Research off to a flying start
10 May
Using bumblebee aerodynamics to enhance flying robots and research to improve aircraft engine reliability has won two PhD students from UNSW Canberra Amelia Earhart Fellowships.
Priyanka Dhopade and Sheila Tobing, from the School of Engineering and Information Technology, have both received $10,000 from the fellowship, which helps women pursuing advanced studies in aerospace-related sciences and engineering achieve their research goals.
Tobing's research is taking cues from the flying abilities of bumblebees and hoverflies, to further enhance Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs), which are machines capable of performing surveillance, reconnaissance and other tasks in situations deemed to be hostile to humans.
Read the full story on the UNSW website
Two UNSW Canberra PhD researchers received the Amelia Earhart Fellowship
The Amelia Earhart Fellowship helps talented women currently pursuing PhDs in the field of aerospace-related sciences and aerospace-related engineering. The fellowship of US$10,000 is awarded to 35 Fellows around the globe annually by the Zonta International who work towards women's advancement and education worldwide.
Priyanka's research is in Aerospace Engineering and her project focuses on Aeromechanical modeling of gas turbine engine components. Sheila is doing a research on Effects of Aeroelasticity on Flapping Wing Propulsion – A Case Study of Bumblebees and Hoverflies.
This is an outstanding achievement and we congratulate both Priyanka and Sheila and wish them both all the best in their future career.
Launch of the Australian Centre for the Study of Armed Conflict and Society
"The announcement of the Prime Minister on Australian troop withdrawals highlights the challenges in conducting effective military interventions," said Professor Jeffrey Grey, Director of the Australian Centre for the Study of Armed Conflict and Society (ACSACS).
"ACSACS provides a significant new opportunity to understand and improve the effectiveness of these interventions and is particularly timely given the transition phase about to begin in Afghanistan," said Professor Grey.
The Australian Centre for Study of Armed Conflict and Society (ACSACS) was launched today by Mr Stephen Loosley, Chairman, Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
"This Centre will be a valuable national asset and will greatly improve our understanding of armed conflict and its impact on our society, "said Mr Loosley.
"ACSACS will add to the national capability and consolidates a longstanding tradition of excellence at UNSW in understanding the complex issues surrounding armed conflict and military engagement," said Professor Michael Frater, Rector of UNSW Canberra located at the Australian Defence Force Academy.
ACSACS promotes academic scholarship in military history, applied military ethics and stabilisation of fragile states. The Centre combines the strengths of research with the close links with Defence unique to UNSW.
"The establishment of ACSACS offers us an enormous opportunity to tie together the cultural side of military history with rigorous, applied research and a contemporary approach to armed conflict", said Professor Grey.
The Centre will engage in a range of research and teaching activities and public debate on armed conflict and society. Its work will also bring a significant new perspective to understanding of and activities surrounding the Centenary for the Great War and other upcoming anniversaries.
The ACSACS Launch was attended by dignitaries from the Department of Defence, Department of Veterans' Affairs, RSL, The Australian War Memorial and the National Portrait Gallery, various industries, Ambassadors, High Commissioners and Defence Attaches from New Zealand, Belgium, South Africa, Canada, Pakistan and the UK.
AVAILABLE FOR COMMENT:
Professor Michael Frater, Rector of UNSW Canberra
Professor Jeffery Grey, Director of ACSACS
RESEARCHERS:
Associate Professor Anthony Burke: security studies, international ethics, Southeast Asian Security, Middle East conflict, terrorism, political and international relations;
Dr Stephen Coleman: applied military ethics, practical applications of human rights;
Dr Craig Stockings: military history;
Professor Satish Chand: stabilisation of fragile states, economic growth and development.
Media Contact
Natalia Komarova, Public Relations Manager
tel: 02 6268 8760, mobile: 0434 662 874, e-mail: n.komarova@adfa.edu.au
UNSW Canberra ACT 2600 Australia CRICOS Provider Code 00100G
About ACSACS – www.acsacs.unsw.adfa.edu.au
The Australian Centre for Study of Armed Conflict and Society (ACSACS) is a multi-disciplinary research and teaching Centre located at UNSW Canberra.
ACSACS consolidates and perpetuates a longstanding tradition of excellence at UNSW in understanding the complex issues surrounding armed conflict and military engagement.
ACSACS promotes academic scholarship in military history, applied ethics, security and strategic studies, international law, fragile states, peacekeeping and nation building.
The Centre brings together practitioners, research fellows and student interns across disciplines to engage in a range of research and teaching activities and public debate on armed conflict and society.
ACSACS combines the strengths of academic research with the close links with Defence that are unique to UNSW. Through this research and its impact, ACSACS produces education programs, publications and a suite of community engagement activities.
ACSACS was launched in conjunction with the "ANZAC Exhibition" that highlights the unique military history manuscript collection of the Academy Library and features materials related WWI and WWII, Vietnam War and current global operations of ADF providing humanitarian assistance in the reconstruction of fragile states, such as Afghanistan, Bougainville and Timor Leste.
In Good Hands: The Life of Dr Sam Stening, POW
12 April
Book Launch: In Good Hands
Launched by: Rear Admiral Ken Doolan, National President of the RSL
When: Thursday 12 April, 2012, 5.00pm – 6.30pm
Where: The Co-op Bookshop, UNSW Canberra, Australian Defence Force
Academy, Northcott Drive, Campbell
In Good Hands tells a fascinating story about Surgeon Samuel 'Sam' Stening, Royal Australian Navy doctor who, as a prisoner for three and a half years of the Japanese, saved the lives of many servicemen.
"The book fittingly commemorates the 70th anniversary of the Battles of the Java Sea", says author Dr Ian Pfennigwerth. "Australian, American, British and Dutch ships engaged vastly superior Japanese invasion fleets bound for Java. Over 2,000 Allied sailors were killed and hundreds taken prisoner. Sam's conduct from capture to liberation exemplifies the finest qualities expected of an Australian naval officer and medical practitioner".
A paediatrician in civilian life, Sam joined the Royal Australian Navy at the outbreak of war. Posted to the cruiser Perth for her return to Australia, Sam stayed with the ship for her final deployment to Java and sinking in Sunda Strait on 1 March 1942. Sam was the only medical officer to survive and, although wounded, Sam found himself plunged into the POW doctoring experience from the moment of his rescue by a Japanese destroyer.
After liberation, physically and mentally exhausted by his experiences, Sam drew on the strength of his wife Olivia and the support of his family to re-establish himself in paediatrics, and rose to the top of his profession.
In Good Hands is Dr. Ian Pfennigwerth's sixth book and his second associated with the WW2 cruiser HMAS Perth. Dr Pfennigwerth, Naval Historian, served 35 years in the Royal Australian Navy in postings which included command of the successor to Stening's ship, the guided missile destroyer HMAS Perth. Awarded a PhD in 2005, he has written and published extensively on naval history. Dr Pfennigwerth is a Visiting Fellow at the UNSW in Canberra and has edited the Journal of Australian Naval History for five years.
The book will be launched by Rear Admiral Ken Doolan, National President of the RSL on Thursday 12 April, 2012 at 5.00pm. The Launch will be followed by light refreshments and signed copies of the book will also be available for sale.
For further information, please contact Natalia Komarova, Public Relations Manager, UNSW Canberra on (02) 6268 8760 or email n.komarova@adfa.edu.au
Can Noda link Japan's tax and administrative reform?
13 March
Author: Aurelia George Mulgan, UNSW Canberra
www.eastasiaforum.org
In dealing with the difficult politics of increasing Japan's consumption tax, the administration of Yoshihiko Noda is planning to sweeten tax reform with administrative reform. The prime minister's proposed tax reform includes the staged introduction of consumption tax increases over three years from 5 to 8 per cent by April 2014, and then to 10 per cent by October 2015. Administrative reform will see 'wasteful' government spending being cut, for example, by getting rid of several government-affiliated agencies and abolishing or integrating numerous budget special accounts or merging them with the general account.
Prior to the 2011 Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) presidential race, Noda's mentor, former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa, advised him that if he were planning to raise taxes, he had to make sure he paired this process with administrative reform in order to make it more politically palatable. Hosokawa pointed out to Noda that his own plan for a national welfare tax failed because he did not try to implement it at the same time as tackling administrative reforms.
Read the full story at www.eastasiaforum.org
Claims cables show Australia complicit in E Timor starvation
21 March
www.radioaustralia.net.au
The Australian Government is trying block the release of secret diplomatic cables relating to East Timor in the late 1970s, arguing it has a responsibility to protect sensitive information.
It's thought the cables were written by senior Australian diplomats who were appalled by what they saw on a visit to East Timor and warn of the scale of famine in the country that was at the time occupied by Indonesia.
Traditionally, government documents and diplomatic cables are available for release after 30.
Read the full story at http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/radio/onairhighlights/australian-government-blocks-access-to-secret-cables-on-east-timor
Poem to go home in spirit of peace
18 March
Tom Hyland
www.theage.com.au
AROUND the time the Australian soldier arrived in Vietnam, one of the enemy he had been sent to fight paused after marching through the night. He sat, took out a pen and student's notebook and wrote a poem. He called it Letter in Spring and it was addressed to ''my love who is at home''.
His loved one never saw the poem and the delicate drawing that illustrated it. But the Australian did, and even though he couldn't read it, he knew a powerful part of its meaning.
As well as love, the Vietnamese soldier wrote of his patriotic duty, of how he was on the front line, on the eve of a battle that he hoped would defeat the foreign soldiers who would be ''buried in black mud''. He wrote in a flowing, sloping script and decorated the page with a drawing of a landscape showing a tiny bird sitting on a fragile branch, surrounded by blossom.
The Vietnamese soldier didn't live to see what he longed for, even though the foreign soldiers were defeated. He might have been buried in black mud, if he had a grave at all.
Read the full story in The Age: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/poem-to-go-home-in-spirit-of-peace-20120317-1vce2.html#ixzz1pVbqvn00
Mr Andrew Blyth is the 2012 Fulbright Professional Australia-U.S. Alliance Studies Scholar
"2012 is the UN International Year of Sustainable Energy for All. Universal access to energy, improved efficiency and enhanced deployment of renewable sources are ambitious goals set by the UN. This initiative will call for private sector and national commitments and attract global attention to the importance of energy for development and poverty alleviation. The question now is how these goals will be achieved in light of current global financial developments."
Mr Andrew Blyth, Principal, hartley blyth & associates is the winner of the 2012 Fulbright Professional Scholarship in Australia-U.S. Alliance Studies sponsored by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Through his Fulbright Andrew will spend four months at the University of Texas-Austin researching market and policy incentives that will actively drive private sector investment in sustainable energy development and reducing energy poverty levels.
"The issue of third world poverty is a challenge for nation-states as it bears upon national security and contributes significantly to the rise of conflict and instability. Climate change, fragile states and the impacts of natural disasters pose additional threats to any potential progress in alleviating this problem," Andrew said.
Addressing this inequity requires international recognition that the projected rise in people enduring energy poverty is intolerable and that a new financial, institutional, and technological framework is required.
"Governments alone cannot resolve this issue and this project will evaluate the UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and identify market and policy incentives that will drive private sector investment in the Asia-Pacific region for the post-2015 MDG period."
Andrew aims to produce a research paper that will promote discussion and add to the current global energy policy debate, particularly in Australia and the United States.
"For a project like this to be successful it requires collaboration with, and advice from, private and public sector organisations such as the World Bank, IMF, Asia Development Bank, universities, multilateral aid agencies, policy think-tanks, utility companies and financial institutions, US Department of Energy and the United Nations (UN-Energy). Being based in the United States will provide ease of access to key organisations and people," Andrew said.
Andrew has a BA in political science and an MA (International Relations) from Deakin University. His achievements include being appointed as Chief of Staff to a federal Cabinet Minister and as Chief Executive of a national energy association. Andrew was awarded a political exchange for the US Presidential Election in 2000. He is currently undertaking a second Masters degree with a focus on business, finance and leadership. He is also now a tutor in strategy, management and leadership at UNSW Canberra.
The prestigious Fulbright program is the largest educational scholarship of its kind, created by U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright and the U.S. Government in 1946. Aimed at promoting mutual understanding through educational exchange, it operates between the U.S. and 155 countries. In Australia, the scholarships are funded by the Australian and U.S. Governments and corporate partners and administered by the Australian-American Fulbright Commission in Canberra. Andrew is one of 25 talented Australians to be recognised as a Fulbright Scholar in 2012.
Religion's place in Australia
5 March
Professor Jenny Stewart
The Canberra Times
The mainstream Christian churches face a particular challenge in getting their message out in this highly secularised country.
Recently, Baroness Warsi, a Conservative Cabinet minister in Britain's coalition government, and also a Muslim, criticised what she saw as a trend towards ''militant secularisation'' in European society. By this, she meant that religion was being downgraded in the public sphere. Europe, she wrote, should be more comfortable in its Christianity and less timid about its religious heritage. The Baroness's comments followed a case brought by an atheist Councillor from Bideford Town Council in Devon in Britain, objecting to the presence of prayers on the agenda for council meetings. A High Court judge found, somewhat surprisingly as the original action had been brought under anti-discrimination legislation, that the council's practice contravened the Local Government Act. The Council could still hold its prayers, the court ruled, but could no longer effectively compel attendance. An appeal, from the religious side, is contemplated.
Read the full opinion piece on The Canberra Times website.
New scientific discovery sheds light on catastrophic bushfire behaviour
30 January
A new form of bushfire behaviour, which can have a potentially catastrophic effect on the development of fires burning in rugged terrain, has been identified by a team of researchers from UNSW Canberra, the ACT Emergency Services Agency and ACT Territory and Municipal Services.
This fundamental scientific breakthrough introduces the important phenomenon - "fire channelling" - and its implications for bushfire suppression and management. Importantly, the research findings raise questions about the effectiveness of established mitigation practices, including fuel reduction burning and vegetation removal around houses.
The research was based on data collected during the January 2003 alpine fires in the ACT and NSW, combined with data collected by the researchers as part of the Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre's HighFire Risk Project.
The research team found that intense fire spread could occur at right angles to the direction a fire would be expected to spread, with numerous spot fires then carrying the fire down-wind. This fire spread was at odds with known forms of bushfire behaviour and was found to occur exclusively on steep slopes that face away from the wind (known as "lee-facing slopes"), where fire behaviour would normally be milder.
"The overall result is the formation of extensive regions of active flaming, which can then trigger the formation of a firestorm," said Dr Jason Sharples from UNSW Canberra. "This provides a new understanding of what happened during the Canberra bushfires in January 2003."
"During the 2003 fires it was simply not known that a fire could behave in such a way," said Mr Rick McRae from the ACT Emergency Services Agency, a co-author of the research. "As such it is important to recognise that improving the advice provided to the community during extreme bushfire events may require a protracted wait while the science progresses."
The research also provides new insights into Victoria's Black Saturday bushfires in 2009.
"One of the likely consequences of the unusual fire behaviour is the mass production of embers, such as was seen on Black Saturday. The ember storm that impacted Canberra suburbs in January 2003 is another case in point. It is important to now re-evaluate the way that fuel reduction burning is applied in order to minimise ember production," said Dr Sharples.
"The phenomenon is not unique to Australia. Indeed, there have been a number of wildfires around the globe in which 'fire channelling' is likely to have played a part and we are now working with a number of international collaborations. With the prospect of more frequent extreme bushfires due to the effects of climate change, it is important that bushfire management agencies learn about unusual effects like 'fire channelling'," he said.
To help prevent fire-fighters being injured or killed, the research team is now working on incorporating the research findings into the national bushfire training curriculum.
"Another outcome of the research is demonstrating the importance of carefully observing wildfires, including the use of sophisticated remote sensing technology. A lot of the science coming from recent wildfires would not have happened unless fire agencies and others put these systems in place in the lead-up to the fire season," said Mr McRae.
The research has been published in the International Journal of Wildland Fire, and is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/WF10055.
Media Contact: Natalia Komarova, UNSW Canberra at ADFA, m: 04 34 662 874, e: n.komarova@adfa.edu.au
Professor John Baird - Member of the Order of Australia
26 January
In the Australia Day honours list, Professor John Baird, former Rector of UNSW Canberra, has been made a Member of the Order of Australia for service to higher education, particularly through the Australian Defence Force Academy, and to the discipline of engineering as an academic and researcher.
We at UNSW Canberra congratulate John on his award!