associate professor scott johnston arc future fellow 2011 › media › scueduau › research ›...
Post on 24-Jun-2020
7 Views
Preview:
TRANSCRIPT
CRICOS Provider: NSW 01241G, QLD 03135E, WA 02621K
Associate Professor Scott Johnston ARC Future Fellow 2011
VC welcomeSouthern Cross University continued to develop
its research profile in 2011, building on its
success in the 2010 Excellence in Research for
Australia national report. Receiving the top rating
of ‘well above world standard’ in the field of
geochemistry, and at or above world standard in
the areas of earth sciences, agriculture, forestry
and nursing, was an exceptional result for a
University of our size and age.
Our overall research income through the
Australian Competitive Grants also increased
significantly during 2011 and as a result we are
now in the category of a Research Intensive
University. Our researchers also continued to
gain national acknowledgement. Among these
achievements were an Australian Research
Council (ARC) Future Fellowship, awarded to
Associate Professor Scott Johnston in Southern
Cross GeoScience, and an ARC Discovery
Early Career Researcher Award to Dr Joanne
Oakes in the Centre for Coastal Biogeochemistry
Research.
A key event during 2011 was the inaugural
Vice Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence. These
awards provided an opportunity to recognise the
outstanding achievements of our staff. Reflecting
their contribution to the University’s ERA success,
the joint winners of the Vice Chancellor’s Award
for Excellence in Research were Professor
Leigh Sullivan and Professor Richard Bush, co-
directors of Southern Cross GeoScience, and
Professor Bradley Eyre, director of the Centre
for Coastal Biogeochemistry Research. The
2012 Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in
Research has been awarded to Professor Anne
Graham, director of the Centre for Children and
Young People in the School of Education.
As you will read in this Research Report, the
impact of our research is widespread, from using
plants to help counter cancer and heart disease
to helping problem gamblers. We are also
investing in our early and mid-career researchers,
placing increased emphasis on research training
and in our emerging research areas including
health and nursing, cognitive neuroscience and
forest science.
Professor Peter Lee FTSE
Vice Chancellor Front cover: Associate Professor Scott Johnston was awarded a highly prestigious ARC Future Fellowship in 2011 to conduct his project ‘Sea-level rise as a driver for arsenic mobilisation: unravelling the fundamental hydrogeochemical controls’ ($709,000). The ARC’s Future Fellowships aim to attract and retain the best and brightest mid-career researchers whose work is deemed of critical national importance. See full story, page 9.
Welcome 2
Year in Review 3
Excellence in Research Australia 5
Southern Cross GeoScience 6
Southern Cross Plant Science 10
Centre for Coastal Biogeochemistry Research 14
Marine Ecology Research Centre 17
Centre for Children and Young People 22
Centre for Gambling Education and Research 25
Research Centre for Tourism, Leisure and Work 28
Emerging research 31
Research training 33
Citizen science 34
Contacts 35
The information contained in this publication is correct at the time of printing. Copyright Southern Cross University 2012.
2
Year in review
Research Income by Category
Rese
arc
h Incom
e
$0
$2,000,000
$4,000,000
$6,000,000
$8,000,000
$10,000,000
$12,000,000
$14,000,000
$16,000,000
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
Research In
come
Years
Research Income by Category
CRCs
Industry & Other
Public Sector
NCG (Cat 1)
CRC’s
Industry & Other
Public Sector
NCG (Cat 1)
Years
Weighted Publication by Category
Years
Pu
blic
ati
on
s
Conference Papers
Journal Articles
Book Chapters
Books0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Publica(
ons
Years
Weighted Publica(ons by Category
Conference Papers Journal Ar;cles
Book Chapters
Books
I am delighted to present the 2011 Research
Report. The data provided in this introduction
highlights an important shift in the research profile
of Southern Cross University.
The Higher Education Research and Development
Collection (HERDC) has indicated an increase
of nearly $1.5 million (68 per cent) in research
income derived from Category 1, Australian
Competitive Grant income. The University has
now moved into the category of a Research
Intensive University according to the Sustainable
Research Excellence assessment. Indeed all
categories of research income increased in 2011,
except CRC income, which resulted in an overall
increase in research income of approximately
$2.9 million (30 per cent).
Our outstanding research success continues
in the field of geochemistry, with the Special
Research Centre, Southern Cross GeoScience
and the Centre for Coastal Biogeochemistry
Research being the main contributors to this area.
Another important success for SCU in 2011 was
an Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage
Grant in the Centre for Children and Young
People, in the School of Education, signalling
growing strength in other areas of SCU’s
research profile.
There was also a significant increase (nearly
50 per cent) in publications in 2011, especially
in the important category of journal articles.
The Schools of Health and Human Sciences,
Environment, Science and Engineering and
Tourism and Hospitality Management were major
contributors to this increase. This significant
increase in publications provides confidence
that SCU will improve its standing in the 2012
Excellence in Research for Australia assessment
of research quality.
SCU began to receive Collaborative Research
Network (CRN) funding in 2011. SCU was
3
awarded approximately $4.6 million in funding
to assist with the development of close research
relationships with The University of Queensland in
the area of economic sustainability, The University
of New South Wales in the area of social policy
and The University of Sydney in the area of
health. These collaborations are proving to be an
important catalyst to improving SCU’s research
performance as our researchers partner with high
quality research groups.
The 2010 Research Report noted the importance
of SCU’s participation in CRCs to its research
strategy. Indeed, CRCs are still important to
SCU’s research profile. The University is currently
a core participant in the following CRCs:
• CRCforWoundManagement
• CRCforInfrastructureandEngineering
Asset Management
• CRCforRemoteEconomicParticipation
• CRCforContaminationAssessmentand
Remediation of the Environment
• CRCforRailInnovation.
In 2011 the Research Training Unit continued
to co-ordinate improvements in all aspects of
candidate management. One notable result was
that on-time completion rates for HDR students
were 23 per cent higher as a result of increased
efforts to streamline completion processes and
timelines.
Finally, the changing nature of research at SCU
was evidenced by the appointment of Professor
Leigh Sullivan to the ARC College in Physics,
Chemistry and Earth Sciences.
Professor Neal Ryan
Pro Vice Chancellor (Research)
Num
ber
of
candid
ate
s
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Num
ber o
f Can
dida
tes
Year
Comple4ons By Research Degree
DBA
PhD
Masters
DBA
PhD
Masters
Completions by Research Degree
Years
Total Enrolments by Research Degree
Years
Nu
mb
er
of
candid
ate
s
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Num
ber o
f Can
dida
tes
Years
Total Enrolments by Research Degree
DBA
PhD
Masters
DBA
PhD
Masters
Year in review
4
ERA results raise University research profileSCU has experienced significant positive
flow-on effects from its results in the
federal government’s 2010 Excellence
in Research for Australia (ERA) exercise,
according to Pro Vice Chancellor
(Research) Professor Neal Ryan.
SCU was rated at or above world
standard in the research areas of
geochemistry, earth sciences, agriculture,
forestry and nursing in the 2010 ERA
exercise conducted by the ARC.
“It has raised the whole profile of the
University in terms of being a serious
research university and puts us into a new
category of research funding. It signals our
commitment to being a research-intensive
university,’’ Professor Ryan said.
“SCU was founded as an independent
university in the mid-1990s. The ERA
assessment has had strong benefits
for SCU researchers, and aspiring
researchers.
“In the areas in which we are
demonstrating good ERA ratings, we are
finding that prestigious grant funding is
being awarded to our ERA recognised
research teams. Also higher degree
research students are increasingly seeking
opportunities to be involved with these
world-class researchers.’’
ERA has turned SCU researchers’
attention towards producing quality
outputs - not just quantity - in high
quality journals and achieving national
competitive grants from high prestige
granting agencies.
“The major change is reflected in our
publication data which shows that
academics are tending to publish in higher
quality research publications. There has
been an increased focus on publishing
as an academic output,” Professor Ryan
said.
One positive outcome from ERA is that
there has been an increase in the overall
number of publications in high quality
scholarly journals.
The SCU research culture has also been
improved through the ERA encouraging
more communication between senior
researchers and early career researchers
and PhD candidates.
“I am noticing a lot more mentoring from
the senior researchers to assist those
researchers. There’s more mentoring
going on across the whole University. It is
likely that senior researchers are trying to
assist early career researchers publish in
good quality journals,’’ he said.
Professor Ryan said the University
was seeking to repeat SCU’s ERA top
rating in geochemistry, win a new ‘well
above world standard’ rating in another
discipline, and was working for two more
‘above world standard’ rankings.
SCU expects to be stronger in areas
including nursing, forestry, zoology and
crop and pasture production, he said.
5
6
Southern Cross GeoScienceDuring 2011, Southern Cross
GeoScience enhanced its status as a
world class research centre. The Special
Research Centre, led by Professor
Richard Bush and Professor Leigh
Sullivan, experienced outstanding
success in obtaining Australian
Competitive Grants, publishing in high
impact research journals and attracting
new staff. The Centre also continued
its focus on the education and training
of undergraduate and postgraduate
students as well as external industry
representatives.
Southern Cross GeoScience, established
in 2008, is dedicated to improving the
understanding and management of the
natural environment. The Centre conducts
fundamental and applied research into a
wide range of earth sciences, including:
advanced geochemistry of acid sulfate
soils; iron-sulfur biogeochemistry of
wetland soils; aqueous environmental
chemistry; climate-paleo reconstruction;
and carbon biosequestration.
During 2011 there were a number of
large, prestigious grants awarded to
Southern Cross GeoScience. In late
2011, the Centre received five ARC
grants, including an ARC Fellowship to
Associate Professor Scott Johnston,
an ARC Linkage Project to Associate
Professor Scott Johnston and Associate
Professor Ed Burton, and an ARC
LIEF project to develop a cutting-edge
analytical laser awarded to Professor
Bush and colleagues.
Southern Cross GeoScience was
one of the major contributors to the
research code 0402 geochemistry for
the University, which received the highest
rating of five in the ERA 2010 report.
In 2011 the staff in Southern Cross
GeoScience published a total of 18
journal articles, of which 13 were in the
highest ranked journals in ERA 2010, and
seven major consultancy reports.
Highlights of 2011 included:
Arsenic mobilisation on coastal floodplains under sea level
During 2011, a highly prestigious ARC
Future Fellowship was awarded to
Associate Professor Scott Johnston to
conduct his project ‘Sea-level rise as a
driver for arsenic mobilisation: unravelling
the fundamental hydrogeochemical
controls’ ($709,000). The ARC’s Future
Fellowships aim to attract and retain the
best and brightest mid-career researchers
whose work is deemed of critical national
importance.
More than 100 million people in south-
east Asia rely on arsenic-contaminated
groundwater for drinking and other
domestic purposes. Arsenic is a highly
toxic element found naturally in the
environment, however its behaviour is
poorly understood, particularly in iron-
rich, coastal floodplains and lowlands
with dynamic hydrology. The problem
is particularly acute in the coastal
floodplains and lowlands of Asia, such as
on the Ganges and Mekong deltas. For
the next four years Professor Johnston’s
investigation will explore how arsenic
behaves in these complex coastal
environments. Research undertaken by
Southern Cross GeoScience has shown
that when these lowlands are inundated
with seawater, the iron oxides dissolve
causing associated arsenic to be released
into the groundwater, surrounding soil
and in some cases into waterways.
Understanding geochemistry of freshwater floodplain wetlands
Also awarded in 2011 was an ARC
Linkage project to Professor Johnston
and Associate Professor Ed Burton to
reveal how major re-flooding will influence
the cycling of iron, sulfur and carbon in
acidic, freshwater wetlands ($250,000).
The project was one of only five ARC
Linkage Projects awarded in the earth
sciences field of research, and is being
delivered in partnership with Port
Macquarie-Hastings Council and Great
Lakes Council. The three-year project will
generate the necessary knowledge to
underpin wise long-term management of
these sensitive and unique landscapes.
Cutting-edge analytical geochemical facility
One of Southern Cross GeoScience’s
other major successes of 2011 was
an ARC LIEF project awarded to
Professor Bush, Associate Professor
Burton, Associate Professor Andrew
Rose, Associate Professor Anja
Scheffers, and Dr Sanders Scheffers,
to develop a cutting-edge analytical
geochemical facility ($200,000). This
project is led by new research associate,
Dr Renaud Joannes-Boyau.
Special Research Centres
6
The new facility will feature a high-
resolution laser ablation (LA) attached
to an inductively coupled plasma mass
spectrometer (ICP-MS), specifically
designed for trace element analyses.
The LA-ICP-MS facility will enhance the
Centre’s reputation as a leader in its field.
Exploring the availability of iron in the world’s oceans
During 2011, Associate Professor Rose
was a recipient of an ARC Discovery
Grant, through collaboration with
colleagues at the University of NSW. The
project was awarded $450,000 to explore
iron bioavailability and contaminant
mobility in aqueous environments. The
project continues Professor Rose’s 2009
ARC QE11 Fellowship, exploring the
aqueous environmental chemistry of the
world’s ocean and the possible impact of
climate change.
Investigating the extinction of Australia’s megafauna
Dr Renaud Joannes-Boyau, one of
Southern Cross GeoScience’s newest
research associates, was a recipient
of an ARC Discovery Grant through
collaboration with colleagues at the
University of Queensland. The project
will explore several new methodologies
to date fossils to determine the
chronological sequence and the timing
of extinction of the Pleistocene
megafauna in Australia. The project
was awarded $115,000.
Innovative products from sugar cane waste
Southern Cross University’s Dr Malcolm
Clark and Southern Cross GeoScience’s
Dr Jeff Parr were awarded $193,000
from the Sugar Research & Development
Corporation in 2011 to investigate
innovative products from sugar cane fly
ash. In particular, they will be investigating
the production of zeolites for industrial
applications such as detergents and
water filtration, as well as the production
of geopolymers as chemically resistant
alternatives to concrete. This project
is also supported with an additional
$45,000 of funding from a local small
enterprise, Australian Biorefining.
Investigating past climatic eventsDuring 2011, Associate Professor
Scheffers continued work on her Future
Fellowship investigating past climatic
events along the Western Australia
coastline. Natural hazards such as
cyclones and tsunamis leave storm
induced deposits along the coastline,
which in turn provide a historical
record going back 7,000 years. By
reconstructing this history, storm and
cyclone risk under changing future
climates can be better assessed.
Successful grants were obtained from the
German Research Foundation and AINSE
in 2011 to further Professor Scheffers’
investigations.
Unraveling iron-sulfur biomineralisation
In June 2011, Associate Professor Burton
started a prestigious five-year ARC
Australian Research Fellowship (ARF)
examining iron-sulfur biomineralisation
processes in soils and sediments.
The project involves field studies and
laboratory experiments on the impact
that key environmental variables
play in controlling the formation and
transformation of reactive iron sulfide
minerals, and the effect of these iron
sulfide transformations on trace element
dynamics. This work has been supported
by additional grants from the Australian
Synchrotron Organisation and the
National Radiation Research Centre in
Taiwan.
New appointmentsSouthern Cross GeoScience’s successes
have attracted new research staff
including Dr Peter Kraal, from Utrecht
University in the Netherlands, and Dr
Renaud Joannes-Boyau, from the
Australian National University and
previously the University of Bordeaux III
in France. Southern Cross GeoScience
and Southern Cross Plant Science also
welcomed Dr Terry Rose as a joint post-
doctoral research fellow appointment.
Education and TrainingA special focus of Southern Cross
GeoScience is to actively engage with
students, professionals and the wider
community on geoscience-related issues.
Education and training continued as a
focus for the Centre in 2011, with the
following major highlights.
7
8
Acid Sulfate Soil Short Courses
Building upon its success in 2010, a
further five professional short courses
on acid sulfate soil management were
delivered across the country. Although
the Caring for our Country pilot program
has concluded, demand for the course
is high and Southern Cross GeoScience
will continue to run the course on an ‘as
needed’ basis. The program has many
benefits for GeoScience including the
opportunity to interact and communicate
with the end users of much of the
Centre’s research. The courses are led
by Professor Sullivan and organised by
Chrisy Clay.
Summer School
In January 2011, Southern Cross
GeoScience held its inaugural Summer
School. This new initiative was developed
to provide high achieving undergraduate
students enrolled at Australian universities
with an opportunity to experience
research life alongside Southern Cross
GeoScience scientists.
3rd National Acid Sulfate Soil Conference
During 2011, Southern Cross
GeoScience announced it would host the
3rd National Acid Sulfate Soil Conference
in March, 2012, the first national
conference held in Australia for 16 years.
Special Research Centres
Southern Cross GeoScience
Contact: geoscience@scu.edu.au
Website: scu.edu.au/geoscience
Phone: 02 6620 3519
8
Wetlands are ecologically productive and dynamic
systems, forming a critical part of the biosphere.
They are an interface between soil, water, air and
living organisms and are zones of intense cycling of
elements. In their natural state they provide critical
habitat and act as landscape-scale water filters.
ARC Future Fellow Associate Professor Scott
Johnston’s research has focused on improving the
understanding of interactions between the hydrology
and biogeochemistry in coastal floodplain wetlands
with acid sulfate soils.
“In Australia, many of our wetland systems are highly
degraded with their natural hydrological cycles
altered by artificial drainage,” Profesesor Johnston
said. “This is particularly the case in many coastal
floodplain wetlands, where acid sulfate soils are also
common. Alteration of natural hydrology by drainage
has led to a cascade of biogeochemical changes that
have caused acute degradation of water quality via
acidification, release of toxic metals and large-scale
de-oxygenation.”
“The research career I have had so far has very
practical dimensions and has helped various state and
local government and industry partners to quantify the
effectiveness of various wetland remediation strategies
that aim to improve water quality.
“Coastal wetlands with acid sulfate soils are truly
fascinating landscapes. Their seasonally dynamic
hydrology and abundant organic matter speed up
the generation and neutralisation of acidity and drive
rapid cycling of redox sensitive elements. This makes
them ideal natural laboratories to study redox sensitive
elements like iron, sulfur and arsenic.
“Many of our coastal wetlands have very low elevation,
making them vulnerable to seawater incursion
associated with sea-level rise. Seawater inundation has
big implications for water quality and geochemistry in
these systems.
“One really interesting feature is that behaviour of
redox sensitive elements in these systems is highly
interlinked. For example, our coastal floodplain
wetlands are naturally rich in iron-oxides. Arsenic
has a very strong affinity for iron oxides and is often
chemically bound with them.
However, when inundated, with freshwater or with
seawater, the iron oxides can undergo mineralogical
transformation or bacterially mediated dissolution. This
can release the associated arsenic into groundwater,
surrounding soil and in some cases into waterways.
Where the arsenic ends up and in what form greatly
depends on the local hydrology, so it is vital to study
the both geochemistry and hydrology in an integrated
manner.”
Exploring how hydrology and biogeochemistry control arsenic in floodplain wetlands
ARC Future Fellow Associate Professor
Scott Johnston
9
10
Southern Cross Plant Science Southern Cross University is becoming
a regional hub for a knowledge-driven
renaissance in primary plant production,
especially in crop and forestry science.
Southern Cross Plant Science (SCPS),
a Special Research Centre, addresses
the key strategic research drivers of food
security, human health and nutrition,
climate change, regional sustainability and
native plant conservation. The Centre’s
vision is to‘innovate and communicate’
by carrying out internationally competitive
research that adds value to the
conservation, cultivation and utilisation of
plants and other natural products, and so
underpins resilient regional development.
SCPS achieved high international
academic standards during 2011 in
research focused on the genetics,
genomics and phytochemistry
underpinning the selection, cultivation
and utilisation of plants. SCPS director
Professor Graham King was recruited in
2011 from the UK’s largest agricultural
research centre, Rothamsted Research,
where he was deputy scientific
director of the Centre for Crop Genetic
Improvement. Professor King is an
internationally renowned scientist in
the fields of crop genetics, quantitative
genetics, genomics and epigenetics
research underpinning plant breeding and
genetic diversity. He has a particularly
strong research record in brassica crops.
In 2011 SCPS refocused its research
effort and investment to fields of research
where SCU is able to achieve a critical
mass of internationally competitive
research excellence. For SCPS this
involved placing increased emphasis
on delivering to the fields of research
encompassed by crop production
and forestry science. In the next few
years, SCPS is well placed to extend
its research approach to deliver into
horticultural science and associated
added value natural products such as
‘functional foods’.
The Centre has an integrated portfolio
of research themes covering genetics,
genomics and phytochemistry
underpinning selection, cultivation and
utilisation of plants. Two major themes
focused on how plants interact and
adapt to the environment, and natural
product composition and quality.
Research infrastructure includes high
quality facilities for plant growth, pilot
scale extraction, analytical chemistry,
high throughput DNA sequencing,
genotyping and bioinformatics. This is
complemented by expertise in agronomy
and soil science. The production and
supply chain of natural products can be
followed from farm to human health by
integration with pharmacological analysis
and clinical trials. SCPS’s commodities
include nutritional food, bioactives and
other high value natural products from
oilseed, grain, horticultural and plantation
crops, forestry,herbal medicinal products
and functional foods.
SCPS worked with the University’s
National Marine Science Centre in Coffs
Harbour and other areas within the
University to understand and develop
natural products from the marine
environment, including molluscs and
algae.
In 2011, Professor King led more than
40 research and technical staff and
PhD students. With 15 post-doctoral
scientists, SCPS drew on expertise
and infrastructure in: agronomy and
plant physiology focused on soil
nutrition; bioinformatics crop, forest and
native plant genomics; DNA banking;
epigenetics; quantitative and diversity
genetics; and natural products and
medicine. SCPS research harvested
knowledge of how genetic and
environmental factors contribute to end-
use properties of crops and other added-
value natural products.
SCPS scientists published in high impact
refereed journals including: Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences
(PNAS USA), Nature Genetics, Plant
Physiology, Plant Biotechnology Journal,
Plant Journal, Genetics, New Phytologist,
Food Chemistry, and Journal of Cereal
Science.
The highlights of the Centre’s activities for
2011 included:
Tackling developing world hunger through richer soils
Much of the world’s arable soil is already
deficient in phosphate, so this fertiliser –
essential for plant DNA, lipids and energy
transfer processes – is required even for
decent crop yields.
Western agriculture and nutrition is built
on phosphate fertilisers, but low fertiliser
Special Research Centres
10
use and poor human sewage recycling
in Third World countries means African
soils are being ‘mined’ of the essential
phosphate needed for crop production
and nutrition.
Africa suffers typically poor crop yields
due to very low phosphate in the soil.
However, the phosphate-based fertiliser,
irrigation and mechanisation common
in developed countries are beyond the
means of typical small-holder, low-input
African and South-East Asian farmers.
To make matters worse, much of the
phosphate that crops take up is then
removed off-farm in the grain. Grain
phosphorus has little nutritional value
because it is mostly indigestible. After
human consumption, grain phosphorous
is deposited in local waterways as
sewage, where the excess phosphorous
becomes an environmental pollutant.
SCU research fellow Dr Terry Rose – an
early career researcher working on the
problem for three years – says Africans
are mining their soils of phosphorous. The
time will come when crops will no longer
grow because there is no phosphate left
in the soil.
Similarly, under Australia’s high-input
agricultural practices, expensive imported
fertiliser is stripped off in the grain, and
then exported overseas in what amounts
to a highly inefficient system.
Dr Rose is a part of a $750,000 Global
Rice Science Partnership consortium
comprising the Japan International
Research Centre for Agricultural Science,
AfricaRice, Yara International and the
International Rice Research Institute in
the Philippines.
The consortium is one of the few
research collaborations in the world
addressing the phosphorous problem
by making Third World small-holder
agriculture more sustainable through
nutritional, physiological, biochemical and
genetic management of plant phosphate
processes.
The primary aim of the research is to
reduce the amount of phosphorus
partitioned into rice grains, while
simultaneously increasing the amount of
phosphorus returned to the soil in leaf,
stem and root residue.
Dr Rose is investigating genetic diversity
in rice grain phosphorus content, which
will lead to identification of cultivars for
use in future rice breeding programs.
Other members of the consortium are
investigating the molecular processes
that drive the loading of phosphorus into
grains.
Better soil to crop matching through bioinformatics
Soils play a key part in shaping plant
growth, yield and composition. Plants
locally adapted to particular soil types
tend to perform better and have greater
chance of survival under adverse
conditions. For example, a crop plant
originating from Italy may not be suited to
red soils in Australia.
Traditionally, crops were based on local
selections or ‘landraces’ developed
over generations in particular farming
communities and locations.
However, industrialisation and exponential
population growth have focused crop
improvement on yield and uniformity.
Intensive agriculture has also resulted in
‘genetic erosion’ or less natural genetic
diversity within crop species.
Advances in DNA sequencing technology
is providing a detailed understanding
of the underlying genetics for crops
and other plants from across the globe.
Bioinformatics is the science of using
computer databases and algorithms to
analyse, manage, and store biological
data, especially genomes and protein
sequences.
SCPS researchers are confident they can
combine bioinformatics with emergent
geographic information systems to map
the distribution of plants with variation in
their genetic make-up. This will provide
far more ‘intelligence’ on how to breed
crops for specific regions.
Strengthening citizen science through nature Atlas
SCPS is making significant contributions
to the six-year-old national Atlas of Living
Australia (ALA). The project is aimed at
unlocking and integrating data on plants,
animals, fungi and microorganisms which
are currently distributed within diverse
platforms and media across Australia.
The Southern Cross Medicinal Plant
Herbarium, managed by Dr Hans
Wohlmuth, is now registered with the ALA
and is commencing a systematic process
of imaging specimens to make them
available in the public domain.
A unique collection of Eucalypt
specimens – made in a bequest to
SCPS some years ago – is now being
processed with high resolution images to
feature in the ALA.
SCU researchers – representing one of
the two university partners in ALA – are
also searching across various ‘layers’ of
geographically-based ALA information in
terrestrial and marine environments, to
yield new lines of enquiry and research.
All Australians have been invited to add
sightings and samples to the growing
scientific knowledge of Australian species
through the online encyclopaedia
www.ala.org.au
Understanding how geography drives new bird species
The DNA sequencing, bioinformatics
expertise and facilities in SCPS are
also being used to better understand
the forces driving species diversity in
Australasian birds, and helping to secure
their future.
National Marine Science Centre director
Professor Les Christidis is developing a
research program that will compare the
patterns of diversification in bird species
and their associated plant ecosystems.
During 2011 Professor Christidis,
together with colleagues in Denmark, 11
Sweden, the United States and Australia,
published five papers that explored
the processes and mechanisms by
which species diversity is generated in
Australasian birds.
Although much focus is on conserving
extant biodiversity, Professor Christidis
believes it is also important to conserve
the ecological and evolutionary processes
that will generate future diversity.
New species evolve when a geographical
barrier arises that splits a population
into two. Such barriers typically include
mountain ranges, habitat breaks and
rivers.
Professor Christidis found ecological
separation along a habitat cline can also
lead to the formation of new species,
which is especially the case in the
mountains of Papua New Guinea.
Further, the impacts of geographical
barriers were found to vary, even within
closely related species. Ground-doves
in the Philippines do not cross water
barriers and each island appears to have
a distinct species or race of ground-dove.
Conversely, in the Pacific, ground-doves
have colonised islands that are separated
by water barriers over 1200km.
Understanding why birds can cross
some water barriers and not others has
implications for studies looking at invasive
species and pests. As part of his research
Professor Christidis and colleagues
described two new subfamilies and one
new genus of Australasian robins.
The journey to domesticate home-grown native rice grass
SCU scientists presented the latest
research outcomes on native wild rice
relatives to plant breeders, geneticists
and commercial growers from Australia
and around the world.
SCPS researchers Dr Frances Shapter,
a molecular scientist investigating
Australian native grasses as an alternative
food source, and Dr Daniel Waters, a
rice molecular geneticist, presented
the outcomes of their work at the 2nd
Australian Wild Rice Symposium.
“Australia is the custodian of a globally
significant treasure of naturally occurring
rice relatives which are poorly understood
and under threat,” said Dr Shapter.
Australian wild rice grows in a diverse
range of environments and its grain has
unique starch and nutritional properties.
Most importantly, Australian wild rice is
geographically isolated from cultivated
rice and so it contains much more genetic
diversity in comparison to Asian wild rice.
‘These unique species are an invaluable
resource which can contribute to world
food security by being used as sources of
disease resistance and stress tolerance.’
Cultivating native rice may have
environmental benefits and could offer
new employment opportunities for the
communities of northern Australia. Where
these species can be developed as new
crops for commercial production it will
enhance sustainable diversification of
agricultural practice.
SCU has worked with Australian wild rice
since the late 1990s. During this time,
research projects have characterised the
diversity of grain morphology and quality
and investigated the genetic diversity at
the gene and genomic level across the
Australian wild rice relatives.
The work of SCPS on the Australian
wild rices has been supported through
national and international collaborative
research grants, and important links have
been developed with industry.
An example has been SCPS collaborative
research with Native Seeds Pty Ltd
on Microlaena stipoides, or Weeping
Ricegrass, which has been undertaken
for the past eight years through a variety
of nationally competitive grants.
M. stipoides is a perennial dryland relative
of the Australian Oryza, which has been
targeted for domestication because of
its production of rice-like grains, good
nutritional properties, amenable plant
architecture and its intrinsic adaptation to
the Australian environment.
It is hoped this species can be developed
into a valuable speciality crop which
delivers both human grain food and
animal fodder.
Chairing the Rice Symposium was
Professor Robert Henry, director of the
Queensland Alliance for Agriculture
and Food Innovation (QAAFI) based at
the University of Queensland and the
former head of SCU’s Centre for Plant
Conservation Genetics.
Dr Shapter has recently been appointed
as an adjunct research fellow at UQ, a
move that will pave the way for greater
collaborative research opportunities with
QAAFI.
Southern Cross Plant Science
Special Research Centres
Contact: scps@scu.edu.au
Website: scu.edu.au/scps
Phone: 02 6620 3356
12
Broccoli family has greater potentialSouthern Cross Plant Science director Professor
Graham King delivered a keynote address in Spain at a
a conference attended by representatives of the food
industry from around the world.
It may seem overkill to stage an international event
for the popular member of the brassica family
which – along with its brassica relatives, cauliflower,
cabbage and Brussels sprouts – is avoided by children
worldwide.
But the scientifically demonstrated role of these leafy
greens in helping counter cancer and heart disease,
as well as their ‘bio-fortification’ potential to deliver
extra calcium and magnesium, to pregnant women for
example, had the conference abuzz.
“There are chemicals within the brassica family called
glucosinolates, known to reduce the growth of tumours.
There’s a growing industry in Australia and elsewhere
for fresh broccoli, broccoli sprout powder and
extracts,’’ Professor King said.
Studies have established that consumption of some
brassicas can change the metabolism of humans
activate different enzymes within the liver, resulting in a
protective anti-tumour effect.
While the science on brassica’s anti-cancer properties
is two decades old, Professor King – part of an
international project to improve mineral nutrition
in humans – estimates that at most only a quarter
of Australians are aware of their potential. Billions
worldwide consume insufficient minerals such as
calcium and magnesium.
Calcium deficiency reduces bone strength and so
increases fracture-risks and osteoporosis, while
magnesium deficiency is related to hypertension,
cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure in
pregnancy.
Modest increases in the concentrations of these
minerals in brassicas would yield significant beneficial
effects for people in Western countries, and especially
the malnourished in developing countries, he says.
Professor King – published in Nature Genetics and
Genetics and recognised internationally for his
contribution to understanding the domestication of the
cauliflower – has been working on bio-fortification for
more than eight years.
Researchers have shown that leafy brassica crops are
ideal to fortify with calcium and magnesium.
“We are looking at the genetic variations we know exist
in wild relatives of brassica and in different crop types,
and trying to use the understanding of the genetics
to enhance the levels of calcium and magnesium
available,” he said. “We are also aiming to understand
how those levels may vary depending on the soils and
how the plants are grown.’’
The driver is to increase calcium because many people
just don’t get enough of this essential mineral from
other dietary sources, including dairy products.
“We know from our studies of the diversity within
brassica that there’s a considerable variation in the
amount of calcium taken up by the plant,” Professor
King said.
“We want to harness that, and to be able to predict how
cultivation practices and soil types affect the delivery of
the glucosinolates and minerals.”
His research with colleagues in the UK is focused
on two fronts. First, the screening of wild relatives of
domesticated brassica for promising variations likely to
promote uptake of the desired minerals in the plant.
“We have been screening genetic resource collections
for variation in mineral content, especially among wild
kales,” he said.
“Some of these wild relatives of brassica are very
distinct and quite unrecognisable compared with the
familiar vegetable forms. Since all these forms are inter-
fertile, there is huge potential to transfer the beneficial
attributes to each of the commonly consumed crop
types.’’
Second, matching promising crops to target soils:
“Where you grow a particular crop has a significant
effect on its chemical composition.’’
Professor King said people could get past the
sometimes bitter taste of many brassicas if they
considered the very stuff they disliked actually
contained active components, the protective
glucosinolates, which were good for them.
So eat your sprouts, he says.
Professor Graham King
13
14
Research Centres
Centre for Coastal Biogeochemistry ResearchThe Centre for Coastal Biogeochemstry
Research (CCBR), within the School of
Environment, Science and Engineering,
conducts high quality, innovative research
contributing to a better understanding
of coastal biogeochemical cycles,
and improved management of coastal
waterways. These important areas are
impacted by nitrogen cycle changes,
climate changes, ocean acidification and
land use.
Biogeochemistry is a new, but rapidly
growing scientific discipline that studies
the interaction of biological, geochemical
and physical processes to better
address the major environmental issues
of global change. The CCBR was a
major contributor to SCU’s ERA rating
of five in geochemistry in the Australian
government’s last Excellence in Research
for Australia 2010 report.
Five core research programs contributed
to the rating including carbon and
nitrogen cycling in coastal systems,
stable isotopes, permeable sands and
submarine groundwater discharge,
alternative wastewater treatment systems
and ocean acidification.
During 2011 the Centre also undertook
consultancies for a range of groups
from local councils to international
organisations across Australia and
overseas.
Dirk Erler is working with a range of
international donors to develop and
evaluate on-site wastewater treatment
systems in the South Pacific. About
$150,000 of research consultancy
funding has been provided to complete
this work.
Centre director Professor Bradley Eyre
undertook a contract biogeochemistry
project in the Caboolture River Estuary for
Moreton Bay Regional Council which led
to the ARC Linkage grant highlighted on
the following page.
In 2011 the Centre received $815,203
of Category 1 funding including ARC
Discovery, Linkage and DECRA
Fellowship grants and an Australian
Centre for International Agricultural
Research grant. The Centre also received
$414,500 in other state and local
government research grants.
The CCBR published 25 journal articles
in 2011, including 10 ERA ranked A-star
journals and 14 in A-ranked journals.
A further five SCU PhD candidates,
three external PhD candidates and four
Honours students were supervised
through the Centre.
Highlights of 2011 included: Tracing nitrogen and carbon through coastal systems
Dr Joanne Oakes won an inaugural
Australian Research Council Fellowship
valued at $375,000 to conduct
groundbreaking research tracing key
nitrogen and carbon interactions that
underpin the health of coastal rivers and
estuaries.
Dr Oakes’ new Discovery Early Career
Researcher Award (DECRA), builds upon
her previous work which showed how
a highly sensitive chemical tracer can
be used to monitor key environmental
impacts on rivers and estuaries from
industrial plants, scores of kilometres
upstream.
Under the three-year DECRA project, Dr
Oakes will trace and model the typical
transformation pathways and the ultimate
fate of dissolved organic nitrogen (DON)
and dissolved organic carbon (DOC)
within sediments at Brunswick Heads and
Heron Island.
Much of the global nitrogen and carbon
reservoir is in the oceans, with a large
fraction represented by DON and DOC.
With humans modifying global nitrogen
and carbon cycles at rates generating
unacceptable environmental change*,
understanding how DON and DOC are
processed in coastal environments is
critical to preventing oxygen-depleting
algal blooms, managing fisheries
production, and better understanding
oceanic carbon emissions and sinks.
In Dr Oakes’ project – with CCBR
director Professor Eyre – exceedingly
rare and harmless forms of DON and
DOC will be created from algae to act as
highly sensitive tracers introduced into
chambers sitting on the muds and sands
of the Brunswick River and Heron Island
test sites. From there, this DON and
DOC will be subject to all the interactions
experienced by naturally-occurring DON
and DOC, including transformations
within the sediments – which, being
at the crucial intersection of rivers and
oceans, may play a key role in regulating
these compounds.
In the case of DON, significant amounts
14
come down rivers and can be taken up
by microscopic organisms within coastal
sediments. This may be particularly
important in coral reef sediments where
other inorganic forms of nitrogen are rare.
The nitrogen within DON can remain
within sediments for a time, or may be
transformed and re-released as DON, or
as inorganic nutrients which can stimulate
plant growth, contributing to fisheries
production or potentially stimulating
phytoplankton blooms.
Rivers are also a significant source
of DOC and coastal sediments may
also be important in the uptake and
transformation of DOC. The carbon
from DOC may be retained within
sediments, acting like a carbon sink,
or can be transformed and released to
overlying water as DOC, or as carbon
dioxide which may be released to the
atmosphere. *(IPCC 2007, Rockstrom et al. 2009)
First tracing of nitrogen along river system
SCU’s world-leading biogeochemist
Professor Eyre has begun
groundbreaking research expected to
establish new methods of identifying the
sources and pathways of nitrogen, which
cause algal blooms and help regulate
ocean and atmospheric chemistry.
The CCBR director has won an ARC
Linkage grant of $396,761 to investigate
nitrogen from the headwaters of the
Caboolture River Estuary to the sea.
Humans have increased the amount of
nitrogen going into terrestrial systems by
an estimated 157 million tonnes.
The Caboolture catchment-river-estuary
has natural forest in the upper
catchment, agriculture in the middle,
rural, residential and urban areas in the
lower catchment, and agriculture on
the floodplain. It also has cattle and
poultry production, and wastewater and
wastewater septic outlets.
Nitrogen finds its way to coastal systems
or estuaries from catchments via rivers,
groundwater flow and point-sources. It
is typically derived from many sources
including organic and inorganic fertilisers,
urban areas, atmospheric nitrogen
deposition, animal manure, human
wastewater and soils.
The Caboolture river estuary – otherwise
considered a typical example of a
subtropical east Australian estuary –
has been officially classified with an F
grade, meaning most key processes are
not functioning and most of its critical
habitats are severely impacted.
The study will be the first to use
sophisticated dual isotopes of nitrogen
to trace nitrogen sources in a tropical/
sub-tropical or Australian catchment or
estuary and the first to use it along a
terrestrial-marine system.
The three-year project – to report in
2014 – will make a significant contribution
to the understanding of the process
of coastal eutrophication. The release
of nitrogen and phosphorous into the
environment drives the production of
excess organic matter (eutrophication),
considered one of greatest threats to
coastal ecosystems worldwide.*
This will be the first study to measure
denitrification (microbial conversion of
fixed N to N2 gas which is lost to the
atmosphere), along a freshwater-marine
continuum, and will quantify the role of
groundwater as a N pathway.*(Howarth, 2008)
Nothing subterranean about Santos award
The groundbreaking research of CCBR
deputy director, Dr Isaac Santos, was
recognised internationally with a major
award from the US-based Coastal and
Estuarine Research Foundation (CERF),
the world’s largest federation of coastal
scientists.
The Cronin Award recognises the
significant accomplishments of a coastal
scientist who is in the early stages of his/
her career development.
Dr Santos’ PhD work provided new
insights into the drivers and implications
of submarine groundwater discharge into
the coastal ocean, CERF found. His more
recent work has linked the hydrology and
biogeochemistry of coral reefs.
This is only the second time this award
has been given to a scientist outside
the USA. CCBR director Professor Eyre
was the first scientist outside the USA to
receive the award in 1999.
Dr Santos has 35 peer-reviewed
publications including 21 first-authored,
many of which are in top journals.
15
16
Research Centres
The CERF award identified Dr Santos
as a potential leader in coastal and
estuarine research, especially for his
novel approaches that bridge different
disciplines and ability to win insights into
how coastal systems function.
Greenhouse gas cycling under bioactive beach sands
The coastal ocean plays ‘a major, but
unknown role’ in climate change and will
be the subject of an ARC Discovery grant
by deputy director, Dr Santos.
Under his new $260,000 Discovery
grant, Dr Santos will investigate the role
that the subterranean estuaries running
under beaches play in the cycling of
key greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide,
methane and nitrous oxide.
Potent methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide
(N2O) combined may account for about
30 per cent of man-made greenhouse
gases, even though their inputs are much
lower than those of CO2 (IPCC, 2007).
The microbial activity on beach
groundwater associated with organic
matter from marine and terrestrial sources
is increasingly recognised as forming
a significant biogeochemical reactor,
termed a subterranean estuary.
In collaboration with world-leading
colleagues in the US, Dr Santos will
determine whether these coastal
subsurface “bioreactors” act as a source
or sink of the key greenhouse gases.
The research is also expected to shed
new light on the role of submarine
groundwater discharge (SGD) on
oxygen-depleting eutrophication, or the
production of excess organic matter
associated with algal blooms.
Some international research contends
that SGD is potentially a major source
of carbon to the ocean. But Dr Santos
believes that when recycling processes
are taken into account, saline SGD
may be a net sink for CO2 in carbonate
subterranean estuaries. Carbonate
sediments cover much of the world’s
tropical continental shelves.
The biogeochemistry of subterranean
estuaries is thought to be unique and
dominated by pathways that potentially
represent a major source of CH4 and N2O
to the oceans.
Dr Santos and his colleagues will test
whether seawater recirculation into
coastal aquifers, that is via saline SGD,
yields a net greenhouse forcing by
preferentially converting regenerated
organic matter into greenhouse gases
such as CH4 and N2O.
The research – to use the combination
of isotope tracing and modelling for the
first time – will be conducted off the
Queensland coast at Heron Island and
Moreton Island.
CCBR to investigate greenhouse gases litorally
The CCBR won a $250,000 infrastructure
grant from the ARC to perform
automated, long-term greenhouse gas
measurements in coastal waters.
Lead chief investigator, Dr Santos,
expects the outcome of research at
the emergent facility to be a better
understanding of how the coastal ocean
acts as a source or sink of carbon
dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, and
volatile organic carbon.
The new ARC LIEF project will be
undertaken with fellow SCU chief
investigators Professor Eyre, Dr Simon
Dworjanyn, Dr Joanne Oakes and
Dr Dirk Erler.
The latest grant builds on a previous
ARC LIEF grant of $170,000 for an Eddy
Correlation Lander Array.
The array – expected to become
standard over the next decade – allows
scientists to measure production of
primary producers, such as seagrasses,
macro-algae and benthic micro-algae,
on estuarine and ocean floors, without
having to disturb the sediments.
Contact: bradley.eyre@scu.edu.au
Website: scu.edu.au/coastal-biogeochemistry
Phone: 02 6620 3773
Centre for Coastal Biogeochemistry Research
16
Marine Ecology Research Centre (MERC)The Marine Ecology Research Centre
(MERC) was established in 2010 and
builds on the internationally recognised
reputation of marine science within the
School of Environment, Science and
Engineering.
Directed by Professor Peter Harrison, it
incorporates the former Whale Research
Centre and the Coral Reef Research
Centre.
Dr Kirsten Benkendorff and Associate
Professor Steve Smith have joined Dr
Sander Scheffers as MERC co-deputy
directors.
MERC supports 22 academic and
postdoctoral research staff and more than
45 PhD, Masters and Honours students.
Research focuses on:
• CoralReefEcology
• WhaleandDolphinEcology
• MarineChemistryandPollution
• SustainableFisheriesandAquaculture
• MarineBiodiversity
Reef sex restoring damaged Asian reefs
Professor Peter Harrison – who co-
discovered the mass coral spawning
phenomenon on the Great Barrier Reef
published in Science in 1984 – has been
developing techniques for mass rearing of
coral larvae to restore damaged reefs.
Up to 20 per cent of the world’s coral
reefs – globally significant ecosystems
and centres of marine biodiversity – have
been destroyed by human activities in
recent decades. Growing coastal human
populations are severely degrading many
other reefs.
This is particularly true in some areas
of South-East Asia. A combination of
blast fishing, cyanide fishing, habitat
destruction, mass coral bleaching and
severe storm impacts have led to a
catastrophic loss of the living corals that
build the reef framework, and supply
essential habitats for thousands of fish
and other reef species.
Successful reproduction by reef corals
is critically important to the survival of
coral communities that build reefs, and
can enable damaged reefs to recover
through natural recruitment processes.
But this natural coral recruitment and
subsequent reef recovery can take many
decades, and is highly variable between
reef patches.
Professor Harrison is helping kick-start
coral reef recovery on damaged reefs by
capturing some of the billions of eggs and
sperm that are released by corals during
their annual spawning periods.
In 2011, Professor Harrison won
$149,000 from the Australian Centre for
International Agricultural Research for a
new research project to determine the
effectiveness of using millions of coral
larvae to reseed and restore damaged
coral communities on reefs in the
Philippines.
Reef sites for restoration have been
selected in Northern Luzon in the
Philippines and experiments are
determining rates of settlement and
survival of juvenile corals reared in the
Bolinao Marine Laboratory from spawned
eggs and sperm.
The results from this collaborative
research will lead to enhanced recovery
of damaged coral reefs in the Philippines
through manipulative experiments to
massively increase coral recruitment
rates. Other results will include improved
techniques for mass rearing of coral
larvae and increased coral recruitment,
and assessment of the ecological
and cost-effectiveness of mass larval
reseeding for future global reef restoration
management strategies.
Old corals record historic climate events
A very old, large and still living coral
suffered significantly reduced growth
beyond natural variations in 1870, just
20 years after the Industrial Revolution,
MERC deputy director Dr Sander
Scheffers has reported.
Dr Scheffers – an expert in using coral
core skeletons thousands of years old
to investigate the world’s climatic history
– also helped directly link a slowdown
in the one of the world’s most influential
transoceanic currents to the start of the
Little Age that froze Europe for hundreds
of years.
The two revelations have emerged from
analysis of scores of metres of coral cores
drilled by Dr Scheffers and colleagues at
separate sites off Thailand and the Dutch
Caribbean respectively, over recent years.
Corals grow like trees on land, and
17
18
like trees their annual growth rates are
recorded in bands of rings, which vary
in size according to diet, season and
prevailing climate and weather conditions.
In the case of the significantly reduced
growth in the Thai brain coral* from the
northern Indian Ocean, Dr Scheffers is
not yet linking the limitation directly to
human-induced climate change.
These findings are consistent with other
research previously reported in Nature
linking increased atmospheric carbon
from the Industrial Revolution to ocean
acidification, and reduced coral growth
rates.
Dr Scheffers eliminated natural variation in
coral growth as an alternative explanation
by analysing variations with co-located
cores over 300 years, and allowing for
these smaller, on-average periods of
minimum growth.
Meanwhile, dramatic shifts in the
thermohaline circulation have previously
been associated with the Little Ice Age
that ran from the 1300s to as late – in
some estimates – as the mid 19th
century. The present day thermohaline
current makes western Europe liveable.
In this second breakthrough, SCU’s
Dr Scheffers has been part of a team
including colleagues at Bremen University
that has used Caribbean coral cores to
provide strong evidence directly linking
the current to the Little Ice Age for the
first time.
At this report’s publication time, the
findings were under review by an
international journal, and the age of corals
documenting the influential slowdown
in the thermohaline circulation remained
confidential.
However the evidence has been derived
from fossil corals sometimes thousands
of years old, and thrown up on land in the
southern Caribbean by huge tsunamis in
the distant past.
The discovery of the coral with the key
historical time-set, was made from
among thousands of huge coral heads
on the shoreline at Bonaire, in the Dutch
Antilles.
With Southern Cross GeoScience
colleagues, Dr Anja Scheffers, Associate
Professor Andrew Rose, Professor
Richard Bush, Associate Professor Ed
Burton and Dr Renaud Joannes-Boyau,
Dr Scheffers was part of the team that
also won a $200,000 ARC infrastructure
grant for a laser spectrometer. The
purchase was supplemented by
$300,000 from SCU. The huge machine
will speed up analysis of coral cores and
potentially increase the documentation of
historic weather events down to weekly
cycles from the present monthly or two
monthly periods.
*When done on very large live corals, core drilling removes a six-cm diameter of coral to a depth of a few millimetres; the rest of the core is dead skeleton. The core is then sealed with concrete to allow coral tissue to regrow over the plug.
Molluscs, dominant invertebrates, and key biodiversity indicators
During 2011, MERC researchers Dr
Kirsten Benkendorff, Dr Daniel Bucher
and Associate Professor Steve Smith
expanded their research on molluscs as
biodiversity indicators to help improve
the sustainability of Australia’s molluscan
fisheries and aquaculture industry.
Molluscs are one of the dominant
groups of invertebrates in marine and
estuarine habitats and are important both
commercially and as critical components
of healthy ecosystems. Mollusc-related
research is a high priority by members of
SCU’s MERC and falls into two areas.
Dr Benkendorff and her postgraduate
students have been investigating the
impacts of ocean climate change on
disease resilience in abalone and oysters.
The immune system of these molluscs is
compromised after exposure to severe
heat and low pH, thus making them
more susceptible to disease under future
climate change conditions.
Professor Smith and his postgraduate
students have been using molluscs
as surrogates for wider patterns of
biodiversity and interpreting these
with respect to natural gradients and
measures of human impact. A key
component of this work is to establish
baselines against which to measure the
effects of climate change and increasing
coastal urbanisation.
In collaboration with Lake Macquarie
Municipal Council, they also commenced
an investigation into the reasons for the
rapid increase in populations of razor
Marine Ecology Research Centre (MERC)
Research Centres
18
clams in Lake Macquarie.
Using molluscs as surrogates, Dr Bucher
and students have been testing the
sufficiency of protection for soft-sediment
habitats in the Cape Byron Marine Park.
While the park’s sanctuary zones contain
most of the common species found in the
region, there were many combinations of
species that are not represented.
Sustainable fisheries and aquaculture
With collaborators at Melbourne and
Flinders universities, Dr Benkendorff has
been investigating the underlying causes
of mortality in the abalone aquaculture
industry.
High density (of abalone) and the use of
anesthetics were both found to suppress
the immune system, leaving abalone
more susceptible to bacterial disease.
Abalone were also found to produce a
baseline level of antiviral activity in the
blood, that was not influenced by diet,
temperature or infection by the abalone
herpes virus. Ongoing research funded
by the Australian Seafood CRC will
investigate the heritability of these antiviral
compounds, in hope of identifying
disease resistant populations.
Professor Smith and one of his students
completed an assessment of marine park
protection on the size and abundance of
harvested turban shells. They concluded
that ease of access was as important as
protective zoning in explaining standing
stocks and size distributions.
Dr Bucher commenced a project to fill
critical gaps in the biology and ecology
of harvested bivalves (clams) in southern
NSW. The project focuses on gaining
basic information on the size, age and
growth of the three most important
species in the fishery.
Impacts of fuel pollution in Antarctic waters
Over the 2011-12 summer season,
Professor Harrison and PhD candidate
Kathryn Brown travelled to Antarctica and
finished off experiments that confirmed
key fuels are toxic to Antarctic marine life.
The $1.6m research project – supported
by grants from the Australian Antarctic
Division – will provide critically important
information to establish water quality
guidelines for managing pollution in
Antarctic waters.
The project is led by Professor Peter
Harrison, with Dr Catherine King from
AAD, Associate Professor Simon George
from Macquarie University, consultant Dr
Alison Lane and PhD student Kathryn
Brown.
Oil pollution is a growing problem in
Antarctic waters. Large quantities of fuels
are transported and used in Antarctic
shipping operations and stored for
research station operations, but fuel
behaviour in Antarctic waters and impacts
of fuel spills on marine biota are largely
unknown.
Antarctic oil spills are a major potential
problem. There have already been
incidents of ship grounding and ice
crushing leading to 600,000 litres of
diesel being spilled into the Antarctic
polar waters in the late 1990s, and the
sinking of the Explorer Antarctic cruise
ship in 2009.
Contact: peter.harrison@scu.edu.au
Website: scu.edu.au/marine-ecology
Phone: 02 6620 3774
19
National Marine Science Centre: uncovering the future of our oceans
In 2011, the National Marine Science Centre (NMSC)
secured more than $700,000 in new research grants, with
$400,000 of this from Australian Government category-1
sources. Staff published 24 ERA ranked publications
along with two papers in conference proceedings, and six
technical reports.
Developing new aquaculture industries in northern NSW
Mulloway perform extremely well in prawn ponds, reaching
market size in two years with high survival, good growth,
minimal disease and high production rates, according to
research by Dr Jeff Guy and Dr Ken Cowden. The first
stage of their mulloway fish aquaculture project, funded
by the Rural Industry Research Development Corporation,
yielded 14 tonnes of mulloway per hectare, enabling
existing prawn farmers to diversify and re-invigorate their
industry.
The next phase will focus on helping northern NSW
prawn farmers adapt their existing on-site prawn hatchery
facilities for marine fish production. See https://rirdc.
infoservices.com.au/items/11-178
Anemones in the sea and in the aquarium
The causes and impacts of coral bleaching on reef
ecosystems have been much researched over the past
decade. However, little work has been done on the
vulnerability of symbiotic sea anemones. These Harbour
Symbiodinium, which play a key role in helping the host
tolerate changing environmental conditions. Dr Anna
Scott in collaboration with Dr Ross Hill (University of
Technology Sydney) evaluated the susceptibility of the
symbiotic sea anemone, Entacmaea quadricolor, to rising
ocean temperatures under different irradiances. Located
on Australia’s east coast, the Solitary Islands provided
an ideal location for investigating these cnidarians in a
region highlighted as a hot-spot for climate change. This
project addressed knowledge gaps and highlighted the
potential ecological impacts on subtropical reefs where
E. quadricolor dominate the reef substrate and provide
essential habitat for anemone-fish.
Dr Scott also published research that could help enable
the captive-breeding of sea anemones for the aquarium
trade, and documented a substantial increase in anemone
and anemone-fish numbers at North Solitary Island, which
contrasts with declines that are occurring in many other
areas of the Indo-Pacific.
Food security in the Pacific
Dr Steve Purcell acquired funding from the Australian
Centre for International Agricultural Research Centre
(ACIAR) to a coordinate a major research program.
With partners in Tonga, Kiribati, Fiji and the University of
Adelaide it is aimed at improving the income of Pacific
Islanders from fishing and processing of sea cucumbers.
As an extension of this program, Dr Purcell coordinated a
technical workshop in Fiji, in which he mentored 15 fishery
managers on strategies to improve management of Pacific
sea cucumber fisheries.
Sustainable seaweed aquaculture
As a part of another ACIAR grant, Dr Symon Dworjanyn
has been working with Dr Ben Liu from Southern Cross
Plant Science and colleagues from Hasanuddin University
and Mars Symbioscience in Indonesia, on ways of making
seaweed aquaculture more profitable and sustainable.
The team has isolated and quantified growth stimulating
hormones called cytokinnins from seaweed processing
waste. They are running trials to test whether these waste
products boost the growth of rice and cocoa seedlings.
If they show promise, it is hoped that seaweed farmers in
rural coastal Indonesia will be able to produce a profitable
fertiliser product to enhance their income, reduce poverty
and contribute to food security in the region.
Sustainable fishing
With collaboration from Dr Paul Butcher (NSW Fisheries)
and Dr Danny Bucher, from SCU’s School of Environment,
Science and Engineering, Dr Purcell won NSW Saltwater
20
Recreational Fishing Trust funding to oversee a PhD
project examining the fisheries biology and ecology of
mangrove jack in northern NSW. Toby Piddocke’s PhD
project is using acoustic tagging to monitor the movement
of mangrove jack, which will help to better refine
management plans for the species.
The impacts of fish hooks
Shane McGrath completed his PhD on the effects of
wire material and modifications to hooks – and on their
breakage and ejection – after ingestion by key recreational
fish species in NSW. He also looked at the absorption
of metals by mulloway during the oxidation of ingested
nickel-plated hooks. Shane’s project was funded by a
NSW Saltwater Recreational Fishing Trust awarded to
his external supervisors, Dr Matt Broadhurst and Dr Paul
Butcher, from the Fisheries Conservation Technology Unit
(NSW Department of Primary Industries).
Science for the management of marine ecosystems
Associate Professor Steve Smith continued his
involvement with marine parks in NSW through a range of
collaborative projects. In the Solitary Islands Marine Park
Hamish Malcolm’s PhD generated important publications
that help objective management of biodiversity of fish
assemblages. This work identified community types
across cross-shelf and depth gradients and defined
indicator groups of fish for ongoing monitoring. The
recommendations of these studies have already been
applied to management models for other marine parks in
NSW.
Dr Steve Dalton and Dr Andrew Carroll undertook a
quantitative investigation on the impact of recreational
divers on marine benthic communities at popular diving
sites within the Solitary Islands Marine Park.
The ecology and global importance of subtropical reefs
Dr Purcell identified critical habitats for six threatened
and vulnerable fishes at Lord Howe Island. The research
has improved the understanding of their vulnerability to
population decline and is helping to prioritise research and
management of marine habitats.
The project was funded by the Northern Rivers Catchment
Management Association (NRCMA) with collaboration from
the NSW Marine Parks Authority.
Drs Steve Dalton and Andrew Carroll evaluated the
impact of a thermal anomaly in 2010 at Lord Howe Island
which resulted in extensive bleaching of several dominant
coral species. The project was funded by the NRCMA,
Department of Climate Change and Water and NSW
Marine Parks Authority.
In collaboration with Professor Harrison, Dr Anya Salih
and Dr Sandra Diamond, from the University of Western
Sydney, documented levels of thermal stress on coral
communities and the recovery potential of susceptible
species. The project outlined management procedures
that could increase coral community resilience to climate
change, and highlighted areas for further research.
Professor Smith and his team continued their work on the
long-term evaluation of changes in biodiversity of near-
shore reefs throughout the Solitary Islands Marine Park.
This work was part of a larger body of research by marine
scientists across Australia that identified subtropical reefs
as critical habitats in a changing climate.
Impacts of ocean acidification on marine life
On the south-east coast of Australia, a sea urchin called
Centrostephanus rodgersii plays an important role in
maintaining biodiversity. By grazing on seaweed it creates
a patchwork of habitats with and without kelps that
increases the number of available ecological niches. In
work funded by grants from the Australian Research
Council (Discovery) and the NSW Environmental Trust, Dr
Symon Dworjanyn and colleagues highlighted how climate
change might influence the important larval phase of this
sea urchin.
The team is following this work by examining if sea urchins
can adapt to predicted changes in ocean chemistry.
21
Research Centres
The Centre for Children and Young
People (CCYP), within the School of
Education, generates research into some
of the most challenging concerns and
issues facing children and young people
in their everyday lives.
Professor Anne Graham leads a
multidisciplinary team of researchers and
PhD students who work collaboratively
with practitioners, policy makers and
researchers from a wide range of
local, state, national and international
organisations. The Centre contributes to
the improved wellbeing of children and
young people through its multidisciplinary
research, education and advocacy
activities.
Underpinning the work of the Centre
is the understanding that children and
young people are entitled to the provision,
protection and participation afforded
them in the United Nations Convention
on the Rights of the Child. Such is its
standing that the Centre won backing in
2011 for an influential research project
with UNICEF’s Innocenti Research
Centre and Childwatch International.
This project will result in the development
of an International Ethics Charter and
Guidelines for research involving children
that can be used in a wide range of social
and cultural contexts.
The strong reputation and future potential
of the CCYP was further recognised
in 2011 with the successful funding
of a partnership with the Social Policy
Research Centre at the University of New
South Wales under the Collaborative
Research Network (CRN) program.
This partnership attracted $1.5m in
funding over three years. It has opened
up exciting opportunities to increase the
number of research staff involved with the
CCYP, as well as to engage in research
capacity building through internal
research fellowships, staff exchange,
mentoring of early career researchers,
visiting fellowships, writing workshops
and other research training.
The CRN funding brought the total
earned by the CCYP for 2011 to $2.17m.
In 2011 the CCYP was also successful
with an ARC Linkage application
focused on understanding and improving
wellbeing in schools. Partners in this
research are the Catholic Schools Office,
Lismore, Interrelate Family Centres and
Good Grief Ltd. This study is nationally
significant in that it is the first Australian
study to ask students their views about
wellbeing.
The CCYP is served by a distinguished
Advisory Board which includes senior
representatives from major regional
organisations, working alongside leading
academics, members of the judiciary and
business, to provide expert guidance in
relation to the Centre and its continued
development.
The work of the Centre is also supported
by a young people’s consultative
committee, ‘Young People Big Voice’
(YPBV). Members of YPBV continued
their work in 2011 under the skillful
mentoring of Dr Robyn Fitzgerald.
The committee provided constructive
feedback to agencies including the NSW
Commission for Children and Young
People, and the Child Rights Taskforce in
its reporting to the UN Committee on the
Rights of the Child.
International Ethics Charter and Guidelines to support the participation and protection of children involved in research
International charter and ethics guidelines
have resulted from a major research
initiative undertaken by the CCYP in
partnership with the University of Otago,
UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre and
Childwatch International.
The push for more explicit standards
to guide research involving children
and young people emerged from a
landmark study involving 257 researchers
in 46 countries - the first of its kind to
investigate the ethical issues facing
researchers internationally when
undertaking research involving children.
The report was written by Professor
Graham, University of Otago’s Associate
Professor Nicola Taylor, and SCU’s Dr
Mary Ann Powell and Dr Fitzgerald.
Significant findings of the study are that
researchers in a wide range of contexts
are now more aware of the importance of
considering children’s views in research,
and that the inclusion of children in
research is increasing.
The study uncovered a diversity of ethical
issues, challenges and dilemmas facing
these researchers, with the tension
between children’s participation and
protection very evident in both developing
and developed world contexts. The study
also found that access to ethical review
processes, information and resources –
especially to help navigate some complex
ethical issues - were not always readily
available.
Professor Graham says more needs to
be done in ensuring any kind of research
involving children honours the dignity and
respects the rights and wellbeing of every
child, irrespective of context.
This means critically engaging with
important issues. These are whether the
research is necessary and should be
undertaken in the first place, whether
it benefits children and researchers’
readiness and capacity to conduct
the research. Also assumptions about
childhood and the children involved, and
disparities in power and status between
researchers and the child research
participants.
Professor Graham hopes the ethics
Charter and Guidelines will not only
generate further dialogue internationally
around some of the more difficult issues
and questions that shape the work of
researchers, but also improve the quality
of research involving children in a wide
range of contexts.
Centre for Children and Young People
22
Contact: ccyp@scu.edu.au
Website: ccyp.scu.edu.au
Phone: 02 6620 3605
‘Wellbeing’ – what does this really mean in the context of schools?
Schools have increasingly become sites
for developing student ‘wellbeing’. But
what does this mean? A major ARC
Linkage project being undertaken by
researchers in the CCYP is investigating
how students, teachers and principals
understand the concept of wellbeing and
how it is best enabled in schools.
The research is focusing closely on the
relationship between ‘recognition’ and
wellbeing, especially how the experience
of being cared for, respected and valued,
in the context of schools, impacts on
wellbeing. In this way, the study is
important not only because it will shed
light on how ‘wellbeing’ is understood,
but also on the tacit as well as explicit
ways wellbeing is addressed in schools.
The research – in schools on the New
South Wales North Coast, Melbourne
and north Queensland - involves policy
analysis, interviews with about 90
teachers and principals, focus groups
covering over 700 primary and secondary
students, and surveys of more than 600
teachers and 2500 students. The study
is nationally significant as it is the first
Australian research to include student
views about their wellbeing, and how
schools can help with this.
The study received funding of
$186,611 from the ARC and the
partner organisations are the Catholic
Schools Office, Lismore, Interrelate
Family Centres and Good Grief Ltd. The
Chief Investigators on this project are
Professor Graham and Dr Fitzgerald,
with the international Partner Investigator
Professor Nigel Thomas, from the
University of Central Lancashire.
CCYP expands its research interests via collaborative research win
CCYP success in winning $1.5m in
Collaborative Research Network funding
to work in partnership with the Social
Policy Research Centre (SPRC) at
UNSW has opened up opportunities
to expand research activity into areas
including disability, rural childhoods and
educational disadvantage.
The expanded areas of research follow
the appointment of new researchers in
the Centre including Dr Sally Robinson
specialising in disability, Dr Mary Ann
Powell specialising in rural childhoods
and Dr Astghik Mavisakalyan in
educational disadvantage.
The CCYP is also utilising its CRN
partnership with the SPRC at UNSW to
develop further capacity in social policy
research related to children, young
people and families.
One of the first CRN initiatives in 2011
was a writing fellowship program. This
supported and mentored academic staff
from across SCU to successfully submit
a publication to a high quality journal or
edited book within a 12-week period.
The program, led by Professor Deb
Brennan, Dr Jen Skattebol and Dr Gerry
Redmond from the SPRC, involved 13
SCU staff from different disciplines writing
up research related to children and young
people. The outstanding success of
this first writing fellowship program has
resulted in two further writing programs
planned for 2012.
International experts partner with CCYP
The CRN has also promoted visits to the
CCYP by leading international scholars
in the area of policy related research
concerning children, young people and
families.
Professor Nigel Thomas, from the
University of Central Lancashire, is
working with the CCYP as a partner
investigator on an ARC project.
Professor Fiona Williams, from the
University of Leeds, is providing capacity
building at SCU in policy-related research,
and Professor Malcolm Hill, from the
University of Strathclyde, is partnering on
two current grant applications.
During their visits these Visiting Fellows
provided seminars, research roundtables,
consultations with postdoctoral and PhD
researchers, and advice on current and
future CCYP research projects.
23
24
Ensuring research involving children is relevant, respectful and leads to change
SCU Professor Anne Graham believes research has an
important contribution to make in improving the dignity,
status and wellbeing of children and young people,
consistent with the call made by the UN Convention on
the Rights of the Child some 22 years ago.
The foundation Professor of SCU’s Centre for Children
and Young People recently participated in an invitation-
only expert consultation in Stockholm convened by the
special representative of the UN Secretary-General on
violence against children.
The forum aimed to improve data and research on
violence against children, and explore how this can be
translated to effective policy and action on the issue.
The meeting “drew attention to children who have
been murdered, abused, physically punished, married
at 12, trafficked for sex, used in child pornography
rings, bullied, exploited as child labour. You name it,
such violence is very real in some parts of the world,’’
Professor Graham said.
Her role was to advise on ethical issues in undertaking
research with children who are in such vulnerable
situations. Given several years of collaborative research
with colleagues at the CCYP and the University of
Otago, New Zealand – including a study involving child
researchers in 46 countries – she is in a good position to
know how complex such research can be.
“While it is critically important we hear directly from
children about their experiences, it is also imperative we
ensure they are not harmed by doing so. Researchers
in many countries are looking for guidance to help them
navigate the complex ethical issues they face,” she said.
To this end, Professor Graham and her colleagues have
been working on a major project with UNICEF Innocenti
Research Centre, and Childwatch International, to
develop an international ethics charter and guidelines
for research involving children.
“We are now at a time in the relatively short history of
child research where we need to move beyond simply
relying on an ethics ‘checklist’. We need to consider
the kind of attitudes, values and practices required of
researchers to ensure the human dignity and wellbeing
of children isn’t further diminished through research.”
Despite the often necessary but uneasy tensions
between children’s participation and protection,
Professor Graham is heartened by the increased
international dialogue concerning relevant, respectful
approaches to research involving children.
“We need to make sure our work as an international
research community is inspired by the spirit of the UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child and that we
don’t shy away from the harder questions and issues
concerning children and childhood that so often frame
our work,” she said.
The CCYP is now held in high regard within Australia.
Professor Graham points to the number of requests it
receives to contribute to parliamentary inquiries, partner
with metropolitan universities in research, participate
in expert advisory groups, provide expert commentary
in the media and undertake joint activities with a range
of government and non-government organisations.
Professor Graham is on the expert reference group
reviewing the research evidence for a National Action
Plan for Child & Youth Wellbeing. Most Australian
children fare relatively well, she says.
“(But) we’ve still got a considerable way to go in
securing better outcomes for Indigenous children as
well as those in out-of-home care, in refugee families or
experiencing disability. We are on the turn, but life is not
yet a level playing field for many of these children.”
Professor Anne
Graham, director
of the Centre
for Children and
Young People
(CCYP).
24
Research Centres
The Centre for Gambling Education and
Research (CGER) remains the leading
gambling research centre in Australia,
attracting more gambling research
funding than any other in the country.
The CGER, part of the School of Tourism
and Hospitality Management, is a multi-
disciplinary research centre at SCU
that pursues excellence through the
development and provision of quality
research and research training relating to
gambling, its operations, management,
policy and impacts.
The CGER’s major focus is on research
that informs policy and practice to
address problem gambling.
The CGER continues to grow its
capacity and performance. Twenty-
four SCU academics were involved in
CGER research in 2011, as well as 13
researchers from other Australian and
offshore research institutions.
Along with engaging established
researchers, the CGER mentors
several Early Career Researchers and
Postdoctoral Fellows and supervises PhD
and Honours students.
In 2011, the CGER managed $1.6 million
in external grants and collaborated on a
further two ARC linkage grants funded
for $436,000. It also successfully applied
for new grants for 2012 worth over
$600,000.
In 2011, CGER researchers published
one book, eight book chapters, 32
refereed journal articles, three book
reviews, nine research reports and six
published submissions. They presented
keynote/invited presentations in Canada,
New Zealand, Singapore and Australia,
as well as 18 other conference papers at
international and domestic conferences.
The CGER’s expertise in social policy
research was recognised by the Federal
Department of Families, Housing,
Community Services and Indigenous
Affairs, which appointed eight CGER
researchers to its Social Policy Research
and Evaluation Panel.
CGER researchers conduct a range of
other professional activities, including
editorial roles for several gambling
journals and prestigious appointments on
various government and industry advisory
boards.
Highlights of 2011 include:
Gambling messages reach new level in mass media
Television audiences in the millions watch
major football, rugby and cricket matches
most weekends, which increasingly
include live betting odds on game
outcomes, even down to in-match player
goal scoring.
These live betting odds – in the
form of on-screen pull-throughs, TV
commentators mentioning odds, and
even live-crosses to sports betting
agencies explaining how to place a bet
on the game – derive from sponsorship
of sports codes by the key gambling
operators.
However, it is not known whether and
how these mass market advertorials
impact upon gambling in the community,
especially upon underage television-
watching fans and problem gamblers.
Southern Cross University investigators
Professor Nerilee Hing, director of the
CGER, and Drs Peter Vitartas and
Matthew Lamont, will determine the
impact of televised odds on gambling and
problem gambling, and what elements in
advertorials trigger the desire to gamble.
Queensland’s Department of Justice and
Attorney General provided the $225,825
grant over 2012-14.
Investigators are concerned on a number
of levels about live betting odds. Sports
fans’ increasing exposure to gambling
messages from Keno, Sporting Bet,
TAB Sports Bet and CentreBet on
sportsgrounds, player uniforms and
televised advertorials, may come to
‘normalise’ gambling such that a game
cannot be enjoyed without a bet.
Gambling messages through other media
are normally restricted, and restricted
from being targeted at minors. But major
sports codes are in the anomalous
position where very considerable
numbers of minors watch football on
Friday night and Saturday and Sunday
afternoons with gambling messages
running through them.
Meanwhile, research among problem
gamblers has found that they find it very
difficult or even impossible to walk past
a TAB, see a machine or hear pokie
machine music, without it creating an
urge to gamble.
Yet gambling messages are now being
sent out via the mass media which can
trigger the urge to gamble in people with
problems, and among those who are
trying to address those problems.
Pre-commitment enables self-exclusion
Self-exclusion programs significantly
reduced problem gambling in a small pilot
study in South Australia, and promise
to be effective in locking out problem
gamblers if pre-commitment legislation is
introduced.
However little is known about its
effectiveness in jurisdictions such as
Queensland where the Department of
Justice and Attorney General has funded
the CGER to investigate self-exclusion
as a harm minimisation strategy with a
$263,625 grant over 2012-14.
Professor Hing, Dr Louise Holdsworth,
Dr Elaine Nuske and University of New
England’s Dr Barry Tolchard will assess
the effectiveness of gambling exclusion
programs operating in Queensland,
determine whether the effects are
sustained over time, assess whether
exclusion is more effective when
combined with counselling and support;
and examine overseas models.
Centre for Gambling Education and Research
25
26
Research Centres
Centre for Gambling Education and ResearchIn South Australia excluders can ban
themselves from a dozen venues close
to their homes, work and travel routes at
a central agency. However, an excluder
living in south-east Queensland has
access to literally hundreds of venues
in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and
Coolangatta risking exposure to powerful
gambling triggers.
Even then, self-exclusion is far from
fool-proof given that it relies upon staff
identifying breaches from passport-size
photos of excluders and enforcing the
self-imposed ban. Some venues can have
up to 600 problem gamblers registered
as excluders, creating real difficulties for
managing the voluntary program.
Professor Hing has backed the federal
government’s pre-commitment reforms,
especially the requirement that a special
card be issued to any individual wishing
to play a high-intensity poker machine.
These machines allow losses of up to
$1200 per hour.
Self-exclusion orders can be linked to
the cards, automatically locking out the
excluder from play.
Better educated, problem gamblers going online
The results of the first Australian internet
and problem gambling survey in over
a decade are being published by the
CGER’s Dr Sally Gainsbury and Professor
Hing, with input from researchers at the
Universities of Sydney and Lethbridge.
As a SCU Postdoctoral Research
Fellow, Dr Gainsbury has drawn national
attention to the problem of widespread
– but unregulated – illegal internet casino
sites through a study funded through a
Menzies Allied Health Grant for $25,000.
This study was a pilot for a $933,500
study on interactive gambling – believed
to be the largest funded by Gambling
Research Australia – and is expected to
be of interest to a wide range of national
and international stakeholders including
governments, treatment providers,
community organisations, the gaming
industry and researchers.
This large study is headed by Professor
Hing and Dr Gainsbury, and also involves
researchers from the University of Sydney,
University of Lethbridge and Turning Point
Alcohol and Drug Services.
Their evidence indicates internet gambling
might create new problem gamblers in
terms of credit card use, and losing track
of time and money.
There’s also evidence existing problem
gamblers are going online as an
additional way of gambling because of
ease of access.
Dr Gainsbury has also authored a
book on online gambling, “Internet
gambling: Current research findings and
implications”. (Springer, NY)
She has also made five submissions
to the Joint Select Committee for
Gambling Reform chaired by Tasmanian
Independent, Mr Andrew Wilkie, and met
them in person four times.
Ministerial Advisory Committee
Professor Hing and fellow Southern Cross
University researcher Ashley Gordon
were two of five researchers on the
Commonwealth’s 22-member Ministerial
Advisory Committee on Gambling.
Professor Hing and Mr Gordon provided
the committee – which also included
industry, community services and union
members – with a research-based
perspective on problem gambling.
Committee debate – that was not
subject to confidentiality – focused on
the Canberra pre-commitment trials, the
need for dynamic warning signage on
poker machines, and withdrawal limits on
co-located ATM machines.
These were all important issues
also raised by the 2010 Productivity
Commission inquiry into problem
gambling.
Mr Gordon provided the committee with a
perspective on the impacts of commercial
gambling on Indigenous populations,
while Dr Hing focused on responsible
gambling and harm minimisation.
Pokies ‘feminised’ problem gambling
The introduction of poker machines
in Victoria in the early 1990s saw the
“feminisation” of gambling and problem
gambling, as women were attracted to
the machines.
Where previously men dominated
problem gambling, counselling agencies
reported a big upsurge in women seeking
help for gambling problems.
Fortuitously, the Victorian Government
funded a very long-term epidemiological
26
Contact: nerilee.hing@scu.edu.au
Website: cger.scu.edu.au
Phone: 02 6620 3928
study on gambling a few years ago
involving 15,000 Victorian adults, and
representative by age, gender and region.
Professor Hing, Dr Louise Holdsworth,
Dr Elaine Nuske and Dr Barry Tolchard
(UNE), will use the huge Victorian
database to develop two models of risk
factors for problem gambling – one for
men and the other for women.
Women tend to gamble more for coping
and escape, rather than excitement and
challenge like many men. Women tend to
develop problems when older, but seek
help more readily and tend to have lower
financial debts.
The models are expected to have
important policy implications for more
effective public health interventions,
messaging and treatment services. The
Victorian Department of Justice provided
$109,985 for the 2012-13 project.
This project builds on earlier research
into women and gambling, funded by
the National Association for Gambling
Studies, and conducted by the CGER’s
Drs Breen, Holdsworth and Nuske.
Indigenous gambling prevalence investigated
Indigenous collectivist culture may amplify
problem gambling, causing harmful
effects to ripple out within the extended
family of the Indigenous problem gambler,
reducing the urgency to address their
addiction.
There are still big gaps in the research
on Indigenous gambling. Suspected
higher rates of gambling in the
Indigenous population – and their special
vulnerabilities – are being investigated as
part of the largest ARC Discovery project
on the subject to date.
Indigenous Australian Ashley Gordon
– who was also the Indigenous
representative on the Federal
government’s 22-member Ministerial
Advisory Committee on Gambling – is
working as a research consultant on
the $365,000, four-year ARC project.
Professor Hing, Dr Jeremy Buultjens and
Dr Breen are also working on the project.
Mr Gordon has visited 20 Indigenous
communities in NSW where he has
been running community awareness
workshops among health professionals,
service providers and community leaders.
Researchers have collected some 1200
surveys during Aboriginal sporting events
in New South Wales and Queensland and
interviewed 60 Indigenous people, varying
from recreational to problem gamblers.
They are to report in 2014.
Significant life events investigated
Psychological co-morbidities such as
depression, anxiety, and alcohol or drug
abuse are known to often accompany
problem gambling.
But little is known about how problem
gambling and co-morbidities are
associated with significant life events,
especially empty nest syndrome or the
death of a partner, when women often
experience depression and loneliness.
Southern Cross investigators Dr Louise
Holdsworth, Dr Nuske, and Professor
Hing will carry out the study with $27,495
from the Victorian Department of Justice
over 2012-13.
27
Research Centres
Research Centre for Tourism, Leisure and Work Headed by Professor Kerry Brown, the
Research Centre for Tourism, Leisure
and Work (CTLW) was established in
early 2010, with a brief to become an
internationally recognised interdisciplinary
research centre. Centre members
undertake research in tourism, sport,
leisure and work, with particular
promotion of community connection and
regional development.
The CTLW, within the School of Tourism
and Hospitality Management, is building
its knowledge capacity in leisure and
sport as part of ongoing efforts to
develop large-scale research projects
in mega-sporting events, including the
Olympic Games in 2016 in Brazil and
the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the
Gold Coast.
The Infrastructure and Engineering Asset
Management CRC – in which key CTLW
researchers are involved – is working
towards transitioning to an Institute model
as it comes to the end of its funding in
July 2013.
Research-based standard protects nation’s $600 billion assets
Australia’s expensive and essential built
infrastructure – valued at more than $600
billion – is expected to serve over the long
term. This large-scale and long-serving
infrastructure includes roads, power,
submarines and rail, and is subject to
problems of effectively managing the
asset across its life-cycle.
These nationally strategic assets –
and their managers – are facing the
serious and compounding challenges of
increasing resource scarcity, increasing
public expectations and demands,
degrading environments and climate
change. In addition, the typical 50-year
periods of service are often longer than
their managers’ working lives.
During 2011, CTLW director Professor
Brown led the production of a major
guide on asset management that has
been adopted by a key peak asset
organisation – the Australian Procurement
and Construction Council (APCC) –
and the Australian Asset Management
Collaborative Group, both with
responsibility for large-scale assets.
The practical new ‘Guide to Integrated
Strategic Asset Management’ –
supported by a research-based ‘Body
of Knowledge’ – has also been sent
to all 3,000-plus members of Certified
Practicing Accountants Australia as part
of their commitment to strategic asset
management.
Replacement of these built assets –
crucial for the nation to function – is
an expensive and major undertaking
not often widely considered, planned
or budgeted for and as a result their
strategic management is critical.
The guide provides key strategies to
assist those responsible for delivering and
managing built assets to meet community
and service delivery needs. It highlights
the need to minimise risk, achieve value-
for-money and promote sustainability.
The guide was produced by the CRC
for Infrastructure and Engineering Asset
Management project team comprising
SCU’s Professor Brown, Dr Martin Laue
and Professor Robyn Keast, and the
APCC’s Ms Jane Montgomery-Hribar.
Documenting Islander heritage
Small Island Cultures Research Initiative
convenor Professor Philip Hayward
continued his investigation, publishing
and lobbying efforts around traditional
cultural practices and their implications
for Islander rights.
The deputy Pro Vice Chancellor
(Research) continued his development
of ‘the aquapelago’ – a concept that
attempts to emphasise the integration of
island and coastal societies with marine
environments, resources, histories and
imaginations.
He argues that aquapelagos are useful for
engaging with marine native title or sea
rights claims, and especially their cultural-
historical recognition.
Based upon his research, Professor
Hayward has told the federal House of
Representatives committee on External
Territories, that Norfolk Island, Christmas
Island and the Cocos/Keeling Islands
remained unsurveyed in cultural terms
despite their being rich and distinct
aspects of national cultural fabric.
There had been an effort to remove the
recognition of traditional fishing areas and
practices from Norfolk Island. Cultural
traditions conferred rights which could
be associated with traditional rights
over managing them, and similar things
had occurred on Christmas and Cocos
islands.
Professor Hayward has argued that
this lack of awareness and information
about important elements of Australia’s
cultural heritage is lamentable. It inhibits
the development of policy towards, and
support and facilitation of Australia’s
external island cultures.
During 2011, Professor Hayward
undertook field research in Ambon with
Professor Bob Mosse from Pattimura
University on how the 1999-2002
Christian/Muslim conflict – and the
subsequent rebuilding of the city and
civil society – impacted on local tuna fish
markets. This analysis is being published
in the first issue of new publication, The
Journal of Marine and Island Cultures.
He also presented a paper on salmon
aquaculture in the southern Chilean island
of Chiloe at a regional food conference at
Kingscliff and co-authored a chapter on
Chiloe music published in 2011.
Professor Hayward was on fieldwork
in Amami in southern Japan when the
2011 tsunami ravaged the north and
he returned home due to perceived risk
factors from the reactor.
He also co-ordinated the 7th annual
International Small Island Cultures
conference in the Whitsundays,
Queensland. More recently he
28
participated in Australia’s first Small
Islands Forum, a conference at
Lord Howe Island. The grass-roots
designed enterprise brought together
representatives from many of Australia’s
islands, state and federal MPs and
academics.
Sustaining national park treasures
National parks compete for funding with
other state government departments
like health, justice and education, and
with a myriad other leisure providers, for
patronage from the visiting public.
Parks agencies from Western Australia,
Victoria and New South Wales have
moved to shore up their market position
into the future by investigating the ‘gaps’
between the benefits of parks as seen by
the agencies, and how they are perceived
by the public.
CTLW researchers, Dr Brent Moyle
and Professor Betty Weiler, have pulled
together a $129,500 ARC Linkage grant
– with extra funds from SCU – aimed at
testing and shifting the market position
occupied by Australian parks.
Poor market positioning – where there
is a mismatch between a park agency’s
or park’s projected image, and that
held by key park visitor and general
public stakeholders – can result in poor
customer support.
From their extensive interviews with park
managers across the three agencies, the
pair has already uncovered important
similarities and differences in the images
about the benefits of parks that the
agencies desire to project.
NSW NPWS managers identified
the benefits of connection to nature,
participation in outdoor activities, learning
about nature, culture and heritage, and
the opportunity to socialise with family
and friends as the most important to
project.
Managers from Parks Victoria were
much more focused on projecting health
benefits, such as physical rest and
relaxation, reduction of physical health
risks, overall quality of life and improved
mental well-being.
DEC WA responses suggested more of
an environmental focus, with connection
with nature, appreciation of scenic beauty
and biodiversity preservation the top
responses from senior managers.
The findings from this first stage of the
project will feed into the later stages
of research and involve a series of
communication-based interventions in an
effort to better align agencies’ core values
with public desires.
Olympics no game in Rio favelas
There is little difference in the levels
of sport participation before and after
Olympic Games, according to the little
empirical evidence available to date.
In a new move to encourage a strong
sports participation legacy from the
2016 Rio Games, the International
Olympic Committee has commissioned
the CTLW’s Dr Arianne Reis and the
University of Basel’s Fabiana Rodrigues
de Sousa, to investigate the issue.
The pair has won a $10,300 International
Olympic Committee grant to assess and
monitor what is being done in advance of
the Games to leverage this mega-event
to increase sport participation in Rio de
Janeiro and Brazil. They are examining
what the Brazilian government and the
Rio organising committee are doing
or planning to do to create a ‘sport
participation legacy’ as promised in their
bidding documents.
Apart from analysing official documents,
they are talking to the people who are
in most need of support – those living in
Rio favelas or “shanty towns” – to hear
what they have to say about the ‘sport
participation legacy’.
Doing so four years before the Games,
they expect to contribute to the planning
by feeding back valuable information to
event organisers and different levels of
government that may potentially result in
strategies to create a sport participation
legacy for the local population.
Post-docs’ intellectual firepower
The Centre is building up a core of
post-doctoral research talent to help it
address major projects. During the past
year the Centre has welcomed five new
postdoctoral research fellows: Drs Subas
Dhakal, Muhammad Nateque Mahmood,
Brent Moyle, Arianne Reis and Anna
Wiewiora.
Dr Dhakal is supported by the SCU
Collaborative Research Network project,
and is focused on policy and planning
research for sustainable regions with UQ’s
Institute for Social Science Research.
Dr Mahmood and Dr Wiewiora are
participating in the CRC for Infrastructure
Engineering Asset Management project.
29
30
With Australia’s infrastructure, non-
residential buildings and industrial facilities
costing an estimated 30 billion per year
to maintain, they are working on strategic
asset management.
Dr Brent Moyle is an expert on tourism,
leisure and recreation in natural and
protected areas, including visitor
management, sustainable tourism/
destination management, tourism
impacts, visitor behaviour, interpretation
and marketing of national parks. Dr
Moyle also conducts research on island
development, tourism impacts, policy
and planning, sustainability, tourism
postgraduate dissertations and amateur
athletes engaged in serious leisure
pursuits. He is among the first cohort
supported by the Southern Cross
Postdoctoral Fellowship scheme.
Dr Reis is currently investigating sport
participation legacies from Olympic
Games, and has also conducted research
on social, environmental and economic
impacts/legacies of other major sport
events. In addition, she has experience
and expertise in the fields of tourism and
climate change, nature-based tourism
and outdoor recreation.
Media art breaks down barriers with homeless
An innovative creative arts project
involving some 120 Lismore stakeholders
has yielded important insights into
homelessness, and helped break down
social barriers.
Among findings reported in a forthcoming
journal article, Associate Professor
Rebecca Coyle and Dr Grayson Cooke,
from the School of Arts and Social
Sciences, found university researchers
could extend the reach of arts
organisations deeper into the community
through measured collaboration, and
art techniques can reveal the diversity of
homelessness.
During the project with Northern Rivers
Performing Arts, and as part of National
Homeless Person’s Week, members of
the Lismore community were invited to
‘strike poses’ on an art gallery plinth as
though they were a statue, and were later
interviewed.
A typical lounge-setting was also set up
in a Lismore laneway, and participants –
who ranged from refugees, Indigenous
people, long-term homeless to couch-
surfers – came to share anecdotes about
their experiences of home and place.
The results were systematically
documented in photography and video
for playback in an art exhibition.
In another finding generated by the
technique, significant levels of fear were
discovered among both the stable and
secure and the homeless, around contact
between the parties.
The researchers observed how rapidly
people’s lives could change, leading to
their becoming homeless. Significant
levels of mobility were found among the
homeless attracted to Lismore’s sub-
tropical climate, seeking work and shelter.
Some 204,900 people received
support at some point during 2008-09
the Australian Institute of Health and
Welfare has found*, and 15 per cent of
NSW’s rough-sleepers are located in the
Northern Rivers.* ABS 1370.0 - Measures of Australia’s Progress, 2010
SCU expertise on the gallop to China
Injury and overtraining of race horses
caused by improper training can result
in both a high cost to the racing industry
and increased stress to the horses and
their owners.
An important threat to the welfare of the
athletic horse is poor preparation of the
horse for competition, resulting in earlier
fatigue during a race and increased risk
of injury.
But under a $32,120 Australia-China
Science and Research Fund grant,
Professor Shi Zhou and Associate
Professor Allan Davie of SCU’s School
of Health and Human Sciences will help
counter the problem in China.
Based upon their previous success in the
area, the pair will further develop training
methods for optimising performance,
while at the same time improving animal
welfare by reducing the risk of injury and
overtraining.
Professor Davie has developed these
concepts and his methods have been
adopted by many trainers around the
world.
The outcomes of the research may also
have implications for human athletes.
Contact: kerry.brown@scu.edu.au
Website: ctlw.com.au
Phone: 07 5589 3113
Research Centre for Tourism, Leisure and Work
Research Centres
30
Forest Research Centre
SCU’s forestry research was rated ‘at
world standard’ in the 2010 Excellence in
Research for Australia exercise.
Associate Professor Doland Nichols was
elevated to a Fellow of the Institute of
Foresters of Australia, while Professor
Jerry Vanclay had earlier received the
prestigious Scientific Achievement Award
in 2010 from the International Union of
Forest Research Organizations.
In response to the accolades, SCU has
created a new Forest Research Centre
headed by Jerry Vanclay, Professor
for Sustainable Forestry, a former
Principal Scientist with the Centre for
International Forestry Research, and
Professor of Tropical Forestry at the Royal
Veterinary and Agricultural University in
Copenhagen, Denmark.
Professor Vanclay is a member of the
advisory group to the European Forest
Institute’s research network, a member
of the IUCN Commission on Education
and Communication, and a director of the
Water and Carbon Group.
SCU’s new Forest Research Centre in
the School of Environment, Science and
Management will have a broad research
focus on forest biodiversity, decision
support systems for forests, mixed-
species plantations, domestication of
native tree species, bio-energy from
forests and community engagement in
land-use planning.
The Centre will work closely with
Southern Cross Plant Science to
maximize synergies, especially in forest
genetics.
Despite its youth, the Centre has several
major projects. Professor Nichols is
drawing a major Australian Centre for
International Agricultural Research project
to conclusion in Vanuatu. The project
has involved domesticating whitewood, a
native timber tree that has great potential
for plantation production, and to stimulate
Vanuatu’s ailing economy.
Associate Professor Ross Goldingay
continues his innovative studies on
maintaining habitat connectivity for forest
fauna such as possums and gliders,
despite forest fragmentation from roads
and urbanisation.
Documentation of the soil and
management requirements of Australian
eucalypts in timber plantations continues,
with several journal articles published
during 2011.
A research gassifier will soon be
commissioned, enabling SCU to explore
production and pollution aspects of
using wood residues such as sawdust
and off-cuts for bio-energy production.
The research is aimed at making milling
more efficient while creating value-adding
opportunities for local forestry industries.
Although the FRC Centre has just been
created, it already shows a solid track
record, with great potential for the years
ahead.
Cognitive Neuroscience
Researchers at SCU’s Cognitive
Neuroscience Research Cluster published
34 research papers* and attracted more
than $30,000 in research funding from
overseas in 2011-2012.
Associate Professor Rick van der Zwan
heads SCU Cognitive Neuroscience, a
multidisciplinary group of researchers
examining how the brain functions to
mediate behaviours.
Professor van der Zwan leads research
projects in behavioural neuroscience, in
applied brain sciences, and in healthy
ageing. He has an international reputation
as a behavioural researcher and
consultant, having authored more than
60 scholarly articles and numerous other
reports.
His doctoral research led to his winning
a postdoctoral appointment in the
Department of Neurology at the University
Hospital in Zurich. In 2008 he was
appointed to the Rural Clinical School of
the Faculty of Medicine at the University
of NSW as a Conjoint Associate
Professor.
During 2011-12, all members of SCU’s
emerging neuroscience cluster published,
and a range of competitive grants were
subject to application. The cluster
graduated its first PhD student, and has a
second about to complete.
Cluster members also had two books
published, and all but one of its seven
PhD students have published.
Research publications covered topics
including parenting, ageing, mental
illness, social behaviour, pleasure and
sexual perception, reading, writing and
numeracy and violence and aggression.
This growing understanding of the
relationship between brain processes
and the behaviours that emerge as a
result of those processes has important
implications.
It means that researchers and
practitioners are closer to being able to
effect changes in behaviours, especially
clinical conditions, education and
business for the good of individuals and
the community.
In 2011, SCU’s Dr Heather Winskel
(with Professor Khazriyati Salehuddin)
won $15,500 from Malaysia’s Ministry of
Higher Education for eye tracking and
reading in Malaysia. The Swiss National
Science Foundation awarded SCU’s
Dr Anna Brooks an $11,500 Short Visit
Fellowship.*About six papers were in press at report publication time.
Health and Wellbeing
The School of Health and Human
Sciences appointed Professor Susan
Nancarrow as Director of Research in late
2011.
The School is consolidating its research activity following its achievement of an ‘at world standard’ rating in nursing during the federal government’s 2010 Excellence in Research for Australia exercise.
About 30 staff at every level within the School are research active, including six professors. Despite the School’s geographic, disciplinary and methodological expertise, it has chosen to focus its energies in five thematic areas:
• workforce and practice based education
• psychology
• sport and human performance
• primary health care
• end of life care.
The research within the school is united
Emerging research
31
Emerging research
Southern Cross University health research director
Susan Nancarrow is back from a decade working in the
UK’s National Health Service, but has had a disturbing
shock upon her return home.
Australians generally – and Professor Nancarrow says
she was one of them – regard their health system ‘as
the best thing since sliced bread’.
“I have been back for 12 months to compare the UK’s
NHS system with what’s going on in Australia.
“In comparison, I now find the Australian healthcare
system quite fragmented and quite expensive and
relatively inaccessible and relatively inequitable,’’ she
said.
Professor Nancarrow – who has a family of her own
– had grown used to the NHS’s free healthcare at
point of access, appointments by lunchtime on day of
presentation, six week maximum waits for specialists,
reliable access to specialists, free blood tests and true
interdisciplinary health care.
“The NHS wasn’t perfect, and a lot of people complain
about it. However, unlike the federated Australian
system, the NHS was centralised with very good
structures under which desired reforms could be
implemented via regulations tied to powerful funding
levers,” she said.
This was highlighted in the UK over a decade ago
when severe health workforce shortages triggered
widespread reform of any tasks that could be safely
performed by less skilled workers.
Professor Nancarrow – who is a former clinician herself
and published expert in workforce flexibility – has
returned home with powerful insights from the UK
experience relevant to Australia’s own health workforce
shortages. Delegation is the key, she says.
“(Under the NHS) nurses are doing some of what
doctors were doing, nurses are doing vaccinations,
certificate II-trained
high school-leavers
are taking blood,
therapists don’t need
to walk patients along
corridors.
“We saw a real cascade
of skills down to lower
workers. At the very
bottom we had a
massive increase in
support workers or
assistant practitioners.
We found 33 different
types of support workers,’’ she said.
Australia’s federally-funded but state-based hospital
system – which also had a private/public split – lacked
the flexibility and effective funding levers of the English
system.
As a result, Australia has ended up with a top-heavy
and expensive system that was ill-placed to adapt to
health skills shortages, she says.
“The federal government is trying to shift that with
Medicare Locals and Super-clinics, and they look like
they are moving in the right direction. But we still have
a long way to go to get a truly integrated accessible
healthcare system.’’
Meanwhile, Professor Nancarrow is also working on an
unprecedented partnership with the Northern Rivers
Indigenous community under the auspices of the
Lismore GP Super-clinic.
The SCU researchers are working with the Lismore
clinicians on a project aimed at improving health among
Indigenous families, including reducing pre-term births,
which occur at nearly twice the rate of their non-
Indigenous counterparts.
Researching to reverse health inequities
by the following values:
1. Practice is embedded in the philosophies of the World Health Organisation’s primary health care policy: “Now more than ever” (WHO 2008).
2. Practice and policy and education should be evidence-based.
3. Participation and collaboration are
intrinsic to improved outcomes for
health, education, practice and
service.
4. The creation of new knowledge
underpins our endeavours.
The School is undergoing rapid
growth, with the introduction of new
undergraduate health degrees in podiatry,
pedorthics and speech pathology in
2013.
The consolidation of the School’s
research activity has been developed in
a way which will allow for the inclusion of
the new disciplines, while maintaining a
clear focus.
32
Promising HDRs attend conferences, global centres offshoreSCU aims to create research and
research training that has global and
regional impact and relevance. The
University’s research centres and clusters
are focused on creating knowledge in
our areas of research strength including
environmental sciences, plant sciences,
geoscience, forestry, gambling research,
marine science, health, business,
education and tourism.
SCU deputy Pro Vice Chancellor
(Research) Professor Phil Hayward said
the University encouraged students
to participate in the national and
international research community,
allowing them access to fellow
researchers for feedback and dialogue on
their ‘work-in-progress’.
SCU’s Research Training Unit offers
financial support for students’ attendance
at national and international conferences.
The unit also introduced an international
HDR student linkage scheme, enabling
PhD students to work at leading global
centres in order to develop an association
with key specialists for short periods.
In parallel with this, SCU has begun to
offer dual award PhDs with international
universities. This allows promising
researchers the opportunity to develop
thesis projects between two tertiary
research institutions.
SCU has targeted Indonesia, China and
Vietnam as key areas for collaborative
research development and welcomes
applications from students addressing
topics relevant to these regions.
Applications are also welcome from
students wishing to explore projects in
other geographical regions.
SCU also facilitates a wide range of
nationally-focused doctoral research
projects and encourages active
collaboration with researchers from other
Australian universities.
Research training
Contact: Student Liaison Officer, Research Training Unit research@scu.edu.au
Website: scu.edu.au/research
Phone: 02 6620 3414
Fax: 02 6626 9145
33
34
Boat-loads of whale-watching tourists armed with
small digital cameras are now giving researchers like
Peta Beeman unprecedented insights into the annual
humpback whale migration, potentially even down to
the travel speed of individuals.
“With digital photography there are lots of people going
out and getting good photos and not realising they
are useful in terms of science, and that they can be
matched to track the whales,’’ says the Southern Cross
University Masters student, published researcher and
artist.
Ms Beeman – who has an uncanny ability to hold
patterns in her mind – uses SCU Marine Ecology
Research Centre’s international whale identification
software, Fluke Matcher, to enable the efficient
processing of large numbers of citizen photos.
“My research project is about humpback whales,
the group E population which spends the Southern
Hemisphere summer in Antarctica feeding. They then
head north to their breeding grounds of the central
Great Barrier Reef and further north.’’
These humpbacks form an immense migration stream
expected to grow to a post-whaling record of up to
some 17,000 humpbacks in 2012.
The humpback population is growing at a vigorous 10
per cent a year, but in an environment of increasing and
unknown threats.
“I have seen a number of whales severely injured by
propeller strike, and quite a lot with scarring from
entanglements in fishing gear,” Ms Beeman said.
‘Big unknowns’ are associated with the impacts of
global warming and changing ocean water temperature
and chemistry on the availability of food, especially the
Antarctic.
When studying animals with such a long migration
as humpbacks, the key is to collaborate with other
researchers, as they are studying another part of the
same migration.
There’s also a very small cross-over in these whale
populations between eastern and western Australia,
and east Australia and Oceania.
“So you need to collaborate with other researchers with
other catalogues. Fluke Matcher helps with this large
scale matching,’’ she said.
Ms Beeman’s project is already reaping photographic
documentation of whales travelling on the Tasmania to
Whitsundays, Queensland, leg of their journeys.
“I want to expand on that this year. I want more
publicity to get photos from all along the east coast
which will allow me to identify whales along their
migration, determine their travel speeds, what they are
doing, and what time of year they are travelling. The
more photos the better,’’ she says
Conservation-minded professional photographers
armed with high-end digital SLRs have uploaded
large numbers of ‘unbelievably good’ fluke shots, Ms
Beeman says.
But her mission is to popularise the documentation
of migrating whales from among the happy snaps
taken by weekend enthusiasts armed with as little as a
humble digital camera.
“The professionals are giving me really fantastic shots
because they have long zoom lenses. But if you are
in the right place at the right time and the whales are
close, and they do come close, and you click at the
right time, you can be lucky even with a very small
digital camera,’’ she says.
Whale-watchers can upload their fluke shots at
scu.edu.au/eastcoastwhales
Citizen science
Peta Beeman (left)
with Tegan Clark
on the ‘Seahorse’
photographing
whale flukes.
34
Office of the Pro Vice Chancellor (Research)
Professor Neal Ryan, Pro Vice Chancellor (Research)
E: pvc.research@scu.edu.au
T: 61+(0)2 6620 3719
Louise Gordon, Personal Assistant to the Pro Vice Chancellor (Research)
E: louise.gordon@scu.edu.au
T: 61+(2) 6620 3172
Dr Nicole Rice, Executive Officer
E: nicole.rice@scu.edu.au
T: 61+(0)2 6620 3809
Dr Lyndon Brooks, Statistician
E: lyndon.brooks@scu.edu.au
T: 61+(0)2 6620 3965
Assoc. Prof. Slade Lee, Principal Research Leader – Plant Business
E: slade.lee@scu.edu.au
T: 0419 474 251
Professor Robert Weatherby, Chair Higher Degree Research Committee
E: robert.weatherby@scu.edu.au
T: 61+(0)2 6620 3671
Robyn Anderson, Finance Manager
E: dorfinance@scu.edu.au
T: 61+(0)2 6620 3705
Barry Pagotto, Finance Manager
E: dorfinance@scu.edu.au
T: 61+(0)2 6620 3413
Jill Townsend, Administration Officer
E: dorfinance@scu.edu.au
T: 61+(0)2 6620 3837
Research Training Unit
Professor Philip Hayward, Deputy Pro Vice Chancellor (Research)
E: philip.hayward@scu.edu.au
T: 61+(0)2 6626 9186
Sandra Guthrie, Assistant to Deputy Pro Vice Chancellor (Research); Student Liaison Officer
E: research@scu.edu.au
T: 61+(0)2 6620 3520
Jennifer Jones, Research Training Manager
E: jennifer.jones@scu.edu.au
T: 61+(0)2 6626 9147
Higher Degrees Research Officer
E: research@scu.edu.au
T: 61+(0)2 6626 9426
Ethics
Sue Kelly, Human Research Ethics
E: sue.kelly@scu.edu.au
T: 61+(0)2 6626 9139
Research & Commercial Services Unit
Stephen Williams, Director
E: stephen.williams@scu.edu.au
T: 61+(0)2 6620 3458
Carolyn Piercy, Project Manager
E: research.services@scu.edu.au
T: 61+(0)2 6626 9471
Alexandra McDonald, Project Manager
E: research.services@scu.edu.au
T: 61+(0)2 6620 3485
Emma Evans, Grants Manager
E: grants@scu.edu.au
T: 61+(0)2 6626 9119
Liz Key, Administration Officer
E: research.admin@scu.edu.au
T: 61+(0)2 6626 9361
Wendy Scott, ERA and RMS Project Manager
E: wendy.scott@scu.edu.au
T: 61+(0)2 6626 9371
Contacts
The Division of Research is structured into three units
35
SCU4140
top related