Recent media has highlighted a large study linking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and higher risk of breast and other cancers. Charles Sturt University (CSU) biomedical researcher Dr Christopher Scott will present the science behind HRT, including the role of oestrogen and testosterone in males and females and how they are used in HRT during a public lecture in Albury tomorrow, Wednesday 15 March. He will also discuss the benefits and potential risks of HRT using his own research. The lecture will start at 6pm in the Nowik Lecture Theatre, Guinea St, Albury. Dr Scott joined CSU as a lecturer in physiology in 2003 and has studied the role of  sex hormones for the past 17 years in Australia and USA.

The Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture (ACCC) and the Friends of Ireland will hold their third annual ecumenical service on Friday March 17 to remember the legend and history of St Patrick and its continuing significance for Australians today. “For better or worse, Irish identity has always been related to religious expression,” said CSU Professor of Theology, Reverend James Haire. He will conduct the ecumenical service at the ACCC chapel on the corner of Kings Avenue and Blackall Street in Barton, ACT at 12.30pm. Federal Labor Senator Ursula Stephens, a Catholic and one of two Irish-born Australian senators, will speak on the place of the Irish in contemporary Australia and how Australians might celebrate St Patrick’s Day and their Irish heritage while acknowledging the pain of the past for Irish people

Hailed as a leader of Australia’s new generation architects, Peter Stutchbury has won the national competition to design a $10 million development on the Charles Sturt University (CSU) Albury-Wodonga Campus. The multi award winner, well known for his innovative, environmentally sensitive structures, will design the new Learning Commons building, which will house a student based centre for collaborative learning and academic community, incorporating library, computing and learning skills staff and technologies. “Due to be completed by 2008, the project demonstrates CSU’s continued investment in higher education in regional Australia and on the NSW-Victorian border,” said Head of the Albury-Wodonga Campus, Professor Gail Whiteford. The launch marks the start of the third and final stage of the University’s move from the Albury city site to the campus site based at Thurgoona.

Staff and students at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Orange will benefit from a wellness and wellbeing conference and expo on Wednesday 26 March. The CSU 2014 SGE Credit Union Wellness and Wellbeing Conference and Expo is an initiative to enhance staff health, productivity and happiness. Dr Heather Robinson, the Head of Campus at CSU in Orange, said the University recognised and valued the importance of staff and student wellness and wellbeing. The Wellness and Wellbeing Expo aims to make staff and students more aware of and engaged with the services available to them in our communities. The Expo will provide participants with information and the opportunity to participate in workshop activities such as yoga, and Pilates. This will help individuals to make better decisions about health behaviours which lead to better general health and wellness. "We also hope this will help students to fulfil their academic potential and enjoy their student experience, and ensure our graduates are resilient well-rounded individuals," Dr Robinson said. The CSU 2014 SGE Credit Union Wellness and Wellbeing Conference and Expo at CSU in Orange is from 9.30am to 4.30pm Wednesday 26 March. More information about it can be found here, or email healthyu@csu.edu.au

Is it fair that educational achievement can depend on where you live? Anecdotally, it is known that young, inexperienced teachers fresh out of university are usually sent to unpopular destinations such as western NSW. Another assumption is that school students in these areas have uneven educational outcomes. Now these "hunches" have been verified by the Rural (Teacher) Education Project, and the search is on for some solutions. "It’s all about attracting, preparing, retaining and renewing teachers for the bush," said project leader Professor Bill Green from Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Faculty of Education. "One key issue was that location matters. You’re getting young teachers working with often the most disadvantaged groups. They have energy and enthusiasm and embrace innovation, but the downside is they don’t have experience." Some of the early recommendations to emerge include nominating certain isolated schools as professional development centres, better preparation of student teachers, changing staffing patterns so that groups of teachers are appointed to a region, and involving local communities and government agencies so that young professionals are connecting socially. More complete findings are due next month.

Diabetes is the fastest growing disease in Australia and a Charles Sturt University (CSU) research project that has run for the past four years aims to develop a cost-effective early warning system to detect diabetes in people living in regional Australia. CSU researchers are using simple blood and heart monitoring tests and eye and foot observations to compare known people with diabetes with "normal" people aged over 40 years to develop this system. "Rural Australians have poorer access to health services that could detect early symptoms of diabetes that affect their eyes, feet and hearts," said research team leader Dr Herbert Jelinek, based on CSU’s Albury-Wodonga Campus. The researchers will make their next round of observations of people in Albury-Wodonga starting next Monday 24 April for two weeks.

As the Federal Government urges innovation in housing and urban design to take Australia’s ageing population into account, one scenario could be acres of empty ‘McMansions’ as older people flee to smaller homes with easy access to healthcare and social ties. Community for All Ages – Building the Future seminars were recently held all over the country to discuss the topic. Facilitated by Dr Keith Suter, he will now put together a formal report and other findings and recommendations. Celia Bevan, senior lecturer in Gerontology at Charles Sturt University, says "one of the interesting things to come out of this circuit of conferences is that architecturally, we should be looking at housing which is adaptable", homes that are accessible for everybody, regardless of age or ability or mobility. It’s called Universal Design, but unlike architecture, the emotional needs of older Australians are anything but universal. "There are people who absolutely love retirement villages and that life suits them, but then there are other people who do not. To just look at an ageing population and say well, this is the kind of housing they would want would be as disastrous as leaving it as it currently is." But can governments successfully legislate for change? Probably not, according to Ms Bevan. "The will has to be there and the cultural shift has to occur. Obviously architects and the housing industry have to be able to see that there’s something in it for them, because our whole philosophy around housing is around profit as well. The industry has to be persuaded to see that it is in their interest to engage in a new form of housing."

It is a week of celebration this week at Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Albury-Wodonga Campus with a number of events highlighting the achievements of CSU students. The academic excellence of current allied health, business, environmental science and information technology students will be rewarded during prize giving ceremonies to be held around Albury this Thursday 27 and Friday 28 April. Some of the University’s top students will also be recognised at the CSU Foundation Scholarships evening where they will receive scholarships worth $2 000 to $6 000 from international and local businesses and organisations on this Thursday evening 27 April. Celebrations in the town will culminate on Thursday 27 and Friday 28 April at three formal graduation ceremonies for over 500 graduates to be held at the Albury Convention and Performing Arts Centre in central Albury.

Last week the Federal Government announced its high-profile appointments to the Youth Mental Health Foundation Advisory Board to advise on ways to improve access to mental health services for the nation’s 12 to 25-year-olds. Experts agree that young people in Australia are increasingly troubled by various forms of mental disorder, including Dr Lynelle Osburn, a lecturer in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga. “Why is it a growing problem? One reason is an increasing intolerance of kids who are a bit different.” She says the vulnerable are easy to recognise. “Young people who leave home in an unplanned way, are isolated, are taking extreme risks or have substance abuse problems, who have eating or stress disorders. There is a growing number of young people who are on medications like amphetamines or Ritalin, or using various party drugs.” Another CSU academic Dr Janki Shankar, lecturer in mental health also in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, is on the Australian Association of Social Workers Mental Health Interest Group. She says “the current system is failing because of a lack of support services, particularly in rural areas. There are hardly any psycho-social rehabilitation programs that are targeted to youth, there’s almost nothing for people who need early intervention services.”