News Archive

On Tuesday 11 September, UWA researchers will take you to some of Perth’s trendiest bars for Raising the Bar Perth , an initiative of the UWA Office of Research Enterprise to make research and education a part of the city’s popular culture.

Enjoy the atmosphere at venues such as Petition Beer Corner, The Shoe, Henry Summer or Laneway Lounge while researchers explain their work and answer your questions about how they are changing the future.

There will be 10 talks at 10 different bars throughout the CBD on topics including humour, sleep, food, water and the universe.

Raising the Bar is a global program which has already been successful in New York, London, Hong Kong, Auckland, Melbourne and Sydney.

All events are free but registrations are essential . Tickets are still available for the following events:

My doctor told me I needed glasses
Speaker: David Mackey

In addition to drinking glasses, many of us need glasses to see clearly – why? Was it a misspent youth – or just picking the wrong parents? Lack of time outdoors and number of years in education have been shown to be major contributors. It could be nature’s way of putting our partners in soft focus. Why not raise your glass and learn about glasses and the research we are doing to prevent myopia.

The cassava warriors in East Africa
Speaker: Laura Boykin

Farmers in East Africa need food and for us to care about them. How can the community help to disrupt the agricultural development sector? We are starting to see a trend towards technology, like pocket DNA sequencing and supercomputing, making a huge impact for farmers in sub-Saharan Africa.

Missing flight MH370: contribution of oceanography
Speaker: Charitha Pattiaratchi

Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 disappeared on 8 March 2014. Oceanographers have been using drift modelling for different applications such as the design of ports and harbours, search and rescue efforts, treating oil spills and studying larval connectivity. In this presentation, oceanographic aspects of the pathways of MH370 debris will be presented.

How women changed political activism and got the vote.
Speaker: Jane Lydon

Today we take political activists’ spectacular public stunts for granted: how else to attract attention and change minds? But many of these techniques were pioneered a little more than a century ago by women campaigning for their rights, especially the vote. Making effective use of the first collective viewing experience – magic lantern slide performances – suffragettes in Perth and across the British empire shared their arguments and the ‘thrilling and humorous’ episodes of their sometimes militant campaign.