Highlights 2008|09 - University of Western Australia · 2009-08-11 · Premier’s Science Awards Researchers, teachers and students at The University of Western Australia won every

Highlights 2008|09Achieving International Excellence

Staff and Student SuccessesThe high standard of our University has as its foundation the excellence of our staff and students. In 2008, this quality was recognised in many ways. | p 4

Highlights 2008|09Research and Research TrainingThroughout 2008, The University of Western Australia has continued to confirm its standing as one of Australia’s leading research-intensive universities. | p 8

Teaching and LearningIn 2008 the University continued to refresh its thinking about how to enhance the education it offers – particularly as this relates to the student experience. At the same time there was significant national recognition for the University and its staff. | p 12

The University of Western Australia | Achieving International Excellence

Strategic Directions 2009-2013The University of Western Australia will be recognised internationally for its excellence in teaching and research and as a leading intellectual and creative resource for the communities it serves. | p 2

The University of Western Australia | Achieving International Excellence | p 1

Highlights 2008|09International EngagementThe University’s ambition is to reach the ranks of the top 50 universities in the world by the year 2050. In doing so the University aims to reach the milestone of joining the top 100 universities in the world (as measured by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Ranking of World Universities) in the UWA Centenary years (2011 – 2013). | p 16

Major Gifts and Corporate SupportThroughout 2008 the University was generously supported by many hundreds of gifts from a wide range of benefactors across the spectrum of University activity. | p 18

‘A creative and intellectual resource to the community …’The University continues to expand its links with the wider community ensuring its position as ‘a leading intellectual and creative resource to the communities it serves’ (UWA Vision). | p 19

Staff AppointmentsA number of key University appointments were made during the year. | p 20

Innovation, creativity and excellence in teaching and research position The University of Western Australia at the leading edge. In our quest for international excellence, we are striving to develop our strengths across all areas of endeavour. These are the highlights of 2008–2009. Alan Robson, Vice-Chancellor

| p 1

The University of Western Australia will be recognised internationally for its excellence in teaching and research and as a leading intellectual and creative resource for the communities it serves.

• selective, within a comprehensive base, to develop particular areas of research strength and emphasis;

• research-intensive, with a strong teaching and research nexus across all our disciplines;

• internationally-focused, for both the content and standards of our activities;

• technologically innovative, to maximise our flexibility;

• responsive, to meet the needs of the community, our students and our graduates.

Achieving international excellence as a comprehensive teaching and research university calls for fully funded growth to achieve economies of scale. The University has set a growth target to reach 25,000 students by 2020 and to move towards a 65:35 ratio of undergraduate to postgraduate students.

A major step forward in positioning the University as a world leader is a reshaping of the relationship between our undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. By implementing the Future Framework set by our Review of Course Structures, the University will ensure that in every academic field, the quality of education provided will meet the needs of 21st Century graduates at the highest international standard.

Strategic Directions 2009-2013

Mission

To advance, transmit and sustain knowledge and understanding through the conduct of teaching, research and scholarship at the highest international standards, for the benefit of the Western Australian, Australian and international communities.

Values

The core values underpinning our activities are a commitment to:• a high performance culture designed

to achieve international excellence; • academic freedom to encourage staff

and students to engage in the open exchange of ideas and thought;

• continuous improvement through self-examination and external review;

• fostering the values of openness, honesty, tolerance, fairness, trust and responsibility in social, moral and academic matters;

• transparency in decision making and accountability;

• equity and merit as the fundamental principles for the achievement of the full potential of all staff and students.

Defining characteristics

The University of Western Australia will be recognised by the following defining characteristics:• high quality, as the pervading criterion

for all our activities; • comprehensive, with a broad teaching

and research profile in the arts, sciences, and professions;

VICE-ChanCEllor ProfEssor alan robson


Strategic priorities

The University has identified four priority strategic objectives of particular significance to achieving international excellence over the period 2009-2013:• Teaching and Learning – improve

the quality of the student learning experience;

• Research and Research Training – improve the quality and impact, and productivity of research and research training;

• External Relations – improve the University’s positioning and reputation, and develop strategic relationships and community engagement;

• People and Resources – develop our people and resources.

Research Priority Areas

The University will engage in a number of strategic research areas and a number of emerging and seed priority areas while continually improving the quality of research discoveries, publications and research productivity.

The strategic research areas are:• Plants, animals, agriculture and

environment (including management of natural and agricultural systems);

• Exploration, production and utilisation of Minerals, Oil and Gas;

• Fundamental Bio-medical and Translational Approaches to Health;

• Indigenous Knowledge;• Bio-engineering and Bio-imaging;• Neurosciences (including Psychology).

The areas of emerging and seed priorities are:• Metrology and Measurement• Educational Measurement• Organisational Behaviour• Medieval and Early Modern Studies• Australian Literature• Radio Astronomy• Green Chemistry• Social Policy, Public Policy and

International Studies• Marine and Ocean Sciences.

Other significant staff recognition:

ProfEssor barry Marshall

UWA Nobel Laureate Professor Barry Marshall was elected into the prestigious US National Academy of Sciences which has 2000 members and more than 390 foreign associates, nearly 200 of whom have won Nobel Prizes.

ProfEssor Jörg IMbErgEr

Professor Jörg Imberger, Director of UWA’s Centre for Water Research, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

ProfEssor Ian ConstablE

Professor Ian Constable was awarded the Sir Charles Court Inspiring Leadership Award in the 2008 WA Citizen of the Year Awards for his research in ophthalmology and community service on the Premier’s Science Council, Eye Health Services of WA and the Lions Eye Institute.

The high standard of our University has as its foundation the excellence of our staff and students. In 2008, this quality was recognised in many ways. Highlights include:

The 2008 Scientist of the Year was Professor Jörg Imberger, an environmental engineer and Director of UWA’s Centre for Water Research. He was chosen from two other UWA finalists: Professor Leigh Simmons of UWA’s Centre for Evolutionary Biology; and Professor Cheryl Praeger, Professor of Mathematics. All are international research leaders in their fields.

The 2008 Young Scientist of the Year was Dr Ben Corry of UWA’s School of Biomedical, Biomolecular and Chemical Science. Dr Corry was selected from a group of UWA researchers including Dr Oliver Rackham and Dr Kevin Pfleger, both from the UWA affiliate, the Western Australian Institute of Medical Research.

Staff and Student Successes

Premier’s Science Awards

Researchers, teachers and students at The University of Western Australia won every applicable award in the 2008 WA Premier’s Science Awards.

In the categories applying to universities – Scientist of the Year, Young Scientist of the Year, Excellence in Science Communication Outside the Classroom; and Science Student of the Year: University – all 11 finalists were from UWA.

Wa PrEMIEr’s 2008 sCIEnCE aWarD: sCIEntIst of thE yEar, ProfEssor Jörg IMbErgEr

Wa PrEMIEr’s 2008 sCIEnCE aWarD: yoUng sCIEntIst of thE yEar, Dr bEn Corry

Wa PrEMIEr’s 2008 sCIEnCE aWarD: sCIEnCE stUDEnt of thE yEar (UnIVErsIty), JaCInta DElhaIZE


ProfEssor PEtEr klInkEn

Professor Peter Klinken received the Professions Award in the 2008 WA Citizen of the Year Awards for his contribution to the development of the WA Institute of Medical Research (WAIMR).

ProfEssor Ian PUDDEy

Professor Ian Puddey, Dean of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, was awarded the Heart Foundation President’s Award for 2008 for his research into cardiovascular risk factors and prevention of coronary artery disease and stroke.

ProfEssor garEth grIffIths

Professor Gareth Griffi ths from the School of English, Communications and Cultural Studies, was invited to become a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

In the category of Excellence in Science Communication Outside the Classroom, the award went to SymbioticA, the UWA Centre of Excellence in Biological Arts. The only other fi nalist was Yvonne Van Der Ploeg from the UWA-based ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology.

The Science Student of the Year (University) was Astronomy and Astrophysics student, Jacinta Delhaize. She won the award ahead of other UWA students, Advanced Science student, Matilda-Jane Oke, and Conservation Biology and Management student, Claire Foster.

National Eureka Award

A team of UWA scientists who are developing colour vision for enhanced infrared sensing for soldiers won one of the nation’s most prestigious science awards. The work in infrared imaging systems will provide dramatically improved threat and target recognition, at longer distances and with higher reliability than current systems, making it ideal for military and combat applications.

UWA’s Microelectronics Research Group, led by Professor Lorenzo Faraone, developed a fi lter that enables the creation of the equivalence of colour images in the infrared.

The group was awarded the inaugural Defence Science and Technology Organisation Eureka Prize for Outstanding Science in Support of Defence or National Security. It includes Professor Faraone, Professor John Dell, Professor Charles Musca, Dr Jarek Antoszewski and Dr Adrian Keating and Dr Kevin Winchester of MRX Technologies.

Mawson Medal

Professor Peter Cawood from the UWA School of Earth and Geographical Sciences was awarded the prestigious Mawson Medal and Lecture for 2008. The Medal recognised Professor Cawood’s international leadership in the application of structural geology, tectonic processes and geochronology and his contribution to a better understanding of the development of the continental lithosphere throughout geological time.

Senior Law Lecturer wins Premier’s Book Awards

Dr Antonio Buti, Senior Law Lecturer, won the Premier’s Prize in the Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards for his biography of Sir Ronald Wilson. Dr Buti spent many years consulting with Sir Ronald Wilson, who died in 2005, to write the defi nitive Sir Ronald Wilson: a Matter of Conscience, a portrait of a complex public fi gure in law, church, and the judiciary. Sir Ronald graduated in Law from UWA in 1949.

Wa PrEMIEr’s 2008 sCIEnCE aWarD, ExCEllEnCE In sCIEnCE CoMMUnICatIon oUtsIDE thE ClassrooM: syMbIotICa

InaUgUral DEfEnCE sCIEnCE anD tEChnology organIsatIon EUrEka PrIZE: UWa’s MICroElECtronICs rEsEarCh groUP

thE MaWson MEDal anD lECtUrE for 2008: ProfEssor PEtEr CaWooD

Other signifi cant staff recognition:

Dr JEan-MIChEl lE floCh

Dr Jean-Michel Le Floch, School of Physics research associate, was awarded the URSI (International Council for Science) Young Scientist Award. Only three were given to young Australian scientists and only one to a West Australian.

ProfEssor lEIgh sIMMons

Professor Leigh Simmons won the 2008 Certifi cate of Distinction at the 23rd International Congress of Entomology in Durban, South Africa. Only 11 Certifi cates of Distinction have been presented in the past 13 years.

ProfEssor bob gIlkEs

Professor Bob Gilkes of the School of Earth and Geographical Sciences was invited by the Clay Minerals Society in the United States to deliver the prestigious 2008 G. W. Brindley Lecture. Professor Gilkes becomes one of only three Australians ever invited to deliver the lecture.

World Champion Motorsport Team

The UWA Motorsport team of 12 engineering students was named 2008 World Champion for Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) after winning an international competition with the student designed, built and raced car. The competition held in Michigan, USA, in May, attracted entries from more than 100 teams of engineering students. Nearly 40 UWA students were involved in preparing the distinctive yellow open-wheel racer for competition.

International Google challenge

Students from UWA’s Business School beat more than 1,620 student teams from 369 universities in 47 countries in the international Google Online Marketing Challenge.

A letter from Google advising the Vice-Chancellor of the win said: “UWA is creating some of the fi nest online marketing students in the world. With competition from prestigious institutions

UWA Engineers win national challenge

First-year engineering students from the University took fi rst and second places in the ‘Engineers Without Borders 2008 Challenge’. The winning team designed an effective low-cost water fi lter while the runners-up built an environmentally friendly washing machine. Both projects were designed to be used by rural communities in Cambodia. The Engineers Without Borders Australia Challenge is a national design program for fi rst-year university students. Students work in teams to formulate conceptual designs for sustainable development. The Challenge was one of the few events across Australia that acted as a benchmarking exercise between universities. The result is a great endorsement of the quality of UWA’s engineering program.

aUstralIa’s aMbassaDor to CaMboDIa MEEts fIrst-yEar EngInEErIng stUDEnts froM thE UnIVErsIty Who took fIrst anD sEConD PlaCEs In thE ‘EngInEErs WIthoUt borDErs 2008 ChallEngE’

thE 2008 rhoDEs sCholarshIP for WEstErn aUstralIa Was Won by John MCanEarnEy

such as Stanford and London Business School, that is really saying something.”

Rhodes Scholarship

The 2008 Rhodes Scholarship for Western Australia was won by Engineering and Science student John McAnearney (22) who wants to develop technology to help severely disabled people communicate. He plans to do a PhD in biomedical engineering at Oxford University. Other prominent UWA graduates to win this coveted Award include former premier Geoff Gallop, former Federal Attorneys-General Peter Durack and Daryl Williams, former Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke and former Opposition Leader Kim Beazley.

Rural Doctors Association of Australia Student Doctor of the Year

Andrew Webster, a fourth year UWA medical student, was awarded (jointly) the Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) Student Doctor of the Year award for 2008. The award was shared with

Staff and Student Successes


ProfEssor yVEs PotVIn

Professor Yves Potvin, Director of the Australian Centre for Geomechanics (ACG), won the 2008 Western Australian Inventor of the Year Award, Ready for Market Category, for HEA Mesh. This product is designed to improve mine safety.

ProfEssor PhIl thoMPson

Professor Phil Thompson, Director of the Lung Institute of Western Australia, has been honoured by his peers with the inaugural Medal for Respiratory Medicine in the Asia Pacific region.

ProfEssor MIkE tobar

Professor Mike Tobar of the School of Physics was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences. Professor Tobar, an ARC Professorial Fellow, was honoured for his work in the area of precise resonator, oscillator and phase/amplitude measurement technology.

ProfEssor Mark CassIDy

Professor Mark Cassidy from the Centre for Offshore Foundations Systems was elected to the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences. His contribution to the offshore oil and gas industry at an international level was lauded.

a third year medical student from Flinders University, Jeremy Wells. Andrew is the State representative for the General Practice Student Network (GPSN) and was instrumental in establishing GPSN in Western Australia. He is an active member of SPINRPHEX, the student rural health club, having served on its Executive in 2007 as the Rural High Schools recruitment representative.

Indigenous medical student wins national award

A first-year UWA medical student, Gemma Johnston, won a prestigious national medical award – the AMA (Australian Medical Association) Indigenous Peoples’ Medical Scholarship. Ms Johnston, who was born in Darwin but grew up in Perth, is passionate about improving health in remote communities and plans to specialise in ophthalmology or obstetrics. Valued at $9,000 for each year of study, the scholarship provides support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students studying medicine.

UWA Law student represents Australian youth at United Nations

Elizabeth Shaw, a UWA Law student, was one of two young Australians to be selected from more than 200 applicants as Australian Youth Representative to the UN for 2008. For several months she worked in New York as a fully accredited member of the Australian delegation to the UN, addressing the General Assembly on behalf of Australia and working with the Third Committee of the General Assembly (Social, Humanitarian, Cultural).

Energy research boost

Three UWA postgraduate students won $10,000 Minerals and Energy Research Institute of WA scholarships to conduct research that will benefit petroleum geoscience. Tarrant Elkington is working on improved underground mine modelling systems; Matthew Landers is investigating the location and distribution of nickel and other minerals in iron ores found in lateritic

soils; and Andrew Cornejo is studying the catalytic decomposition of short chain hydrocarbons.

2008 Olympics – UWA’s largest contingent

The University boasted its biggest-ever Olympic contingent, with four students and five graduates representing Australia in Beijing and one graduate representing Zimbabwe.

The Olympians were: students Jamie Beadsworth (water polo), Fergus Kavanagh (hockey), Kobie McGurk (hockey) and Jeremy Stevenson (rowing); and graduates Teneal Attard (hockey), David Dennis (rowing), Frank Murray (coach, women’s hockey), Tim Neesham (water polo) and Kylie Wheeler (heptathlon). Kylie Wheeler, David Dennis and Tim Neesham were competing in their second Olympics. In addition, Sports Science graduate Chris Felgate, of Connolly, is a triathlete who represented his native Zimbabwe.

“UWa Is CrEatIng soME of thE fInEst onlInE MarkEtIng stUDEnts In thE WorlD.”—googlE

anDrEW WEbstEr, a foUrth yEar UWa MEDICal stUDEnt, Was aWarDED (JoIntly) thE rUral DoCtors assoCIatIon of aUstralIa (rDaa) stUDEnt DoCtor of thE yEar aWarD for 2008

Throughout 2008, The University of Western Australia continued to confirm its standing as one of Australia’s leading research-intensive universities. Some highlights from 2008 are included below:

Australian Research Council awards $14 million to UWA research

Research projects at the University were awarded $14.9 million in the 2008 round of Australian Research Council (ARC) funding. This was more than 70 per cent of $20.93 million allocated to the State’s top researchers.

UWA received $3.1-million for eight projects under the Linkage Projects scheme which funds collaborative efforts between university researchers and partner organisations.

The University was awarded $11.7 million for 32 projects under the ARC Discovery Projects scheme, which recognises research of national and international significance.

Research and Research Training

International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) based at UWA

The high calibre of research expertise at the University received a $20 million endorsement when the State Government announced that the University would host a new International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research.

UWA and its joint venturer partner – Curtin University of Technology – will drive WA’s research efforts in supporting Australia’s bid to host the world’s largest ground-based telescope. WA’s Murchison Region and Southern Africa are the two international sites being considered.

The Centre is led by Professor Peter Quinn, a Premier’s Fellow in Astronomy, considered one of the world’s foremost experts in astronomy and astrophyisics. UWA is making a funding commitment of around $30 million towards the Centre, making it one of the largest hubs for research in radio astronomy anywhere in the world.

The $2 billion Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will not only deliver information about the formation of stars, including our own sun after the ‘big bang’, it will also engage business and industry around the world.

If Australia is chosen as the site for SKA, it would raise the nation’s international profile scientifically and technically and open possibilities for new global collaborations.

ProfEssor PEtEr QUInn

$20 MIllIon IntErnatIonal raDIo astronoMy rEsEarCh CEntrE for UWa


Linkage, Infrastructure and Equipment Grants 2009

Out of seven applications, the University won an impressive five grants worth approximately $2.5 million from the ARC Linkage, Infrastructure and Equipment Fund. The UWA projects awarded LIEF grants are in the following areas: • High Resolution Mass Spectrometry

Facility;• Phytosphere: new facilities for

controlled manipulation of effects of airborne pollutants on disease epidemiology and plant performance;

• The Nanoscale Characterisation Centre – WA Electron Microprobe Facility;

• A Core Western Australian Cell Sorting Facility Ultra Small Objects and Rare Cell Populations;

• Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Microimaging and Relaxometry Facility.

Strengths in climate change and biodiversity, and sustainability and health boosted

The University’s strengths in climate change and biodiversity, and sustainability and health, were boosted by the addition of two Premier’s Research Fellowships.

Leading scientists Professor Malcolm McCulloch, from the Australian National University, and Professor Shaun Collin, from the Queensland Brain Institute, were named as Premier’s Fellows.

Professor McCulloch’s work involves examining living corals up to 400 years old to better understand the impacts of environmental and climate change. At UWA he will continue researching the effects of global warming on coral reefs.

Professor Collin, a senior neurobiologist, has traced the prehistoric origins of colour vision using ‘living fossils’ such as lungfish. At UWA he will continue his research into the eco-physiological impacts of light and vision.

UWA received both fellowships awarded in 2008. The State Government contributes $1 million to each of the Fellows and the University matches this amount.

Professors McCulloch and Collin join four other Premier’s Fellows at UWA – Professors Peter Quinn, Lister Staveley-Smith, Klaus Regenauer-Lieb and Ian Small.

PrEMIEr’s fElloW ProfEssor MalColM MCCUlloCh Is ExaMInIng lIVIng Corals UP to 400 yEars olD to UnDErstanD thE IMPaCts of EnVIronMEntal anD ClIMatE ChangE

Dementia study funded

Dementia will be tackled by two research teams from the University, who have won almost $1 million funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council. Professor Sergio Starkstein and Professor David Bruce, who are based at the Neuropsychiatry Unit at Fremantle Hospital, won $516,278 for their research into the impact of apathy on patients with Alzheimer’s disease.

Alzheimer’s Australia estimates that there are at least 227,300 people with dementia in Australia and this is expected to rise to around 731,000 by 2050 unless there is a medical breakthrough.

International Centre for Plant Breeding Education and Research

A new Centre for Plant Breeding Education and Research will play a vital role in addressing the looming global shortage in plant breeding expertise. It will provide much needed integrated expertise in genetics, biotechnology and plant breeding.

The Centre will help provide the next generation of professional plant breeders for Australia, the Asia-Pacific region, and the Indian Ocean rim.

The International Centre for Plant Breeding Education and Research will offer a four-year undergraduate science degree in genetics and breeding – the only one of its kind at an Australian university – and an undergraduate degree in agricultural science, with a component of genetics and breeding. Both degrees include training in crop agronomy, plant physiology, biometrics and related disciplines. The Centre will offer postgraduate study in genetics and plant breeding, as well as in-service training for practising plant breeders or seeds industry personnel.

Research and Research Training

Worldwide patent opens doors to treatment of muscular dystrophy

An exclusive worldwide license agreement has been signed by the University and US-based pharmaceutical company AVI BioPharma on a patent application related to the treatment of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD).

Among the inventors on the licensed patent application are Professor Steve Wilton and Associate Professor Sue Fletcher of the Molecular Genetic Therapies Group at UWA, renowned pioneers in the use of exon skipping to treat DMD and other diseases. Professor Wilton and Associate Professor Fletcher have been researching personalised gene medicine for more than a decade and are very excited and optimistic about the possibility of the treatment making a difference to the lives of people suffering from this devastating disease.

AVI BioPharma is a developer of RNA-analogue drugs in Portland, Oregon. Exon skipping has the potential to reduce the severity of the disease in about 80 per cent of DMD individuals.

National Institutes of Health (USA) funding for UWA research group

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), has awarded an exploratory/development grant to Professor Patrick Holt and his co-investigators Professor Peter Sly and Dr Anthony Bosco of UWA’s Centre for Child Health Research. The group has been awarded US$275,089 for their project titled ‘Gene Expression Patterns in Early Life Allergy’.

ProfEssor stEVE WIlton

Key role for UWA in new climate change network

Researchers at the University are playing key roles in at least three of seven new research networks set up by the Commonwealth Government to investigate the effects of climate change on areas such as water resources, human health, emergency services, infrastructure and biodiversity.

Professor Peter Davies, Director of UWA’s Centre of Excellence in Resource Management, Professor Keith Smettem, Research Director of UWA’s Centre for Ecohydrology, and Professor Alistar Robertson, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research Initiatives) are working with the Water Resources and Freshwater Biodiversity network hosted by Griffith University.

Professor Billie Giles-Corti, Director of the Centre for Built Environment and Health, and Dr Paul McGinn, Urban and Regional Planning Coordinator in the School of Earth and Geographical Sciences, are working on Settlements and Infrastructure with a network based at the University of NSW.

School of Earth and Geographical Sciences lecturer, Dr Bryan Boruff, and senior lecturer, Dr Kimberly van Niel, are part of a network working on Disaster Management and Emergency Services based at RMIT University in Melbourne.

UWA to host Western Australian Institute of Sport Centre

A high performance Centre for research, training and graduate sport science education will be established by a joint University and Western Australian Institute of Sport (WAIS) venture.

World-class scientists and athletes will join forces at the Centre to work on biomechanics, sports psychology, sociology, behavioural science and coaching to increase understanding of what constitutes high performance.

The Centre will eventually be based at the University of Western Australia Sports Park.


World’s first chemically protected Indigenous artwork

An Indigenous painting, Wunubi Springs, by renowned artist Freddie Timms, is the world’s first chemically protected artwork. The new anti-fraud technology, developed by UWA PhD student Rachel Green, can ‘encode’ particular artists’ work with a chemical ‘cocktail’ that cannot be entirely removed or seen with the naked eye. A carefully prepared mix of elements is added to the media used by the artist and can even be incorporated into the canvas or frame.

Indigenous art fraud impacts on artists, Aboriginal communities, galleries, art dealers, collectors and their confidence in the authenticity of Australian Aboriginal art. Western Australia alone exports some $500 million dollars worth of Indigenous art per year.

The combination of elements and quantities used in the cocktail creates a ‘fingerprint’ that can specifically relate to a particular artist or period of time when it was created.

The technique stems from the work of Professor John Watling, of UWA’s Centre for Forensic Science, who first developed gold fingerprinting which uses a laser to determine the origins of gold by its trace elements.

PhD stUDEnt raChEl grEEn anD artIst frEDDIE tIMMs WIth thE fIrst EnCoDED PaIntIng, Wunubi SpringS

In 2008, the University continued to refresh its thinking about how to enhance the education it offers – particularly as this relates to the student experience. At the same time there was significant national recognition for the University and its staff.

Teaching and Learning


The University will ensure future students, schools, professional bodies, potential employers and the broader community are advised on progress throughout the implementation phase.

Information about the new framework may be found on UWA’s website at: www.futureframework.uwa.edu.au

UWA teachers recognised for excellence

Two University lecturers and the University’s UniSkills program were recognised in the 2008 Australian Awards for University Teaching.

The UWA winners for individual Awards for Teaching Excellence were: • Ms Violet Bacon (School of Social and

Cultural Studies) – the Neville Bonner Award for Indigenous Education; and

• Dr Peter Whipp (School of Sport Science, Exercise and Health) – the Early Career Award for Teaching Excellence.

The University was also successful in the Awards for Programs that Enhance Learning in the category ‘the first year experience’. The winning group was UniSkills (Dr Judy Skene, Ms Sarah Evamy, Ms Megan Henderson and Mr Jon Stubbs, Student Services).

Social Work and Social Policy lecturer Violet Bacon is Australia’s first Indigenous social worker appointed as a lecturer within any university in Australia. She has drawn many accolades from students for her dedication, innovation and care.

Dr Peter Whipp, a lecturer in the School of Sport Science, Exercise and Health, is in his sixth year of co-ordinating and teaching in the Health and Physical Education (HPE) domain of the UWA Graduate Diploma in Education.

Manager of Student Support Services and Equity and Diversity Adviser, Dr Judy Skene, said the UniSkills program had grown from an enrolment of 30 students in 1987 to 470 this year and had proved very successful in supporting students in their first year at UWA.

New course structure for UWA

A new Future Framework for undergraduate and postgraduate study which will equip students with a global outlook and a community conscience has been approved by the University’s governing body, Senate, after a two-year review. Approval follows endorsement of the proposal by the University Academic Board in late 2008.

The University will begin an implementation phase to ensure a seamless transition from the current course structure to the new framework, which will not come into effect until at least 2012.

The simple and flexible framework for undergraduate courses has an emphasis on the development of a broader knowledge base as well as comprehensive research and communications skills, and a community service component.

UWA degrees, undergraduate and postgraduate, will have research skills development and inquiry-based learning as a hallmark, giving students the foundation for problem-solving and curiosity-based learning throughout their lives. The distinctive set of reforms will integrate the University’s strengths as a research-intensive institution with a commitment to high-quality student-centred teaching.

Under the changes:• Instead of a variety of degrees currently

offered, there will be a limited number three-year undergraduate courses, with a 4th (Hons) year available. All fields of study that UWA covers at present will continue to be available, though in different forms;

• A new four-year Bachelor of Philosophy (Honours) degree will be available to outstanding students in any discipline. It will have an intensive research focus and a requirement for study abroad;

• Courses designed for professional accreditation will normally be offered only at postgraduate level;

• Combined Bachelor courses (double degrees) will be replaced by sequential undergraduate and postgraduate pathways.

Ms VIolEt baCon Dr PEtEr WhIPP

The University has received strong endorsement from industry partners and community organisations in Western Australia. Expressions of in-principle support have been received from major mining and energy companies operating in the Pilbara as well as the Pilbara Development Commission, the Pilbara Area Consultative Committee, The Smith Family and Professor Fiona Stanley.

2009 Admissions

The University made 4,297 first-round offers for Commonwealth-supported places at the beginning of 2009. This resulted in 2,968 main round enrolments. An additional 384 new offers and 343 re-offers were made in the second (February) round producing a further 396 enrolments, making a total of 3,364 commencing student enrolments at the start of 2009.

In 2009, of those Western Australian school leavers with a TER of 95 and above, 79.9 per cent had UWA listed as their first preference (15.3% Curtin, 3.7% Murdoch, 1.5% ECU). For school leavers with a TER of 99 and above, 91.3% had UWA as first preference (5.4% Curtin, 3.0% Murdoch, 0.3% ECU)

UWA to offer Masters in Social Work and Nursing

The Bachelor of Social Work degree will be replaced with a qualifying Masters in Social Work program in 2009. The new Masters degree was designed to meet the changing needs of society, including the numbers of mature-age students seeking a career change.

A Master of Nursing Science will commence at the School of Population Health in July 2009 with 50 Commonwealth supported places on offer. The postgraduate course provides a path to initial registration as a nurse and aims to address the critical shortage of nurses in Western Australia which is not being met by existing undergraduate programs. It expands on the newly-established expertise in nursing available through the School of Population Health postgraduate courses (e.g. Master of Nursing Research and Master of Public Health (Nursing)).


Learning and teaching awards for UWA

Four national Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning in 2008 were awarded to University staff.

The awards, by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council, went to Ms Di Gardiner of the Graduate School of Education; Associate Professor Antonio Celenza of the School of Primary, Aboriginal and Rural Health Care; Professor Geoffrey Soutar of the UWA Business School; and Professor Philippa Maddern of the School of Humanities.

National Chair in Australian Literature

The University has been chosen by the Commonwealth Government to host Australia’s second Chair in Australian Literature. The Commonwealth will provide $1.5 million which will be matched by the University. The inaugural holder of the Chair, Professor Philip Mead, will focus on providing national and international leadership in the study and appreciation of Australia’s creative writers and their work, taking Australian literature to national and international audiences. He will be based in the School of English and Cultural Studies.

New Science Centre for teachers

A new $3 million state-of-the-art Centre for Learning Technology located in the Physics Building was opened in 2008. The new Centre supports the vigorous SPICE enrichment program for more than 1,500 teachers of science in schools.

UWA awarded $2.4 million to help disadvantaged students

Disadvantaged students from the Pilbara and the outer Perth metropolitan area have more chance of achieving their dreams of a university education under the ‘Aspire UWA’ program, with $2.4 million funding over three years from the Federal Government’s Diversity and Structural Adjustment Fund.

The funding recognises UWA’s long-time advocacy of equity and inclusion. The program is aimed at Indigenous, refugee and low socio-economic status students from the Pilbara region and from schools in the outer Perth metropolitan area who are under-represented at universities.


Bush medicine gets a boost

One in four medical students enrolled in 2008 came from a rural background, up from only one in 25 in 2001. The increase reflects the success of programs such as the Choose Medicine: Rural Student Recruitment Program that have motivated school leavers to consider studying medicine and dentistry and provided support to those who have taken up the challenge. One in 10 dentistry students came from a country area.

Singapore Science graduates

The first cohort of 34 Life and Physical Sciences students who completed their studies in Singapore joined a group of 140 students from the UWA Business School at a presentation ceremony in Singapore in August. Chancellor Dr Michael Chaney and Nobel Laureate Professor Barry Marshall joined University staff at the ceremony.


The University of Western Australia has been awarded $3.9 million in recognition of its achievements in excellence in learning and teaching as part of the Australian Government’s 2009 Learning and Teaching Performance Fund.

Per capita, UWA’s funding is among the highest in Australia and the University is recognised as being among the top levels for teaching and learning in several disciplines.

The University’s ambition is to reach the ranks of the top 50 universities in the world by the year 2050. In doing so the University aims to reach the milestone of joining the top 100 universities in the world (as measured by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Ranking of World Universities) in the UWA Centenary years (2011 – 2013).

International Engagement

forMEr PrEMIEr of WEstErn aUstralIa alan CarPEntEr, forMEr Us sECrEtary of statE, Dr ConDolEEZZa rICE, anD VICE-ChanCEllor, ProfEssor alan robson

In addition, the University was ranked in the top 100 world universities in two of fi ve subject areas:• Life and Agricultural Sciences

(47), one of only four Australian universities listed;

• Clinical Medicine and Pharmacy (between 52 and 75), one of three Australian universities listed.

Worldwide Universities Network (WUN)

The University’s international aspirations were supported signifi cantly by an invitation to join the Worldwide Universities Network.

a trIlatEral agrEEMEnt bEtWEEn UWa, ChIna’s ZhEJIang UnIVErsIty anD JaPan’s kobE UnIVErsIty

Shanghai Jiao Tong – Academic Ranking of World Universities

In the 2008, Shanghai Jiao Tong Academic Ranking of World Universities UWA was ranked at 127.


UWA became only the 17th university to join the exclusive Worldwide Universities Network of leading, research-intensive universities from Europe, North America, South East Asia and Australia. The only other Australian University in the group is the University of Sydney.

The Worldwide Universities Network is dedicated to making signifi cant advances in knowledge and understanding in areas of global concern, bringing together the experience, equipment and expertise necessary to tackle the big issues facing society.

US Secretary of State visits UWA

US Secretary of State, Dr Condoleezza Rice, chose the University as one of the few places to visit during a lightning trip to Perth in 2008. Dr Rice, who attended a dinner at the University Club, talked to guests about the importance of education and universities. Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alan Robson, introduced Dr Rice to many of the guests including politicians, leaders of the resource industry, Vice-Chancellors of other WA universities and community leaders.

WA-China-Japan agreement

A trilateral agreement between the University, China’s Zhejiang University and Japan’s Kobe University established for the fi rst time important education and scientifi c links between the three institutions.

UWA Vice-Chancellor Professor Alan Robson said the trilateral collaboration was based on Western Australia’s strength in medical research, Japan’s strength in bio-engineering, particularly in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering, and China’s access to clinical trials.

“The agreement will involve research in bio-engineering and particularly orthopaedics and rehabilitation,” Professor Robson said.

“These include tissue imaging (such as MRI, X-ray and endoscopy), tissue loading (measurements and computer modeling) and tissue intervention (prostheses, tissue engineering and rehabilitation).”

UWA represents Australia in worldwide university partnership

The University of Western Australia was the only Australian university chosen to join Chevron’s University Partnership Program which operates in 18 cities around the world.

The three-year $6.9 million UWA partnership, which includes a $2.3 million commitment from Chevron, will fund a Chair in Natural Gas Process Engineering, two postdoctoral appointments and two PhD scholarships.

International recognition for UWA Business School

The University’s Business School became the only business school in Western Australia to hold the prestigious European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS) international business accreditation.

EQUIS is the leading international system of quality assessment, improvement and accreditation of higher education institutions in management and business administration.

The EQUIS Peer Review Team, comprised of Deans of international business schools as well as corporate representatives, commended the quality of the School, its students and alumni as well as the strength of its corporate relationships.

Sichuan Earthquake Scholarship

As a contribution to reconstruction in the aftermath of the Sichuan earthquake, a student from Sichuan University will be offered a UWA postgraduate scholarship to study with Nobel Laureate Professor Barry Marshall. The May 2008 quake killed some 70,000 people and injured more than 370,000.

UWA offered a student from Wenchuan County, or another part of the earthquake-affected area, studying at Sichuan University, a postgraduate scholarship in the fi eld of infectious diseases. The successful candidate will work in the University’s Marshall Centre for Infectious Diseases Research and Training with Professor Marshall.

UWA helps boost Iraqi agriculture

Twenty-seven Iraqi agricultural scientists are the fi rst to have completed a short course at UWA aimed at helping redress a 50 per cent decline in Iraqi major crop production in the past 20 years.

The fi ve-week intensive training course in integrated plant disease management (IPDM) was initiated by AusAID, which also secured an Australian Government commitment in partnership with the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research to provide $4.7 million for agricultural research and development over the next three years to encourage farmers in northern Iraq to adopt conservation cropping methods in dryland agriculture. The major outcome of courses such as the one delivered by UWA, is to help Iraqi national agricultural agencies develop suffi cient technical capacity to plan, implement and monitor research and development programs in agriculture. AusAID and UWA are discussing further training opportunities and scholarships at UWA for postgraduate students from Iraq.

tWEnty-sEVEn IraQI agrICUltUral sCIEntIsts arE thE fIrst to haVE CoMPlEtED a short CoUrsE at UWa

UWa bUsInEss sChool

Throughout 2008, the University was generously supported by many hundreds of gifts from a wide range of benefactors across the spectrum of University activity. These are some examples of that generosity – at both individual and corporate level:

Major Gifts and Corporate Support

aboVE toP: girl in a Corner Was thE fIrst PIECE of fEMalE art aCQUIrED by laDy CrUthErs | aboVE bottoM: UWa’s bUsInEss sChool has raIsED ClosE to $25 MIllIon froM CorPoratE anD PrIVatE sUPPortErs throUgh Its fUnDraIsIng CaMPaIgn

Alcoa’s Visiting Professor Program continued and Stan and Jean Peron contributed a scholarship to support an honours student. Mitsui and Co (Australia) Ltd and Mitsui Iron Ore Development Pty Ltd also joined the Business School’s impressive list of corporate partners with a significant donation to the campaign.

Many other companies and individuals also made major contributions.

Supporting better engineers

Building on the announcement of support for the Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics by Monadelphous in late 2007 to establish the Monodelphous Integrated Learning Centre, a number of other companies have joined the University to support the development of our student engineering professionals.

For example, a significant strategic industry partnership with Lycopodium has grown from a desire to address an engineering skill shortage and create opportunities to train our future engineers to take them to a new level of professional job readiness.

Leading engineering firm Clough Limited formally agreed to continue its generous support of UWA by contributing to the funding of a new Centre for first year engineering students.

The Clough First Year Centre, open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, will form a crucial part of the pathway from university to the workplace and from the eager first year student to the professional engineer. Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alan Robson, said Clough’s sponsorship of the new Centre would enhance the University’s ability to deliver world-class engineering graduates.

An agreement between Apache Energy and the University brings scholarships in engineering and geoscience and prizes for outstanding students over the next five years.

Six engineering scholarships will be awarded in oil and gas, petroleum, offshore and naval architecture, and chemical and process engineering. Two geoscience scholarships will be awarded to a third year and an honours student within the geosciences area. Prizes will also be awarded to three top-ranking students in the units oil and gas transmission, production optimisation and platform, pipeline and subsea technology.

Generous bequest of outstanding art collection

A private collection of more than 400 works by 155 Australian female artists from the 1890s to the present was donated to the University early in 2008 by Sir James and Lady Sheila Cruthers.

Girl in a Corner was the first piece of female art acquired by Lady Cruthers in New York and, almost three decades later, she and husband, former Channel 7 and Sunday Times chairman, Sir James, had expanded their passion to form one of Australia’s largest and most significant displays of women’s art.

The Cruthers family donated the collection to UWA because they were keen to see it preserved and shared with the public. To assist with this process, the family established the Cruthers Art Foundation to maintain the collection, purchase new works and support women’s art through scholarships.

Business community supports new Business School

UWA’s Business School has raised close to $25 million from corporate and private supporters through its fundraising campaign. The funding supports the new home for the Business School (opened in early 2009) and a Futures Fund to support programs that will benefit students, researchers and the WA community. In 2008, there continued to be significant development including an appointment to the Woodside endowed professorial Chair in Leadership and Management (Professor David Day).

BHP Billiton contributed to a new professorial chair in the Business of Resources and 12 new scholarships focusing on research ranging from $20,000 to $153,000 for PhDs.

The University continues to expand its links with the wider community ensuring its position as ‘a leading intellectual and creative resource to the communities it serves’ (UWA Vision).

Institutional awards

The University was named a National Employer of Choice for Women in 2008 for the seventh year running. The University has received the increasingly competitive award, from the Federal Government’s Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) every year since its inception in 2002.

In addition, the University took out a top national diversity award in recognition of its strategies to give all people access to employment winning the 2008 Diversity @ Work Large Business Champion award, presented by international human rights activist Sir Bob Geldof at a gala dinner in Melbourne in November.

More than 100 nominees entered the awards, which recognise employers who create an organisation that is inclusive of all staff and clients as well as the wider community in which it operates. It is part of The University’s culture to help all staff achieve their full potential while also ensuring that they do not have to leave aspects of their identity in the car park in order to succeed in this organisation.

UWA receives White Flame Award from Save the Children WA

In recognition of its longstanding record of progressing the rights of children through research and teaching, the University received the inaugural Save the Children WA White Flame Award

The award, which honours the international founder of Save the Children, has been awarded before in other Australian States and in other nations around the world. This award to UWA was the first time the White Flame award has been awarded to a Western Australian individual or organisation.

‘A creative and intellectual resource to the community …’

WA’s biggest telescope probing the universe

After four years in the making and a lengthy trip from America, the Zadko Telescope has finally moved into its permanent observatory dome co-located with the Gravity Discovery Centre in Gingin.

UWA’s Zadko Telescope, which bears the name of the man whose generosity made it possible – Jim Zadko of Claire Energy – is the largest telescope in WA. Its main science objective is to find and analyse the most violent explosions in the universe – gamma ray bursts – which herald the death of stars, the formation of black holes. It will also play a role in the education of high school students in robotic astronomy and science.

Zadko project manager, senior research Fellow in UWA’s School of Physics, Dr David Coward, said the telescope had already been used to identify an 11 billion year-old explosion that marked the death of a star and the birth of a black hole.

Perth International Arts Festival reaches new heights

The 2008 Perth International Arts Festival (PIAF) achieved the best box office results on record. The paid audience was 18.5 per cent higher than the previous record set in 2007 with more than 40 per cent of its audience purchasing three or more tickets, easily exceeding the forecast income for the event.

Overall, the Festival reached more than 300,000 people in Perth, the Great Southern, Margaret River and throughout regional WA. A special grant form Lotterywest enabled the Festival to expand its reach into schools with the secondment of a teacher from the Department of Education to develop a comprehensive schools program.

thE ZaDko tElEsCoPE nEar gIngIn Was thE fIrst to obsErVE lIght froM an 11-bIllIon-yEar-olD gaMMa ray ExPlosIon


Staff Appointments

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor

ProfEssor bIll loUDEn

Professor Bill Louden was appointed as the next Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor at The University of Western Australia. Professor Louden is chair of the Curriculum Council of Western Australia and formerly the Dean of Education at UWA. Professor Louden’s research interests include literacy standards, and educational change. His most recent research projects have focused on identifying the classroom teaching practices that make the most contribution to students’ intellectual growth.

During 2005, Professor Louden was a member of the National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy. In 2006, he chaired the Western Australian Government’s Literacy and Numeracy Review Taskforce. In 2007, he was appointed Chair of the Curriculum Council, Western Australia’s statutory authority responsible for school curriculum and assessment. He is a Fellow of the Australian College of Educators.

Professor Louden took the appointment following the retirement of Senior Deputy Vice Chancellor Professor Margaret Seares at the end of 2008.

A number of key University appointments were made during the year:

Dean: Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences

ProfEssor tony o’DonnEll

Professor Tony O’Donnell, formerly Director of the Institute for Research in Environment and Sustainability and Professor of Soil Microbiology and Molecular Ecology at Newcastle University, in Newcastle upon Tyne in the UK, was appointed to the position of Dean of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences.

He has served on UK and Finnish grants boards, holds adjunct professorships in Thailand and Brazil and has strong research interests in South East Asia. He has led training workshops and UK trade missions in Thailand, Malaysia and Korea.


Dean: Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

ProfEssor krIshna sEn

Professor Krishna Sen was appointed to lead The University of Western Australia’s Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences in January 2009.

Professor Sen is an eminent Australian academic and internationally renowned scholar of Indonesian media and culture. She also was Executive Director, Humanities and Creative Arts at the Australian Research Council (ARC). She has been a member of the ARC’s Asia Pacific Futures network and Cultural Research networks, a longstanding assessor for the ARC and a member of the ARC College of Experts.

Dean: Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

ProfEssor DaVID sMIth

Professor David Smith was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics. Professor Smith came to UWA from Melbourne University where he was Associate Dean (Academic) in the School of Engineering. Professor Smith served as Associate Dean (Research) at the University of Newcastle and as Head of Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Melbourne. His research interests have been in geoenvironmental and geotechnical engineering, and more recently, he has researched biomedical engineering problems.

Dean: Graduate School of Education

ProfEssor hElEn WIlDy

Professor Helen Wildy was appointed Dean of the Graduate School of Education. Professor Wildy has extensive experience as a high school mathematics teacher, university lecturer and successful researcher in the fields of leadership and professional performance standards.

Professor Wildy is director of the Australian PIPS (Performance Indicators in Primary Schools) project, an international endeavour involving pre-entry assessment and monitoring of literacy and numeracy progress of students in approximately 820 schools across Australia.

Vice-Chancellery

The University of Western Australia M464, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009 Tel +61 8 6488 3500Fax +61 8 6488 1013 Email [email protected] www.uwa.edu.au

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Highlights 2008|09 - University of Western Australia · 2009-08-11 · Premier’s Science Awards Researchers, teachers and students at The University of Western Australia won every