Charles Sturt University (CSU) will have a strong presence at the first international Growing Regions Conference in Brisbane in July. Professor Margaret Alston, Director of CSU’s Centre for Rural Social Research, is one of the keynote speakers at the conference which will draw together leading contemporary regional policy experiences and research from across the globe. CSU staff member, Steven Gibbs and student Nicole Creaser are among the 15 young people from around Australia who will be sponsored by the Australian Government to attend the conference. Steven Gibbs, a research support officer in CSU’s Spatial Data Analysis Network (SPAN), says his main interest regional policy and development. He is particularly looking forward to the sessions dealing with “issues of population and government services and how policy can improve the well-being of people living in rural areas.” Nicole Creaser is in the fourth year of her Bachelor of Health Science (Nutrition and Dietetics) course at CSU’s Wagga Wagga campus. Originally from Melbourne, Nicole says she is interested in “everything to do with health in regional and rural Australia".

Charles Sturt University (CSU) Professor of Theology and Executive Director of the University’s Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, Reverend Professor James Haire, was made a member of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2006 announced on 12 June. Reverend Professor Haire was awarded a Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AM) for service to religion and the community through the promotion of ecumenical and interfaith dialogue, the Uniting Church in Australia and theological education. Born in Ireland, James Haire studied at Oxford University in UK and was ordained a minister in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland in 1972. Since moving to Australia in 1985, Rev. Professor Haire has held numerous positions including current president of the National Council of Churches in Australia (since 2003); president of the National Assembly Uniting Church in Australia (2000-2003); and joint chair of the Uniting and Roman Catholic Church Australian National Dialogue (1992-2004). CSU Acting Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ross Chambers praised Professor Haire’s leadership in promoting dialogue between the churches and between Christians, Muslims and Jews. “Reverend Professor Haire’s high quality work in ecumenism and interfaith dialogue is particularly important in Australia at this time in history. Under Professor Haire’s leadership it has become an important focus of teaching and research at CSU,” Professor Chambers said.

Researchers from across Charles Sturt University (CSU) will present their latest studies covering a wide-range of health issues during a two day forum at Wagga Wagga  this week. Many of the University’s lead health researchers will present their work on various topics, including rural health, complementary medicine, mental illness, injury management, nuclear medicine, cardiovascular disease and farmer health and pesticides. The forum entitled Health Research at CSU: A Showcase of Current Strengths and Strategies for Success, will be held at the Convention Centre, CSU, Wagga Wagga from 2pm Wednesday 14 June until 12.30pm Thursday 15 June. “This forum demonstrates the University’s commitment to meeting the needs of our communities and health professionals for high-quality research that addresses their priority health concerns,” said CSU senior research fellow and forum co-organiser Dr Rod Pope. The event has been organised by the University’s Faculty of Health Studies.Click here to see program.      

The words of wisdom on technology from three Charles Sturt University (CSU) lecturers can be heard around the clock with their regular radio segment now available for download as a podcast broadcast every fortnight on a Thursday morning on ABC Riverina. Digital Living and its panel of Peter Adams, Dr Barney Dalgarno and Phil Roy from CSU, focuses on the latest technology for work and home as well as changes in the IT sector. The podcast of Digital Living is available through the ABC’s podcasting site here: http://www.abc.net.au/services/podcasting/subject_Science.htm. A list of recent Digital Living segments is available here: http://www.abc.net.au/riverina/stories/digitalliving.htm  

An agreement between the National Radio News (NRN), based at Charles Sturt University (CSU), and community radio station, 2MBS has expanded the number of stations subscribing the NRN’s news service to 93. NRN provides regular national radio news to nearly 4 million listeners on community radio stations across Australia in metropolitan, regional and remote areas. Based in Sydney, 2MBS is considered a national “flagship” station of community radio, with over 400 000 residents in the broadcast area. Six CSU communication students are employed as cadets by NRN for 15 months and regularly record news stories while supervised by working journalists. “NRN is not a classroom – our students work in a real newsroom with real pressures to produce 13 live, daily news bulletins for a national audience,” said NRN manager Peter Hetherington. “Exposure on such large stations is great experience for our students.”

Embracing the borderless nature of their chosen profession, two Charles Sturt University (CSU) veterinary science students have been selected to participate in a leadership program in the United States in June. Second-year students Fiona Kelk from Wagga Wagga and Kimberly Groner, from Victoria’s Dandenong Ranges, will have a valuable opportunity to meet their North American peers when they attend Washington State University’s annual Veterinary Leadership Experience in Idaho. Along with dairy cattle practice lecturer Natasha Lees, the CSU students will attend the week-long leadership program with the financial support of the Charles Sturt Foundation and the Australian Cattle Vets (ACV), a special interest group of the Australian Veterinary Association Ltd. “Given the intrinsic global nature of veterinary medicine and protecting animal and human health, this trip will be an ideal chance to foster ties between Australian and US students and develop leadership, teamwork and communication skills,” said Ms Lees. “This has benefits not only for the individual CSU students but the future of the profession and our work in herd management,” added the CSU lecturer.

Improving athlete’s performances and recovery times could be as simple as wearing compression garments or ‘Skins’, according to Dr Rob Duffield, lecturer in the School of Human Movement at Charles Sturt University (CSU). With Johann Edge, a researcher at Massey University in New Zealand, he is looking at what effect Skins have if worn during and after hard training sessions such as simulating an actual rugby game. If Skins reduce muscle damage, it is possible performance will improve. Athletes have been using Skins based on anecdotal evidence for some time and Dr Duffield says it is common for science to play catch-up with trends set by the sporting fraternity. “Athletes are always looking for an edge and they’ll use anything even if they only perceive that it makes them perform and feel better. The science then either proves or disproves the theory.” Although Dr Duffield is still awaiting final data to come in there is already considerable interest in his research. “We start testing the compression garments for Cricket Australia this week. If there is a performance benefit, we’ll look more in depth to see if there’s a psychological component or whether there are physiological changes occurring as a result of wearing Skins,” Dr Duffield said.

A young woman scientist from Charles Sturt University (CSU) has been selected from a worldwide pool of outstanding students in the field of chemistry to attend the 56th Meeting of Nobel Laureates in Germany next month (25-30 June). Suzy McDonald, a CSU Doctoral student, will mingle with 24 Laureates and 500 like-minded students for five days. Seven Australians were chosen by the Australian Academy of Science according to strict criteria such as an excellent graduation record, outstanding research and teaching experience and a strong commitment to a principal field of study. “It’s not very often you get to meet Nobel Laureates,” said Suzy McDonald whose research on carbon in the Murrumbidgee River is adding to the scientific knowledge of environmental processes. She is looking forward to meeting Laureate Paul J. Crutzen, who contributed to the realisation that the earth's protective ozone layer is threatened by human activity. Ms McDonald says when she finishes her PhD she would like to continue her work on environmental research and water quality issues.

Defining the shape of practical and clinical education to help prepare the professionals of tomorrow was the subject of recent discussions for Charles Sturt University (CSU) staff. With 85 per cent of the University’s undergraduate courses including practicum or clinical requirements, CSU is a leader in providing practical professional education in Australia. Academic and general staff across CSU’s campuses discussed the possible shape of a proposed University-wide institute for clinical and practicum-based education. Speakers at the forum on the Albury-Wodonga Campus examined how the institute could support the administration and funding of clinical practice, internships and practicums as well as assisting research into practical education. The forum meeting was hosted by the CSU Professional Experience Network (PEN) and recommendations from the forum were forwarded to the University’s senior management.