What's On at UWA

A public lecture by Fiona Wood FRACS AM, Winthrop Professor, Burn Injury Research Unit, School of Surgery, UWA and Chair, The McComb Research Foundation.

Winthrop Professor Fiona Wood AM is a plastic and reconstructive surgeon specializing in the field of burn care, trauma and scar reconstruction. She is the Director of the WA Burns Service. Professor Wood’s work has been recognized by numerous awards, including Western Australian Citizen of the Year 2004 and Australian of the Year 2005. Her research through the Burn Injury Research Unit UWA and the McComb Foundation is focused on scarless healing. In this lecture she will discuss some recent research into burn injury and scar healing.

Correctly accounting for soil nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions is necessary when assessing the carbon footprint of agricultural and bioenergy cropping systems. Although soil N2O emissions appear low in relation to N fertiliser inputs [e.g., 1.0% if Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) default factor employed], the high global warming potential of N2O (298 times greater than CO2), and the increasing amount and area to which N fertiliser is applied, means accurate estimates are required when calculating net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from grain and biodiesel production. We measured soil N2O emissions from a rain-fed, cropped soil in a semi-arid region of the Western Australian grainbelt for three years on a sub-daily basis.

The site included N fertiliser (75–100 kg N ha-1 yr-1) and no N fertiliser plots (‘control’). Emissions were measured using soil chambers connected to a fully automated system that measured N2O using gas chromatography. Daily N2O emissions were low (-1.8–7.3 g N2O-N ha-1 day-1) and culminated in 0.09–0.13 kg N2O-N ha-1 yr-1 from the N fertiliser soil and 0.07–0.09 kg N2O-N ha-1 yr-1 from the control. The proportion of N fertiliser emitted as N2O each year, after correction for the control emission (‘background’), was 0.02–0.07%. The emission factor was up to 50 times lower than the IPCC default value for the application of synthetic fertilisers to land (1.0%).

Incorporating locally measured N2O values greatly decreased the carbon footprint of wheat and biodiesel produced from the Western Australian grainbelt. Greenhouse gas emissions decreased from 487 to 304 kg CO2-equivalents per tonne of wheat using local N2O emissions rather than the international default value. Furthermore, utilising locally measured soil N2O fluxes decreased GHG emissions from the production and combustion of one GJ canola based biodiesel from 63 CO2 to 37 CO2 equivalents; with GHG emissions up to 2.1-times lower than that from the production and combustion of one GJ mineral diesel.

We recommend utilising regionally specific estimates of direct soil N2O emissions, and include estimates of indirect N2O emissions, when assessing GHG emissions from grain and biodiesel production from agricultural soils.

*** LOUISE BARTON1, WAHIDUL BISWAS2, KLAUS BUTTERBACH-BAHL3, RALF KIESE3, DANIEL CARTER4, DANIEL MURPHY1

1School of Earth & Environment, The University of Western Australia, Crawley 6009, Australia 2Centre of Excellence in Cleaner Production, Curtin University, Bentley 6845, Australia 3Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute for Meteorology & Climate Research, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany 4 Department of Agriculture and Food WA, 3 Baron-Hay Court, South Perth 6151, Australia.

****All Welcome****

WHAT CLIMATIC VARIATION HAS PREVAILED SINCE THE FIRST PEOPLE ARRIVED IN AUSTRALIA? DID ABORIGINAL FOREST BURNING AFFECT THE AUSTRALIAN SUMMER MONSOON? WHAT IMPACT HAVE PEOPLE HAD ON KIMBERLEY CLIMATES?

This talk will be about the tension the Museum of Human Disease faces between acts of law and being interesting. And will link this to the types of ways art fits into trying to resolve these tensions.

Derek Williamson is currently manger of the Museum of Human Disease at the University of New South Wales, Australia's only publicly accessible pathology collection attracting 10,000 visitors a year. With a background in science, science education and science communication Derek tries to balance the need for didactic messages with interaction which challenge audiences to think differently about the implications of knowledge for their lives.

What research can be performed at a synchrotron? What are WA scientists achieving at synchrotrons? What opportunities are there for cutting edge research in MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES, and for WA's INDUSTRY?

This one-day symposium, 23rd November at UWA's University Club, is suited for novices and experts alike, with focussed sessions aimed at

* HEALTH PROFESSIONALS AND RESEARCHERS *

* ACADEMIC RESEARCHERS *

* INDUSTRY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT *

covering topics including:

* Medical therapy * Imaging for Cystic Fibrosis gene therapy development * Iron distribution in the heart * Structural Biology * Metalloproteins * Imaging of fossils * Forensics applications * Photoelectron spectroscopy * Corrosion Science * Meteorite studies * Precious metal ore depostion *

Prof David Parsons, Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Adelaide; Dr Mel Lintern, CSIRO Exploration and Mining; Prof Keith Nugent, University of Melbourne and Prof Andrew Peele, Latrobe University; plus 9 WA speakers

Come and find out how the Australian Synchrotron can revolutionise YOUR research.

There is no charge, but registration is essential. RSVP to [email protected] by Fri 11 November 2011.

The Centre for Research Excellence in Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing invites staff, students and members of the public to attend a seminar.Professor Aileen Moreton-Robinson is presenting Bodies that Matter: Performing White Possession on the Beach, and Associate Professor Len Collard is presenting Katitjin Ngulluckiny Boodera: Kura, Yeye Mila Boorda. “Understanding our country through placenames: From the past today and into the present”

You are cordially invited to attend a book launch with Professor Chetan Ghate, our next Growth Zone Visitor.

Professor Ghate will give an overview of his book, The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Economy, and Indian reforms.  He will discuss India’s remarkable economic growth and key debates confronting the Indian economy ranging from the development displacement debate, inequality, the demographic transition, employment and employability, social mobility and the growth-environment debate.

Contributors include David Bloom, Pranab Bardhan, Devasish Mitra, and Paul Levine.

RSVP required:

Caroline Singh

Tel: 08 6488 3787

Email:[email protected]

Glenn Cook will describe the activities of the Bureau of Meteorology in WA, in the WA Regional Office in Perth, and in particular in the WA Climate Services Centre (CSC). 

His talk will focus on the Data Services, Climate Monitoring, and Climate Forecasting roles of the WA CSC, whilst also highlighting various aspects of past and future weather and climate observation in WA. Online climate data resources will be explained along with some background to the Australian Data Archive for Meteorology (ADAM), and their underpinning of climate trend analysis and climate change monitoring in WA.

Bio,

Glenn Cook has been a meteorologist with the Bureau of Meteorology for just over 20 years. After graduating with a Physics Degree from the University of Melbourne in 1989, Glenn was recruited by the Bureau and completed a Graduate Diploma of Meteorology in 1990. He was posted to Perth in late 1990 and worked in the WA Regional Forecasting Centre as an operational meteorologist until 2000. However, between 1992 and 1994,

Glenn was seconded to the RAAF special reserve to take on the position of Officer-in-Charge of the Meteorological Office at RAAF Base Tindal, in the Top End of the NT, providing weather forecasting services to the F/A 18 fighter squadron.

In 2000, Glenn commenced work in the WA Climate Services Centre of the Bureau of Meteorology as a consulting meteorologist, and since 2006 has been the WA Regional Climate Services Manager. The Centre’s role is to provide WA climate data and monitoring services, as well as communicate information about past climate, climate forecasting, and climate change.

****All Welcome****

There are some worrying signs that many contemporary Australian workplaces are having a negative impact on the wellbeing of employees, the health system and the ‘bottom line’. In 2010, the Productivity Commission reported that 42% of all upheld stress related compensation claims were as a result of bullying, harassment or workplace violence and that the overall costs run into billions. Workplace bullying and harassment cases are regularly reported in the media and have led to government enquiries and new laws. Beyond these extreme cases, however, there appears to be a pervasive and persistent problem in many workplaces.

So is this a new problem? Why now? What can be done?

Join us for a challenging and entertaining discussion. Each of our roundtable members brings their own unique perspective to these questions.

Michael Harmer is Chairman and Senior Team Leader at Harmers Workplace Lawyers. He is the President of the Australian Institute of Employment Rights (AIER), a tripartite organisation with membership from employers, employees, academics and lawyers who have an interest in promoting positive workplace relationships in the public interest. Michael has been involved in recent high profile harassment matters such as the ‘David Jones’ case.

Sara Charlesworth is an Associate Professor and Principal Research Fellow at the Centre for Work + Life (Hawke Institute) University of South Australia. She has a background in social work, industrial relations, antidiscrimination law and legal studies. Sara is currently working on an ARC project on sexual harassment legislation.

Kim Collard is the CEO of Kooya Consultancy, an Indigenous organisation that seeks opportunities to work creatively and innovatively in cultural and business environments that can produce genuine and meaningful intercultural dialogue. Kim works with the ‘Third Space’ cultural framework to explore the ways in which managers and leaders can develop understanding and collaboration in a culturally diverse workforce,resulting in better performance, respect, engagement and a platform for even deeper understanding.

Susan Harwood is an experienced diversity employment researcher and consultant and is recognised as one of the leading grievance investigation and resolution practitioners in WA and undertakes assignments for both the private and public sectors.

RSVP required.

This is a free event but seats are limited and bookings are essential.

Light refreshments provided.

Lake Clifton is well known for the largest array of living Thrombolites (a type of Microbialites similar to Stromatolites) in the southern hemisphere. They were first described in 1980s when the lake ranged in salinity between 7 and 35 ppt. Within the last 25 years the salinity in the lake has doubled with salinity levels recorded between 34 and 92ppt. This increase in salinity also coincides with an increase in nutrients.

In 2002, 2005, 2007 and 2010 there has been massive break down of thick microbial mats from the bottom of the lake and floating in the lake. In spring and summer the thrombolites are smothered with Cladophora – a sign of eutrophication. The microbial mats in the lake including those responsible for the growth of thrombolites have been investigated in conjunction with the environmental factors. The results indicate that the system is becoming eutrophic and hypersaline.

This presentation will provide a scientific background to what is occurring in Lake Clifton by tracing the origin of the floating algal mats and providing an explanation for the break up of the benthic algal mats. I will also attempt to address whether these current conditions are supporting thrombolite growth and what the likely out comes will be.

Jennifer Alexander is a research scientist with a scientific background in marine biology and environmental science. She has worked in a variety of fields and locations and has been conducting research at Lake Clifton since 2007 as part of her PhD.

The project is part of the vision ‘I have a dream: Safe drinking water for all children’. Each day about 4000 children die due to access to safe drinking water. Engineers have an important contribution to make to this problem through development of new treatment technologies, design of systems that are appropriate for rural areas and developing countries, and through robust maintenance and monitoring programmes. Membrane technologies – advanced polymer filters - are ideal for solving many of those problems where bacteria and viruses cause diseases such as diarrhoea, turbidity and colour makes water aesthetically unsuitable for consumption and many dissolved contaminants such as salt, arsenic, fluoride, uranium or pesticides cause immediate or longer term health problems. Those problems are avoidable through accessible, appropriate and robust filter technology. The challenge is to engineer a technology that is simple, robust and reliable and meets the needs of the end user. This requires interdisciplinary collaboration and persistence.

Through two projects in Africa, the ‘SAfe Drinking Water using Appropriate Technologies’ SADWAT-Ghana and SADWAT-Tanzania Leverhulme Royal Society Africa Awards engineers in Edinburgh collaborate with colleagues in Africa to develop appropriate technology. Those projects focus on the use of existing membrane technology (ultrafiltration (UF), nanofiltration (NF) and electrodialysis (ED)) to treat contaminated waters incorporating some local materials such as bone char and laterite using renewable energy to power the membrane systems. This approach will develop local capacity and business opportunity – and ultimately be a sustainable solution to water treatment in any developing country.

The seminar will give an overview of our work on this topic to date with a focus on the problem of physical chemical water quality issues, removal of inorganic contaminants from surface and brackish groundwater by nanofiltration and reverse osmosis, chemical speciation effects and the impact of energy fluctuations. The presentation is aimed at a general audience and hence suitable for colleagues and students from a broad range of disciplines. The project is carried out in collaboration with Prof Bryce Richards at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh and Collaboration suggestions are very welcome!

**** This seminar is free and open to the public, no RSVP required

****All Welcome****

Perth Upmarket is Perth’s premier quarterly market for original and handcrafted wares. The market brings together over 150 of Perth’s most talented artists, designers, craftsmen and gourmets all under one roof at the University of Western Australia’s Winthrop Hall. Incorporating a dedicated Junior Upmarket and Gourmet section. Parking and entry are free and the venue is easily accessible. Two ATMs onsite.

The China Study Tour 2011/2012 is an intensive eight-week course of study in Chinese language. The study tour is opened to adults aged 18 and above and regardless of Chinese Mandarin background (from absolute beginner to native speaker).

The program is split between Zhejiang University (ZJU) in beautiful Hangzhou and the Beijing Institute of Education (BIE) in historic Beijing. The intensive classes cover all facets of the language (i.e. speaking, listening, reading and writing).

The China Study Tour 2011/2012 is an intensive eight-week course of study in Chinese language. The study tour is opened to adults aged 18 and above and regardless of Chinese Mandarin background (from absolute beginner to native speaker).

The program is split between Zhejiang University (ZJU) in beautiful Hangzhou and the Beijing Institute of Education (BIE) in historic Beijing. The intensive classes cover all facets of the language (i.e. speaking, listening, reading and writing).

Early Bird Offers end on 3rd October 2011!

On behalf of the Organizing Committee, we invite you to participate in the inaugural Liver Down Under Conference, being held from Monday 28th November to Friday 2nd December 2011 in Perth, WA. This conference will be a major international meeting on Liver Research to be held in Australia and has attracted many of the top international liver, cancer, stem cell and tissue regeneration researchers, who have already indicated they will attend. This meeting will be similar in format to the FASEB Summer Conferences, specifically the liver disease meeting which is held biannually at Snowmass, Colorado, USA. The meeting will have strong international and national scientific content. Prof Andras Nagy, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, CA, is the plenary speaker (see http://www.lunenfeld.ca/researchers/nagy) and he will speak on “Potential applications utilising embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells in treating liver disease”. We have an additional 15 international and 7 national invited speakers who are attending the meeting. Please go to the following website (http://liver.asnevents.com.au/) for further detail, list of invited speakers and to register for a day or for the entire meeting.

A UWA Engineering qualification combines practical and theoretical learning in an exciting and engaging environment that will make you a sought-after graduate, with an internationally recognised education.

To find out more about how to become an engineer, come along to one of our free Engineering Information Evenings and talk to us about commencing your engineering career at UWA.

The information evenings will cover course and career options, the types of engineering available to study, what the course entails, entry pathways available and how to apply through TISC

Join Steven Landry as he outlines his journey from being at the forefront of one of the world’s largest car companies to his vision for providing power to Western Australia’s vast number of resource projects behind the economic growth of the State.

Steven spent 27 years at Chrysler Corporation in various global positions including President of Chrysler Europe, CEO and President of DaimlerChrysler Canada and, ultimately, becoming an Officer at Chrysler LLC, as Executive Vice President of North America. In January 2011, he moved to Perth to establish ATCO’s Australian operations. Within the first seven months, Mr Landry had successfully brokered the deal in which ATCO Australia acquired 100% ownership of WA Gas Networks in a transaction worth $1BN.

Price: Members $45/Guests $55 or $450 for a table of 10 Price includes a two-course breakfast and presentation by Steven Landry.

Few species can exist without interacting with others. When one species, such as the human species today, multiplies quickly it inevitably interferes with the food or water supply of others and encroaches on their habitats. By doing so it may damage or destroy some of the very relationships on which it itself depends for survival. In practical terms this means that when local or national questions arise about how land should be used (e.g. whether a forested area should be used perhaps for agriculture or housing), although the owner of the property has a financial interest, the wider community has an interest too because it will to a greater or lesser extend be affected by the environmental consequences of any changes. However, environmental relationships are complex and imperfectly understood.

Attempts have been made to give weight to wider interests in land use by giving cash values to values to ‘natural capital’ so that they can be judged against conventional commercial value. Most recently this has been done for the UK in the National Ecosystem Assessment (http://uknea.unep-wcmc.org/Resources/tabid/82/Default.aspx) and the UK Government has indicated that it supports this approach.

It is intended that rather than a lecture, this should be a discussion seminar with an introduction of around twenty minutes followed by a wide-ranging discussion of the issues.

Bio,

Ron Oxburgh FRS (Lord Oxburgh of Liverpool) trained originally as a geologist and has worked as an academic, a civil servant and in business. He has taught and researched at Oxford, Cambridge, Caltech and Stanford and served as President of Queens’ College Cambridge.

Between 1987 and 1993 he was Chief Scientific Adviser to the Ministry of Defence and from 1993 to 2001 Rector of Imperial College. He was non-executive Chairman of Shell Transport and Trading until the Company merged with Royal Dutch Petroleum to form Royal Dutch Shell in 2005.

He is currently President of the Carbon Capture and Storage Association and Chairman of 2OC and GEO – small greentec startups. He is a former Chairman of the Trustees of the Natural History Museum and of the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology. He is Foreign member of the US, Australian and German Academies of Science.



****All Welcome****

Professor Nicholas Cook is a world leading music scholar with an eclectic range of interests from aesthetics and analysis to psychology and pop. In this lecture, he examines the use of music to create affective values, constructions of identity and community.

His paper argues for a critical musicology that creates awareness of such operations. It reveals the complex ways in which people use music to try out identities and social relationships in a low-risk context – in other words, using music as a vehicle for making life choices.

For tickets email [email protected] or phone 64882054 / 64887836

In response to growing public interest in the health of our aquatic ecosystems, the Centre for Water Research at the University of Western Australia will now be holding a monthly discussion forum in relation to issues and questions regarding our water resources in Western Australia.

The forums aim to facilitate two-way communication and discussion about topics of interest surrounding our water resources. Each month an informal seminar will be presented by a member of CWR. All attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions, facilitate discussion, and share any information and experiences they see relevant to the topic.

If you have any specific questions or topics that you would like addressed prior to the forum, or wish to be allocated a time period in which you can speak or lead the discussion, please send your inquiries to [email protected].

Come and be apart of an active community initiative helping to bring about awareness of the health of our precious water resources.



**** This seminar is free and open to the public, no RSVP required

****All Welcome****