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2010-08-17T08:23:00.000-07:00

"Overall Technical Considerations for SDI Design and Development", The University of Melbourne, October 2009.

2010-06-17T00:31:00.000-07:00

by Bang Tran, Sovann Prey, Yusfir Ahmad

Abstract

The initiative of an SDI is to promote the needs of sharing the spatial data surrounded by the different level of hierarchy which currently is leveled within global, regional, national, state and local. In principles, by having the entire spatial data shared under one roof, and on a reachable environment, an affiliation of a spatial enabled society is created and a wide-range of information is enabled for the stakeholder’s access thus creating a great environment and working space for first-class outcomes of improved decision area.

Having SDI on the move is not as easy as it sees; challenge may be coming from stakeholders that have a privacy issue; non-standard supply of the data and technology; and requires a mutual understanding between stakeholders and society on how important it is in creating an entities with good SDI initiatives and allowing effectives result of accessing precise and reliable spatial data.

In this paper, we reviewed various options and fundamental of spatial data implementation includes the INSPIRE model case study on the technical phase. The technical components have also been defined with various formats and standards in practices and establishes by OGC. This report also reviewed, discussed and assessed different aspects of technical components in the development of SDI and their issues in the implementation. We also discovered the difficulties and how these issues can have impacts on an organization’s motivations towards the realizations of SDI initiatives.

One of the key successful criteria of an SDI is access and interaction from various sources. This is to ensure the spatial data is consistent and heterogeneity towards delivery of a diverse spatial services with different needs of different stakeholders. To meet this aims, facilitation of integration of data within multi-sources is desirable, so that the spatial data can be communicated across the needs of information.

It is vital that to overcome many technical issues, an understanding for a collaboration of a single frameworks for each technical and non-technical components can be established and integrate as a platform and able to serve the environment of multi-sources spatial data.

If you are interested in reading this paper please contact us
trannguyenbang@gmail.com
yusszzxx@hotmail.com
preysovann@gmail.com

The effect of reliable heading updates on urban wayfinding Project for Master Degree of Applied Science

2010-06-06T20:08:00.000-07:00

The effect of reliable heading updates on urban wayfinding
Project for Master Degree of Applied Science (Geographic Information Systems) at The University of Melbourne

by Wilfred Waters, 2010

Abstract

Prior research about wayfinding has found that females tend to employ a single strategy based on landmarks, where males are more versatile, using landmarks and global orientation information such as cardinal directions (Lawton, 2010). It was proposed that this strategy difference occurs due to males’ better sense of direction, which would deliver more trustworthy indications of current heading. Since males’ greater versatility has often been linked with better navigation performance (for example Sandstrom, Kaufman, & Huettel, 1998; Saucier et al., 2002) this study sought to contribute to the growing body of literature on methods of training to increase sense of direction (such as Hund and Minarik, 2006; Hund & Nazarczuk, 2009). An experimental procedure was used to investigate the possibility that the provision of reliable cardinal direction heading updates to participants would lead to a dual strategy for orientation in those that usually use a single strategy based on landmarks. This was done in an urban navigation context, with the main dependent variable being level of recall for route structure. Whilst the present study, using the Santa Barbara Sense of Direction Scale, revealed that males had a higher self-reported sense of direction, no sex differences in performance were found on the route structure recall tasks. This was interpreted as being an artifact of the sedentary nature of the procedure, which involved watching a video of someone else navigating using a car. Another factor of this stimulus was that the strategies mentioned above may not have been required since the route video may not have been considered by participants to be a disorientation threat. The study is therefore viewed as an ideal candidate for replication by future investigators, who may wish to compare performance in a real, or virtual, environment where participants are required to deploy orientation strategies.

KEYWORDS: wayfinding strategies, sense of direction, cardinal directions, navigation, sex differences

Illustrating Uncertainty in Climate Change with variable Flood Levels in Arc Scene sand VTP

2010-06-06T09:00:00.000-07:00

by Bang Tran, Sovann Prey, and Taisha Waeny
I. INTRODUCTION

According to the Gippsland Coastal Board final report, 2009 “Little doubt now remains that global climates are changing. It is, however; important to distinguish between ‘natural’ variability in weather patterns caused by phenomena such as El Nino (Southern Oscillation), which causes extended periods of below average rainfall in south eastern Australia on a semi-cyclic basis, and climate change resulting from human-induced changes to atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases. The drought experienced in Gippsland over recent years was more closely related to a mild El Nino event (BoM, 2007) than a direct manifestation of global climate change, although it may, to a small extent be exacerbated by an ‘overprint’ of changed global climatic conditions”.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established in 1988 by the United Nations' Environment Program and the World Meteorological Organization. It is responsible for providing the international community with authoritative advice on scientific, technical and economic issues relating to climate change.

The aim of this research is to visually illustrate the uncertainty in Climate Change flood zones for three cases with differing water flood levels at 1m, 2m and 3m using 3D Modeling. This was chosen in response to the pressing issue of uncertainty within Climate Change.

II. MATERIAL AND METHOD

III. RESULTS

IV. DISCUSSIONS

This technique of visualization is comprehensive enough that the local authorities and people can understand it and see what will happen when the sea level reaches the respective levels. Although there are some uncertainties in the data and in the techniques used, it is obvious enough to encourage authorities and residents to take preventative action before the damage happens as indicated in the map

The models show what kind of flood rise can be expected and what possible implications it may have. The models all clearly show what can be anticipated in a certain area of Gippsland at a Sea level rise of 1, 2 and 3 meters. These visualizations are important for the community of Gippsland as well as any local authorities and policy makers as they graphically show potential scenarios. This means that the models can be used as a way of implementing any preventative measures such as sand barriers or retaining walls. Another possibility would be to raise the level of the ground in the flood prone areas.

V. CONCLUSION

The Gippsland coast is rich and diverse in natural and cultural values. The coast also supports settlements and townships that vary considerably in the size and distribution along the coast. Physical assets associated with these built up areas range from isolated boat ramps and jetties to valuable private properties fronting prime foreshore land.

Climate change, sea level rise and coastal subsidence all have the very real potential to significantly impact on the Gippsland coast, affecting both natural values and built infrastructure, on private and public land.

A vital component of adequate risk management involves being able to make balanced decisions regarding the most appropriate action, based on the magnitude of the risk, its consequences, the cost of taking action and the preparedness of the community to both pay for action and ‘forego private rights’. The key step towards being able to make informed and consistent decisions is for the Government to provide clear policy direction regarding anticipated climate change and sea level rise impacts through proclaiming a statutory sea level rise and/or erosion setback, depicted as an overlay or development control in municipal planning schemes. Local Government will therefore need considerable support from State and Commonwealth Government to enable adequate planning and risk management tools be incorporated into decision making frameworks.

SDI

2010-06-04T07:32:00.001-07:00

Spatial Data Infrastructures

Description

Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) is a dynamic, hierarchical and multi-disciplinary concept that includes, institutional, policy, technical, standards and human resource dimensions. SDIs are an evolving concept which provides the spatial base that underpins a jurisdiction’s economic, environmental and social activities, facilitating and coordinating the exchange and sharing of spatial data between stakeholders.

Current Projects

SDI Hierarchy and Benchmarking
SDI Concepts for Location Based Services
Key Factors Influencing SDI Development and Sharing Spatial Data
Modelling SDI Partnerships (Local-State)
Modelling SDI Partnerships (State-National)
Decision Enabled SDI
Capacity Building for SDI
SDI in Marine Environment (Marine Cadastre/Marine SDI)
Impact Assessment of National Clearinghouse Initiatives within the context of National SDIs (Joint research with WageningenUniversity, The Netherlands)

Education - Scholarships

2010-06-04T07:29:00.000-07:00

CRCSI is committed to developing innovative approaches to graduate education and training and offers various levels of Scholarships to support this.

Scholarships are a grant of financial aid awarded to a student, enrolled at a CRCSI institution, to assist the conduct of the academic award being studied. They include “full”, “top-up”, “partial” and project expenses. They do not include travel.

Project budget Scholarships :: PhD, Masters and other scholarships may be nominated by a project leader and included in the project's budget. Opportunities are listed on the home page News item as they arise.

Other Scholarships :: PhD 'Top-up' and Masters Scholarships may also be applied for at any time. There are no full PhD Scholarships currently available from this source.

Assessment is by a Selection Panel of the CRCSI

CEO (Chair)
Chair of the Research Advisory Committee
Chair of the Industry Advisory Committee
Co-opted persons as the Selection Panel may require
Application Form

The Application Form (doc 84 kb) mirrors the typical university scholarship application to simplify the procedure.

Selection Criteria (Summarised and may differ in emphasis between rounds of offerings)

The academic record of the applicant, who must generally have completed a recognised honours degree or have a relevant first degree complemented with at least two years of appropriate professional industry experience.
The relevance of the proposed project area to CRCSI’s strategic objectives (in the case of Masters, this might be the relevance of the skills to be gained by the candidate)
The level of support obtained from the university and industry for the proposed project area and or candidate
The availability of an industry 'co-supervisor' or mentor. In consultation with CRCSI Project Leaders, scholarship holders must have a 'co-supervisor' from outside the higher education system. Normally they would be from one of the CRC’s non-university partner agencies and organisations and be actively involved in assisting with your studies during candidature.
Current Scholarship Students

To find out more about current scholarships, visit this CRCSI page.

What is Spatial Information?

2010-06-04T07:28:00.001-07:00

Spatial information is about the timely and appropriate provision of information about the location of people, objects or sites and their spatial properties and relationships.
Spatial information encompasses topics such as:

positioning, tracking and mapping
location-based services and geographic information systems
environmental sensing and interpretation
navigation and intelligent transport systems
human-computer interaction
scientific and environmental visualisation
spatial databases and analysis
land administration
pricing of information
protection of privacy, and much more.

Why study Spatial Information Science?
Spatial Information Science presents an opportunity for those with a background in computer science, environments (planning, landscape, and agriculture), economics, cognitive science or public health, to become part of an interesting, challenging and dynamic industry in which there is strong demand for qualified professionals.
The discipline offers scope to apply a range of social and technical skills, while also developing a specialist area of in‑depth knowledge.
Why study Spatial Information Science at Melbourne?
By studying Spatial Information Science at the University of Melbourne, you gain access to some of the world’s leading
teachers and researchers in the field, with the University’s Department of Geomatics a core partner in Australia’s Cooperative
Research Centre for Spatial Information.

You also benefit from our close connections to global research teams and to the Australian spatial information industry, with industry professionals contributing to at least half of all subjects offered and industry internships available to students as an elective. This exposure to industry provides you with key networks and insights to prepare you for your career in spatial information.

Live work and play

2010-06-03T04:00:00.000-07:00

[ The University of Melbourne Voice Vol. 6, No. 5 3 May - 13 June 2010 ]

Work is crucial to our health and well being. Associate Professor Anthony D. LaMontagne looks at means of protecting us from its harmful effects and optimising work’s health-promoting aspects.

The McCaughey Centre, based in the Melbourne School of Population Health, is dedicated to research, policy and practice to promote mental health and community well-being. The Centre works closely with its primary funder, VicHealth, to generate “knowledge for common good” across a number of theme areas, including work.

Work is an important determinant of health and wellbeing in contemporary society, more so – we would argue – than most people recognise. The aims of the work and health theme are to develop the scientific and public understanding of work as a social determinant of mental and physical health, and to contribute to improvements in policy and practice to better protect people from the harmful effects of work as well as to optimise the health-promoting aspects. Our research is multi-disciplinary, and – wherever possible – is conducted in partnership with communities, practitioners, and policy-makers, with the goals of grounding the research in real working world priorities and perspectives, building the capacity of workplace stakeholders to improve worker health, and optimising the translation of our research into policy and practice.

These efforts are underpinned by a philosophy that everyone deserves to have their dignity, health, and well-being, at a minimum, protected at work, with the vision of work for all that develops and promotes dignity, health, and well-being. Health protection aspects are grounded in occupational health and safety and the legal right across Australia and other OECD countries to work that is free from recognised hazards (akin to the medical motto of “first, do no harm”). The second is more grounded in health promotion, developing a vision of sustainable work – sustainable for the individual worker over the course of his or her working life, as well as sustainable for families, communities, society and the natural environment.

We pursue our aims through four main types of activity. First is applied research to improve the understanding of the relationships between work and health, including original research to generate new knowledge as well as the synthesis and interpretation of existing knowledge.

In a recent example, we estimated that job stress accounts for 15 per cent of prevalent depression among working Victorians. A related systematic review of 90 international job stress intervention studies showed that the adverse effects of job stress can effectively be prevented by systems approaches that combine worker-directed factors such as strengthening resilience and work-directed intervention including improving worker control and limiting workloads.

A second approach is intervention research in workplace health, including research on the development of the most appropriate intervention strategies to address a given concern, as well as evaluation research to assess how well such interventions are implemented and how effective they are at making change. In a current study, we are collaborating with beyondblue to develop, implement, and evaluate an integrated job stress and workplace mental health promotion intervention program. This approach aims to address depression and other common mental disorders in the workplace regardless of cause, while at the same time reducing job stress-related mental disorders.

Thirdly, knowledge translation and exchange with community partners links our research to policy and practice, including collaborative formulation of research questions such as deciding what new knowledge is needed to better understand or address a workplace concern, and collaborative implementation of intervention activities, or joint interpretation of research findings and development of recommendations for policy and practice.

Two recent examples of uptake of our research in national policy documents are noteworthy. The 2009 Australian National Preventative Taskforce reports incorporated our findings on links between working conditions and health behaviours, such as job stress and smoking, and working conditions as preventable determinants of common chronic diseases. Most importantly is the uptake in the report recommendations of the need for, and promise of, new workplace health promotion approaches that target working conditions and health behaviours in an integrated way. Internationally, our research was similarly incorporated into the 2009 American Heart Association Policy Statement on Worksite Wellness Programs for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in September 2009.

Finally, we build capacity to generate workplace health research and translate it into policy and practice. This includes University-based education of post-graduate, medical, and other students, who may subsequently pursue or resume careers in research, policy, or practice; and outreach to practitioners and policy-makers not currently participating in certificate or degree programs. We have an active post-graduate research program as well as on-going relationships with workplace stakeholders in Victoria and nationally.

Our goal through these McCaughey Centre efforts, along with those of our community partners and other workplace stakeholders, is to contribute to the on-going improvement of the quality of Australian working life.

Associate Professor Anthony D. LaMontagne directs work and health research at the McCaughey Centre. For further information:
www.mccaugheycentre.unimelb.edu.au/

Events: June 2010 through June 2011

2010-06-03T03:53:00.001-07:00

Welcome to 'What's On' at the University of Melbourne. Please click on an event name for more details.

June 2010 through June 2011

June 2010 | July 2010 | August 2010 | September 2010 | October 2010 | December 2010
June 2010
Tue 1 - Thu 3 Exhibition: 'Mould City' - Colony Collective
(Began May 20)
Thu 3 Excellence in Science Symposium. Australian Academy of Science (Victoria Group) New Fellows 2010
Thu 3 Famines Past, Famine's Future
Fri 4 Human embryonic stem cells, not a model system for the study of human cell biology
Fri 4 - Wed 30 Exhibition - Trouble Set Me Free
(Ends Jul 3)
Fri 4 World Environment Day Lunch
Mon 7 - Fri 11 Exhibition: Headspace
Mon 7 - Wed 30 Banned Books in Australia
(Ends Aug 29)
Mon 7 Biotechnology Seminar - NMR/Crystallography
Mon 7 Mammalian Immunity: What the platypus and possum can teach us
Wed 9 Data Analysis on Phylogenetic Trees
Wed 9 Melbourne School of Population Health Seminar - Is Hollywood Good for your Health? Entertainment Education and Prime Time Television
Wed 9 The mechanism of JAK inhibition by SOCS3
Wed 9 Under the Hammer. Iconoclasm and the Enlightenment
Thu 10 Friends of the Baillieu Library - Visit to the Library, Royal Botanic Gardens
Thu 10 Speech, Silence and the Trauma of Justice – A difficult conversation
Wed 16 Multi-morbidity in primary care: what research needs to be done?
Wed 16 Role of pro-survival Bcl-2 family members in acute myeloid leukaemia
Thu 17 Writing the Mother Tongue from Afar: literary activities of Japanese immigrants in Brazil
Mon 21 Medicinal Chemistry
Mon 21 Genomic Disorders Research Centre Seminar Series - Supporting translational research with prospective clinical data collection
Mon 21 Mental health needs of asylum seekers
Wed 23 The tumour suppressor p53 - facts, conundrums and fiction
Thu 24 Graduate Engineering Expo
Thu 24 Working Pasteur’s Quadrant: Designing and Implementing a National Education Research Program in Singapore
Fri 25 Understand the contribution of oxidative stress and neuro-inflammation in stroke
Mon 28 Studying gene regulation using Next-generation Sequencing
Wed 30 Bcl-2 proteins in humans and parasites: new structures, new drug targets
Wed 30 Dungala Kaiela Oration
July 2010
Thu 1 - Sat 3 Exhibition - Trouble Set Me Free
(Begins Jun 4)
Thu 1 - Sat 31 Banned Books in Australia
(Begins Jun 7 and ends Aug 29)
Mon 5 Biotechnology Seminar - Imaging Platforms
Wed 7 Development Policy and Practice as if Social Theory Mattered
Fri 9 The July Lectures in Physics: Lasers in Astronomy: from guidestars to ripples in spacetime
Mon 12 High Throughput Imaging
Wed 14 A two interface model for Bak pore formation in mitochondria during apoptosis
Thu 15 - Fri 16 Australian Art Industry Networks: Artists, Agents, Markets and Museums
Mon 19 - Tue 20 Melbourne Conference on China. Chinese Elites and their Rivals - Past, Present and Future
Mon 19 Non-mammalian Genetics
Wed 21 Mechanistic, Translational and Clinical Studies with BH3 mimetics
Thu 22 Carbon Capture & Storage Under the Spotlight
Mon 26 Biotechnology Seminar - Metabolomics
Wed 28 Domain Reorientation and Rotation of an Intracellular Assembly Controls Conduction in a Kir Potassium Channel
Thu 29 From Metaphor to Model: What Victorians Understood about Markets that Modern Economists Often Miss.
August 2010
Sun 1 - Sun 29 Banned Books in Australia
(Begins Jun 7)
Mon 2 Biotechnology Seminar - Proteomics
Tue 3 Dean's Lecture: Engineering Delight - collaborations on projects to make you smile
Wed 4 Where do new medicines come from?
Mon 9 Epigenetics
Thu 12 Plant diversity, landscape evolution and climate: new ideas for a sustainable future
Tue 17 Human Centred Computing: Science, Values and Innovation
September 2010
Tue 14 Heavy metal nutrition and toxicity in plants: the Yin and Yang of Zinc and Cadmium
Mon 27 - Tue 28 Public Interest Law Opportunities and Obstacles: The 2010 Conference of the Civil Justice Research Group, Melbourne Law School
October 2010
Tue 12 A diagrammatic Primer on Phase Transitions and Integrability in Two Dimensions
December 2010
Wed 1 Structural insights into how the Bcl-2 family of proteins regulate apoptosis

Research Review 0809

2010-06-03T03:40:00.000-07:00

The University of Melbourne is Australia's second largest research organisation after the CSIRIO. Research Review is a biannual magazine which reports on the University's research achievements and the latest in research news.

16 August 2009 - 15 August 2010

Overview

Welcome to the 2009 edition of the Research Review
The University of Melbourne has a long and proud tradition of research and teaching excellence. The sheer scale of research facilities, institutes, researchers, fellows and postgraduates in the Parkville Precinct, and surrounds, is without parallel in the southern hemisphere, and one of the very few such concentrations of research excellence worldwide.

In Brief

World-leading facility opened for australian hearing research
A $115m HEARing Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) and the University of Melbourne�€™s new state-of-the-art Audiology, Hearing and Speech Sciences facility was co-launched recently by Senator Kim Carr.

Hubble constant wins professor prestigious prize
Measuring the size and age of the universe has won University of Melbourne Professor Jeremy Mould and his international colleagues the prestigious 2009 Gruber Prize for Cosmology, announced by the Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation in the United States.

Research advanced by fulbright scholars
Restoring human vision, reducing carbon emissions, fitter gamers and fire regeneration for grapevines will be addressed by four University of Melbourne researchers named as winners of this year�€™s Australian Fulbright Scholarship.

Funding boost for University of Melbourne�€“led arc centres of excellence
Two University of Melbourne�€“led Centres of Excellence have been awarded $17 million by the Australian Research Council to continue their groundbreaking work.

Green light for �€˜the spot�€™
The University�€™s new Economics and Commerce building has been awarded a five-star Green Star Education Pilot rating by the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA).

Liz Sonenberg named Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research Collaboration)
Former Dean of Science Professor Liz Sonenberg will join Melbourne Research part-time in the role of Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research Collaboration) and will have oversight of development of the University Research Institutes and implementation of a strategy to manage research infrastructure.

Melbourne School of Land and Environment academic wins Victorian of the Year
African-Australian community leader Dr Berhan Ahmed, a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Forest Ecosystem Science at the University of Melbourne�€™s School of Land and Environment, has been named the Victoria Australian of the Year 2009.

Melbourne scientists awarded international science links grants
Six University of Melbourne scientists have been awarded grants totalling $47,000 to undertake important international collaborative research under the International Science Linkages �€“ Science Academies Program, funded by the Australian Government.

Jim McCluskey named Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research Partnerships)
Professor James McCluskey joined Melbourne Research on 3 August in the role of Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research Partnerships) with responsibility for fostering the relationships with affiliated medical research institutes and other external research partners.

Features

Melbourne Lands Key Role in $1bn Cancer Centre
Cancer research and patient care is set to be revolutionised in Victoria after the announcement of a world-class $1 billion Parkville Comprehensive Cancer Centre, by the Premier of Victoria, John Brumby and Federal Health and Ageing Minister Nicola Roxon in May this year.

The Future of Sight
Imagine being able to cross a road by yourself, read a book and know what shirt you’re wearing. These were the humble dreams recently listed by a group of vision-impaired people during a focus group outlining the impact restored vision would have on their lives.

The Nano Revolution
The world is poised to be revolutionised by nanomedicine [a combination of nanotechnology and biomedicine], with global economic and social benefits, according to Professor Frank Caruso, an Australian Research Council Federation Fellow in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.

The Science of Scepticism
Climate change is not the professional speciality of world-renowned immunologist Professor Peter Doherty. That he has written about it in A Light History of Hot Airprovides a great insight into how this innovative thinker operates, and unveils a key element behind his scientific success.

Bio21 Institute builds research critical mass
Creating a physical and intellectual environment that fosters world-class multidisciplinary research can inspire and motivate scientists to conduct research of benefit to human health and the environment. At the Bio21 Institute, building critical mass in key platform technologies was part of this �€˜big picture�€™ strategy. In an increasingly competitive international stage, the importance of building capabilities in key areas, coupled with world-class infrastructure, is vital for the continued growth of Victoria�€™s biotechnology sector and the Institute�€™s leadership role in the field.

Mental disorders a major problem for the young
Professor Patrick McGorry�€™s team at the ORYGEN Research Centre, Victoria, has recently been awarded $10 million to continue its wide-ranging studies into mental disorders in young people.

Greening our rooftops
With climate change predicted to bring higher temperatures and lower rainfall to large parts of Australia, researchers in the Departments of Resource Management & Geography and Forest & Ecosystem Science are investigating the potential of green infrastructure to adapt our cities and lessen these impacts.

It�€™s all in the brain
For Professor Sam Berkovic the brain is the most complex and fascinating organ in the body. The major focus of Professor Berkovic�€™s work involves the study of the genetic basis of epilepsy. He and his research team showed that many types of epilepsy have a significant genetic component.

Telecommuting future
Superfast broadband will transform the way we work and offers great environmental benefits.

Music in the digital age
New software called MelodicMatch, designed for people who �€œmake a living by understanding how music is put together�€� is enabling researchers to formulate and identify musical patterns, and the relationships between them.

Special Report

The Parkville Research Precinct
The sheer quantity of life sciences research facilities, institutes, researchers, felows and postgraduate students in the Parkville precinct and surrounds, and the comprehensive breadth of bioscience disciplines, is without parallel in the Southern hemisphere and one of the few such concentrations of research excellence worldwide.

Emerging Institutes
Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Rathjen believes the removal of barriers to new ideas and a ten-year outlook for emerging institutes will give us the tools to cope with a challenging future.

Previous Research Review editions

Scientists gather to reconstruct climate history

2010-06-03T03:34:00.000-07:00

31 May 2010

An international workshop to reconstruct climate change history in the Australasian region is being held this week at the University of Melbourne on Monday 31 May to Wednesday 2 June 2010

More information:

Dr Joelle Gergis
School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne
M: 0415 449 241

Professor Chris Turney University of Exeter, UK
M:+44 7787 512295

Professor David Karoly,
Federal Fellow, School of Earth Sciences,
University of Melbourne
Mobile: 0433692863

Rebecca Scott, Media Officer,
University of Melbourne
M:0417 164 791

http://www.pages.unibe.ch/science
/2k/aus2k/aus2kmeeting2010.html

The Aus2K workshop brings together over 70 international and Australian experts to reconstruct climate over past last 2,000 years in the Australasian region.

It will provide a forum for prominent Australian and international climatologists and climate modellers to discuss ways past and current climate data can be used more effectively to help understand and predict our changing climate.

In particular, the scientists aim to have the collated data ready for the next United Nations’ Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) global climate assessment (due in 2013).

The three-day meeting is funded by the Past Global Changes (PAGES) program under the International Geosphere Biosphere Program and supported by the Australian Research Council will bring together the latest climatic datasets relevant to the Australian and New Zealand region.

It is being coordinated by two leading paleoclimatogists Dr Joelle Gergis from School of Earth Sciences at the University of Melbourne and Dr Christian Turney of the University of Exeter, UK.

Paleoclimatologist Dr Joelle Gergis from the University of Melbourne says Weather observations, such as temperatures and rainfall only go back around 100 years.

"This workshop will allow us to combine coral, cave, tree ring and ice core records to better understand natural climate variability in the Australasian region. This will help scientists place events like south-eastern Australia’s 14-year drought into a long-term context”

Australian climate scientist Professor Chris Turney from the University of Exeter, UK says this meeting will allow us to place Australian records in a global context and gives us an opportunity to fully understand natural climate variability.

"By working with climate modellers we hope these data will be used to improve our ability to predict future climate change and help Australia prepare for such changes."

PhD In Engineering

2010-06-03T03:11:00.000-07:00

What is a PhD degree in the Melbourne School of Engineering?

The degree of Doctor of Philosophy signifies that the holder has undertaken a substantial piece of original research which has been conducted and reported by the holder under proper academic supervision and in a research environment for a prescribed period.

In scope, the thesis differs from a research Masters thesis chiefly by its deeper and more comprehensive treatment of its subject.

It is written succinctly in good English. The length of the thesis varies with each discipline with 80,000 words being the norm. The thesis should not exceed 100,000 words (or equivalent) without special approval from the RHD Committee.

It shows that the candidate has a thorough grasp of the appropriate methodological techniques and an awareness of their limitations.

It makes a distinct contribution to knowledge.

Its contribution to knowledge rests on originality of approach and/or interpretation of the findings and, in some cases, the discovery of new facts.

It demonstrates an ability to communicate research findings effectively in the professional arena and in an international context.

It is a careful, rigorous and sustained piece of work demonstrating that a research "apprenticeship" is complete and the holder is admitted to the community of scholars in the discipline.

Structure of PhD

A candidate for the PhD degree must be an enrolled student in this University and is required to carry out research at the University for a specified period under the direct supervision of one or more members of the academic staff. The degree may be undertaken in any department of the University.

All candidates for PhD will be examined on the basis of a thesis. However some students may be asked to complete two to four subjects as part of their studies. A candidate has one or more research supervisors who, in consultation with the candidate, arranges a course of supervised research designed to suit the individual requirements and interests of the candidate.

How to apply

Assistance, scholarships requirements and forms are available on our Apply for Graduate Research page

Malaysian split PhD program

Applications are now open for potential candidates interested in undertaking a split PhD program at The University of Melbourne which is sponsored by the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education. Staff members of any Malaysian university are eligible to apply.Find out more about the Malaysian split PhD program.

Further information

More information about the PhD Degree can be found at the following webpagehttp://www.gradresearch.unimelb.edu.au/current/phdhbk/intro.html#definition
A detailed information booklet 'The Degree of Doctor of Philosophy' is available from the Melbourne School of Graduate Research at the University of Melbourne.
University Handbook entry for the Doctor of Philosophy - Engineering

Wedding movie

2010-04-16T05:18:00.000-07:00

Melbourne and Bang

2009-09-21T21:39:00.001-07:00

Spring in Melbourne

2009-09-03T20:31:00.001-07:00

It is not really cold now in Melbourne and I can see the changing of weather everymorning when I wake up, not to hard to get out of my blanket and going to school early, however I can't obviously see the differences in Spring in Melbourne and my home town. Melbourne's also has similar seasons like Vietnam. It’s early Spring, I can look forward to warming temperatures, the birds and the bees ,the flowers and the trees. There is nothing quite as welcome as those beautiful spring flowers that seem to emerge from nowhere to welcome the arrival of spring in Melbourne. However, the most important thing is that you are now not here with me, I feel of missing you everytime I go alone, I know you are my life, my happiness. Just suddenly think about you during my class in Lab.

Love you

Melbourne - Views from Space

2009-08-02T04:28:00.001-07:00

The Melbourne inner downtown and the University of Melbourne from Space