University News

Welcome to the latest edition of Science Matters. 2009 is the Chinese Year of the Ox. The Ox, sign symbolises prosperity through fortitude and hard work, and given the financial woes of the world, these characteristics may be in high demand.

The Faculty’s ox-like characteristics will see it take on the challenge of 2009 with the expectation of another successful year for our research and teaching.  I am writing this editorial not long after the inauguration of Barack Obama. His presidency is a cause for celebration and there is sense of expectation of great things to come.

UWA will host a prestigious new International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR). The WA Government will fund the new centre and its director will be Premier’s Research Fellow Professor Peter Quinn.

The centre will be a joint venture with Curtin University of Technology and will be a key driver in Australia’s bid to be the site of the $2 billion Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project. The SKA project will be the world’s largest, ground-based telescope array, capable of seeing the early stages of the formation of galaxies, stars and planets.

The discovery of a family of compounds that stimulates seed germination in many plants has led to a new scientific name – karrikins – derived from the Noongar word ‘karrik’, meaning ‘smoke’. 

Western Australia is home of the discovery of a substance in smoke that stimulates seed germination and seedling growth in many plant species after bushfires.

Now, new research at UWA and Kings Park Botanic Garden has now shown that there are several such compounds in smoke, and that they can even stimulate seed germination in plant species that do not normally experience fire or smoke. This family of germination stimulants has now been named ‘karrikins’ from ‘karrik’, a Noongar word for smoke.

A number of high profile guests, including a number of distinguished Alumni attended the European Launch of the Science Futures Foundation the Royal Automobile Club London on October 22.

In his pre-dinner speech the Vice-Chancellor, Alan Robson, outlined his vision for the university and the role the Science Futures Foundation will play in enlisting high-performing academic staff and the brightest and best students, develop state-of-the-art facilities, encourage talent and reward outstanding achievement. Special guests at the launch included David MacKinlay, Chair of the Friends of UWA in the UK and Europe; Professor Geoff Laurent, Chair of the Science Futures Foundation UK and Professor Barry Marshall, Nobel Laureate, UWA graduate and staff member.

Professor George Stewart, Dean of Life and Physical Sciences, hosted a number of awareness raising events including in-house information sessions for faculty staff and a cocktail party for 100 of the University’s senior academics and administrators.  

Professor Stewart both applauded the achievements of existing academics, such as Professor Peter Hartmann; the worlds leading expert on human lactation, and highlighted the need to support those researchers commencing their science career at UWA.

“When I get applications for tenure and promotion from my young staff, I am in awe of their achievements,” said Professor Stewart. “I look back on my own career and ask myself: ‘How they can achieve so much in such a short time?’”

David Coall
Research Fellow, University of Western Australia
BPsych 1994; BSc (Hons) 1999; PhD 2005

My interest in research began with my Honours year where I applied evolutionary theory to understanding the factors that influence a woman's reproductive development and timing. An Australian Postgraduate Award gave me the opportunity to extend this research during my PhD and examine factors throughout a woman’s life that influence the birth weight and placental weight of her children.

Chancellor Michael Chaney, Vice-Chancellor Robson and Professor Marshall also met up with more than 100 Alumni and friends who turned out on a wintry October evening to attend the UWA Alumni London Reception.

The exhibition hall at Australia House provided a stunning venue, and it seems to be a favourite with Australians living in London.

Also present were the Dean of the Faculty of Life and Physical Sciences Professor George Stewart; the Director of Development Campbell Thomson; and the Chair of the UWA Friends in the UK Group, David MacKinlay.

“I was particularly delighted to see so many of our younger alumni in attendance. Their enthusiasm about being associated with UWA is very positive and encouraging,” Professor Robson said.

In August, more than 160 UWA Alumni attended cocktail functions in Singapore (at the Singapore Cricket Club) and Kuala Lumpur (the Malaysian Petroleum Club).

The School of Biomedical, Biomolecular and Chemical Sciences celebrated several milestones involving its four teaching disciplines last October. The celebrations included the 95th anniversary of the establishment of Chemistry, and the 50th anniversaries of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Physiology. These four disciplines merged in 2002 to form the current School which commenced operations in 2003.

In every one of Freddie Timms’s hundreds of paintings, the 62-year-old Kununurra artist recreates the beloved country which he rode thorough as a young stockman. Swirls of colour – some produced from ochres from the land itself – represent the hills, black soil and hot springs he remembers from his days as a 14-year-old, being taught to ride on Mabel Downs Station by one of the elders of his Gidja language group.