Composing an anthem on climate change
Professor Patrick Hesp, Head of Environmental Science at the College of Science and Engineering, and also a keen musician, was invited to compose an original song about climate change as part of the Adelaide Festival’s huge Floods of Fire concerts to help close the month-long festival. His song The Flood and the Fire was performed by Patrick and the Parabolics at Adelaide UniBar during the Floods of Fire: Our Voices, Our Dreams concert on Saturday 16 March. The band, featuring Professor Hesp (guitar and vocals) with Narmon Tulsi on bass (research support officer with HASS), Wayne Chivell on 12-string guitar, Adam Page on saxophone and James Nisbit on drums, performed the song three times during the all-day gala event. The song was also broadcast on ABC radio as part of an interview Professor Hesp did last week on coastal sand movement along Adelaide’s metropolitan beaches.
Sharks in the dark
Professor Charlie Huveneers has contributed to a new paper published in Science that shines a light on the plight of the 521 deepwater sharks and rays – and the situation is not good, with the main threat being overfishing. Check out the research here.
Helping Australia prepare for disasters
Associate Professor Amanda Muller and Associate Professor Jyoti Khadka from the College of Nursing and Health Sciences have been awarded project funding from a new state and federal government initiative for disaster preparedness research.
The project – Understanding the Difficulty of Disaster Preparation Tasks: A Pilot Activity – will undertake a large-scale survey to map the ability of South Australians to undertake tasks found on disaster preparedness checklists for a range of different disasters. The results aim to inform allocation of resources and attention to areas of most need in a multi-disaster future.
Awarded $65,556, the project has been successful in a pilot funding round designed for projects and initiatives aimed at increasing understanding of disaster risk, enabling communities to withstand, adapt and continue to thrive in a changing environment. Overall, 16 projects will be funded by the Federal and State Governments through Disaster Risk Reduction Grants, which, combined with co-contributions from recipients, will see a total of $2.5 million invested into disaster risk reduction for South Australia.
Science meets parliament
Flinders PhD candidate Michelle Sims and Poche SA + NT Director Associate Professor Kalinda Griffiths are in Canberra this week as part of Science Meets Parliament (SMP), Australia’s most powerful vehicle for deep engagement between the STEM sector and policymakers. Michelle received a scholarship to attend SMP, while Associate Professor Griffiths will take part in the STEM Leadership Panel to discuss the next opportunities and challenges on the horizon for Australian science.
Poche SA + NT sponsors the First Nations Scholarship to promote the participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander professionals in SMP2024. This year’s recipient is Landon Brady, who stood out for his dedication to working with Traditional Owners on land and community management.
Prize for PhD project to aid Indigenous hearing health
Lisa Callahan, a PhD candidate within the College of Medicine and Public Health, is one of the Healthy Development Adelaide (HDA) and Channel 7 Children’s Research Foundation (CRF) PhD Excellence Award winners for 2024. Lisa, who will receive $5,000 per annum for 3 years to augment their scholarships, has a research project focusing on ‘Health professionals, resource use and the detection of otitis media in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children’. Her PhD, supervised by Associate Professor Jacqueline Stephens and Associate Professor Eng Ooi, forms part of the NHMRC-funded ‘Pathways For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Hearing Health: The PATHWAY Project’.
This research project aims to provide an understanding of the training and support needs, resource use and facilitators of program outcomes, as viewed by health professionals. It will use Western and Indigenous research methodologies to achieve the study aims, and provide potential applications across allied health, nursing, medicine, public health, paediatrics and Indigenous health.
“I am exceptionally grateful to Healthy Development Adelaide and the Channel 7 Children’s Research Foundation for their support of this project,” says Lisa. “My hope is that this research will contribute to improved ear health services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and enhance support systems for health professionals involved in this space.”