Awards have been granted to Flinders’ top spatial information enterprises and individuals, new grant money is being directed to Alzheimer’s disease research, and a raft of new books published on law and history.
Scooping the prize pool in spatial sciences
Flinders University excelled at the recent Spatial Excellence Awards that celebrate the achievements of top spatial information enterprises and individuals. Dr Deborah van Gaans, Research Associate for CareSearch in the College of Nursing & Health Sciences, has been awarded the Surveying & Spatial Sciences Institute 2020 South Australian Women’s Leadership Award at the recent Asia-Pacific Spatial Excellence Awards. The award recognises women who have demonstrated a significant contribution to the spatial industry and have shown potential to achieve and deliver benefits to the profession. The award was given by Australia’s peak body for surveying and spatial science spatial professionals, in recognition of Deborah’s career as a social scientist who uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to identify inequity in health service accessibility.
Dr van Gaans’s research unravels the geographic and socio-economic aspects of accessibility to individual health services. Her research aims to increase health service efficiency and improve equity in access for all, and in particular the disadvantaged. She has previously used spatial science to analyse travel time to breast screen services in NSW, and to understand the fit between patient characteristics and the business processes of Outpatient Cardiac Rehabilitation Programs. Her research is rapidly translated into on ground changes, as it is undertaken in direct partnership with government agencies or health care providers.
Two of the remaining five individual awards were won by recent graduates of Flinders University, with the SSSI-SA Undergraduate Student Award won by Alexie Tiong (BAppGIS ’21) for his third-year project which incorporated Flinders University spatial data into a game engine. SSSI-SA Young Professional of the Year was won by Sam Holt (GradDipGIS ’20), whose research project was to identifying and extracting tree canopies using LiDAR data. Sam has developed his research into a product with Aerometrex (one of the world leaders in aerial imaging and mapping), and he is current co-chair of SSSI-SA Young Professionals, making a huge impact on the spatial profession in SA.
Dementia Australia grant supports Alzheimer’s disease research
Dr Arne Ittner is among 11 other dementia researchers in Australia who will receive a share of nearly $1 million in grants to conduct groundbreaking dementia research. Dr Ittner’s project – A neuroprotective signalling axis in Alzheimer’s disease – will receive funds from the Dementia Australia Research Foundation (DARF), the research branch of the peak body for dementia, Dementia Australia. Professor Graeme Samuel AC, Chair of the DARF, says the grants provide a valuable opportunity to researchers who wanted to make a difference in the field of dementia. “These grants, which form part of $1.7 million in funding allocated last year, are highly competitive and sought after in the research sector, and provide vital insights into reducing dementia risk, improving accurate and timely diagnoses and establishing treatment and care options for people who live with dementia,” Professor Samuel says. “Without a medical breakthrough, the number of people living with dementia is expected to increase to almost 1.1 million by 2058. Research into dementia is now more urgent than ever.”
History behind Glencoe sheep station revealed
Emeritus Professor Carol Grbich and heritage architect John Berger – who are both National Trust of SA volunteers – have recently self-published a history book revealing a surprising side of the pioneering years in the South-East. Initially, they had decided to research a pamphlet about the historic Glencoe woolshed and the pioneering Leake family, but had little idea of the fascinating and scandalous tale that would be revealed. So intriguing was the story that the pair have self-published a book, The Accidental Heiress – Journey of a Glencoe squatter’s daughter, with the help of a $5000 grant from the History Trust of SA. “The more we delved, the more murky and scandalous their story became,” write the authors. The book is available from Collins bookstore Mount Gambier, Glencoe Country Post and Bistro Store, information centres in the South-East and Dymocks and the Adelaide Booksellers in Adelaide; or by emailing carol.grbich@flinders.edu.au
New books from law experts
Law experts from the College of Business, Government and Law have been busy working on a selection of new books. Professor Sharyn Roach Anleu and Emeritus Professor Kathy Mack have co-authored the book Judging and Emotion: A Socio-Legal Analysis, published by Routledge: London. Associate Professor Bibi Sangha and Dr Robert Moles have contributed a chapter on Remedies for Miscarriages of Justice, and Professor Russell Smith and Professor Peter Grabowsky from ANU contributed a chapter on Cybercrime for the book Crime and Justice: A Guide to Criminology (6th edition), edited by D. Dalton, W. De Lint and D. Palmer, published by Thomson Reuters (Professional) Australia.