Dear staff,
As we reach the final teaching week of Semester 1, there are a number of recent updates from across UQ that I would like to share with you. I also want to provide staff with an update on the protest activities at St Lucia after my email last Friday.
Study for Staff pilot
Yesterday, we launched our new UQ Study for Staff initiative. Designed to support staff development, this pilot program offers eligible staff significantly discounted tuition fees on selected UQ Graduate Certificates.
Participants can choose from a range of courses spanning various disciplines, including Business Administration, Commerce, Communication, Cyber Security, Business Analytics, Sustainable Energy, and Engineering Science.
If you’re interested in undertaking further study in Semester 2, I’d strongly encourage you to review the key dates on the webpage and apply as soon as possible. Closing dates for applications start from 31 May 2024. The pilot will also run in Semester 1, 2025.
Great Court Race
We held the 39th running of the Great Court Race last Wednesday at St Lucia. This annual event has become a great UQ tradition – and I’d like to congratulate the whole team at UQ Sport for their efforts in staging the event.
Congratulations to all of the winners, including Emma Bible and Riley Niven, who won the individual women’s and men’s races around the Great Court colonnade; UniQuest, who won the staff relay; and King’s and Emmanuel colleges, who took out bragging rights in the college relay events.
Awards and recognition
Late last week, Professor Barry Dickson, from the Queensland Brain Institute, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, the world’s oldest and most prestigious scientific academy. Congratulations to Professor Dickson on this well-deserved recognition of his contributions to neuroscience over the past 30 years.
I’d also like to congratulate Professor Lianzhou Wang on being named UQ’s first ever ARC Industry Laureate Fellow. Professor Wang received a $3.6 million grant from the ARC to work in collaboration with industry partners Pure Battery Technologies and Lithium Australia on developing innovative new battery technology for electric vehicles and grid storage.
Staying on the topic of energy transition, Professor Greg Marston, the Director of the UQ Centre for Policy Futures, has recently been appointed Coordinator of the newly launched Queensland Decarbonisation Hub, which has been established by the state government to help support and enable Queensland’s transition to net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
All Staff Forum Monday 27 May
If you haven’t registered for next Monday’s All Staff Forum yet, there is still room at most venues (St Lucia is at capacity), or you can register to participate via the Zoom livestream.
I look forward to sharing a recap of the year so far, an update on a range of initiatives, and details of the key announcements from the Federal Budget that are relevant to the higher education sector.
Activism on campus
In my emails to staff, students and protest organisers last Friday, I reaffirmed the University’s commitment to freedom of speech at the same time as proactively working towards a peaceful resolution that would see a discontinuation of the camps.
In response, on Saturday, Camp Shalom made the decision to discontinue their presence in the Great Court, which we have welcomed.
We remain committed to engaging with Students4Palestine to agree to a peaceful resolution to their camp and to ensure that their protests on campus are safe and do not disrupt university activities.
Regrettably, we did have a dangerous situation during a protest yesterday, when 2 people accessed the roof of a building. When protestors refused to follow security’s direction to come down, Queensland Police attended campus.
There is another protest planned in the Great Court today, and our security teams will be present – observing activities to manage the safety and movement of people in the area in the context of our commitment to free speech.
In an emergency, I want to remind staff to contact UQ Security on (07) 3365 3333 or via the UQ SafeZone app 24/7. Staff can also access our free and confidential support 24/7 via our Employee Assistance Program.
I hope you have a great week.
Best wishes
Debbie
