Public Relations and Corporate Communications Manager
John Kauter
(02) 6773 2779
Public Relations Specialist/Journalist
Jim Scanlan
(02) 6773 3049
Corporate Communications Officer
Leon Braun
(02) 6773 3771
Photographer
David Elkins
(02) 6773 3770
Events Coordinators
Kerry De Jong
(02) 6773 3955
and
Tracey James
(02) 6773 2768
Administrative Assistant
Kathleen Harper
(02) 6773 2736
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October 2005
August 2005Launch of national festival for senior singers
September 30, 2005
A national celebration of older people’s involvement in music will be launched today. The launch will announce the inaugural Australian National Seniors’ Choral Festival, to be held in July 2006.
Dr Terrence Hays from The University of New England, the Artistic Director of the festival, said it would celebrate older people’s engagement with music and “give them a chance to interact while indulging their musical passion”. The festival is a joint project of UNE and the University of Newcastle.
The festival next July, and today's launch, will be at Newcastle Conservatorium of Music. Taking part in the launch will be Dr Hays himself, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Newcastle, Professor Nick Saunders, the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Education, Health and Professional Studies at UNE, Professor Victor Minichiello, and the Head of Newcastle Conservatorium School of Music and Drama, Carmel Lutton OAM. The launch will be at 12.30 pm.
Dr Hays (pictured here), an authority on the health benefits of music, particularly for older people, has received a 2005-2006 Churchill Fellowship enabling him to organise the festival, and to travel overseas to study related movements and events. He will visit the UK, Ireland and the United States in February and March next year. “We have an increasingly ageing population, but an ageing population that is very active,” Dr Hays said. “Therefore this festival will be about engagement with music rather than passive appreciation.”
Anyone over 60 years old who can read music is eligible to participate in the four-day festival (5-8 July). The repertoire will be a variety of music ranging from classic anthems and choruses to spirituals. The festival’s patron is the leading Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe, and Dr Sculthorpe is composing a work to receive its premiere performance during the public concert that will bring the festival to a close. More information and a registration form are available at: www.une.edu.au/anscf.
Dr Hays pointed out that the festival would give participants the opportunity to work with two distinguished choral conductors: Heather Buchanan (Director of Choral Activities at Montclair State University, New Jersey, USA), and Christopher Allan (Lecturer in Voice and Academic Studies in the University of Newcastle’s School of Music).
“In my research I’ve looked at the meaning, function, and importance of music in the lives of older people,” Dr Hays said. “This made me realise the need for activities that would engage older people in music at a fairly high level, and that would provide opportunities for those who have a passion for music to connect and share their enthusiasm.”
Media contact: Dr Terrence Hays, School of Education, UNE, on 0410 562 452, or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE, on (02) 6773 3049.
The photograph of Dr Hays displayed here is at:
http://photodatabase.une.edu.au/albums/incoming/2005/press/Dr%20Terrence%20HAYS%20%20%20%20%20.jpg
Posted by Jim Scanlan at 09:42 AM
UNE athlete shows true grit
September 29, 2005
UNE student Katie Calder says she is on track to qualify for the Australian 2006 Winter Olympics team, despite a training accident six weeks ago that landed her in intensive care with head injuries and a dislocated shoulder.
The 25-year-old cross-country skier was training in Switzerland with the Swiss national ski team when she crashed her mountain bike into a tree.
“I hit my head pretty hard, so I can’t remember [the accident],” Katie said, “but apparently I rode 12 km back to hospital using only one arm. And I was in a great mood, cracking jokes, etcetera.”
“I was in intensive care for a few days because of the concussion. I also managed to dislocate my right shoulder and tore a few muscles in my right hip.”
The accident left her unable to raise her right arm above her head – a condition doctors have told her may be permanent. Luckily this does not appear to be interfering with her pole motion, and despite arms that are still “pretty weak” Katie managed to pull off a gold medal at the Australian University Games, just two days after she recovered the use of her arms.
It has been a long, hard road for Katie, who has battled not only injury, but also illness in her quest to reach the top of her sport. She spends at least 22 hours per week doing cardiovascular, speed, strength, mental preparation and technique training. Her current training regime in Switzerland calls for daily running and roller-skiing (skiing on a road or bare dirt wearing skates resembling elongated Rollerblades).
“I was also doing a lot of bike riding, but I won't be getting back on a bike this year,” Katie said.
Earlier this year Katie was selected for the Australian Winter Olympics shadow team (the pool of athletes from which the final team will be selected) after claiming bronze in the 5km classic and the 10km freestyle mass start events at the Swiss Cup in Campra - the best results ever by a female Australian distance skier. She is determined to qualify for the final team, even though her recent accident left her unable to compete in this year's Australian Cross-Country Skiing Championships, where she has dominated the women's events for the past few years.
Katie has deferred her study this semester to concentrate on her Olympic preparation (she is due to complete a Bachelor of Commerce at the end of next year) and balancing study and training has not always been easy.
“When exam time comes around, all hell breaks loose,” Katie said. “My study schedule can be very inconsistent; there may be some weeks I can't study at all - especially if an event's coming up - and then I'll have to cram to make up for that.”
For Katie, who lives in the ACT so she can train year-round, UNE's distance education option has been a godsend. Without it she said study would not have been be an option.
She has been further assisted by Sport UNE's Clem Jones Sports Scholarship, worth $3000, which has helped offset her study and competition expenses.
“The scholarship makes a massive difference,” she said. “Without it study would be the first thing to go. In Europe not many athletes can do both [study and train], but I think it's important to set myself up for a future beyond sport.”
For more information contact Leon Braun (UNE Public Relations) on (02) 6773 3771.
Photograph by Studio Vogue Photography.
Posted by Leon Braun at 10:30 AM
$20,000 private donation for Aboriginal scholarship
September 28, 2005
The University of New England has received a $20,000 private donation to pay for one young Aboriginal scholar to study natural resources at UNE.
Dr Bruce Standen of Pymble, NSW presented the cheque for $20,000 to Anne Roczniok, director of UNE's Development Office, at Booroongen Djugen Aboriginal College in Kempsey last week.
The scholarship will be known as the Booroongen Djugen Scholarship in honour of the college, whose work Dr Standen said inspired him to make the donation.
Dr Standen is a former managing director of the Australian Meat and Livestock Corporation and the current chair of the UNE Foundation, a charitable body that raises, invests and distributes funds to provide ongoing support for initiatives, scholarships and research at UNE.
Dr Standen told a gathering of about 70 people he had decided to donate the money to UNE after working with the Booroongen Djugen Aboriginal Corporation to develop a business plan for an Aboriginal natural resources consultancy to service landowners in the Northern Rivers area. He said while government agencies and private corporations were keen to tap into Aboriginal knowledge about land use and native plants and animals, “it quickly became apparent that the Aboriginal community was not yet organized well enough to provide those services”.
“It occurred to me that one way I could make a contribution would be to provide a scholarship for a Koori person from New South Wales to undertake study in natural resources at UNE,” he said. “The more an indigenous person could understand the academic and government agency approaches, the more it would enable the achievement of what we had been talking about in terms of a natural resources consulting facility.”
Dr Standen said the need for more Aboriginal people to undertake formal study in natural resources as well as personal experience had motivated him to make the donation. He said as a young man living on the North Coast he had received a “leg up” from the government to attend university and it was “time to return the favour”. He said he hoped his donation would close the gap between a young Aboriginal person's desire to go to university and their capacity to do so.
Dr Standen completed a Bachelor of Agricultural Economics at UNE in 1965 and went on to study at the London School of Economics.
Ms Roczniok said she was very happy to accept the donation on behalf of the university.
“I look forward to working with the Aboriginal community to choose a student to take up this scholarship, and assisting them to bridge the gap between the academic perspective on natural resource management and traditional aboriginal knowledge and wisdom.”
For more information contact Leon Braun (UNE Public Relations) on (02) 6773 3771. A photograph is available to accompany this story.
Posted by Leon Braun at 09:58 AM
Small business conference ‘significant for region’
September 27, 2005
A conference at The University of New England on small business development is a significant event for the New England region as a whole, according to an international authority speaking at the conference.
Professor David Audretsch, Director of the Institute for Development Strategies at Indiana University in the United States, said the conference would “help to make clear the links between entrepreneurs and the University in the development of the region”.
“Entrepreneurship is the mechanism by which regional investments and new knowledge (in the form of university research and education) generate a return to the public in the form of high-quality, sustainable job growth,” he explained. “Universities such as UNE, working together with private enterprise, are thus crucial players in regional development through the transfer of technology and the commercialisation of knowledge.”
Professor Audretsch was the first keynote speaker at the 18th Annual Conference of the Small Enterprise Association of Australia and New Zealand (SEAANZ). The conference, from the 26th to the 28th of September, has attracted more than 100 delegates from throughout Australia, and from New Zealand, Malaysia, the UK and the United States. The theme of the conference is the role of small and medium sized enterprises in rural, regional and urban development.
“Small business and entrepreneurship have become the engine of growth in job generation and international competition,” Professor Audretsch told the conference. “Through them, new ideas that would otherwise not become commercialised are injected into the marketplace. This explains why policy everywhere (local, regional and national) now has a major focus on creating entrepreneurial economies.”
In officially opening the conference, the Vice-Chancellor of UNE, Professor Ingrid Moses, emphasised the vital role of small business in rural and regional Australia. Professor Moses congratulated the convener of the conference, UNE’s Professor Patrick Hutchinson, on the conference itself and on the “Travelling Experts Seminar” that will follow it on the afternoon of Wednesday 28 September. Sponsored by the NSW Department of State and Regional Development, the seminar will consist of short presentations by the keynote speakers from the conference followed by a panel discussion open to the audience at the Armidale campus and, via videoconference, to audiences at the UNE Tamworth Centre and UNE Access Centres in Boggabilla, Coonabarabran, Gunnedah, Inverell, Moree, Narrabri, Quirindi and Tenterfield. Professor Moses said the seminar was “a wonderful idea for sharing expertise”. (The photograph displayed here shows Professor Audretsch, at left, and Professor Hutchinson at the conference.)
The Armidale Dumaresq Mayor, Councillor Peter Ducat, in welcoming the conference delegates to Armidale, spoke about his own interest, as a businessman, in the conference, and the interest of the council as a whole in facilitating the establishment of new businesses.
The President of SEAANZ, Michael Schaper, said that, although the organisation’s annual conference was being held in Armidale for the first time, UNE had been “pivotal to its foundation” in 1987. Mr Schaper pointed out that the former UNE Professor, Geoff Meredith, who had been the driving force behind its foundation, was in the audience as a delegate to this year’s conference.
Media contact: Professor Patrick Hutchinson, New England Business School, UNE (02) 6773 3902 or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE (02) 6773 3049.
Posted by Jim Scanlan at 11:34 AM
Justice Mason opens new courtroom for UNE's student lawyers
September 26, 2005
The President of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of NSW, the Honourable Justice Keith Mason, A.C., officially opened the State's newest "moot" courtroom last Friday [23 September].
The courtroom, at The University of New England, is specially designed to allow UNE law students to "moot" (i.e., engage in hearings of hypothetical court cases).
Justice Mason (pictured here during the opening ceremony) said the new Moot Court was as good as anything of its kind he had seen. "It's a tribute to the people who planned it," he said.
The Moot Court is designed along traditional lines, with up to three judges able to preside over cases presented by opposing teams of student lawyers. The courtroom has all the usual features, including an impressive elevated bench for the judges, and accommodation for legal representatives, court reporters, jury, and witnesses. The courtroom can be used, whenever required, for actual court proceedings and arbitration cases.
"Mooting is a wonderful way of learning the law because it brings it alive," Justice Mason said. "The law has been forged in the heat of individual cases; through mooting, students get to see how the law evolves."
Watched by the guests at the opening ceremony (including Armidale magistrate His Honour Michael Holmes, and Armidale Dumaresq Mayor Councillor Peter Ducat) Justice Mason unveiled a plaque, naming the courtroom the "Sir Frank Kitto Moot Court". Sir Frank Kitto, who died in Armidale in 1994, was a Justice of the High Court of Australia (1950-1970), Chancellor of The University of New England (1970-1981), and the inaugural Chairman of the Australian Press Council (1976-1982). Justice Mason reviewed some of Sir Frank Kitto's outstanding qualities as a judge, including his distinguished prose style, his "rigorous application of logic from established principles", and his "capacity to detect a fallacy at a hundred paces".
Professor Stephen Colbran, Head of the School of Law at UNE, outlined what he called the "illustrious history" of mooting, tracing it back to the practice of rhetoric in classical Greece, through the "after-dinner entertainment" in London's medieval Inns of Court, to its modern role in the Anglo-American tradition of legal education. Justice Mason urged students using the Moot Court to be aware of "what a long tradition you are participating in".
Professor Colbran pointed out that the Sir Frank Kitto Moot Court was equipped with the latest audio-visual and communications technology (including wireless access to the Internet for laptop computers). "Mooters' performances can be recorded and replayed for learning purposes," he said. "And during court proceedings, the technology allows documents to be displayed and manipulated for the examination of evidence."
"The Moot Court will familiarise our students with technological advances in courtrooms," Professor Colbran said, "and will allow them to improve their advocacy skills in a modern court setting."
The Executive Dean of UNE's Faculty of Economics, Business and Law, Professor Roley Piggott, thanked all those involved in the project, including Mr Michael Quinlan, Director of Facilities Management Services (FMS) at UNE and his FMS colleagues, the builders (Alec Finlayson Pty Ltd) who converted a former lecture theatre into an attractive, comfortable and technologically advanced facility, and Mr Bryan Pape, Senior Lecturer in Law at UNE, for his "advice and unswerving enthusiasm".
Media contact: Professor Stephen Colbran, School of Law, UNE (02) 6773 2910 or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE (02) 6773 3049.
The photograph displayed here is available at:
http://photodatabase.une.edu.au/albums/incoming/2005/Events/Moot%20Court%20Opening/Moot%20Court%20Opening%2053.JPG
Posted by Jim Scanlan at 03:15 PM
Rail heritage conference a forum for regional development
September 23, 2005
Next week’s National Railway Heritage Conference will give members of local government councils and regional communities the opportunity to discuss a vital aspect of regional development with key decision makers.
The convener of the three-day conference, Dr Andrew Piper, said it would include a forum titled “How can railways be a vital part of regional economic and social development?” He said that panellists for the forum would include Senator Kerry O’Brien (the Federal Opposition’s spokesman on transport) and Brian Nye (Chief Executive Officer of the Australasian Railway Association), as well as a senior representative of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union.
Dr Piper, from The University of New England’s Heritage Futures Research Centre, said: “The forum will be a chance for local government representatives, business people and others to take part in an open discussion, on neutral ground, about vital issues such as the proposed inland rail route from Melbourne to Brisbane. These people will be able to hear, first-hand, what decision-makers are thinking.”
The National Railway Heritage Conference will be held at Tamworth, NSW, from 28 to 30 September. (The venue is the Tamworth Regional Entertainment Centre, and the Web site for the conference, which includes program details, is at: http://www.une.edu.au/campus/confco/nrhc2005/.)
The forum is scheduled for 10.20 am on Thursday 29 September. Earlier that morning, Senator O’Brien, Mr Nye, and a member of the senior executive of the Australian Rail and Track Corporation will each give a talk, providing insights relevant to the forum discussion. Dr Piper pointed out that the final decisions on an inland rail route, whatever they were, “would have a major impact on the Tamworth region, and indeed the whole of New England and north-west NSW”. “We’re hoping that the forum will contribute to very positive outcomes,” he said.
Dr Piper said that the conference – the first of its kind in Australia – was happening at a time when rising fuel prices could be a significant factor in government decisions on the future of freight and public transport. “If fuel prices stay at current levels, or go even higher, rail will increasingly be seen as a cost-effective means of transport – in the regions as well as in the cities,” he said.
One focus of the national conference is the role of railways, including aspects of their heritage, in tourism. The conference’s patron is the former Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer (pictured here), who will officially open proceedings on Wednesday 28 September. In his keynote address Mr Fischer, who is the Chair of Tourism Australia, will report on how that organisation proposes to attract more American tourists to Australia by replicating the Australian rail journeys undertaken by Mark Twain in the nineteenth century.
Another forum on the conference program, on the Wednesday afternoon (28 September), will deal with issues of rail heritage. Panellists will include Colin Divall, Professor of Railway Studies at the University of York in the UK, and David Morgan, President of the European Federation of Museums and Tourist Railways, and Chairman of the Heritage Rail Association of Britain and Ireland.
“The conference will emphasise the importance of the social history of rail,” Dr Piper said. “It will put people back in the story of rail, and explore the extensive contribution that rail has made (and continues to make) to Australian culture.”
For registration or general inquiries phone the UNE Conference company on (02) 6773 2154 or e-mail: confco@une.edu.au.
Media contact: Dr Andrew Piper, Heritage Futures Research Centre, UNE (02) 6773 2764, Dr Robert Haworth, School of Human and Environmental Studies, UNE (02) 6773 2006, or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE (02) 6773 3049.
Posted by Jim Scanlan at 01:46 PM
Professor to give insight into future of wool
September 22, 2005
A public lecture in Armidale next week will take an insightful look into the future of Australia’s multi-billion dollar sheep and wool industry from the perspective of education and research.
The University of New England’s Professor David Cottle administers a national education program for the Australian Sheep Industry Cooperative Research Centre. In delivering his Inaugural Lecture in Armidale Town Hall, he will outline the achievements and aspirations of this program, and UNE’s central role in its delivery throughout Australia and New Zealand. He will also talk about educational initiatives that are in the planning stage at UNE (including a Master’s degree program for students living in India and China).
David Cottle, Professor of Sheep and Wool Science at UNE, will outline some of his plans for the future of sheep and wool research at UNE that involve working with local members of the industry, and thus strengthening ties between country, town and “gown”. Professor Cottle is a leading advocate of new technologies that can help in making farm management and marketing decisions. One proposed project would involve the designation of certain farms as “demonstration farms” in moving towards the integration of these new technologies. The free lecture, titled “Nature’s Wonder Fibre”, will be at 7.30 pm on Thursday 29 September.
Professor Cottle (pictured here), who gained his Doctorate at UNE, took up the new Chair of Sheep and Wool Science at UNE in 2003. Before that, he worked for five years as a member of the senior management team at the Wool Research Organisation of New Zealand. He was an Associate Professor of Wool Science in the Department of Wool and Pastoral Science at the University of NSW in the 1990s. That department, which closed in 1997, was recognised as the national tertiary centre for wool education and research. Now at UNE, as Australia’s (and the world’s) only Professor of Sheep and Wool Science, he is back at the centre.
Professor Cottle, an international expert on wool science and sheep breeding and management, is the editor of "The Australian Sheep and Wool Handbook". He edited the international journal "Wool Technology and Sheep Breeding" from 1992 until, earlier this year, he guided its transformation into the Web-based journal "The International Journal of Sheep and Wool Science". He is now Managing Editor of that journal.
He is optimistic about the future of Australia’s sheep and wool industry, which sees the annual export of products valued at $4.5 billion. “The Merino wool industry is not a cottage industry,” he emphasises. “The top 20 per cent of producers are doing just as well as the leading producers in other agricultural industries. And I believe that, particularly if promotion were to be renewed, we could see an improvement in the market as a whole.”
Media contact: Professor David Cottle, School of Rural Science and Agriculture, UNE (02) 6773 2178 or 0427 409 271, or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE (02) 6773 3049.
Posted by Jim Scanlan at 04:26 PM
Daniel's Japanese adventure
September 20, 2005
A University of New England student will embark on a great adventure next month when he travels to Japan on a study tour funded by the Mitsui Educational Foundation.
Daniel Hill, 21, was one of only eight students selected from 34 universities around Australia to participate in the tour.
During his 18-day stay in Japan, Daniel will visit Tokyo and Kyoto and travel to the foothills of Mt Fuji. He will also tour historical sites and visit the headquarters of some of Japan's most powerful corporations, including Toyota and Sharp. A highlight of the tour will be a three-day stay with a Japanese family, which will give Daniel a taste of everyday Japanese life.
Daniel said he was surprised and excited to learn he had been chosen to go on the study tour.
“I really didn't expect to get it, to tell you the truth - I thought I'd made a mess of the interview. So I was over the moon when I found out I'd been selected. The first thing I did was call home to tell my parents.”
For Daniel, who has never flown before, let alone traveled overseas, every moment of the trip will be an eye-opener.
“I think Tokyo is going to be a real shock,” he said. “How busy it is, the population. I mean, you get an idea from TV, but actually being there and experiencing it for myself is going to be a big thing.”
The fourth-year Arts/Law student said he was particularly looking forward to visiting ancient temples and castles, and seeing the contrast between modern and traditional Japan. He had a long-standing interest in Japanese culture, having studied Japanese martial arts and cultivated bonsai trees as a hobby, he said. He also had an auntie who had lived in Japan, he said.
The selection process for the study tour included a short essay and two interviews. Successful applicants were selected on the basis of good marks, a demonstrated interest in Japan and the potential to be “outstanding ambassadors for Australia at all times whilst in Japan”. The ability to speak Japanese was not a prerequisite and Daniel “can't speak a word”, although he would be brushing up on some basic phrases before he left, he said.
“It's a really good all-round opportunity and a great chance to represent UNE and Australia,” he said. “I'm really looking forward to it.”
For more information contact Leon Braun (UNE Public Relations) on (02) 6773 3771. A photo is available to accompany this story.
Posted by Leon Braun at 10:22 AM
Research to reveal hidden talent in classrooms
September 19, 2005
A researcher at The University of New England has received funding for a project that will help regional school communities to identify and encourage gifted students.
The Telstra Foundation has awarded funding of $55,000 for the two-year project led by Dr Peter Merrotsy from UNE’s School of Education. Dr Merrotsy, a specialist in the education of gifted and talented children, will be working in collaboration with the Catholic Schools Office of the Broken Bay Diocese.
Dr Merrotsy (pictured here) said that seven teachers from the Diocese of Broken Bay who had undertaken training in Coolabah Dynamic Assessment would use that method to identify about 25 students who were under-achieving, or whose gifts had gone unrecognised in the classroom. (Coolabah Dynamic Assessment, developed at UNE by Dr Graham Chaffey, was used to identify gifted Aboriginal students in Armidale, he explained.)
The 25 students taking part in the project (all eight-and-nine-year-olds) would be identified by the end of the year, Dr Merrotsy said. The project would then focus on educational intervention to help them express their talents, and explore existing and potential relationships among the students, their families and their teachers that could foster this expression. The title of the project is "A Gifted Synergy – Children and Parents".
Dr Merrotsy explained that many children in the Broken Bay Diocese came from economically disadvantaged families, or from families belonging to cultural minorities, and that these backgrounds often contributed to their under-achievement at school. “The children we are looking for often sit in the classroom wearing a ‘talent mask’, are disengaged from their schooling, and under-achieve,” he said. “But behind that mask there can lie a high potential.”
Dr Merrotsy has conducted research on relationships between gifted students and their parents and grandparents. “I’m interested in these relationships, and their potential for fostering children’s talents,” he said. “I’m also interested in the extent to which the parents of gifted under-achievers might be gifted under-achievers themselves.”
“The project aims at encouraging greater involvement in schools by both students and parents by changing teachers’ perceptions of under-achievers and under-achievers’ perceptions of themselves,” he continued.
He said the Catholic Schools Office had sought UNE as a research partner because of the University’s reputation in the area of gifted education. “And we’re very grateful for the support of the Telstra Foundation, which funds innovative, community- based research projects,” he added.
Media contact: Dr Peter Merrotsy, School of Education, UNE (02) 6773 3832 or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE (02) 6773 3049.
The PHOTOGRAPH of Dr Peter Merrotsy displayed here is at:
http://photodatabase.une.edu.au/albums/incoming/2005/monthly/September/Peter%20Merrotsy.jpg
Posted by Jim Scanlan at 03:55 PM
Speech science comes alive for distance students
September 16, 2005
The science of speech is coming alive for students of The University of New England living around the world.
A linguist in the University’s School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, Dr Helen Fraser (pictured here), has been using new software that lets her involve students in “live classrooms” via the Internet. With the software she can play, analyse and discuss speech sounds with students in real time.
Dr Fraser’s phonetics course, “Speech and Communication”, is part of UNE’s pioneering Master of Arts (Applied Linguistics) program, taught as a fully online degree program to 200 students in more than 20 countries.
Phonetics has always been considered difficult to teach by distance education because it is a subject that really needs face-to-face interaction. In learning how to interpret spectrograms (“voiceprints”), for example, students need to hear words and see the spectrograms simultaneously, while hearing an explanation of how the spectrogram represents each sound. Dr Fraser is now able to provide all this in an online “classroom”. Students see her actually using the speech analysis program on her own computer, and can discuss the analyses with her as they happen.
“If you hear someone explain while everything’s in front of you it takes ten minutes to understand it,” she said, “but if you have to get the explanation out of a book it can take hours.”
There are 60 students doing the phonetics course, in countries including the United States, Korea, China and Japan as well as Australia and New Zealand. Their reactions to the first live classroom late last month were wholly positive, with comments like: “I might actually have a grasp of it now! It was also nice to be able to put a voice to the name ‘Helen Fraser’.” Also: “Seems like a pretty cool way to enhance the whole online learning thing.”
Dr Fraser was part of a small group trying out the new software (“Elluminate”) as a tool for distance education in languages and several other subjects in UNE’s Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. “The possibilities for teaching in a wide range of disciplines seem endless,” she said.
In order to make this system possible, staff of UNE’s Teaching and Learning Centre (Rupert Collister, Catherine Clarke and Stephen Swinsburg) helped set Dr Fraser up to “share” her speech analysis program for interactive online learning. “The TLC folks were great,” Dr Fraser said. “Now, what’s always been thought of as the hardest subject to teach by distance education is something even overseas students can enjoy.”
Media contact: Dr Helen Fraser, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, UNE (02) 6773 3318 or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE (02) 6773 3049. For information on "Elluminate", go to: www.elluminate.com.
Posted by Jim Scanlan at 04:57 PM
International conference to look at development role of small business
September 15, 2005
An international conference on small business, to be held at The University of New England later this month, will focus on the role of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in rural, regional and urban development.
The 18th Annual Conference of the Small Enterprise Association of Australia and New Zealand (SEAANZ) will include papers dealing with SMEs as diverse as dairy farms, medical practices, biotechnology companies, vineyards, and the Welsh Whisky Company.
There will be papers on women in small business (in both Australia and South-east Asia), and on ethnic-minority business (in the UK).
The annual conference, to run from Monday 26 to Wednesday 28 September, is being held at UNE for the first time. UNE’s Professor Patrick Hutchinson, who chairs the organising committee for this year’s conference, said that one of the topics for discussion would be the role (current and potential) of universities in the development of the small-businesses sector. He pointed out that UNE, through its teaching, its research, and the organising of SME-related public seminars, had been playing such a role in New England. “With the recent establishment of a Centre for Business Research at UNE,” Professor Hutchinson continued, “that role will continue and expand. We believe this conference could act as a catalyst for greater involvement of universities in regional development through SMEs.”
More than 100 people from all over Australia, and from New Zealand, the United States, the UK and Malaysia, will take part in the conference. The keynote speakers will be Professor David Audretsch (Director of the Institute for Development Strategies at Indiana University in the United States), Dr Graham Hall (Director of the Research Degrees Program at Manchester Business School in England), Professor Monder Ram (Director of the Centre for Research into Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship at De Montfort University in England), and Brian Morgan (Director of the Leadership, Enterprise and Economic Development Unit at Cardiff Business School, and Director of three Welsh businesses, including the Welsh Whisky Company). UNE academics and researchers presenting papers will include Dr Roger Epworth and Associate Professor Alison Sheridan, Dr Andrew Clarke, and Janene Carey. (Associate Professor Alison Sheridan is pictured here.)
A paper by Associate Professor Evan Jones from the University of Sydney will explore what he calls the “subordinate” relationship with corporate business that is still characteristic of small business in Australia. He will discuss, as some of the reasons for this, what he refers to as “the continuing weaknesses of the legislative and regulatory structures, and the apparently significant lobbying power of corporate business”.
Professor Hutchinson said the focus of the conference on regional development was timely, “given the concern about population drift from regional centres”. “Small businesses are now seen as major drivers of economic growth,” he said.
The conference will close before lunch on Wednesday 28 September. That afternoon, a “Travelling Experts Seminar” on small business development will use videoconference technology to include people in nine regional centres throughout north-west NSW in a discussion at UNE with the four keynote speakers from the conference. The nine regional venues for the seminar will be the UNE Tamworth Centre, and UNE Access Centres in Boggabilla, Coonabarabran, Gunnedah, Inverell, Moree, Narrabri, Quirindi and Tenterfield. For more information on the “Travelling Experts Seminar” contact Professor Hutchinson at: phutchin@une.edu.au. Those interested in attending all or part of the SEAANZ conference should visit the conference Web site at: http://www.seaanz2005.org.
Media contact:Professor Patrick Hutchinson, New England Business School, UNE (02) 6773 3902 or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE (02) 6773 3049.
Posted by Jim Scanlan at 04:08 PM
History Week speaker re-opens Anzac "myth-making" file
September 14, 2005
In preparing for the celebration of History Week (17-25 September) at The University of New England, Professor David Kent has re-opened a 20-year-old file of “hate mail”.
Professor Kent (pictured here) will highlight the hazards faced by the dispassionate historian when he talks about a research paper of his that provoked letters labelling him (among other things) “the vilest man alive”, and urging those in authority to “sack the bastard”.
The paper, presented at an Australian War Memorial conference in 1984, argued that Charles Bean, the editor of "The Anzac Book", (an "official" record of the Gallipoli campaign), had helped to create the heroic "Anzac legend" by his selection of material for the book. The paper attracted intense attention in the popular press, and it was this that prompted the letters. "It was a case of people preferring the myth to the historical reality," Professor Kent said.
His talk, titled "Sack the Bastard! David Kent, the vilest man alive", will be one of nine short talks comprising a History Week event at UNE called "Frontiers of Australian History". The public event, on Wednesday 21 September, will be in Lecture Theatre A2 (Arts Building) from 1.30 to 4.30 pm. Other History Week events at UNE will include the UNE Union’s 2005 Russel Ward Lecture on the evening of Monday 19 September (presented this year by Professor Peter Read and titled "Murder, ignorance and reconciliation in the Northern Territory of Australia, 1934-2004"), and the inaugural John Ferry Heritage Lecture at 5.30 pm on Thursday 22 September (presented by Professor Sharon Sullivan, former Director of the Australian Heritage Commission, and titled "Recent views on heritage in Australia and overseas").
Seven other UNE historians will contribute to "Frontiers of Australian History". One of them, Associate Professor Janis Wilton, in a talk titled "Blogging the past", will discuss the impact of the Internet on the practice of history. Dr Erin Ihde will talk about the influence of the Cold War on popular culture, as manifested in works such as the film "Dr Strangelove". Dr Frank Bongiorno will present some examples of "counterfactual" or "what if" history: pursuing the logical consequences of a turning that events did not actually take. His talk is titled "If your grandmother had wheels she’d be a wagon". The other UNE speakers will be Professor Alan Atkinson and Dr David Roberts, and the economic historians Professor Chris Lloyd and Dr Maxine Darnell. The local historian and heritage adviser Graham Wilson will focus on an aspect of New England’s heritage in discussing the balance of architectural significance and historical interest needed in assessing a building’s heritage value.
Dr Bongiorno, the organiser of the event, said that history was a "traditional strength" of UNE, and that one measure of the University’s significance in the field was the number of influential books written by UNE historians. For example, the second volume of Professor Atkinson’s trilogy "The Europeans in Australia" won the important Ernest Scott Prize earlier this year, and Professor Kent’s book "Convicts of the Eleanor" won a NSW Premier’s History Award (the J.M. Ward – State Records Prize) in 2003.
History Week is coordinated throughout the State by the History Council of NSW. For more information contact Dr Frank Bongiorno on (02) 6773 2088.
Media contact: Dr Frank Bongiorno, School of Classics, History and Religion, UNE (02) 6773 2088 or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE (02) 6773 3049.
Posted by Jim Scanlan at 10:29 AM
Public talk on “invisible” computers all around us
September 13, 2005
Computers are infiltrating your life in ways you never even guessed at: that's the topic of a public lecture to be given at the Armidale Town Hall on September 21 by A.S.M. Sajeev, Professor of Computer Science at The University of New England.
The lecture, titled “Here a Chip, There a Chip...the Story of Ubiquitous Computing”, will challenge the traditional notion that a computer is a box we sit in front of and interact with via a screen, keyboard and mouse.
The term “ubiquitous computing” refers to a world where computers are all around us - some visible, some not – without our necessarily being aware of them.
“Computers are everywhere,” Professor Sajeev said, “but they don't necessarily advertise their presence. For example, we have computers that control our air conditioning systems. We might not realise it, but they are constantly monitoring the temperature and the comfort level, and adjusting the air conditioning settings accordingly.”
Other examples of ubiquitous computing can be found in our cars, Professor Sajeev said, where computers control air bag systems and monitor engine conditions. In the near future cars might even be able to “talk” to navigation networks – to get information on traffic conditions, for instance.
“If your car's computer were linked to the RTA's computer system, for instance, and there were a major accident on the route your were taking, then the RTA computer could tell your car there were going to be long delays further down the road,” Professor Sajeev said. “And if that's linked to a navigation system, then the navigation system could show you what alternative routes were available.”
The future could even bring “wearable” computers that would make our lives easier, Professor Sajeev said. “A computer attached to our glasses, for example. If I am a tourist visiting Venice and I want to see a map of all the interesting places, a computer could display that on my glasses and show me where I am and all the places I can visit and how to get there.”
Professor Sajeev said generally speaking ubiquitous computing was a boon for mankind, but admitted there could be dangers if the technology fell into the wrong hands.
“It does present some challenges in terms of privacy and security,” he said. “Terrorists or criminals might be able to 'listen in' on the information being passed between these computers, and use it to commit crimes. That is something that will require much further investigation.”
Professor Sajeev is Head of the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science at The University of New England. His area of expertise is software engineering. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from Monash University and a Bachelor degree with Honours in Electrical Engineering from Cochin University of Science and Technology, India. Professor Sajeev is also a fellow of the Institute of Engineers, Australia.
“Here a Chip, There a Chip...the Story of Ubiquitous Computing” will be held at 7.30pm on Wednesday, September 21 at Armidale Town Hall. All are welcome. For more information contact UNE events coordinator Kerry De Jong on 6773 2114.
A photo is available to accompany this story. For more information contact Leon Braun (UNE Public Relations) on (02) 6773 3771.
Posted by Leon Braun at 11:33 AM
UNE community contributes to Oxfam's tsunami relief work
September 12, 2005
The Vice-Chancellor of The University of New England, Professor Ingrid Moses, has presented a cheque for more than $5,500, on behalf of the UNE community, to Oxfam Australia for its tsunami relief program.
Professor Moses established UNE’s Tsunami Relief Fund immediately after the Boxing Day disaster, and the appeal raised more than $10,000. Earlier this year, about half of the funds raised were given to a Sri Lankan and a Thai student at UNE who had both been severely affected by the tsunami.
Presenting the cheque in Melbourne last week to the Treasurer of Oxfam Australia, Dr Ian Anderson, Professor Moses said: “Members of the UNE community responded generously to my appeal, even though many of them had already given money to individual charities. As a community we grieved for all those affected by the disaster, including those of our students and staff members who had friends and family in devastated areas. We are aware of the extraordinary relief and reconstruction efforts of Oxfam and other agencies in the field, and are happy to be contributing to those efforts.” (The presentation of the cheque is pictured here.)
Dr Anderson, who was Chair of the Board of Oxfam International from 1999 to 2003, said: “On behalf of Oxfam Australia and its Oxfam International colleagues, I am very pleased to receive this gift from the UNE community to Oxfam’s Boxing Day tsunami rehabilitation work. Among other things, the gift represents and continues the broad, long-standing support given by UNE to Oxfam Australia and its predecessor, Community Aid Abroad.”
“I am aware of numerous other gifts to Oxfam’s tsunami program that have come from the UNE community, “ he continued, “and would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have given so generously to UNE’s fund, and directly to Oxfam and the other agencies which are working so hard to assist with rebuilding the lives of people who were devastated by this great disaster.”
Dr Anderson holds a Master of Letters degree in Peace Studies and a PhD from UNE, and was the recipient of UNE’s Distinguished Alumni Award for 2004. “We at UNE are proud of our connection with Oxfam Australia through one of our most distinguished alumni,” Professor Moses said.
As well as donations from individuals, the UNE Tsunami Relief Fund included money raised from special events and activities organised by students and staff.
In reporting on its continuing efforts in the aftermath of the tsunami, Oxfam Australia says: “The Tsunami is the greatest challenge ever faced by our agency. It poses great challenges in the field, especially in Sri Lanka and India, as we seek to deliver high quality and appropriate assistance at a scale greater than anyone has had to respond to previously.”
Media contact: Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE (02) 6773 3049.
Posted by Jim Scanlan at 04:39 PM
Big increase in numbers at UNE Open Day
September 09, 2005
More than 1,400 prospective students visited The University of New England today for the University’s annual Open Day. The total number of visitors to Open Day, including parents and friends of the prospective students, was well over 2,000.
Organisers say today’s event attracted several hundred more prospective students than last year’s Open Day (an increase of about 30 per cent). This included an increase in the number of people interested in enrolling as mature-age students.
About 700 high-school students arrived in bus loads from schools throughout New England, the NSW North Coast, north-west NSW and the Hunter Valley, as well as from schools as far away as Dubbo. Individual visitors came from all over Australia, including Perth, the Gold Coast, central and western Queensland, Toowoomba, Parkes, Newcastle, and the ACT.
Thirty school careers advisers accompanying groups of students attended a special lunch, where they commented that UNE Open Days were “getting better every year”, and were “certainly worthwhile”.
One innovation this year was the visit of the Canberra-based science road show Questacon, with its new show “Smart Moves”. Coincidentally, organisers reported a strong interest in the many courses offered by UNE’s Faculty of The Sciences.
The day’s activities began with breakfast in the Residential Colleges (after which tours of the Colleges and Wright Village continued throughout the day). The focus then moved to Lazenby Hall, where prospective students discussed course and study-mode options with lecturers from every area of the University, and found out about scholarship opportunities, residential options, exchange programs, application procedure, and student associations and support services. There were course-specific presentations within the Schools, including a “moot” (or practice) court session in the School of Law, and a presentation in the Drama Studio about the forthcoming Armidale production of “Cabaret”.
As well as receiving practical advice, visitors to Open Day enjoyed live entertainment including belly dancing (pictured here), choral singing, Japanese drums, and the UNE Big Band.
John Kauter, UNE’s Public Relations Manager, said the day had been an outstanding success and “an endorsement of UNE’s reputation as a provider of high-quality education”. “It is widely known that UNE produces highly qualified, work-ready graduates who are much sought-after by employers,” he said.
Media contact: Kerry De Jong, Events Coordinator, UNE (02) 6773 3955 or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE (02) 6773 3049.
Posted by Jim Scanlan at 04:36 PM
Controlling sleep apnea all in the mind
September 08, 2005
A researcher from The University of New England has come up with a way to dramatically improve the effectiveness of treatment for sleep apnea, a debilitating - and potentially fatal – sleep disorder that causes sufferers to temporarily stop breathing in their sleep.
UNE honours student Dianne Richards found that by showing a group of sleep apnea patients a video and involving their partners in their treatment she was able to double their compliance with a treatment regime and bring an end to their daytime sleepiness, one of the most common symptoms of the disease. For the study Ms Richards recruited 100 sleep apnea patients from the Royal North Shore Hospital Sleep Investigation Unit, which she manages.
The patients were receiving Continuous Positive Air Pressure (CPAP) treatment, where they were fed a constant stream of compressed air via a mask, keeping their airway open during sleep. CPAP, an Australian invention, is highly effective and can reduce or eliminate the symptoms of sleep apnea when used properly. CPAP therapists, however face a problem: many patients refuse to wear an oxygen mask to bed. Some are worried it will be uncomfortable; others are plain embarrassed.
“It's just not terribly sexy,” Ms Richards said. “Many people are very resistant to having this machine in their bedrooms and that means they're not getting the benefit of the treatment.”
As many as half of all patients who have been prescribed CPAP stop using the machine within the first year, despite the health benefits of the treatment.
Ms Richards decided to look at psychological barriers that were preventing people from sticking with the treatment and ways to overcome them.
She produced a video showing two sleep apnea sufferers talking about CPAP. In the video the two patients talk about the problems they experienced getting started with CPAP, as well as how much better they felt after using it. Finally they exhort other patients to persevere with their treatment, because in the long run “it's worth it”.
Ms Richards showed this video to 50 sleep apnea patients before they began CPAP treatment, and invited them to bring their partners to a discussion about “sleep safety” and the benefits of CPAP.
Patients who watched the video and attended the discussion were more than twice as likely to be using CPAP regularly - and therefore be obtaining a therapeutic benefit - than a control group of 50 patients who did not. After one week of sleeping with the machine only 8 per cent of the patients who had watched the video quit whereas almost half of the patients quit from the control group.
Ms Richards will present the results of her study at the Australian Sleep Association Conference in October. She said her results had important implications for the treatment of sleep apnea and other diseases where psychological factors interfere with a patient's willingness to submit to treatment.
“These results should be of real interest to people in the medical profession, especially those dealing with sleep disorders,” Ms Richards said. “We are very good at diagnosing and treating sleep disorders like sleep apnea, but not so good at dealing with some of the psychological variables that come into play when patients start treatment. This study shows that attending to the psychological variables can contribute to making the treatment effective.”
For more information contact Dianne Richards on (02) 9736 1771 or Leon Braun (UNE Public Relations) on (02) 6773 3771. A photo is available to accompany this story.
Posted by Leon Braun at 05:59 PM
Exploring cultural diversity in the classroom
September 07, 2005
Dr Sonia Mycac, a literary scholar visiting The University of New England, will present a public seminar this Friday, 9 September, on the use of multicultural literature in the classroom.
Dr Mycac, a Research Fellow of the Australian Research Council based at the University of Sydney, is a co-editor of "Australian Mosaic: An anthology of multicultural writing" (Heinemann, Sydney, 1997). The book is a teaching resource for secondary schools designed to explore Australia's cultural diversity. It comprises 60 literary texts with accompanying suggestions for classroom activity.
"In this presentation I would like to discuss the making of 'Australian Mosaic', present some of the texts, and outline some of the strategies for exploring cultural diversity in contemporary Australian society," she said. "Teachers in secondary schools and those involved in teacher training are particularly welcome to attend." The seminar will be at 12.30 pm in Room 236, Education Building, UNE.
Dr Mycac (pictured here) is visiting UNE at the invitation of Dr Siri Gamage from UNE's School of Professional Development and Leadership. Her visit is being sponsored by UNE's Centre for Research on Education in Context (CREC). She and Dr Gamage are exploring possibilities for collaborative research projects.
Dr Mycac's research interests include book history, the multicultural literatures of Australia and Canada, and culturally diverse writing communities. She is the editor of the scholarly journal "Australian Canadian Studies", and the author or editor of several books. One of the books she has written is "Canuke Literature: Critical Essays on Canadian Ukranian Writing", published in the United States in 2001.
Media contact: Dr Siri Gamage on (02) 6773 3836 or Jim Scanlan (UNE Public Relations) on (02) 6773 3049.
Posted by Jim Scanlan at 04:33 PM
UNE chosen for International Network for Higher Education Studies
September 06, 2005
The European Commission has chosen The University of New England as the Australian partner in its International Network for Higher Education Studies (INHES). The other members of the network are the Universities of Aveiro (Portugal), Oslo (Norway) and Tampere (Finland) in Europe, and Obirin University (Tokyo) in Japan.
INHES is part of the Commission’s new, world-wide higher education program named “Erasmus Mundus”.
Earlier this year, the Commission chose Professor Lynn Meek, the Director of UNE’s Centre for Higher Education Management and Policy, for a three-month Erasmus Mundus scholarship (May to August, 2005) to conduct teaching and research at selected European universities.
Professor Meek (pictured here) said that the new partnership would bring about 15 European students working towards a Master’s Degree in Higher Education to UNE and/or Obirin University (OU) each year for a period of four-to-six weeks. In addition, three European scholars would visit UNE or OU for a period of two-to-six weeks each year. “The European scholars visiting UNE will teach courses, present seminars, assist in supervising research students, participate in current research projects, and help to establish new projects,” Professor Meek said. “We plan on having the first students and at least one scholar at UNE in October this year.”
“This is a great opportunity for us at UNE to explore and establish research links with our colleagues in Europe,” he continued. “The partnership has been established to engage the rapidly intensifying global connectedness of the practice of higher education as well as to promote higher education as a field of studies.”
“The main activities of the partnership,” he explained, “will be: offering courses to European students on specific aspects of Asian/Japanese and Australian higher education; offering courses to Japanese and Australian students on specific aspects of European higher education; developing teaching and research cooperation between the participating institutions; making higher education studies more visible and better established as a field of studies in its own right.”
The Erasmus Mundus program is designed to promote the European Union around the world as a centre of excellence in higher education, and is intended to rival the USA’s Fulbright program by the end of its first phase. INHES is one of nine Erasmus Mundus partnerships: UNE is the sole Australian partner in INHES, and is one of only four Australian universities involved in the program as a whole. The other partnerships include Media, Communication and Cultural Studies, Water and Coastal Management, Global Studies, and International Health.
Media contact: Professor Lynn Meek on (02) 6773 2042 or Jim Scanlan (UNE Public Relations) on (02) 6773 3049.
Posted by Jim Scanlan at 02:48 PM
UNE presents itself to the community
September 05, 2005
This Friday, September 9, The University of New England will welcome the whole community onto its campus in Armidale.
UNE’s annual Open Day gives everyone an opportunity to visit, experience, and learn about the University. Among the visitors will be prospective students from Years 10, 11 and 12 at high school, and people planning postgraduate and mature-age studies. The University is expecting more than 1,000 prospective students on the day, and is preparing to provide them with all the information they need to make decisions about courses and career paths. Their relatives and friends, and anyone with an interest in the University, will also be welcomed onto the campus.
Activities will begin with breakfast in the Residential Colleges from 7.30 am for only $3 per person. Everyone is welcome to come to breakfast by booking on (02) 6773 2154. The UNE residential experience will continue with tours of the Colleges and Wright Village from 8.30 am.
In Lazenby Hall, from 9 am to 2.30 pm, prospective students will be able to discuss course and study-mode options with lecturers from every area of the University, and find out about scholarship opportunities, residential options, exchange programs, application procedure, and student associations and support services. (Lazenby Hall on Open Day is pictured here.) In addition, a number of course-specific information sessions will be held throughout the day, including sessions on nursing, business, psychology, law and economics. In the School of Law, visitors will be able to observe the progress of a “moot” (or practice) court case. There will also be a special information session for parents.
As well as practical advice, visitors to Open Day can expect live bands, belly dancers, and a free barbecue lunch. Questacon is bringing a new show, “Smart Moves”, to Open Day, providing an exciting, interactive look at science, engineering and technology.
There will be tours running all day to the UNE residences, Dixson Library, Sport UNE, the academic Faculties, the Postgraduate Centre, and other parts of the campus. Visitors to the Drama Studio will be able to hear, at 11 am, a presentation about the forthcoming production of "Cabaret" at Armidale Showground. More than 40 volunteers (staff members and students) will be available as guides. A free bus will shuttle people around the campus from 7.30 am to 3 pm.
For more information, contact UNE’s Events Coordinators: Kerry De Jong on (02) 6773 3955 or Jennifer Ross on (02) 6773 2768.
Media contact: Jim Scanlan, UNE Public Relations, on (02) 6773 3049.
Posted by Jim Scanlan at 02:39 PM
Conference aims to keep railways central to Australian identity
September 02, 2005
Participants in the National Railway Heritage Conference later this month will gain a deeper understanding of how railways could continue to play an important role in defining Australia's national identity.
The conference, convened by the Heritage Futures Research Centre (HFRC) at The University of New England, has attracted speakers who can compare Australian and overseas perspectives on the cultural significance of railways.
For example, one of the keynote speakers, Professor Colin Divall from the UK, will point out that the recent opening of the Alice Springs - Darwin line has been yet another "significant marker in the evolution of the Australian nation-state". Professor Divall is Head of the Institute of Railway Studies and Transport History run jointly by the University of York and the British National Railway Museum. "Since the 1850s, railways have helped to form and mark Australia's place in the world and its development as a nation," he says.
Another speaker, Doug Kirkpatrick from Being Australian Pty Ltd, will discuss the effective use of railways in northern India and the American State of New Jersey in promoting and developing social cohesion. He will ask why, in Australia, railways lack the "sex appeal" of other forms of transport such as cars, boats, trucks or aeroplanes, and will argue that this sort of popular appeal can be generated, "enabling today's railway industry to create wealth for the nation". (For more information on the conference, go to: http://www.une.edu.au/campus/confco/nrhc2005/.)
Dr Andrew Piper from HFRC, the convener of the conference, said: "Until relatively recently, to speak of Australian railway heritage was to speak in terms of the past. A summary of the papers to be given at the conference, however, reveals a new focus: the vital role of railway heritage if railways are to have a future in Australia comparable to that in countries where railway revitalisation is already under way."
Dr Piper (pictured here) said the conference would include discussions of staffing and training issues. "We will talk about how to transmit skills from the old to the young, and especially about how to make the railway industry attractive to the most talented young workers, male and female," he explained.
The National Railway Heritage Conference will be held in Tamworth on 28-30 September. It is timed to coincide with the official opening of the Australian Railway Monument and Rail Museum, newly established at the Werris Creek Railway Station. Conference delegates will travel to Werris Creek by Heritage Rail Motor on Saturday 1 October for the opening ceremony, and participate in a day of railway festivities.
The photograph of Dr Andrew Piper diaplayed here is available at:
http://photodatabase.une.edu.au/albums/incoming/2005/staff/Piper%20Andrew.jpg
Media contact: Dr Andrew Piper, Heritage Futures Research Centre, UNE (02) 6773 2764 or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE (02) 6773 3049.
Posted by Jim Scanlan at 03:09 PM
NSW Farmers Association seeks insights on rural futures
September 01, 2005
The Chief Executive of the NSW Farmers Association, Dr Ray Johnson, visiting the Institute for Rural Futures (IRF) at The University of New England yesterday, emphasised the need for a “blueprint” of strategies to reverse rural decline.
He outlined this decline in terms of the decreasing number of farms and farmers throughout Australia, and the “population drift” towards the capital cities and the coast. “There’s been a 20 per cent decline in the number of farmers over the past decade,” he said, “and the decline is more like 30 per cent in the small farm sector. There has actually been a 60 per cent decrease in the number of young farmers, with the average age of farmers being now about 52. All this sends a danger signal in terms of the sustainability of rural communities.”
“We need to be looking for solutions, not just restating the problem,” Dr Johnson continued. He explained that this search for solutions had prompted his visit to IRF, which conducts research on the pressures for change affecting rural Australia. Founded in 2000, IRF is an independent, non-profit Research Institute within UNE. It undertakes applied multidisciplinary research into rural issues. It has conducted important projects on issues such as farmers’ retirement and farm succession, and social (and industrial) structures within rural towns.
“Research such as IRF undertakes is critical in developing an understanding of the key drivers of rural decline,” Dr Johnson said. “No one would deny the need to get people out of the cities and back into the regions, but we have no blueprint or framework to start the process. We need to put together policies that can be put before government.”
He discussed this with the Director of IRF, Professor David Brunckhorst, and other researchers at the Institute. Among other things, they considered undertaking a program of case studies of regional towns (such as Orange, Toowoomba and Mudgee) that had been successful in terms of population growth and improvements in services and infrastructure. “This could, indeed, be a step towards understanding the characteristics of such places so as to develop a realistic ‘blueprint’ for regional development,” Professor Brunckhorst said.
“We have to get commercial activity back into regional NSW,” Dr Johnson emphasised. “And we have to provide the services – communications, health, education and infrastructure – that such activity requires.”
The photograph displayed here shows (from left) Brianna Casey (Senior Policy Manager, Rural Affairs, NSW Farmers Association), Professor David Brunckhorst, and Dr Ray Johnson.
Media contact: Professor David Brunckhorst, Institute for Rural Futures, UNE (02) 6773 3001 or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE (02) 6773 3049.
Posted by Jim Scanlan at 04:26 PM