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Ross M. W. Bennetts
Web Editor

Now in its 29th year, the Earle Page College charity campaign includes the sale of a discount card sponsored by 41 local businesses. Purchasers of the $10 card can get ongoing discounts of up to 15 per cent – or a range of special deals – from participating businesses until the end of November.

The Vice-Chancellor of UNE, Professor Alan Pettigrew, bought one of the discount cards this week when he officially launched this year's campaign. Professor Pettigrew, the campaign's Patron, said he was "very happy to support it for the third year in succession". "The students' involvement in raising funds for a worthwhile charity adds to their own lives as well as the reputation of the University," he said. "It is one of the highlights of their time at Earle Page College."

While the campaign has already raised about $13,000 this year through donations and the sale of the discount card to students, its official launch marks the beginning of a series of fund-raising events – including a fashion parade and a charity auction – culminating in September in the annual Armidale to Coffs Harbour Coast Run which gives the entire campaign its name. The organisers of the Coast Run are inviting UNE staff members to contribute to the campaign by buying one of the discount cards.

Peter Bedford, one of the seven members of the Coast Run organising committee, said the aim of the campaign was "to give the Children's Medical Research Institute all the help we can". "Personally," he said, "spending time on this is one of the most valuable things I could do as a resident of Earle Page College. It's an Earle Page tradition – and it's a worthy cause."

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here shows Professor Pettigrew buying a discount card from the Coast Run Convener, Kamal Sohi. It expands to include another member of the organising committee, Ben Bowman.

In answering this question in the negative, the authors of the paper (Giorgio Vallortigara, Allan Snyder, Gisela Kaplan, Patrick Bateson, Nicola Clayton and Lesley Rogers) draw on a body of research that, over the past 30 years, has successfully demolished some long-held assumptions about the essentially "primitive" nature of cognitive processes and abilities in animals.

At the forefront of that research has been one of the paper's authors – Emeritus Professor Lesley Rogers of the University of New England. Professor Rogers's pioneering work – together with that of her colleagues and students – has shown that the well-known specialisation of the left and right sides of the brain for different aspects of cognition and behaviour, long thought to be unique to humans and a mark of our more "advanced" cognitive function, is also characteristic of many animal species.

This Thursday, the 27th of March, Professor Rogers will give the opening Plenary Lecture at the 35th annual conference of the Australasian Society for the Study of Animal Behaviour (ASSAB), organised by her UNE colleague Professor Gisela Kaplan who is also an international authority on animal behaviour and a joint author of the "autism" paper. The title of Professor Rogers's lecture, in which she will survey the latest results of research on brain asymmetry, will be "Social and cognitive behaviour of animals with asymmetrical brains". The conference will then proceed with 42 spoken papers and about 30 posters covering a huge range of species and behaviours: from navigation by ants and food hoarding by birds to dolphin social networks and "courtship effort in a desert-dwelling fish".

The "autism" paper (PLoS Biology Vol. 6, No. 2), written by participants in the FEAST workshop who are among the foremost researchers in their fields in Europe and Australia, argues that the cognitive function of animals is much more like that of "normal" humans. Animals as well as humans have lateralised brains, the authors argue, and rely on the integrated function of the right cerebral hemisphere (responsive, in a "savant-like" way, to details and novel stimuli) and the left cerebral hemisphere (which processes stimuli according to patterns based on experience).

"Animals as well as humans need both right-hemisphere and left-hemisphere functions to survive in the world," Professor Rogers said. Next week's ASSAB conference will explore many of those means of survival.

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here is of a tawny frogmouth, a species to be discussed at the conference in a paper by Gisela Kaplan titled "Emotional state, signals and communication in the tawny frogmouth (Podargus strigoides)".

The Lucy Mentoring Program, established in 2004 by the Office for Women within the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet, matches each participating student with a mentor who is a working professional in either the public or the private sector.

UNE joins the Universities of Sydney, New South Wales, Western Sydney, and Newcastle in the program, which has already increased employment opportunities for more than 240 women students across the State.

An information session at UNE on Wednesday 26 March will introduce the program to potential participants, and the program itself will operate between May and October this year. It involves a "work-based activity" totalling 35 hours in the mentor's workplace, and professional-development meetings with other "Lucy" students and staff of UNE Student Assist.

Those eligible for the program are undergraduate women studying business, finance, accounting, law or economics who live in the region, have been performing well in their studies (averaging a credit), and have gained at least 96 credit points towards their degree.

Those interested in participating in the program, or attending Wednesday's information session – at 4pm in the Lewis Seminar Room in the Economics, Business and Law building – should contact Ms Bell or her colleague Julia Perryman at Student Assist on (02) 6773 2897 or Lou Conway in the School of Business, Economics and Public Policy on (02) 6773 3919.

Ms Bell said that some local businesses and government offices able to provide mentors had already been identified, and that mentors would be matched with the participating students. "At the end of the program there will be a formal 'graduation' event attended by officials of the University and the Premier's Department, during which the students will report on their 'Lucy' experiences," she said.

UNE began providing Indonesian to the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) earlier this month – an arrangement that follows the signing of a collaborative agreement last year.

Using the "UNE Blended Model", developed in 2004 by Associate Professor Kerry Dunne together with Professor Michael Macklin (who was Dean of Arts at the time), UNE began delivering German courses to the University of Newcastle in 2005. The success of this venture led to collaboration with James Cook University in north Queensland - collaboration that now sees the provision of UNE courses in German, French, Chinese and Italian to that university. USQ is the first university to offer Indonesian through such an arrangement with UNE.

The collaborative arrangement means that UNE provides the course material, access to Web-based bulletin boards and online discussions, and a local tutor for face-to-face tuition of on-campus students. USQ for its part provides all the necessary facilities for the students and their tutor.

Dr Zifirdaus Adnan (pictured here), the Convener of Indonesian at UNE, said that USQ had opted to collaborate with UNE in this way when its one lecturer in Indonesian was about to retire at the end of last year. As part of the planning process, he said, the Associate Dean (Academic) of USQ's Faculty of Arts, Dr Rhod McNeill, had visited UNE for discussions with himself, Dr Dunne (now Transitional Head of UNE's School of Arts) and other UNE staff members. "Such arrangements allow the provision of courses that – considering the relatively small numbers of students – might not otherwise be viable," he said.

"To assist this process, and to take advantage of an increasing number of opportunities, we need graduates with an understanding of Indonesian language and culture," he said. "As the biggest pair of close neighbours in the region, Australia and Indonesia have a lot to offer each other for their mutual benefit. For example, a large number of Australians visit Indonesia every year, and thousands decide to live there. And many Indonesians study in Australia as fee-paying students. (In 2006 the official figure was 1,500.)"

Dr Adnan was preparing for an online oral discussion with USQ students that very evening. He and his UNE colleague Stephen Miller hold such discussions regularly with the students. "We're keen to hold them at a time that fits in to the students' busy schedules," Dr Adnan said, "so we have them at 7 pm in the evening. They combine 'pastoral care' with information, and are also an opportunity for students to meet each other, practise their Indonesian, and share ideas and experiences online."

THE PHOTOGRAPH OF Dr Adnan displayed here expands to include Dr Rhod McNeill (USQ) and Associate Professor Kerry Dunne (UNE).

The students have a wide range of interests and ambitions, and the course accommodates them all. It covers crime control and prevention, criminal law, forensic science, forensic anthropology, social policy, and the sociology of crime. The students are aiming at careers ranging from specialist roles in the Police Force to crime-related work in community services.

One of them – Candice Chapman (pictured here) from Sydney – said she had had a long-term ambition to join the Police Force, and was "particularly interested in criminal psychology". "But I wanted a rounded education to start with – something to fall back on," she said.

"UNE's Bachelor of Criminology degree program is unique in its range of interdisciplinary offerings, drawing from the sciences, the humanities, law and sociology," said the program's coordinator, Dr John Scott. "We consider that this diversity accurately reflects the broad range of perspectives that have contributed to contemporary criminological thought."

"What is especially exciting about the program is the way in which students will have an introduction to diverse aspects of criminology, ranging from the applied to the theoretical – from criminal profiling to crime policy," Dr Scott continued. "In first year they undertake a foundation program in sociology, criminology and forensic science, before starting a specialist program of upper-level criminology units. And, taking into consideration the fact that students want flexibility in designing their own pathway, the program allows them to include up to eight electives of their own choice from anywhere within the University."

"It also covers contemporary issues such as the emergence of new crimes in cyberspace and the global economy, and crime detection through forensic science. Traditionally, graduates in criminology have found employment in a range of correctional, government and policy agencies such as prisons, parole, juvenile justice, community organisations, human services, and crime prevention agencies in local and State government. And, as the nature of crime becomes more complex in a globalised world, they are finding employment in new sectors such as border control, integrity testing, environmental and business regulation, and national security."

Ms Chapman, who is living in UNE's Duval College, said reports of UNE from friends – as well as the new course itself – had influenced her decision to come to Armidale to study. "I'd heard a lot about UNE from people who said they had enjoyed their time here," she said, and added that she was now able to confirm their reports of UNE's "friendly environment" and "lecturers who are easy to approach".

THE PHOTOGRAPH of Candice Chapman displayed here expands to include fellow-student Matthew Nairn, also from Sydney, who is also aiming at a career in the Police Force.

UNE Adjunct Professor Randall Albury – also a medical historian – will formally open the exhibition, titled "Nazi Medicine, 1933-1945", at 4.30 pm on 30 March.

Dr Weisz said he hoped the exhibition, documenting the perversion of medical ethics under the Third Reich, would be instructive to contemporary society. "Cases of unethical experimentation and other medical abuses are still reported from time to time," he said, "and this leads me to ask whether the lesson of Nazi medicine has been learnt. We need to retell this grim story as a reminder to those who have forgotten it – and as a warning to those who were born much later and have never heard it – so that we never allow these terrible events to be repeated."

Dr Weisz, a retired medical practitioner, spent more than two years preparing the exhibition, which comprises a series of large-format posters. Following a long career as an orthopaedic surgeon, he completed a BA degree program majoring in history and an MA program with a focus on the history of medicine in the Renaissance. In addition to publishing a wide range of historical papers as a single author, he has co-authored several articles with Professor Albury.

The Sydney Jewish Museum (phone 02 9360 7999) is located at 148 Darlinghurst Road, Darlinghurst. Its opening hours are Sunday to Thursday 10 am – 4 pm and Friday 10 am – 2 pm.

Dr Wendy Brown started dog research at UNE in 1997. "UNE doesn't own any dogs," she said. "I borrow people's pets for all of my research activities, and return them to their owners at the end of their stay."

The dogs are well cared for, and, in return for their participation, they receive free veterinary treatments, health care products or dog food, so that the dogs themselves benefit. "Armidale dog owners have been particularly cooperative in allowing their dogs to participate in various research projects over the years," Dr Brown said.

"It is illegal to use pound dogs for research in NSW," she explained, "and for some institutions this has led to the use of animals that are 'purpose-bred' and maintained for research. At UNE, however, we conduct only non-invasive dog research, so borrowing people's pets is a realistic and kinder option than having a colony of purpose-bred dogs that would never have a loving home to go to."

Dr Brown's research at UNE is in collaboration with the WALTHAM Centre for Pet Nutrition in the UK.

"Most of the research has been nutrition-related, although I also conduct research in the areas of dental health and behaviour. The primary goal of the research is better care for dogs, but, as the dog is widely used as a model in studies of human health and nutrition, there could be positive spin-offs for those studies too.

"Our most recent study ventures into the area of canine genetics, requiring a single blood sample to be collected from many pure-bred dogs. In this case, dogs weren't required to stay on-site, but were met at a local veterinary clinic where they received a health check prior to donating a sample of blood, and owners were quizzed about various aspects of their dog's diet and history."

"People's willing participation has allowed the research to be done in a 'dog-friendly' manner," Dr Brown concluded. "And, in the end, the whole dog world could benefit from the results."

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here shows Dr Brown (left) "interviewing" one of her project participants - Bonnie - at a local veterinary clinic, with Bonnie's owner Desley Williams.

UNE's Associate Professor Robert Baker (pictured here) is well known for his work linking long-term patterns of climate and sea-level change with cycles of solar activity (including sun spots), and Professor Garry Willgoose from the University of Newcastle is the Director of that university's Centre for Climate Impact Management.

This event, hosted by the Northern Group of Engineers Australia (Newcastle Division), will begin with free drinks and nibbles at 6.30 pm in UNE's McClymont Building (Lecture Theatre 1), where the talks will begin at around 7 pm. It will follow a function – also hosted by Engineers Australia – to welcome the first students to embark on UNE's new Bachelor of Engineering Technology degree program.

Dr Baker will argue that focusing simply on reducing carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere will not solve the problem. "Carbon dioxide is a major contributor to global warming," he said, "but it is just one part of a complex system. We have to understand the system as a whole. And even if we consider only the human-generated elements of that system, there might well be other contributors – such as aerosols – more significant than carbon dioxide."

Such mechanisms could have triggered some of the significant changes in climate and sea levels revealed in the geological record, Dr Baker said – changes unrelated to levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Professor Willgoose said his talk would "take the audience through the key issues" – including the rate of rise of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, the link between rising gas concentrations and atmospheric/ocean temperatures, and rising sea levels. "The talk will wrap up with some observations on current issues, including (a) what climate change might look like and the consequences for adaptation, (b) proposals for carbon trading/taxes, and (c) future electricity generation options for NSW," he said.

People planning to attend this event should let Engineers Australia know by phoning Katrina Baker on (02) 4926 4440 before lunchtime on Wednesday, or by sending an e-mail to: kbaker@engineersaustralia.org.au.

Twenty-one students at the Tamworth Centre joined five in Inverell, four in Coonabarabran, two in Moree, two in Narrabri, and one each in Gunnedah, Quirindi, Tenterfield and Glen Innes for a two-hour study skills workshop on Wednesday evening.

The workshop enabled the 38 students to overcome the barriers of regional isolation and share each other's experiences, as well as gain information essential for their academic success. Conducted by Academic Skills Adviser Julie Godwin, it covered important aspects of planning, researching, and writing an essay. Although there have been many such workshops through the Regional Access Centres since they opened in 2004, this was the first time that all of them have been involved simultaneously.

Anne Reynolds, one of the students who participated in Coonabarabran, said the interaction with the instructor and the other students – including the ability to ask questions – had enhanced the learning experience for her. "The information was presented right in front of me," she said. "Now I've got a good idea of how to go about my first assignment."

The Access Centres, and the communications network linking them to each other and the University, are much more than a means of delivering information to students throughout the region. They enable students to meet each other – both face-to-face at one or other of the Centres, and at a distance over the network – to discuss ideas and the process of learning.

"We do feel remote here," said Ms Reynolds, who is studying for a Bachelor of General Studies / Bachelor of Teaching degree, "and that's why it's so important to us."

The Access Centres Operations Manager, Frances Munro, said that – altogether – about 1,000 students were using the UNE Centres. "All the Centres are being used," she said, "and some of them – like Inverell (with 104 students) and Moree – are particularly busy. At Inverell they're there all day every day, and Moree gets a lot of out-of-hours use. The Centre in the smaller town of Coonabarabran is also in daily use by a very dedicated group of students supporting each other. And the Tamworth Centre is incredibly busy."

Mrs Munro said that the Centres, in linking remote students with each other and the University, were an important part of UNE's strategy for engaging with - and contributing to the development of - regional communities. The eight Regional Access Centres are all on local TAFE campuses, and were established in collaboration with New England Institute of TAFE. They are linked to the University's Tamworth Centre and the Armidale campus as part of a broadband communications network linking health and education services in the New England / North West region of NSW.

UNE also has a Centre in Taree (the Manning Valley Centre), which is running a face-to-face study skills workshop for students tomorrow [Saturday 8 March]. Forty names are already on the attendance list for this workshop.

Last year, Mrs Munro's Access Centre team won a citation from the Commonwealth Government's Carrick Institute "for going the extra mile: for sustained teamwork that brings geographically remote and disadvantaged students into our UNE learning community through personalised attention in access centres".

This is the seventh successive year that UNE has been awarded an EOWA "Employer of Choice for Women" citation (pictured here). The Agency awards these citations to non-government organisations with more than 80 employees that have demonstrated they have policies and practices supporting women across the organisation, and that these policies have had a positive outcome for both women and the business.

Professor Alan Pettigrew, the Vice-Chancellor of UNE, said he was "delighted" about the University's achievement in fostering the careers of its women employees, and pleased that the Agency continued to recognise this.

"The University has a comprehensive approach to ensuring opportunities for women," Professor Pettigrew said. "This relates to recruitment, performance planning and review, and the provision of opportunities for professional development."

The new criteria set new benchmarks for pay equity and paid maternity leave, as well as for the percentage of managers who are women and the availability of part-time working arrangements for female managers.

UNE's Employment Equity and Diversity Officer, Lyn Tucker, said the University's retention of its "Employer of Choice for Women" status after the introduction of these new criteria indicated that it was "maintaining steady progress in providing opportunities for women". She mentioned a range of programs at UNE that assist women to achieve their employment goals, including the innovative "Pathways to Careers and Promotion" program that encourages senior women to help more junior women in planning their career paths.

"Women hold a number of key positions at UNE," Ms Tucker said, "currently including one Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor, one Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean, and three transitional Heads of Schools. A number of women also hold senior positions at the levels of Director and Deputy or Assistant Director, and as Heads of Residence."

UNE's School of Education, UNICEF Australia, and the Bhutan Ministry of Education have collaborated since 1993 on a project that has successfully developed the skills of teachers working in "multigrade" (i.e. single-teacher) schools in remote areas of Bhutan. The UNE leader of that project, Associate Professor Tom Maxwell, and his colleague in the School of Education, Dr Charles Kivunja, recently returned from a trip to Africa, where they explored the possibility of similar programs in Zambia and Uganda.

In Zambia they had detailed discussions with teacher educators at the University of Zambia and representatives of the Ministry of Education and UNICEF Zambia. Zambia's enthusiasm for the proposed multigrade project was matched in Uganda, where they visited Kyambogo University and the Ministry of Education and Sports in Kampala.

"The long-term goal of the project would be to alleviate poverty through education," Dr Maxwell said. "Both countries are keen to participate in the venture."

As a result of the visit to Africa by Dr Maxwell and Dr Kivunja, the University of Zambia is applying to the British Council for a three-year grant under the Council's "Development Partnerships in Higher Education" scheme which would enable UNE educators – in association with UNICEF – to assist both Zambia and Uganda in setting up training programs for multigrade teachers.

The project would involve UNE staff in an initial survey of the current and potential extent of multigrade teaching in both countries, pilot studies of multigrade teaching in selected primary schools, and the development of courses for training multigrade teachers.

"As in Bhutan," Dr Maxwell said, "the emphasis would be on assisting the higher education institutions in these African countries to develop multigrade teacher training programs for themselves."

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here shows children at Chengengelele Community School near Lusaka in Zambia. Click on this image to see a photograph of the school's Acting Principal, Mr Willard Mambo (standing) with UNE's Dr Charles Kivunja and Associate Professor Tom Maxwell.

She heard the views of students, managers (including the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alan Pettigrew), and sporting and community groups, and told them that the Government was committed to ensuring that Australian universities remained "world-class institutions with vibrant campuses".

During her 10-day, Australia-wide tour, Ms Ellis (pictured here) will be meeting representatives of virtually every Australian university and their related communities. Representatives of Southern Cross University and the University of Southern Queensland also attended today's meetings at UNE.

Since the introduction of VSU in July 2006 and the consequent loss of revenue from compulsory union fees, the University itself has provided more than $700,000 a year to help maintain student services and sporting facilities. UNE has been successful in attracting $6.2 million in Federal Government "VSU Transition" funding – mainly for the building and maintenance of sporting facilities. The Minister's tour is aimed at helping the Government look beyond the life of the Transition Fund to the long-term prosperity of universities.

Arriving in Armidale this morning, the Minister said her national tour had been planned to ensure that she had "opportunities to hear regional voices". She said she was aware, from submissions received by the Government, of the importance of some of the University's facilities – including Sport UNE and the Belgrave Cinema – to the wider New England community. After her meetings with students and staff, she said that UNE had, indeed, provided her with "a different perspective – particularly in the way the University interacts with the community".

The Vice-Chancellor said that having the Minister on campus at UNE for the day was "a great opportunity not only to hear about the Government's ideas but also to highlight the distinctive nature of the University of New England and the importance we place on providing the best possible services to our students and the broader Armidale community".

From Armidale, the Minister's tour takes her to Brisbane, Townsville and Darwin, and she is due back in Canberra on Wednesday 12 March. She will then be reading and analysing written responses to a discussion paper on the impact of VSU that is available on the Internet at www.dest.gov.au/vsu. The closing date for these responses is Tuesday 11 March. "I'll be sifting through what I hope will be lots and lots of submissions," she said.

THE PHOTOGRAPH of the Minister for Youth, Kate Ellis, displayed here expands to include UNE student representatives (from left) Emily Hill, Beau Picking, Justin Arnold and Ben Graham.

Everyone is invited to hear David Frankel, Reader in Archaeology at La Trobe University in Melbourne, deliver the 12th annual Maurice Kelly Lecture at 5.30 pm on Wednesday 5 March. Dr Frankel will discuss the research that he and his colleague Dr Jennifer Webb and their team have undertaken at the ancient site of Deneia in central Cyprus.

More than a thousand Bronze Age underground chamber tombs can still be identified in several extensive cemetery areas beside the village of Deneia. These extraordinary burial grounds were in use for at least a millennium, from the beginning of the Bronze Age at about 2400 BCE. The large quantities of attractive pottery (illustrated here) which were placed with the dead allow researchers to document the size and development of the community and its changing social relationships with other areas of Bronze Age Cyprus.

UNE's Museum of Antiquities, which presents the annual Maurice Kelly Lecture, has some items from Deneia which were donated by Mrs Eve Stewart almost a decade ago.

His presentation on Wednesday, in Lecture Theatre 111 of UNE's Education Building, will be preceded at 5 pm by refreshments in the room opposite.

"Those who recall David Frankel's fine lecture in the Aspects of Antiquity series a few years ago will know that they are guaranteed a first rate talk on the 5th of March – informative and enjoyable," said UNE's Professor Greg Horsley, Chair of the Museum of Antiquities Board. Professor Horsley urged everyone in the New England region with an interest in the past to avail themselves of opportunities such as this Museum lecture "to hear world-class speakers".

The annual lecture is named in honour of Dr Maurice Kelly who established the Museum within the Classics Department at the University in 1959. Dr and Mrs Kelly have lived in Armidale since 1954.

Dr Adret (pictured here), from the University of Chicago, is a neuroscientist who works on vocal learning in songbirds – a field with important implications for medical research on neurological conditions such as speech disorders and epilepsy.

He conducted his postgraduate research in UNE's Physiology Department, completing his PhD thesis in 1988. Late last month his PhD supervisor at UNE, Emeritus Professor Lesley Rogers, and her colleague Professor Gisela Kaplan, welcomed him back to their Centre for Neuroscience and Animal Behaviour at UNE, where, surrounded by current postgraduate students, he relived his postgraduate days.

"I'm very excited to be back at UNE for the first time since completing my postgraduate studies here," Dr Adret said. "The lab feels very familiar – even after 20 years."

Arriving at UNE from his native France in 1985, Patrice Adret found himself (after a few months of self-directed research) under the supervision of Professor Rogers – a world-renowned authority on brain lateralisation in the development and behaviour of the domestic chicken. Working on visual lateralisation in feral chickens, his PhD research flourished at UNE, where he learnt many experimental techniques that he has continued to use throughout his scientific career.

That career continued – after he had completed his PhD studies in 1988 – at St Andrew's University in Scotland where, working with Dr P.J.B. Slater in the study of zebra finches, he made significant contributions to one of the most keenly-pursued research endeavours in comparative neuroscience – an understanding of how birds learn to sing. This is of particular interest to neuroscientists because songbirds learn their songs through processes of vocal copying and auditory feedback analogous to those employed by human infants when learning to speak. A fascinating difference between birds and humans, however, is that neurons controlling those processes in the songbird brain are able to regenerate – after periods of atrophy – with the seasonal onset of singing.

After six years at St Andrew's ("good years" as he remembers them) he moved to the University of Chicago to work with the prominent neuroscientist Dr Daniel Margoliash in his attempt to identify a network of neurons corresponding to the "acquired auditory template" that is thought to guide birds through the process of vocal imitation. Their work continues, and, together with Dr Kurt Hecox, they are exploring the possibility of using the songbird brain (and particularly those neural networks associated with vocal learning) as a model in developing treatments for epilepsy in children.

Another goal is to apply an understanding of neuronal regeneration in songbirds to possible treatments for brain damage in humans – including damage caused by diseases such as Alzheimer's.

During his visit to UNE, Dr Adret presented a lecture on the search for the "song-learning template", prefacing his discussion of auditory memory in songbirds with comments on his own "wonderful memories" of UNE.