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UNSW Medicine Newsletter - 12 November 2009
General News
Research News
Learning & Teaching News
Current Events
General News |
OCF supports pioneering research
 The support of the Oncology Children’s Foundation (OCF), has enabled the team lead by Professor Edna Hardeman, School of Medical Sciences, to further explore novel methods of enhancing stem cell transplantation to treat human muscle diseases. OCF began funding the project three years ago and has provided over $300,000.
The work is designed to enhance understanding of muscle stem cells, and provide evidence for a universal approach to the uptake of stem cells by a target tissue, with the goal of repairing this tissue.
The research was made possible by the generous support of OCF, which recognised the potential to take the technology beyond an initial focus on childhood brain tumours.
OCF supports pioneering and innovative research across Australia. The Foundation's goal is to fund cutting-edge and often high-risk research that, with persistence, will change the prognosis for children diagnosed with cancer.
This research program was also the recipient of one of the recently announced National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) grants awarded to UNSW, further endorsing the significance of this work. (http://www.ocf.com.au)
Research Tackles Teen Depression
 Psychologist Mona Taouk, at 25 still vividly remembers the stress and strain of adolescence.
“I remember what I had to go through, it’s so hard,” the doctoral student says.
Mona is the first recipient of the Anika Foundation-Macquarie Group Foundation scholarship in adolescent depression, named for Alice Wignall, who committed suicide in 2004 just before she was due to sit the NSW higher school certificate exams.
The Anika Foundation was established by Alice Wignall’s family in 2005 with the purpose of raising financial support for research into problems associated with adolescent depression, low self esteem and suicide prevention.
Consistent with these objectives the Foundation secured financial support for the provision of a scholarship to be known as “The Macquarie Group Foundation PhD Scholarship in Adolescent Depression and Suicide” to encourage exceptional students to undertake research in adolescent depression and suicide in the Faculty of Medicine at UNSW, with funding totalling $105,000.
Mona has developed a questionnaire for identifying depression in adolescents and a risk scale, with her PhD involving further development of this measurement tool. To date there has been no questionnaire specifically for identifying depression in adolescents.
This is a huge milestone for both the faculty of medicine and the Anika foundation as it is the first time in Australia there will be research at the PhD level on this crucially important topic.
Dean's Lecture (31 August) - Video now available
View the full recording of the event: http://www.med.unsw.edu.au/medweb.nsf/page/DeansLectureSeries
The Dean’s Lecture held on the 31st August at the John Niland Scientia Building was hailed as the most successful lecture so far with approximately 300 guests in attendance. Dr Paul Kelly, Dr Chris Roberts and Professor Philip Hogg presented their expert views on ‘Medical inventors, innovators and entrepreneurs, challenges in a global market’. 127 of the delegates completed feedback forms and 98.5% of them expressed a view that the event either exceeded or met their expectations. The new timing of the event with the drinks reception at the beginning of the event allowed for the attendees to catch up with their friends and colleagues.
There was media attention linked to the event with Professor Philip Hogg having a feature opinion piece in The Australian Financial Review (1st September) and an article in The Australian's Higher Education Supplement (2nd September) which profiled Dr Paul Kelly and referenced his involvement in the Deans Lecture Series at the Faculty of Medicine.
Flipping Book - new P3 Service
P3 has recently installed a flipping book function on their website which makes reading a PDF more interesting. See example: http://www.p3.unsw.edu.au/Flip/index.html They can design the ADOBE FLASH™ flipping books with sound, links and embedded videos for your website or CD, or they can host it for you on our server.
> More Information contact P3
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Research News |
NHMRC Workshop
The following workshop has been organised to assist researchers with their applications for NHMRC grants. Please come along to this workshop if you have any questions:
Date: 1 pm Monday 23 November 2009
Event: NHMRC Workshop
Venue: Biomed D
Please email Wendy Wartho by 18 November if you would like to attend at @unsw.edu.au
NSW DADHC has opened a tender round for applied research projects, undertaken by consortia of academic researchers and human services organisations, into the following priorities from the NSW whole-of-government plan for demographic change, Towards 2030: planning for our changing population:
- Participation by older people as volunteers in the NGO sector.
- Application of new information and communication technology to support social inclusion and participation of older people.
For more detail see: https://tenders.nsw.gov.au/nsw/?event=public.rft.show&RFTUUID=0D42F52B-B957-E9BE-3EC0643314280A45
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Learning & Teaching News |
Faculty Learning & Teaching Awards
Nominations for the 2009 L&T Awards are to be submitted by Friday 20th November. Please note the addition of a new category for an award for Professional & Technical Staff.
Applications should be forwarded to Associate Professor Philip Jones, Associate Dean (Education) by email – Philip.jones@unsw.edu.au . Hard copies may be delivered to the Medicine Education and Student Office (B27). Further information and nomination forms are available on the Faculty website at - http://www.med.unsw.edu.au/medweb.nsf/page/Awards
The TELT Gateway (www.telt.unsw.edu.au) replaces www.elearning.unsw.edu.au (this address will automatically redirect visitors to the TELT Gateway) and provides a central access point for staff and students to all the TELT applications together with links to self-directed learning resources and support information. Please update all Faculty and School web sites to reflect these changes. The TELT Gateway address should be used for instructions directing students to the Blackboard server because the address for Blackboard will change prior to first semester 2010.
We have also released the first phase of the UNSW Blackboard Support site containing the learning materials for staff “Orientation to UNSW Blackboard”. These materials complement the face-to-face training workshops currently running. The site can be accessed via the TELT Gateway or directly at http://support.telt.unsw.edu.au/blackboard.
Over the next few months we will progressively release:
1. The full set of Blackboard self-directed learning materials for staff including
- Preparing to Use UNSW Blackboard (requesting course sites and migrating course content from My eLearning Vista)
- Designing Online Courses (course design basics, online assessments & learning activities, structuring the course, teaching strategies)
- Developing Your Blackboard Course (advanced topics and detailed how-to instructions for all Blackboard tools)
- Pre-semester Checklist
- Facilitating an Online Course
2. The UNSW Blackboard Student Support site with how-to guides and video demonstrations (available late February 2010)
Support sites for other TELT tools and services will be gradually developed.
The Database of Good Practice web site incorporating outcomes of the FEI project and other pedagogical resources to support TELT will be available in first semester next year. However some video footage of staff interviews and the evaluation results will be available for faculty seminars and presentations early in the new year. Please contact L&T if you would like to plan a faculty seminar on the outcomes of the FEI project and designing and teaching a Blackboard course.
Learning & Teaching @ UNSW
Level 4, Mathews Building, UNSW Sydney NSW 2052
T: +61 (0)2 9385 2489 | F: +61 (0)2 9385 2463
http://www.learningandteaching.unsw.edu.au
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Current Events & News Stories |
23rd Lionel Murphy Memorial Lecture
“Preventative Health and the Nanny State: Fairy Godmother or Wicked Witch?” delivered by Professor Rob Moodie
Date | Time: Wednesday 2 December 2009, 6.15 for 6.30pm
Venue: Theatrette - Parliament House, Macquarie Street Sydney
RSVP: by 20 November (please see form for details)
> Invitation
All Faculty Events
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Also see: UNSW Events
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Latest Faculty News Stories
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http://www.med.unsw.edu.au/medweb.nsf/page/News+and+Events (Staff ID and UniPass required to submit)
If you have any research in press, which would be of interest to a general audience, please contact Steve Offner in the Media unit at UNSW on 9385 8107 or
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