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A window to the soul
Monash U researchers have US Department of Defence funding to develop smart glasses to wear in negotiations
They will have machine learning, speech recognition and vision technology. The plan is they “will recognise and adapt to the emotional, social and cultural norms that differ across societies, languages and communities.”
Maybe Vladimir Putin was getting ready when he met President Macron at a metres long table.
There’s more in the Mail
In Features this morning
Simon Bedford (Western Sydney U) on the university’s new teaching and learning Badugulang Centre. This week’s selection by Commissioning Editor Sally Kift for her celebrated series, Needed now in teaching and learning.
plus James Guthrie and John Dumay (Macquarie U) examine how their research performance is analysed in rankings and issues it points too
with Merlin Crossley (UNSW) on teaching awards – hard to decide but way worth the effort.
and Jenny Gore (Uni Newcastle) considers the policy and politics of the Quality Initial Teacher Education Review.
Unis responding to the pain of Ukraine
ANU shows the way
Late Thursday ANU announced it was “suspending all ties and activities with Russian institutions, indefinitely and with immediate effect,” in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
To which some ANU academics responded first thing Friday with an open letter warning that this “will have a devastating effect on those academics in Russia who strive for international collaboration and thus slow down the country’s descent into the dark ages” and be bad for, “ANU academics and students involved in Russian studies and collaborations, their ongoing and future projects.”
Signatories urge “a better-targeted response” to “President Putin’s unspeakable aggression against Ukraine.”
However ANU states, “The university has not mandated any restrictions on an individual’s interactions with colleagues, except those that would come under the remit of foreign interference.”
Critics at ANU might be happier with the statement from the Group of Eight (of which ANU is a member), “condemning Russia’s attack on Ukraine’s people and sovereignty.” The Eight offer “counselling and other assistance to international students and faculty affected by the crisis.” But “solidarity with the global research community” in condemning the attack is as far as it goes.
Another Group of Eight member, Uni Sydney, protested the invasion by joining other unis with carillons by playing Ukrainian songs on theirs. “Our university is committed to the principles of equality and accountability that underwrite the value of democracy. In keeping with these cherished principles, we support the continuity of Ukrainian sovereignty,” VC Mark Scott said Thursday.
However La Trobe U chose the ANU way. Late Friday VC John Dewar told staff the university has no research or education partnerships with Russian institutions and will keep it that way. “We encourage our academics to cease any research collaborations with Russian institutions.
MOOC of the morning
The MRI formally known as Walter and Eliza Hall announces an on-line course on the genome editing tool CRISPR (which abbreviates from Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats)
The free and brief (2 and a half hours) brief is for people who “may not necessarily have an extensive background in science or genome editing,” thus ensuring a vast potential audience.
Murdoch U must look good to new VC
Andrew Deeks is having an eventful exit from of University College Dublin
There is criticism of UCD for having a Confucius Institute, and President Deeks defence of it. Thus the Irish Times editorialised, “staff funded and directed in part by a notoriously authoritarian regime, however well-meaning and notionally independent they may be, cannot be expected to present students with an unvarnished and critical account of that state’s political system.”
UCD also copped criticism last week for its response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, initially expressing, “concern with the situation … and in particular with the violation of international law and the unnecessary and tragic human suffering and loss of life.” There was a “clarification” a day later, “UCD deplores and condemns the actions of Russia in invading and attacking Ukraine. This act of military aggression is a violation of international law and is completely unjustified.”
Professor Deeks may well be looking forward to a quieter time in his new job when he starts next month. Murdoch U has no Confucius Centre and under Jane den Hollander’s astute interim leadership is controversy-free.
Great grad expectations
Most young people are optimistic about course outcomes, according to study support provider (and CMM advertiser), Studiosity
Just on two-thirds of a student survey sample think they will find a job related to their course. Men are marginally more optimistic (67 per cent, women are 61 per cent) with no split between urban and regional students.
But those that aren’t don’t blame the course but the times – fearing that COVID-19 caused studying on-line prevented them making contacts. They want their university to increase internships and work-experience.
Stalling start for research accelerator IP
A new intellectual property system is fundamental to the research commercialisation accelerator but nobody much is buying what the government is suggesting
The Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering says the proposed 12 templates for industry-research agreements should be “an optional resource rather than a requirement” for new funding arrangements.
“Imposing the agreement creates a risk that industry partners may not wish to engage if the templates do not align with their needs,” the academy warns in a submission on the HE Research Commercialisation Framework.
Nor does ATSE indicate confidence in the HERC IP content, suggesting, “supplementary optional resources to assist collaborators in building partnerships and understanding IP.”
And this is pretty much as close to a positive response as the government is getting.
The Australian Technology Network slammed the IP framework in October, “its prescriptive approach and focus on compliance is antithetical to the flexible, adaptive and responsive approach that our industry partners are seeking,” (CMM October 19).
And the Innovative Research Universities will not talk about it until “there is a fuller stakeholder conversation,” (CMM March 3).
One for the briefing book if there is a new minister after the election.
More international students arrived
The Bureau of Stats reports 28 000 or so international students arrived in December way up on the 230 (no zeros missing) who did in December ’20.
Which is good – but not compared to 2019. Last year was down 24.7 per cent on December ‘19.
Nearly 22 000 of last December’s arrivals were HE undergraduates – there were 1760 PG researchers.
Over two-thirds of the December ‘21 student arrivals landed in Sydney with Victoria accounting for most of the rest. Somehow, 130 made it into WA.
Appointments, achievements
Data scientist Jeremy Howard becomes an Uni Queensland honorary professor in the IT and Electrical Engineering school. He will teach a short-course on coding, starting April.
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre announces its Lea Medalists (for EMCR women researchers) are Junyun Lai and Michelle Yong
Max Nelson U (Uni SA) is Exercise and Sports Science Australia’s Accredited Exercise Scientist of the Year.
Stuart Robert continues as Acting Minister for Education and Youth, in addition to his portfolio of Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business. Previous education minister Alan Tudge is on the backbench.
Utte Roessner joins ANU as Academic Director, Research Initiative and Infrastructure. She moves from Uni Melbourne.
The 2022 members of the Western Australia’s Women’s Hall of Fame include, * Donna Cross (Telethon Kids Institute) * Paola Magni (Murdoch U) * Britta Regli-von Ungern-Sternberg (UWA)