What's On at UWA

Dr. Susan Peters is a postdoctoral research associate at the Epidemiology Group of the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research. Her research activities focus on exposure assessment methods to apply in (occupational) cancer epidemiology.

In October 2002, Professor Fiona Wood led a Royal Perth Hospital team treating 28 people injured in the Bali bombings. The scale of burns injuries was previously unseen by the hospital, and the exceptional situation required individuals, governments and the private sector to work together closely in coordinating evacuations and treatment. During that time, Fiona witnessed extraordinary bravery, saw incredible acts of courage and was moved by people’s will to survive. The experience inspired her to drive forward on all fronts cutting across boundaries and exploring ground-breaking and innovative research and treatments applicable in burns and other traumatic injuries.

Fiona has now established the Fiona Wood Foundation, which is built on the premise that each and every patient must be given the opportunity to achieve the best possible outcome by combining current treatments with cutting-edge research. At the breakfast, Fiona will share inspiring stories, as well as her vision for the future of burns treatment: a holistic approach encompassing community education, clinical, basic science and population health research to improve wound healing, and the associated long-term physical and psychological complications of burns.

Price: Members $45 / Guests $55 / Table of Ten $450

Price includes a two-course sit down breakfast and presentation by Fiona Wood

Whilst trade and enterprise have led Australia's bilateral relations with China, education promotes mutual understanding and long lasting links. This year's forum will focus on developing Chinese language and cultural competency in schools, universities and industry. His Excellency Mr Chen Yuming, Chinese Ambassador to Australia, will provide the keynote address and a panel of business leaders and education representatives will share their experiences.

***NOW RESCHEDULED TO 18 OCTOBER***

“Individual(s) ….embrace a new paradigm for all sorts of reasons ... . Some of these … lie outside the sphere of science entirely. Others depend upon idiosyncrasies of autobiography….” (Kuhn, 1970, p.l52). I will highlight some “idiosyncrasies of autobiography” that have led to enjoying an academic life – the opportunity to research and teach, to construct and communicate knowledge. I plan to illustrate how psychometrics, a field in which I had the opportunity to ignore or embrace an emergent, non-standard statistical paradigm, has lead beyond mathematical modelling to areas such as the philosophy of science, the sociology of knowledge and academic controversy. I plan to also illustrate the challenges in negotiating the complex world of academic research and communication.

LIWA invites you to a free seminar on: "Tumour suppressor activity of microRNA-7 and microRNA-331-3p" by Dr Keith Giles, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Western Australian Institute for Medical Research (WAIMR). Time: 12 noon for light lunch with 12.30pm – 1.30pm presentation.

An educational seminar day that will address local and global problems relating to infection control. Topics include antibiotic resistance and stewardship, superbugs, Clostridium difficile,viruses and pandemics, workplace sterilization, sharp safety and immunisation scheduling.

Controversy continues to surround national student assessment in Australia. However, I argue that testing is neither good nor bad: the devil lies in what people – teachers, school, systems and even parents – do about the tests and the data they generate. I report the experiences of principals, teachers and curriculum consultants in one educational authority to describe how responsibility for interrogating, interpreting and applying data has gradually shifted from an external top-down approach to an internal bottom-up model in a planned, sustained and centrally supported manner, during the past eight years.

LIWA invites you to a free seminar on: "Improving lung health by preventing prematurity" by W/Prof John Newnham, Head of School, School of Women's and Infants' Health, University of Western Australia. A light lunch will be served from 12.00pm with a 12.30pm – 1.30pm presentation.

Most guidelines concerning the use of O2 for cardiopulmonary disorders recommend the rapid administration of 100% O2 regardless of the patient’s arterial O2 saturation. This reflects the view that 100% O2 is considered safe. However, recent randomised control studies indicate increased mortality in patients with acute exacerbations of COPD or myocardial infarction and treated with high flow O2.

These results are not surprising because the results of older studies raised concerns about the safety of high flow O2. Prof Iscoe will review these studies and indicate other aspects of O2 administration that suggest its use is based on inertia rather than evidence. He will also suggest a simple way -- a breathing circuit -- by which one can retain the benefits of high flow O2 while preventing its adverse consequences.

SEM is used widely by researchers to test complex relationships among observed (measured) and latent (unobserved) variables. This course will introduce you to SEM and also covers issues relating to model specification, identification and estimation, assessing model fit (goodness-of-fit criteria), and dealing with problem data.

The course is hosted by the Centre for Applied Statistics and we offer discounted rate fees to UWA Graduate Research Students.

Fee information is available on our website http://www.cas.maths.uwa.edu.au/courses. Please register online.

The course is designed as a comprehensive coverage of applied SEM techniques using the Mplus statistical software package. Mplus offers a general modelling framework that allows both the modelling of cross-sectional and longitudinal data using observed variables that are a combination of continuous and categorical variables.

The course is hosted by the Centre for Applied Statistics and we offer discounted rate fees to UWA Graduate Research Students.

Fee information is available on our website http://www.cas.maths.uwa.edu.au/courses. Please register online.

*Advanced methods in exposure assessment and epidemiology *Methods for combining exposure assessments and epidemiological models for use in risk assessment and risk prediction *Use of molecular markers in the identification of occupational and environmental risk factors *Heat stress and acclimatisation of workers, development of a biomarker of acclimatisation status *Risk assessment in environmental health decision making *Lessons learned from the Western Australian experience of mesothelioma

This free symposium, open to all, has been organised by the microbiome working group of the DOHaD Consortium. A total of 16 speakers from throughout the University will cover a range aspects relating to metagenomics/metabolomics and early life origins of health and disease. Please RSVP for catering purposes.

This unique educational seminar will provide an update on the best clinical practice for community management of consumers with complex and/or chronic musculoskeletal disease, including musculoskeletal pain, in Western Australia.

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).

Subsidised rates are available for UWA Graduate Research Students.

Please register online.

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

Dr Giglia will present her research titled 'Alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking of Australian women; changes with pregnancy and lactation'. In March 2009 the recommendations from her research were included in the revised NHMRC; 'Australian Alcohol Guidelines to Reduce Health Risks from Drinking Alcohol'.

Building on the theme of the UWA Future Farm 2050 Project

The biggest issue facing humanity: how to feed 9 billion people in 2050 without destroying the planet. What science and technology is needed to meet this challenge?

Time: 1:00pm – 5:15pm followed by refreshments

Cost $40 + GST - RSVP for catering purposes by 2 April 2013 purchase tickets online at http://www.ioa.uwa.edu.au/industry-forum/

****************Program**************

1.00pm Welcome: W/Professor Kadambot Siddique, AM FTSE, Hackett Professor of Agriculture Chair, Director,The UWA Institute of Agriculture (IOA), UWA

1.10pm Why are we here?: Mr Graham Laitt, Managing Director, Milne Agrigroup Pty Ltd

1.28pm Future Food and Health: W/Professor Peter Leedman, Deputy Director, Western Australian Institute for Medical Research (WAIMR)

1:40pm Food Security or Food Quality for Australia?: Professor William Erskine, Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture (CLIMA), UWA

1.53pm CGE animal food production: W/Professor Graeme Martin, Head, School of Animal Biology, Deputy Director,Chair of Animal Science, The UWA Institute of Agriculture

2.05pm Farming and Biodiversity: Mr Chris Curnow, Program Manager – Southwest Australia Land Manager Engagement WWF-Australia

2.17pm Energy Independence: W/Professor Dongke Zhang, Director, UWA Centre for Energy

2.30pm Valuing Water: Asst/Professor Nik Callow, School of Earth and Environment, UWA

2.43pm Soils alive and productive: W/Professor Andrew Whiteley, School of Earth and Environment, UWA

2.55pm Afternoon Tea

3:22pm Food provenance: W/Professor John Watling, Centre for Forensic Science, UWA

3:35pm Instant monitoring of food quality: W/Professor Laurie Faraone, School of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, UWA 3.48pm People/Rural Communities: Professor Matthew Tonts, Head, School of Earth and Environment, UWA

4:00pm Farmhouse Design for the Regions: Asst/Professor Patrick Beale, Chair of Architecture, School of Architecture, Landscape and Visual Arts, UWA

4.12pm Rural Enterprises: W/Professor Tim Mazzarol, UWA Business School

4.25pm Financial World View

4.38pm The Oxford Example and US Examples: Dr Annie Kerr, 3E Farming; Catherine Marriott, Influential Women,2012 WA RIRDC Rural Women’s Award recipient and the National Runner-up

4.50pm Summing Up and Discussion: W/Professor Peter Davies, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research)

5:10pm Refreshments

Professor Engle’s research combines clinical, genetic, and molecular biological approaches to the study of strabismus (commonly referred to as 'misaligned eyes' or 'squint') and ocular motor neuron and axon development. As a paediatric neurologist, her research has focused primarily on a set of disorders referred to as the congenital cranial dysinnervation disorders. These are incomitant forms of strabismus in which primary gaze may be aberrant and one or both eyes are unable to move into one or multiple fields of gaze. These disorders can cause significant visual impairment and can be cosmetically disfiguring. Professor Engle's Lecture will discuss recent advances in causes, genetic diagnosis and treatments for these disorders.

LIWA invites you to a free seminar on: "Liver progenitor cells: friend or foe" by Prof George Yeoh, Head, Liver Disease and Carcinogenesis, Centre for Medical Research, UWA Associate Dean (Research), Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, UWA. A light lunch will be served from 12.00pm with a 12.30pm – 1.30pm presentation.