News in brief

EXECUTIVE Dean of Science and Engineering, Professor Yianni Attikiouzel has been awarded the prestigious 2002 MA Sargent Medal by the Colleges of Electrical Engineering and Information, Telecommunications and Electronic Engineering. The award is named in honour of Dr Mike Sargent, and outstanding Australian Electrical Engineer and a past President of Engineers Australia. The Western Australian Electrical Branch of Engineers Australia nominated Professor Attikiouzel for his significant contribution to science and his longstanding eminence in the field.

DIRECTOR of the State Agricultural Biotechnology Centre, Professor Mike Jones became agricultural biotechnology’s first representative on the Australian Biotechnology Advisory Council (ABAC) when recently appointed to the body which advises the Federal Government on how best to progress Australia’s billion dollar biotechnology industry.

ASSOCIATE Professor Laurence Hartley has been appointed to chair the government’s review of the impact of extended working hours across all industries. Working with representatives from BHP Billiton, MARCSTA and the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union. The team will produce a final report by end of year making some recommendations on whether extended working hours are a significant problem, where they are a problem and ways of fixing the problem such as guidance notes or codes of practice.

POLITICS lecturer Dr Jeanette Taylor recently had a paper accepted in the prestigious publication, the Journal of Public Affairs Education. The paper was entitled ‘A Higher Education Perspective on Linking Performance Indicators to Extrinsic Rewards: An Empirical Analysis’. This journal, which is affiliated with the Section of Public Administration Education of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), is published.by the US National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA). Dr Taylor is one of a very select group of Australian academics to have been accepted to be published in this journal.

PROFESSOR Richard Oliver has been appointed by the Minister to the External Reference Group of the Evaluation of the Knowledge and Innovation Reforms. The Evaluation is designed to ensure that the policy and funding framework for Australia’s block research funding schemes are effective, and efficiently managed. It will particularly focus on the operation of the Research Training Scheme (RTS), the Institutional Grants Scheme (IGS), and the Research Infrastructure Block Grants Scheme (RIBG). Professor Oliver is also part of a consortium of 60 laboratories to secure a $30 million European Union grant. They are believed to be the only Australian laboratory to be included on this type of grant.