Charles Sturt University (CSU) Bluebottles water polo team promise to put some ‘sting’ into the Eastern Conference Challenge competition to be held in Sydney next week. The team comprises seven CSU students from Albury-Wodonga and two from Bathurst. Six of the Bluebottles are top grade players who have represented the Ovens & Murray Association, NSW and Australian Country Teams. The CSU Bluebottles will be competing against teams from Sydney, NSW, Canberra and Newcastle universities. Captain Matt Hogan has spent the last three years playing in England after stints with the Cronulla Sharks and Canberra Dolphins in the Australian National League. "We are going to Sydney to be competitive. We are aiming for a top three finish in Sydney so we can go to the Australian University Games on the Gold Coast in September,” Matt said.

The secrets of combining a successful career in the Australian film industry with an academic career at Charles Sturt University (CSU) will be unveiled during a seminar on Wednesday 28 April. Mr Damian Candusso is a lecturer in Multimedia and Sound Design in the School of Communication and Creative Industries at CSU in Wagga Wagga. He has over 12 years of industry experience and is a multi-award winning sound designer in film, animation, games and music. Some of his recently released work includes Daybreakers and Baz Luhrmann’s Australia. Not satisfied with this work, the sound designer is enrolled in the Master of Arts Practice at CSU. His research and creative practice explores sound’s relationship with the image, and in particular film. Mr Candusso’s exhibition Nature Man Machine opened on Monday 19 April until Friday 30 April in the HR Gallop Gallery, building 21 near car park 2, Darnell Smith Drive, CSU in Wagga Wagga.

A Bathurst School Community Garden Network will be established through a partnership between Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) School of Teacher Education, Bathurst Climate Change Action Network and the Rahamim Ecological Learning Community, using a grant of $35 623 from the NSW Environmental Trust..Project manager and lecturer at the CSU School of Teacher Education in Bathurst (embed link: ), Ms Jan Page, said the grant will help establish a network of individuals, schools and community groups interested in developing kitchen gardens at five schools in 2010, which will mentor more schools in the NSW Central West in 2011 to expand the network. “The project aims to implement environmental education in schools to promote sustainable living practices by establishing and developing school and community food gardens which will provide a focus to coordinate curriculum and the management of school grounds and resources sustainably,” Ms Page said. Neville Public School, Bathurst South Public School, Glenroi Heights Public School, St Philomena’s Primary School and Bathurst Christian School will take part initially in the project, which will be launched at Rahamim Ecological Learning Community in Bathurst on Wednesday 28 April.

An Indigenous literary academic and leading writer will explain the vital role of literacy in Indigenous self-determination at the next annual Bob Meyenn Annual Education Lecture, to be held this Thursday 22 April at Charles Sturt University (CSU). Hosted by the University’s Murray School of Education, in Albury-Wodonga, the lecture will be presented by Indigenous Literacy Ambassador, Dr Anita Heiss, who will discuss the key ingredient missing in the education system which could easily ensure a fair and equitable life experience for her people. Dr Heiss is from the Wiradjuri nation of central NSW, born and bred in Sydney. She is an author, poet, social commentator, travel writer and satirist and has published non-fiction, historical fiction, children’s fiction and so-called ‘chicklit’. Dr Heiss will present the third Bob Meyenn Annual Education Lecture titled ‘Indigenous literacy: the key to self-determination’ at 7.30pm in the Nowik Auditorium, Guinea Street, Albury.

Excellence in academic endeavour in the sciences will be celebrated at Charles Sturt University (CSU) on Thursday afternoon in Albury. Dean of the University’s Faculty of Science, Professor Nick Klomp, will present awards and prizes to current students and graduates as well as staff at a ceremony starting at 2.30pm. The Dean’s Awards for academic excellence, staff recognition awards and other student prizes will be presented to recipients based in Albury-Wodonga in the Schools of Community Health, Environmental Sciences, and Nursing, Midwifery and Indigenous Health. The ceremony will be held in the Nowik Auditorium, Guinea St, Albury.

Innovative thinking and action to foster positive attitudes to mental health problems and linking individual struggles and social justice are promoted in NSW by a joint initiative between Charles Sturt University (CSU) and the University of Western Sydney (UWS). Professor David Fryer, Professor of Community Critical Psychology at CSU’s newly established School of Psychology in Bathurst, and UWS Professor of Women’s Health Psychology, Professor Jane Ussher, will convene a half-day workshop - Freeing up our minds: critical alternatives to drug-focused approaches to mental health – at UWS on Thursday 22 April. Professor Fryer will describe and illustrate his work with ‘artivists’, self-styled ‘survivors of psychiatry’ who use artistic media in community settings to uncover and contest mental health-related oppression. “We have taken advantage of the visit to Australia by Dr Rufus May, a groundbreaking British clinical psychologist, mental health activist and media personality, to convene a workshop for those interested in socially-just alternatives to pharmacological and medical approaches to mental health,” Professor Fryer said. More information on the workshop is available from Professor David Fryer on (02) 6338 4450 or send an email.

Like the mysterious grinning Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland, only one aspect of the invisible ‘dark matter’ which dominates the universe is apparent: its gravitational effects. “We live in a universe that is completely dominated by invisible matter whose origin and nature are essentially unknown,” says Dr Allan Ernest, a physics lecturer with the School of Dentistry and Health Sciences at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga. In a lecture on Wednesday 28 April, Dr Ernest will examine the latest theories which attempt to answer the vexing questions: “What gravitational effects tell us dark matter exists? If it is really there, what could it possibly be? Are there alternative theories to dark matter?” The talk by Dr Ernest will also present work being conducted at CSU to address the questions surrounding the nature and origin of dark matter.

Representatives of the older generation of Indigenous Christian leaders will lead discussions on the theme of ‘Christianity and Indigenous Culture and Spirituality’ at the Charles Sturt University (CSU) 2010 Pastor Cec Grant (Wongamar) Lecture on Friday 23 April. CSU’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Professor Ross Chambers, said, “This lecture was established by Charles Sturt University, the Wiradjuri Council of Elders, and the Wiradjuri Christian Development Ministries to honour the memory and contribution of Pastor Cec Grant, or Wongamar. Wongamar was a leading Wiradjuri leader who played a very important part in the development of Indigenous education at CSU,” Professor Chambers said. “The theme of the third annual lecture reflects a major element in Wongamar's life, work and vision.” The 2010 lecture will be led by Mrs Edna Stewart, Miss Jean Phillips, Pastor Ossie Cruse and Mr Avon Moyle. Pastor Darren Wighton will lead the singing and other worship. The service will feature stories, reflections on the ways in which Indigenous nations developed their own ministers and leaders, the challenges faced in doing so, and the contribution these leaders made to strengthening Indigenous cultures and communities.

Strength athletes in the immediate Bathurst area needed for sports nutrition research at Charles Sturt University (CSU) can find out more at an information session at the University at 6pm on Wednesday 12 May. Chief investigator Dr Stephen Bird and co-investigator Dr Jack Cannon, both from the CSU School of Human Movement Studies in Bathurst, say, “Our previous research has shown that repeated bouts of resistance exercise accompanied by nutritional supplementation can promote increased muscle growth and strength. We need participants for our current research into Nutrient timing strategies and the strength athlete: mechanisms and adaptations, which will examine the science behind ‘nutrient timing’. The research volunteers will receive 10 weeks of supervised strength training, with nutritional supplements, so we can assess changes in hormone response, muscle growth, and strength and body composition, as well as indicators of muscle damage and recovery.”