What's On at UWA

Masterclass - Mark Coughlan

The HSK is China’s officially recognised language proficiency exam. All HSK results are internationally recognised as proof of Chinese language proficiency. 2014 HSK testing will be held on Saturday 12th April 2014 at UWA Claremont Campus.

Since 1972, Adelaide’s Patch Theatre Company have delighted over 1½ million children with their award-winning and charming productions.

Six whimsical stories by award-winning children’s writer, Pamela Allen, emerge from dozens of suitcases and crates as three curious warehouse workers transform a storeroom into an enchanting miracle of music and play for 3 to 9 year-olds.

“It is rare to see a show that leaves an avid theatre-goer wanting more. Mr. McGee does.” Minneapolis Star Tribune

National Helpmann Award for Best Children’s Presentation 2008.

SCHOOL BOOKINGS: Call the Enquiry Line 08 6488 2440 (noon-4pm, weekdays) or email [email protected] to get significant ticket savings for children and free teacher tickets for every 10 children.

In recent years there has been an international boom of contemporary arts by Muslims living in and outside the West. This global eruption of creative expression defies traditional boundaries by melding histories, lived experiences and artistic practices in an effort to express multiple Muslim identities.

Creative Expressions of Muslim Identity through Contemporary art is a unique symposium bringing together world-renowned French-Tunisian graffiti artist eL Seed and Sydney based graphic designer Peter Gould alongside an array of emerging Perth artists including Tusif Ahmad, Suzi Elhafez and Abdul Abdullah.

The Symposium will focus on two themes; Classical interplays of Islamic art and Creative expressions of Muslim experiences to answer the following questions:

• What is the importance of arts and creativity in Islamic traditions? • What are current understandings of arts and creative expression in Muslim communities locally and internationally? • What opportunities and challenges exist between ‘traditional’ or ‘classical’ Islamic art and contemporary art by Muslims? And; • How do Muslim artists interpret their experiences of being Muslim into multiple contemporary art forms?

We expect the symposium to be open and constructive with the aim of listening and viewing the work of the artists and panelists.

Guests are also welcome to join the artists and other guests for a post-symposium dinner at 6pm.

Symposium Cost: $30 Student/Concession $35 Full/Standard

Post-Symposium Dinner Cost: $15 Student/Concession $20 Full/Standard

Since 1972, Adelaide’s Patch Theatre Company have delighted over 1½ million children with their award-winning and charming productions.

Six whimsical stories by award-winning children’s writer, Pamela Allen, emerge from dozens of suitcases and crates as three curious warehouse workers transform a storeroom into an enchanting miracle of music and play for 3 to 9 year-olds.

“It is rare to see a show that leaves an avid theatre-goer wanting more. Mr. McGee does.” Minneapolis Star Tribune

National Helpmann Award for Best Children’s Presentation 2008.

SCHOOL BOOKINGS: Call the Enquiry Line 08 6488 2440 (noon-4pm, weekdays) or email [email protected] to get significant ticket savings for children and free teacher tickets for every 10 children.

A lecture by Julie McKay, Executive Director, Australian National Committee for UN Women.

Despite significant increases in public debate about gender equality and the empowerment of women, progress towards equality for women is slow, and risks stalling. While measures of women’s workforce participation and women’s educational attainment are used to demonstrate equality, there is very limited public debate on what success would look like with regards to equal opportunities for men and women.

This lecture will outline a vision for equality, focusing on key levers for accelerating progress towards gender equality and discuss the actions required of the international community and the Australian community in 2014.

Cost: free, but RSVP required via http://www.ias.uwa.edu.au/lectures/2014-gvl

Mature-age entry provides flexibility for entering UWA, even if you don't have any previous academic results.

If you are aged 20 or over on 1 March of the year of intended entry, you qualify for our mature-age entry pathways.

Find out which entry pathway is most appropriate for the course you want to apply for, based on your study history.

You can also learn what to expect from student life and the student support services available to you.

Please note: this session is aimed at prospective mature-age students seeking admission to our undergraduate courses. If you are looking at applying for postgraduate study, refer to our Postgraduate Events page (www.studyat.uwa.edu.au/about/events/postgraduate-research)

Admissions Centre and Prospective Students Office staff will be available to answer questions following the presentation.

People make goal directed movements to interact with their environment. We examined how attention is deployed during goal directed movements and how shifts in attention impact these movements. In the first study, we used a dual task paradigm to investigate how attention can be divided between a search task and a pointing task. Results suggest that shared attentional resources between two tasks degrades performance on both tasks. Movement latency, but not movement time, was also affected by dual task conditions. In a second study, we mapped the spatiotemporal profile of attention relative to a reach. Results showed a consistent pattern of facilitation in the planning stages of the reach, with attention increasing and then reaching a plateau during the completion of the movement before dropping off. Altogether, the results suggest that attention can be deployed dynamically during a goal directed movement and affect the outcome of the movement.

Anna was awarded a BA (Hons) from the University of Sydney and a PhD from Macquarie University. She worked as a postdoctoral fellow at UWA with Prof John Ross and Prof David Badcock. Following this Anna won a Rachel C Atkinson Fellowship to work with Dr Suzanne McKee at the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute in San Francisco. She returned to Australia to take up a lectureship at the University of Adelaide and is currently an Assoc Prof in the School of Psychology

Krista Low (MMus Candidate): Cello Performance Practice and the Decline of Romanticism in the Early Twentieth Century

Assistant Professor Ashley Smith: Practising Ferneyhough

Registration is now open for UWA Confucius Institute Intake 2 Chinese Culture and Language Classes! Chinese language classes include adult and children's classes, from beginners to advanced, to suit different study needs. Chinese culture classes include Chinese Medicine and Well-being; Chinese Kong Fu; Chinese Business Culture; Chinese Arts Appreciation; Chinese Language Teacher Training; Chinese Literacy for background/heritage students. To enrol, please email: [email protected] or call us on 6488 6888

Helen Stain is currently Senior Clinical Lecturer at Durham University where the focus of her post is on the research of psychological interventions for youth mental health and includes a clinical role with the NHS Foundation Trust. Prior to this appointment in 2012, Helen was in private practice in Perth, Western Australia, and accepted an academic research appointment with the University of Newcastle based in Orange in rural New South Wales in 2004. As Associate Professor in Psychiatry, Helen was responsible for the rural mental health research program for the Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health, a joint initiative of the University of Newcastle and the NSW Ministry of Health.

Abstract

We currently know that childhood trauma and subclinical psychotic symptoms are pluripotent risk factors for developing major and severe mental illness. For example, the odds ratios following trauma are 4.4 for PTSD, 2.8 for drug abuse, 2.7 for depression, 2.4 for panic disorder, 1.9 for alcohol abuse, 1.9 for simple or social phobia, and 1.8 for generalised anxiety disorder (Teicher & Samson, 2013) with researchers reporting the average odds ratio for a psychotic disorder of 2.9 in a population cohort (Bebbington et al, 2004) and 2.8 in a meta-analysis of approximately 80,000 subjects (Varese et al, 2012). The development of psychopathology for those who have experienced childhood trauma occurs at a younger age, with more severe symptoms, more comorbid disorders, greater suicide risk and a reduced treatment response (Teicher & Samson, 2013).

Trauma or maltreatment occurring in childhood coincides with the period for a child’s development of relational understanding such as attachment to others, and the reflective awareness of self and others (Holmes, 2002). In addition, childhood trauma itself often involves attachment disruption and interpersonal violence in the context of primary relationships. It can therefore disrupt the acquisition of interpersonal relatedness skills, including the desire for affiliation, and lead to difficulty with social functioning in adulthood. This paper will discuss the impact of childhood trauma on mental health and social wellbeing.

With a compelling case, Dr Hugh Ross will challenge the commonly held misconception "everyone knows the Bible teaches scientific nonsense". The study of nature or science will be shown to complement and build confidence in the integrity of the Bible, without having to compromise eithe scientific or biblical integrity. Science shows an expanding universe with a finite beginning that is breathtakingly large and with an incredible fine tuning that has enabled life to floursih on earth. He is not a young earth creationist. Hugh will present from his field of astronomy and other areas of science and theology including material from his books. The Chaplains International Lectures are an occasional series of international level lecturers who are integrating faith and global questions.

Described by The Australian as a 'musical ambassador', Anna Goldsworthy is an award-winning pianist who has performed extensively throughout Australia and internationally, with highlights including solo appearances at the Teatro Colon for the Buenos Aires International Music Festival for the Orchestra of Colours in Athens, and at the Melbourne International Arts Festival.

The Department of Water has an extensive State-wide network of monitoring bores and gauging stations that has records going back to the early 1900’s. The types of projects that Department’s water information was used for in 2013 was wide ranging including: infrastructure proposals, foreshore management plans, Local Government planning strategies, coastal vulnerability studies, drainage modelling, 3D modelling for urban developments, urban water management planning, and academic research.

Goran Alibegovic, Manager Spatial Services & GIS at the Department of Water and Geospatial Analysts Timothy Fardon and Andrew Watson will cover what spatial information is available from the Department, custodianship, who is using it and how do you get hold of it for your research. The access to aspatial information such as water flow, water level, water quality etc. will also be covered.

An overview of the Department’s role in floodplain management (FPM) in Western Australia, with a focus on its GIS functions will also be discussed. The overview will include a background on who we are, the aims of floodplain management, the types of activities undertaken, a description of the FPM datasets, the users of FPM data and a display of historical flood events images.



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

****All Welcome****

From the Royal Institution of Australia and BBC Worldwide Australia & New Zealand

Join us on this amazing journey through space and time as comedian Rob Lloyd, and his crew of scientists, explore the scientific mysteries of Doctor Who.

Featuring original scenes from the iconic BBC television series, join in the fun with your smartphone as we investigate the science of time travel and teleportation, ask if regeneration is possible, and explain how the TARDIS can be bigger on the inside. You will even get an opportunity to decide which Doctor Who alien will take over the universe.

There are no limits to his adventure as we travel the cosmos to reveal The Science of Doctor Who.

Tickets $57.50 from ticketsWA.com

From the Royal Institution of Australia and BBC Worldwide Australia & New Zealand

Join us on this amazing journey through space and time as comedian Rob Lloyd, and his crew of scientists, explore the scientific mysteries of Doctor Who.

Featuring original scenes from the iconic BBC television series, join in the fun with your smartphone as we investigate the science of time travel and teleportation, ask if regeneration is possible, and explain how the TARDIS can be bigger on the inside. You will even get an opportunity to decide which Doctor Who alien will take over the universe.

There are no limits to his adventure as we travel the cosmos to reveal The Science of Doctor Who.

Tickets $57.50 from ticketsWA.com

A public lecture by Jeremy O’Brien, Director of the Centre for Quantum Photonics, University of Bristol.

The impact of quantum technology will be profound and far-reaching: secure communication networks for consumers, corporations and government; precision sensors for biomedical technology and environmental monitoring; quantum simulators for the design of new materials, pharmaceuticals and clean energy devices; and ultra-powerful quantum computers for addressing otherwise impossibly large datasets for machine learning-artificial intelligence applications. However, engineering quantum systems and controlling them is an immense technological challenge: they are inherently fragile; and information extracted from a quantum system necessarily disturbs the system itself. Despite these challenges a small number of quantum technologies are now commercially available. Delivering the full promise of these technologies will require a concerted quantum engineering effort jointly between academia and industry. This lecture will describe our progress in the Centre for Quantum Photonics to delivering this promise using an integrated quantum photonics platform - generating, manipulating and interacting single particles of light (photons) in waveguide circuits on silicon chips.

Cost: Free, but RSVP essential via the online form http://www.ias.uwa.edu.au/lectures/obrien

1. ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, School of Psychology, The University of Western Australia 2. DFG Research Unit Person Perception, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Germany

Two presentations from the Australasian Experimental Psychology Conference.

Abstract Humans typically have better memory for own-race than other-race faces (“own-race bias”). Recently, Hehman et al. (2010) reported improved recognition for other-race faces categorised as belonging to participants’ social in-group (i.e., same university). Faces were studied in groups, containing both own-race and other-race faces, half of each labelled as in-group and out-group, respectively. When study faces were spatially grouped by race, participants showed a clear own-race bias. When faces were grouped by university affiliation, in-group other-race face recognition was indistinguishable from own-race face recognition. Our study aimed at extending this unique finding to other races of faces and participants. Forty Asian and 40 Caucasian participants studied Asian and Caucasian faces. Faces were presented in groups, containing equal numbers of own-university and other-university Asian and European faces. Between participants, faces were grouped either according to race or university affiliation. Eye-tracking was used to study the distribution of spatial attention to individual faces in the display. Participants demonstrated a clear own-race bias, but their memory was unaffected by the faces’ university affiliation and the criterion for their spatial grouping. Eye-tracking revealed looking biases towards both own-race and own-university faces. Results are discussed in light of theoretical accounts of the own-race bias.

Presenter: Dr. Troy Visser, Matthew Tang, David Badcock & James Enns1,

1. School of Psychology, The University of Western Australia 2. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

Title: Temporal cues and the attentional blink: A further examination of the role of expectancy.

Abstract Although perception is typically constrained by limits in available processing resources, these constraints can be overcome if information about environmental properties, such as the spatial location or expected onset time of an object, can be used to direct processing resources to particular sensory inputs. Our work examines these temporal expectancy effects in greater detail in the context of the attentional blink (AB), in which identification of the second of two targets is impaired when targets are separated by less than about half-a-second. We replicate previous results showing that presenting information about the expected onset time of the second target can overcome the AB. Uniquely, we also show that knowledge about expected onset: a) reduces susceptibility to distraction; and, b) can be derived from temporal consistencies in inter-target interval across exposures as long as these consistencies are salient. These results imply that temporal expectancy can benefit object processing at perceptual and post-perceptual stages, and that participants are capable of flexibly encoding consistent timing information about environmental events to aid perception.

Honorary Research Fellow Iain Grandage presents a seminar entitled 'Music in Drama, Drama in Music - A talk in the midst of writing an opera'

An Inquiring Minds lecture by Ned Curthoys, Associate Professor, English and Cultural Studies, UWA.

In this talk Ned Curthoys will discuss Hannah Arendt’s fascinating life and work with a particular focus on how she arrived at some of the more starting conclusions in 'Eichmann in Jerusalem' (1963), such as her seemingly audacious claim that Eichmann ‘didn’t know what he was doing’. He will suggest that despite Arendt’s own subsequent empirical defence of her claims, where she insisted that she was only remarking what she observed of Eichmann, there were various elements in her life history and philosophical approach that encouraged her to reach this epochal revaluation of the nature of evil. He will conclude by discussing the productive legacy of Arendt’s idea in contemporary literature and film.

Cost: Free, but RSVP required via www.ias.uwa.edu.au/lectures/curthoys