Life moves fast for UQ graduate Dr Luke Bennett – but that’s bound to happen when your world revolves around Formula 1 racing. Contact caught up with Bennett on his pit stop back in Australia to discuss his transition from flying doctor to sports performance specialist. Read more…

Medical student Sherice Ansell is following in her father’s footsteps, as she prepares to graduate as a doctor from The University of Queensland.

Ms Ansell’s father is a Ngangkari in Alice Springs, a traditional Aboriginal healer, as well as an Aboriginal health worker.

She said he encouraged her to take the less traditional path.

“He knew in order to make changes for our people that you had to have a western education,” Ms Ansell said.

“I was an Aboriginal health worker working with medical staff, but it’s the doctor that makes the changes.

“You listen to whatever they say, and for a lot of Aboriginal patients that isn’t necessarily the best thing because those decisions are coming from a place outside.

“My father told me if you do medicine, you will be in a better position to talk for your people.”

Ms Ansell was the first of her family to study at university, but said it wasn’t an easy transition.

“I didn’t know what university was when I went through high school.

“It wasn’t until I was rubbing shoulders with nurses and doctors as an Aboriginal health worker that I thought, I could do that.”

She said she was grateful for the support of UQ’s ATSIS unit throughout her studies, as she found it difficult at first to live in a big city.

“The first two years were probably the most difficult because I moved away from home,” she said.

“I was at the ATSIS unit almost every day and the support was just awesome and made so much of a difference.”

While studying at UQ, Ms Ansell participated in the PNG Health Project, a charity set up by fellow student and friend, Eve Golma.

“It was just the best experience and I saw so many similarities between Indigenous culture and PNG culture.”

She wants eventually to return home to practice but for the time being, is staying put.

“I was attracted to the Rural Generalist program, which is Queensland-based and makes you a Rural Generalist with an advanced skill in some other area.

“For now, I’ve decided to go to Ipswich because it’s a small hospital, and I just didn’t feel like it was the right time to come home just yet.

“My goal is to come back to Alice Springs or work outside Alice Springs.”

And she’s thrilled to be an inspiration for the Indigenous children she comes into contact with.

“You don’t believe that you can become something if you don’t see it,” she said.

“So I think the more Aboriginal doctors we get out there and our families see, the more they know that they can do it too.”

Media: UQ communication, communications@uq.edu.au, +61 7 3365 3439.

After six years as Vice-Chancellor of Curtin University, Professor Deborah Terry, will return to The University of Queensland as Vice-Chancellor and President, commencing on 1 August 2020.

UQ Chancellor Mr Peter Varghese said Senate’s decision to appoint Professor Terry was unanimous.

Much of the criteria for choosing UQ’s new Vice-Chancellor was informed by consultation with staff, students, alumni and partners earlier this year.

“Like many industries, the university sector is going through significant change, combined with much economic and political uncertainty.

“Our staff, students and researchers are looking for global opportunities to collaborate and partner,” said Mr Varghese.

“Professor Terry’s deep knowledge of the sector, her focus on people and culture and her track record in building partnerships, with government and enterprise at home and abroad, are the skills needed to build on the great achievements of Professor Peter Høj.”

Professor Terry started her career at UQ in the School of Psychology in 1990, and when she left more than two decades later, was Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor.

Professor Terry said she was “honoured and delighted to have been appointed as UQ’s next Vice-Chancellor, and looks forward to building on Professor Høj’s significant legacy in order to lead UQ through its next phase of development and impact.”

During Professor Terry’s time at Curtin, the university’s global reputation and rankings have significantly improved.

Mr Varghese added, “Curtin is now widely considered to be one of Australia’s rapidly rising universities and is ranked number one for graduate employment in Western Australia.

“Under Professor Terry’s leadership, the university continues to grow in scale and reach regionally and globally.

“It has opened a new medical school, a law centre and commenced work on a new innovation precinct,” he said.

Professor Peter Høj has generously agreed to stay on as Vice-Chancellor and President until Professor Terry joins UQ in August next year.

“Closer to the time we will have an opportunity to acknowledge Professor Høj’s outstanding leadership and achievements during his time at UQ,” said Mr Varghese.

Media: UQ Communications, communications@uq.edu.au, +61 7 3365 1120.

As thousands of wildfires and deforestation escalate in the Amazon rainforest, a team of international scientists has called for governments to enact six key goals to protect the vital wilderness.

The team, including a group of University of Queensland researchers, discussed the signing of the Leticia Pact in September, where seven South American governments managing the Amazon made joint statements toward better protecting the Amazon.

UQ’s Associate Professor Salit Kark, the paper’s senior author, said cross-boundary collaboration was key for protecting the Amazon.

“The Leticia Pact recently signed by most Amazon countries, including Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Suriname represents a potential crucial step toward more effectively and collaboratively tackling the many environmental challenges facing the Amazon, but more is needed,” Dr Kark said.

“To go beyond simple declarations of intent, the Leticia Pact urgently requires binding targets, resources, and measurable well-defined actions and milestones.

“The Amazon holds over half of Earth’s rainforests and a quarter of the planet’s terrestrial biodiversity.

“And Amazon deforestation and related fires have wide-ranging negative impacts that cross political boundaries.”

Dr Paula Prist from the University of Sao Paulo, who co-led the paper, said losing the Amazon would have an impact on many fronts.

“It would mean a loss of biodiversity and ecosystem functions, the spread of disease, the loss of sustainable agribusiness and tourism opportunities, threats to water security and a suspension of climate regulation,” she said.

Ecologists and conservation scientists specialising in Amazon forest and in cross-boundary collaboration are pushing for Amazon nations to commit to six binding science-based goals.

“To start, these nations must set joint targets for reducing deforestation and maintaining forest cover over 80 per cent in all Amazon countries, to avoid reaching an ecological tipping point,” Dr Prist said.

“Environmentally sustainable markets must be promoted — for example, providing payments for essential ecosystem services and cross-boundary initiatives that both benefit local people and retain native forests.

“They also need to build joint management plans for coordinated surveillance, restoration, and transboundary protected areas.

“Signatories must enhance rapid response programs and free movement of environmental, health, and education organisations across borders.

“It is key to foster cross-boundary collaborative research and finally, promote actions for guaranteeing Indigenous people’s land rights across the Amazon.”

Professor Kark said she hoped the Pact’s signatories and other South American nations would heed the call to do more to save the Amazon.

“These goals are a crucial step toward addressing the escalating environmental crisis and its global impacts,” she said.

The researchers’ letter has been published in Science (DOI: 10.1126/science.aaz7489).

Media: Associate Professor Salit Kark, s.kark@uq.edu.au; Dominic Jarvis, dominic.jarvis@uq.edu.au, +61 413 334 924.

The University of Queensland has reaffirmed its position as a leading research institution for science and social sciences, with 28 UQ researchers identified as among the world’s most influential scientific minds.

They have been named in the prestigious Highly Cited Researchers 2019 list from the Web of Science Group, which recognises scientists who have published a high number of papers that rank in the top 1% most-cited in their respective fields.

UQ Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Peter Høj AC said the result reflected the calibre and impact of the University’s research talent.

“This list is peer-rated, so our UQ scientists have been identified within their own global research community as influential knowledge leaders,” Professor Høj said.

“This list positions UQ as a prominent research facility in the world – placing well inside the top 50 ahead of many world famous institutions.

“I want to congratulate all our highly cited researchers, including 12 new UQ entrants, who are making their mark among the world’s best.”

Of the 28 UQ researchers listed, Professor Philip Hugenholtz achieved highly-cited status in two separate subject areas, increasing UQ’s overall number of highly-cited researchers in the 2019 list to 29.

Those making the list cover fields as diverse as agricultural, plant and animal sciences, medicine, chemistry, environment and ecology, social sciences, biology, and psychology.

Web of Science Group, a Clarivate Analytics company, organises the world’s research information to enable academia, corporations, publishers and governments to accelerate the pace of research.

The full Highly Cited Researchers 2019 list can be found online here.

MEDIA: UQ Communications, communications@uq.edu.au, 07 3365 1120.