Be honest, what are your customer ethics?Business

MORE than one third of customers think it is “acceptable” to pocket extra change, while almost half think it is okay to return used goods for a refund, according to a new study by QUT into consumer ethics.

Dr Larry Neale, from QUT’s School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations, said as businesses adopted new technologies and moved towards self-serve options, knowing what customers believe is ethical or unethical was more important than ever.

“Businesses cannot rely on their customers to always do the right thing,” Dr Neale said.

“Ar m’s length and sel f -serve transactions provide the customer with greater opportunities for deviant behaviour.

“For example, banks now use ATMs as the dominant method of dispensing cash to their retail customers.

“Customers who receive less cash than they should when withdrawing from an ATM will likely contact the bank and report the discrepancy.

“Those customers who receive a cash windfall from the ATM are less likely to contact the bank and refund their windfall.”

Dr Neale said as part of the study, consumers were asked their ethical views on 14 different customer scenarios ranging from legal to illegal, with a few questionable behaviours in between.

“From a business perspective, the unfortunate reality is that there is indeed a dark side to consumer behaviour,” he said.

“The results reveal consumers already know that illegal activities such as filing a false insurance claim are unethical.”

However Dr Neale said there were mixed views of what was “acceptable” when the behaviour was against company policy but not necessarily illegal, for example returning used goods for a refund.

“Forty-three per cent of people said they think returning used goods for a refund is acceptable behaviour,” he said.

Other surprising results include people who claim senior and child discounts.

“Twice the number of people think falsely claiming a child discount (40 per cent) is acceptable, than falsely claiming a seniors discount (21 per cent),” he said.

Dr Neale said whether the behaviour under scrutiny was the decision to keep excess change or to commit fraud, there were consumers who felt such actions were justifiable.

He said this was perhaps predicated by the all too commonly held perception by consumers that businesses were solely focused on “profit maximisation”.

“As a consequence, far too many of these consumers view their own misbehaviour as a way to level the playing field,” Dr Neale said.

“Either the business wins or the consumer wins in this zero-sum game.”

Another interesting finding was that women held other customers to a higher standard than men.

“For every one of the 14 scenarios we investigated, women were more critical of the questionable behaviour than men,” he said.

“Knowing what customers in

general believe is ethical and unethical can help businesses focus on the aspects of technology or design within their business which is most vulnerable to customer deviance.”

The study involved more than 3700 young consumers across five

continents over a 10-year span, and was undertaken with Professor Sam Fullerton from Eastern Michigan University in the United States.

- Sandra Hutchinson

IQ inside

>> Sunscreen study - Page 3 >> Wearable architecture - Page 5 >> Student stories - Page 7 >>

Queensland University of Technology NewspaperIssue 303 May, 2010

www.news.qut.edu.au George Street Brisbane 4000 Telephone (07) 3138 2361 Registered by Australia Post – Publication No. QBF 4778. CRICOS No 00213J

Creative industries

A QUT researcher is examining the role of blogs,

Facebook and Twitter as a means of helping people

form their own identity.

PhD student Theresa Sauter, pictured, who has

degrees in journalism and sociology, said social

networking sites were an easy way for people to

express themselves and explore their ideas.

But she said the sites’ roles went beyond this.

“Social networking sites, blogs, online discussion

forums and online journals represent modern arenas

for individuals to write themselves into being,” she

said.“A lot of people see social networking as a new

way for people to interact but I’m interested in

examining it as a way to form an identity and

understand ourselves.”

Ms Sauter said online writing represented a new

way of doing old things.

Her research will look at how “self-writing” –

writing about oneself – has been used in the past.

“The ancient Greek philosophers used a reflective

notebook to write down what they had read and their

thoughts on it,” she said.

“In this way they developed a personal truth about

themselves and how they saw the world.”

She said early Christians and Puritans had kept

confessional diaries while writers such as French

philosopher Rousseau and erotic novelist the Marquis

de Sade had been self-revelatory.

In the 20th century self-writing was commonly

used in therapy to enable people to explore and

heal themselves.

“It’s always been a way of examining the self

and expressing thoughts, whether it is to God or

ourselves, and then reflecting on that and hoping

for improvement,” she said.

“We now live in a secularised society but people are

still concerned with getting things off their chest.”

Ms Sauter said the internet had brought an increase

in self-revelation in a very public way.

“People put status updates on their Facebook

account confessing everything,” she said.

“They are feeling compelled to be honest and

reveal themselves. This is nothing new; people have

always felt this way but doing it in the public realm

means they are simultaneously surrendering some

of their privacy.”

Ms Sauter said it was too soon to know the

effect of the very public nature of this self-

revelation. - Elizabeth Allen

How to find your

identity on Facebook How to find your

identity on Facebook

Dr Larry Neale asked consumers about their views on ethical behaviour.

Page 2 Inside QUT May, 2010 IQ

COMMENTby the VICE CHANCELLOR

COMMENTAN important part of our “real world” approach at QUT involves colleagues from the professions, industry and business who lecture and tutor in our undergraduate and postgraduate coursework programs.

These sessional academic staff bring a wealth of knowledge and practical experience to QUT.

They range from research students in higher degree courses through to practitioners and well-respected leaders in their chosen fields.

Our sessional staff is a diverse g roup and brings a depth of experience to QUT.

The role of sessional academic staff is central to our learning and teaching philosophy and will continue to be so well into the future.

The 2008 Sessional Staff Opinion Survey highlighted several matters which these academic staff members felt QUT should address, such as induction, recognition, pay and relativities, involvement in decision making and timely payment.

In 2009 we commenced a project to improve the experience which our sessional staff have at QUT.

We recognise that it is important to have a consolidated approach which looks at improvements that can be made at the university level as well as those that can occur at the local level within our faculties.

Recently we have rolled out

enhancements to appointments, timesheets and pay information for sessional staff.

These enhancements will be built on and expanded throughout 2010 and 2011.

Our real world approach means keeping up with innovation and new knowledge in all disciplines.

This means providing our sessional staff with the facilities they need to undertake their teaching, as well as providing them with opportunities to develop their teaching and career capabilities.

For some time we have offered the Sessional Academic Program, which provides an opportunity for sessional staff to explore different strategies for enhancing their teaching and learning skills as well as scholarships.

We will shortly be piloting a new program for higher degree research students who are also undertaking sessional teaching at QUT and aspire to a career in academia.

Addressing the issues from the Staff Opinion Survey will take some time, but we are confident of rolling out real improvements.

Feedback from our sessional staff colleagues is important and will be sought as part of the process.

Professor Ken Bowman Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic)

Professor Gerry FitzGerald

AWARDED on April 30, 2010 for playing an active and high-profile role in the dissemination of QUT research findings about deaths during Australian floods.

Professor FitzGerald, pictured, of the School of Public Health, provided ready commentary in response to electronic and print media inquiries nationally over almost a week.

The story ran extensively in media outlets throughout Australia and overseas following the dissemination of a QUT media release about research that found almost half of 73 Australian deaths involved people choosing to drive vehicles into water.

The study, by Professor FitzGerald, Weiwei Du, Aziz Jamal, Michele Clark and Janet Hou, found most of those who died were not trapped by floods.

A researcher with the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Professor FitzGerald said four out of 10 deaths were caused by driving a vehicle across flooded waterways or roadways.

He said drivers often underestimated the force of flowing water and its capacity to dislodge relatively large vehicles.

The research found 8.8 per cent of flood-related deaths involved the collapse of a flooded roadway; 26.5 per cent involved risky behavior such as swimming or surfing in flooded waterways; and 16 per cent involved attempts to swim or wade across flooded waterways.

Professor FitzGerald’s proactive media commentary added to public awareness and knowledge of flood dangers.

Law

QUT law pofessor Sally Kift will help lead a national project aimed at defining academic standards.

Professor Ki f t , pictured , and Professor Mark Israel, of the University of Western Australia, have been appointed joint Discipline Scholars in Law with the Learning and Teaching Academic Standards (LTAS) project.

The project, set up by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council with a $2 million Federal Government

grant, will bring together discipline communities to def ine academic standards in the wake of the Bradley Review of Higher Education.

The higher education sector is preparing for a new regulatory environment and the creation of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency.

The LTAS project is being driven by Discipline Scholars, who are senior academics selected for their standing within their field and across various broad disciplinary groups:

Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; Business, Management and Economics; Engineering and ICT; Health, Medicine and Veterinary Science; and Law.

For information, visit www.altc.edu.au/standards.

- Elizabeth Allen

Sustainable resources

WORLD-leading climate change scientist and joint Nobel Prize-winner Dr Richard Conant will join forces with QUT to research farmland carbon storage.

Dr Conant, who shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former US Vice-President Al Gore and other IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change) scientists, will join QUT’s Institute for Sustainable Resources and plans to relocate to Brisbane for three years, after being announced as a Queensland Government Smart Futures Fellowship winner last month.

Dr Conant will be working with QUT’s ISR to look at how improved grazing management could enable g reenhouse gas carbon dioxide emissions to be stored in soil – a technique which is seen as a crucial part of the solution to global warming.

ISR director, Professor Peter Grace, said the carbon storage process, called biosequestration, had the potential to

reduce 10-15 per cent of the world’s annual carbon dioxide emissions by locking carbon into the soil.

Professor Grace said Dr Conant’s three-year fellowship was jointly funded by the Queensland Government and QUT.

“Dr Conant is an international leader in the f ield of soil carbon sequestration after more than a decade of work on farmland carbon storage,” Professor Grace said.

“ H i s p re s e n c e w i l l f u r t h e r enhance QUT’s and the ISR’s already formidable reputation as a focal point in biosequestration and greenhouse gas emissions research.”

Professor Grace is also one of the world’s leading climate change experts.

He is internationally-recognised for his work in developing strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agroecosystems.

He said improving land management practices and increasing carbon content in soil would provide many benefits to farmers and graziers.

Redevelopment

FACILITIES in Y Block – including food outlets, the university bookshop, and the Student Guild – will be relocated to L Block in time for next semester, as part of the Science and Technology Precinct redevelopment.

The temporary move to levels two and three of L Block will allow for the mid-year demolition of Y Block, which is another milestone in the progress of the $200 million new precinct, which is

due to be completed in 2012.The chaplaincy, Guild shop, STA

Travel, MECU (and ATM) and the second-hand bookshop are also moving to L Block in time for Semester 2.

The Muslim prayer space is moving to the GH link building.

The gym will not be relocated but will be re-established in the new precinct. Gym facilities are available at 44 Musk Avenue, Kelvin Grove campus.

V i s i t w w w. q u t . e d u . a u /scitechprecinct.

Bookshop, bar, food move to L Block

Tracking changeSustainable resources

QUT scientists will use technologically advanced automated monitoring equipment to track greenhouse gas emissions and the impact of urbanisation as part of a new national research network.

The South East Queensland node of the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN), launched at QUT’s Samford Ecological Research Facility north of Brisbane, is a major Federal Government investment in developing infrastructure to examine changes in ecosystems in response to urbanisation.

QUT’s Institute for Sustainable Resources director Professor Peter Grace said the 51 hectare property in the Samford Valley, one of TERN’s southeast

Queensland peri-urban supersites, would serve as a “living laboratory”.

“The Samford Valley is a unique confined valley on the perimeter of Brisbane which is rapidly changing from a rural and farming environment, to an urban lifestyle,” Professor Grace said.

“We will study the impact that increased population is having on our fauna, greenhouse gases and waterways.”

Professor Grace said QUT would be involved in the monitoring of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions using a newly built mini flux tower and automated greenhouse gas monitoring equipment.

“The Ozflux tower will provide instantaneous measurements of heat, water and carbon dioxide exchanged

between the grassland and atmosphere, for a period of three years,” he said.

“It will also measure a range of meteorological data such as rainfall, air temperature and humidity.”

He said these measurements would allow researchers to better understand the impact of urbanisation on climate change.

TERN will also include acoustic sensor monitoring technologies that record the natural sounds of the environment, enabling researchers to estimate the number and diversity of animals in the environment.

TERN is par t of the Federal Government’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy.

- Sandra Hutchinson

Nobel Prize-winner joins QUT

Professor shares in $2m teaching grant

Media star of the month

Left to right, Professor Peter Grace, Jim Reeves, Professor Arun Sharma and Richard Marles MP.

Inside QUT May, 2010 Page 3

IHBI

SUN scientists from QUT will conduct human tests to discover if current 30-plus sunscreens offer adequate protection or whether a new “super sunscreen” is needed to cut the 900 deaths a year from melanoma.

Dr Elke Hacker, a post doctoral fellow with QUT’s Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, said the study would be the first clinical experiment to investigate what happens to melanocytes – the melanin-producing cells in the skin – with and without sunscreen following exposure to sunlight.

“Melanocytes are the pigmented cells of the skin that give skin its colour and are also the precursors to melanoma,” Dr Hacker said.

“We know that the risks of melanoma are far greater for fair-skinned people with more moles than those who have darker skin and fewer moles.

“But what we don’t know is what happens to melanocytes following exposure to sunlight and whether the use of sunscreen impacts on these melanocytes.”

Dr Hacker said if current sunscreens were found to be ineffective in providing protection from sun exposure, this study would lead the way for the development of new compounds in sunscreens capable of protecting melanocytes.

She said while research had shown sunlight was the major cause of melanoma, there was evidence to suggest

the effect sunlight had on pigment cells was not the same for everyone.

“We will also be looking at whether sun exposure to melanocytes has a different response in fair skinned people compared to those who are more naturally tanned,” Dr Hacker said.

As part of the study, Dr Hacker is seeking Caucasian participants aged 18 to 30 willing to be exposed to carefully controlled measured doses of solar simulated ultraviolet radiation and then undergo small biopsies of the skin.

“The exposure will be equivalent to 20 to 25 minutes of Brisbane sun and the biopsies will involve taking skin samples the size of a pen tip,” Dr Hacker said.

The tests will involve five visits to the AusSun Research Lab based at IHBI at QUT’s Kelvin Grove campus between May and June.

At the conclusion of the testing, all participants will be given a $50 gift voucher. They will also be provided with details of their skin type and sensitivity and melanoma prevention tips.

Dr Hacker said more than 8000 Australians were diagnosed with invasive melanoma every year.

“By better understanding how sunlight causes melanoma, we hope to develop more effective prevention strategies to control the disease,” she said.

To be involved in the study or for more information phone 3138 0401 or email uv.skinstudy@qut.edu.au.

- Sandra Hutchinson

Sun study: Is 30-plus enough?

Nutrition

QUT researchers are studying the food skills of today’s eat-out generation.

Researcher and nutritionist Helen Vidgen, pictured above, who is leading a $220,000 research project funded by Queensland Health, said professionals had noticed that people’s food literacy – a combination of food choices, shopping and cooking – had declined.

“People’s lack of food skills is getting in the way of them being able to make healthy food choices,” Ms Vidgen said.

She said many young people were becoming “food illiterate” after seeing their parents outsource food preparation.

“People eat outside the home a lot more; they eat takeaway and they buy prepared food from the supermarket,” said Ms Vidgen, a practising nutritionist

for 15 years. “People are outsourcing cooking

along with their ironing. You can still do this and be healthy but you need to understand what you’re eating.”

Ms Vidgen said food l iteracy was about “shopping for food, understanding what you’re buying and your lifestyle so you can provide yourself with healthy food, daily.”

Ms Vidgen said Queensland Health had asked QUT to study the food literacy of socially disadvantaged 16-26 year olds and how to improve them. The results of the two-year study were likely to have broader application.

The study is looking at what food skills people need to be healthy and how to measure and influence them.

Ms Vidgen said lack of food skills could be contributing to spiralling

rates of obesity, with 62 per cent of Queensland males and 51 per cent of females overweight or obese in 2006, according to Queensland Health statistics.

Ms Vidgen said most worrying was the skyrocketing prevalence of obesity, up by 45 per cent between 2001 and 2006.

“The people who are obese have become much more obese,’’ she said.

Ms Vidgen said nutritionists were encountering young mothers who did not know how to prepare food for their babies after themselves growing up on a diet of takeaway food or food eaten “on the run”.

She said the results of the study would lead to a strategy to be trialled by the Queensland Government.

- Elizabeth Allen

Food skills for Generation Eat-Out are under scrutiny

Media

A QUT academic has hailed an historic deal between Twitter and the United States Library of Congress that will see more than 55 million daily tweets archived forever with everyone from the Dalai Lama to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd preserved in history.

QUT media and communications lecturer, Dr Stephen Harrington, said the deal with the world’s largest library and America’s oldest federal institution was a mark that Twitter had won formal recognition as a valuable cultural legacy.

The deal means that the work and words of over 100 million new “authors” will be archived and digitally stored forever.

“Twitter has had massive growth in recent years, rising from just 5000 daily tweets in 2007 to over 50 million tweets a day from over 100 million users,” Dr Harrington said.

“This is an historic decision and a real shift in the way that authoritative institutions are now treating user-generated, online communication.

“ W h e r e a s , h i s t o r i c a l l y -speaking, efforts typically get focussed on preserving ‘high culture’ and great works, this is going to capture and store the day-to-day online conversation of mostly ‘ordinary’ people.”

The Library of Congress, whose mission is to “further human understanding and wisdom”, said the decision to archive all tweets would give future generations insight into how people lived in

the early 21st century and the issues important to them - just as letters, journals and photographs had for previous centuries.

The infor mation is being donated by Twitter free of charge and will include all tweets since the inception of the technology in 2006, as well as future tweets.

Dr Harrington said the Library of Congress clearly saw the immense anthropological significance of Twitter, even though it might be mundane or profane.

“There is enormous collective value in this modern form of communication, and the possible future use of this resource, i s incredibly exc i t ing,” Dr Harrington said.

“Assuming there is or will be some way to make it all readily available, and searchable for specific dates or places, then it might provide ours, and future generations with a fascinating and global insight into the world from 2006 onwards.”

But Dr Harrington said it was another reminder that everyday people should be aware that by using Twitter, they were communicating in the public domain and things they said could come back to haunt them.

- Ian Eckersley

Tweets become part of history

Dr Elke Hacker is seeking study participants to help determine whether current 30-plus sunscreen is adequate.

Page 4 Inside QUT May, 2010 IQ

Class!

Education

A MAJOR new $5 million study will help QUT researchers to track the educational, social and developmental progress of Prep children.

QUT researcher Professor Karen Thorpe, pictured above, said the 300 Mount Isa children and 1000 Brisbane children selected for the study would be visited by researchers twice a year over the next five years to track every aspect of their learning and development.

She said 98 per cent of children aged four-and-a-half to five now attended Prep, but the way three-year-olds and four-year-olds were educated was completely optional, with only 29 per cent accessing a program with a qualified teacher.

“It’s an important age because the care and educational experiences children have when they are three or four predicts how they will fare in their early years of school and beyond,” Professor Thorpe said.

“E4Kids will follow the achievements of a total of 2500 three-year-olds from

diverse communities across Queensland and Victoria over five years and compare their earlier experiences with national test data that will be collected when the children are aged eight.

“Our field research is now under way in Queensland – we have one team working in Mount Isa and three teams working across the greater Brisbane area, from Beenleigh to Caboolture to Ipswich.

“We will be visiting eight childcare centres, kindergartens and family day care services in Mount Isa, and 70 childcare centres across Brisbane, as well as kindergartens and family day care.

“The aim is to f ind out what contribution early care and education factors make to children’s learning and social inclusion because this has lifetime effects.

“The Federal Government annually invests about $3 billion in services for children. With this study, we will find out where that money is best put for the greatest long-term benefit of those children.”

Professor Thorpe, who is leading the Queensland component of the study, said Mount Isa had been chosen because it was a remote area with a lot of pressure for access to childcare and kindergarten services. It also had a higher proportion of Indigenous people.

Brisbane will provide a metropolitan focus.

The E4Kids study has received $3 million in funding from the Queensland and Victorian governments, and has also received a $2.2 million Australian Research Council Linkage Grant. The results will help inform government policy relating to the early care and education of children.

“It is not whether children go to family day care, child care, educator-facilitated play groups or are cared for at home that is our key question but what happens within these experiences,” Professor Thorpe said.

“We want to find out the educational and social elements that best enhance children’s long-term development.”

Professor Thorpe said international research had shown that children who undertook quality education at early ages did better in their long-term schooling and had lower rates of adverse social outcomes such as teen pregnancy and crime.

The study involves QUT, the Univer s i ty o f Melbour ne and international researchers from the Universities of Toronto and London.

Professor Thorpe is a member of QUT’s Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation.

- Mechelle McMahon

$5M study to find best way to teach children

Social marketing

CONVINCING new mums to breastfeed and continue breastfeeding relies on partner and family support not a campaign of guilt and fear, according to a new QUT survey.

Joy Parkinson, pictured above, who is undertaking a PhD degree in social marketing with QUT’s School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations, said the survey of 405 women with babies under the age of 18 months, found women highly valued

the support of family and friends when it came to coping with breastfeeding.

“Women were more concerned with receiving support to help them cope with breastfeeding from their partner, family and friends, than what these people actually thought about them breastfeeding or not,” she said.

Ms Parkinson said the study revealed while most women understood breastfeeding was important and planned to breastfeed, this was not enough to improve breastfeeding outcomes.

She said the “fear and guilt” approach

to encourage women to breastfeed was not working.

“It’s time that a social marketing approach was used rather than education or policy solutions,” she said.

“A social marketing approach emphasises free choice and the provision of products or services to help people breastfeed for as long as they can.”

For example this could include an interactive website that assisted women in answering their breastfeeding questions or an SMS service where women received various messages according to their

current needs and situation.“In fact the findings of this study

provide an explanation for the lack of impact of these education campaigns on breastfeeding rates in Australia,” she said.

Ms Parkinson said if governments wanted to increase breastfeeding rates they needed to increase loyalty to the act of breastfeeding and this would be best achieved by encouraging support from family and friends.

“Ensuring that new mums get the support they need to cope with the often difficult task of breastfeeding

is essential to boosting breastfeeding rates and increasing the length of time women breastfeed,” she said.

“One of the most surprising things that came out of this study was that positive attitudes towards breastfeeding didn’t equate to larger numbers of women breastfeeding for longer.

“Women are pos i t ive about breastfeeding but concerned by the way they feel and the support and help they receive.”

- Sandra Hutchinson

Breast support

Kids with learning problems labelled ‘lazy’Education

CHILDREN labelled as lazy by teachers and parents may have numerous learning difficulties that could compound their apparent lack of motivation, a study by QUT educational psychologist Dr Linda Gilmore has found.

Dr Gilmore, from QUT’s School o f Lear n ing and Professional Studies, studied 20 children aged 7 to 10 years old who were regarded as lazy by their parents and teachers and found that three-quarters of the children had phonologically based learning disabilities and/or significant problems with attention.

“Reports by teachers that children ‘need to try harder’ or ‘apply themselves more’ often convey the stigma of laziness to children and their parents,” said Dr Gilmore.

She said early diagnosis of learning problems was essential to prevent chi ldren from experiencing multiple failures that undermine their feelings of competence and self-esteem.

- Niki Widdowson

Inside QUT May, 2010 Page 5

Class!How to ‘wear’ a building with…

There are many parallels between fashion and architecture.

Architecture

IS it possible to ‘wear’ a building? It is if you are studying architecture at QUT.About 250 second-year students must have been scratching their heads

when lecturer Lindy Osborne first challenged them to come up with a piece of “wearable architecture” as part of their assessment, but they quickly took to the challenge.

The results were modelled late last month during an unusual fashion parade on Gardens Point campus.

Ms Osborne said the students had been asked to take the key elements of a building (designed by an architect from a specified list of Australians and international designers) and transfer it into some sort of wearable architecture – be that an outfit, hat, accessory, or something else.

Student Medina Begovic was inspired by a bamboo wall house by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma and Anna Carter by a Taringa house and study designed by Rex Addison.

“The students’ only constraint was that the project needed to be worn on their body - and using recycled materials or found objects was a plus,” Ms Osborne said.

“The designs use various mixes of timber, metal, fabric and other materials ... and some do require careful wearing!”

Ms Osborne said there were many parallels between fashion and architecture, and their design and fabrication processes.

“Buildings and garments both offer protection and shelter to the body and they both provide a means to express identity,” she said.

“The exploration of preliminary concepts through sketching, followed by the construction of 3-dimensional study models is common to the design process of both disciplines.

“New technologies are also helping bring together architecture and fashion. Architects have recently adopted techniques such as printing, pleating, folding, draping and weaving to develop more complex facades, while fashion designers have looked to architecture for ways to construct clothing with greater volume and structural integrity.

“Designers in both fields are now developing structural skins that incorporate the bones/structure into the surface of a building or garment.”

People interested in studying architecture at QUT can find out more at this year’s QUT Open Day on July 25, from 9am to 3pm at the Kelvin Grove campus (www.openday.qut.edu.au), or visit the Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering website, www.bee.qut.edu.au.

- Mechelle McMahon

Clockwise from top left, Anna Carter, Tiffany Lord, Medina Begovic and Ruhee Moola.

Page 6 Inside QUT May, 2010 IQ

in BRIEF...Choice employer

QUT has again been named an Employer of Choice for Women in the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency’s annual citations, announced on International Women’s Day. The university was one of 95 organisations in Australia acknowledged on the list this year and has been an Employer of Choice for Women since the award’s inception in 2001. Recent QUT Equity Services’ analysis shows 49 per cent of the university’s senior staff are female and that the percentage of professors who are female places QUT in the top five of all universities.

ASX listing

QUT start-up company Farmacule Bioindustries will merge with ASX-listed Aquacarotene Limited to create a leading plant biotechnology company. Farmacule is a molecular farming technology company developed at QUT.

Dengue research

QUT research into the impact of climate change on dengue fever may lead to better control of the mosquito-borne disease. Researchers from the School of Public Health will analyse the impact of climatic variables – rainfall, humidity and temperature – in Townsville and the capital of Bangladesh, Dhaka from 2000 to 2009, plus their different demographics, to shed light on the link between climate change and dengue.

Couples and dementia

If you or your partner has recently been diagnosed with dementia, QUT researchers would like to hear from you. A dementia diagnosis could have a

profound impact on the way partners interact and view their future. Couples who would like to complete the survey should contact researcher Jennifer O’Brien, pictured below, on 0419 724 995 or j13.obrien@connect.qut.edu.au.

Gay marriage call

Former High Court judge Michael Kirby spoke at the second International Queer Studies Conference, held at QUT last month, and said that gay marriage must be allowed. “To this day, of the 53 nations (colonised by the British), 41 still have laws against adult, consensual same-sex relations,” he said. “Equality of citizenship is a very important issue in the mind of a human being and a citizen.”

Dancing with Canberra

Four talented QUT dance students will have the opportunity to develop and perform a new dance work with international dance company Maya Dance Theatre in Canberra and Singapore this year. The new “extended secondment” will be offered to the students as part of an ongoing alliance between QUT and Canberra’s QL2 Centre for Youth Dance, said QUT choreography lecturer Skye Sewell. QUT will support up to another six students to work with the centre later this year. “This allows them to practise what they learn in an industry context and make contacts with other dance students, which will greatly benefit their future careers,” Ms Sewell said.

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Creative industries

STUDENTS had the best lecture of their lives when the first class of their Introduction to Entertainment unit at QUT turned into a musical show number.

Cameras hidden in the lecture theatre caught their reactions, which can now be seen on YouTube (search YouTube entertainment lecture).

Unit co-ordinator Professor Alan McKee said the song and dance production, which included singers planted in the audience, break dancers and a faux lecturer who ripped off her business shirt to reveal a glamorous sequined dress, was a huge production and would form the basis for the semester’s study for the subject.

“We will show the students all of the work that goes on behind the scenes to arrange an event, from coming up with the idea and bringing people together to pull it off, to the writing of a new song, finding the funding and arranging contracts,” Professor McKee said.

The subject is part of QUT’s exciting new undergraduate major for entertainment producers.

“Students wrote ‘LOL just had the funniest lecture!!!’ and ‘they literally broke into a musical, sooo funny, coolest lecture ever’,” Professor McKee said.

Students rave about YouTube hit lecture

Health

A QUT researcher is using a mobile phone to record the daily diet of Type 2 diabetics.

PhD student Megan Rollo, pictured above, said volunteers were asked to take photographs by mobile phone of what they were about to eat and also to make voice recordings, via the phone, describing the food.

Ms Rollo said a phone application called Nutricam, specially developed for QUT, enabled photos and voice recordings to then be sent automatically to a website for analysis by a dietitian.

The method was being trialled as an alternative to the traditional, and

more burdensome, method of asking participants to keep a written food diary.

“We are trying to make it more convenient for people to report accurately what they eat,” said Ms Rollo, who is based at QUT’s Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation.

Ms Rollo is currently seeking Type 2 diabetics, aged 18-70, to trial the mobile phone method.

“We want to discover if it is an easy and accurate method for these people,” she said.

To take part in the study phone 3138 6090 or email megan.rollo@qut.edu.au.

- Elizabeth Allen

Business

THE small number of women on company boards in Australia was not acceptable, said Woolworths and Insurance Australia Group chairman James Strong, AO, at the latest QUT Business Leaders’ Forum.

Mr Strong, pictured above, a former Qantas CEO and also current chair of retailer Kathmandu and the Australia Council for the Arts, told the sold-out luncheon there should be no debate about diversity on boards.

“There’s no question that the current situation is not acceptable. There are

not enough women on boards,” Mr Strong said.

“It is similarly not acceptable the rate at which they are coming through the pipeline.”

Mr Strong said the Australian Institute for Company Directors program to pair large-company chairs as mentors with women who wanted to become company directors was a terrif ic initiative for improving board diversity.

“I think that’s really clever, because it does two things: it puts peer pressure on others to do the same,” he said. “And secondly, it means that when they take those mentees they will feel responsible

for them and will be very interested in getting them to a board position.

“If it’s got to be a changed situation to bring more (women) on with less experience, then that’s a risk that has to be taken and it’s taken with men every day as well, so that’s not a big deal.”

Leading chairperson and Australian company director Linda Bardo Nicholls, AO, will speak at the next QUT Business Leaders’ Forum on June 22 at Hilton Brisbane. For details, visit www.bus.qut.edu.au/community/businesslead.

- Rachael Wilson

More women needed on company boards

Mobile Diabetics

Inside QUT May, 2010 Page 7

Equity

MOTHER-of-four and QUT student Nerrin Bailey has performed the daily triple shift of parenting, work and study for the past four years.

That backbreaking effort will pay off in July when she graduates with a Bachelor of Business.

Nerrin, pictured right, has used the power of education to secure a future for her son, 16, and daughters 11, 9 and 7.

And she has been helped to reach her goal by QUT’s Learning Potential Fund which provides support for students in financial need.

“I can’t overstate what this funding has done for me,” Nerrin said. “It has changed the way I see myself and what I see myself achieving.”

Originally from Atherton in north Queensland, Nerrin’s struggle to achieve began as a school leaver who went to university but dropped out because of lack of support, married young, had a baby at age 22, and financially supported her first husband while he studied.

After her marriage broke down she tried to complete her business degree

on the Darling Downs but study combined with life as a single mother was too hard.

“It was too much to cope with at once,’’ she said.

She later reconnected with, and married her childhood sweetheart, leading to three more children.

But when her husband was diagnosed with a medical condition that limited his employment chances, Nerrin returned to study to better provide for her family.

She gained a TAFE Diploma in Business and then decided to go back to university while her husband took on the role of home dad. But enrolment in a business degree at QUT led to the “fright” of her life.

“I realized I couldn’t afford the travel and the textbooks,” Nerrin said. “I had to take food and clothes off my children to pay for my books – or if I wasn’t going to buy books I had to spend time in the library away from my children.”

After contacting the QUT counselling off ice in distress, she successfully applied for a Commonwealth Learning Scholarship of about $1000 a semester

and gained support from QUT in the form of book vouchers, a computer with internet access and a Learning Potential Fund Bursary of $500 a semester.

“I honestly didn’t think I would get it because of my age,’’ Nerrin said. “I thought scholarships and support were for young people and high achievers.”

Over the past three years, Nerrin has worked either part-time or full-time for QUT’s Business Faculty as a student learning advisor and student services officer while also studying.

Now enrolled in her final subject, she hopes to gain work as an accountant.

She said the Learning Potential Fund, which provides annual scholarships of $2500 and bursaries of $1000, was supported by public donors, university alumni and staff.

“Donors could be anyone, from someone who gives $2 a week to someone who gives thousands,” Nerrin said. “I would really like to thank them for their selfless choice. It has really changed my world.”

To contribute to the Learning Potential Fund, phone 3138 2322 or visit www.giving.qut.edu.au.

- Elizabeth Allen

Helping hand for triple-shift mother, student, worker

International

EIGHT QUT international students were inducted as official Brisbane International Student Ambassadors for 2010, and are ready to sell the city to the world.

Announced by Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman, the program forms part of Brisbane Marketing’s Study Brisbane initiative which advances the development of Brisbane’s international education sector.

As ambassadors the students will talk about their study and living experiences on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, encouraging other students to consider studying abroad.

QUT Master of Business student

Jose Franco, from Peru and Italy, described Brisbane as a “completely diverse cultural experience”.

“Being in Brisbane has allowed me to not only progress academically, but also professionally, culturally, living with people from different backgrounds and working in different jobs around the city,” Jose said.

Xiaoyan Xiong from China is studying a Master of Business and said if she had to convince a friend to come and study in Brisbane she would say: “It will be one of your unforgettable life experiences”.

“You will have many opportunities to do things that you will never do in your hometown,” she said.

There are a total of 30 ambassadors from 22 nationalities.

Ambassadorsselling our city

Fishing, football and art gallery visits are helping QUT education students develop academic and communication skills. The fun activities are part of a Patches Program, being offered to Malaysian and Australian students as part of their QUT Bachelor of Education. Taking part were, pictured clockwise from top left, Nor Ain Bt Ahmad Apandi, Farah Aidah Bt Muhd Faizal, Nur Fadly Rozita Bt Ahmad Fadizil, Nur Aliaa Awang and Kasey Morgan.

Caboolture

FOR siblings Bethany and Braedon Reis studying at QUT’s Caboolture campus while still at high school has given them a head start in their careers.

Both students, pictured, who are now studying full-time at Caboolture campus took advantage of START QUT, a scholarship program offering a guaranteed spot into a number of degrees for students who pass two university subjects while in their final year of schooling.

This year there are more than 200 students undertaking the program

while still at high school.Bethany, who is now in her second

year of a Bachelor of Nursing degree, said the “extra work in year 12 was well worth the effort”.

“It was a challenge and you have to be really organised but it has been such a big help,” she said.

“Coming to Caboolture as a first-year student was so much easier because I already knew what to expect.”

Following in his sister’s footsteps,

first-year teaching student Braedon said START QUT made uni possible.

“When I chose my subjects in year 10 I had a different career in mind,” he said.

“So when I realised I wanted to be a teacher I didn’t think that uni was an option for me. START QUT gave me the opportunity to try university.”

Mid-year entry for START QUT is available and eligibility rules apply. For more information visit www.qut.edu.au/startqut.

Siblings score a start at QUT

Future teachers

Page 8 Inside QUT May, 2010 IQ

Face to Face- Digital portraiture

The exhibition Face to Face will explore how new media and digital technologies have changed the way we think about portraiture, identity and faces. Free at The Block, Creative Industries Precinct, Kelvin Grove, until May 15. For details, phone 3138 5495 or visit www.ciprecinct.qut.edu.au.

Performance MAY 4-8

Second-year actors perform Charlotte Bronte’s 1847 classic Jane Eyre at Gardens Theatre, 2 George Street, Brisbane, 7.30pm. Tickets $10-$18. For details, phone 3138 4455 or visit www.gardenstheatre.qut.edu.au.

Seminars MAY 7-8

Find out about studying at QUT at the Careers and Employment Expo, held at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre. For details, phone 3138 8501 or visit www.eocexpo.com.au.

MAY 12 The free talk Life After Uni: Taxing Times will explain tax basics for artists and artsworkers at QUT Art Museum, 2 George Street, Brisbane, 6pm.

For details, phone 3138 5370 or visit www.artmuseum.qut.edu.au.

MAY 12-13 Performance artist Stelarc discusses human-machine interfaces in his artwork, at 5pm, May 12 at The Block, Kelvin Grove campus, and at 6pm, May 13 at QUT Art Museum, Gardens Point campus. For details, visit www.artmuseum.qut.edu.au or www.ciprecinct.qut.edu.au.

Caboolture MAY 13-14

Year 11 and 12 students are invited to trial uni at Caboolture campus. For details, phone 5316 7475 or email l.gatti@qut.edu.au.

MAY 18 High school students and their parents are invited to attend a free Caboolture campus information

evening, 6pm-8pm, at Caboolture campus on the corner of Manley and Tallon Streets. For details, phone 5316 7475 or email l.gatti@qut.edu.au.

Event MAY 25 - JUNE 3

Get involved in Reconciliation week at QUT with a host of events, including the Reconciliation Ceremony on May 26 at F block amphitheatre, Kelvin Grove; screenings of Bran Nue Dae and “global cafes” at Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove campuses; and a free lunch at Caboolture campus. For details, visit www.reconciliation.qut.edu.au/issues/recweek/index.jsp.

Visit www.whatson.qut.edu.au for more event listings and to submit your upcoming event.

WHAT’S on...

WHAT’S on...Ian Eckersley (Editor) 07 3138 2361

Elizabeth Allen 07 3138 4494

Niki Widdowson 07 3138 1841

Rachael Wilson 07 3138 1150

Mechelle McMahon (Mo-Tu) 07 3138 2130

Sandra Hutchinson (Tu-Wed) 07 3138 2999

Erika Fish (Photography) 07 3138 5003

Marissa Hills (Advertising) 07 3138 5921

Richard de Waal (Design)

about IQInside QUT is published by QUT’s Marketing and Communication Department. Our readership includes staff, students and members of the QUT community. The paper is also circulated to business, industry, government and media. Opinions expressed in Inside QUT do not necessarily represent those of the university or the editorial team.

The paper used in this newspaper is produced from responsibly managed forests under the PEFC chain of custody certification program and is fully recyclable.

PEFC/21-31-25

I ride public transport as much as I can and car pool. I also recycle.

Rory Dawson

Bachelor of Journalism

I don’t use plastic bags. I recycle and minimise use of paper to help kill less trees.

Pradip Galiyal

Bachelor of Nursing

I unplug appliances and if I can walk somewhere, I don’t use a car or transport.

Jessie Shen

Master of Creative Industries

There’s enough public transport in Brisbane. I don’t have to drive anywhere and I walk to work.

Kaila Kellaway

Bachelor of Nursing

VOX POP What are you doing to help slow climate change?

Law

CLIMATE Change Minister Penny Wong used a series of dire predictions for Queensland to drum home her message during a recent public lecture at QUT.

Temperature rises, the inundation of coastal homes, $37 billion in long-term economic losses from damage to the Great Barrier Reef, and a 17 per cent decline in the state’s sugar industry and 34 per cent drop in the beef industry over the next 40 years were among her warnings if Australia did not act to reduce carbon pollution and adapt to the onset of climate change.

Under questioning from the 400-strong crowd at QUT Gardens Theatre, Senator Wong also dismissed nuclear power as a viable alternative energy source for Australia.

“We do have a view that that’s not the sensible course when it comes to domestic power generation,” she said.

“We’re blessed with quite an abundance of renewable energy and it is more sensible for us, as a nation, to focus our research effort and research

Law

QUT scholar Shol Blustein will be treading a fine line over the next three years as he tackles the onset of climate change from a legal point of view.

His mission is to develop a model framework for climate change law that will make Australians comply with the raft of climate change-related policies being introduced to combat global warming, while at the same time not stifling the economy.

The Teneriffe lawyer, pictured, and QUT researcher is the inaugural recipient of QUT’s Minter Ellison Climate Change Law Scholarship, which will fund his three-year PhD study on creating a low carbon economy.

The scholarship is jointly funded

by law firm Minter Ellison, the QUT Institute for Sustainable Resources and the QUT Faculty of Law.

It drew praise from Australia’s Climate Change Minister, Senator Penny Wong, during a public lecture at QUT on April 12, where the scholarship was officially launched by Executive Dean of Law Professor Michael Lavarch.

“There are so many things that need resourcing when it comes to the changes that this country will eventually have to face,” Ms Wong said.

“It’s very good to see a partnership between a private law firm and an academic institution.”

Over the next three years Mr Blustein hopes to contribute to the development of a coherent climate change law framework for Australia,

through the development of his own model framework.

“The aim of my research is to develop a model climate change law framework which supports continued economic development by encouraging investment, continued security of energy supply and emission reductions,” he said.

And although lawyers and climate change might not be the f ir st partnership to spring to mind, he said the legal community would be making an essential contribution to the environment in the next decade.

“Climate change and Australia’s response to it will have a dramatic effect on Australia for generations,” he said.

- Mechelle McMahon

Climate change scholar sees

big picture

Minister’s climate warningdollars on developing those sources of energy.”

Senator Wong, a former barrister, is the Minister for Climate Change, Energy Efficiency and Water and visited the university as part of the QUT Faculty of Law Free Public Lecture Series.

- Mechelle McMahon