Office of Research - The “ORB”

The US Department of Defense Ovarian Cancer Consortium Development Award has been released and is available electronically from the Grants.gov website and the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP) eReceipt website.

• Pre-application Letter of Intent is due: January 13, 2009 (copy to Office of Research by January 8, 2009)
• Proposal submission deadline: January 27, 2009 (Office of Research submission deadline January 20, 2009)

A summary of Ovarian Cancer Research Program (OCRP) funding opportunities to be announced in January 2009 is provided below:

• Idea Development Award
• Translational Research Team Award
• Ovarian Academy Award

Please visit the CDMRP website for more details.

Dr Gavin Prideaux

We are excited to be able to post our third Mini Interview with an Early Career Researcher at Flinders.

Our thanks to Dr Gavin Prideaux for responding to our earlier post seeking participants.

Gavin received his PhD from Flinders University in 1999. His thesis focused on the evolution of the extinct short-faced kangaroos, which originated around 10 million years ago and were widespread across Australia until around 40 thousand years ago. After his PhD he completed a series of postdocs at the University of California, Naracoorte Caves and Western Australian Museum.

Each of these positions involved a combination of research and curation of fossil collections. Over the past decade and a half, he has spent many months excavating fossil bones from caves across southern Australia and ancient lake-beds in central Australia, or poring over the contents of museum drawers across the world. He returned to Flinders University in 2007 as an Australian Research Fellow in the School of Biological Sciences.

1. What is your area of research?
Palaeontology, or the study of past life, and in particular the evolution of Australian marsupials. Most of my research is focused on tracking the responses of southern and central Australian vertebrate faunas to environmental changes over the past few million years. Currently, I am trying to unravel why most of Australia’s larger animals became extinct 50 to 40 thousand years ago.

2. What made you choose a career in research?
I love trying to work out why things are the way they are. As a schoolkid, and as an undergraduate, I was never very good at dividing my time evenly between tasks and subjects; once I really got into something I couldn’t let it go. It wasn’t until I began my PhD that I realised this was a virtue.

3. Why did you choose Flinders to be a part of your research career?
Flinders is an open, relaxed place to work and study. And there are few universities in Australia in such a great location. Having spent several years overseas and interstate, I saw an outstanding opportunity to return to Flinders and take over the running of the Palaeontology Lab from my old mentor, Rod Wells.

4. What challenges do researchers in your field face?
Like all fields of research, funding is the key. Fortunately, one can address many interesting questions in palaeontology on a shoestring budget, but nevertheless, money does create opportunities. Palaeontology in
Australia is one of several scientific fields at a crossroads. There are less than 10 full-time palaeontologists in Australia, and most are on the cusp of retirement. It is critical, therefore, that we keep emphasising
how important the fossil record is as our long-term data repository on biotic responses to climate change.

5. What advice would you have for people considering a career in research?
Don’t die wondering: anyone can succeed if he/she is prepared to work hard and persist. I could not imagine a more rewarding career path.

6. What do you see as being the next “Big Thing” in your area of research?
Application of new technologies to old questions. For me, I’m particularly keen on watching developments in micro-CT scanning, synchrotron science, geochronology, and isotopic and fractal analyses. Combined with more traditional methods, there is great potential for powerful and unforeseen insights into the life and times of our ancient biota.

If you are an Early Career Researcher at Flinders and would lke to participate in our Mini Interviews please contact Kristy Manuel.

The following items may be of interest. They are from the Higher Education section of The Australian, published today.

• Restrict research to elite, says Go8
  Australia’s top universities will lose their global position unless research investment is concentrated in the hands of proven performers, according to a survey of international research funding trends by the Group of Eight.
• ‘Uncertainty’ over intellectual property ruling
  Contract research, collaboration and consulting would become difficult for those who managed university inventions under a contentious Federal Court ruling, a technology transfer conference has been warned.
• No gags in new rules for CSIRO
  The federal Government has promised not to “interfere improperly” in the scholarly work of the CSIRO, but new charters for public research agencies also warn scientists not to trespass on the politicians’ policy turf.
• Blinded by science
  The take-home message from the Group of Eight is that intensified global competition is challenging assumptions on which our research system is based. If Australia is to respond and maintain its middling position, more resources must be focused on proven performers, most of whom work within the Go8.
• Financial crisis may threaten tech firms
  Small technology firms may collapse and inventions be lost overseas because research commercialisation faces such uncertainty and turmoil on several fronts, leading industry figures have warned.
• Concerns over the birth of a new ERA
  Universities and researchers won’t accept the use of the Rudd Government’s research performance exercise to distribute an estimated $900 million in research grants until it has been debugged.
• Benefits in virtual centres
  Virtual research centres that span several universities could be the way of the future in maximising Australia’s research effort and dollars, but it appears that successful co-operation still needs to be built around existing excellence.

Flinders University has been awarded a $1 million grant by the Myer Foundation to have a chair in rural education and communities.

For more information see the article published recently in The Australian.

Congratulations go to Dr Gunther Andersson and Associate Professor Jorg Hacker and their co-investigators who were successful with their LIEF 2009 applications being funded by the ARC.

Several other Flinders Researchers were successful as co-investigators on applications through other organisations including The University of Adelaide, The Australian National University and The University of Queensland.

If you would like to view the ARC LIEF 2009 outcomes, please visit the ARC Website.

The Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator the Hon. Kim Carr, has approved the Linkage, Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities proposals for funding commencing in 2009. The Minister’s press release can be found on the ARC website.

The details of funded proposals are also available on the website.

The Heart Foundation and the South Australian Minister of Health have agreed to provide equal funding to the amount of $5M over the next seven years (2008-2015) to fund cardiovascular research projects.

The South Australian Cardiovascular Research Development Program (SACVRDP) will support high quality research, which is relevant to heart, stroke and blood vessel disease with a focus on supporting early career researchers. The aim of this funding is to stimulate, enhance and sustain the collaborative potential of South Australian researchers. 

Development Grants

Development Grants (2 x $400,000 per annum for 4 years) to assist emerging research leaders who have completed an MD or PhD award within the last three to ten years to collaborate and improve their research excellence sufficient to be more competitive for larger, national and international research funding per capita basis. Funding for this program will commence in 2010 and a maximum of two awards will be offered in this funding round. Closing date: 17 March 2009

Research Fellowships

Research Fellowships (4 x $150,000 per annum for 3 years) to enhance the capability of outstanding early career researchers who have completed an MD or PhD award within the last three to ten years. Funding for this program will commence in 2009 and a maximum of two awards will be offered in this funding round. Closing date: Early March 2009 (exact date to be confirmed)

For full award details, eligibility requirements, information booklets and application forms; please visit the Heart Foundation website. For further information, please call 03 9321 1581 or email.

Late yesterday afternoon the Marketing and Communications Office released a new blog called “Flinders News“. The blog contains all Flinders News items that have been posted on the website this year as individual posts and will be used as the central repository for news items in the future.

The blog is integrated into the new Flinders News page on the Flinders University website which brings together news from a variety of sources including the blog. We encourage you to check out this new development and let the Marketing and Communications Office know what you think.

We especially encourage you to check out the posts in the Research category of the blog as it contains news items related to research activities at Flinders University. As with all blogs there are a variety of RSS feeds available including one that contains all posts, and category based feeds such as the one for the Research category.

More information on this development, including some of the reasons behind the initiative and the use of Twitter are outlined on this page.

Congratulations to the Marketing and Communications office for their continued hard work on this new initiative.

The Lirabenda Endowment Fund was established by the Field Naturalists Society of South Australia Inc.(FNSSA) in August, 2005. Since its foundation in 1883 as the Field Naturalists Section of the Royal Society of South Australia and now as an autonomous organisation, has had amongst its aims the promotion of the study and diffusion of knowledge relating to natural sciences. It promotes the conservation of natural features and habitat and the preservation of native flora, fauna and fungi of Australia and, in particular, South Australia. More recently FNSSA has been the owner of several nature reserves. The Lirabenda Endowment Fund has been established with the proceeds from the sale of one of these, Lirabenda near Mylor. One of the aims of the Fund is to encourage and promote research into the biota and natural environment of South Australia and it is offering research grants to further this aim.

Applications are encouraged from research institutions for supervised project funding at the Honours Degree, Masters Degree and PhD levels and for projects conducted by researchers at South Australian Research Institutes. 

Guidelines and application forms are available on the Society’s website. Applications close 16 December 2008 (Monday 8 December to the Office of Research).

It is envisaged that applicants will be informed on the decisions of the Grants Committee early in February 2009. For general information and application forms, contact Pam Catcheside, Convener, Lirabenda Endowment Fund Grants Committee via email (subject: LEF grants) or phone on 8222 9379.

Dr Alice Gorman

We are excited to be able to post our second Mini Interview with an Early Career Researcher at Flinders.

Our thanks to Dr Alice Gorman for agreeing to participate.

Alice Gorman is an archaeologist who has worked in Indigenous cultural heritage management in most states of Australia.  She completed her PhD in archaeology at UNE in 2000, on the use of stone tools for body modifications such as tattoo and scarification.  She has been in the Department of Archaeology at Flinders since 2005.

1. What is your area of research?
For the last few years I have been investigating the archaeology and heritage management of space exploration - more specifically, satellites and space junk in Earth orbit.  There is a recognised need to clean up orbital junk, but so far noone has considered whether this might impact on heritage values. I argue that there are some objects that we should leave in orbit, such as Vanguard 1, the oldest surviving satellite.  Part of its significance is that it is still up there after 50 years - and removing it from orbit would alter that completely!

I also work on terrestrial rocket launch sites, like Kourou in French Guiana, and Woomera in South Australia.  Part of my interest in Woomera is how Indigenous groups such as the Kokatha experienced the “Space Age” and how we can investigate the material signature of cultural exchange between the rocket science community and the Indigenous landscape.

2. What made you chose a career in research?
I’m fascinated by untold stories, and I believe that research can make a difference to how people understand the world around them. For that reason I feel it is very important to make my research accessible to the broader public.  I have a research blog (which isn’t always entirely serious), and find this a very effective way of interacting with people, and getting interesting feedback sometimes …..

3. Why did you choose Flinders to be a part of your research career?
I feel that Flinders sort of chose me!  I first came here as a casual lecturer, while I was still working as a heritage consultant.  However, the proximity to Woomera is convenient, and my colleagues are very supportive of my research, which I value.

4. What challenges do researchers in your field face?
For me, the main challenge is having my ideas accepted by a completely different research and professional community - that of space industry.  I have been very fortunate that Australian space scientists and industry leaders have made me welcome at their conferences. I’m now an accepted part of the landscape, and get invited to participate in all sorts of things!  The next challenge is to gain access to international policy makers and space agencies. I have had some communication with NASA and the European Space Agency, and hope to pursue this further.

5. What advice would you have for people considering a career in research?
I think my experience proves that you can be bold and out there, and get away with it if your ideas are solid.

6. What do you see as being the next “Big Thing” in your area of research?
Since I’m planning for my latest research to be the next “Big Thing”, that would be revealing too much!

If you are an Early Career Researcher at Flinders and would lke to participate in our Mini Interviews please contact Kristy Manuel.