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Monash is set to strengthen its London links after a visit from three senior King's College staff.
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| (Back, from left) Faculty
of Engineering associate dean (International) Dr Carlos Tiu, Faculty of Medicine Associate Professor Rod Devenish and Monash Research Graduate School manager Ms Pam Herman. (Front, from left) King's College college secretary and registrar Mr Harry Musselwhite, vice-principal Professor Barry Ife and Centre for Computing in the Humanities director Mr Harold Short. |
King's College vice-principal Professor Barry Ife, college secretary and registrar Mr Harry Musselwhite and Centre for Computing in the Humanities director Mr Harold Short comprised the delegation.
After meeting with senior Monash academics and administrators, Professor Ife said the next step was to produce a joint development plan, which would include ways to collaborate on research, administration and student exchanges.
He said the Monash-King's partnership was "a global alliance of very talented people".
"However good a particular research group may be, it will always benefit from a partner's independent view, which can only improve the quality of the work."
Monash and King's would also be able to access funding from Australia's and Britain's research bodies, he said.
Professor Ife said several research areas for future academic collaboration had been identified during their visit.
"We hope to develop our links in medicine, given we have the largest medical school in Europe, and there is already an agreement to develop joint programs and student exchanges with the Law faculty," he said.
"Research into water resource management, in which both Australia and Europe have considerable expertise, is also becoming a more important field for us as parts of southern Europe and northern Africa are turning into desert."
The delegation also made presentations to the IT and Arts faculties as well as the library about the applications of computing in humanities research and the management of hybrid libraries, both areas of expertise for King's.
An example of work in this area includes a database of information about the Byzantine and Roman empires. Professor Ife said he hoped talks with the Monash Research Graduate School would lead to regular exchanges of research students for up to three months.
He said the two institutions' collaborative relationship would be further strengthened once King's established its e-university in the UK, especially since Monash was already experienced in offering distance education courses.
Deputy vice-chancellor Professor Peter Darvall (Research and Development) said he believed the King's visitors had been impressed with the scale and depth of Monash's teaching programs and research.
Deputy vice-chancellor (Academic and Planning) Professor Alan Lindsay said the discussions with the King's delegation had been broad and productive.
Women's health boost in the Middle EastTwo senior Monash lecturers are running a new women's health course for doctors in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The intensive 14-week Women's Health in Society course, run in conjunction with the University of Sharjah in the UAE, covers subjects including family planning, osteoporosis and menopause. About 25 doctors - mainly women - have enrolled in the course. The lecturers, Dr Robyn Craven and Dr Carol Lawson from the Department of Community Medicine and General Practice, have just returned to Melbourne after teaching the introductory session of the course, which also includes 12 weeks of distance education and a final week of assessment. Deputy dean of Medicine and head of primary health care, Professor Leon Piterman, said the collaboration was largely due to a long relationship with the Sharjah Medical District through Monash honorary senior lecturer Dr Nizar Farjou, who is Sharjah's director of primary health care. Professor Piterman said Sharjah's Ministry of Health had identified women's health as a priority. "The course is aimed at doctors in general practice clinics, where women's health problems are managed predominantly by women doctors," he said. Dr Craven said general practitioners in Sharjah needed more knowledge and experience in common women's health issues such as contraception, hormone replacement therapy and menstrual problems. "We're trying to bring the doctors up to date through this program so they have the confidence to deal with women's health issues," she said. Professor Piterman said the pilot program could expand in future. "As Monash has a large number of subjects run through distance education, covering everything from child health to dermatology, we would be able to address many areas of need," he said. |
Artworks displayed in the Look See: Five Contemporary Painters exhibition use innovative strategies to explore the use of space in painting.
Now running at the University Gallery on Clayton campus, the show includes the works of Craig Easton, Juan Ford, Mark Galea, Lily Hibberd and Jan Murray and is being curated by Natasha Bullock and Sarah Bond.
Monash painting graduate Lily Hibberd (pictured) uses an image of a burning house in seven panels.
Partly inspired by the Alfred Hitchcock film Rebecca, the sequence first depicts the house at a distance. The burning house remains the same size as the canvas size becomes smaller in each panel, simulating the effect of a zoom lens.
"I'm looking at the psychological space inherent in films - I was interested in how film makes you feel like you are getting close into something," Ms Hibberd said.
"The use of fire is intended to capture the imagination, so people become involved in the work and are drawn closer physically, emotionally and psychologically."
Look See runs until 5 May. For more information, contact extn 54217.
Monash's Faculty of Law has signed an agreement with the University of Colombo (Sri Lanka) to develop collaborative academic programs.
The memorandum of understanding will see the faculty provide academic and professional support for the University of Colombo in international investment law, business law and information technology law.
In particular, Monash will assist with staff development programs on new educational methods and technology such as multimedia and e-learning technologies.
The agreement will also facilitate staff exchanges between the two law schools in the area of information technology to further develop the University of Colombo's Institute of Computer Technology.
The two universities will provide split PhD programs, in which junior staff from Colombo will be able to access the resources and facilities of Monash's Law faculty.
Associate Professor Wickrema Weerasooria and Monash Law faculty staff first visited the University of Colombo last September, which led to the formal arrangement.
Dr Weerasooria signed the memorandum of understanding on Monash's behalf with the Colombo vice-chancellor Professor Savitri Goonesekere.
Demand for Monash law degrees is likely to increase following the introduction of new rules allowing the cream of Monash law graduates admission to the Singapore Bar.
A shortage of lawyers in Singapore has led that country's government to recognise the degrees of the top 30 per cent of graduates from Monash's Faculty of Law.
The accreditation is a coup for Monash, as the recognition was previously only extended to selected UK law schools.
The move means high-achieving Singaporean Monash graduates will now be able to practise in their own country.
Only three other Australian law schools received the accreditation - the universities of Melbourne, New South Wales and Sydney.
Four students and a lecturer from the Glass Studio in Monash's Art and Design Faculty have scooped several major Australian and international awards.
Masters student Ms Holly Grace (pictured) is among 400 designers worldwide selected to show their works at the prestigious Salone Satellite 2001, which is part of the Milan Design Show.
According to the judges, the Salone Satellite features designers deemed to have the best chances of eventually being among "international design aristocracy".
Graduate diploma student Ms Kristin McFarlane has won the Westin Melbourne Craftsmanship Award in The Ultimate Bombay Saphire Martini Glass competition. Her martini glass was featured in Vogue, The Age and the Herald Sun.
Masters student Ms Lisa Cahill was awarded the Bullseye by Design Award for her range of glass vessels. Her prize is an all expenses paid trip to the Bullseye Glass Company factory in Oregon, in the US, where she will work with the Bullseye team to create a range of designer ware for production and sale in the US.
Another masters student, Ms Niki Harley, is one of 100 artists to be included in the Annual Review of World Glass in the Corning Museum in New York, which boasts the world's largest collection of glass.
For his sculptural glasswork, glass lecturer Mr George Aslanis won the $3000 first prize in the Thomas Foundation Emerging Artist Award at the Ausglass Conference, held earlier this year.
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