CQUni Research excellence recognised in #ERA2015

It’s great to be able to finish not just the week bust so too the year on a very positive note for the University, following the release of the long-awaited 2015 Excellence in research Australia (ERA) results.

It is fantastic news for CQUniversity with findings showing that we are conducting research rated as at, above, or well above world standard across 14 different research categories.

This is a remarkable improvement from just five years ago when we attained this level in just three research categories. 

CQUniversity’s dramatic leap in research performance has been underpinned by our record investment in research facilities and personnel, innovative and engaged research strategy, and tremendous success in securing highly competitive national research grants.

These ERA results validate our sharp focus on research informed by industry and community collaboration. In fact, what we have seen with the three ERA assessments conducted over the past five years has been a consistent acceleration of CQUniversity’s research strengths in line with our focus on industry and community engagement.

These results show that we have established ourselves as research leaders in areas such as Psychology, Agriculture & Vet Science, Environmental Science, Mathematics, Nursing, Engineering, Medical & Health Science, Artificial Intelligence, and Public Health & Health Services. Having so many research areas recognised by the Commonwealth Government as above or well above world standard is a tremendous reward for the University and our many talented researchers.

Our results this year include:

·         5 in Mathematical Sciences

·         5 in Applied Mathematics

·         5 in Psychology and Cognitive Services

·         5 in Other Psychology and Cognitive Services

·         5 in Nursing

·         5 in Other Medical and Health Services

·         4 in Agriculture & Vet Sciences

·         4 in Environmental Sciences

·         4 in Medical & Health Sciences

·         4 in Environmental Science & Management

·         4 in Mechanical Engineering

·         3 in Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing

·         3 in Public Health and Health Services

·         3 in Engineering

These are absolutely fantastic results however we are only just getting started. Our research momentum has us firmly on a trajectory that will see us emerge as one of Australia’s truly great universities. And we plan to take our communities and industries along with us on this remarkable ride.

What’s more it also goes to show that excellent research doesn’t just happen in elite, metropolitan based universities. Excellent research is conducted in regional Australia, by great regional universities like CQUniversity.

I am incredibly proud of these remarkable results and commend everyone involved with research at CQUniversity who have worked so hard to achieve this excellent outcome. In particular Provost Hilary Winchester and Pro Vice-Chancellor Grant Stanley should be credited for their outstanding leadership and vision when it comes to the University’s research efforts.

I hope these results will inspire you as a student and that you’ll all join with me in celebrating these results and congratulating our researchers!

#IDPWD – recognising our staff and students with disability

Today is the International Day of People with a Disability – an important day to recognise the strength and ability of those living with disability.

In particular I’d like to recognise the significant achievements and contribution our staff and students with a disability, make to this university and their communities. CQUniversity is known as an inclusive university because we understand that disability does not impact someone’s ability to study and be who they want to be. It’s because of this that CQUniversity has one of the highest ratios of students with a disability – something all of us at CQUniversity are very proud of.

Along with our staff and students with a disability who inspire us every day, we also have a fantastic team of accessibility support officers who work with our students to ensure the University is offering an inclusive and supportive learning environment. This is one of the key services our student success centres delivers and is vital component of the overall student experience.

Today and tomorrow the University’s Mackay campus will also be hosting the Queensland Disability Liaison Officer’s Conference. This event will bring together disability support experts from universities across Queensland, to share experiences, ideas and knowledge, with a view to bring about best practice and innovative service delivery.

In particular the conference’s theme ‘Exploring perspectives on responding to diversity’ will cover a range of discussions and topics including resources, apps and web tools for students with disability, how to provide support to students with disabilities and interactive sessions.

I look forward to finding out more about the learnings from this conference and continuing to work with our fantastic staff and students, to ensure CQUniversity maintains its position as an inclusive and accessible place to study and work. 

Sharing knowledge in Mackay

CQUni students have the big ideas

Some great news overnight, with a CQUniversity team once again winning the national Big Idea, social innovation competition, in the hotly contented postgraduate division.

This achievement means that a CQUniversity team has now been triumphant two years in a row (last year three undergraduate engineering students won for ‘The Shelter Project’).

The winning team this year was made up of Adelaide-based postgraduate students Elisha Vlaholias and Tessa Beneviste, their project was named The Garden of Earthly Delights.

The project, if taken to fruition, would see part of Adelaide’s Southern parklands transformed into a community garden that provides flexible and transitional employment, education and training for people experiencing homelessness. The project would be grounded in the ethics of permaculture, earth care, people care and fair share and would be associated with CQUni’s new permaculture program.

The Big Idea competition is co-ordinated by The Big Issue  - an independent, not-for-profit organisation that delivers solutions to help homeless, marginalised and disadvantaged people to positively change their lives. The Big Idea is a social enterprise planning competition for university students that seeks to find new social enterprise ideas that can deliver benefits to society both in Australia and abroad.

With social innovation being one of CQUniversity’s five pillars of greatness, this is extremely exciting news for the whole university, showing that we are not just a university that gives back but also a university that inspires our students to become change makers.

Congratulations to Elisha and Tessa on this fantastic achievement! Credit must also go to the many staff who coached them during the development and presentation of this project, in particular Melbourne Associate Vice-Chancellor Lara Carton who has been instrumental in getting CQUniversity involved with the Big Idea and working with our students to ensure their success.

To find out more about The Garden of Earthly Delights please click here. 

Our winners Elisha and Tessa. Well done!

Domestic Violence Education and Research is part of the solution

Today is White Ribbon Day, a day for us to reflect and make a stand when it comes to violence against women. Unfortunately this year we have heard too many stories of women being harmed by their partners or ex-partners, tragically most with fatal consequences.

The issue of domestic violence is serious and real, and each and every one of us must play our part in putting an end to it. It is also something that can happen to anyone, regardless of who they are and their background.  There are many ways we can play a part, by doing things like taking notice of the signs that someone may be in trouble, speaking up when you can see someone is in a dangerous situation and teaching our kids about respectful behaviour.

The other way we can find a solution to this problem is through research and education. By researching why domestic violence happens and its subsequent impacts, we will be best placed to develop education programs that help to prevent it from happening and can ensure professionals who work with victims of domestic violence provide the best care, support and advice.

Stopping this terrible epidemic is everyone’s responsibility and I am extremely proud of the work CQUniversity is doing when it comes to making a difference. In particular the Centre for Domestic and Family Violence Research (CDFVR) is doing some incredible things when it comes to research, raising awareness of domestic violence issues and engaging with communities. To find out more about the Centre and the fantastic work being done please visit www.noviolence.com.au. 

Head of the CDFVR Associate Professor Annabel Taylor (second from left) with her colleagues at the centre's Mackay Headquarters. 

John Abbott to become CQUniversity's next Chancellor

I’d like to congratulate Mr John Abbott who has today been announced as the University’s new Chancellor, taking over from Mr Rennie Fritschy who will retire in March 2016 after more than 10 remarkable years in the role.

Professionally, John is an engineer and has held a number of senior management and corporate governance positions across industry sectors including power, oil & gas, minerals processing, mining, chemicals and engineering services. Through his work he has established a number of very strategic national and international contacts in places such as Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, USA, Europe and the Middle East.

John has also been involved with the University for more than three decades, first as a tutor at the then Capricornia Institute of Advanced Education and most recently as a member of our University Council.

Throughout the years John has shown his keen dedication to the University and during his tenure on Council  has contributed to the University’s current success. He is deeply committed to our continued growth and to ensuring the University achieves its Strong to Great vision. To this end, John is extremely enthusiastic about playing a lead role in making sure CQUniversity emerges as one of Australia’s truly great universities in the years ahead.

Having lived in regional Australia for most of the past 37 years, and currently based in Gladstone, John is also passionate about the role universities play in promoting and stimulating regional vitality and growth, and uncovering opportunities that will play a part in the advancement of regional communities. As part of this he has a keen interest in community and industry engagement, and creating valuable long-term partnerships that will contribute to greatness and opportunities for our students.

I am sure you will agree that John’s connection with the University and his wealth of experience, make him the ideal candidate to become the next chancellor of CQUniversity.
John Abbott will be officially installed as the third Chancellor of CQUniversity on 6 March, 2016. 

Please join with me in congratulating and welcoming our next chancellor on his appointment.

I also look forward to congratulating our current Chancellor Mr Rennie Fritschy and showcasing his tremendous record of achievements early next year in the lead-up to his official departure.   

Me pictured here with John Abbott, following the announcement of his appointment as CQUniversity's third Chancellor

Robots and astronauts - not a Hollywood blockbuster just a regular day for @CQUni students

I just stumbled across two very cool videos while checking in to see what's been happening at CQUniversity. I won't go into too much detail as I think these clips can speak for themselves but I can't remember having this much fun when I was a uni student. 

With CQUniversity Engineering now offering a Mechatronics major, it seems an ideal time for some of the more advanced students to focus on related projects - robot legs and a robot hand.

While not exactly requiring an arm and a leg (more like a hand and a leg) to complete the projects, the students did put a lot of work into their creations, with the help of Engineering technical team members Ian Tomlinson, Simon Cumming and Troy Simpson.

Three CQUni Aviation students were also recently  tasked with testing a spacecraft module simulator before it was shipped to the Gold Coast to Gillmour Space Technologies.

According to CQUniversity’s Aviation Discipline Leader Ron Bishop, it was an exciting experience for the students.

The students worked with technicians from Gilmour Space Technologies to improve systems and operation of the spacecraft simulator. 

CQUniversity offers Aviation programs from Diploma through to Bachelor level out of its Bundaberg campus and online.

Graduates from the programs find employment in the aviation, aerospace and IT industries. The Bachelor program enables students to study topics such as aerodynamics, aircraft systems, meteorology, navigation, pilot licences and ratings, air service operations, flight services and handling emergencies.

Speech Pathology graduates have the final word

The first-ever cohort of Speech Pathology students from CQUniversity are about to graduate, but before they do, they are tackling some tough questions about the industry in which they will soon work.

This week the graduating class of just eight students made their final year research presentations to an audience of lecturers, family and industry representatives on topics such as ‘Recruiting speech pathologists for the future’, ‘Telehealth – the way of the future?’ and ‘Helping you help your children’. The first of the presentations resonated with the CQUni Speech Pathology staff who were also keen to learn more about strategies to recruit professionals to rural and regional areas.

Through their research, the students discovered that speech pathology students were more likely to stay and work where they graduate – a common trend in a lot of health professions. Therefore Speech Pathology students graduating from regional areas, such as Rockhampton, are more likely to seek employment in a regional or rural setting.

CQUniversity’s Bachelor of Speech Pathology (Honours) program is accredited with Speech Pathology Australia which enables graduates to practice as qualified speech pathologists upon graduating.

Speech pathology is practiced in a wide variety of settings – schools, hospitals, aged care facilities, universities, kindergartens, rehabilitation centres, private practice and mental health services.

The University’s four-year program requires students to gain competencies in a range of practice areas such as speech, language, fluency, voice, swallowing and multimodal communication, enabling them to work in a variety of settings.

Throughout the program students are also required to complete work placements in a range of settings, ensuring students are job-ready upon graduation. These include specifically designed clinics which operate out of CQUniversity’s own Health Clinic as well as work in private or public practice.  

Congratulations to our first graduates from the program. It is very exciting to think that your skills will now benefit communities across Australia and the World.