What's On at UWA

Welcome to TEDxUWA 2017, a multidisciplinary, full-day celebration of ideas worth spreading. Our theme for this year is: The Future Blueprint ... BLUEPRINT - noun 1. a detailed program of action that describes how something might be achieved; 2. an early-stage design plan

This year, we are focusing on showcasing a pioneering squad of speakers and performers, who'll spread their cutting-edge ideas to be added to the #TEDxUWABlueprint for a better future. Join us for a day of entertainment, excitement and enlightenment!

TEDxUWA is a 100% student-operated endeavour, based at the University of Western Australia.

Running Times: Start - 10:00am Finish - 4:00pm Please note, all times are approximate and subject to change.

About TEDx, x = independently organised event In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organised events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TED Talks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organised TED event.

The Jewish life of Jesus, or Toledot Yeshu, provides a polemical account of the origins of Christianity, mocking Jesus as an illegitimate child, a false prophet and a charlatan, and describing his disciples as a bunch of violent rogues. This is one of the most important Jewish anti-Christian literary traditions, which was read, transmitted and circulated among Jews as early as the ninth century CE (if not earlier) and at least until the mid-twentieth century. The sheer number of manuscripts that have come down to us suggest that it was almost a “best-seller” among late medieval and early modern Jews. This “blasphemous” narrative was also discussed by a number of Christian authors (most conspicuously, Martin Luther), with a view to expose an alleged Jewish “hatred” of Christians and Christianity and as an illustration of the obstacles preventing the Jews from converting to the “true religion.” The different versions of the story have most often been approached through a philological perspective, with a view to reconstruct Toledot Yeshu’s complex textual history. While philological questions are of course important, they also leave a number of issues unresolved. Here we will be less interested in the origins and development of the tradition than in its audience and in its readers, both Jewish and non-Jewish. We will in particular consider the discursive construction of emotions in the texts, and how they relate to the extra-textual world of medieval and early modern Jews. We will also consider the Christian reception of these texts, exploring the place of emotions in the late medieval and early modern Christian imaginary of Jews and Judaism. The broader aim of this seminar is to question the role of emotions in religious polemics, both as a way to construct out-groups as “others” and as a way to enforce one group’s sense of its own identity.

This is a free event, but spaces are limited. please register by emailing emotionsuwa.edu.au.

AGN are episodic in nature, cycling through periods of activity and quiescence. Their life-cycle is key for understanding the impact they have on their host galaxy. On the other hand, this cycle is also the result of the intricate interplay between various, and sometimes, competing processes. The role of the gas (accretion and outflowing) is thought to be particularly important behind onset and termination of the nuclear activity.

In this talk, I will present our studies aimed at understanding the life-cycle and the role of the gas in a particular class of active nuclei: the radio-loud AGN. These studies make use of the exciting possibilities offered by the new generation of radio telescopes.

For radio AGN, their evolutionary stage (young, adult, dying, restarted) can be derived from the radio spectra and morphology, in particular by using the capabilities of new low-frequencies radio telescopes. Our search of dying and restarted sources aims at understanding the time-scale of their evolution. The study of their duty-cycle has been done in the MHz-domain using the LOFAR radio telescope and the continuum surveys that are now in progress. I will summarise the results and compare them with evolutionary models of radio sources developed by our group.

In the second part of the talk, I will present the results of our study on the effect of the radio plasma on the surrounding medium. Surprisingly, and despite the extremely energetic phenomena, these effects can be traced by the cold component of the gas using the atomic HI-21cm and the molecular (CO) components. I will describe the presence and characteristics of these fast and massive outflows and how the effect of the radio jet can be described by numerical models. I will discuss the important connection between the evolutionary stage of the radio source and the effect of the radio plasma on the surrounding ISM, particularly relevant in their first phase of life of the radio source. The results presented represent and important starting point for the large surveys (in particular of HI absorption) that are about to start with SKA pathfinders and, in the near future, with SKA.

The Society for the History of Emotions (SHE) is an international and interdisciplinary professional organisation. SHE promotes a deeper understanding of the changing meanings and consequences of emotional concepts, expressions and regulation over time and space and across cultures. The Society is committed to fostering interdisciplinary international dialogue on all aspects of humanities-based emotions research.

The historical and cultural conditioning of emotions – including their expression, regulation and performance, and their gendered, ethnic, class-based and contingent nature – is a methodologically rich field. This conference encourages discussion across disciplines, cultures and historical periods, with a particular focus on broadening emotions history beyond its hitherto largely Western context. For the inaugural conference of SHE we now invite papers that address one or more of the following questions:

Emotions of Cultures – Comparative Perspectives

How can we extend the cultural and geographical scope of current emotions research? In what ways can we develop our methodologies, especially with regard to comparative studies? How can postcolonial perspectives, indigenous positions and North-South dialogues be better integrated into historical emotions research?

Cultures of Emotions – History of Emotions and Contemporary Issues

How can comparative studies in the history of emotions further our understanding of contemporary issues and problems? How can such comparative perspectives contribute to public debates about cross-cultural and cross-religious issues? What problems do we encounter when teaching the history of emotions, and how can we ensure our teaching is cross-disciplinary?

This workshop will have a particular focus on the interactions of subject, material and emotional formations, applying a ‘new materialities’ analytical paradigm to examine the entangled trajectories, transmissions and transfers of people, ideas and objects across Mediterranean spaces. It thus advances research on the interconnected histories of people, places and things in circulation in the Mediterranean world over a long historical timeframe. The workshop seeks to apply new methodological lenses to the complex and entangled history of the geo-cultural space the Mediterranean World. These new analytical frameworks demand that we consider people, places and things as having entangled subjective, affective, emotional and material lives that are mutually constitutive. As such, these theories suggest that we cannot study individuals and societies outside of their interactions with material entities such as spaces and places and affective experiences, but only in relation to them – and likewise, spaces, objects and emotional experience as relational constructs produced through interactions with people. Thus, people, places and things are ‘entangled’.

This is a free event, but please register by emailing [email protected] by 7 December.

We invite you and your families to join us for our final concert of 2017! Set against the magnificent backdrop of Winthrop Hall, the UWA Christmas Concert will feature all your favourite Christmas classics performed by acclaimed staff and students from the UWA School of Music.

Ever wondered how Good King Wenceslas liked his pizzas?* Andrew Foote will have all the answers as he MC's the evening's proceedings, which will also feature the UWA Staff Community Choir. There will, of course, be the opportunity for the audience to sing-along to some classic carols, and balloon artists and face-painters will be on hand to keep the kids entertained.

Pack a picnic, don your Santa hat and bring the whole family along for a fun-filled musical evening!

We welcome guests from 6pm. Concert starts 7pm and finishes by 8.45pm

Please bring something to sit on (tall chairs only permitted on the grass bank).

*Deep-pan, crisp and even!

Tickets are free, but please book online at TryBooking

Speaker: Professor Des Richardson holds the Chair of Cancer Cell Biology at the University of Sydney, Australia, and is a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia Senior Principal Research Fellow. He has published > 407 articles, reviews, patents, chapters etc., over his career with >93% as first, senior or corresponding author (H-index: 80; >24,255 citations over entire career; with >13,750 citations over the past 5 years and H-index: 55 over past 5 years: Google Scholar Accessed 10 Jan, 2018). He is Executive Editor of BBA-General Subjects and has served on the Editorial Boards of >40 international journals, including J. Biol. Chem., Antioxidants Redox Signaling, Biochem. J., BBA-Mol Cell Res, Mol. Pharmacol., Pharmacol. Res., etc. As a major translational research achievement, he has developed the anti-cancer and anti-metastatic drug, DpC, which overcomes P-glycoprotein mediated drug resistance. This has led to commercialisation of DpC and the development of the international company, Oncochel Therapeutics LLC, USA and its Australian subsidiary, Oncochel Therapeutics Pty Ltd. Notably, DpC has entered multi-centre Phase I clinical trials for the treatment of advanced and resistant cancer. Abstract: Nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related factor-2 (Nrf2) is a master regulator of the antioxidant response. However, studies in models of Friedreich ataxia, a neurodegenerative and cardiodegenerative disease associated with oxidative stress, reported decreased Nrf2 expression attributable to unknown mechanisms. Using a mouse conditional frataxin knockout (KO) model in the heart and skeletal muscle, we examined the Nrf2 pathway in these tissues. Frataxin KO results in fatal cardiomyopathy, whereas skeletal muscle was asymptomatic. In the KO heart, protein oxidation and a decreased glutathione/oxidized glutathione ratio were observed, but the opposite was found in skeletal muscle. Decreased total and nuclear Nrf2 and increased levels of its inhibitor, Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1, were evident in the KO heart, but not in skeletal muscle. Moreover, a mechanism involving activation of the nuclear Nrf2 export/degradation machinery via glycogen synthase kinase-3β (Gsk3β) signaling was demonstrated in the KO heart. This process involved the following: i) increased Gsk3β activation, ii) β-transducin repeat containing E3 ubiquitin protein ligase nuclear accumulation, and iii) Fyn phosphorylation. A corresponding decrease in Nrf2-DNA-binding activity and a general decrease in Nrf2-target mRNA were observed in KO hearts. Paradoxically, protein levels of some Nrf2 antioxidant targets were significantly increased in KO mice. Collectively, cardiac frataxin deficiency reduces Nrf2 levels via two potential mechanisms: increased levels of cytosolic Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 and activation of Gsk3β signaling, which decreases nuclear Nrf2. These findings are in contrast to the frataxin-deficient skeletal muscle, where Nrf2 was not decreased.

For the 8th year in a row, Dr Ferdinand will be teaching GAMSAT classes at UWA from January 20 to 25, and March 10, 2018.

Attendance options:

- 7 full days of GAMSAT training camp

- 3-day course: Science Review or GAMSAT Mock Exam with Interactive Review

- 1-day attendance to focus on your weak area: Bridging Course, Science Review (Day 2 or Day 3), Mock Test or Advanced GAMSAT Topic Course

All attendance course options include course handouts and small-group sessions.

Researchers applying for funding in 2018 can bring along their research plans and get instant feedback on consumer and community involvement.

In this seminar, medieval manuscripts expert Michelle P. Brown will discuss the famous fourteenth-century manuscript, The Luttrell Psalter. For more on the Luttrell Psalter, see http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/ttp/luttrell/accessible/introduction.html

Researchers who are applying for funding in 2018 can bring along their research plans and get instant feedback on consumer and community involvement.

The Teaching and Learning Forum 2018 continues a 26 year tradition of bringing together educators from institutions from around Perth and beyond to discuss, share, and develop their ideas on current challenges, trends and good practice in Higher Education.

In 2018, the theme is "Student Futures" including presentations and workshops on (but not limited to) topics such as employability, graduate capabilities, internationalisation, student as partners and analytics.

Key dates

Submission of papers for review : Monday 20 November, 2017

Submission of abstracts and workshops: Monday 20 November, 2017

Early-bird registration close: Friday 12 January, 2018

Forum: Thursday 1 - Friday 2 February, 2018

Register for the Teaching and Learning Forum via the URL link listed below.

Speaker: Lutz Strüngmann (Mannheim University of Applied Sciences, Germany)

Title: Transitivity Notions for Groups

Time and place: 16:00 Friday 02/02/2018 in Social Sciences LT (Note the unusual location!)

Abstract: http://www.maths.uwa.edu.au/~glasby/GroupsAndCombinatoricsSeminar/S18.html

There will be `cake' in the Mathematics and Statistics tea room at 15:40. The seminar starts at 16:00, and after 17:05 we go to the UniClub or Student Tavern for a drink.

Past and future seminars may be found at http://www.maths.uwa.edu.au/~glasby/GroupsAndCombinatoricsSeminar/S18.html

Did you know that most ARC funding schemes involve both Detailed and General Assessors in the peer review process?

Join us for Q&As and Panel discussions with experienced ARC General Assessors to understand what they are looking for when reviewing an application, as well as the criteria and approaches they use to rank the applications.

You are invited to join Professor Paul Flatau, Director of the Centre for Social Impact UWA (CSI UWA) and the CSI UWA team for the launch of our exciting public engagement program and an inspiring presentation by international innovation lab facilitator Marian Goodman.

In 2018, CSI UWA together with our partners will be driving a number of new exciting activities which we hope will advance a thriving and inclusive Western Australia.

Throughout 2018, we will be extending a number of activities that seek to drive the change we wish to see. Our well loved annual Social Impact Festival (7-20 July) will be ramped up, we will be launching several more Impact Labs (ongoing processes to co-create long lasting change around social issues), as well as beginning a range other initiatives including professional development programs, the ELIAS leadership program as much more.

Come and hear our plans; we would love you to join us and be part of the process.

We believe that we have everything we need in Western Australia to shape the future we wish to see. It is about us forming stronger networks and making visible the great work that is already happening, as well as participating in meaningful processes that support us to realise the future we wish to live in. And what is that future? It's a future where all humans and their places can flourish in a society characterised by wellbeing.

Join us as we explore the concept of Catalysing Societal Wellbeing in this event and throughout the rest of our public engagement program.

ABOUT THE GUEST SPEAKER Marian Goodman (South Africa) directs Programs and Capacity building for the Presencing Institute, working closely with Otto Scharmer in designing and delivering training programs and innovation labs around the world - including Presencing Foundation and Advanced Programs (Brazil, South Africa, Germany, Asia, USA); and international cross-sectoral labs such as the ‘Global Wellbeing Lab – Transforming Society & the Economy’, a collaboration with the GIZ Global Leadership Academy (Germany) and the GNH Centre (Bhutan). The Global Wellbeing Lab was hosted between 2013 and 2016, with 49 participating global leaders in the field of Wellbeing from 17 countries and 5 continents. A number of Wellbeing Society prototypes and intiatives were launched including cultivating a ”Civic Learning Ecosystem” in Europe, a Global Wellbeing Lab Network and WE 7 (Wellbeing Economies) – an alliance of the world’s leading well-being economies.

Marian is Associate Facilitator for Leaders Quest (UK), and in South Africa she designs and leads executive education programs for Graduate Schools of Business as well as numerous clients in business, government and civil society.

Symmetry is one of the essential and most visible patterns that can be seen in nature. Starting from the left-right symmetry of the human body, all types of symmetry can be found in crystals, plants, animals and nature as a whole.

Similarly, principals of symmetry are also some of the fundamental and most useful tools in modern mathematical natural science that play a major role in theory and applications. As a consequence, it is not surprising that the desire to understand the origin of life, based on the genetic code, forces us to involve symmetry as a mathematical concept.

The genetic code can be seen as a key to biological self-organisation. All living organisms have the same molecular bases - an alphabet consisting of four letters (nitrogenous bases): adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine. Linearly ordered sequences of these bases contain the genetic information for synthesis of proteins in all forms of life. Thus, one of the most fascinating riddles of nature is to explain why the genetic code is as it is.

Genetic coding possesses noise immunity which is the fundamental feature that allows to pass on the genetic information from parents to their descendants. Hence, since the time of the discovery of the genetic code, scientists have tried to explain the noise immunity of the genetic information. In this talk we will discuss recent results in mathematical modelling of the genetic code with respect to noise immunity, in particular error-detection and error-correction.

Cheese and wine to follow in the Maths common room (5pm-6pm)

Did you know that most ARC funding schemes involve both Detailed and General Assessors in the peer review process?

Join us for Q&As and Panel discussions with experienced ARC Detailed Assessors to understand what they are looking for when reviewing an application, as well as the criteria and approaches they use to rank the applications.