and targeting tax avoidance, plusthe message to developing world countries that poverty reduction remains a key mission of the G20.”
How will the Brisbane G20 Summit be remembered? “As a particularly well run and managed meeting with a focused agenda and clear-cut outcomes.”
Professor Tony Makin, Professor of Economics, Griffith Business School
What has the Brisbane G20 Summit achieved? “TheG20 Summithas laudably achieved agreement ona range of economic policy initiativesaimed atraisingworld growthbyaroundtwo per cent overthe next fiveyears.”
How will the Brisbane G20 Summit be remembered? “The Brisbane Action Plan will be remembered asa major sea change ininternational economic policymaking that shifts attentionaway from a fixation on aggregate demand management toward structural reform as a way ofbolstering flagging globalgrowth.”
Professor Fabrizio Carmignani, Professor of Economics, Griffith Business School
What has the Brisbane G20 Summit achieved? “The explicitrecognition that growth has to be inclusive is an important step in the right direction. On the down side, it seems that leaders (and Mr. Abbott in particular) equate inclusiveness with job creation. There is more to inclusiveness than job creation.”
How will the Brisbane G20 Summit be remembered? “I think that the Summit will be remembered for its attempt at (i)pushing leaders to commit to specific actions (i.e. the quantitative target on growth, but also some specific actions on infrastructure development and climate change, and (ii) establishing some sort of monitoring mechanism to see if countries stick to their commitment (i.e. the decision to have IMF-OECD monitoring the implementation of the growthtarget).”
Dr Wesley Widmaier, G20 Studies, Centre for Governance and Public Policy
What has the Brisbane G20 Summit achieved? “A major achievement was reversing the misguided stress on fighting inflation that dominated some recent G20 summits and placing a stress on the ongoing problem of restoring growth and full employment.”
How will the Brisbane G20 Summit be remembered? “The 2014 Brisbane G20 summit – following on the US-China environmental successes at APEC – may be seen as part of a continued shift in the global centre of gravity toward the Asia-Pacific region.”
Professor Jeremy Williams, Director, Asia Pacific Centre for Sustainable Enterprise
What has the Brisbane G20 Summit achieved? “It succeeded in putting climate change firmly on the agenda when the Abbott government made every effort to keep it off. This provides some much needed momentum for a new climate agreement in Paris next December.”
How will the Brisbane G20 Summit be remembered? “For the international statesmanship of President Obama. He stole the show with his landmark speech at the University of Queensland.The young people in attendance worried about climate change will have been greatly inspired by him.”
Professor John Kane, School of Government and International Relations
What has the Brisbane G20 Summit achieved? “The big story was really the Obama-China move on climate change and now Obama’s billions commitment to a global fund, which was embarrassing for the Australian government.”
How will the Brisbane G20 Summit be remembered? “The G20 proved Brisbane and Australia could host a major international forum effectively, if expensively.”
Civil engineering student Lachlan Raso has received the Engineers Australia (EA) Michael Woodhouse Award for his project improving water analysis and treatment processes at two Seqwater dams on the Gold Coast.
The award acknowledges undergraduate achievement in the field of water engineering and was presented at the recent Queensland Water Symposium hosted by the Queensland Water Panel.
Through collaboration between Seqwater and industry partner Griffith University, Lachlan helped create a prediction model and user-friendly graphical interface for predicting levels of manganese in Hinze Dam and Little Nerang Dam.
The project’s aim was twofold: to optimise operational expenditure through reducing the analytical cost of monitoring manganese; and to improve the efficiency of manganese removal and treatment via the opportunity to react to predicted increases in concentrations.
“It was such a great opportunity to work with Seqwater on this project,” Lachlan said. “By applying information received from vertical profile system analysers that take water analysis parameters at different depths, I was able to correlate concentrations of manganese down to six metres and predict what the levels would be a week ahead.
“That information is important because it guides dam operators on the best locations from which to draw water to the Mudgeeraba Water Treatment Plant. This then can reduce the quantities of chlorine and potassium permanganate required for the treatment process.
“There are also other variables to consider. For instance, predicting manganese concentrations is easier in winter because conditions are generally more stable. However, summer brings other factors into play that can affect the reservoirs, including the influence of storms, severe heat and evaporation.”
At Hinze Dam alone, use of the prediction tool has already reduced Seqwater’s manual manganese monitoring program, with ongoing annual savings of around $40,000.
Seqwater CEO Mr Peter Dennis congratulated Lachlan, saying: “This project has delivered a predictive tool which provides water treatment plant operators with a number of days to respond operationally to increased manganese concentrations in source water.
“The ability to predict increases in manganese concentrations is especially important in scenarios where biofiltration is relied upon to remove manganese, as this capacity cannot be increased in a short timeframe.
“Given the significant savings and operational efficiencies achieved through this collaboration to date, Seqwater will expand the research to other sites with a greater range of parameters.”
Lachlan will graduate from the School of Engineering in December, yet as much as his award indicates an affinity for water projects, he is not limiting his options.
“I was always good at maths and physics at high school and that led me to studying engineering at Griffith,” he said. “The building industry appealed to me initially, but there are so many components to civil engineering and so many opportunities to pursue.”
Slow books, post-mortem photography, the Brisbane indie music scene and the Nollywood are just a few of the papers to be presented at the Griffith University Cultural Research Postgraduate Symposium on Monday, November 17.
Hosted by the Griffith Centre for Cultural Research, the conference will showcase Griffith University PhD candidates’ research as well as presenters from other Australian and UK universities.
Convenor Lucy Baker said the conference aimed to highlight the diverse research interests being supported by universities across Australia and worldwide.
“The GCCR Symposium gives early career researchers a chance to present their research in a supportive and knowledgeable environment.
“We have such a broad range of research areas and interests, and the symposium is an excellent venue for researchers to connect with each other.”
Professor of Sociology David Inglis from Exeter University, UK will present the keynote speech on what he describes as “the curious state of sociology today”, providing a unique perspective on the current and potential future directions of sociology internationally.
Professor Inglis’s research interests include the areas of cultural sociology, social theory, historical sociology and globalisation studies. He is a member of the Academy of Social Sciences and founder and editor of the journalCultural Sociology. More information can be found here.
How protecting religious freedom could boost the economy is the unusual but central theme of a three-day conference being hosted by Griffith University in the immediate wake of the G20 Leaders Summit.
The G20 Interfaith Summit ison the Gold Coast until Tuesday, with international dialogue around economic development, religious freedom and social cohesion at its core.
Leading religious commentators from Australia and overseas are attendingthe forum, which is supported by the Queensland Government, and the International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies.
Among the delegates are Dr Brian Grim, a world-respected expert on religious freedom and business. Others include Dr W Cole Durham, managing editor of the Harvard Law Journal, RMIT’s Professor Des Cahill, renowned advocate for multiculturalism and the promotion of respect between religious communities, and the Australian Human Rights Commissioner, Tim Wilson.
Other notable speakers include Dr Rachael Kohn, ABC Radio National, and Dr Ram Cnaan, a world-renowned expert in the study of faith-based social services.
A specially-convened interfaith panel from the United Arab Emirates will consider the extent and impact of religious freedom in the Middle East.
The Director of Griffith’s Centre for Interfaith & Cultural Dialogue, Dr Brian Adams, believes the Interfaith Summit will provide context for many issues raised at the G20 Leaders Summit.
“Religion is often misunderstood or overlooked as a factor around world events but it has a major role to play from medical ethics to cross-border conflicts to macroeconomics,” he said.
“Our aim is to improve the understanding of faith-based perspectives and how they impact on communities, ultimately in relation to macroeconomic, transnational decisions made by world leaders.
“We expect the event to make a productive contribution to economic debate in the immediate wake of the G20 summit.”
The number of Chinese tourists heading overseas for holidays is booming but Australia needs to ensure it doesn’t lose its competitive edge against other destinations.
This was the note of caution delivered yesterday at the G20 First East-West Dialogue on Tourism and the Chinese Dream.
Hosted by Griffith University’s Institute for Tourism (GIFT) and the Griffith Tourism Confucius Institute, the conference is focussing on topics relating to China tourism, both broadly and for the Gold Coast.
“Chinese tourism is set to increase and will probably double over the next decade,” said Professor Chris Ryan from the University of Waikato, New Zealand,speaking at the event held 13-15 November at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Surfers Paradise.
Latest data from Tourism Research Australia shows more Chinese tourists are arriving on the Gold Coast than from anywhere else. China is confirmed as the market leader with 187,000 tourists coming to Queensland’s Glitter Strip between July 2013 and June 2014, compared with 185,000 from second-placed New Zealand.
“More and more Chinese visitors are coming to the Gold Coast, which makes our upcoming East-West Dialogue both timely and relevant,” said GIFT’s Professor David Weaver.
A cautious note
On the other hand, Professor Weaver remains cautious about the long-term viability of tourism to Australia.
“We believe in another 10 years, there could well be around 30-40 million outbound tourists per year from China, but that would be to all countries (excluding HK and Macau), not just ours. Australia is going to see increasing competition in attracting tourists and we are going to have to become a lot smarter at marketing ourselves.
“We have to ask ‘why should tourists come here?’ We have certain issues around our service culture and the long distances between major cities and we cannot be complacent about these things. We can’t live forever on just hugging koalas; therefore some of our strategies need to be reconsidered.”
