What's On at UWA

The Faculty of Education officially closes for the festive season at 12 noon on Tuesday 24 December 2013 and will re-open at 8:30am on Monday 6 January 2014.

Three correlational studies investigated implications associated with explicit-implicit sexual orientation ambivalence for information processing and psychological well-being in samples of straight and gay individuals.

Across the studies, 243 straight participants completed explicit and implicit measures of sexual orientation; in one of these studies, 48 gay participants completed the same measures. Within individual studies, participants also completed measures of self-esteem.

When considering the effects of ambivalence between self-reported and indirectly measured sexual orientation (SO), among straight participants explicit-implicit SO ambivalence was positively associated with time spent deliberating questions on sexual preferences; an effect moderated by the direction of ambivalence. In an attempt to explain this effect, in our third study, straight participants read ambivalence-relevant arguments that were either strong or weak in quality. In line with the effect found previously, the amount of explicit-implicit SO ambivalence positively related to post-message cognitive responses after reading strong but not weak arguments. This effect was also found to be moderated by the direction of ambivalence.

For gay participants, individual differences in explicit-implicit SO ambivalence tended to influence time deliberating sexuality. In addition, explicit-implicit ambivalence in sexual orientation attitudes among gay individuals, but not straight individuals, was related to self-esteem in addition to defensive self-esteem.

Our findings demonstrate the information processing consequences of explicit-implicit ambivalence in both straight and gay individuals when considering an attitude object that has considerable personal relevance. Furthermore, our results highlight that explicit-implicit ambivalence in sexual orientation attitudes may be an important antecedence of psychological well-being in gay-individuals.

The aim of this course is to introduce you to basic statistics. It will cover descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations); data exploration; basic categorical data analysis; simple linear regression and basic analysis of variance (ANOVA). The statistical package SPSS will be used to illustrate the ideas demonstrated. The course will be held in a computer laboratory allowing participants to immediately apply the material covered through a series of practical examples.

Dr. Tunde Ogunfowora (pronounced Toon-day) is an Assistant Professor of Human Resources and Organizational Dynamics at the Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary (Canada). His research interests include ethical leadership, abusive supervision, ethical decision making and moral behaviours in the workplace. Dr. Ogunfowora also has an interest in individual differences in morally-oriented traits, values, and cognitions, and their roles in understanding leadership and ethics at work. Co-authors: Dr. Sean Tucker, Faculty of Business Administration, University of Regina, Canada, Dayle Diekrager, Saskatchewan Workers Compensation Board

Each year, thousands of workers are killed on the job. In a growing number of these incidents (Frontline, 2008), the organizational leader is singled out by the media. This paper examines how organizational leaders effectively exercise the duty of care owed to their workers by acting ethically and fostering a culture of safety for reducing work-related injuries and fatalities. Drawing on social learning theory (Bandura, 1973, 1977) and Brown and colleagues’ (2005) ethical leadership construct, we developed and tested a multi-level, trickle-down model linking CEO ethical leadership to frontline employee safety behavior. Specifically, we explored different paths of influence through CEO safety commitment, top management team safety commitment, and frontline supervisory safety commitment. Data were collected from 2,513 frontline employees, 1,452 supervisors, and 206 members of top management teams in 52 organizations. The results showed support for our hypothesized path of influence. Specifically, we found that CEO ethical leadership was positively related to CEO commitment to safety (rated by members of the top management team). Furthermore, CEO commitment to safety was positively related to perceptions of top management team commitment to safety (rated by supervisors). Top management’s commitment to safety was related to frontline employee perceptions of supervisor commitment to safety and, in turn, employee self-reported safety compliance and participation behaviors. The results also showed support for other alternate paths of influence. These findings suggest that ethical organizational leaders can create and foster a strong commitment to safety that permeates through different layers of the organization.

UWA Health & Rehab Clinic - Running Club 13 week program working towards a 5 or 12km fun run (i.e. HBF Run for Reason - May 25th)

All levels welcome. Perfect for those returning from injury or running for the first time and needing a little extra feedback and coaching.

WHEN: Monday 3rd March - Friday 30th May

Running Sessions = Mon & Fri 6am. Plus "Fit-R" Strength & Mobility Sessions = Wed 6am & Thurs 6pm

WHERE: UWA Health & Rehabilitation Clinic - Parkway Entrance #4, Crawley Campus. Runs will take place around campus, along the river and into Kings Park.

COST: $12 per week (up to 4 sessions/week) for 13 weeks = $156

^Private health rebates may apply for Fit-R sessions

Adult & Over 50's Exercise Sessions combining 40min gym based strength and functional training, plus 40min swimming training (incl fitness and stroke technique).

12 WEEK SEMESTER 1 PROGRAM: Mon 3rd March - Saturday 31st May (Break 18th - 25th April)

SESSION BLOCKS: Adults [Tuesday 6pm-7.30pm &/OR Thursday 7am-8.30am] Over 50's [Monday 8am-9.30am &/OR Saturday 8.30am-10am]

COST: $18 per class = $216 for 12 week program (1 day/week) *20% discount off total price if attend 2 days ^ Private health rebate may apply for gym session

Open to all, the Carbon Neutral Quiz Night 2014! presented by the Australian Youth Climate Coalition UWA, will be a night of fun, games, and a theme of sustainability to start the new semester. 7.30pm, Wednesday the 5th of March (Week 2) at Hackett Hall, UWA. All the proceeds will go to the trees planted to carbon offset the evening and to further the work the work of the campus club to spread awareness about climate change. This is a public, alcohol-free event.

International Women's Day 2014 will be celebrated on Tuesday 11 March.

The Vice-Chancellor, Winthrop Professor Paul Johnson will be the Guest Speaker. Professor Johnson will be speaking about the case for gender equity in higher education.

The event will take place at the University Club Banquet Hall from 2-3pm, and will be hosted by Ms Gaye McMath, Chief Operating Officer.

Afternoon tea will be provided.

Please RSVP to [email protected] by Monday 4 March to indicate your attendance and dietary requirements.

Harmony Day is an annual event in the UWA calendar that provides an opportunity to affirm and celebrate cultural, linguistic and religious diversity in the campus community.

The Vice-Chancellor, Winthrop Professor Paul Johnson, invites you to join him in the Tropical Grove to hear guest speaker Suresh Rajan's talk entitled "I'm not a Racist but...". Suresh will speak on the topic of Casual Racism.

The 2014 Isabelle Lake Memorial Lecture is entitled "Making History: All the places we've been and are still yet to go in the fight for Transgender and Intersex Rights".

The lecture will be deliverd by Aram Hosie, a queer identified transgender man from Perth, Western Australia, who has been involved in advocating for the rights of LGBTI people nationally and internationally for over a decade.

The lecture will begin at 6pm, which light refreshments served from 5.30 pm.

For more information and to RSVP, please email [email protected]

Come along to Profectus UWA's Inaugral 2014 AGM on Tuesday April 8. If you are passionate about business and entrepreneurship be sure to drop by at 1pm to learn more about our agenda. We will answer any questions you have about Profectus and events being held this semester!!!

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.

Supporting students through professional placements and meeting the needs of workplace partners and external regulations poses a range of challenge for university coordinators, especially when issues of disability and mental health are added to the situation. In response to such dilemmas, a research project by the Faculty of Education examined the inherent requirements of professional practice. ‘Inherent Requirements’ are provided for under the Disability Discrimination Act and the Disability Standards for Education and can be described as the ‘fundamental components of a course or unit, demanding demonstration of particular capabilities, knowledge and skills to achieve the core learning outcomes of a course or unit, while preserving the academic integrity of the university’s learning, assessment and accreditation processes’. Thus, they are not just compulsory or traditional requirements, but are those requirements that are fundamental or essential to the learning and assessment requirements of the particular course.

This study explored the development and use of the concept of inherent requirements (IR) to make explicit the essential elements of performance for the Initial Teacher Education (ITE) practicum for the benefit of all students. Through consultative group processes with stakeholders involved in ITE, seven inherent requirement domains were identified. From interviews with academics, first-person narratives were developed to illustrate pre-service teachers’ performance in complex Professional Practice scenarios. Narratives associated with the three IR domains: self-awareness, social awareness and sustained professional conduct were rated by university staff and pre-service teachers to create a continuum of performance based on Rasch-model statistical analysis. The findings suggest that the IR domains and the illustrative narratives could be valuable resources to improve all stakeholders’ awareness of Professional Practice requirements and enhance course outcomes for all ITE students. The Faculty of Education is developing a policy to incorporate inherent requirements with a “Gateway to Practice”. This workshop will present information about the process of developing the statements of inherent requirements and promote discussion about how the concept of inherent requirements could be applied across the university in Faculties offering professional work placements.

Please RSVP to Martin Swann

Dr Khalid Zaheer is the Scholar at Understanding Islam UK (UIUK) since May 2012. UIUK is a non-political organization established in UK as a registered charity since 2001 for spreading a non-sectarian, peace-promoting, and moderate message of Islam based on the two authentic sources of Qur'an and Sunnah. Prior to joining UIUK, he was the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences of University of Central Punjab from July, 2009 to May 2012. Prior to joining UCP, he was the Director Education, Al-Mawrid, which is an NGO established to promote research and education on Islam. Prior to joining Al-Mawrid in September 2006, he was an Associate Professor of Islamic Studies and Ethics at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). He has a teaching experience of more than 20 years. Before joining LUMS, he taught at IBA, University of the Punjab for 12 years as a permanent faculty member. He has also taught at various other educational institutions in Lahore. Dr Zaheer's PhD dissertation was a critique on Interest-Free Banking. His areas of interest are Islamic Banking, in particular its departures from true Islamic principles, and application of Islamic teachings in the contemporary business and social environment. He regularly contributes articles to the monthly Renaissance, a leading religious English journal of the country. Dr. Zaheer has appeared in many television programs and has also given sermons at mosques, both in Pakistan as well as in the UK. His understanding of Islamic teachings and his experiences have convinced him that our present-day world is confronted with scourges of two extremisms: religious extremism and liberal extremism. He has joined UIUK to realize his dream to promote the cause of the true Islamic message, which is neither extremist nor liberal.

Dr Khalid Zaheer is the Scholar at Understanding Islam UK (UIUK) since May 2012. UIUK is a non-political organization established in UK as a registered charity since 2001 for spreading a non-sectarian, peace-promoting, and moderate message of Islam based on the two authentic sources of Qur'an and Sunnah. Prior to joining UIUK, he was the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences of University of Central Punjab from July, 2009 to May 2012. Prior to joining UCP, he was the Director Education, Al-Mawrid, which is an NGO established to promote research and education on Islam. Prior to joining Al-Mawrid in September 2006, he was an Associate Professor of Islamic Studies and Ethics at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). He has a teaching experience of more than 20 years. Before joining LUMS, he taught at IBA, University of the Punjab for 12 years as a permanent faculty member. He has also taught at various other educational institutions in Lahore. Dr Zaheer's PhD dissertation was a critique on Interest-Free Banking. His areas of interest are Islamic Banking, in particular its departures from true Islamic principles, and application of Islamic teachings in the contemporary business and social environment. He regularly contributes articles to the monthly Renaissance, a leading religious English journal of the country. Dr. Zaheer has appeared in many television programs and has also given sermons at mosques, both in Pakistan as well as in the UK. His understanding of Islamic teachings and his experiences have convinced him that our present-day world is confronted with scourges of two extremisms: religious extremism and liberal extremism. He has joined UIUK to realize his dream to promote the cause of the true Islamic message, which is neither extremist nor liberal.

The Institute of Advanced Studies is pleased to announce a new series for 2014. ‘On the Edge’ will provide lectures, forums and debates on a variety of topics. This inaugural ‘On the Edge’ lecture will be given by Emeritus Professor Bill Louden.

The review of the national curriculum looks like another round of the long-running left-right curriculum wars. In this talk Bill Louden will provide a personal view of the strengths and weaknesses of Australia’s national curriculum. How fair are the criticisms of left-wing bias and how hard would that be to fix? How important is it to have a national curriculum in a federation, anyway? And how does it compare with the curriculum in countries that beat Australia in international league tables?

Bill Louden is a curriculum warrior from way back. He has worked as a curriculum writer in English in the 1980s and as a curriculum studies academic in the 1990s. As Chair of the Curriculum Council he presided over the end of outcomes-based education in WA in the late 2000s, and from 2008 to 2012 he was a board member of the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority – the body that developed the national curriculum. He is currently an Emeritus Professor of Education at The University of Western Australia, where he has also served as Dean of Education and Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor.

The Art of Zhen Shan Ren (Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance) takes viewers through the story of Falun Dafa - from its introduction to the public in 1992, through the beauty and enlightenment of the practice, to the unjust and unrelenting persecution, moving forward through the peaceful resistance of Falun Dafa practitioners worldwide who seek to bring an end to the persecution, then through themes of karmic retribution, salvation and grace, and finishing with a moment of choice.

Storytelling has long been one of fine art's greatest joys, and this Exhibition's ability to cross cultural, lingual and ethnic barriers is highlighted each time it is shown.

Inspired by tradition and divinity, the artists paint - often collaboratively - stories either experienced by themselves or shared by fellow Falun Dafa practitioners worldwide. Realist oil painting, or Neo-Renaissance, was chosen as the style for its narrative capabilities, accessibility and, above all, its purity.

The Exhibition aims to educate and draw focus to an unjust persecution - to record a moment in time when the universal principles of Truth, Compassion, Forbearance are openly opposed. It also highlights the danger of becoming involved in the persecution through state-run ventures such as forced labour and forced organ harvesting of Falun Dafa practitioners. Outlasting these sombre themes, however, is a steady message of hope and fulfilment, as the enduring courage and belief of practitioners bring positive change in numerous dark settings.

A central hope of founding artist Professor Zhang's mission is to promote, through fine art, the understanding that freedom of belief is a fundamental human right, and to raise awareness.

Migraines are experienced by a substantial proportion of the population and, appropriately, the focus of discussion is usually on the headache phase. There are often visual sequelae associated with the headache but our research has been directed at visual performance in the period between headaches. The talk will describe a number of quite long-lasting changes in visual performance. I will outline the details of those changes, outline our investigation of what other migraine and cognitive characteristics they are associated with, examine and describe our effort to ascertain what aspects of the visual pathways and visual performance are affected, how long the effects last, and describe a re-assuring study examining potential impact on driving behaviour.

Winthrop Professor David Badcock is an ARC Australian Professorial Fellow at The University of Western Australia in the School of Psychology. He received his D.Phil. in Experimental Psychology at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and then held post-doctoral appointments at UC: Berkeley and Durham University before returning to Australia to Melbourne University. In 1996 he was appointed Professor at The University of Western Australia and served a period as Head of School and is currently an Honorary Professor of Vision Science at The University of Nottingham and President of the Psychology Foundation of Australia. The focus of his research is on behavioural measurement of human visual performance in both normal and abnormal groups of observers. Currently the laboratory group is running long-term projects examining 1) how humans integrate signals across space and time to perceive both the speed and direction of object and self-motion, 2) the processes that allow us to determine the location of objects within the environment and 3) the processes that help us to integrate local signals to determine object shape. This work is also being applied to determine the nature of the long-lasting changes in visual performance that arise as a consequence of migraine headaches, to early detection and functional understanding of the losses associated with Glaucoma and to an investigation of the unusual pattern of strengths and weaknesses of the visual processing in Autism.

This book was funded by a University Centenary Grant with detailed vignettes of 71 places named after personalities on the Crawley Campus. An initiative of the UWA Historical Society, it includes a fold-out map showing each location. Join the authors and their many supporters for the launch.

Do you live in fear of needles or blood? If so, read on...

Blood-Injection-Injury Phobia is a fear that is triggered by seeing blood or an injury, or by receiving an injection or other invasive medical procedure. People vary in the way they react to situations involving blood or injections. Some individuals may feel disgust, nausea, or dizziness. Some people may even faint.

The Robin Winker Clinic is a clinical psychology unit linked to the School of Psychology at The University of Western Australia. The Clinic will be running a group treatment program for Blood-Injection-Injury Phobia. The treatment is based on evidence from up-to-date research, and was co-developed by Dr Andrew Page, a psychologist and researcher from the School who specialises in anxiety disorders. The program will run for 8 two-hour sessions, plus an initial assessment session before the group commences and a follow-up session 4-6 weeks after completion. Through this program, individuals will work in a supportive environment to challenge their fears and learn coping strategies to control anxiety and be less worried when getting an injection, seeing blood, or when visiting the doctor for a medical procedure. Techniques for preventing fainting and for coping with feelings of disgust are also introduced.

What do you do now? If you or someone you know would like to take part in this treatment program, or if you would like more information, please call the Clinic on 6488 2644 or email [email protected]

Dates: 6-8pm, Tuesday May 13th to Tuesday July 1st. Fees: $30 per session and $35 for the assessment, 25% discount if paid up front. Reduced fees are available for full time students and pensioners. UWA Location: Robin Winkler Clinic, 1st floor, Third General Purpose Building, Myers St.