IDS number one in Australia/NZ, STEM advocate takes out top innovator award, fungi discoveries make the red list, Rural Health celebrates, Squawkzilla giving naming honour at NZ exhibition and funding to shape Glenthorne brings multiple opportunities.
Awards for digital diligence
Flinders’ Information and Digital Services has secured first place in the 2019 University IT Service Quality Benchmark (ITSQB) report, which assesses universities across Australia and New Zealand.
Flinders University achieved an outstanding 88 points in the benchmark score – which is five points clear of the next ranked university. Beyond the award for this highest benchmark score yet recorded, Flinders also won an award for demonstrating the highest year-on-year improvement (for the second consecutive year).
Chief Information Officer Kerrie Campbell says more than 1,100 Flinders staff participated in the 2019 ITSQB survey, which is helping Information and Digital Services develop initiatives and actions for 2020 that will continue improving its quality of services.
STEM advocate takes out top innovator award
Associate Professor Maria Parappilly has been named Advertiser/ Sunday Mail Woman of the Year – Coriole Top Innovator. Recognised for her creative approach to inspiring and supporting girls into STEM pathways, Associate Professor Parappilly’s award reflects years of work to ensure more girls take advantage of the growing opportunities in science, technology, engineering and maths careers, while supporting others to bridge the gender gap in senior roles.
Her win gained local media attention and press as far afield as India, including Deepika, one of the nation’s oldest newspapers, and Manorama, Kerala’s top daily.
The Woman of the Year awards are the culmination of a year-long celebration by the news publication of high achieving South Australian women.
The physics researcher and lecturer is also in the running for the 2020 Asia-Pacific Awards on Entrepreneurship and Engagement Excellence in Higher Education, as one of just five people shortlisted for the international accolade. These awards are run by the Accreditation Council for Entrepreneurial and Engaged Universities, based in The Netherlands, with winners to be announced in early January.
Associate Professor Parappilly established the STEM: Women Branching Out group at Flinders and leads many of its successful initiatives including the Cochlear Aurora Photo Contest and STEM Enrichment Academy.
Fungi finds make the list
Two of the Kangaroo Island fungal species described and named by Emeritus Professor David Catcheside and Pam Catcheside have been red listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) this month.
Antrelloides atroceracea, known to be found at only three sites in Australia, has been listed as vulnerable and Entoloma ravinense, known at two locations, as threatened.
The two newly identified species are among 51 Australasian fungi added to the IUCN Red List this year, making a total of 71.
Information on each species on the IUCN Red List can be viewed at the IUCH website https://www.iucnredlist.org/search (choose: Taxonomy =Fungi and Land regions =Oceania). Links to Antrelloides atroceracea can be found here and Entoloma ravinense here.
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Two decades of discovery featured in Squawkzilla exhibition
An exhibition at the Canterbury Museum in New Zealand is showcasing the incredible giant species that inhabited New Zealand millions of years ago, including Squawkzilla and other species discovered by fossil expert Associate Professor Trevor Worthy and colleagues.
Museum staff worked with Associate Professor Worthy together with scientists at the University of New South Wales and other universities in Wellington (NZ) and Germany to curate the impressive collection that brings a lost world ‘to life’.
Squawkzilla has also been honoured in the exhibition’s name – Ancient New Zealand: Squawkzilla and the Giants.
A model of the giant parrot itself features in one of the sections, alongside other animals of the time and actual fossils in large diorama-type displays. This section incorporates much of the research Professor Worthington has been involved in for almost two decades.
The Canterbury Museum also features the Bothriolepis fish collected from Antarctica by Professor John Long and colleague Margaret Bradshaw in the permanent Antarctica display.
In a further nod to Squawkzilla’s global reach, US company Gigantic Brewing Company recently launched a craft beer aligned with the popular parrot – “Unleash the beast! We collaborated with bale breaker brewing from yakima, WA and their family hop farm loftus ranches to make a fresh hop beer as impressive as a 3 foot parrot.”
Rural health celebrations
The Flinders Rural Health SA staff held their annual retreat on 17 and 18 December, with representatives from all Flinders sites across South Australia including Bedford Park, Mt Gambier, Victor Harbor, Murray Bridge, Barossa Valley, Renmark and Burra. Their end of year dinner and awards presentation was held at the Hilton Adelaide, with Professor Jonathan Craig presenting certificates to award finalists and recipients.
Award recipients:
Unsung Hero: Janice Heaven, Michele Summers and Elspeth Radford
Interprofessional Collaborator: Kathryn Sylvia
Excellence in Research: Dr Mohammad Hamiduzzaman
Wellness Ambassador: Rob Stafford
Dean’s Award: Naomi Thomas
Leadership Award: Dr Leesa Walker
Glenthorne funding
Professor Donald Pate’s research grant proposal ‘Glenthorne National Park Historic Sites GIS Database’ with Dr Pam Smith and Rob Keane has been funded by the SA Department of Environment and Water with research to commence in early 2020.
The Glenthorne National Park budget of $15 million from Commonwealth and SA state funds will provide a range of additional research funding opportunities for Archaeology, History, Geographic Information Systems, and other disciplines in the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences over the next three to five years.