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Today's date is Thursday, March 28, 2024
Events for the public
 March 2013
Wednesday 06
16:00 - SEMINAR - CWR Presents : Seconds from Disaster - Managing Mining Organisational Risk. Website | More Information
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****

18:00 - SEMINAR - Year 12 Student Information Evening (repeat session) : Information session for Year 12 students and their parents Website | More Information
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.
Thursday 07
13:10 - EVENT - FREE Lunchtime Concert : Sharon Chung (Piano) Website | More Information
Free 50min Concert every Thursday during Semester

18:00 - EVENT - Evensong : Choral Evensong with The Winthrop Singers More Information
Choral evensong with the UWA Winthrop Singers, featuring Weelkes' Short Service and Stanford's Justorum Animae
Tuesday 12
19:00 - VISITING SPEAKER - Friends of the UWA Library Speaker : Summiting Everest More Information
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‘
Wednesday 13
16:00 - SEMINAR - CWR Presents : The Spectacular Space Shuttle Era: My story, technical and personal Website | More Information
In January 1969, I arrived as a new emigrant to United States at a time of great excitement for adventurers like myself. Astronauts were about to land on the moon and there was much talk of plans for a new spaceship to be called the Space Shuttle. That plan looked surprisingly like the imaginary spaceships I used to draw as a small boy growing up in the little Irish village of Magherafelt, light years away in time and space.

I came to California to join the faculty of the California Institute of Technology, little imagining that I would remain there until I retired over 41 years later. When I finally did retire in April of 2010 the last few Space Shuttle flights were about to take place and the program was winding down. Thus my career coincided with the spectacular Space Shuttle Era and its great successes and tragic failures were mirrored by events in my own personal life.

That vehicle played a very large part in both my technical career and my private life and in this wide-ranging lecture I tell some of those stories, some successful, some exhilarating, some sad and some joyful.

Short bio,

Chris Brennen, Professor of Mechanical Engineering Emeritus at the Californian Institute of Technology . His expertise includes mechanical engineering, fluid flow, multiphase flows, cavitation, turbomachinery, pumps, granular flows. Chris’s research interests are in cavitation and multiphase flows, in turbomachinery and in granular material flows.

Brennen has also authored seven books and more than 180 technical papers.

This visit to CWR/Perth marks Chris’s forth trip to Australia and give us a chance to hear his story, technical and personal.

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

****All Welcome****

18:00 - PUBLIC LECTURE - Abrupt Climate Change in the Arctic: Why should we care? Website | More Information
An Inquiring Minds Lecture by Professor Carlos M. Duarte, Director, UWA Oceans Institute.

The Arctic is the least studied of all regions of the planet, but also that which has warmed fastest to-date and which is predicted to continue to do so along the 21 st century. While the Antarctic Treaty open for an era of scientific investigation and collaboration in Antarctica, the bases in the Arctic were not for science but for the US and the USSR to watch each other’s movement in the chess board of Cold War the Arctic was. Still international collaboration remains challenging in the Arctic. Meanwhile, rapid melting of ice in Greenland and the Arctic Ocean both have shown chatastrophic acceleration in 2012, qualifying the changes in the Arctic as “dangerous climate change” as per the UN Climate Convention. While there are some positives, such as ease of access to resources in the Arctic, triggering a Gold Rush, the forces that the rapid changes in the Arctic can unlock are phenomenal, and can propagate a wave of change to the rest of the planet. The changes in the Arctic should be of everyone’s concern. The challenge that dangerous climate change does not spread, unchecked across the planet.

Cost: Free, but RSVP essential. To register a place visit http://www.ias.uwa.edu.au/lectures/cduarte
Thursday 14
13:10 - EVENT - FREE Lunchtime Concert : Fiona McAndrew (soprano) & David Wickham (piano) Website | More Information
Free 50min Concert every Thursday during Semester at 1:10pm

18:00 - EVENT - Evensong : Choral Evensong with the Winthrop Singers Website | More Information
Choral Evensong with the UWA Winthrop Singers. Feat. Farrant's "Canticles in G Minor" & Arvo Part's "The Woman With The Alabaster Brow."
Friday 15
11:00 - SEMINAR - The farm-level economics of conservation agriculture for resource-poor farmers : SARE/ AARES seminar series Website | More Information
The farm-level economics of conservation agriculture (zero tillage, mulching and crop rotation) are described, reviewed and modelled. The economics are defined broadly to include not just shortterm financial benefits and costs, but also the whole-farm management context, constraints on key resources such as labour and capital, risk and uncertainty, interactions between enterprises, and time-related factors, such as interest rates and the urgency of providing for the farm family. A wealth of evidence shows that these economic factors and variables related to them have significant influences on farmers’ decisions about adoption of conservation agriculture. Literature on the farm-level economics of conservation agriculture for resource-poor farmers is reviewed. There is not a large body of high-quality relevant studies. Those that have been published highlight that the economics are highly heterogeneous and need to be considered on a case-by-case basis. Their results tend to indicate that it would be profitable to adopt conservation agriculture or components of it (although not in all cases). This contrasts with disappointing adoption in many of the regions of interest. Potential reasons for this disparity are discussed. A general model of the farm-level economics of conservation agriculture and its components is presented, and used to illustrate influences on the overall economic attractiveness of conservation agriculture. Key factors that would tend to discourage adoption in situations that otherwise look favourable include: the opportunity cost of crop residues for feed rather than mulch, the short-term reduction in yields under zero tillage plus mulching in some cases, combined with short planning horizons and/or high discount rates of farmers, farmer aversion to uncertainty, and constraints on the availability of land, labour and capital at key times of year. Good quality economic analysis should be used more extensively to guide research and extension in this area, particularly in relation to the targeting of effort, and adaptation of the system to suit local conditions.

15:00 - PUBLIC TALK - A Theatre of Individuation: Theorising BioArt Encounters after Gilbert Simondon : Public talk with Andrew Lapworth Website | More Information
Characterised by interdisciplinary practices at the intersections of arts, sciences, and biotechnologies, the emergent artistic genre of "bioart" is increasingly lauded within the social science literature as a crucial arena through which question and unsettle deep-rooted cultural perceptions of life and the individual, the concept of the self, and the position of the human in relation to other (more-than-human) bodies and the environment (Born and Barry, 2010; Dixon, 2009; Hauser, 2006). It is this understanding of the capacity of bioart to effect ontological change that I want to develop further in this paper through a theorisation of art-encounters as "ontogenetic events" that materially produce, rather than merely represent, subjects and worlds. To address this ontogenetic potential of bioart, the paper turns to Gilbert Simondon's philosophy of individuation, and the conceptual terrain he develops to rethink being from the standpoint of its becoming. First, I explore how a philosophy of individuation pushes our contemporary understandings of the subject through an attentiveness to its emergence from material and affective processes that both precede and go beyond it, as well as its susceptibility to immanent disruption through the shock of encounter. Secondly, I argue that Simondon opens up the possibility of theorising this evental potential of bioart by emphasising the preindividual affective forces and processes of the art-encounter, and the disorienting transformations in being these bring about. By rendering sensible and reworking molecular, material, and technological agencies implicated in the constitution of the subject, bioart can be understood to open a space of experimentation with modes of expression and experience in their very coming-into-presence. I unpack these arguments empirically through an engagement with the bioartistic practices of the Tissue Culture and Art Project, whose "semi-living" bioart, I argue, stages a disruption of pernicious contemporary habits in favour of new and creative capacities for thinking, perceiving, and relating to the nonhuman.

Andrew Lapworth completed his undergraduate degree in Geography at the University of Bristol, writing his undergraduate dissertation on the relation between the cinematic image, temporality, and subjectivity in post-Franco Spanish cinema through the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze. After living and working in Paris for a year, Lapworth successfully received an ESRC 1+3 studentship and returned to the School of Geographical Sciences in 2009 to undertake the MSc in Society and Space. It was during this year that Lapworth developed an interest in spaces and practices of ‘art-science’, and wrote his thesis on the non-representational politics of contemporary bioart. Following his Masters year he enrolled as a PhD candidate in October 2010, and successfully upgraded in October 2011. Supervised by Dr. J-D Dewsbury and Dr. Maria Fannin, his current PhD research explores the practices, logics and ethico-political potentials of contemporary ‘laboratories’ of transversal and experimental artistic research (including SymbioticA in Perth, Western Australia, and the Institut fur Raumexperimente in Berlin). Theoretically, Lapworth draws together recent philosophies of ontogenesis, new materialisms & vitalisms, and bioaesthetic theories to explore how material processes, aesthetic conditions and experimental practices in these sites reciprocally imbricate through one another to provide the means for constituting (including conceptually) subjectivity, political possibility, and artistic practice.
Tuesday 19
11:00 - EVENT - Enviro Fest '13 : UWA Enviro Fest aims to empower UWA students and staff to reduce their environmental impact, and increase their appreciation of the natural environment. Website | More Information
UWA Enviro Fest aims to empower UWA students and staff to reduce their environmental impact, and increase their appreciation of the natural environment.

Each year Enviro Fest provides opportunities to indulge your interest in the natural environment and learn more about sustainable initiatives on campus. From gardening workshops, to live animal demonstrations to public discussions of important environmental issues, there’s something for all staff, students and their children. If you'd like to get involved with the Enviro Fest event, by holding an sustainability-related information stall or educational activity contact UWA Sustainable Development or the Guild's Event Manager.

With the added benefit of being held in common lunch hour, Enviro Fest '13 promises to be one of the year's biggest, most diverse, exciting, and unique events.

11:30 - EVENT - Centenary gardening activity, as part of UWA EnviroFest : Help plant a garden bed of the UWA Centenary plant, the beautiful and native Hakea. More Information
Join UWA Horticulturalist Mark Corbett and UWA Friends of the Grounds in creating a Centenary planting on UWA grounds.

Native plant species, Hakea is the official centenary plant for UWA.

Mark and FOG will lead you in an easy planting activity where you'll learn more about this native plant and how to ensure it thrives.

You'll also be contributing to a more beautiful campus.

The event will be held as part of the UWA EnviroFest, during UWA Sustainability Week.

Numbers are limited. Bookings are essential to Trish Howard (of UWA Sustainable Development)

Equipment, including gloves will be provided. Please wear closed in shoes, sun protection and some form of eye protection (glasses and sunglasses are ok).

13:00 - GUIDED TOUR - Tour of UWA sustainable gardens - part of UWA EnviroFest : Join UWA Horticulturalist, Sue Smith on a tour of UWA's sustainable gardens. More Information
UWA Horticulturalist, Sue Smith will take you on a tour of the sustainable gardens on campus. Learn about waterwise plant species, including succulents and natives, and the methods UWA uses to reduce its water use.

Please book with Trish Howard (of UWA Sustainable Development). Please wear comfortable shoes and sun protection.

17:00 - PUBLIC LECTURE - School of Music presents: Research Seminar Series - Alexander Jensen Website | More Information
Alexander Jensen: Different ways of dealing with death: the relation between music and theology.

Different ways of dealing with death: the relation between music and theology Western music has always been a way of expressing that what is most important to men and women. In the past, this has been (and for many people still is) religious faith. This paper explores the relation between music and religion as well as the importance of theology for the interpretation of musical works. We will look at two pieces dealing with death, namely Bach’s Actus tragicus (BWV 106) and Brahm’s Ein deutsches Requiem, as case studies for the ways in which different theologies can be expressed in music.

18:30 - PUBLIC LECTURE - School of Music presents: DMA Lecture Recital - Georg Corall: The Eloquent Hautboy Website | More Information
Georg Corall: DMA Lecture-Recital

The Eloquent Hautboy

Scholars have investigated ‘music as speech’ and the ‘weapons of rhetoric’ in musical execution in order to understand the importance of text in historically-informed performance practice (HIP). This has led to the current vocal practice of declamation in, for example, the cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach, who communicated his emotional messages to the congregation in part through the careful selection of a suitable instrumental soundscape. His contemporary Johann Mattheson (1681-1764) referred to the oboe as ‘der gleichsam redende Hautbois’ (the eloquent hautboy) and reckoned it to be one of the instruments that most closely resembles the human voice. The investigation of contemporary treatises that provide commentary on articulation and rhetoric, as well as documents dealing with the balance of the forces available for Bach’s own performances, allows conclusions to be drawn on sound balance and transparency in the performance of Early Music on period instruments; however, it appears that many present-day habits in HIP may not withstand scrutiny. Currently, much attention is given to the close focus on articulation and text delivery required by historically-informed singers, whereas Early Music instrumentalists are deemed to merely support the vocalist’s words. Decades of personal experience in aiming to reconstruct historical hautboy reeds, together with a thorough analysis of wind instrument treatises dating from the 17th and 18th centuries, reveals that ‘articulation’ referred to the attack of notes as means to imitate text rather than merely defining the beginning and ending of a ‘vocal’ sound on an instrument.
Wednesday 20
16:00 - SEMINAR - CWR Presents : Does phytoplankton biomass in a reservoir increase in the future? Website | More Information
A water resource in the future is a great concern around the world. In 2009 the research area of "Innovative Technology and System for Sustainable Water Use" was launched by Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST). One of the projects is "Development of Well-Balanced Urban Water Use System Adapted for Climate Change", which is leaded by Prof. Furumai at the University of Tokyo.

In this project, we are discussing the availability of “rainwater”, “groundwater”, and “reclaimed water” as well as “surface water” including rivers and reservoirs in highly populated metropolitan areas to assure the safe and stable urban water supply under climate change. One of the sub-groups of "watershed water resources group" conducts advanced hydrological simulations in watersheds to evaluate the influences of climate change on the availability (quantity and quality) of surface water and reservoir water, which includes GCMs downscaling by mesoscale numerical weather prediction model of WRF.

In this group, I am in charge of the future projection of water quantity and quality in a reservoir. The results so far implicates that algal blooms may decrease in the future due to the unfavorable air temperature conditions for the phytoplankton growth and the increase of flood events, even though some researchers says we will have more chance to have algal blooms due to the air temperature increase by the global warming. I also talk about the great uncertainties in the research.

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

****All Welcome****

18:00 - PUBLIC LECTURE - Unplanned Development: The hidden geometries of change in Southeast Asia Website | More Information
A public lecture by Jonathan Rigg, Geography Department, Durham University.

This public lecture emerges from a puzzle: why are our explanations for the patterns of the world so often incomplete and far from universal in their application? Look across the development experience of Southeast Asia over the last half century and it is tempting to see a pattern of change and a set of developmental paths that can be ‘explained’ by reference to unifying conceptual models and policy frameworks. This lecture will direct attention to the unplanned, unseen and unexpected and, therefore, to the gaps between planning designs and planning experiences, between what is seen and measured and what ultimately proves to be important, and between expectations and outcomes.

Cost: Free, but RSVP essential. Bookings: www.ias.uwa.edu.au/lectures/rigg or RSVP to [email protected] or 6488 1340
Thursday 21
13:10 - EVENT - FREE Lunchtime Concert : UWA Voice Students Website | More Information
Free 50min Concert every Thursday during Semester at 1:10pm

17:00 - VISITING SPEAKER - Muslims, Democracy and the 21st Century by Javed Ahmad Ghamidi : Javed Ahmad Ghamidi is an internationally renowned scholar of Islam who has contributed to debates on the role of Islam in Muslim societies. More Information
Mr Ahmad has authored numerous books and lectured widely on Islam and Muslim issues including democracy, blasphemy law, rights of citizens particularly women, and terrorism. Born in Pakistan in 1951, he holds a BA in English Literature and Philosophy from the Government College, Lahore (1972) and has studied Islamic disciplines in the traditional manner from various teachers and scholars. He taught Islamic studies at the Civil Services Academy for more than a decade from 1979 to 1991, and was member of the Council of Islamic Ideology, Pakistan. He is the founder-president of Al-Mawrid Institute of Islamic Sciences and is the chief editor of the Urdu Monthly Ishraq and the English Monthly Renaissance . He is also the founder of the Mus‘ab School System. He appears regularly on various television channels to discuss Islam and contemporary issues as a part of his campaign to educate people about Islam. Javed Ahmed Ghamidi is currently living in Malaysia where he relocated after his outspoken criticism of Taliban earned him their wrath.

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