A medical alumnus takes a key COVID-19 role in the US, three authors make the shortlist for impressive prizes, Flinders’ new trading room opens, exercise lead joins national accreditation body, and our education team tackles middle years as four-year study commences.
Key US role for alumnus
The work of Flinders University alumnus Dr Mark Escott, a medical director for Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical in Texas, USA, was highlighted in Austin’s major newspaper last week.
Dr Escott has led the city’s response to COVID-19, including advising government officials to announce a disaster declaration for Austin, leading to the cancellation of the massive South by Southwest multi-day conference.
His advice is highly regarded by government leaders and health authorities, informed by his own studies together with an advisory panel he created for Austin’s virus response.
As EMS medical director, Dr Escott is responsible for medical training for Austin and Travis County emergency workers and for reviewing clinical care. He is also responsible for gathering and reporting statistics for infectious diseases and “establishing, maintaining and enforcing jurisdictional quarantine orders.”
Dr Mark Escott graduated from Flinders University in 2003 with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery.
Read the newspaper article online.
Trading Room opens
The Flinders University Business Trading Room has been completed, offering students a cutting-edge market simulation program where they can access time-series data on security prices and exchange rates, execute trades in real time, and plug into financial modelling that mimics the global derivatives market.
Powered by the same technology used by institutional dealing rooms, fund managers and government research departments, it includes mobile and algorithmic trading capabilities.
For the first time, students in topics such as Foundations of Finance and Investments and Portfolio Management can engage with the derivatives trading exchange, putting theory into practice and testing themselves against international markets.
The current environment is fostering a particularly volatile platform and delivering a unique learning experience, with students logging in to the trading room from home for lectures and to put their knowledge into practice.
Flinders authors shortlisted for distinguished prizes
Three books by Flinders University academics have been shortlisted for this year’s NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, which celebrate the importance of literacy and encourage engagement with Australia’s premier writers.
Associate Professor Alice Gorman has been shortlisted for the 2020 Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction with her book, Dr Space Junk vs The Universe.
Dr Sean Williams’ book, Impossible Music, has been shortlisted for the Ethel Turner Award, which is awarded for a work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry written for young people of secondary school level.
The Douglas Stewart Prize includes a $40,000 cash prize, while the Ethel turner Awards offers a $30,000 prize.
Dr Natalie Harkin’s publication Archival-Poetics, a collection of three volumes of poems that grapple with traumatic histories of colonisation, stolen generations and forced domestic labour has been shortlisted for the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry. The award comes with a $30,000 prize.
Winners will be announced on Monday 27 April 2020.
New role for exercise lead
Exercise Science and Physiology Academic Lead Associate Professor Claire Drummond has been selected for the Exercise and Sports Science Australia (ESSA) course review committee.
Her five-year appointment will deepen the University’s relationship with ESSA, a professional association which supports tertiary-trained exercise and sports science practitioners through accreditation, advocacy and other functions.
Upping the middle-years experience
A project commenced this month between Flinders University and Catholic Education South Australia, aimed at improving middle-years schooling, with a focus on delivering better student outcomes in disadvantaged communities.
The REAL Hope project is a four-year social justice research undertaking funded by Catholic Education South Australia ($175000) and Flinders University ($25,000) that will look at ‘doing schooling differently’ in year’s 7 to 10 across the northern suburbs of Adelaide.
The project will address languishing school retention rates, the lack of student interest in learning and better prepare students for the SACE.
Its first stage will involve in depth interviews with young people about their experiences of schooling and what they would like to see change, followed by a three-year ‘augmented’ action research study with middle school teachers and leaders across four Catholic schools within a university-facilitated Professional Learning Community.
A key element will be collaborating with teachers as co-researchers, to inform experiments for more personalised and engaging curriculum in disadvantaged communities.
The research team includes Dr Andrew Bills as Chief Investigator and Emeritus Professor John Halsey as strategic project advisor, together with researchers Nigel Howard and Associate Professor Ben Wadham.