What's On at UWA

You are invited to an informal Open Day at the UWA Turf Research Facility to see how different water allocations, in combination with wetting-agents, have influenced the development of dry-patch. A brief presentation will commence at 10:15am sharp. Please remember to wear sturdy footwear, as the site is very sandy. RSVP appreciated

As with all international students who come to study at UWA, AusAID students face many challenges. They need to understand local geography, adapt to our cultural and social norms, adjust to a different climate and food and quickly come to terms with their role and responsibility in the UWA community. While the staff in the International Centre provides a comprehensive orientation program, it can still take some time for these students to settle in to their new environment.

The AusAID Connect program was established to provide our AusAID students with the experience of meeting and spending time with a local family. Jointly run by the Alumni Relations office and the International Sponsored Student Unit at UWA, it gives you, as a UWA alumnus, the opportunity to make a positive difference in the life of a student adjusting to being so far from their home, by hosting them at a dinner in your home.

Alumni interested in being involved firstly need to fill out the program registration form and sign the authorisation. We will then review all applicants and match the students with alumni families based on information provided by both parties. As a part of this matching process we may contact you by telephone. Participating alumni will then receive information on the student as well as the country and culture from which they come.

If you are matched with a student you will need to attend a function on Friday, 8 March 2013 which is for all participating alumni, families and students to meet, start to get to know each other and arrange your hosting dinner.

Close of Applications is the 21st of February

In this talk, Sharon Farmer, Professor of History at University of California Santa Barbara will use examples from Medieval and Early Modern Europe to challenge the major tenet of twenty-first century conservatism that, when it comes to taking care of those who cannot take provide for themselves, societies that rely on systems of private charity are far superior to those that rely on government sponsored systems of social welfare.

This lecture is presented by the Institute of Advanced Studies and the Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at The University of Western Australia.

The O-Day Festival is a great opportunity to get involved with the social side of uni and activate your Guild membership, join clubs and societies and then wrap up the day with a huge concert on the Oak Lawn!

Headlining the O-Day Festival are hot Australian band, Last Dinosaurs - who are here as part of their First Degree Tour. Other acts include Sun City, DJ Lindsay, and some other special guests!

Time: 11am - 6:30pm (Concert starts at 2pm!) Place: James Oval and Oak Lawn, UWA When: 22nd February, 2013 Who: EVERYONE.

Don't miss the biggest student event on campus and and the best way to kick start your uni year!

The 2013 Guild O-Day Festival is an alcohol and drug free event.

There is a popular view of biological development which goes something like this. Biological form is the cumulative result of internal genetic forces and external environmental ones. Like all models in biology this rather neat view had the advantage of allowing researchers to navigate a path through the bewildering complexity of organic life. But like all metaphors it comes at the price of bewitchment. As Wittgenstein writes in Philosophical Investigations 115: “a picture held us captive and we could not escape it because it lay in our language”. One consequence of this bewitchment is that explanatory privilege was given to the internal 'code' enshrined in the DNA, a view most famously (or notoriously) associated with Richard Dawkins' gene-centric account of evolution. This apparently resolved a number of outstanding puzzles in theoretical biology notably the transmission of stable form across generations.

In this context, the Human Genome Project can be seen as the most fruitful failure in scientific history. Such a claim may seem puzzling, since the Human Genome Project might be considered a success, not least in the numerous promising advances in medicine that it presaged. Nevertheless, the somewhat hyperbolic claim that it would finally unlock the secret code which would reveal what it means to be human have been largely unfulfilled and with good reason. There never was such a code.

The last two decades in the biological sciences can be characterised by the slogan: Taking Development Seriously. Whereas the neo-Darwinian mathematical modellers tended to treat the actual process of development as a black box, a sustained effort is now underway to explain the relationship between evolution (phylogeny) and organismic development (ontogeny). One thing has become clear: the simple dichotomous picture of gene and environment is inadequate, even as a simplifying device. DNA rarely exists in isolation and where it does it is inert. There is no reason to give DNA causal or explanatory privilege in developmental processes. Rather, development is a complex and contingent process in which the developing organism constructs itself and to some extent its developmental environment from the resources at hand. The organism makes its own history albeit not in circumstances of its choosing.

If the code metaphor is no longer adequate what can replace it? In this talk I will suggest a new and hopefully fruitful analogy which might capture some of the complexities involved. I will compare the process of biological development to the construction of a Shakespearean play. As Shakespeare scholars have long known there are no definitive Shakespeare texts and it seems likely that Shakespeare never actually sat down and wrote Hamlet or Much Ado About Nothing. Rather the plays were workshopped and Shakespeare provided prompt notes to the players. The texts with which we are familiar are re-constructions of performances which have been handed down corrected and interpreted through numerous generations. Most crucially every new performance of Shakespeare is an interpretation be it a group of Lesbian players doing in Hamlet in Soweto or an 'authentic Elizabethan dress' performance at the Globe in London. Moreover, every performance takes place in a rich and complex interpretative environment and the audience plays as much a role in the play's construction as the author or players.

Similarly, all the natural world is a stage, or so I shall argue.

Dr. Richard Paul Hamilton completed a PhD on love as a social phenomenon, under the supervision of Professors Susan James and Jennifer Hornsby at Birkbeck College, The University of London. He works on moral philosophy, the philosophy of the emotions, the philosophy of action and the philosophy of social sciences with particular interests in the legal definition of morally contested concepts. His most recent publications have dealt with evolutionary psychology and love as an essentially contested concept. He is currently engaged in a project investigating the biological bases of moral conduct. Before arriving at Notre Dame, he taught at the University of Manchester, the University of Leeds and Manchester Metropolitan University.

UWA's free open and online courses begin with "Developing the Sociological Imagination" and "Ocean Solutions"

Registration is free

A trillion text messages are sent and received every hour. Every minute 48 hours of video is uploaded on YouTube alone. The “present” has never been as ever-present as it is now. Institute of Advanced Studies Writer-in-Residence Kunal Basu will discuss whether such a high premium on the instantaneous and the topical in our “fact rich” world obliterate historical imagination.

Free, but RSVP essential. Bookings: www.ias.uwa.edu.au/lectures/basu

Recent developments in water accounting include the release of:-

1. the Australian Water Accounting Standard,

2. a draft Water Accounting Assurance Standard for public comment,

3. a Water Accounting Framework for the members of the Minerals Council of Australia,

4. the third iteration of the National Water Account by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and;

5. research into the potential for International adoption of Australia’s water accounting standards.

Research into world trends in water management and reporting show that Australia is leading the world in the development and deployment of water accounting.

Western Australia leads the way in water accounting for groundwater systems. Lindsay Preece will in this presentation outline water accounting developments at the National, State and Local levels and why the time is right for Universities and Corporations to get actively involved.

BIO:

Lindsay Preece is a Chartered Accountant with more than 30 years experience in the public and private sectors.

In government Lindsay has worked for 13 agencies and most recently held key positions at the Department of Planning and at the Water Department.

At Planning, Lindsay was the Secretary to the Western Australian Planning Commission.

Currently at the Department of Water, Lindsay leads Water Information and Modelling which encompasses spatial datasets, time series data collected from a telemetry network, the capture of data from monitoring bores, modelling and water accounting development.

Lindsay’s Top 20 customers include Commonwealth, State and Local Governments, Universities and their students, Mining Companies, Engineering and Water Consultants and; his team provisions 40,000 data requests every year.

Since 2007 Lindsay has been proactively involved in the development of water accounting at the local and national scale.

He represented Western Australia on a number of national committees – most recently providing technical input into the development of the Australian Water Accounting Standard and the draft Australian Water Accounting Assurance standard.

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

****All Welcome****

An investigation of science podcasting, using social media and the reach of online radio. What is podcasting, what can it contribute to the understanding of science and what are the pros and cons of using such a medium? Kylie Sturgess has been podcasting since 2005, and brings her experience and research into the medium of science podcasting under the microscope.

Kylie Sturgess is a Philosophy teacher, who has lectured on pseudoscientific and anomalistic beliefs worldwide. She is the host of the Token Skeptic podcast, a show that looks at the intersection of science, media and pop culture. Kylie writes for a number of publications, including CSICOP’s ‘Curiouser and Curiouser’ online column, and enjoys combining her love of art, science, and social media as a means of communicating science to the public.

You are invited to join us mark the 100th anniversary of the first meeting of the University of Western Australia’s Convocation.

The First meeting was held on March 4th 1913 in St George’s Hall, Hay St near the corner of Irwin Street. The historic façade including the portico, steps and tall white columns were restored when the new Perth District Court was constructed behind it at 500 Hay Street. To celebrate the Centenary of this meeting, a photo-shoot of 100 'graduates' will take place on the steps of the façade at 10am on Monday March 4th 2013.

The UWA Historical Society would be delighted if you could join us.

If you have academic robes, please bring them. If not please come anyway, as having just a few robed members will provide the ‘flavour’. Balloons for a joint release will be provided.

Monday March 4th is a public Holiday (Labour Day). There should be nearby street parking available and there is a public parking station across the road at King’s Hotel.

The UWA Centum will be there

The Prospective Students Office is providing a guided walking tour of UWA's Crawley Campus on the Labour Day long weekend (4 March 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.

As a planetary body ages, its internal heat gradually escapes to the surface. In Earth-like bodies, this slow cooling may lead to solidification of iron-rich cores and provide energy sources for magnetic dynamos. In giant planets’ icy moons, this slow cooling may result in freezing of their sub-surface oceans and alter their structure and dynamics.

In this lecture, Professor Li will show recent experimental results of:

1. the iron-sulfur binary system melting at high pressure, which suggest Mercury’s core may actually be “snowing” and which reveal new mechanisms for the planet’s dynamo; 2. the thermal conductivity of water-ices under high pressure, with implications for the thermal evolution history of giant planets’ icy moons.

Implications for extra-terrestrial life will be discussed.

Cost: Free, but RSVP essential. To register a place - http://www.ias.uwa.edu.au/lectures/li

Dr Anahita Movassagh Riegler will discuss her PhD which she has recently completed at the Faculty of Law, UWA. The topic Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is rooted in the inequality of power between men and women. In countries where patriarchal attitudes are dominant, such as in some Muslim countries, State laws provide men with more rights and place them in a superior position to women.

If you're a Year 12 student, or a parent of a Year 12 student, this session will give you information about UWA's courses, admission requirements and how to achieve your study and career goals.

UWA staff from the Prospective Students Office will be available to answer questions after the presentation.

A Lecture by Director and Playwright, David Milroy.

In being commissioned to contribute to this anthology I was intrigued by the theme that had been chosen. Given the recent traumatic events caused by bushfires in the South West and other parts of Australia, it is a topical theme. While it could have been easily misconstrued as an insensitive topic it is as I see it a theme that evokes all the senses which bind us to this country, and to this land. Whether it is the smell of burning grass trees in the South West or a spinifex fire in the Pilbara, or the raging inferno that consumed country Victoria, we are all touched in some way by the enigma that is fire.

In the first half of my talk, I will explore some of the dimensions of fire as it has shaped my experience of the land, as a Palyku and a Western Australian. In the second half, I will discuss some of the West Australian cultural, historical and geographical influences that have inspired my work and my contribution to the anthology, ‘Walardu and Karla’ the fire that had burned for more than twenty years.

Join us after the lecture when Winthrop Professor Carmen Lawrence will launch the anthology.

Cost: Free, but registration essential via http://www.ias.uwa.edu.au/lectures/milroy

Organisational accidents are typically rare, catastrophic events that can occur within complex modern systems such as nuclear power plants, commercial aviation, petrochemical plants, aerospace, marine, rail transport and complex technological organisations such as banks and mines. It is generally appreciated that single causes of system failures are extremely rare and that they usually result from a series of (relatively minor) events that become chained together to enable a disastrous outcome or failure to occur. Organisational accidents therefore, usually have multiple causes involving many systems and people operating at different levels of their respective companies and can have devastating effects on stakeholders, assets and the environment.

Today there are very few mining organisations that can survive the financial, legal and environmental repercussions from a major failure. This talk will illustrate how systemic (epidemiological) accident model theory, that has been very successfully applied in the aerospace and petrochemical industries in particular, can and has been applied to prevent failures in all aspects of mining organisations. The presentation will illustrate how the design and construction of successive layers of protection and defences contribute to ensuring a complex well‐defended mining operational system that not only addresses risks from physical mining activities and processing, but the stability of all types of landforms on the mine as well as surface and ground water contamination and management.

A critical issue in managing mining organisational risk is adapting to constant change that includes transfer of ownership and temporary cessation of mining activities (i.e. periods of care and maintenance). During these periods, organisation risk from the stability of landforms and water contamination does not reduce and may actually increase. The final aspect of the presentation details how layers of protection and defences need to be adapted accordingly to meet different types of change management requirements.

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

****All Welcome****

If you're a Year 12 student, or a parent of a Year 12 student, this session will give you information about UWA's courses, admission requirements and how to achieve your study and career goals.

UWA staff from the Prospective Students Office will be available to answer questions after the presentation.

Free 50min Concert every Thursday during Semester

Choral evensong with the UWA Winthrop Singers, featuring Weelkes' Short Service and Stanford's Justorum Animae

About the Speaker

Margaret Watroba was born in Poland, the youngest of identical twins by 10 mins. As a 12 year old who loved geography and wished to explore other countries and cultures, Margaret discovered she could not realise her dreams in a communist country. It was then that she decided that she would one day live in a free country where the government could never deny her the freedom to travel.

Margaret studied electrical engineering at Poland's prestigious university, AGH in Krakow. She graduated with a Masters degree in Science Electrical Engineering. In 1980 Margaret and her husband fled from communist Poland with their two young daughters. They arrived in Australia in July 1980, with no English, no money and no friends or family. However, with the relief and excitement of having made it to a free country, their positive attitude and hard work saw them both achieve success.

Margaret succeeded in the male dominated engineering profession and is now a principal electrical engineer at Australia's biggest resources company BHP Billiton (Nickel West division). Her passion for sport and travel and her drive and determination to achieve the goals she sets for herself are stronger than ever. She cycles at least 40km every day (and three times that on weekends), runs, swims, participates in fun runs, marathons, cycling time trials and raises money for various charities in the process. She began her mountain climbing adventures a few years ago and has since conquered several mountain peaks of 6000m or more. These include, the Americas' highest peak Aconcagua in the Andes (6962m), she is the first successful female in Australia to summit Manaslu in the Himalayas, the world's eighth highest mountain at 8163m, and technically a more difficult climb than Mt Everest.

In 2011, Margaret conquered her "unfinished business" on Mt Everest. After a gruelling climb in 2010 Margaret missed reaching the summit of Mt Everest by an agonising 50m, due to bad weather forecasts. She returned to Mt Everest in April 2011, and on 12 May she finally made it to the summit despite once again the weather deteriorating and forcing the other members of her team to turn back. In -50 degrees and gale force winds, Margaret stood at the summit of Mt Everest, on top of the world - an achievement which is testament not only to that gruelling climb, but of Margaret's character and personal life journey to date. She is no doubt destined for more adventures, redefining what a person is capable of achieving, no matter what barriers lie ahead.

Through ability and determination Margaret scaled the male dominated engineering profession and the highest mountain on earth. Margaret describes herself as ‘determined, goal oriented and dedicated’ and always states: ‘I/we came to Australia with nothing but I always knew and believed that I can succeed if I put my mind into it‘