We celebrate the success of Flinders art graduates winning studio residencies, outstanding STEM communicators, authors presenting their new historical books at regional writers’ workshops and a keynote address at a global Virtual Fraud conference.
Spotlight on virtual fraud in a post-COVID world
Professor Russell Smith was a presenter at the Virtual Fraud Conference on February 2 and 3. The summit meeting of the counter-fraud profession in the UK aims to tackle fraud and financial crime, together with INSOL Europe and the Association of Business Recovery Professionals. The conference brought world-leading policymakers, insolvency experts, fraud specialists and academics, who gave insights into global financial crime, rogue companies, cryptocurrency fraud, digital forensics, ‘deepfakes’ and recovering assets from fraudsters. Professor Smith, who is affiliated with the Flinders College of Business, Government and Law, was part of the keynote panel discussing the nature of financial crime in a post-COVID world and the lessons to be learnt from previous pandemics and economic crises for responding to COVID-19 globally. All the papers and other resources including video presentations are available for purchase online until 1 March from https://www.thefraudconference.com/
Workshops delve deep into history
Having had promotion of her 2020 historical fiction book Unsettled disrupted by COVID-19 restrictions, adjunct lecturer Dr Gay Lynch is about to finally deliver the launch event she had earlier planned in Mount Gambier – which is where her novel is set. The launch event and presentation, in the Mount Gambier Library on 23 February, comes in the wake of a feature story published recently in The Irish Times, which was particularly impressed by the story’s Irish roots, calling the book a “Galway-Australian frontier novel”.
Fellow author and Flinders University colleague Danielle Clode will be co-presenting the session to promote her new book: The Woman Who Sailed the World (2020). Together they will be speaking on this subject: “The accounts of women in history are often unrecorded or erased and their contributions quickly forgotten. Authors Gay Lynch and Danielle Clode discuss some of the challenges in reconstructing these lost stories from history through both fiction and biography.”
The following day, both authors will be conducting writing workshops.
Wednesday 24 February, 9-10.30am, Bringing history to life: Nonfiction with Danielle Clode discuss the different ways of writing engaging historical nonfiction – from family and local history, to biography and memoir. This session will include research, story structure, editing techniques and writing activities, as well as the practical issues of publication and promotion.
Wednesday 24 February 11am-12.30pm, Bringing history to life: Fiction with Gay Lynch. How does a story change when we see events through the eyes of different characters? How do historical fiction writers engage readers? Using a variety of strategies, participants will write and workshop a short scene with a view to further development.
These are free events, with a maximum of 15 participants, and bookings are essential. To make a booking, phone (08) 8721 2540 or book online via the Mount Gambier Library website.
Artist graduates win studio residencies
Helpmann Academy has announced that Flinders University graduate Anna Revesz has been awarded its new six-month studio residency at praxis ARTSPACE, a creative hub in Bowden. starting in March 2021, the praxis ARTSPACE residency will provide Anna with the space and encouragement to experiment, play and take risks developing new work, while providing an opportunity to be mentored in curatorial practices by Director Patty Chehade and Curator Gabi Lane.
The recipient of the Helpmann Academy’s 215 Magill Studios Residency in 2021 is Flinders University graduate Alicia Butt, who says she is looking forward to being inspired by the new connections she will make at the six-month residency. “The aspect of the residency that I am most excited about is the opportunity to work alongside other creative people and to create connections with them,” says Alicia. “Working in a shared space with other artists will allow me to bounce ideas off them and to consider different perspectives, especially as there are artists working across a range of different disciplines at Magill studios.”
Inaugural Schools Communicator award spreads the STEM message
Dr Anya Arthurs has won the inaugural Healthy Development Adelaide Schools Communicator award, funded by the Channel 7 Children’s Research Foundation. Dr Arthurs is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Pregnancy, Health and Beyond Laboratory (led by Professor Claire Roberts, who is also HDA Co-Convenor) in the College of Medicine and Public Health at Flinders University. Her research focus is on the placenta, its genetic profile and development, and in particular placental insufficiency that cause pregnancy complications (preeclampsia, gestational diabetes and stillbirth) affecting 25% of Australian births.
“I believe it’s really important to get great new people in STEM. It’s so important to communicate our research to school students, it gives them a tangible sense of what their life could be like if they pursue a career in science,” says Dr Arthurs.
The goal of this award is to help emerging researchers showcase their research to South Australian high school students with the aim of getting them excited about the amazing opportunities open to them in health science or science career pathways. “I want to enlighten students to how important science is in our world, it can open any door to you to a world of possibilities and opportunities,” says Dr Arthurs.