Dear staff,
Now that December has arrived, it really does feel like we’re closing in on the end of 2022.
On Tuesday, we held the first of three ‘UQ Thanks You’ staff appreciation events at Herston. Yesterday, we held the final meeting of the UQ Senate for the year. And today, we will be celebrating the amazing contributions of staff throughout 2022 at the UQ Awards for Excellence.
Former PM Turnbull delivers the 2022 POLSIS Lecture
Winding back to last Thursday, we welcomed the former Prime Minister, The Honourable Malcolm Turnbull AC, to our St Lucia campus for the 2022 Annual Lecture in Political Science and International Studies. This was the first time we’ve staged this annual lecture since the start of the pandemic, and it was wonderful to be able to attract such a significant political figure to UQ to deliver the lecture.
Trial of the Clamp2 vaccine platform
On Friday, we were joined by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to announce that the UQ COVID vaccine team will conduct a proof-of-concept trial for a re-engineered version of the molecular clamp platform (‘Clamp2’). CEPI is contributing $8.5 million to test the platform, as an innovative technology for rapid vaccine development.
Launch of CIRES
Also last Friday, I was delighted to attend the launch of the ARC Training Centre for Information Resilience (CIRES) at our St Lucia campus. This UQ-based Industrial Transformation Training Centre has been established to provide training opportunities for PhD and postdoc researchers, working in close collaboration with our industry and government partners. I’d like to acknowledge the great work that the team has done, led by Professor Shazia Sadiq, in establishing CIRES over the past year.
Recent grants, awards, and appointments
A number of people and teams from across UQ have received important recognition recently.
My congratulations to the 51 UQ researchers and research teams who received grants totalling $25 million under the ARC’s Discovery Projects scheme. UQ was awarded the second highest number of grants under the scheme nationally – a significant achievement.
UQ’s Interdisciplinary Tobacco Endgame Research Network has received a $5 million grant under the NHMRC’s Synergy scheme, which provides funding for researchers from different disciplines to collaborate on solving health challenges. Well done to the team, led by Associate Professor Coral Gartner, which is examining new approaches to reducing smoking in Australia.
Professor Robert Parton from the IMB has also been awarded a major grant under the European Research Council’s Synergy scheme. Professor Parton has been named as a principal investigator in an international team investigating how lipid droplets contribute to the immune system.
And in other great news from the IMB, PhD candidate Chloe Yap was this week awarded the CSL Florey Next Generation Award. This is important recognition of Chloe’s research into the gut microbiome in children with autism.
Congratulations also to Professor Geoff McColl, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, who has this week been appointed President of the Australian Medical Council for a two-year term.
Structural change for the WD&I team
Following the recent appointment of Professor Pauline Ford to the role of Deputy Provost, we have decided to move the Workforce Diversity and Inclusion (WD&I) team into the Provost’s portfolio. This team, which previously reported into HR, will now report directly to the Deputy Provost.
The change in reporting lines is designed to elevate our focus on diversity and inclusion issues, while also broadening the team’s focus beyond staff, to our students and the wider UQ community.
In our recent Pulse Survey, staff rated our commitment to diversity and inclusion as a strength of UQ and I have no doubt that the WD&I team will maintain their great work under Professor Ford.
Consultation on the Universities Accord
Last week, the Federal Government opened consultation on the Australian Universities Accord, which is shaping up as the first major review of our sector since the Bradley Review in 2008.
The Accord Panel, led by Professor Mary O’Kane, is now inviting feedback from people across the sector on the Terms of Reference and the priority areas for review. You can share your views by either making a submission, or by completing the 5-minute stakeholder survey.
And finally…
I would like to acknowledge the contribution of Professor Helen Klaebe, who recently resigned from her position as Dean of the UQ Graduate School. Associate Professor Pierre Benckendorff will act in the role while a recruitment process is undertaken to appoint a new Graduate School Dean.
I’m looking forward to seeing many of you at the two remaining ‘UQ Thanks You’ staff celebration events over the coming week – at St Lucia tomorrow, and Gatton next Tuesday.
With best wishes
Debbie
