What's On at UWA

The Co-op UWA May Clearance Sale from Wednesday May 1st

Clearance stock of fiction, non-fiction and academic reference titles at $10, $5.95, $5 and $2. Co-op members also receive Member discount off Sale Prices.

Last shipment of grey, navy and black UWA Hoodies on sale @ $39.95

Monitoring of the ice shelf and sub-ice shelf ocean temperatures represents an important component towards understanding ice sheet stability and the potential for rapid sea level rise.Continuous monitoring is challenging due to difficult surface access, the difficulties to penetrate through the ice shelf, and the need for the long term operation of non-recoverable sensors.

During November 2011, two instrumented moorings were installed through the Ross Ice Shelf of Antarctica at Windless Bight to develop rapid, light-weight drilling and near-continuous fiber-optic temperature monitoring methods. A combination of ice coring for the upper portion of each shelf borehole, followed by a hot-point drill for penetration into the ocean, was employed.

The boreholes provided temporary access to the ice-shelf cavity, into which Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) fiber-optic cables and conventional pressure/temperature transducers were installed. The DTS moorings provided near-continuous in time and depth (1-m interval) observations of ice and ocean temperatures to a depth of almost 800 m beneath the ice-shelf surface. Data received via telemetry to date document the presence of near-freezing waters throughout the cavity during November through January, followed by the influx warmer Ross Sea surface waters reaching approximately 150 m beneath the ice-shelf base during February and March. The cyclic return to isothermal conditions was complete by May.

In this talk, we begin with an overview of DTS physics, followed by a detailed look at the installation methods, instrument package design, mooring cable design,power supply and challenges that arose during the year long deployment.

Following a brief discussion of the data processing tools need to achieve high resolution, we present an analysis of entrance and exit of warm sub-shelf waters and their sources. We close with examples of several related DTS experiments in snow dynamics, aquatic ecosystem restoration and soil moisture monitoring, as well as an overview of the US National Science Foundation's community user facility for DTS.

About the speaker

Dr Scott Tyler is a Foundation Professor of Hydrogeology at the University of Nevada, Reno with appointments in the Department of Geologic Sciences and Engineering and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He is the director of the National Science Foundation’s Center for Transformative Environmental Monitoring Programs; a community instrument facility for DTS.

He is past editor of Water Resources Research, former chair of the Geologic Society of America’s Hydrogeology Division and incoming chairman of the board for the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Sciences.

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

****All Welcome****

A public lecture by Professor Paul Hills, The Courtauld Institute of Art.

If, as the linguist John Lyons has argued, individual colours as distinct from colour as a whole, ‘are the product of the lexical and grammatical structure of particular languages’, the question I wish to raise with reference to Venetian art and culture of the later fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, is how language directs attention by rendering particular named tints salient in consciousness. How did language divide up the manifold experience of colour in the city, and of the artefacts and artistic representations produced in it? In what ways did the lexicon and grammatical usage of colour terms change or expand in the period between about 1480 and 1580, and what does this imply about patterns of discrimination? And what can the Venetian evidence tell us about which comes first, lexical invention or diversification in manufactures such as polychrome silks. What in short is the relation between the materials of colour, their use in representations such as oil painting, and linguistic practices?

Paul Hills is well known for his publications on light and colour in Italian Renaissance art. He has been a visiting professor at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York; at Villa I Tatti, The Harvard Center for Renaissance Studies; and at the Royal College of Art. In 2003 Hills was appointed Andrew Mellon Visiting Professor at the Courtauld, and took up a permanent post there in 2004. In July 2012 he was appointed Emeritus Professor.

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

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

What is the relationship between Higher Education and Social Justice? Is there one? Does Higher Education promote social justice in society or, rather, does it create social injustice? These troubling questions are the ones we attempt to address in our recent publication ‘Social Justice and Higher Education’ (Baillie et al, 2012, Engineering and Social Justice, London). We decided to explore these questions in more detail by interviewing a range of educators from all over the world about their views on this topic. As we chose not to define what we meant by social justice the conversations were very rich and diverse, prompting many insights into the working experience of the respondents. We did not conduct these interviews as a traditional researcher might. The project became more of a long, ongoing conversation and the resulting, illustrated book, is authored by us all, including the artist whose interpretations of our conversations added extra depth and insight. The responses ranged from the belief that HE can enhance social justice in society to the view that HE is inherently based on unjust principles and alternatives are needed now. This seminar will share some of these views to provoke broader discussion about changes in the role of HE in society.

PLEASE BE ADVISED: - THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED.

A/Prof Tom Scirghi, the 2013 St Thomas More College Visiting Chair of Jesuit Studies, presents the second of three seminars, focusing this week on confession and the popular media.

Why was Lance Armstrong's confession to Oprah Winfrey so criticised by the media? And is forcing priests to reveal confessions of child abuse likely to curtail the abuse, or curtail the confession of abuse?

The St Thomas More College Chair of Jesuit Studies is a joint initiative involving St Thomas More College, The University of Western Australia, and the University of Notre Dame Australia, bringing a visiting Jesuit scholar to Perth each year for a series of seminars and public lectures.

In our contemporary Knowledge society, ideas for and about science are often shaped by the visions, scenarios and predictions offered by more or less clear-sighted actors within different societal spheres.

Entering into the contested terrain of which futures to prepare for, some of these visions are more ambiguous than others. This talk will discuss some of the artworks coming out of the SymbioticA Centre in relation to two other speculative projections of possible futures: The movement of Transhumanism, and the synthetic biology undergraduate competition iGEM.

Nora S. Vaage is an interdisciplinary researcher at the Centre for the Study of the Sciences and the Humanities at the University of Bergen, Norway. She is working on her PhD dissertation on artistic research and the ethics of bio art, of which the SymbioticA Centre is the main case study. Her Master?s thesis in Art History discussed the transgenic artworks of Eduardo Kac, and she also holds a Bachelor?s in Aesthetics. Nora is a member of the research group Cnature, the Cultural History of Nature. She is a lecturer in Art Theory and the ethics of images, and a seminar teacher in Visual Culture and Visual Rhetoric at the University of Bergen.

A mixture of old and new works for cello and piano covering the last 100 years. Older pieces from the start of the century with new interpretations plus new works from the later part of the century. There will also be original music written by a UWA Music School student.

Entry is free, bookings are essential. Visit EpicEvents for bookings.

Scott Stephens of ABC Religion and Ethics will speak on "The Missing Middle: How we lost our sense of the Good (and our sense of God along with it)." This is one of several events commemorating C.S.Lewis and his impact. One of 2013 UWA CHaplain's International Lecture series.

Louise Devenish (DMA candidate)

Ever since 9/11, “Islamic terrorism” has been regarded by Western political leaders, the media and a great number of academics and terrorism experts as the most serious security threat facing Western countries and their allies. Pakistan in particular has, with some exaggeration, been singled out by as a failing, impoverished, politically unstable, nuclear armed state dominated by socalled fanatical “Islamic terrorists” who threaten the security of the rest the world, particularly the West.

In his recently published book, The Making of Terrorism in Pakistan, Eamon Murphy demonstrates that the root causes of terrorism in Pakistan have little to do with the teachings of Islam but rather lie in more mundane political, social and historical developments. He argues that the use of the term “Islamic terrorism” is not only inaccurate, unfair and insulting to the vast majority of Muslims but has also contributed to the growth of Islamophobia throughout the Western world.

Eamon Murphy is Adjunct Professor in the newly formed Department of Social Sciences and International Affairs at Curtin University. Previously he had taught history, politics and international relations at Curtin for over 36 years. His current research interest is terrorism in South Asia, and he has published books, journal articles and book chapters on aspects of terrorism in India and Pakistan, including his co-edited volume Contemporary State Terrorism: Theory and Practice ( Routledge, 2010). His latest book The Making of Terrorism in Pakistan: Historical and Social Roots of the Extremism has just been published in the prestigious Routledge Critical Terrorism Studies series.

The Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences will be hosting an evening for prospective applicants to the School Leaver Pathways for the Doctor of Medicine (MD) course.

Year 12 students who are considering applying to the one of the School Leaver Pathways are encouraged to attend. Parents and teachers are welcome.

BOOKING IS REQUIRED (via the URL below). After booking a seat, you will be sent email confirmation. Please bring a copy of the email confirmation to the information session.

The presentation will look at the current situation in India in terms of its economic development, political landscape and demographic changes that directly influence its strategic path and progress. It will then examine the possibility of India emerging as a genuine global power in the future. In doing so the presentation will analyse the factors that have a direct bearing on a nation becoming a regional/global power and then view the same factors from the perspective of India becoming a global power.

Dr Sanu Kainikara is the Air Power Strategist at the Air Power Development Centre, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).

He is a former fighter pilot of the Indian Air Force (IAF) who retired voluntarily as a Group Captain (Acting) after 21 years of commissioned service. He has vast operational flying experience in a number of modern fighter aircraft and was the Commanding Officer of an Operational fighter squadron.

Dr Kainikara has received the RAAF, Chief Air Force’s Commendation. He was also decorated for gallantry and is also the recipient of the Air Force Cross and two Commendations from the IAF Chief of Air Staff.

Dr Kainikara is currently focusing on the topic of the Law of Armed Conflict and Military Strategy at the ANU. He is a graduate of the Indian National Defence Academy, Defence Services Staff College and the College of Air Warfare. He holds two Bachelor degrees (Strategic Studies and Aerospace Engineering) a Master of Science in Defence and Strategic Studies from the University of Madras and PhD in International Politics from the University of Adelaide.

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

from the wheatbelt to the Murchison in the path of Surveyor Robert Austin’s 1854 expedition.

An Inquiring Minds Lecture by Stephen Hopper, Winthrop Professor of Biodiversity,The University of Western Australia.

In this talk, Professor Hopper will present a modern journey taken from the central wheatbelt to the Murchison goldfields in the path of Surveyor Robert Austin’s 1854 expedition. The team comprised staff from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Kings Park and Botanic Garden, a consultant landscape ecologist and a Noongar elder.

Cost: Free, but RSVP essential.

To register a place visit http://www.ias.uwa.edu.au/lectures/stephen-hopper

Raymond Yong is widely recognised artist around Australia, performing solo recitals, concertos with orchestra, and chamber music concerts with some of Australia’s finest musicians and ensembles. He is the founding Artistic Director of Orchestra 21, Music Director of the Victorian Youth Symphony Orchestra and Music Director of the Victoria Chorale. Yong will be joined in performance by Paul Wright leading a quartet for Mozart’s Piano Concerto no 12. For tickets: http://www.music.uwa.edu.au/concerts/keyed-up

Professor Kerry Shephard from the University of Otago’s Higher Education Development Centre will present this month’s FASE/CATL seminar.

This workshop will look at the ways that university teachers, departments and other groups in higher education have sought to embed sustainability themes in their teaching programmes. The session will address the key developments that individuals need to be up-to-date on, the important issues for individuals and their academic group to debate and the generic support and strategic guidelines available from the higher education sector to inform development.

The session will involve short presentations from the facilitator and small group discussions to explore and evaluate educational approaches and to identify issues that need further research.

Presentation Synopsis

Dr Bowen’s talk will cover these points: What will it do? Where will it be built? What are the timelines? What is the governance? What are the technologies? What are the challenges?

About the Speaker

Dr Bernard Bowen spent most of his working life as a marine scientist and then as an administrator as Director of the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife in Western Australia. One of his main areas of interest was the population dynamics of the western rock lobster and the management of the fishery. Following his retirement in 1991, he was appointed a Director of the Australian Fisheries Management Authority, a position he held until 1994.

Bernard was appointed Deputy Chair of the WA Environmental Protection Authority in 1994, and then in 1997 he was appointed Chair of the Authority. During that time he had a significant influence on the protection of the State’s environment and the development of environmental policy.

Following his retirement from the EPA in 2003, Bernard has played a major role in the establishment of two research institutes, firstly, the WA Marine Science Institution (WAMSI) and more recently the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR). He was the Foundation Chair of the WAMSI Board and is now the Foundation Chair of the ICRAR Board. He has been awarded an Order of Australia Award, and he is a Fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering.

A public lecture by Ian Chubb, Chief Scientist of Australia.

In this inaugural Rio Tinto-UWA Education Partnership lecture, Professor Ian Chubb will discuss the importance of science to Australia’s future and its place in the world.

Professor Ian Chubb was appointed to the position of Chief Scientist on 19 April 2011 and commenced the role on 23 May 2011.

This lecture is sponsored by Rio Tinto, the Faculty of Science and the Institute of Advanced Studies at The University of Western Australia.

Cost: Free, but bookings essential. This event is now FULL.