Dear staff,
It’s going to be a busy couple of weeks at UQ, as we mark Women’s Health Week and RUOK? Day this week, ahead of a full program of events for Research and Innovation Week next week.
I hope you’ll get the chance to participate in some of these important health awareness initiatives or the research events that are planned across our campuses over the coming fortnight.
On the topic of our world-class research community, I’m delighted to say that several UQ researchers have been recognised with new grants or awards over recent weeks.
The Australian Research Council (ARC) last week announced that two UQ researchers were among the 16 recipients of Australian Laureate Fellowships for 2022. I’d like to extend my congratulations to Professor Karen Thorpe from QBI and Professor Matt Trau from AIBN, who received combined funding of $6.25 million from the ARC to further their research over the next five years.
Congratulations also to Professor Gita Mishra from the Faculty of Medicine, who was recently awarded the 2022 Excellence in Women’s Health Award by the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
In other great news, five of our early career researchers were recognised last week in the 2022 Queensland Young Tall Poppy Science Awards, including Dr Gary Chan who received the top honour as the “Young Tall Poppy of the Year”. An epidemiologist and statistician, Dr Chan was recognised for his work in developing new methods of identifying and combatting drug and alcohol abuse. The other UQ academics who received 2022 Young Tall Poppy Awards were: Dr Jingwei Hou, Dr Larisa Labzin, Dr Sonia Shah, and Dr Benjamin Pope.
Assessing staff attitudes via 3 surveys
While I’m conscious it’s a very busy time of year, I would like to urge you to participate in the three important staff surveys that are currently open for responses.
First off, we’ve extended the UQ Pulse Survey period for the rest of this week, so it will now remain open until this Friday, 9 September. I am very appreciative of everyone who has taken the time to respond. The Pulse Survey is very important for assessing how everything is going for staff at UQ, so please do respond, if you haven’t already done so.
The second survey that’s currently open is the UQ Transport and Population Survey. Open to both staff and students until this Friday 9 September, this survey will help to improve our understanding of the number of people who are travelling to UQ and the different modes of transport they’re using to get to and from our campuses and sites.
And the third survey is the Workplace Reconciliation Barometer that is being run by Reconciliation Australia. The data collected via this Barometer will give us insights that will contribute to the development of our next Reconciliation Action Plan. This survey will remain open for UQ staff to complete until next Friday, 16 September.
Thank you, Neville Plint
I’d also like to share with you some news about Professor Neville Plint, Director of the Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI), who last week accepted an industry role as Chief Scientist with the global resources company, Anglo American.
Neville will be missed by his many friends across UQ, but this is a wonderful opportunity for him, and we wish him all the best in this important role. Anglo American will benefit extensively from Neville’s deep understanding of the mining sector and his experience as a very effective leader of SMI.
Professor Rick Valenta, who is currently SMI’s Deputy Director (Production), will initially take up the role of acting Director of SMI.
Finally, the catastrophic floods in Pakistan have again provided a stark reminder of the unpredictability of the challenges facing our world. Our thoughts are with our staff and students who have family and friends impacted, and to our many collaborators in Pakistan as their country deals with this devastating event. For staff who need support at this difficult time, I’d urge you to contact UQ’s free counselling service, the Employee Assistance Program (EAP), on 1300 360 364.
All the best for the remainder of the week.
With best wishes
Debbie
