No Images? Click here Hi there, Wow! It’s the half-way point of Semester 1 already! That probably makes it a good time to reflect on your semester so far and ensure you are giving yourself the best chance of keeping up with your work. Check out the 'Key Services' section below for information about workshops and sessions which can help you. There are some great opportunities and events in this issue to help you to get more involved on campus and to help you start thinking about the next step for you – whether it might be publishing research, looking for employment or applying for a grant. Hot tip – if you add us (science-news@unimelb.edu.au) to your email contacts, you can make sure these important updates stay out of your junk mail folder and you don’t miss out on interesting upcoming events and helpful information. Finally, for an end-of-week giggle, check out the high-tech Faculty of Science logo from 1992! Happy reading! IN THIS ISSUE
EventsGSA Garden PartyCome along to this free barbecue for some fun with the Grad Student Community. There’ll be tables and chairs on the front lawn of the 1888 building, as well as music and entertainment. More information and registrations here. Thu 13 April, 1:00 – 4:00pm, Outside 1888 Building, Parkville. Melbourne Knowledge WeekA week long festival that melds art, technology, business and science to explore and co-create Melbourne’s future city. Hear from industry leaders, test cutting-edge technology, taste future food and help to solve Melbourne’s future challenges. Included in the program is a Workshop presented by Dr Claire Farrell and John Rayner from the School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, where you can learn to create your own
Forever Garden. Mon 1 – Sun 7 May. University of Melbourne Farmers MarketJoin the local food movement and support Victorian farmers every Wednesday of Semester 10.30am –2.30pm Union Lawn. ANZAC Day Dawn ServiceThe Melbourne University Regiment will continue a longstanding tradition by conducting the ANZAC Day Dawn Service at the Cenotaph (located between South Lawn & Wilson Hall, Parkville Campus). ANZAC Day recognizes the service and sacrifice of all Australians who have served in war. Tue 25 April 5.45am – 6.45am. Top JobsD. E. Shaw Research
Jane Street
The Burnet Institute
Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute (AMSI)
Extend method of synthesising social services payments data to business and other collections Methodological feasibility of Bayesian approaches to entity resolution and de-duplication
See Careers Online for these jobs and many others! Land your Career - Job Explorer ToolDeveloped in collaboration with CeRDI, NRM jobs and AIATSIS, the Land Your Career Job Explorer Tool can help you find out more about real jobs in land management to help you plan your career or next steps. Explore past job descriptions, find out where these jobs were located and learn about how much these jobs paid in an interactive map format. Refine your search by career area, location, qualifications needed, experience requirements, time fraction, and salary range. Graphical data can also be found in the charts tab to view the job trends. OpportunitiesGSA Sustainability PrizeThe GSA Sustainability Prize is a new annual competition and exhibition for graduate students. This year, it’s all about biodiversity. To enter, just snap a smartphone photo that captures native Australian flora and/or fauna on any University of Melbourne campus. Raise awareness about biodiversity and you can win massive cash prizes! First prize: $1,000 cash + a free pass to the Ecocity World Summit. Entries open 7 April until Friday 5 May. To find out more, click here. Mentoring @ MelbourneIt can be daunting to think past your final year of study and what you might be doing next. What does a career in a particular field actually looks like? Having a mentor can help. Being mentored provides you with insights into the professional world and helps you to expand your knowledge of career options and plan for life after study. More information on the website. Express your interest for being matched with a mentor for Semester 2, 2017 here. Student Engagement GrantsStudents can apply for up to $5,000 in funding to support activities that are student led, facilitate collaboration and change in the local, national or international community and address an important social, economic, environmental or cultural cause. Click here for further information including selection criteria and how to apply. Shut Up and WritePut aside procrastination and isolation as you and a bunch of others get your writing done. A weekly social writing group concept that’s gone global. Join the GSA version every Monday and Wednesday, 9:15am @ Tsubu Bar, 1888 Building. Details here. Are you a student with disability looking for a chance to develop your career skills?The Australian Network on Disability (AND) is looking for motivated Engineering, IT and Finance students to be mentored by some of Australia’s best and brightest professionals from a range of industries through our PACE Mentoring program. Applicants are matched with mentors who can offer assistance in career planning, as well as personal and professional development. The pair meet a minimum of 6 occasions over the 12 week program. Apply with this online application form no later than Fri 14 April. For further information, email applications@and.org.au or call 03 9621 2276 to speak to a member of the PACE team. Sci-Comm 101Each newsletter we feature tips from our very own science communication extraordinaire in the School of BioSciences, Dr Jen Martin. Follow Jen on Twitter @scidocmartin or check out her blog, Espresso Science. SCiComm Tip #2 Watch your wordsOnce you’ve worked out who you are talking to (tip #1), you need to think carefully about the language you use when talking with that audience. Whether you are talking to primary school students or other scientists, you can share your science in language they can understand. As Einstein said: “Most of the fundamental ideas of science are essentially simple, and may, as a rule, be expressed in a language comprehensible to everyone.” Watch a neuroscientist explain the connectome to five different people – from a 5-year old to a neuroscience colleague. ServicesAcademic Skills ResourcesAcademic Skills Hub The Academic Skills Hub is a community on the LMS where students have access to specifically designed resources and individual tutorials to develop your academic skills. These modules are self-directed study resources that contain activities and quizzes to test your understanding. You can self-enrol in the community: Log into the LMS, then head to the Academic Skills Hub to self-enrol. Academic Skills Workshops for Science StudentsHow to Write your first Literature Review Not sure what is expected in a literature review? This workshop identifies the structure and purpose of the literature review and looks at features of excellent lit reviews. It explores techniques to manage your sources and also identifies ways of linking them to your own critical thinking and writing voice. Tue 11 April, 12:00pm - 1:00pm. Click here for more details. Counselling and Psychological Services WorkshopsDeveloping Roots as an International Student. This 3 hour seminar aims at finding strategies to overcome common challenges that international students face when they want to connect socially in their new environment. Tue 11 April, 1.30pm - 4.30pm. Click here to register. Library opening hours over Easter and Anzac DayAll libraries are closed on Good Friday (14 April), and Anzac Day (25 April) but the after hours study zones will be available. Most libraries are open over the remainder of the Easter break so please check the Library opening hours webpage for up-to-date details on opening hours. ScholarshipsACEN Scholarships – Opening Call!Applications are now open for scholarships to provide financial support for students undertaking a work integrated learning (WIL) placement in a regional or remote area of Australia as part of their 2017/2018 university studies. Eight scholarships to the value of $1,500 each are being offered to eligible university students who may experience financial disadvantage from having to complete a WIL placement. Applications close Fri 21 April. Click here for more info. CongratulationsThe following students submitted their PhD theses in March. Congratulations on the culmination of your hard work!Michael Payne Rahul Rane Joanne Suk Chun Chew Joan Narciso Rebecca Leane Shane Denecke Evgeniy Panchenko Science in the MediaManaging bushfires for safety and biodiversityThere is a balancing act between using deliberate burning to minimise the severity of bush fires for safety reasons, and allowing fires to encourage biodiversity. Known as 'pyrodiversity' these activities will become increasingly complicated by climate change. Read more about it in this article, featuring Luke Kelly from the School of BioSciences. Alien life as we know itIn this article, Jacinta Den Besten from the School of Physics reviews the new sci-fi horror film 'Life', which depicts the horrifying development of a martian organism on the International Space Station. She reflects on how the increasing likelihood of finding life in outer space is shifting the back-story of such films out of the fiction genre. How staying close to mum pays off for kangaroosA behavioural study conducted by Dr Wendy J King, a visiting scholar in the School of BioSciences, has shown that kangaroo offspring are much better off staying with their mothers long after being weaned and independent. Why? Find out in this article. To stay up to date between editions please like our Science at Melbourne and the Science Student News pages on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter. Until next time we are truly yours, Science News |