INSIDE QUT September 2-15, 1997 Page 1

Queensland University of Technology Newspaper ■ Issue 167 ■ September 2-15, 1997

Overseasteachers takelocal lessons

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Academystages twotragedies

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QUT Central Administration 2 George Street Brisbane 4000 Telephone (07) 3864 2111 Registered by Australia Post – Publication No. QBF 4778

by Andrea Hammond

Barbie dolls and magazines presentunreal images that are exposing girls asyoung as five and six to unrealisticexpectations of appearance and bodyimage, according to QUT researchers.

School of Nursing senior lecturersFran Sanders and Deanne Gaskill andresearch assistant Elizabeth Gwynneconducted a 12-month study of thepopular magazine Barbie, based on theever-glamorous, long-legged blonde andblue-eyed doll.

The trio will present its findings at aconference, Challenge the Body Culture,at Brisbane’s Parkroyal Hotel onSeptember 7 and 8.

The first of its kind in Queensland, theconference has been organised by QUT’sSchool of Nursing in collaboration with theEating Disorders Association, Queensland,the Department of Education, communityorganisations and professionals.

Top academics, researchers andhealth professionals from Australia andoverseas will meet to explore eating andimage issues, challenge attitudes andpromote acceptance of diversity of bodyshape, size and image.

Guest speakers include AustralianDemocrats leader Senator Cheryl

Barbie bounced as ideal for babes

Research had also shown these concernsabout size and appearance were rapidlyfiltering down to children as young as sixyears old.

Kernot, New Woman Magazine editorCyndi Tebbel, and author and mediacommentator Dale Spender.

Ms Sanders, who is also one of theconference convenors, said research

had demonstrated the enormousimpact of media and fashion imageson the se l f -esteem and bodysatisfaction of adolescent girls andyoung women.

School of Nursing senior lecturer Fran Sanders . . . raising questions about the impact of Barbie

Science Train ahuge hit inregional centres

Allegations of scientific misconduct quashedAn independent report released onTuesday — on an investigation intoallegations of scientific misconduct by staffof Queensland University ofTechnology’s Centre for MolecularBiotechnology (CMB) — has concludedthat no party had a case to answer.

QUT Vice-Chancellor ProfessorDennis Gibson said that, while the findingwould be a “relief” for those peopleinvolved in the investigation, nothingcould ameliorate the strain they faced inthe past three weeks following thepremature public airing of allegations inthe national media.

“They must have seen their entirecareers flash before them as they weredenied natural justice in the most publicway,” Professor Gibson said.

The investigation, conducted by formerchief scientist to the Prime MinisterProfessor Michael Pitman, looked intoserious allegations by postdoctoral researchfellow, Dr Ines Carrin, which centredaround her claims — later restated at lengthby Dr Norman Swan on the RadioNational’s The Science Show andelsewhere* — that she had beensystematically denied credit for her workand that her work had been inappropriatelygiven to other researchers to complete.

In fact, Professor Pitman found thatnone of Dr Carrin’s work had been“stolen” and that her researchcontribution had already been — andwould be — acknowledged in appropriatescientific publications.

In summary, Professor Pitmanconcluded that there was no case for

charges of scientific misconduct to be laidagainst any party and, further:• while Dr Carrin had made a valuable

contribution to the centre’s research,no scientific papers had yet beenpublished in relation to her work on“transformation”, but she would beacknowledged in future publicationsas appropriate;

• decisions relating to Dr Carrin’sresearch direction were taken withconsideration of constraints such asfunding and research goals; and

• the newspaper advertisement on thesuccessful development of a virus-resistant banana plant was unfortunatein the sense that it did not acknowledgeall contributors to the research.Professor Gibson said he fully accepted

Professor Pitman’s findings which cleared

those involved of scientific misconduct andconfirmed that no action would be takenagainst Dr Carrin (who was due to concludeher contracted work with QUT on August27), as recommended in the report. He alsosaid QUT had given Dr Carrin an interimextension to her contract to allow conclusionof this investigation. QUT had also offereda further extension of three months, a periodto compensate for any disruption to herwork during the complaint review period,Professor Gibson said.

Professor Gibson said he wasparticularly concerned with the media’srole in the matter, especially Dr Swan’spre-emptive airing of one side of anincomplete investigation.

“While Dr Swan sought comment fromthe university before going to air, he wastold that no comment could be made until

an internal investigation — consistentwith National Health & MedicalResearch Council and Australian Vice-Chancellor’s Committee guidelines —was finished,” Professor Gibson said.

“Now Dr Swan is one person whoshould be aware of just what due processis in relation to scientific misconduct,given that he claims to have beeninvolved in establishing this process inthe national arena. But he elected to goto air regardless and that effectivelycompromised the investigation thenunderway and denied all involved theirnatural justice.

“Consequently, I decided to halt theinvestigation and to call on an externalexpert to recommence the investigation.

Professor Gibson said he had alreadywritten to the Chair of the ABC tocomplain about Dr Swan’s broadcasts andto request that appropriate action be taken.

He said Professor Pitman was still toreport on broader issues associated withthe management of research at QUTand any other matters arising from hisinitial review.

“In the current environment,universities are under considerablepressure to achieve substantial and rapidchange in the way they operate,”Professor Gibson said. “However, it isworth remembering that QUT rankedin the top group of Australian universitiesfor research management in the 1995review by the CommonwealthGovernment’s Quality Assurance inHigher Education.”

More reports inside

* Dr Norman Swan initially aired Dr Carrin’s claims in a 50-minute segment on Radio National’sThe Science Show on Saturday, August 16, a program rebroadcast by the ABC on Monday,August 18, prior to the conclusion of an internal investigation into the matter at the university.The transcript of that program was made available on the ABC’s web site. He repeated the coreof the allegations on a number of occasions on radio and in print (The Science Show, August 23and 25, and Life Matters, August 28 and in The Courier-Mail (August 16 and 28).

• Professor Pitman’s report notes that QUT's Centre for Molecular Biotechnology, which is inthe School of Life Sciences, has a staff of 80 working on programs of plant and animal molecularbiology, and an excellent research reputation.

• Included in the research programs is work on the banana bunchy-top virus and, in particular,achieving resistance to the virus by genetic transformation of banana plants. His investigationincluded interviews with nine staff (including Dr Carrin) and three doctoral students, a reviewof 97 documents, 22 research papers, five patents/patent applications, and three research grants,and was conducted in accordance with AVCC and NHMRC guidelines.

• Dr Carrin was initially employed by QUT from January 1994 on a QUT Fellowship (acontracted, two-year position) to work on banana bunchy top virus (BBTV). When thatcontract came to an end, the head of the Centre for Molecular Biotechnology, Professor JamesDale, funded her position for a month from his own Australian Research Council grant andthen offered her further work on banana virus infectivity and replication to August 1997 whichwas funded by a grant from the Horticultural Research and Development Council.

Some background:

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Page 2 INSIDE QUT September 2-15, 1997

A word from the Vice-Chancellor

From the Inside… by David Hawke

When final-year arts administrationstudent Justin McLean undertook athree-month placement at the EdinburghComedy Festival this semester, he neverimagined he’d be able to complete hisstudies via the Internet.

But Mr McLean’s lecturer inProfessional Studies in Drama, DonBatchelor, decided that with studentsspread as far away as Edinburgh andSydney, he had to be more flexible inhis delivery of the subject. Mr Batchelorhas created an Internet home page forthe subject and communicates withstudents through the page and via e-mail.

Mr McLean went to Edinburgh inJuly as part of a three-month placementin the administration section of theTraverse Theatre, one of the festival’smain “fringe” theatre venues. He agreedto an Internet interview for this storyand described what it is like being onthe other side of the world yet studyingin Brisbane.

“Being involved with the largest artsfestival in the world is truly excitingand, needless to say, I am having awonderful time,” he said.

Mr McLean also said he was thrilledto be able to continue his studies whileoverseas because he could stay on a“reasonably level footing” with his peers.

“The Internet delivery method isfantastic,” he wrote.

“At first, I wasn’t sure how it wouldwork but now I am totally convinced

Distance no obstaclefor final-year student

by Carmen Myler

When 25 overseas teachers graduate fromQUT in the middle of next year, they willbring an international flavour to Australianclassrooms.

The group has members from 17countries who were selected to undertake

Course helps overseas teachers retrainthe one-year bridging course for overseastrained teachers which began in July.

Funded by a Federal Government grantto prepare overseas teachers for Australianclassrooms, the course includes intensiveEnglish language studies, behaviouralmanagement skills, curriculum studies andpractical work in schools.

QUT has been the only university inAustralia to receive the grant.

Graduates of the joint Migrant Projects-Faculty of Education program will emergewith a Bachelor of Education and will bequalified to register as teachers in Australia.

Cheng Hua Gu, a teacher from mainlandChina who moved to Brisbane in 1995, said thecourse would help him to return to the teachingprofession where he was “meant to be”.

A secondary teacher and teacher-educatorfor 17 years, he said he had worked inmarketing and door-to-door sales “forsurvival” since coming to Australia.

“Australia’s education system is very differentto China’s and I need to change my teachingapproaches to adapt to the new system,” Mr Gusaid. “This is a big challenge for teachers, but Ithink if I can find a good balance between the twoteaching approaches it would be an advantage.”

Mr Gu said approaches to discipline inAustralia were different from those in Chinaand he hoped to develop a plan which wouldencourage discipline in the classroom whilefostering creativity and personal expression.

His ultimate goal, he said, was to teachChinese language, culture and history toAustralian students.

by Carmen Myler

A trio of QUT architecture students haswon the grand prize in an international solardesign competition in Korea.

Late last month the fifth-year students —␣ Glen Jones, Teo Cavallo and Greg Everding—␣ flew to Korea to accept the grand prizetrophy and $3,000 prize money for theirentry in the Solar Energy in ArchitectureInternational Student Design Competition.

The competition, which was sponsoredby the Korean Government and the KoreanSolar Energy Society, was part of theInternational Solar World Congress in Seoul.

Glen Jones, who works part-time forEldon Bottcher Architect at the Gold Coast,said the competition brief was to design atrain station for the city of Kongju, as part ofSouth Korea’s new high-speed rail link.

“We had to design a train station thatintegrated the old values of this historic citywith modern ideas and the sleek design ofthe new, high-speed train,” he said.

The site is as large as an airport, covering anarea of 55,000 square metres to accommodatethe 400-metre long train, which travelsbetween stations at 360km an hour.

Mr Jones said he and his team mates hadincorporated traditional yin-yang concepts into

Trio wins international solar award

their model, with “a lot of opposites workingtogether and symbolising the ideas and philosophybehind Korea and its religion”.

The solar-powered, “eco” train stationwould have lighting, heating and limited air-conditioning run from solar energy cells aswell as the capacity to store energy, he said.

Mr Jones said the team consulted with QUT’sFaculty of Built Environment and Engineeringand engineering firm Ove Arup.

“We had to rethink things a bit becausewe’re on the other side of the equator (fromKorea), so the sun’s at a different angle,” he said.

“We also did a bit of research into solarcars and that contributed to the sleek designof the building.”

The students said they owed part of theirsuccess to their lecturer, Pedro Guedes, andtheir tutor, Alex Cohn, who both encouragedthem to enter the competition.

that I am not disadvantaged in any way.”Adding to his good fortune, Mr

McLean has just been offered apermanent job with Traverse Theatre,so he will be staying in Scotlandindefinitely.

Mr Batchelor said electronic deliverysuited his overseas and interstatestudents, as well as local students whohad other work commitments.

“Both in space and in time, there aredifferent rhythms going on amongstudents, so I thought it would be hardto do a lecture-based subject,” MrBatchelor said.

He said computers were not his strongpoint, but he thought that, as a teacher,he needed to develop strength in thisarea and to share that experience withhis students.

“Professionally, they need to knowhow to use this technology and QUT isthe place to learn about it. It’s apioneering thing and, as with any newcourse, regardless of the method ofdelivery, you have a few headaches atthe beginning but it’s an absolutelyimportant piece of learning.”

Mr Batchelor said it was essential tobe flexible in attitude to deadlines andassessment, as well as in the deliverymode. He advised other academicsundertaking flexible delivery for the firsttime to “talk to somebody who’s done itand make sure you start with a goodsession between students and computertechnicians”.

Building bridges in Australian classrooms . . . (L-R) Cheng Hua Gu(China), Edith Cieslar (Argentina), Miad Mahmoud (Iraq),

Noemi Elisio (Philippines), and, front, Maria Vancia (Romania)

(L-R) Teo Cavallo, Greg Everding and Glen Jones with a model oftheir prize-winning solar-powered train station

I contacted all staff by e-mailearlier this week to confirm thefindings of Professor MichaelP i tman in to a l l e g a t i on s o fscientific misconduct made by apost-doctoral research fellow inthe School of Life Sciences.

P ro f e s so r P i tman ha sconduc t ed a tho roughinvestigation of the allegationsand has found that there is noca s e f o r f o rma l cha rge s o fmisconduct or serious misconductto be laid.

He also found that no actionwas warranted against the staffmember who made the allegations.I have accepted Professor Pitman’srecommendat ions , which a redocumented broad ly in th i sedition of Inside QUT and inmore de ta i l a t the fo l lowinginternal Internet site —␣ http://www.qut . edu .au / l td /qut / chan/releases

The essence of the allegationswas that the staff member hadbeen unfairly denied credit forwork on banana bunchy top virusin the Cent re fo r Molecu l a rBiotechnology, and that the staffmember's work had been unfairlyused by other members of theCentre.

On the contrary , ProfessorP i tman found the r e wa s noevidence of unfair use of the staffmember's work, that the staffmember ' s con t r ibu t i on hada l r e ady been appropr i a t e l yacknowledged in some scientificpublications, and that the Head

of the Centre had advised thes t a f f member tha t th i scon t r ibu t i on wou ld beappropriately acknowledged infuture scientific publications.

I am particularly concerned atthe damage done to the reputationof individual scientists by theaction of Dr Norman Swan ofABC Radio’s The Science Show inbroadcasting allegations as fact. Ihave written to the Chair of theABC expressing my concern overDr Swan’s behaviour.

Th i s ha s been a t r aumat i cex e r c i s e f o r s e v e r a l f i n er e s e a r che r s i n one o f theun ive r s i t y ’ s mos t p roduc t i v eresearch centres.

In his report, Professor Pitmansaid the Centre for MolecularBiotechnology had “an excellentreputation for research”. We cannow build on that reputation.

Professor Dennis Gibson

Waiting over with reportfrom eminent scientist

INSIDE QUT September 2-15, 1997 Page 3

IC TECHNOL10X3

INGWEST10X2

QUTFUNRUN

SEP14

. . . fulldetails

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Outstanding Alumni Awards

by Glenys Haalebos

QUT’s 1997 Outstanding AlumniAward is the Commonwealth directorof mental health, Dr HarveyWhiteford, a Master of Public Healthgraduate.

The nomination of the 1994graduate acknowledged his long-termcommitment to better ing thetreatment and care of mental healthpatients in Australia.

Harvey has been determined tobring the often-marginalised area ofmental health into mainstream healthcare and has been an “atypical” health-care reformer, straddling the world ofmedicine (as a clinician) and the worldof health policy and administration.

His career began when he graduatedas a medical doctor in 1977. Two yearslater he began five years of study forpsychiatry, which he completed in1984. This was fol lowed by aPostdoctoral Fellowship at StanfordUniversity School of Medicine in theUS during 1985-86.

“My period at Stanford certainlygave me a feel for what a high-qualityresearch university is all about and Ihave been able to bring that back toAustralia with me,” he said.

On his return to Australia at theend of 1986, Harvey became actingdeputy director of the Division ofPsychiatric Services in Queensland’sHealth Department and wasconcurrently consultant psychiatrist atboth Wolston Park and PrincessAlexandra hospitals.

He was directly responsible forthree psychiatric hospitals, forensicpsych ia t ry s e rv i ce s and 12community psychia t ry se rv ice s ,which encompassed a staff of almost2,000.

During 1988, Harvey took up theposition of director of adult psychiatryin Queensland Health’s PsychiatricServices Division. He maintained hisconsulting responsibilities and addedthat of honorary senior lecturer in theUniversity of Queensland’s PsychiatryDepartment.

While in this position, Harveyestablished a 24-bed psychiatricresearch unit at Wolston Park Hospitalwith more than 40 staff, drawing onthe pract ical and intel lectualcol laborat ive resources of local ,national and international experts.This is now the Queensland Centrefor Schizophrenia Research.

In 1991, he became Queensland’sdirector of mental health and, in thiscapacity, was a dynamic agent forreform in mental health services.

“I fe l t I needed improvedadministrative and policy skills to fulfilthe requirements of this position, soenrolled in QUT’s Master of PublicHealth program,” Harvey said.

The innovative and collaborativeMPH program was jointly offered bya consortium of QUT, the Universityof Queensland and Griffith University.

“Each offered a different strand, andI chose to focus on QUT’s healthpolicy, financing and planning andhealth economics areas. I used theinformation, knowledge and skillsgained in the MPH to facilitate reformin Queensland and also at nationallevel.

“Putting mental health into themainstream of health care, linking itwith other services — disability forexample — planning and commencingnew hospital and community services,were my priorities.”

Mental health reformer embraces quest for learningDuring this time, Harvey chaired

the Austral ian Health MinistersAdvisory Council National MentalHealth Working Group (1993-1997)which was responsible for planningand overseeing the reform ofAustralia’s mental health services.

Harvey has also made a significantcontribution to international mentalhealth care.

While director of mental health inQueensland, he was invited by theWorld Health Organisation to sit ona panel of experts , examininginternational systems with the aim ofdeveloping a model of best practice inmental health service delivery.

With such a profile, it was hardlysurpris ing the CommonwealthGovernment sought to secure Harvey’sskills and, earlier this year — on atwo-year secondment fromQueensland Health — Harvey tookup the new position of director ofmental health with theCommonwealth Department ofHealth and Family Services.

He is now responsible for drivingand co-ordinating the FederalGovernment’s initiatives in mentalhealth, including Australia’s NationalMental Health and Youth SuicidePrevention strategies.

“The National Mental HealthStrategy is ‘big picture’ work — settingAustralia’s priorities and drawing thestates and territories into an agreednational agenda,” he explained.

“The Youth Suicide PreventionStrategy is a major area of effort — wehave 36 programs in place for children,schools , doctors , governmentdepartments and private-sector areas.The Federal Government has allocated$31 million over two budgets to helpreduce the alarming rise in youthsuicides.”

And, while Harvey has been shakingthe tree of Queensland and Australianmental health policy and servicedelivery, he has continued seeingpatients and lecturing students.

“My contract wi th theCommonweal th Governmentincludes the right to clinical practiceand I maintain contact with patientsbecause this is the grass-roots ofeverything I am trying to achieve —keeping in touch with the real need,”he said.

“Teaching also bui lds bridgesbetween the pract ice and theadministration of mental health careand, when I was in Brisbane, I taughtat QUT and UQ.

“I now lecture at ANU, where I’m avisiting fellow, and for the A.C.T.Health Department. Teaching is a wayof giving something back to thesystem.

“The MPH taught me the languageof healty policy and administrationand my medical experience groundsme in the world of clinical care.

“Very few people are fortunateenough to have qualifications to beable to work in both areas. The mastershas allowed that to happen for me.”

Dr Harvey Whiteford wasnominated by MPH lecturer DrDonald E Stewart.Other successful faculty nominees:ArtsPeter Beatttie is a 1997 Master of Arts(Humanities) graduate who, as Leaderof the Opposit ion in the StateParl iament, i s a wel l -knownQueensland public figure.

The Member for Brisbane Centralsince 1989, Peter has has a reputation

as a campaigner for social justice.anda strong involvement in communityaffairs. A solictor, Peter was HealthMinister in the previous GossGovernment.

Peter’s MA thesis – The Windowof Opportunity: The FitzgeraldExperiment and the QueenslandCriminal Justice Commission 1987- 1992 ␣ – follows the FitzgeraldInquiry from inception tocomplet ion and examines theeffect iveness of the inquiry’srecommendations.

Built Environment and EngineeringAllan Gillespie attained his AssociateDiploma in Electrical Engineering in1969 and has built up a career in theelectricity industry which has takenhim around Queensland, to NewSouth Wales and up to Papua NewGuinea.

The Chief Executive Officer ofAusta Energy – a fully corporatisedGovernment-owned organisationwhich owns and operates 75 per centof the major electricity generation inQueensland – Allan has led large,technology driven corporat ionsthrough change using total qualitymanagement techniques, best practicebenchmarking, equity and qualityassurance.

He ha s managed bu s ine s smergers, disaggregation, downsizing– as well as the associated IndustrialRe l a t ions i s sue s – and fo rmedin t e rna t i ona l j o in t v en tu r ecompanies operating in Australiaand South-East Asia.

In 1995, Al lan was namedProfessional Engineer of the Yearby the Institution of EngineersNSW and appointed as an adjunctprofessor of Science andEngineering at the University ofQueensland this year. He has alsocompleted a Bachelor of Economicsat UQ.BusinessJohn George is a 1989 Bachelor ofBusiness (Management) graduatewho established the successful MrsCrocket’s Kitchen, a fresh food andsalad manufacturer and distributor.

He has built the business into amulti-million dollar enterprise,winning the Best Small BusinessAward in the early 1990s andcurrently ranking in the top 120Queensland companies.

Mrs Crocket ’s Kitchen hasbroadened its base and has branchesin the southern states anddistributes its products to South-East Asia and John’s business isnow a market leader in its field.EducationKathleen Newcombe, themanaging director of LorraineMartin College, has had a longassociation with studies at QUT.A 1978 Diploma of Teachinggraduate who completed herBachelor of Education in 1981 anda Graduate Diploma in BusinessAdministration and Marketing atQUT in 1987, Kathleen began hercareer as a school teacher.

She then became a coursecounsellor at Lorraine MartinCollege in 1987. Since then shehas progressed from consultant todirector of internationalmarketing, deputy principal(Brisbane campus) and principal(Brisbane)/general manager(Queensland) before recentlytaking over the top job in theorganisation.

Kathleen is a founding boardmember and former nat ionalchairperson of the Australian Councilfor Private Education and Trainingand is a well-known professional ineducation and training at local, state,national and international levels.Information TechnologyChr i s topher Cur t i s i s a 1981Bache lo r o f App l i ed Sc i ence(Computer) graduate with a historyof both technical and managerialroles in the information technologyindustry.

In the late 1980s, Christopherstarted a company which developedhuman resource software for in-housesystems. The product became verysuccessful and is still marketed byMINCOM who bought the companyin 1990.

Christopher is now general managerof Hong Kong Jockey Club Systems(Australia) Pty Ltd, a company withstrong research, development andtechnical-support activities based onQueensland’s Gold Coast.

He pioneered the use of “SmartCard” technology in the gamingindustry and advanced portableterminal technology.LawPaula Gerber is a 1986 Bachelor ofLaws graduate who specialises inconstruction law as senior associate inthe construction group at MallesonsStephen Jaques, Sol ic i tors , inMelbourne.

After working in construction lawin both the United Kingdom and theUnited States, Paula returned to

Australia in 1995, founding theNational Association of Women inConstruct ion (NAWIC) andestablishing State chapters and threeNZ branches.

Since joining Mallesons StephenJaques she has twice been seconded toTelstra to act as “in-house” counsel,project managing the pay TV cableroll-out for Telstra and advising on itslegal obligations.

In 1996 she received the CrystalVis ion Award from NAWIC(America) , the Telstra BusinessWoman of the Year award (PrivateSector at both National and Statelevels) and, this year, the Law InstituteJournal Writers’ Award.

Paula has also completed a mastersof science degree in construction law.Special Recognition AwardsThis year, special recognition awardswere given to Allan Gillespie (see storyabove) and Shane Thompson (BuiltEnvironment and Engineering). Shaneis a 1979 Diploma of Architecturegraduate who, as a director of BlighVoller Architects since 1987, haselevated the medium-sized Brisbanepractice to one of Australia’s majornational architectural groups.

Bligh Voller has undertakensignificant State and national projects,including the Australian Stadium forthe Sydney 2000 Olympics andDefence Department Headquarters inCanberra. Shane has expanded BlighVoller’s activities into the internationalarena, with major projects in China,Hong Kong, Malaysia and thePhilippines.

Page 4 INSIDE QUT September 2-15, 1997

“Professor Pitman’s report considered the matters identifiedfrom Dr Swan’s reports, and others raised directly by

Dr Carrin with Professor Pitman in a series of interviews”

The following is a summary of theal legat ions made by Dr Swan ona n u m b e r o f e d i t i o n s o f T h eScience Show , as wel l as in pr intmedia and the Internet , and theunivers i ty ’ s response.

The un i v e r s i t y ’ s r e spon s e i sb a s e d o n t h e f i n d i n g s o f a ne x t e r n a l i n v e s t i g a t i o n t h a tc o n s i d e r e d s o m e o f t h e s a m eal legat ions made by Dr Swan’sreports , and on the true posi t ioni n r e l a t i o n t o m a t t e r s o funiversity process also cal led intoquest ion by those reports .

BackgroundBefore turning to the speci f ic

a l legat ions and the univers i ty ’ sresponse, i t i s worthwhile sett ingout the background to the matter.

A post-doctoral fe l low, Dr InesCarr in, who was working at theu n i v e r s i t y r a i s e d a l l e g a t i o n sa g a i n s t s t a f f w o r k i n g i n t h eSchool of Li fe Sciences .

In accordance with procedurese s t a b l i s h e d b y t h e N a t i o n a lH e a l t h a n d M e d i c a l R e s e a r c hCounci l and the Austra l ian Vice-C h a n c e l l o r s ’ C o m m i t t e e f o ra l l e g a t i o n s o f S c i e n t i f i cM i s c o n d u c t , t h e V i c e -C h a n c e l l o r , P r o f e s s o r D e n n i sGibson, appointed a person fromouts ide the School to conduct aprel iminary invest igat ion.

T h a t i n v e s t i g a t i o n w a sestabl i shed to determine whethera s u f f i c i e n t c a s e f o r f o r m a lcharges of misconduct should bela id.

Before that invest igat ion couldb e c o m p l e t e d , D r C a r r i napparent ly approached Dr Swanwith her a l legat ions.

D r S w a n d i d a p p r o a c h t h eu n i v e r s i t y f o r c o m m e n t .P r o f e s s o r G i b s o n a d v i s e d D rSwan that the univers i ty couldn o t c o m m e n t u n t i l a f t e rcomple t ion o f the p r e l imina ryinvest igat ion then underway.

D e s p i t e a r e a s o n a b l eexpectat ion that , in the interestso f f a i r n e s s t o a l l p a r t i e sconcerned Dr Swan would a l soa w a i t t h e o u t c o m e o f t h a tinvest igat ion, he proceeded withhis report .

Some of the a l legat ions madeon The Science Show related to theprel iminary invest igat ion a lreadyunderway.

I n l i g h t o f t h a t , P r o f e s s o rGibson fe l t that the invest igat ionhad been compromised in the eyesof the publ ic .

Consequent ly , on Sunday 17Augus t , the day fo l l ow ing theinit ia l broadcast on The ScienceS h o w , t h e V i c e - C h a n c e l l o rdec ided to br ing a ha l t to theinvest igat ion and to appoint anexternal expert to re-commencet h e p r e l i m i n a r y i n v e s t i g a t i o n ,once again, in acordance with theN H & M R C a n d A V C Cprocedures .

Profe s sor Michae l P i tman —former l y ch i e f s c i en t i s t a t theDepartment of Industry, Scienceand Tourism, and formerly chiefsc ient is t with the Department ofthe Prime Minister and Cabinet— a g r e e d t o u n d e r t a k e t h einvest igat ion.

P r o f e s s o r P i t m a n h a scompleted his invest igat ion andprovided Professor Gibson withhis report a few days ago.

It i s c lear f rom the report thath e h a s u n d e r t a k e n acomprehensive invest igat ion withthe ful l co-operat ion of a l l part iesc o n c e r n e d , i n c l u d i n g t h ecomplainant, Dr Carr in.

The Al legationsT h e a l l e g a t i o n s a i r e d b y D r

Swan against the univers i ty andn a m e d s t a f f f a l l i n t o t h r e ecategories :

1.that there had been serious scientificmisconduct within the School of LifeSciences as evidenced by thetreatment of Dr Carrin;

2.that the university did not adhere to,or even understand, the properprocedures applicable to the issuesraised by Dr Carrin, and indeedattempted to mislead and obfuscateso as to avoid a proper investigationof Dr Carrin’s allegations; and

3.that the university somehow actedimproperly in advising Dr Carrin ofthe termination of her contract withthe university.

E a c h o f t h e s e c a t e g o r i e s i sadd r e s s ed b e l ow , d e t a i l i ng th etrue posi t ion in respect of each.

Scienti f ic MisconductD r S w a n m a d e a n u m b e r o f

assert ions which were directed tothis pr incipal a l legat ion that hec l a imed were backed by “ so l ide v i d e n c e ” . T h o s e a s s e r t i o n sinclude:

• that Dr Carr in “ s eems to havebeen sy s tematical ly denied credi tfor her work” ;

• t h a t D r C a r r i n w a s d e n i e da u t h o r s h i p a n d a p p r o p r i a t ec r e d i t f o r h e r w o r k i np u b l i c a t i o n s r e l a t i n g t o h e rwork;

• that a PhD s tudent had beengiven credit for work created ordevised by Dr Carr in;

• that , despite being impressed byD r C a r r i n ’ s w o r k , h e rs u p e r v i s o r , P r o f e s s o r J a m e sDale, took the work away fromDr Carr in to give i t to a PhDstudent . (The inference be ingfrom the tenor and language ofthe r epor t tha t th i s no t on lyo c c u r r e d , b u t t h a t i t w a simproper and highly i rregular) .

P r o f e s s o r P i t m a n ’ s r e p o r tconsidered the matters identi f iedabove from Dr Swan’s reports, andothers raised directly by Dr Carrinwith Professor Pitman in a ser iesof interv iews . Profes sor P i tmanmade the fol lowing f indings:

• that there was no case for formalcharges of sc ienti f ic misconductt o b e l a i d a g a i n s t a n y s t a f fmember as a result of any of theal legat ions ra ised by Dr Carr in;

• that there was no evidence ofsystematic denia l of credit forDr Carr in’s work;

• that , whi le the establ i shment ofbanana cul tures by Dr Carr inwas a substantial contribution tot h e p r o g r e s s o f t h e r e s e a r c hgroup’s work, after she providedthe cultures to a PhD student,he modi f i ed the protoco l and

used d i f f e rent procedures forg e n e r a t i o n o f c u l t u r e s f r o mother var iet ies of banana;

• that the decis ion by ProfessorDale to move Dr Carr in fromwork on transformation to workon infectivity was primari ly dueto the fact that her employmentas a QUT Fel low had come toan end and she was going to beemployed from February 1996u s i n g f u n d s m a d e a v a i l a b l eu n d e r t h e t e r m s o f aH o r t i c u l t u r a l R e s e a r c h a n dD e v e l o p m e n t C o u n c i l G r a n twhich st ipulated that work hadt o b e c a r r i e d o u t o n acommercia l var iety of banana.This effectively meant she couldn o l o n g e r w o r k o ntransformation. Consequently ,t h e r e w a s n o t h i n g i m p r o p e rabout that decis ion;

• that Professor Dale had advisedDr Carr in that she would beappropriate ly recognised for a l lo f h e r w o r k w h e n r e l e v a n ts c i e n t i f i c p u b l i c a t i o n soccurred;

• that, in some cases, no scientif icpaper s had ye t been wr i t t en ,and therefore there could be nom i s c o n d u c t f o r f a i l i n g t op r o p e r l y r e c o g n i s e o r g r a n tauthorship;

• that , in some cases , Dr Carr inh a d a l r e a d y b e e n s h o w n a sauthor, and in other papers st i l lin prospect Professor Dale hadg i v e n a n a s s u r a n c e t h a t s h ewould be granted authorship;

• t h a t , i n t h e c a s e o f a P h Ds t u d e n t w h o u s e d s l i d e sp r o v i d e d b y D r C a r r i n , t h efai lure to acknowledge the worko f D r C a r r i n w a s a n h o n e s terror ; and

• t h a t t h e i n a c c u r a t eadve r t i s ement wh i ch d id no tre fer to Dr Carr in was not asc ient i f ic publ icat ion in whichauthorship or recognit ion wasnecessary.

Proper ProceduresA c o n s i s t e n t t h e m e r u n n i n g

through Dr Swan’s reports aboutthe univers i ty was that QUT waseither unaware, or intentional lyavoided the appl icat ion, of thep r o p e r c o m p l a i n t - h a n d l i n gprocedures .

Of even greater concern, werethe constant suggest ions by DrSwan that the univers i ty fa i led togive Dr Carr in a fa ir hear ing orany ass i s tance.

Statements made by Dr Swan inrelation to these issues included:

• Dr Carrin “has been trying to geta f a i r h e a r i n g f r o m h e runiver s i ty” ;

• “ T h e u n i v e r s i t y i s s u p p o s e d l yinquiring into whether her casemeri t s formal inves t igat ion” ;

• “The univer s i ty has not handledher a l l egat ions wel l at a l l , andas usual in such c ircumstance s ,i t ' s the accuser who' s suf fer ing”;

• “A f t e r a d e l a y , s h e e v en t f u l l yo b t a i n e d t h e N H & M R Cguidel ines . . .” ;

• “ . . . s o m e o f ( P r o - V i c e -C h a n c e l l o r , R e s e a r c h &Advancement ) Pro f e s s o r ( John)C o r d e r o y ’ s q u e s t i o n s a r ei r r e l e van t , s u ch a s h ow manyconferences she ' s at tended fundedby the un ive r s i t y , o r c ou ld ber e a d a s t u r n i n g t h e b l a m etowards lne s” ;

• “At the very l eas t , what you haveat the moment , i s a univer s i tywhich does not s eem to have hadproper procedures in p lace , andwas caught on the hop by the sea l l egat ions . As a re sul t , they 'veal lowed the s i tuat ion to spin outof contro l . . .” ; and

• “QUT didn' t s eem aware o f theproper procedures or , i f i t was ,didn' t l e t Ines o f ( s i c ) them”.

So there can be no doubt, theuniversity adopted some years agot h e p r o c e d u r e s a p p l i c a b l e f o rhandl ing complaints of sc ient i f ic

A closer look at media allegations and QUT’s responsesWhat Professor Pitman found

“Despite a reasonable expectation that, in the interests offairness to all parties concerned Dr Swan

would also await the outcome of that investigation,he proceeded with his report”

by Dr Carr in was that she wasbeing excluded from conferencesby senior members of the Schoolof Li fe Sciences .

Against that background, theque s t ion cou ld not be s e en a sanything but appropriate to theinvest igat ion.

I t i s a l s o wor th men t i on ingthat , for reasons of her own, DrC a r r i n d e c i d e d t o c e a s e c o -o p e r a t i o n w i t h t h e i n i t i a linvest igat ion before i t could becompleted.

T h i s o f c o u r s e s l o w e d t h eprocess down and made i t verydif f icult to continue.

H e r n o n - p a r t i c i p a t i o n w i t ht h a t i n v e s t i g a t i o n w a s n o tmentioned by Dr Swan.

Termination ofEmployment

Dr Swan’ s report s a l so madem u c h o f t h e f a c t t h a t t h eu n i v e r s i t y h a d d e c i d e d t ot e r m i n a t e D r C a r r i n ’ semployment and had done so bya let ter f rom Professor (Adrian)Herington.

T h e i n f e r e n c e r a i s e d b y D rSwan be ing that the univers i tyw a s u n f a i r l y t e r m i n a t i n g D r

“So there can be no doubt, the university adopted some yearsago the procedures applicable for handling complaints of

scientific misconduct which were recommended by both theNH&MRC and the AVCC. Those form part of the

university’s Manual of Operating Procedures and Policies,approved by Council, and were indeed the procedures

used in setting up the initial preliminary investigation intoDr Carrin’s allegations”

m i s c o n d u c t w h i c h w e r er e c o m m e n d e d b y b o t h t h eNH&MRC and the AVCC.

T h o s e f o r m p a r t o f t h euniversity’s Manual of OperatingProcedures and Policies, approvedby Council, and were indeed theprocedures used in setting up theinitial preliminary investigationinto Dr Carrin’s allegations.

The re levant procedures a l lowfor a prel iminary investigation tode t e rm ine whe the r a c a s e f o rf o r m a l c h a r g e s o f s c i e n t i f i cmisconduct exis ts , and actual lyrequire the invest igat ion to bel imited to that i s sue.

Consequently, when Dr Swaninferred, as he did, that there wass o m e t h i n g u n t o w a r d i n t h euniversity (“supposedly”) inquiringinto whether Dr Carr in’s “casemer i t s f o rmal inve s t i ga t i on” hes h o u l d h a v e k n o w n t h a t t h euniversity was doing no more thanfollowing procedures consistentwith best practice.

Dr Swan infer red that therewas something s inister — or atve ry l e a s t i r r e l evant — ␣ in thequest ion asked of Dr Carr in byProfessor Corderoy (the personc o n d u c t i n g t h e i n i t i a lp r e l i m i n a r y i n v e s t i g a t i o n ) ,r e g a r d i n g t h e n u m b e r o fun i v e r s i t y funded con f e r ence sshe had attended.

The facts, in this regard, revealthat one of the complaints made

Carrin’s employment because sheh a d m a d e c o m p l a i n t s a n d ,f u r t h e r m o r e , w a s d o i n g s o i nsome irregular manner by havinga c o l l e a g u e a d v i s e h e r o f t h eterminat ion.

Once aga in , the f a c t s r evea lthat Dr Carr in was at this t imeengaged by the univers i ty us inggrant funds.

Dr Carr in was made aware oft h i s w h e n h e r c o n t r a c t w a si n i t i a l l y e x t e n d e d b y t h eunivers i ty and she was wel l awarethat her per iod of employmentwould expire when the fundingwas due to expire , on August 27,1997.

T h e u n i v e r s i t y d i d n o taccelerate the terminat ion of DrCarr in’s contract or in any waya c t i n c o n s i s t e n t l y w i t h t h eoriginal terms of her engagement.

Indeed, the provis ions of therelevant Industr ia l Award requiret h e u n i v e r s i t y t o a d v i s e s t a f fengaged using grant funds, pr iorto the funds c ea s ing , tha t thec e s s a t i o n o f e m p l o y m e n t i simminent and that redundancypayments may apply.

As for the manner in which DrC a r r i n w a s a d v i s e d o f t h etermination, it is the university’snormal practice that when a personengaged pursuant to grant fundingis to be advised that his or hercontract is coming to an end, thatthe advice come from the Head ofSchool and not from the HumanResources Section which looks afterall other staff.

Professor Herington was ActingHead of School at the t ime of hislet ter to Dr Carr in.

INSIDE QUT September 2-15, 1997 Page 5

The 1997 Brisbane Writers Festivalis bringing the world of writers tothe people of Brisbane with lashingsof help and support from QUT staff,students and graduates.

Festival chair and QUT School ofHumanities senior lecturer Dr AdamShoemaker said the four-day literaryextravaganza from September 4 to 7was expected to attract in excess of15,000 people.

Q U T i s o n e o f t h e m a j o rsponsors of the festival which willfeature more than 100 writers —inc lud ing Booke r p r i z e -w innerPeter Carey — from Austra l i a ,Canada , the Uni t ed K ingdom,Norway, Korea, India, the UnitedStates and New Zealand.

Dr Shoemaker wi l l chair twodi scus s ions on the program —Polemics “a civilised discussion aboutarguments” on Saturday September6, from 11.30am and Faking It “fromDemidenko to Koo lmat r i e andbeyond” on Sunday September from2.30pm.

QUT pos tg radua te c r ea t i vewriting students will join peers fromGriffith University and University ofQueensland for a choreographedperformance of selections of theirwork in the State Library’s MetwayTheatrette on Friday, September 5,from 10am.

Former QUT Bachelor of Arts(Visual Arts - Honours) studentand winner of the $50,000 1996Moet & Chandon Australian ArtF o u n d a t i o n F e l l o w s h i p J u d i t hKentish – who has just returnedt o B r i s b a n e a f t e r w o r k i n g i nFrance for a year – will explorethe language of art and how it cansay things “too deep for words” inL a n g u a g e : E y e i n t h e S t a t e

Writers festival to feature familiar faces

Renowned Aboriginal author HerbWharton will give a free public lectureat QUT’s Carseldine campus onTuesday, September 2, at 10am.

The hour-long lecture — completewith Wharton’s own special brand ofreading and storytelling — will beheld in lecture theatre C321.

Mr Wharton, pictured right, wholives in Cunnamulla, is visiting forthe Brisbane Writers Festival and thislecture will be his only publicappearance on Brisbane’s northside.

After a long outback career ofhorse-breaking, boundary riding,droving and mustering, Mr Whartonturned to full-time writing at the ageof 50, after “one too many broncos”bucked him from the saddle andreceived immediate acclaim.

His first novel, Unbranded, waspublished by the University ofQueensland Press in 1992 and hasalready been reprinted three times.

The feature film rights forUnbranded have been optioned andMr Wharton has addressed audiencesas far afield as the House of WorldCultures in Berlin and on CNN inSingapore.

A lifetime member of theStockmans’ Hall of Fame, MrWharton followed the success ofUnbranded with a second book, Cattle

Popular author to speak at QUT

Camp, a look at the trials andtribulations of Murri drovers andcattle-workers.

His third book, Where Ya BeenMate?, is a classic collection of shortstories and yarns. Few who have readit have failed to be moved by his uniquebrand of storytelling and goodhumour.

Mr Wharton’s visit to QUT is partof a lecturing program for a Bachelorof Arts degree subject calledAboriginal and Torres Strait IslanderLiterature, which concentrates on thewritings of the first Australians, fromSally Morgan to Oodgeroo.

Library’s Metway Theatrette onS a t u r d a y , S e p t e m b e r 6 , f r o m10am.

Meanwhile, Aboriginal writersMelissa Lucashenko and formerstockman Herb Wharton (see storythis page) wil l join the writers ’festival fun and also star as guest

l e c ture r s a t QUT’s Car se ld inecampus.

Brisbane-born Melissa Lucashenkowill share anecdotes from her latestbook Steam Pigs with students at theCarseldine campus on Wednesday,September 3, in Room L218 from 2-3.30pm.

Later in the week she will joinAlexis Wright and Anita Heiss for asession called Telling Stories: NewIndigenous Writing.

The session has been sponsored byQUT’s Oodgeroo Unit and will beheld at the Queensland CulturalCentre Audi tor ium on Sunday,September 7, from 5.30pm.

On Friday, September 5, KooembaJdarra Indigenous Performing Arts —whose artistic director Wesley Enochand actor Deborah Mailman are bothQUT Bachelor of Arts (drama)graduates — will perform in UrbanDreaming , in the Queens landMuseum Theatrette from 1.30pm.

Dr Shoemaker sa id the 1997Brisbane Writers Festival had scoredsome no t ab l e coups th i s y e a r ,i n c lud ing th e d e c i s i on by th epopular Good News Week programto f i lm the show l ive f rom theQueen s l and Pe r fo rming Ar t sconce r t h a l l on Wedne sday ,September 3, from 7pm.

“If you compare the BrisbaneWriters Festival with other festivalsin the country I think the differenceis that many of them pitch theirofferings at what you might call abookshop audience or a ‘literary’audience,” Dr Shoemaker said.

“We don’t ignore that but we tryto take a more broad and eclecticview of what writing is — a crucialform of interpersonal, interculturalcommunication that’s in writtenform.

“We look at everything f romgraffiti to comic books, to televisionscripts and screenplays as beingvalid forms of writing, just as muchas the novel and poetry and shortstories.”

— Andrea Hammond

QUT visual arts staff have performedsuperbly well in the latest round ofAustralia Council grants, netting thelion’s share of Queensland grantswhich, collectively, are worth $77,000.

Visual Arts head John Armstrongsaid five out of six Queensland grants— worth a total of $57,000 — wentto QUT, a testament to the quality ofvisual arts staff and their work.

“This is great news for QUT andremarkable considering the size ofQueensland and the large number of high-calibre artists we have in the State — itwill give these staff members a real boostwith their work,” Mr Armstrong said.

“The combination of residenciesand grants will help them maintainthe often difficult balance betweenprofessional research activity and thedemands of university teaching. Iexpect them to come back rechargedand totally energised for their workand for their teaching.”

This year’s Australia Council grantshave been awarded to:• Jill Barker, a full-time visual arts lecturer

— a four-month Barcelona StudioResidency and $10,000;

• Colin Reaney, a full-time visual arts lecturer— a London Studio Residency and $10,000;

• Craig Walsh, a part-time sculpture andceramics lecturer — a Tokyo StudioResidency and $10,000;

• Franz Ehmann, a part-time visual artslecturer — $15,000 for a project; and

• Peter Maloney, a Master of Fine Artsstudent — $12,000 for a project.The sixth 1997 Australia Council

grant went to former QUT staffmember Merilyn Fairskye, who wasawarded $20,000 for a project.

QUT scoreswell withAustraliaCouncil

by Carmen Myler

Universities must be completelyrestructured and initiate a changeof culture if they are to continueto meet students ’ and society’sneeds, an academic visiting QUTsaid recently.

In his paper entitled What Kindof University? , Dr Tony Bates fromthe University of British Columbia(UBC) in Canada out l ined 12s t r a t e g i e s f o r o r g a n i s a t i o n a lchange, in a seminar for QUT staffon Friday, August 22.

U B C ’ s d i r e c t o r o f d i s t a n c eeduca t ion and t echno logy , DrBates said if some universities didnot make changes in technology apart of their teaching, they wouldnot survive.

QUT’ s P ro -V i c e -Chance l l o r(Academic) Professor Janice Reid— w h o s e d i v i s i o n h o s t e d D rBa te s ’ v i s i t — sa id QUT wasa l r e a d y l o o k i n g a t i s s u e s o f“flexible delivery” and intended tobe at the leading edge of suchchange.

Dr Bates said smaller, divisionaluniversities and larger, research-based inst i tutions in part icularwould be among those that couldcrumble if they refused to movewith the times.

“Students are going to go outinto a technology-ridden worldand they’re going to have to knowhow to use that technology andcontrol it,” Dr Bates said.

“ I f w e d o n ’ t u s e t h e s et e chno log i e s t o he lp s tuden t sbecome f ami l i a r w i th f ind ing ,using and analysing information— and with using the Internet

Unis face culture change imperativep r o f e s s i o n a l l y — w e ’ r e n o tpreparing them properly for thefuture world.”

Dr Bates sa id the four mostfrequent reasons given for usingtechnology in education were toimprove access, improve quality,reduce costs and improve the cost-effectiveness of education.

He said, however, change wouldnot necessarily lead to significantcost savings, nor would it savet ime , bu t t h e i nv e s tmen t wa sn e c e s s a r y f o r u n i v e r s i t i e s t ocontinue to provide a service tostudents and the community.

Dr Bates estimated it would takeabout 10 years for institutions tos u c c e s s f u l l y i m p l e m e n t s u c hchange.

There would still be a place for“face-to- face” educat ion in thefuture, he said, but universitiesdedicated to this would be part ofan elite group and would chargevery high fees.

He said universities would needto be “sensitive and sophisticated”in their introduction of flexibledelivery because of the impact itwould have on students.

R e s e a r c h i n t o d i s t a n c eeducation — which Dr Bates saidhad addressed similar issues — hadshown that older students weregenerally better able to cope withflexible learning methods.

“The younger students are themore important it is to maintaint h a t h u m a n i n t e r f a c e w i t h at e a che r , bu t th e r e a r e l o t s o fexceptions to that,” he said.

D r B a t e s s a i d t h a t , w h i l estudents were his primary concern,he s aw f a cu l t y a g r e emen t s on

flexible delivery as being “a tickingtime-bomb”.

“Academics require support andstructures around them that makeit easy for them to move in thisdirection and that’s where you getinto cultural change,” he said.

“ I t h i n k w e n e e d s t r o n gleadership in universities, in termsof providing encouragement andreward sys tems for people ,” heexplained, “and then you’ve alsogot to devolve deci s ion-makingright down to a small project level.

“You have to do all these thingsi n p a r a l l e l a n d t h a t ’ s t h edifficulty.”

Professor Reid said QUT knewwhere it was going but Dr Bateshad helped provide a vision of howto get there.

“At QUT, we’re looking to knowthat we can respond to multiplemarkets and respond quickly andappropr i a t e l y , ” P ro f e s so r Re idsaid.

“We perceive that, in a highlyc o m p e t i t i v e a n d g l o b a l i s e de d u c a t i o n e n v i r o n m e n t , Q U Tneeds to be a microcosm of theexperience that people have ‘outthere’.

“We need to be immedia te lyaccessible and very adaptable interms of responding to the needsthat people express,” she said.

Profes sor Reid sa id s ta f f hadresponded enthusiastically to theuniversity’s flexible delivery drive.

“It’s very innovative, it ’s veryleading edge and it’s very muchp a r t o f Q U T ’ s r e a l - w o r l dreputation, and people want to bea part of that kind of initiative,”she said.

A light-weight, height-adjustablelawn mower designed especially forolder people was just one of theinnovative products on display at aQUT student exhibition last week.

Industrial design student DanielDeGroot, pictured at right, conceived theunique lawn mower, called the Hornet,as part of a student project for lawnmowermanufacturing company Rover.

Mr DeGroot’s mower design, alongwith other student works, was on displayat the Future Housing and InnovativeProducts for Older People exhibition inthe Parliamentary Annexe.

“As part of the Rover project, wehad to design a mower with adifference, one which would capturea niche market, and I chose to designfor older people,” Mr DeGroot said.

Mr DeGroot said he kept in mindthe special considerations of olderpeople in his design by reducing theneed for bending and having to lookfor, and tangle with, difficult handleheight adjustments. He said theHornet was compact, light-weightand low-maintenance as well as easyto empty and manoeuvre.

Other products on display at thefree public exhibition included fitnessequipment for older people and a

Industrial designers craftclever devices for ageing

walking stick which attached tohandrails to assist climbing on stairs.

Architecture students’ plans forresidential facilities — including anextended family house design — werealso on display. The exhibition waspart of 2000+ Quality Designs, a post-World Congress of Gerontology event.

Also incorporated in the post-congress event were best-practice sitevisits to residential facilities and anexpert colloquium on design for ageing.

The World Congress ofGerontology was held in Adelaide inAugust — the first time the eventhad ever been held in Australia.

— Carmen Myler

The Technology Support Centres Program providescompetitive grants for

• enhancement of existing infrastructure• demonstration & awareness raising

• feasibility studies to investigate approaches totechnology diffusion issues

CLOSING DATE FOR CURRENT ROUND: SEPT 16For more details see

http://www.dist.gov.au/ausind/tsc/tsc_nav1/html

Page 6 INSIDE QUT September 2-15, 1997

Story by Glenys HaalebosPhotos by Suzanne Prestwidge*

More than 5,000 people climbedaboard QUT’s Science Train in thefirst week of its five-week, 10,000kmjourney around the State.

School students and adults alikef l o cked t o t h e mob i l e s c i enc edisplay, and made comments in thevisitors’ book which ranged from“rad” and “cool” to “wicked” and“legendary”.

Since i ts wel l-attended launchby Deputy Premier, Treasurer andArts Minister Mrs Joan Sheldonat Brisbane’s Roma Street Stat ionon August 17, the Science Trainhas s ince stopped in Toowoomba,R o m a , M i t c h e l l , C h a r l e v i l l e ,Chinchi l l a , Nambour , Gympie ,

Science Train a huge hit with regional centresM a r y b o r o u g h , B u n d a b e r g ,Gladstone, Emera ld , Longreachand Barcaldine. (Today it i s inB l a c k w a t e r b e f o r e h e a d i n g t oRockhampton and points north.)

After a further nine centres, theScience Train will head back toRoma Street and be open for publici n s p e c t i o n f o r a w e e k f r o mSeptember 19.

QUT’s Faculty of Science Dean,Profes sor Vicki Sara , sa id theunivers i ty and sponsors o f the$500,000 project were extremelypleased by the public’s response.

“ W e ’ r e d e l i g h t e d t o h a v edeveloped something that has soobviously captured the imaginationof both students and adults in eachof the centres where it has stoppedso far,” Professor Sara said.

“And, it’s not often today that theworlds of science and art are linked.This project has given us a uniqueopportunity to br idge the two,be c au s e — thank s t o th eQueensland Performing Arts Trustand The Arts Office (formerly ArtsQueen s l and ) — our c a r r i a g edisplays have been put together byexpert exhibit ion designers whoworked to a very tight schedule.”

After just the first few days, it wasclear the Science Train was a hit withyoung and old visitors alike and stirredthe imaginations of a variety of regionalQueenslanders. Some achievementsin the first week included:• halfway through day two, the train

chalked up its 1,000th visitor (inRoma) — by Bundaberg, that figurehad risen to 7,200;

• a 9 1 - y e a r - o l d f o r m e r s t e a mengine driver f rom Roma wastaken through in his wheelchair;

• one -qua r t e r o f t h e en t i r epopulation of Mitchell toured theexhibit;

• teachers from Quilpie drove 12of their students for almost threehours to see the train when itvisited Charleville on Thursday,August 21; and

• 900 Chinchilla residents visitedthe display.P ro f e s so r S a r a s a id tha t th e

response from vis itors had beene x c e l l e n t a n d t h e i r f e e d b a c kposit ive.

“Not only about the train itself,but about the concept,” she said.

“I t ’ s a very rewarding outcomefor a t remendous amount of hard

w o r k a n d e f f o r t b y e v e r y o n einvolved.

“Our intent was to demonstrate toboth adults and children that scienceis not boring, but is creative andexciting. The train has made thisabundantly clear and it has alsohighlighted the fact that scienceimpacts on all our lives in a multitudeof ways on a daily basis, somethingthat people often forget,” ProfessorSara said.

Conceived by Professor Sara, theScience Train has been organisedby QUT and sponsored by theQ u e e n s l a n d G o v e r n m e n t ,Q u e e n s l a n d R a i l , Q u e e n s l a n dPerforming Arts Trust, the FederalDepartment of Industry, Scienceand Touri sm, The Arts Off ice ,Sunstate Airlines and Rotary.

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INSIDE QUT September 2-15, 1997 Page 7

It will be a double-bill double tragedy —and the greatest love stories ever told —when West Side Story and Romeo and Julietopen tonight at the new QUT Theatre atGardens Point campus.

Presented by the Academy of the Arts andQueensland Performing Arts Trust, the season— which will run from September 2 toSeptember 13 — has already proved to beextremely popular with many shows sold out.

Academy head Professor Peter Lavery saidthe talents of some of Queensland’s finestgraduating acting, dance and music students— as well as some of Australia’s brightestnew professionals — were brought togetherin these retellings of the play and the musical.

“As a university with a commitment tocutting-edge professional practice, it is ourprivilege to bring together some of Australia’sleading innovators in the performing arts towork with our graduating students on thisproduction,” Professor Lavery said.

Brisbane designer Jamie Maclean hascreated an integrated design concept to bringboth stories to life, with West Side Story set inthe pre-graffiti New York of the ’50s, andRomeo and Juliet told in the futuristic, post-graffiti remains of the city.

West Side Story is directed by one ofAustralia’s leading young directors andAcademy graduate, David Fenton, assistedby Sydney-based choreographer GarryStewart.

Music lecturer and QUT Big Banddirector Brad Millard is musical director.

The lead roles of Tony and Maria will beplayed by David Lowe (who has appeared inLes Miserables, The Pirates of Penzance and

Stars tell two greatest love storiesThe Mikado ) and Academy music graduateKristina Kelman, with Mark Hodge as Riff.

They will be supported by the Academy’sfinest actors, dancers and musicians.

The young cast has been teamed withseasoned Brisbane actors (many of themAcademy graduates) John Batchelor, MartinChallis, Jamie Kable and Daniel Kealy.

Romeo and Juliet will be directed byspecialists from Boston’s internationallyacclaimed Shakespeare and Company, KevinColeman and Tony Simotes, in their firstvisit to Australia.

The Academy’s acting studio head DianneEden said the company was considered to beexpert in producing and teaching the worksof Shakespeare.

“Shakespeare and Company believe indelivering educationally viable, dynamic andmeaningful theatre which means both ourstudents and the audience will learn fromand enjoy the experience,” Ms Eden said.

Romeo and Juliet is being performed bythe Academy’s second-year actors, withDarren Weller as Romeo and Caitlin Hunteras Juliet.

The double-bill production, which formspart of the Stage X youth arts festival, receivedfunding of $100,000 from a special round ofthe Vice-Chancellor’s Community ServiceGrants Scheme.

Bookings for the production can be madethrough Dial’N’Charge on (07) 3846 4646.

Star-crossed loversTony (David Lowe) and

Maria (Kristina Kelman) atrehearsals for West Side Story

With high school students preparingto lodge their applications for tertiarystudies, a group of 50 Year 12students visited QUT recently to getan insight into university life anddecide if it will be part of their futures.

The students from Sunnybank andYeronga High Schools visited GardensPoint campus on Friday, August 22,to meet with staff and students andattend information sessions.

After a welcome lunch, thestudents toured the campus andattended a university lecture on ethicsand human rights, as well as a librarytour and information sessions onbusiness, information technology,and women in engineering.

International Student ServicesProject Officer Ravinder Sidhu saidthe campus visit was designed to easestudents into the idea of university.

“We hope the opportunity to visitQUT and meet with students and staffwill reduce the intensity of ‘cultureshock’ that accompanies school leaverswhen they move from high school touniversity,” Ms Sidhu said.

“The visit is also likely to demystifycommunity perceptions that mayexist about university life and toencourage the broader community toview QUT as a vital and dynamiccommunity resource.”

— Carmen Myler

Year 12ssample

campus life

by Glenys Haalebos

Traditional hand-drawing skills were avital component of bringingarchitectural drawings to life and shouldnot be lost with the increasing use ofcomputers, according to QUT part-timelecturer Jane Grealy.

“Good design comes from good ideasand not from a good computerprogram,” Ms Grealy said. “Computersare essential in architectural design, butwe need to use them in conjunction withother skills.”

Ms Grealy, a Brisbane-basedarchitectural perspectivist, has wonmany national and international awardsthrough her skills in producing vibrant,three-dimensional images ofarchitectural projects.

Her QUT class IntroductoryArchitectural Graphics — Watercolour is

Architectural perspectivist promotes hand-drawing skillsa second-semester elective within theSchool of Architecture, Interior andIndustrial Design and it builds onintroductory hand-drawing componentswithin core units.

One of Ms Grealy’s concerns was thatthe use of hand-to-eye co-ordinationcould be overlooked in modernarchitectural training where people wereincreasingly reliant on computers.

“What happens when you draw orpaint something in a physical sense isthat you learn in a different way thanyou would on a computer.

“You prove the theory and you see itfirst-hand, whereas a computer programwill have the theory in-built.

“So the advantage of learning thehand-drawing skills is that you havemore thorough knowledge which canthen be used as an adjunct to computerwork.

“Also, designers need to bespontaneous and creative and thathappens when they are physicallycreating something — when they’reactually making the colours,” she said.

Ms Grealy said that, with the adventof colour reproduction, today’s clientswere demanding more sophisticatedcolour drawings on which to base theirdecisions.

“Understanding colour is vital. Inpresenting a final image to a client,designers have to be aware that colour isdifferent in shade and in sunlight andcould look completely different next tothat hot pink building on theneighbouring site.

“You can mix yellow and blue andget green, but there are any number ofdifferent blues, yellows and greens.Mixing colours yourself teaches you toexperiment, analyse and self-discover.

When a skill is self-discovered, it staysin the mind and leaves a much strongerimpression.”

Perspective was also a majorcomponent of the course, she said.

“It’s very hard to translate somethingthat’s three dimensional onto a twodimensional medium — you have torecognise the laws of perspective. Youhave to understand such concepts asconvergence, diminution, foreshortening,cones of vision, for example.

“Sometimes, computer programsenable you to distort perspective and, ifyou don’t have a basic understanding ofthe concepts, this can get you intodifficulties,” she said.

Ms Grealy said her course wasintended for anyone with an interest inarchitectural rendering, but focused ongiving tools and an understanding tofuture practitioners in design.

by Carmen Myler

The biggest barrier to balancing workand family commitments is the factpeople still perceive the two shouldbe separate, according to a seniorpolicy officer from QUT’s Equitysection.

Jane Barker, the author of a newguide for dealing with work andfamily issues in the university, saidmany peop l e f e l t gu i l t y aboutletting their work and family livesoverlap.

“Staff don’t feel they should imposeon employers or ask for specialconsideration because they think that,if they can’t cope with managing workand family, there must be somethingwrong with them personally,” MsBarker said.

“We need to recognise that theworkforce has changed so much overthe past few years yet the way we workhasn’t — we’re still trying to forcepeople into these pigeon holes thatdon’t meet their needs anymore.

Guide helps staff, students balance work and family commitmentsTo be launched by QUT’s

Chancellor, Dr Cherrell Hirst, onSeptember 5, Ms Barker’s Web-basedpublication — The Work and FamilyGuide for Managers and Staff —addresses work and family issues atQUT and provides information andadvice on learning how to work in anew, more flexible way. (Printedcopies of the guide will be madeavailable to staff without access to acomputer.)

The guide encompasses a range ofareas, including:• legislation;• policies and procedures;• alternative work practices such as

job-sharing;• cult ivat ing a f lexible work

environment; and• support services.

Ms Barker sa id the guide“empowered” staff to challenge thestatus quo while educating managersthat the way we did things was notnow necessarily the best way or theonly way.

The research for the guide wasconducted by Ms Barker during herone-year appointment as QUT’s Workand Family Co-ordinator in 1996, thef irs t such posi t ion in a highereducation institution in Australia.

Ms Barker said that, initially, theguide would only be available to QUTstaff and students, but that it mightbe repackaged for a broader audience.

The guide was unusual, she said,because most similar publicationsconcentrated on just one issue — e.g.,maternity leave or f lexible workoptions — and were targeted tomanagers or staff, but not both.

“It’s not up to managers to create aperfect flexible work environment andit’s not up to staff to try to twistthemselves in knots to fit into the workenvironment the way it is,” she said.

“It’s about meeting each other half way.”

“I try to present the material so that,even if students don’t end up doing theperspective, they can certainlyunderstand what goes into the workingof them.

“But, more importantly, they willhave these skills as an adjunct to theirown design talents.”

The subject has Royal AustralianInstitute of Architects accreditation aspart of its Continuing ProfessionalEducation program.Ms Grealy is bringing internationally-renowned United States architecturalperspectivist, Frank Costantino, toAustralia for a lecture tour fromSeptember 21 to October 4. He willconduct two special “students only”workshops on Monday and Tuesday,September 29 & 30. Intere s t edstudents should contact Ms Grealy on(07) 3394 4333.

The catchy front page of QUT’snew Work and Family Guide for

Managers and Staff . . . availableon the Web or, for those without

a computer, in hard copy

Page 8 INSIDE QUT September 2-15, 1997

. . . Barbie bounced as ideal for babes

“In July last year Barbie, a monthlymagazine for girls, hit the news stands andhas achieved instant popularity – we choseit because it was the first magazine of itstype in Australia aimed at this particular(five to 12-year-old) age group,” Ms Sanderssaid.

“The magazine presents an enormousarray of product information, give-aways,fashion, readers contributions,competitions such as Search for a Starletwith Barbie herself as a mistress ofceremonies.

“Our paper raises questions about thepotential impact of such a publicationon the target age group of girls in anenvironment where kids as young as eightare being admitted to hospital withanorexia.

“Research also shows that manychildren may not have conditions thatcould be classified as eating disorders,but may have disordered eating patternsincluding things like strict dieting,binging and vomiting food — (theseare) behaviours which are likely to havedevastating effects on their health andtheir bodies pre-puberty.

“We are not trying to deliver an answeror to say that these magazines will cause acertain percentage of children to developeating disorders.

“What we are doing is analysing thecontent, looking at the image which thatcontent portrays and examining the possibleimpact that existing research indicates itcould have on very young children.

“This conference will address morethan the treatment of eating disorders.The aim is to confront socio-cultural

pressures related to images of beauty ofhealth, sex-role stereotyping, eating issues,prevention and education,” Ms Sanderssaid.

Other QUT involvement includes:• Dr Carla Patterson, a senior lecturer

in QUT’s School of Public Health,one of five co-authors on a paper —The Relationship Between DietaryPractices and Key Health IndicatorsAmong University Dance Students —to be presented on September 7.

• Dr Elizabeth Ferrier, a lecturer inthe School of Media and Journalism,will explore Shrinking Economies,Shrinking Bodies on September 7.

• Dr Sandra Capra, a senior lecturerin the School of Public Health whohas co-authored Challenging the BodyCulture in Congregate Care, to bedelivered on September 8.

From Page 1

A new kit designed at QUT to help staffand students in Australian universitiesbetter cope with psychiatric disability waspart of the special launch on Friday,August 29 (see story this page).

The kit, Succeeding with a PsychiatricDisability in the University Environment,was developed by QUT’s CounsellingService and Tertiary Initiatives for Peoplewith Disabilities for distribution to alluniversities in Australia.

Counselling Service head Dr RobertSchweitzer said that, with 20 per cent ofthe general population likely to sufferfrom psychiatric illnesses at some stageduring their lives, there were good legaland moral arguments for raisingawareness of mental health issues in theuniversity community.

“Under the anti-discriminationlegislation, universities have an obligationto eliminate discrimination againstpersons on the ground of their disability,”Dr Schweitzer said.

“There’s a social justice argument toothat all members of the communityshould be given the opportunity to study.”

Dr Schweitzer said one of thedifficulties in the community was that

Kit aims to change attitudesto mental illness in students

by Carmen Myler

A range of educat iona l tool sdesigned to raise awareness abouts tudying a t univers i ty wi th adisability were launched at QUT onFriday, August 29.

The result of work done within acollaborative university projectknown as Tertiary Initiatives forPeople with Disabilities (TIPD), thetools have been developed over thepast year.

TIPD i s a jo int in i t ia t iveinvolving the Australian CatholicUniversity, Central QueenslandUniversity, Griffith University,James Cook Univers i ty, QUT,Sunshine Coast University College,Univers i ty of Queens land andUniversity of Southern Queensland.

Based at QUT, TIPD projectmanager Glenda Page said the toolswere des igned to redres s theimbalance between numbers ofstudents with disabilities and otherstudents in Australian universities.

“We’re trying to enhance accessof academically able people with adisability to higher education andto appropriate employment asgraduates,” Ms Page said.

“We’re a lso encouraging thedevelopment of strategies withinunivers i t i e s that enhanceparticipation, retention and successof students with disabilities.”

In keeping with these aims, MsPage said, TIPD had developed:

Universities unite to raise awareness of disabilities• ␣ a 10-minute v ideo ␣ — The

Univer s i t y Opt ion — whichencourages people with disabilitiesto consider going to university by

portraying success stories andtestimonials;

• a five-part video series␣ — CreativeTeaching, Inclusive Learning — which

details the challenges universitylecturers and students with disabilitieshave faced and strategies they’veimplemented to overcome them;

• a kit, Succeeding with a PsychiatricDisability in the University Environment— developed in conjunction withQUT’s Counselling Services — whichis designed to inform the universitycommunity about psychiatricdisability, its effect on study, andstrategies for accommodating studentswho have a psychiatric disability (seeinset story this page); and

• two brochures addressing graduateemployment — Transition toEmployment: A Guide for Graduateswith Disabilities and Benefits of Hiringa University Graduate with aDisability. — created by a workingparty following a TIPD survey ofgraduates with disabilities whichrevealed the need for graduates andprospective employers to be betterinformed about how to seekemployment, the support availableand the benefits to employers.The videos were produced by Gina

Pickering from QUT’s Educational MediaProduction unit and feature staff andstudents from QUT, Griffith Universityand the University of Queensland.

The products were launched by Vice-Chancellor Professor Dennis Gibson at aspecial ceremony which featured talks bythe TIPD management committee chairDr Barrie O’Connor and CounsellingServices head Dr Robert Schweitzer.

A special feature of the launch was atalk by deaf student SamanthaBlackmore who shared her positiveexperiences as a student with a disabilityat university.

people tended to discriminate againstthings which they didn’t understand.

“I think people generally have littleunderstanding of psychiatric disabilitiesbecause they are unseen disabilities,” hesaid. “We are very apt to make commentsabout someone being lazy or stupid, orjust not trying, when in fact they mightbe suffering from an illness which isimpacting on their study.

“We need to educate the communityto treat mental illness in the same waythat they treat any other illness and toask themselves: ‘To what degree is theillness causing problems for this personand to what degree is my response to theillness creating difficulties for them?’ ”

People with psychiatric illnesses wereunlikely to come forward and seek helpat university, Dr Schweitzer said, becauseof the stigma society attached to people“being mad” or suffering from a disorder.

The new kit is the result of work by ateam which included Dr Schweitzer andcolleagues Elizabeth Tindle, KathyNewley and Sandy Evans. It coversmental illnesses such as schizophrenia,bi-polar disorder, eating disorders,depression, anxiety disorders, obsessive

compulsive disorder and personalitydisorders.

Dr Schweitzer said it had three aims:•␣ to highlight common issues confronted

by tertiary students with a psychiatricdisability;

•␣ to assist students who may haveexperienced a psychiatric disability toachieve their full academic potential; and

•␣ to offer practical guidelines to universitystaff who sought to assist students witha psychiatric disability.The kit is an outcome of an Equity

project Identifying Needs andDevelopment of Resources for Students withPsychiatric Disabilities, which was fundedby QUT.

Consultations and focus groups wereheld at QUT over six months to identifythe real issues faced by staff and studentsand to select strategies which would bemost effective in addressing them.

Dr Schweitzer said that, in conjunctionwith the kit, he would be runningworkshops in universities to “reallychange attitudes in people who have mostcontact with students with a mentalillness”.

— Carmen Myler

High school students around the State took acloser look at radioactivity in their environmentwhen School of Natural Resource Sciencessenior lecturer Dr Riaz Akber conducted the1997 Australian Institute of Physics YouthLecture tour.

Dr Akber, a member of AIP and a fellow ofthe Australian Radiation Protection Society,gave a lecture and demonstrations to morethan 1,000 students and teachers involved inphysics education and research at the GoldCoast, Brisbane, Toowoomba, Bundaberg,Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsville andCairns in the last two weeks of July.

During the trip, which was sponsored byAIP and QUT, Dr Akber demonstrated simpleequipment and how to detect radioactivity incommonly used materials such as domesticsmoke detectors and gas mantles.

His audiences also heard about the basicprinciples of radioactivity, radiation detectiontechniques and applications.

After each lecture, many students had ahands-on inspection of radioactivity detectionequipment.

Riaz takes radiation on the road

“Many students were quite surprised to learnthat there is such a wide scale of radioactivity ispresent in the human habitat,” Dr Akber said.“Very few were aware of the range of

applications of radiological techniques inindustry and environmental problem solving.”

The popular youth lecture tour attractedwell over 1,000 people in total.

School of Natural Resource Sciences senior lecturer Dr Riaz Akber. . . in action during the AIP youth lecture tour

QUT student Nathan Rickard hassmashed the Australian 50m freestyleswimming record and won a goldmedal on the final day of competitionat the World University Games inSicily.

Mr Rickard, 18, swam a newAustralian record time of 22.50 secondsin his medal-winning performance onSunday night.

His win brought the official medaltally for the Australian Team to 10,with the athletes bagging two gold,three silver and five bronze medals,the highest number ever won byAustralia in the World UniversityGames.

Nathan gets record andgold at world games

Three QUT students were among the150 athletes competing for Australia inthe games. (Athletes attending the gamescompeted in 10 sports — track and field,swimming, diving, fencing, gymnastics,water polo, volleyball, tennis, basketballand soccer.)

In a special closing ceremony — atwhich singer Liza Minelli made asurprise guest appearance — more than45,000 Italians turned out tocongratulate and farewell the 6,000athletes from 170 countries whocompeted in this year’s games.

The next games will be held inMajorca, Spain, in 1999.

— Carmen Myler

Two QUT students have won firsta n d s e c o n d p l a c e i n a s p e e c hcontes t he ld by the Consulate-General of Japan in Brisbane lastmonth.

International business studentRebecca McHugh won first prize inthe 26th Annual Japanese LanguageSpeech Contest on August 10, whiledrama student Elizabeth Skitch camesecond.

Both students competed in thecompetition’s open division against 22entrants from tertiary institutions inBrisbane and Toowoomba. MsMcHugh will go on to compete in thecontest’s national finals in Canberra inOctober.

Contestants were required to prepareand deliver an original speech of fourto five minutes duration.

Ms Skitch — whose speech addressedthe issue of Australia’s image overseassince the emergence of PaulineHanson’s One Nation Party — said thecontest was “an important opportunityto express the concern many Australiansfeel with regards to racism”.

Both women said people weresurprised QUT students took out prizesin the contest because most didn’trealise languages were taught at QUT.

The prize-winning students are currentlyenrolled in Japanese 8, a course which isrunning at QUT for the first time this year.

— Carmen Myler

QUT duo in language prize quinella

A message to QUT women . . .If you would like to contribute to Philosophia, the annual QUTwomen’s publication, please contact Brenda on (07) 3864 5528 ordrop your contribution into any Your Union Help Desk or the QUTStudent Guild Women’s Department. Interviews, CD/book reviews,poems, features, art work, etc., welcome. Contributors paid.

INSIDE QUT September 2-15, 1997 Page 9

by Carmen Myler

Management resistance is the foremostconstraint to workers telecommuting,despite research which indicates it is asuccessful and desirable way to work,according to an academic visiting QUT.

Associate Professor of Civil andEnvironmental Engineering from theUniversity of California (Davis) PatriciaMokhtarian presented her findings at aseminar on the adoption and impacts oftelecommuting late last month.

The seminar was jointly hosted by theAustralian Housing and Urban ResearchInstitute (AHURI), QUT’s PhysicalInfrastructure Centre (PIC), the Officeof the Public Service and QueenslandTransport.

It coincides with preliminary researchinto telecommuting in Australia beingundertaken at QUT by AHURI, PIC andCSIRO.

Professor Mokhtarian said technology,the global economy and the currentcorporate climate were increasing theavailability of telecommuting, whilesocio-demographic factors — along withtime pressures, traffic congestion and

Local team looks at highs and lows of telecommuting

work-related stresses — were increasinglyits desirability.

“But, when we look around, we findthat not so many people are doing it rightnow and we have to ask ourselves why,”she said.

Research has found, ProfessorMokhtarian said, that there were anumber of constraints — such as concernsabout lack of visibility in the workplaceharming career prospects but “first andforemost” was resistance by managers.

She said, despite this, there was a “pent-up demand” for telecommuting in theUnited States, with as many as one thirdof the workforce wanting to telecommute.

The preliminary research beingundertaken at QUT is investigating thepotential policy and planning impacts ofincreases in telecommuting in Australiaand, specifically, in South-EastQueensland.

AHURI senior research assistantMichelle Manicaros said the researchwould examine links betweentelecommuting and the characteristics anddemands for travel, as well as the impactan increase in telecommuting would haveon transport, energy consumption andair pollution.

This preliminary research forms partof a larger, future collaborative researchproject proposed between the Office ofthe Public Service, QueenslandTransport, the Department of LocalGovernment and Planning and AHURI,with Patricia Mokhtarian.

Ms Manicaros said this research washoped to extend the findings of thepreliminary research to include thedevelopment of forecasting tools for

workplace practice, planning, lifestylesand travel demand in the SEQ region.

“It will provide both a framework forimplementing telecommuting policy inthe workplace and a policy frameworkfor more sustainable transportationprovision, urban development andcommunications’ planning,” she said.

“The significance of this research isthat it will provide tangible outcomes thatcan be used in the workplace to betterinform policy, planning and decision-making.”

In line with ecologically sustainabledevelopment principles, Ms Manicarossaid the research would also offer a meansfor achieving significant environmentalbenefits — for example reduction intraffic congestion and pollution — as wellas economic (improved performance andproductivity) and social (lifestyle choice)benefits.

Ms Manicaros said the preliminaryresearch would include a survey oftelecommuters.

People who would like to participatein the survey should contact MichelleManicaros on (07) 3864 9277 or Dr LuisFerreira on (07) 3864 1542.

Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering from theUniversity of California (Davis) Patricia Mokhtarian . . . ‘not so many

people are telecommuting right now and we have to ask ourselves why’

QUT’s School of Nursing last monthhosted a study tour by 16 students fromTaiwan to give them an insight intoAustralian nursing practice and culture.

The nursing and midwifery studentsfrom TZU-HUI Senior VocationalHigh School in Taiwan travelled toAustralia with four teachers, two ofwhom have stayed on at QUT to studyEnglish and a Master of Nursing.

Nursing lecturer Rob Thornton saidthe visit was an excellent opportunityfor the Taiwanese students to gaininsight into Australian nursing practiceand hospital systems, and to betterunderstand Australian culture.

“It also opens up future recruitmentopportunities for cultural exchanges, aswell as increasing the QUT community’sawareness of Taiwanese culture,” MrThornton said.

He said education in Taiwan was avery high priority for families and it wascommon for people to study higher

degrees in countries such as the UnitedStates, United Kingdom or Australia.

The group’s three-day study tourincluded visits to Mater MisericordiaeChildren’s Hospital and GreenslopesPrivate Hospital.

The students also participated in talkson courses, history, computer-basededucation and continuing education, aswell as sitting in on tutorials and Englishclasses.

Mr Thornton said QUT nursingstudents had the opportunity, throughinterpreters, to share their experiencesof study in Australia with the Taiwanesevisitors.

— Carmen Myler

QUT’s School of Nursing hosts tour by Taiwanese students

Students from TZU-HUI SeniorVocational High School inTaiwan take a short break

during their recent study tour toQUT for a group photograph

News in BriefAuthorities back link

to South BankTHE State Government and the BrisbaneCity Council have backed a $67 millionproposal for the redevelopment of the SouthBank Parklands which has as one of itselements a pedestrian-cycle bridge whichwould link QUT directly to South Bank.

Recently unveilled plans show theconnection would be located at the southernend of the Gardens Point Campus, linkingto the boardwalk end of the parklands.

QUT to celebrateanniversaries

WHILE the university will celebrate its firstfull decade as QUT during 1999, theinstitution can trace its heritage back to theBrisbane School of Arts which began classesin November, 1849.

VC rules out adjunctprofessor ‘proposal’

QUT Vice-Chancellor Professor DennisGibson has ruled out a draft proposal for theuniversity to enter an arrangement with abig-six accounting firm — to provide adjunctprofessors to work in the university’s Businessand Law faculties — which included a“contribution” of up to $20,000 to nominallycover secretarial and research costs.

Professor Gibson said the draft proposalhad not — and would not — be endorsed

because it did not meet the requirements ofthe university’s Manual of Policy andProcedures.

AIRC rules on contact/casual staff

A FULL bench of the industrial relationscommission has called for a reduction in theuse of fixed-term contract and casualappointments in Australian universities.

The decision affects both academic andgeneral staff. However, the AIRC declinedto set specified ratios of senior and juniortenured staff in university awards.

General staff win accolades

OUTSTANDING contributions orinnovations by general staff to the university’smissions and goals were recently rewardedwith special grants by the Vice-Chancellor.

Five individual nominees — Joe Van DerMaat (TALSS), Eric Martinez (Science), BobPrentice (Business), Vicki Shuley (Health)and Freda Ten Kate (Built Environment &Engineering) — were successful, eachreceiving a presentation plaque and a grantof $2,000 to be spent at their discretion onwork-related purposes.

For the first time, a work group has beenrewarded, with four Registry staff from theSecretariat — Fay Elliott, Rhonda Allison,Julie Noble and Geoff Elliot — beingpresented with a cheque for $6,000.

Sector rails againstVanstone plan

THE Australian Vice-ChancellorsCommittee, the Council of AustralianPostgraduate Associations, the NationalTertiary Education Union and the NationalUnion of Students have taken a united stanceagainst Federal Education Minister SenatorAmanda Vanstone’s recent qualityenhancement proposals.

Senator Vanstone has announced a three-part plan which includes national awardsfor teaching excellence, a survey of all currenthigher education students and a telephonehotline for student comment and feedbackabout their experience of university.

Cumming impressesGovernment

THE State Government has announcedthat it will implement most of therecommendations from a reportcompiled by the Dean of QUT’sFaculty of Education Professor AlanCumming.

Professor Cumming’s report intoreforming and improving post-compulsory schooling for students inyears 11 and 12 is now being used by acommittee appointed to advise the StateMinister for Education, Bob Quinn, andthe State Industrial Relations Minister,Santo Santoro.

Sound marks for budgetQUT’s mid-year budget review, outlining thefinancial position to June 30, shows theuniversity is in a sound position, with increasesin international and domestic student fees aboveestimates. Most faculties and divisions are oncourse to meet carryover targets for 1997-98.

Business Dean to sayfarewell

After nearly three years as Dean of QUT’sFaculty of Business, Professor Trevor Griggis to return to the University of Queenslandin late October to become the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Academic).Dr Sandra Harding will become acting deanfrom October 13, with the position to beadvertised nationally and internationally overthe next few weeks.

Library takes in newcollection

THE Gardens Point Library is the new homeof the library holdings of the QueenslandBranch of the Cement and ConcreteAssociation of Australia.

Vice-president of the association’s councilMr David Beal — a senior lecturer with theSchool of Civil Engineering — said that, bydonating the collection to QUT’s Library, itwould ensure not only that members had accessbut that academic and research communitiesas well as other industry members could benefit.

Top marks for mathseducator

A PROGRAM to develop primary schoolstudents’ ability to pose mathematicalproblems has earned Dr Lyn English anaward from the Mathematics EducationResearch Group of Australiasia. Dr Englishis assistant director of the Centre for Mathsand Science Education and she received thePractical Implications Award for her researchpaper on the Year 7 student program. Herfindings were described as having “significantimplications for mathematics education”.

Grants for veterans’children

THE Australian Vietname War VeteransTrust is calling for applications from post-secondary students under 25 for a number of$3,500 academic grants under the VietnamVeterans Trust Education Assistance Scheme.

Applicants must be the child of a Vietnamveteran and enrolled in — or planning toenrol in — a full-time, post-secondary coursein Australia at up to first employmentqualification level (not a higher degree). Ameans test (eligibility for Austudy) will applyand applications for the grants close onOctober 31. For more information visit theTrust’s web site at http://www.accsoft.com.au/~vvt or contactvvt@accsoft.com.au or (02) 9281 7077.

Page 10 INSIDE QUT September 2-15, 1997

UNI CREDIT UNION19X7

With the Queensland Tert iaryAdmissions Centre’s September 30deadl ine looming for 1998undergraduate course applications,hundreds of potentia l s tudentsattended a special courses and careersevening at Carseldine campus onAugust 20.

Acting head of QUT’s School ofHumanities Dr Wayne Hindsley saidthe evening was one of severalinitiatives to raise the profile of theuniversity’s Carseldine campus in thecommunity.

School leavers and potential mature-aged students visited the campus in equalnumbers to browse at informationdisplays and attend talks about careers,courses, timetables, tutorials andtransfers from TAFE.

“There are many ways to success inlife and one of the most effective is auniversity degree,” Dr Hindsley said.

“‘Whether for financial, personalor educational reasons, many peoplein the community feel that highereducation is beyond their grasp. Butthis does not have to be the case.

“We want local people to knowwhat their options are, to find outwhat the ‘Q-Step’ special accessprogram is, what ‘recognition of priorlearning’ stands for and how QUT’sequity programs can help them embarkupon a fulfilling university career.

“The good news is that mostmature-aged students who enter

Potential students check out Carseldine campus

university do very well. In fact, in thepast two years , the School ofHumanities undergraduate prize foracademic achievement has gone tostudents in this category.”

Meanwhile, throughout August andSeptember, lecturers and students fromthe Carseldine campus will visitnorthside shopping centres to take

information about QUT’s new Bachelorof Arts degree out to the community.

From 1998, QUT students will beable to combine quite different majors—␣ such as literature and commerce,or German and economics.

All have been designed to maximisegraduates’ employment prospects inan increasingly tough job market.

The Carseldine courses and careersevening offered information on BAprograms in politics, history, French,German, Japanese, Indonesian,literature, indigenous studies and Asia-Pacific studies. Majors in psychology,sociology and economics andinternational business are also available.

— Andrea Hammond

Electricity utilities in Australia needed torationalise and provide better control overresources, speakers at a QUT electricityindustry symposium said last month.

School of Electrical and ElectronicSystems Engineering post-doctoral fellowDave Gilbert said electrical utilities bothwithin Australia and abroad were facingdramatic changes in the businessenvironment in which they operated.

Mr Gilbert was the first speaker atthe Electricity Transmission and

Experts call for further reforms in electricity industryDistribution Reliability-CenteredMaintenance Symposium held at QUTAugust 18 to 19.

“The industry needs to adopt areliability-centered focus to minimise assetlife-cycle costs while maintainingcustomer reliability expectations,” MrGilbert said. “Significant cost savings maybe realised by electricity transmission anddistribution organisations, both withinAustralia and overseas, from the applicationof a reliability-centered methodology.”

Mr Gilbert’s comments were supportedby South-West Power chief executiveofficer Jurij Petriwskyj and South-EastQueensland Electricity Corporationgeneral manager David Laurie.

The symposium was attended byElectricity Supply Industry representativesfrom Australia, the United Kingdom, theUnited States, South Africa and NewZealand. It was organised by QUT andthe Queensland Electricity SupplyIndustry.

Examples of cost savings were givenby Jeff Lomey of South Africa’sEskom, one of the world’s largestelectricity utilities, Dr MorrisLockwood of the Electricity ResearchAssociation in the UK and Harry Ngof the Electric Power ResearchInstitute in the US.

Representatives from the Australianand New Zealand Electricity SupplyIndustry also presented a number ofinteresting case studies.

QUT Electricity Supply IndustryTraining Programs manager LyleMcKinnon told the symposium thatthe increased reliability-centred focusin the industry had identified the needfor the industry to up skill its currentwork force.

The competency-based courses offeredby QUT are currently endorsed by manyAustralian Electricity Supply Industrymembers.

— Andrea Hammond

School of Humanities Japanese lecturer Mayumi Parry, right, withprospective student Mark Beavis in language lab

Eager school leavers and potential mature-aged students snap upbrochures and talk to staff at the general information stall

INSIDE QUT September 2-15, 1997 Page 11

End (start and f in ish at GP).Everyone welcome. Entry fee —$10 individuals, $20 families.Includes free breakfast after thefun run.

Sep 19 Free Movie Night. GP

Sep 23 Noon Hour Band. KG

Sep 25 Noon Hour Band. GP

Sep 29-Oct 3 AUSF Games. Melbourne

Oct 2 National Band Comp. Roxy Hotel

Oct 16 Octoberfest. GP

Oct 17 Free Movie Night. GP

Oct 20 Band/Market Day. C

Oct 23 Noon Hour Band. GP

Oct 24 QUT Cup Soccer. KG

Oct 28 Noon Hour Band. KG

Oct 30 Athletic Awards. TBA

Nov 28 QUT Ball. Jubilee Hotel

Dec 15-19 Sport Camps Week #1. C

SCIENCE TRAIN

The QUT Science Train is showcasing the dynamicworld of science — from dinosaurs to DNA — asit visits regional centres in Queensland. Itsschedule is as follows:

Sep 2 Blackwater, 9am-2.30pm.Sep 3 Rockhampton, 9am-5pm.Sep 4 Rockhampton, 9am-8pm.Sep 5 Mackay, 9am-8pm.Sep 6 Mackay, 9am-6pm.Sep 7 Townsville, 9am-6pm.Sep 8 Townsville, 9am-8pm.Sep 10 Mt Isa, 9am-5pm.Sep 11 Richmond, 9am-6pm.Sep 12 Charters Towers, 9am-6pm.Sep 14 Cairns, 10am-3pm.Sep 15 Cairns, 10am-3pm & 6.30pm-9pm.Sep 16 Cairns, 10am-3pm.Sep 17 Ingham, 9am-8pm.Sep 18 Proserpine, 9am-3.30pm.Sep 19 Return to Brisbane.Sep 20 Return to Roma Street.Sep 21 Roma Street, 10am-4pm.Sep 22 Roma Street, 10am-4pm.Sep 23 Roma Street, 10am-4pm.Sep 24 Roma Street, Noon-8pm.Sep 25 Roma Street, 10am-4pm.Sep 26 Roma Street, Noon-8pm.

Oct 3-4 First National Conference forExecutive Secretaries and PersonalAssistants. Carlton Crest Hotel. $395.Maria Lamari at m.lamari@qut.edu.auOR (07) 3864 2915.

Oct-Dec Brief: Family Therapy. Introductorycourse, Oct 18 & 25; Intermediatecourse, Nov 8 & 15; Advanced course,Nov 29 & Dec 6. $235. SamanthaChaplin at s.chaplin@qut.edu.au OR(07) 3864 3505.

FROM THE ACADEMY

Sep 10 Jazz with Good Bait. KG/M BlockMusic Studio. 1-1.45pm. FREE. (07)3864 5998.

Sep 17 High Class Brass. KG/M BlockMusic Studio. 1-1.45pm. FREE.(07) 3864 5998.

Sep 24 F. Gerard Errante, clarinet. KG/M B lock Mus ic S tud io .1-1.45pm. FREE. (07) 3864 5998.

Oct 8 Percussion Duo. KG/M BlockMusic Studio. 1-1.45pm. FREE.(07) 3864 5998.

Oct 15 Young-Ah Kim, Piano. KG/M BlockMusic Studio. 1-1.45pm. FREE.(07) 3864 5998.

Sep 2-13 Romeo & Ju l ie t /West S ideStory (drama, dance & musicdouble bil l) . Romeo & Jul ietdirected by Shakespeare & Co.,Boston; West Side Story directedby David Fenton. GP/new theatre.Bookings through Dial’N’Charge( 0 7 ) 3 8 4 6 4 6 4 6 ( m a n yperformances sold out) .

STUDENT GUILD

Sep 2 Arts Festival. KG

Sep 4 Arts Festival. GP

Sep 6 Concert. River Stage

Sep 10 Clubs & Societies Forum #2. GP

Sep 11 Noon Hour Band. GP

Sep 12 QUT Cup Athletics Carnival. KG

Sep 14 QUT Fun Run. 10km run/walk.The course is based on a looparound Gardens Point campus,City Botanic Gardens and West

NORTHQUAY

HOTEL25X2

Check out What’s On at http:// www.qut.edu.au/pubs/02stud/whatson.html.Send your What’s On entry to j.garnett@qut.edu.au or via fax on (07) 3210 0474.

CONFERENCES, SEMINARS & WORKSHOPS

• EquitySep 2-8 Equity Basics. Half-day seminars

for staff with or without supervisory duties.FREE. Dates: Sept 2, Sept 8. Times:(managers) 9am-Noon, (non-managers)1.30pm-4.30pm. Leanne Zimmermannat l.zimmermann@qut.edu.au OR(07) 3864 3653.

Sep 10-11 Career Moves. Workshop forwomen in clerical, administrativeand secretarial positions at QUT(HEW 3-5). KG/K108. 9am-4pm.FREE. Gayle Huges atg.hughes@qut.edu.au OR (07)3864 2699.

• Centre for Mental Health Nursing ResearchSep 7-8 Challenge the Body Culture:

Attitudes, Acceptance & Diversityinto the 21st Century. Nationalconference at ParkRoyal Brisbane.$350 (or $175 a day). Full-timestudents $20/$10. Eating DisordersAssociation Qld (07) 3352 6900.

• Centre for Policy & Leadership Studies inEducation

Sep 9 Teacher education in Taiwan:policy reform and curriculumdesign. Dr Chiou-Rong Wang Yang,visiting scholar. KG/E416 12-1pm.FREE. Anne Wilson ata.wilson@qut.edu.au OR(07) 3864 5959.

Sep 16 Music in an age of mechanicalreproduction: some notes towardsa theory of phonography. Dr ColinSymes, QUT School of Cultural &Policy Studies. KG/E416 12-1pm.FREE. Anne Wilson ata.wilson@qut.edu.au OR(07) 3864 5959.

Nov 29 Pedagogy & the Body conference (1-day). Will address complex & changinginterrelationships between pedagogical& corporeal practices in contemporarycultural & educational settings. Wagedparticipants $95, non-waged $60. KG.Anne Wilson at a.wilson@qut.edu.auOR (07) 3864 5959.

• Continuing Professional EducationOct 3-4 Medical Imaging in Accident &

Emergency. Clinical investigation &practices in emergency medicine asthey relate to medical imaging. $350(or $80 for undergraduate medicalradiation students). GP/Q216-2189.30am-5pm. Samantha Chaplin ats.chaplin@qut.edu.au OR (07) 3864 3505.

STRICTLYLITERARY

5X2

It’s hard to believe, but some staff and students— some of whom have been at QUT’s GardensPoint campus for up to five years — don’t knowthe Student Guild has sport and fitness centreson campus including a large, indoor swimmingpool.

However, Sports Centre co-ordinator KarynJohnston is taking steps to rectify this.

An Open Day at the Sports and FitnessCentres has been organised for later this month(September 18).

Ms Johnston said comments and feedbackhad shown some staff and students who hadbeen here for some time were not actually awarewhere the pool and gym were and what thecentres had to offer.

“You hear comments from staff and studentswho discover the place one day and say I’vebeen here for five years and didn’t know it washere,” Ms Johnston said.

“They might walk past it every day but beoblivious to the pool’s existence and all the otherfacilities we have to offer.”

Ms Johnston agreed that, with a membershipgrowth of about 15 per cent over the past threeto four years, there had not been a huge increasein enrolments at the centres in relation to thethe growth in numbers at the university.

“Open Day hopefully will make people moreaware,” Ms Johnston said.

Sports centres open their doors

“As an incentive on the day we are offeringdiscounts on membership, half-price entry feesand hosting a number of activities free of charge.We will be offering personalised or group toursof the centres. People can come along and enjoyfree aqua-aerobics and aerobics classes and otherattractions, including a social BBQ where theycan meet staff.”

Nominations are being sought for general staff to participatein the Professional Development Program.

The committee which will review applications is encouraging staffat HEWA levels 7 and below to apply. PDP officer (general staff)Cathy Cameron said the committee would look favourably on thoseprograms which would be conducted or begun before the end of1997 as well as programs within the South-East Asian region.

“Staff considering an application should discuss the detailsof their proposed program with their faculty, departmentalor divisional representative on the committee,” Ms Cameronsaid. “Applications are required to be lodged by October 1.”

The 1997 committee members are: Ken Baumber (Registrar and chair);Rose Williamson (Secretariat); Lex Pietzner (Arts); Iola Ternel (BuiltEnvironment & Engineering); Maree Parker (Business); Donna White(Education); Pat Smith (Health); Betty Hansford (Information Technology);Karen Robinson (Law); Bill Kwiecien (Science); Ian Hawke (Academic Affairs);Paul Abernethy (Administrative Services); Jan Novak (Information Services);Kieran O’Brien (Research & Advancement); and Michelle Taylor (Equity).

PDP deadline nears

And for those who are not sure wherea l l th i s i s happening, the Gardens Pointsports centre i s in I Block across theroad f rom the Community Bui ld ing (YBlock) .

The Fitness Centre is in the lower groundlevel of the Community Building.

— Noel Gentner

Lee Brown works out in the Gardens Point Fitness Centre

Page 12 INSIDE QUT September 2-15, 1997

Eager entrants shape up for 1997 QUT Fun Run

Publication details

The deadline for next issue of Inside QUT (Sept. 16-Oct. 6) is Sept. 5.

Letters to the Editor are also welcome viamail or email (maximum of 250 words).Media may reproduce stories from InsideQUT. Each story has been checked with thesource prior to publication.

This newspaper is published by thePublic Affairs Department, QUT(Level 5, M Block, Gardens Point), GPOBox 2434 Brisbane 4001.

Photography: Suzanne Prestwidge& Sharyn Rosewarne.

Advertising: Joanne Garnett 3864 1840.

The opinions expressed in Inside QUTdo not necessarily represent those of theuniversity.

Inside QUT has a circulation of 15,000 andis delivered to the university’s GardensPoint, Kelvin Grove and Carseldinecampuses.

This newspaper is also circulated tobusiness, industry, government and themedia.

If you know of a story which should betold in Inside QUT contact one of thejournalists in the Public AffairsDepartment:

Trina McLellan (ed) 3864 2361Andrea Hammond 3864 1150Carmen Myler 3864 2130Noel Gentner (p/t) 3864 1841Fax 3210 0474E-mail t.mclellan@qut.edu.au

Optionsfinalised for’98 games

The list of sports for the 1998 “Embracethe Spirit” Northern ConferenceUniversities Games, to be hosted by QUT,has been finalised.

Guild recreation manager Don Gordonconfirmed the 17 sports would include:• baseball • basketball;• beach volleyball • golf;• hockey • netball;• rugby league • rugby union;• soccer • softball;• swimming (short course)• squash • tae kwon do• tennis • touch football• volleyball • waterpolo

With a budget of around $250,000,the games will be held between July 5and July 9 at various venues on and aroundQUT’s campuses.

Around 2,500 competitors are expectedto contest the events over four fullcompetition days. The competitors will bedrawn from all universities in Queenslandand two from northern New South Wales.

A grand opening is planned for the RiverStage in the Botanic Gardens, adjacent tothe Gardens Point campus.

Softdrink maker Schweppes hasbought the naming rights toQueensland’s premiere universitysporting event for 1998.

A one-year-old QUT project — whichhas sought to cut out the necessity foralcohol abuse in order to have fun — hasbeen very well received.

With funding from Queensland Health,QUT’s Health Service introducedDrinkSmart in August last year. The projectis now jointly run by QUT Drug andAlcohol Committee and the Student Guild.

Project co-ordinator ShayneeMcMahon said the DrinkSmart messagewas not against alcohol consumption, butrather provided students with anopportunity to think twice about thepossible health and social consequencesof excessive alcohol consumption.

“What we focus on is responsiblebehaviour in relation to drinking,” she said.

Ms McMahon said the DrinkSmart teamincluded student mentors from the HumanMovement and Nursing schools whovolunteered to attend four or five studentsocial gatherings a year. She said the teamwould be at the free cocktails night at CityRowers on September 11 and at nextmonth’s Oktoberfest at Gardens Point.

Project puts brakes on over-indulgence

“At the venues, we go around takingphotographs of groups which are putin a small folder album which carryresponsible drinking messages. We alsohave a DrinkSmart wheel (similar to a

chocolate wheel) which offers prizesincluding safe-sex packs, T-shirts, CDvouchers and fast-food vouchers.

“Students get a spin of the wheel if theyare under the blood-alcohol limit.”

by Andrea Hammond

The QUT Boardr ider s Club i slooking to retain its first positionin the third round of NorthernC o n f e r e n c e U n i v e r s i t y S p o r t sA s s o c i a t i o n ( N C U S A ) s u r f i n gtitles on September 26 and 27.

Club president Jacob Stuth saidthe 16-member team had competedstrongly in the mens’, longboard,ladies’ and bodyboard events for thefirst two titles to grab a strong pointslead.

“The 1997 team is strong throughall disciplines and is emerging as oneof the top contenders next NCUSAround at the Southport Spit on theGold Coast and also the nationaltitles in December,” he said.

“We have a very strong team inall areas of the competition andare confident we will be in topform for the national titles, (partof the Australian University Games)on December 14 at Mooloolaba onthe Sunshine Coast.

“The club has enjoyed severaltrips away so far this year whichhave been great training.

“Our first trip was to DoubleIsland Point, north of Noosa, wherewe scored great waves all week.During the June holidays a journeydown the coast to Byron Bay wasmade to the point break known as

Boardriders set sights on Mooloolaba

The Pass and the beach breakknown as The Wreck where wecamped for a week and also hadgreat waves.”

The Boardriders Club will holda fund-raising barbecue and beer

l u n c h o n t h e K i d n e y L a w n ,G a r d e n s P o i n t c a m p u s , o nSeptember 25.

Money raised wil l be used tosend the team to the NCUSA andnational titles.

QUT Boardriders Club president Jacob Stuth negotiates a great wave at Double Island Point

Hundreds of enthusiastic entrants areexpected to participate in this year’sQUT fun run and walk on Sunday,September 14.

Open to the public, as well asQUT students, staff and graduates,the event’s 10km course starts onthe Main Drive of QUT’s GardensPoint campus, loops around theCity Botanic Gardens and WestEnd, and finishes at Gardens Pointcampus.

Fun run organiser Sandy Larsenof QUT Student Guild FitnessCentre, said the event — which willbegin at 7am — had been designedfor everyone, from keen runners tof ami l i e s p l ann ing a h e a l thymorning out.

“This year we have four categories:open (male and female); junior (under17) (male and female); tertiary student(male and female); and over 45 (maleand female),” Ms Larsen said.

The entry fee is $10 for individualsor $20 for a family if registering beforeThursday, September 11. After that,the fee will be $12 for individuals and$24 for a family. Registrations will beaccepted on the race day.

Ms Larsen said the entry fee includeda healthy breakfast after the fun run,sponsored by SSL Education Services,on the Kidney Lawn at the GardensPoint campus.

From each entry fee, $2 will bedonated to the Make-a-WishFoundation, to help make the wishes ofterminally ill children come true.

Entry forms are available from theStudent Guild fitness centres on eachQUT campus, or by phoning the GardensPoint Fitness Centre on (07) 3864 2945.

— David Zipf

(L-R) Pounding the pavementbefore QUT’s Fun Run onSeptember 14 . . .Harry Stavarakis, Sandy Larsen,Jay Sanderson, Jason Orthand Mark Hinds

For fur ther in format ion abouth o w t o j o i n t h e Q U TBoardr ider s Club — and join insocia l and competit ion events —c o n t a c t J a c o b S t u t h o n(07) 3391 3250.

(L-R) DrinkSmart team members John Knowler, ShayneeMcMahon and Sam Freudenstein