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Monday, 18 October 2010

The Federal Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr visited our University recently to celebrate the awarding of one of the largest grants ever made to an ARC Centre of Excellence in the area of humanities.

Senator Carr was at a lunch held in the School of Music, during which Winthrop Professor Philippa Maddern made a presentation on the $24.25 million Centre for the History of Emotions of which she is Director.

Senator Carr - who regularly visits UWA - said the ARC application for this centre rated most highly out of all the applications in this very competitive program. He added that he had great faith in research at this University and its willingness to ‘reach out to so many others'.

We applaud his commitment to the humanities which he described as a vital part of the nation's research program and integral to our understanding of our country.

The centre's funding for a seven-year international collaboration will cement Australia's place at the top of research in medieval and early modern studies. Partners include the National Gallery of Victoria, ABC Television and WA Opera - and work will focus on Europeans' emotional ideas and experiences from 1100 to 1800.

Two more world-class interdisciplinary centres were launched on campus, both last Friday.

With WA recognised internationally as having some of the most spectacular rock-art in the world, it is fitting that we host a new Centre for Rock-Art Studies.

The centre will ensure our State is positioned and recognised as a global leader in rock-art research and provide a focal point for advice and research related activities into WA and Australian rock-art including tourism and conservation.

Some of the centre's activities will include collaborative projects with Indigenous organisations to learn more about the antiquity and meaning of rock-art; training rangers in rock-art recording; recovering and preserving damaged or threatened images; and educating the wider community.

Meanwhile, our revamped Centre for Forensic Science will consolidate all the University's expertise in the various aspects of forensics in new laboratories.

UWA is at the forefront of forensic research in the Asia/Pacific region, particularly in entomology; anthropology; human and animal DNA profiling; chemical gold and diamond ‘fingerprinting'; and food forensics.

Each of these centres exemplifies the benefits of forging collaborative research links with universities and institutions around Australia and internationally, and with Indigenous groups.

Each also integrates research and scholarship that previously spanned several disciplines, bringing together many strands of inquiry that together can vastly further our effectiveness.

Vice-Chancellor Alan Robson

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