News

VU's Kindred Studios ranked in world’s top 10 workspaces

e5103292 — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 04:27:03 +0000

Monday 7 November 2016

In an article by Lonely Planet, VU’s Kindred Studios has been listed as one of the top 10 shared workspaces in the world.

Writer Savery Raz stated that he chose Kindred Studios, based in Yarraville, because it’s “not just a workspace but also has studios, a bar and yoga classes.”

Kindred Studios was established in 2005 and features a range of spaces for arts businesses and practitioners including band rehearsal rooms, a recording studio, co-working spaces, a licensed performance venue, cafe and a TV studio.

VU formed an innovative partnership with Kindred Studios in 2009, after the Sunbury Campus closure and students enrolled in music programs found themselves without a home.

Since 2010, VU students have had exclusive access to around a quarter of the floor space at Kindred for their music and sound production classes across TAFE and Higher Education.

Using state of the art equipment owned by the University and Polytechnic, the purpose-built spaces at Kindred are available to students until midnight Monday to Friday and on weekends.

As a result, opportunities for VU students to hone their skills and make crucial industry network connections are plentiful.

VU staff have first-hand music industry experience, meaning the students complete their course as work-ready graduates.

Kindred Studios is located just 1km from VU’s Footscray Nicholson campus.

Take a virtual tour of Kindred Studios.

Kindred Studios in Yarraville.

'Related' internal links:

Bachelor of Music

Creative arts facilities

CUA40915 - Certificate IV in Music Industry

Kindred Studios

+61 3 9919 6196

music@vu.edu.au

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VU congratulates its ARC grant recipients

e5024229 — Fri, 04 Nov 2016 02:02:54 +0000

Friday 4 November 2016

Victoria University researchers have received close to $1 million in prestigious Australian Research Council (ARC) grants for 2017.

Professor Gary Foley of VU’s Moondani Balluk Indigenous research unit will be Chief Investigator in a $475,000 project to create a first-of-its-kind online archive of records about Aboriginal self-determination, the land rights’ movement and Aboriginal community survival programs.

The two-year project will provide access to currently unavailable materials that record the perspectives and voices of Aboriginal participants in contemporary political history, including primary-source material collected and donated by individuals and community organisations.

The project aims to address data gaps in Australia’s historical record and improve public understanding and awareness. It will also inform educational curricula and public policy responses for the political, legal, health and social position of Australia’s Indigenous communities.

Professor Foley’s team includes VU’s Dr Anthony Birch and Dr Edwina Howell, in addition to other renowned Indigenous researchers such as Professor Larissa Behrendt of University of Technology Sydney.

Several other universities in Australia and New Zealand, as well as the National Museum of Australia and Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House, are project partners.

Professor Foley's project received an ARC Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) grant.

Professor Mikel Duke of VU’s Institute of Sustainability and Innovation will be Chief Investigator in a $239,000 ARC Discovery Grant project to provide ways to recover valuable products from current waste water. The project team includes VU’s Dr Xing Yang. The research will be conducted in partnership with Singapore’s Nanyang Technical University.

Victoria University is also a non-lead organisation on two other ARC-funded projects.

They involve VU’s Dr Maurice Guerrieri and Dr Rui Zhou working with lead organisation Swinburne University on projects related to 3-D printing, and algorithms to capture Big Data respectively.

The team from the Moondani Balluk indigenous research unit.

'Related' internal links:

Moondani Balluk

Institute for Sustainability and Innovation (ISI)

ARC funding

'Related' external links:

http://www.arc.gov.au/ Australian Research Council (ARC)

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2016 Library, Records & Archives Awards

e5102194 — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 04:41:51 +0000

Monday 31 October 2016

Nominations are now open for the 2016 Library, Records & Archives Awards.

VU staff and students can nominate VU Library and Records & Archives Services staff by nominating individuals or teams for one of the following award categories:

Outstanding Contribution Award for outstanding and sustained contribution.
Service Award for excellence in customer service.

Award nominations

Nominations close on Friday 25 November 2016.

Submit a nomination now to ensure that your vote counts.

service desk_main.jpg

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Library

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The Melbourne Economic Forum discusses growth

e5108678 — Fri, 28 Oct 2016 00:22:52 +0000

Friday 28 October 2016

The west – where it is headed and how it will develop over the decades – was open for discussion at The Melbourne Economic Forum.

The quarterly mini-summit, held yesterday at Victoria University’s City Flinders campus, examined how best to support and promote economic growth in Melbourne’s west.

Creating jobs, infrastructure, developing industries and transport were the main topics of focus, with an emphasis on VU’s positive impact on the region, both socially and economically.

VU’s Professor Rodney Maddock gave an address (also published in The Financial Review) about how best to position the west in the next decades. He said that between 1992-2013, the University increased employment by 4,350 jobs.

Professor Maddock says the west now faces two big challenges: the decline of its manufacturing heartland, and the fact that it’s home “to some of Melbourne’s poorer and less skilled citizens.”

Ideas about how to combat these challenges were discussed, including attracting industries that require large amounts of space, for example film/television studios. Creating clusters so that the west can thrive independently from Melbourne’s CBD are also an option.

The mini-summit opened with an address by Professor Peter Dawkins, Vice-Chancellor and President of VU, and included presentations by:

Professor Bruce Rasmussen (Director, Victoria Institute of Strategic Economics Studies, VU)
Professor Jeff Borland (Department of Economics, University of Melbourne)
Professor Guyonne Kalb (Professorial Research Fellow, University of Melbourne)
Professor John Madden (Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University)
John Daley (CEO, Grattan Institute)
Kate Roffey (Director, City Economy, Wyndham City Council)
Lucy Turnbull (former Sydney Lord Mayor)
Peter Seamer (CEO, Victoria Planning Authority).

Co-organised by VU and The University of Melbourne, the next Melbourne Economic Forum will be held at The University of Melbourne on 29 November, 2016.

Professor Peter Dawkins, Vice-Chancellor and President of Victoria University.

'Related' internal links:

Victoria Institute of Strategic Economic Studies

'Related' external links:

https://www.melbourneeconomicforum.com.au/ The Melbourne Economic Forum

Frances Atkinson

Journalist

Contact faculty, school or department:

Media Unit

0435 960 793

frances.atkinson@vu.edu.au

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Become a Student Mentor or Student Rover in 2017

e5107531 — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 01:21:41 +0000

Tuesday 25 October 2016

Applications are now open to become a Student Mentor or Student Rover in 2017.

Do you feel like you’ve got something to contribute to the first-year experience for new university students? Would you like to participate in a paid personal development opportunity while you study?

Student Mentors at Victoria University are experienced students, who want to give back to the VU community. They share their knowledge and understanding of academic subjects and university life in a group learning environment.

Student Mentors are trained and paid by the University.

Eligibility & applications

To become a Student Mentor you need to be a current VU student and have completed at least one semester of a Bachelor’s degree at VU.

Online applications are open from now until Sunday 20 November at 5pm.

To apply, login through VU CareerHub.

student-mentor.jpg

'Related' internal links:

Student Mentors & Student Rovers

Academic support

Student support & services

Trudi Aitken

Contact faculty, school or department:

Centre for Student Success

trudi.aitken@vu.edu.au

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World-class at WorldSkills

e5027359 — Mon, 24 Oct 2016 03:03:19 +0000

Monday 24 October 2016

Congratulations to Darren Barnes from VU’s Victoria Polytechnic for his bronze medal in welding at the national WorldSkills competition.

More than 500 competitors from around the country descended on Melbourne Showgrounds on 9 October, to showcase their skills in categories ranging from beauty to plumbing.

The 22-year-old Engineering TAFE student from Hoppers Crossing says the three-day contest was difficult but the outcome was rewarding, and has opened more doors for his future.

"The competition was tough and challenging with a lot of good quality welders, and the marks were close. I finished third Australia and now I have applied for BBM scholarship."

Mr Barnes, who studies at VU’s Sunshine Campus, is employed by Toll Fleet Altona North workshop.

Two high-achieving hairdressing students – Jennifer Ngyuen and Stephanie Kotsos – also represented Victoria Polytechnic in the intense competition.

Known as the Olympics of vocational training – WorldSkills showcases the talent of top apprentices and trainees nationally, regionally and internationally in approximately 50 categories.

Find out more about VU’s TAFE division, Victoria Polytechnic.

WorldSkills welding bronze-medalist Darren Barnes.

'Related' internal links:

Victoria Polytechnic

'Related' external links:

http://www.worldskills.org.au/ WorldSkills Australia

David Scott

Teacher, THB, Engineering and Electrical

Contact faculty, school or department:

Victoria Polytechnic

+613 9919 7242

david.scott2@vu.edu.au

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Keeping tiny flowers in bloom

e5108516 — Mon, 24 Oct 2016 03:58:56 +0000

Monday 24 October 2016

VU scientists are developing new techniques to save one of Victoria’s critically endangered grassland plants.

The Spiny Rice Flower, or Pimelea spinescens, is a small native shrub threatened by land clearing and development, but scientists from the Applied Ecology Research Group are working hard to preserve it.

Dr Randall Robinson is leading the project and working with Dr Deborah Reynolds and the State and Federal Governments to protect this endangered plant.

Though previous conservation programs have tried to reproduce the species through cuttings, Dr Robinson says no one had figured out how to grow the plant from seed to re-establish it in the wild.

“They’ve tried but they haven’t cracked the code of what gets them to germinate. We’re trying to crack the code,” he says.

The Spiny Rice-flower is relatively small, growing only about 10 centimetres tall and 20 centimetres wide. When grown from seed its roots can shoot downward about a metre towards the water table, meaning it can withstand destructive surface forces such as drought and fire.

When grown from cuttings, however, the Spiny Rice-flower’s roots grow to the side, making it more vulnerable to the elements.

Dr Robinson says one of the reasons it has been difficult for previous researchers to grow the plant from seed is because they believe it needs to pass through the stomach of an animal, which would have bathed the seeds in acid and scratched the seed coat, thereby helping it germinate.

“In most of the grasslands most of the animals are gone. So that’s a bit of an issue,” he says. “[We have] been treating the seeds with various types of acid but the most successful one we have found so far is a chemical called gibberellic acid. And that seems to work somewhat. The germination rates are still low but they’re improving.”

Dr Robinson says Victoria’s grassland and coastal wetlands are under threat from development. So it can be especially difficult to preserve small and unassuming plants such as the Spiny Rice-flower, which grows primarily in grasslands across central and southern Victoria.

“It’s not a glory species. It’s little, it’s got tiny, tiny flowers.”

Read the full story in Research Highlights magazine.

Dr Randall Robinson and Dr Deborah Reynolds.

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VU woman top pick for Collingwood team

e5108516 — Sun, 23 Oct 2016 23:36:24 +0000

Monday 24 October 2016

Victoria University student, Nicola Stevens, was Collingwood’s first choice for its 2017 women’s team and sixth draft pick overall.

The third-year osteopathy student has been playing football since starting Auskick with her brother at the age of eight. She played at Pascoe Vale for many years before moving on to the Melbourne University Women’s Football Club where she was spotted by AFL selectors.

Nicola has a reputation as a fearless opponent with an uncanny ability to read the play and intercept marks. Describing herself as “a defender at heart” the 23-year-old half-back flank says that being selected was “really overwhelming. I was so relieved to hear my name called”.

"After all the years of playing for fun and for the love of the game, and not imagining that AFL was a possibility, I think we’ll be role models for girls coming up who now have that pathway from the age of five all the way through. It’s nice to be that kind of role model."

For Nicola and the other players in the eight teams, 2017 is packed tight with games. The women’s AFL season starts in February and runs for eight weeks. Following a six-week break, they go into the 14-round VFL season.

Collingwood Football Club Women’s Team starts pre-season on November 22, training three nights a week. In the meantime, they have access to all the club’s facilities and support staff as well as their own coaches and support people.

Nicola’s family is steeped in football and behind her all the way. Her father has a voluntary role with Essendon on match days and her grandfather was an Essendon timekeeper for 52 years.

Nicola lives in Pascoe Vale and works part-time at a clinic in Clifton Hill. Next year, she starts a Master of Health Science (Osteopathy) with the intention of a career working with elite athletes.

Nicola Stevens.

'Related' internal links:

Bachelor of Science (Osteopathy)

Nurturing future AFL champions

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Reflecting on the classroom

e5108516 — Mon, 24 Oct 2016 01:12:03 +0000

Monday 24 October 2016

Jean Hopman is a PhD student at Victoria University whose research uses narrative inquiry methods to explore classroom dynamics and investigate the impacts of emotional consciousness on teacher agency and wellbeing.

“We hear a lot as teachers that reflection is very important, but in class, when we’ve got our students in front of us, we can’t reflect very easily in that moment …” Hopman explains.

Indeed, working alongside other teachers as a part of her research, Hopman provided them with a forum to reflect on their experiences and actions. This not only generated stories and helpful discussion, the project also resulted in better understanding of the way they work and their pedagogy.

“[It’s about] trying to get to those ‘aha’ moments,” Hopman says.

“The whole purpose of the group is that it’s a safe space to support each other. It’s not about being critical of each other or saying you should have done this, you should have done that, or even saying next time you should do this or that, it’s just about listening to the story…

“Teachers would tell stories about things that had perhaps perplexed them, or they were stuck on, in these sessions, and then through discussing those stories, we then tried to find ways to work together towards uncovering the underlying assumptions that are being made, the key roles in the stories and how they impacted the teacher.”

Finding herself interested in the topic almost seven years ago, Hopman who has worked as a primary and Secondary teacher describes her PHD as “an action research project”, adding that one potential end goal may be to create a professional development model that can facilitate reflexivity.

Regardless of end goals, Hopman says the value of the opportunity to reflect within a supportive environment, has made a difference to the teachers she’s worked with over the month.

“Even if it just results in these particular teachers sharing their story, and being heard … [but] I think there’s the potential to help many teachers…”

“A major part of what we do as teachers is develop positive relationships with our students. And if we don’t have those relationships, everything else we do, is not going to have as much impact.”

Nearing the end of her project, Hopman admits, is slightly daunting.

“I’m going to sit here and say I’m finding it really hard! But it’s a PhD, it’s meant to be hard!

“I always think doing a PhD or doing any thesis or big project it like running a marathon, and at some point, you come to a brick wall, where you feel like, ‘I don’t think I can finish this’ and then all you have to do is put one foot in front of the other and you get to the end.

“You’ve just got to push through.”

Challenges aside, Hopman encourages those who are interested in furthering their education to pursue their academic passions.

“If the interest is there, it’s there for a reason and that it is definitely worth looking into …

“If you’re interested in doing it, there’s a reason why. Follow your passion…”

This story by Elizabeth Beattie originally appeared in the October 2016 edition of Australian Teacher Magazine.

Jean Hopman describes her PhD as "an action research project".

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Victoria University artists talk with Josh Muir

e5108678 — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 02:34:10 +0000

Friday 21 October 2016

Young Indigenous artist Josh Muir came to Victoria University recently to take part in the annual Artists Talk organised by VU librarians Ralph Kiel and Adrian Gallagher.

VU have acquired two pieces printed on metal by the 25 year-old artist called The Oxymoron. They're a bold, vibrant digital print inspired by a projection Josh created, which was projected onto the exterior of the National Gallery of Victoria, as part of last year’s White Night.

A smaller piece named Dispute is one of a series that depicts William Buckley. The convict was transported to Australia in the 1800s, escaped from a settlement in Port Phillip Bay and lived with the Wathaurong people for 32 years.

“Buckley’s story was handed to me by an Historian in Ballarat. Buckley was sort of a middle guy between Indigenous and European people – (the painting) is how we’re sort of in between”, said Josh.

Ralph, who is one of several staff members on an Advisory Committee, said that VU was drawn to the power of Josh’s work and felt strongly that staff and students would find both pieces engaging. “You can have a beautiful piece of art on the wall, but if it’s not striking, people barely notice it.”

In the conversation with MARS Gallery Director Andi Dinan, Josh, A Yorta Yorta/ Gunditjmara man from Ballarat, spoke frankly about his struggle with depression and anxiety and how his art practice remains a positive influence.

“Art has helped me through my anxiety and depression. It’s helped me engage with community and taught me how to express myself”, said Josh.

Currently a student at the Victorian College of the Arts, Josh is looking forward to exploring other mediums, including painting on canvas, sculpture, animation, poetry and music.

Right now, Josh is working a new series based on the last twelve months of his life. “It’s about moving from the country to the city. It’s also about heavy grieving and some sorry business we had at the beginning of the year and how I’ve been able to overcome all of that.”

Oxymoron by Josh Muir (MARS Gallery).

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Footscray Park library

Frances Atkinson

Journalist

Contact faculty, school or department:

Media Unit

0435960793

frances.atkinson@vu.edu.au

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