What's On at UWA

Victoria Rogers: John Blacking, Composer

John Blacking (1928–90) made his mark as an ethnomusicologist and social anthropologist and his enduring reputation stems from his work in these areas. Yet his interests were more far reaching and included cognition and language, dance and movement, the biology of music making, music psychology, and – perhaps surprisingly – composition. The very existence of Blacking’s compositions raises a number of enticing questions. What was the nature of his musical language? What might a study of his compositions tell us about his ethnomusicology? What might his ethnomusicology tell us about his compositions? These questions give rise to the central focus of this article: the intersection of Blacking’s composition and ethnomusicology. The article concludes that Blacking’s conceptualisation of music as an expression of social processes and cultural values extended beyond non-Western musics, infusing the compositions which he himself created within the musical paradigm of his own culture.

A public lecture by Professor Lyn Beazley AO FTSE, Chief Scientist of Western Australia.

Australia has a reputation for scientific discoveries and engineering innovations that are amongst the best in the world. In this lecture, Professor Beazley will discuss two of them. One is Australia’s $50M program to develop bionic vision, aiming to restore sight to the blind and emulate the Australian success of the Bionic Ear that has given hearing to many from the deaf community.

The other is the largest science project ever planned for our planet: the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). This multi-nationally supported mega-network of radio telescopes is being built across desserts in South Africa and Western Australia. It will require computing powers that far outreach our present capacity and is likely to generate many technological spin-offs. Its projected completion date of 2025, along with its probable lifespan of some 50-100 years, means that we are building the SKA for you if you chose to become a scientist or an engineer! Even if you don’t, just knowing what Australia can achieve will be exciting.

This lecture is co-sponsored by the Institute of Advanced Studies at The University of Western Australia and the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE). Cost: Free, but RSVP essential. Bookings: http://www.ias.uwa.edu.au/lectures/beazley-atse

Two world-renowned maestros of Indian classical music – Pundit Kumar Bose (tabla) and Pundit Debojyoti Bose (sarod) – will present a workshop at the UWA School of Music.

This is an amazing opportunity to see some fantastic music from two of India’s best musicians.

The external casualties of war have an obvious presence to the interested observer and encompass human, environmental and political dimensions. The internal casualties of war are less obvious and more intimately experienced.

Working with the human aftermath of military conflict has brought many questions to the fore in the professional and private life of clinical psychologist Tom Locke. He will share his perspectives on the nature of critical incident trauma, its treatment and prognosis and connect this to “civilian” trauma that no individual can avoid in a normal lifetime.

Short Bio,

Tom is a clinical psychologist who specialises in the treatment of defence force veterans and current serving members suffering and post traumatic stress disorder. He recently returned from a visit to Gallipoli as part of the Australian Government’s ANZAC Day commemorative service team and will privately visit again in 2015 to reflect on his military clients and compete in a 2 day surfboat race to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the ANZAC landing.

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

****All Welcome****

A public lecture by Dr Thomas Scirghi, SJ, 2013 St Thomas More College Chair of Jesuit Studies.

Francis I is the first Jesuit pope in the history of the Catholic Church. Sometimes called the “Pope’s marines,” the Jesuits – formally known as the Society of Jesus – take a special vow of obedience to the Pope. The Superior General of the Jesuits, clad in a black cassock, has been named “the Black Pope.” Yet the Jesuits promise to refrain from aspiring to hierarchical positions of authority. With the election of Pope Francis many are asking, “What is a Jesuit?” and “What may we expect from a Jesuit pope?”

Cost: Free, but booking required through http://www.ias.uwa.edu.au/lectures/scirghi

Countries don’t get lucky; people do.

The Lucky Culture tells the story of Australian exceptionalism - the unique national quality that within 200 years of settlement transformed a raw, unbroken continent into the great civilisation of the south.

In the beginning, Australians were driven by the spirit of progress and united by the faith that human wit and energy could overcome any obstacle. They were ingenious, hardworking and inventive.

Today, however, Australia has a new class of people, a self-appointed elite, who consider themselves to be smarter, more sophisticated and better mannered than the rest. This is what Cater calls the new ‘ruling class’ - a group of people who are changing Australia, irrevocably, and not for the better. Cater fears that what is happening in Australia is moving us away from our original notion of who Australians are - egalitarian, innovative, fearless and spirited – instead creating a more conflicted, scared and divided nation.

Almost half a century after Donald Horne first tried to define ‘The Lucky Country’ in his seminal book, Nick Cater looks at the country that Australia has become. He argues strongly for Australians to resist the ascendency of this emerging class and to return to our original, best selves, aspiring to the principles of fairness, egalitarianism and enterprise that first defined us.

With a background in sociology, 30 years experience in journalism and a detached eye for detail, no one is better placed than Cater to help Australians understand.

Price: Members / Guests $59 Price includes a two-course lunch with selected wines, and presentation by Nick Cater on ‘The Lucky Culture’.

Held in conjunction with UWA Extension.

Bring your friends along to the Propagation Group’s Autumn Campus Community Plant Sale.

Lots of herbs, succulents and other plants are available for purchase. The sale will be held at the Taxonomic Garden on Thursday 30th and Friday 31st May from noon to 2pm.

Please find below the link for the Taxonomic Garden location: http://www.uwa.edu.au/campus-map?id=1999

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

An Inquiring Minds lecture by Oron Catts, Director, SymbioticA, Centre of Excellence in Biological Arts, School of Anatomy and Human Biology, UWA.

In 1906 Jacques Loeb suggested making a living system from dead matter as a way to debunk the vitalists’ ideas and claimed to have demonstrated ‘abiogenesis’. In 2010 Craig Venter announced that he created “the first self-replicating cell we’ve had on the planet whose parent is a computer”, the “Mycoplasma laboratorium” which is commonly known as Synthia. In a sense Venter claimed to bring Loeb’s dream closer to reality. What’s relevant to our story is that one of the main images Venter (or his marketing team) chose for the outing of Synthia was of two round cultures that looked like a blue eyed gaze; a metaphysical image representing the missing eyes of the Golem. These are the first bits of a jigsaw puzzle that will be laid in this talk. Through the notion of Neolifism, this puzzle will explore and Re/De-Contextualise the strange materiality of things and assertions of regenerative and synthetic biology.

Cost:Free, but RSVP essential. Bookings: http://www.ias.uwa.edu.au/lectures/catts

Choral Evensong with the Winthrop Singers. Feat. Mereno's Te Deum; choir member Cardell-Oliver's Nunc Dimittis; Britten's Hymn to St Cecilia.

Callaway Series is unreserved and ticketed at the door. All tickets are $10.00. Doors open 15 minutes prior to the event.

Talk#1 Sensory Trap: Communication and collaboration with honeybees in the ultraviolet

During this talk Adelaide Cohalan will present ideas that she has been working on as part of her proposal for her final year Masters project, Sensory Trap. Sensory Trap intends to explore the subjective colour perception of the honeybee in comparison to the human by attempting to communicate with honeybee workers through ultraviolet paintings. By overlaying several different perceptual filters, she aims to investigate the complexities of perception and deception in communication between human and non-human animals. Overall this project intends to contribute to a body of work that aims to redefine our relationship with our environment and with non-human animals by turning away from an anthropocentric view of the world. This project will be carried out in collaboration with the Centre for Integrated Bee Research at the University of WA.

Adelaide Cohalan is currently undertaking the Master of Biological Arts degree with SymbioticA at the University of Western Australia. She has previously completed a Bachelor of Science (majoring in Zoology) and a Bachelor of Visual Arts (majoring in Painting) at James Cook University in Townsville, North Queensland.

Talk#2 The increasing role of hobbyist and urban beekeepers in the maintenance of honeybee populations.

In the past seven years more than a billion honeybees have died as a result of Colony Collapse Disorder. The health of the honeybee was previously the interest entomologists, evolutionary biologists and beekeepers, but the recent collapse of colonies has created widespread concern. Artists, designers, engineers, filmmakers, popular media and policy makers are increasingly recognizing the role of the honeybees within an ecological, social and cultural context. As a result of this growing awareness, the traditional model of maintaining colonies is changing. Hobbyist and urban beekeeping has dramatically increased in developed countries around the world and offers an alternative model of colony maintenance. Rooftop apiaries are an increasingly popular in cities like London, Melbourne, New York City and Paris. In Switzerland, hobbyists maintain the majority of honeybee populations.

This talk examines the existing model of honeybee maintenance – one in which a small number of beekeepers maintain the majority of hives – and looks at a potential alternative in which a large number of hobbyists and urban apiarists maintain a small number of hives. This model is termed 'crowdkeeping' and takes its cues from Switzerland's success with hobbyist beekeeping. The presentation will also look at potential needs and requirements for hobbyists and urban apiarists. The materials and forms of urban apiaries need not adhere to the traditions of industrial beekeeping. New hive designs have the potential to increase human engagement with bees and emerging technologies such as 3D-printing may assist in the production of hives that fulfill the requirements of hobbyists and urban apiarists.

Devon Ward is a designer, interdisciplinary researcher and a prospective master of biological art at SymbioticA within the School of Anatomy, Physiology and Human Biology at the University of Western Australia. He is a graphic designer for the Centre for Integrated Bee Research (CIBER) and a member of the Australian Graphic Design Association. He obtained his bachelor's of fine arts from the University of Florida and has previously worked as a print and web designer. His current research investigates the interface between technology and biology.

Callaway Series is unreserved and ticketed at the door. All tickets are $10.00. Doors open 15 minutes prior to the event.

The Prospective Students Office is providing a guided walking tour of UWA's Crawley Campus on the long weekend (3 June 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.

Callaway Series is unreserved and ticketed at the door. All tickets are $10.00. Doors open 15 minutes prior to the event.

A public lecture by David Simpson, Distinguished Professor of English, UC Davis.

Terror and catastrophe are commonly distinguished as (respectively) man-made and natural phenomena, but there is increasing evidence for seeing them as historically related. There is also a strong case for attempting to devise a theoretical model that takes account of the history of both terms in political and aesthetic discourses. Without such theoretical efforts, we risk remaining the passive consumers of a rhetoric deployed in the service of vested interests.

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

Each year The UWA Institute of Agriculture hosts an annual Postgraduate Showcase where selected postgraduate students in Agriculture and related areas present their research.

The Postgraduate Showcase brings together some of UWA’s best PhD students at an advanced stage of their research. It highlights relevant research and progress being made in the area of Agriculture and Natural Resource Management at UWA.

This afternoon event will be opened by Hon Ken Baston MLC, Minister for Agriculture and Food WA, and promote interaction and networking between industry representatives, prospective employers, funding bodies, UWA staff and postgraduate students undertakling research in agriculture and related areas.

RSVP (for catering purposes) by 27 May.

A public lecture by James O’Byrne, NOLA.com.

Katrina brought into high relief the role of journalists as first responders, as integral to disaster response as police, fire and rescue personnel. The unprecedented nature of the collapse of the Federal seawalls protecting New Orleans, and the ensuing human, social and environmental catastrophe, burdened journalists with extraordinary challenges personal, ethical and professional. How does a journalist function when he is both a victim of, and a witness to, disaster?

What are his or her ethical responsibilities as a human being, and how do those responsibilities interface with his job, when there are so many people in direct and immediate peril? What is the role of storytelling in the aftermath of a disaster?

These questions become even more crucial when one considers the precipitous decline in the business model of print newspapers, and leaves open the question of who will provide this critical coverage when there is not a professional class of journalists willing to run toward danger? Many of these issues were explored in a short 8-minute video culled from more than 10 hours of interviews with journalists from The Times-Picayune newspaper in New Orleans and the accompanying news website, NOLA.com. With less than three years to the 10th anniversary of that devastating storm, a fuller, documentary-length exploration of the media in Hurricane Katrina is envisioned.

This lecture is part of the International Workshop ‘Investigating Catastrophe: Commemoration, Accountability and the Public Record of Disaster’ supported by the Institute of Advanced Studies at The University of Western Australia and The Australian Research Council.

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

UWA CPD Health presents a Multidisciplinary CPD seminar on Saturday June 8th 2013. In association with the Diabetes and Endocrine Health Network and Diabetes WA, UWA CPD Health is presenting a unique education seminar on Diabetes: Priorities, targets & the annual cycle of care. The event represents a great opportunity to understand patient management from all perspectives and strengthen collaboration and develop referral pathways between health care providers. Open to ALL members of the multidisciplinary health care team. This seminar is eligible for 6 active learning hours for CPD with optional assessment. Seminar attendance is fully catered for at the UWA Club OR online access is available through the Universities' Lecture Capture System.

“As the Arab Spring enters its third year, new Arab democracies are struggling with a myriad of serious issues, which could impact the future success or failure of democratic transitions in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, and other countries in the region. These issues include governance; Islamic politics; social complexity and diversity of Arab society; human rights and women’s rights; and continued violence and repression in Syria, Bahrain, and elsewhere. A key challenge revolves around job creation and entrepreneurship. The new Arab democracies will have to adopt creative economic policies and promote economic growth to provide jobs for the millions of Arab youth in the new democracies. In the final analysis, an employed population is the backbone of a democratic society. Furthermore, economic prosperity will be critical for the stability and social peace of the new democracies in the Middle East. The presentation will highlight the lessons, challenges, and opportunities for the region and major foreign powers.”

Dr. Nakhleh is an expert on Middle Eastern society and politics and on political Islam. He is a memeber of the Council on Foreign relations and a Research Professor at University of New Mexico. He previously served in the Central Intelligence Agency from 1993-2006, first as a scholar in residence and the chief of the Regional Analysis Unit in the Office of Near Eastern and South Asian Analysis and subsequently as director of Political Islam Strategic Analysis program. Since retiring from the US Government in 2006, he has been consulting with different US government entities and departments on national security issues,