Dear staff,
I am delighted to report that we had another highly successful UQ Giving Day last Wednesday. This year, the annual event saw more than 1,500 donors pledging in excess of $500,000 to support a range of causes across our University, including more than 300 gifts in support of The Queensland Commitment.
My sincere thanks to our Advancement and Community Engagement teams across UQ for organising the day and to everyone else who supported the multiple events that took place during Giving Day.
Award winners
It was a great thrill to be at Parliament House in Canberra last week to see Professor Glenn King from the Institute for Molecular Bioscience receive the Prime Minister’s Prize for Innovation. This prestigious award is well-deserved recognition of Glenn’s pioneering research into funnel-web spider venom, which has led to the development of an eco-friendly insecticide, as well as therapeutics that prevent the death of cells in stroke and heart attack patients.
Continuing a big week for accolades, on Wednesday night, Associate Professor Carissa Klein from UQ’s School of the Environment was named the 2023 Queensland Young Tall Poppy Scientist of the Year. Carissa, who leads a research group specialising in marine and coastal conservation, is one of 10 UQ researchers who were finalists in this year’s Queensland Tall Poppy Awards.
AEA grant recipients
Also last week, it was announced that 4 UQ projects received seed funding (totalling almost $1 million) under Tranche 1 of Australia’s Economic Accelerator (AEA) scheme.
This new federal government scheme provides support for proof-of-concept projects based on their alignment with the National Reconstruction Fund priorities in renewables, low emissions technology and medical science, as well as their potential to be translated into real-world innovations and productivity gains.
Congratulations to Dr Jody Hobson-Peters, Associate Professor Andrew Brooks, Dr Hanno Nel and Dr Xiaodan Huang on their AEA grants.
Register for upcoming events
There’s a great program of events, forums and activities planned for Teaching and Learning (T&L) Week (from 30 October to 3 November), so I’d urge everyone to get involved.
You should also have received your invite to register for the annual UQ Thanks You staff appreciation events at St Lucia, Gatton and Herston, which will be hosted during November.
Later this week, I will be sending out the invite to the second All Staff Forum for 2023, which will be held on Thursday 30 November.
Supporting our community
As we start a new week, I want to remind staff and students impacted by the devastating consequences of the Israel–Gaza conflict to reach out for support through the Employee Assistance Program or the Student Services team.
After the Week of Silence, many of our Indigenous staff and students will be starting to return to campus this week. I welcome them back and encourage them to seek out any support they need through the initiatives being co-ordinated by the Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Engagement) – Professor Bronwyn Fredericks.
As a community, I know that we respect the outcome of the recent democratic referendum process and understand that, irrespective of how people voted, there is a strong commitment across UQ to reconciliation through our Reconciliation Action Plan, and for the important role that our efforts in education and research play in helping to improve outcomes for Indigenous Australians.
Best wishes,
Debbie
