What's On at UWA

The Confucius Institute will be running our 3rd intake of our Chinese Language courses. We offer an ongoing series of Chinese language classes from Beginners to Advanced levels and Business Chinese.

Our language courses are designed for those with an interest in travel, business and friendship. Our teachers are qualified Chinese language teaching professionals with many years of experience.

Wetlands in north-western Australia have significant national and international value since they sustain a large number of endemic Samphire, species growing under saline, waterlogged, and dry conditions. We investigate the ecophysiological aspects of these succulent species using a combination of spectral measurements, pigment concentrations and environmental variables.

We correlated samphire tissue pigment concentrations with climatic data and determined the relationships between pigments and field spectroradiometer readings for Tecticornia indica, one of the dominant samphire species in WA. Tecticornia plants with visually different colour contained different pigment concentrations and reflected differentially the visible light, in particular at wavelengths between 500 and 700 nm.

The reflectance data obtained by the spectrometry indicated that spectral detection of pigments could be used to identify changes in plant pigments, as well as other changes in vegetation status produced by different stress drivers. This methodology offers a rapid/reliable approach to describe natural ecosystems and evaluate the impact of human activities in marshes and wetlands ecosystems.

Biography:

Victoria, Completed a PhD in Agronomy Sciences from University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her study area is the Ecohydrology of arid zones. Since 2011 I have worked with Dr Erik Veneklaass and Tim Colmer at the School of Plant Biology (UWA) on a project related to vegetation dynamics in areas affected by mining activities in the Pilbara’s region. she has work at different spatial scales, from leaf and plant and plot scale using both glasshouse and field experiments and remote sensing technologies.

PS* This seminar is free and open to the public & no RSVP required.

****All Welcome****

The Prospective Students Office is providing a guided walking tour of UWA's Crawley Campus in the July school holidays (18 July 2013).

These tours are for prospective students (and their parents) who would like to find out more about studying at UWA whilst taking in the beautiful gardens and buildings at the Crawley campus.

The tour finishes at the Admissions Centre & Prospective Students Office where you will be able to collect course brochures.

Tours run for approximately one hour. Please bring a jacket and wet weather gear if necessary.

The 2013 Vincent Fairfax Oration by Tony Cripps Chief Executive Officer, HSBC Bank Australia.

Tony Cripps will talk through his banking experiences in markets across different continents, and how financial services should change and respond to meet the political and regulatory challenges and societal expectations of today.

The Vincent Fairfax Oration, part of a wider program funded by the Vincent Fairfax Ethics in Leadership Foundation, was established as a way of engaging leaders from different sectors of society in discussion, debate and on-going conversations about ethics and leadership. The Oration focuses on ethics and leadership as they apply to topics of relevance to Australian society.

The Vincent Fairfax Oration is presented by The University of Western Australia and the Centre for Ethical Leadership, Melbourne Business School.

LIWA invites you to a free seminar on: "Understanding childhood susceptibility to otitis media: genetic and environmental risk factors" by Dr Sarra Jamieson, Genetics and Health Division, Telethon Institute for Child Health Research. A light lunch will be served from 12.00pm with a 12.30pm – 1.30pm presentation.

The Symposium of WA Neuroscience (SWAN) will be held in association with the Neurotrauma Research Program of WA on Tuesday the 23rd of July, 2013 at The University of Western Australia in the MCS lecture theatre (G33).

This year SWAN will comprise four sessions. The first of these is titled CNS Disorders with guest speaker Dr Penny Flett. The second session will focus on Neuromuscular Research and will include invited speaker Dr Nigel Clarke from the University of Sydney. The third session encompasses Visual and Basic Neuroscience and will feature Dr Olivia Carter (University of Melbourne). The final session will encompass Stroke, Acquired Brain Injury and other CNS Injuries, featuring Clinical Professor David Blacker and insights from the community to facilitate communication between neuroscientists, care providers and patients.

Students and early career researchers will be presenting their research and competing for cash prizes. Registration is free but required for catering purposes; registrations close on the 8th of July. To register, please email [email protected].

We hope that you will join us for a day of high quality neuroscience presentations, then relax at the Sundowner afterwards.

The Annual George Seddon Lecture series will be presented this year by Peter Newman, John Curtin Distinguished Professor of Sustainability, Curtin University.

The lecture will present perspectives on the liveliness, greening, residential qualities, regeneration projects, foreshore and railway barriers, and transport. It will be illustrated with photos from the George Seddon and David Ravine book A City and its Setting compared with perspectives today taken by photographer Michael Lewi.

The lecture will be followed by an informal reception.

Agricultural production in Ghana is mainly carried out by smallholder farmers on a subsistence basis. Smallholders constitute about 95% of the farming population and produce 80% of the annual output.

This study investigates the level of technical efficiency of farms using a sample of 294 households from the Upper East region of Ghana. Bootstrap DEA methods are used to estimate technical efficiency and the factors affecting efficiency are examined. This is the first study that uses bootstrap DEA methods in efficiency analysis of agriculture in Ghana.

Results from the application of the nonparametric DEA frontier models show that mean technical efficiency is low and there is significant variability in efficiency among the sample farms. The results imply that agricultural productivity can be increased substantially through improvement in technical efficiency.

From a policy point of view educational status and use of hired labour have been found to hold the greatest potential for improving technical efficiency in Ghanaian agriculture.

Keywords: Bootstrap DEA, Ghana, policy, smallholders, technical efficiency

Short bio,

Luke Abatania commenced his PhD research in the School of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Western Australia (UWA) in March 2009.

Abatania’s background is in Agricultural Economics and his research focus has been on the adoption and impact of improved technologies on farm household welfare. His current research interests are in productivity and an efficiency analysis of smallholder agricultural production.

Abatania has worked as an Agricultural Economist/Research Fellow at the following organisations in Ghana: Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (1992-2006), International Food Policy Research Institute (2006-2007), University of Ghana (2007-date). He was also a part-time lecturer at the University for Development Studies in Ghana (2002-2004).

Abatania holds a Master of Philosophy degree from the University of Ghana. He submitted a thesis to UWA in June 2013 for the award of a PhD degree and is currently awaiting the result.

PS* This seminar is free and open to the public & no RSVP required.

****All Welcome****

The task for the 10 finalists is to give an engaging talk on their PhD topic and it's significance in language that everyone can understand - in just 3 minutes. The audience will vote for its People's Choice.

Join the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery on Friday 26th July 2013 at 6pm for the opening of HERE&NOW13 - an exhibition of 11 Western Australian artists with disability.

Featured artists include Katrina Barber, Patrick Carter, Clive Collender, Aquinas Crowe, David Guhl, Tim Maley, Julian Poon, Jane Ryan, Robert Turpin, Lisa Uhl and Robin Warren.

HERE&NOW13 is presented in partnership with DADAA - a not-for-profit community arts and cultural development (CACD) organisation, focusing on creating significant positive social change and opportunities for people with a disability or a mental illness.

The Campus Partner for the exhibition is the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research.

The opening event is a great opportunity to hear about the exhibition, the partnerships and to meet with the artists and their mentors.

Light refreshments and drinks will be served.

Exhibition runs until 28 September 2013.

'Becoming an Engineer with UWA' info evening: Prospective students and their parents are invited to attend one of our info sessions to learn more about how to achieve an engineering career with UWA.

Free 50min Concert every Thursday during Semester at 1:10pm

Carrie McGee from the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) will present the annual Salek Minc Lecture for 2013 on Thursday 1 August 6pm at the UniClub Theatre Auditorium.

Carrie McGee and her colleagues at the MoMA have won international respect for their unique efforts to make the MoMA’s extensive resources, collection and programs accessible to visitors with disabilities.

In this lecture Carrie will discuss the development and outcomes of MoMA’s programs, including the world-renowned MoMA Alzheimer’s Project, in order to validate the notion that high quality arts programming positively impacts the physical, intellectual and emotional lives of those who participate.

The 2013 Salek Minc Lecture is co-presented by the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery and the Institute of Advanced Studies.

For more information visit: http://www.lwgallery.uwa.edu.au/publicprogram/salekminc/_nocache

As part of the HERE&NOW13 exhibition program, the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery is hosting the 'Disability and the Arts' Symposium on 2nd and 3rd of August.

This two-day symposium brings together a range of Western Australian organisations to discuss the importance of enabling people with disability access to, and involvement in the arts.

The symposium's keynote address will be given by Carrie McGee, Associate Educator for Community and Access Programs at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York.

The program includes forums, panels and presentations by a broad range of artists, doctors, researchers, occupational therapists and arts administrators.

The campus partner for the symposium is the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research

Full list of speakers: http://www.lwgallery.uwa.edu.au/exhibitions/han13/symposium/speakers/_nocache

Visit the Symposium website for full program, list of speakers and to register: http://www.lwgallery.uwa.edu.au/exhibitions/han13/symposium

Julianne Baird has been hailed by the New York Times as ‘possessing a natural musicianship which engenders singing of supreme expressive beauty’. She is recognised internationally as a musician whose virtuosic and expressive vocal style has made her the ‘unsurpassed mistress of late Renaissance and Baroque music’ (Fanfare Magazine). Julianne Baird is Institute of Advanced Studies Professor-at-Large at the University of Western Australia in 2013. She will be joined by Paul Wright (violin), Suzanne Wijsman (cello), and Stewart Smith (harpsichord and organ), in a program of exquisite and enchanting Italian and German baroque music.

For Tickets: http://www.music.uwa.edu.au/concerts/keyed-up

A public lecture by Winthrop Professor Kadambot H.M Siddique, AM FTSE, Director, The UWA Institute of Agriculture.

Cost: Free, Register: http://2050food.eventbrite.com.au/#

Australia is currently a net food exporting country and about 70% of the food produced is exported. The presentation will cover our current food production, population growth and the impact of climate change on food production and export. In order to maintain Australia’s food production capacity in 2050, we must innovate, adopt and reform. We need to bring existing knowledge into use; build the capacity of institutions to undertake strategic research, development and extension; increase R, D & E investment; conduct research that meets the needs of agriculture and ensure research has impact and undertake microeconomic reform.

The Westerly Centre (UWA) and St George's College present the second Randolph Stow Memorial Lecture. Acclaimed poet, critic, novelist, essayist and editor of the recent volume of Randolph Stow's Selected Poetry, 'The Land's Meaning', John Kinsella will present this free public lecture. Wine and cheese will be served after the lecture. All welcome.

The Westerly Centre and St Georges College will present the second annual Randolph Stow memorial lecture on Tuesday the 6th of August.

Wine and cheese will be served after the lecture.

Guest speaker Professor John Kinsella, in association with the Westerly Centre for Australian Literature, will present the Randolph Stow Memorial Lecture and will talk about Randolph Stow’s Unselected Poetry. All are welcome to attend.

The UWA Student Guild has its 100th birthday this year. Prosh Days past, political militancy, protest marches, the campaign for female equality... it’s been quite a ride.

Among many other centenary events, we invite you to an exhibition called The Guild Museum; curated by 2011 Guild Councillor and curatorial studies student Chantelle Mitchell, assisted by passionate volunteers and the Guild Centenary Planning Committee.

You’ll see a selection of items (including photographs and memorabilia) reflecting 100 years of history of one of the longest-running student organisations in Australia.

Open to the public, with special opening times of 10am – 2pm over the weekend of 10-11 August, including the UWA Open Day on the Sunday.

Tours will be available daily at 1pm, starting at the Gallery. Bookings are essential. Contact [email protected] or phone (08) 6488 295.