What's On at UWA

Bitcoin is a "virtual currency” made possible by the internet. One attraction for many is that the creation and use of Bitcoin as a currency is that is independent of any bank. But, is Bitcoin a valid currency or is it a speculative investment? Professor David Yermack provides an informed, unbiased perspective on this issue.

Professor Yermack is the Albert Fingerhut Professor of Finance and Business Transformation at New York University Stern School of Business and also Director, Pollack Center New York University School of Law.

Beethoven: A Tale of Triumph Concert - to be held at St George's College as part of their Spring Concert Series. The concert will see a selection from Beethoven's piano sonatas including the famous Moonlight Sonata performed by Perth's mightiest pianists! Performing: Mark Coughlan, Caroline Badnall, Raymond Yong, Anastasia Buettner-Moore, Rachel Chan, Stephen Armstrong. Free admission, bookings required.

I will be available to discuss your current or future home loan requirements all day. Either book a time or just come into the Clubs Meeting Room, 1st Floor, Guild Central Wing. Go to the Student Centre and they can direct you to the meeting room.

As the dedicated Member Relations Manager for the UWA branch, I look forward to discussing your banking needs whether they are lending, deposits or general banking.

As part of the suite of discounts and offers available, UWA employees and family have the opportunity to discuss an exclusive Home Loan offer.

This includes: •4.85% p.a. UniStaff variable and comparison rate home loan and a No Establishment Fee offer is current for all applications received before 30/09/2014. •Currently 0.40% p.a. lower than our current standard variable rate (5.25% p.a. as at 26/8/13). •Exclusive to UWA Staff and your families. •No monthly, maintenance or ongoing fees. •Unlimited free redraws. •100% offset facility available. •Free split loan option with an Equity Access or Fixed Rate loan. •Additional repayments available on fixed loans up to $10,000 p.a. •MemberCare Insurance options with multi-policy discounts •University staff discounts also apply on personal & car loans.

Unicredit also has Unistaff Term Deposit special rates on offer.

Unicredit – Here for you on campus Unicredit began in 1964 (it’s our 50th anniversary this year!) and we have been on-campus with our UWA branch providing a convenient and competitive alternative for the banking needs of UWA staff and students. Being a credit union, we are not publicly listed (we are effectively owned by our members), so we don’t exist to maximise profits to pay shareholders. Instead, we only retain a modest profit to ensure our future and our member’s financial security then reinvest the remainder back into the society, allowing us to continue providing a strong and stable financial institution delivering outstanding member service, simple and flexible products, competitive rates and fairer fees for our members.

The idea that good performance management is essential for organisations is part of today’s conventional public management wisdom. If public organisations are to perform well, they must know and understand their internal operations and the external environment well. Good performance measures, it is believed, help public managers to make better decisions and ultimately enhance organisational performance. This interest has generated numerous performance management research aimed at identifying factors that facilitate managers to effectively use performance information in decision making. This paper examines some fundamental assumptions of performance management research, including critical gaps in our current understanding of its basic tenets. It then presents an integrative performance management framework aimed at encouraging new directions for scholarship and improved implementation.

Jeannette Taylor is a faculty member in the Political Science discipline at the University of Western Australia. Her research interest lies in public administration, particularly on performance management and public service motivation. Jeannette serves on the editorial board of Public Administration Review and Review of Public Personnel Administration.

The School of Life launches in Perth as a Pop-Up on Sunday 14 September at Winthrop Hall with a keynote by Julian Burnside AO QC and music by John Butler.

Julian Burnside AO QC has devoted his life to fairness and justice, as a barrister, Queens Counsel and human rights advocate. He believes that from the earliest age, children yearn for fairness and they understand what it is. As we grow older, we learn that our childhood instinct for fairness is what grown-ups call ‘Justice’ but we work out ways to deny it, or redefine it, until we live lives in which it disappears. Yet the yearning for fairness – for justice – remains.

Julian will deliver a keynote On Fairness, exploring the much-lauded virtue of a ‘fair go’ in Australian culture with his signature style of persuasive polemics. He will be joined by musician John Butler who will perform three folk-song hymns to convey his interpretation of what fairness means – and why it still matters.

The first 200 people to arrive at Winthrop Hall on Sunday 14th of September will receive a copy of Dumbo Feather Issue #38: Julian Burnside Fights Injustice.

John Butler is an acclaimed singer, multi-instrumentalist musician, songwriter, record label owner and producer. He is the front man for the John Butler Trio, a roots and jam band, which was formed in Fremantle, Perth, Western Australia in 1998. In 2005, Butler and his wife Danielle Caruana co-founded The Seed Fund – to support artistic expression and encourage the social, cultural and artistic diversity in Australian society. John Butler is an advocate of peace, environmental protection, and global harmony. Over the years, he has supported The Wilderness Society, the Save Ningaloo Reef and the Save the Kimberly campaigns.

To find out more and purchase tickets, visit: http://www.theschooloflife.com/melbourne/shop/classroom/perth/julian-burnside-on-fairness.html

The School of Life is a cultural enterprise offering good ideas for everyday life, offering a variety of programmes and services concerned with how to live wisely and well.

Kim Kirsner’s education included a BComm (Melb), a BSc (London), and a PhD (London) under the supervision of Fergus Craik. He subsequently completed a PDF under Ben Murdoch at the University of Toronto, and accepted an appointment to the School of Psychology at UWA in 1972. In the succeeding years he collaborated on research with scientists at the Universities of Parma, Padua, Delhi and Kanpur (IIT). He was appointed Professor at UWA and elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Science in 1997. He has published approximately 80 articles in refereed journals, 40 invited chapters in edited books, hundreds of conference chapters and papers, two edited books and one co-authored book. He has also held numerous ARC grants. He retired from Psychology at the end of 2006 and worked as an Adjunct Professor in the School of Animal Biology at UWA until 2014. He is also an Adjunct Professor in the School of Medicine at the University of Notre Dame (Fremantle). His current areas of interest focus on the automatic measurement of fluency in natural language production and necessary corrections to the history of the search for HSK Kormoran and HMAS Sydney, where, in collaboration with John Dunn, he produced the most accurate prediction ever for an off-shore and deep sea wreck (Graham, Trotter, King & Kirsner, 2014).

I first presented a paper on this topic for the US Naval Academy proceedings in 1993. Sydney was lost with all hands when she closed to approximately 1 km from an unidentified vessel – actually a heavily armed raider – a distance at which her notional advantages in regard to firepower, range, speed and armour were nullified. The report published by the Cole Commission in 2009 described the approach as ‘inexplicable’. However, analysis of the history of encounters between British cruisers and unidentified vessels (be they raiders, minelayers, supply ships or British Q-ships) in World War II indicates that close approaches were at worst common and, arguably, the rule prior to the meeting between Kormoran and Sydney. The next three encounters that involved cruisers that were aware of the outcome of the engagement involved one sinking of a ‘friend’ and two occasions when an enemy minelayer was allowed to pass. Recent research in an old account of the work of the Naval Intelligence Division of the Admiralty in London (McLachlan, 1971) revealed that it had information about Kormoran that could have been provided to the Australian station prior to the engagement but, probably for security reasons, was not so provided. In August 2014, the Canberra launch of The Search for HMAS Sydney: An Australian Story revealed for the first time the pain, and blame, that Captain Burnett’s family experienced in the years following her loss. Burnett was the Captain of HMAS Sydney and has routinely been awarded more or less sole responsibility for the loss. Thanks to Barbara Winter’s early history of the event (Winter, 1984), it is possible to form a plausible hypothesis about the information not provided to Sydney in advance of the engagement. In 1941 British cruisers were not lone sailing frigates months from home and news, as they often were during the Napoleonic Wars, but integral units in a complex weapons system, and the loss should be so understood. An additional factor involved the Captain’s confidence in the system that provided him with information about the positions off allied merchant vessels may have contributed to the disaster.

We have certainly come a long way in preventive medicine. Viruses are becoming more resistant and toxins continue to be the scourge of modern living. Although health and wellness may be on everyone’s minds these days, attention to wellbeing is by no means a new concept. People have been searching for ways to ‘stay in the pink’ since the dawn of civilisation. The field of medicine is vast but to what extent does it accommodate the needs of the Muslim word?

GLOBALVACC AL-SHIFA approved as world's first HIB Halal certified Preventive medicine for Muslim children and is the first step in giving the world Halal Vaccines. To integrate Halal concept into vaccines has been always a challenge because a lot of Pharmaceutical companies look at bottom lines and would not consider going the extra mile in sourcing for ingredients which are Halal. This lecture explores the journey towards developing the world's first HIB Halal certified Preventive medicine for Muslim children.

About the speaker: Mr Ragupathy is a graduate of the National University of Singapore majoring in Molecular Biology and has 20 years of experience in the field establishing new technologies and innovations for large Pharmaceutical companies like Nestle, Pfizer, Roche, Lonza and Wyeth. He has worked on Biosensors, for in-vitro diagnostics use, in Nanyang Technological University using paramagnetic beads to detect organisms in different matrixes like blood, and other bodily fluids. He had set up the Pan B and Pan T Cells Separation Course for students in the National University of Singapore Microbiology Department, using DynaBeads (450nm ad 280 nm beads). He had worked on immuno-separation technology which has been adapted by Nestle for their Salmonella work. Together with Warwick University (UK), he did Real Time Microbial Load Monitoring in production plants manufacturing Infant formula (Nutraceuticals). Usage of flow-cytometry techniques with membrane bound dyes were used to develop this for Pfizer. In virology, he had developed a separation technology to aggregate Hep A virus which was 15 times more sensitive compared to then current methods. He has had previously worked in a R&D company called Singapore Biotech owned by Temasek Holdings co-developing with GSK Hepatitis Vaccines and locally produced Epstein Barr Virus kits. Mr Ragupathy is the CEO of KR Biologicals Pte Ld. which has been working with Serum Institute of India to launch the first Halal HIB vaccine for infants. He is also the Senior Vice-President of Innovative biotech and has also worked with distinguished scientists such as Dr Lance Gordan, who is the inventor and developer of the first bacterial conjugate vaccine to receive FDA and European approval.

Agriculture is one of the hottest investment sectors at the moment. The big names of Forrest, Rinehart, and Packer, plus the Chinese are pouring money into the food and fibre industry. Learn what investors are looking for, why agriculture is undergoing a transformation, and what investment opportunities are being taken up by savvy West Australian investors, producers and entrepreneurs. Our esteemed panel of experts will debate the pros and cons of investing in agriculture.

AAAC/RMA/GMA Members $58 | Non-members: $88. Registration from 5.30pm.

About the 2020 Business Insights Series:

2020 Business Insights are information-packed panel sessions designed to bring members and non-members together for an informative and thought-provoking discussion on current business topics. Respected industry experts deliver a keynote presentation followed by an interactive panel discussion that also allows for audience questions followed by high level networking.

UWA Business School and Family Business Australia invites you to join Denis Horgan as he shares his experiences and discusses ‘Growing the Family in Family Business’.

Denis and Tricia Horgan established Leeuwin Estate in 1974, with the guidance of Napa Valley’s Robert Mondavi.  Now under the direction of two generations of the founding family and maintaining a team of highly skilled and dedicated winemakers, Leeuwin’s philosophy of adhering to excellence has earned the Estate an outstanding international reputation.

Denis has held positions on many boards and community organisations, including the ABC, Rio Tinto, CSIRO, St. John of God Hospital, Notre Dame Australia and the peak Australian wine industry bodies.

Both Denis and Tricia are dual recipients of Western Australia's highest wine industry and tourism awards and have both been admitted to the Order of Australia for their contribution to the Australian wine and tourism industries.

Mark Bellgrove is Professor in Cognitive Neuroscience and Larkin’s Fellow in the School of Psychological Sciences at Monash University. Mark’s laboratory studies the neurobiology of attention and cognitive control in both health and disorder (e.g., ADHD) using a range of techniques including molecular genetics, pharmacology, EEG and functional MRI. He is currently funded by an ARC Future Fellowship and his research programmes are supported by the NHMRC.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent disorder of childhood with negative adult outcomes. Although subjective ratings of attention deficit are diagnostic for the disorder, delineating an objective attentional phenotype has proven difficult. In this seminar I will present behavioural and electrophysiological data from our laboratory showing that childhood ADHD is associated with anomalous spatial attention akin to a developmental form of the “neglect syndrome”; that this phenotype is ameliorated by treatment with the psychostimulant methylphenidate; and that it can be predicted by common DNA variation in the dopamine transporter gene (DAT1), the gene encoding the molecular target for methylphenidate. These lines of evidence suggest disruption to the hemispheric control of spatial attention in ADHD that is at least partly influenced by dopamine.

“Mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of, but stigma and bias shame us all.” Bill Clinton

In Australia, it is estimated that 45 per cent of people will experience a mental health condition in their lifetime.

This prevalent condition should be at the forefront of social consideration and health policy. However, this is not the case - the millennium development goals have wholly ignored this area of health, and society has appeared to put mental illness ‘Out of sight’ and ‘Out of mind’.

Come join SPAMH as we explore how stigma and discrimination against mental illness affects sufferers, their carers, health professionals in the field and ultimately, serves as a major barrier to quality health care delivery, treatment and recovery.

Do not miss out on this opportunity to have YOUR questions answered by our expert panel and discover how stigma can be combated on a personal, social and policy level.

The Maldives - a 100% Muslim country - transitioned to a democracy in 2008. The first democratically elected government, however, was unseated on February 7, 2012, just three years into its five-year term by elements of the military and the police. A civilian government has again come to power in November 2013. However, immense challenges remain with regard to upholding democratic values and the rule of law, protecting human rights, and eradicating the growing religious extremism (whose extreme end having links to groups such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS). Mr Fahmy will focus his discussions on these issues in the Maldives, which once seemed a promising Muslim democracy. In the wider context, Mr Fahmy’s discussions will also be relevant for those who are struggling to make sense of what is happening in Arab Spring countries such as Egypt.

Join us for a special Twilight Drinks event with Lord Mayor of Perth, Lisa Scaffidi, who will provide us with some fascinating insights into the variety of challenges and opportunities currently facing Perth.

West Australian born Lisa proudly calls Perth home and as Lord Mayor speaks strongly and undertakes the role energetically. Lisa's focus is on city economic development and branding, smart, sustainable city growth and ensuring we also focus on developing the skills necessary to raise standards of service and heighten the appeal of our capital city in every way.  The key is to ensure its relevance and appeal to all demographics.

This will be an enjoyable evening where you could rekindle some old acquaintances or make some new ones, and generally have a relaxing start to your weekend in the heart of the CBD.

Tickets - $15 GMA members | $25 guests. Numbers are limited — register online now!

Perth's historically informed 'A-Team' perform a variety of works including Mozart's Jupiter Symphony, Handel's Organ Concerto in F major, C.P.E. Bach's String Symphony No. 3 in C major and Boccherini's Quintet Op.39 No.3.

Harpsichord/Organ: Stewart Smith Violin: Paul Wright and Shaun Lee-Chen Viola: Chistina Katsimbardis Violoncello: Noeleen Wright Double Bass: Elizabeth Browning

Admission is free; however bookings are required.

This course is aimed at anyone wishing to improve their survey questionnaires. This course is useful for both people new to questionnaire design and those who have experience and would like to extend their knowledge. It will be a benefit not only for people who anticipate designing a questionnaire in the future, but for those in the role of critiquing commissioned or existing research.

UWA Postgraduate Research students receive subsidised fees.

Professor Chan is the Director of Centre of Global health at SPHPC and the Director of the Collaborating Centre for Oxford University and CUHK for Disaster and Medical Humanitarian Response (CCOUC), which was established in 2011 and aims to conduct research, teaching and engage in knowledge transfer projects in public health and medical disaster and climate change response in Hong Kong and the Asia-Pacific region. Prof Chan’s research interests and expertise include evidence based public health medicine, disasters and humanitarian need assessments, relief evaluation, environment/climate change and health, migration, clinical trials of social interventions, Asia rural and remote community based research and programs. Professor Chan is qualified both as a biomedical engineer and a physician. She has undergone academic training at Johns Hopkins University, Harvard School of Public Health, Hong Kong University and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and is now a fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine. She served as a frontline emergency relief practitioner in mid-1990s, and later as the president for a Nobel peace prize winning medical humanitarian organization that provides emergency medical relief to victims of wars, epidemics and natural disasters (Medecins Sans Frontieres Hong Kong). She has published more than 120 peer-reviewed academic articles in international journals.

Hong Kong, an urban Chinese community, is facing increasingly large scale emergency crises related to the adverse health impacts of climate change, air pollution and infectious diseases. This study investigated whether individual health emergency risk perception, experiences with previous disaster events and anxiety level was associated with household based health preparedness for community emergencies in Hong Kong. A cross-sectional, population-based survey study was conducted among non-institutionalized Cantonese-speaking population aged over 15 years in Hong Kong in 2013 and 2014. The presentation will provide an overview of what we learnt from these studies regarding urban community household based disaster preparedness and their associated sociodemographic predictors.

St George's College will throw open its doors for everyone to visit, explore and discover what life is like in the 'castle'! In conjunction with Open Gardens Australia the day will feature building and garden tours, a variety of musical performances, extensive art exhibition (including works by Jarrad Seng and John Ogburn), poetry readings, recitals of Randolph Stow works, food and beverages also available for purchase.

A live broadcast will also be held at the College of the 720 ABC James Lush program and the "Roots and Shoots" segment with Sabrina Hahn. Everyone is welcome to attend the broadcast from 8.30 am until 10.00 am.

An entry fee will be applicable from 10.00 am onwards of $8.00 per person (under 18 are free of charge). The monies raised will go towards our Scholarship Fund.

Come along and enjoy the beautiful spring day at St George's College.

The Health Promotion Unit & Student Guild will be hosting the inaugural Australian and New Zealand University Mental Health Day (ANZUMHD) on October 7 as part of UWA Mental Health Week, to raise awareness and promote the mental health of those who study and work in higher education. Over 30 Australian Universities have nominated to participate in 2014.

Head over to the Oak Lawn from 11:00am-2:00pm for freebies, food, activities and special guests Headspace, Lifeline and Students Passionate About Mental Health (SPAMH). UWA support services staff available to answer questions about mental health services and support on campus. You are invited to make your personal pledge to improve your mental health & wellbeing.

Workshops/seminars: Laughter Yoga for UWA staff and students from 1:00-1:45pm; Creating a Positive Work Culture for UWA staff from 1:30-2:30pm; SPAMH 'Mental Health 101' Seminars for UWA students from 1:00-3:00pm

Register now for the workshops and seminars!

Come and have a giggle and let off steam at the free Laughter Yoga workshop hosted by the Health Promotion Unit as part of the UWA Mental Health Week. Janni Goss from Laugh WA will teach you how to giggle your way to stress relief! Spaces are limited so register today!

Join us for what promises to be a fascinating presentation from Richard Pengelly, Dual Olympian and Chairman of True Blue Dreaming, a not-for-profit youth and community development mentoring program which seeks to link university students as mentors to educationally disadvantaged youth and children in remote and regional WA. Richard’s presentation will have clear implications for anyone in business needing to build their talent base or better understand their current workforce.

In this Twilight Drinks presentation, Richard will share his experiences of working closely with young people. Since graduating as a PE teacher from UWA in 1981, Richard has been Chaplain at Hale School, become an ordained Anglican priest, run a large parish, been a university college Chaplain, Assistant Professor in Sports Science and Sub-Dean of UWA Community. He now works as the Director of Service Learning and Leadership at Christ Church Grammar School.

Richard is a dual Olympian, has been a World Championship player and captain of the Australian water polo team. He is the Chair of Special Olympics WA, a Canon of St George’s cathedral and is on the board of the WA Institute of Sport. He has also enjoyed media work as a commentator for the ABC and Channel 7.