[CDU eNews] - POSTGRAD RESEARCH WEEK AT CDU

[Peter.Hurt at cdu.edu.au]

Spotlight on research at CDU

Charles Darwin University research leaders and postgraduate research
students will present and debate a series of current research topics at a
series of public forums on Thursday and Friday.

Highlights of Postgraduate Research Week 2005 include:

·     A student seminar series featuring presentations by 11 postgraduate
research students;
·     Presentations by four university research leaders;
·     A Great Debate on research.

Charles Darwin University Deputy Vice Chancellor of Research Professor Bob
Wasson said today: "Research at CDU focuses on the people, societies,
cultures, economies, institutions and environ-ments of tropical Australia
and South East Asia and the Australian desert.

"The diverse Indigenous populations of the region give a special focus to
much of our research.
Our research leaders and our research students are making their mark at a
local, national and international level. This week is a wonderful
opportunity for the public to see and hear the sort of work they do."

The student seminars will cover a variety of research fields including
social history, visual and performing arts, plant science and environmental
management.

Student speakers will include Darwin Symphony Orchestra artistic director
Martin Jarvis on forensic examination of the works of Johann Sebastian
Bach, Master of Visual Arts student and contemporary landscape artist
Caroline Rannersberger on Kakadu in the Twilight Zone, and Matthew Stephen
on Sport and Leisure in the Social History of Colonial Northern Territory.

Ms Rannersberger's talk will coincide with an exhibition of her work being
held at The Gallery on the Casuarina campus.

"This exhibition is based on my experience as a landscape painter,
specifically in Kakadu National Park and West Arnhem Land," she said. "In
this work I draw on a range of images 'pilfered' from various cultures,
which I believe is an inevitable outcome of cultural exchange."

Professor Wasson said the Great Debate and the presentations by four
research leaders would conclude the week's events.

"In the Great Debate, research staff and students will debate the topic,
'Are we researching ourselves into irrelevance? The challenge of providing
timely and relevant research'."

Professor Charles Webb, the Pro Vice Chancellor of Teaching and Learning,
will moderate the debate. This will be followed by presentations by four
leading university researchers:

·     Dr Tony Griffiths, Natural and Cultural Resource Management;
·     Professor Ian Falk, Teaching, Learning and Living;
·     Professor David Carment, Community Development and Identity;
·     Associate Professor Joan Cunningham, Human Health and Well-Being.

The student seminars will be held from 1pm to 3pm on Thursday and from 10am
to 12noon on Friday.  The Great Debate will be held at 3.30pm on Friday,
followed by the research leaders' presentations at 4.30pm.  All events will
be held in the Mal Nairn Auditorium on the university's Casuarina campus.

Ms Rannersberger's art exhibition, in The Gallery, is open from 12-2pm
Monday to Saturday until June 23.

A full list of speakers and further details on the Postgraduate Week
program are available at http://www.cdu.edu.au/research/seminars.html

Peter Hurt
Media Manager
Charles Darwin University
Tel: 08 8946 6019 or 0438 466 439

CRICOS Provider No: 00300K