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.

University of Queensland PhD candidate Rhys Pirie is the first Australian to win Young Innovator of the Year at the world’s premier conference for research and innovation, Falling Walls Berlin.

The chemical engineering researcher won the international competition with his presentation about a process that could turn waste glass into every day products ranging from fertilisers to toothpaste.

Mr Pirie’s winning pitch explained how his work used broken glass destined for landfill to create sodium silicate.

“We estimate the process is more than 50 per cent cheaper than conventional ways of producing silicate,” Mr Pirie said.

“It requires less energy, raw materials and capital, and that’s before you consider the reduced social and economic costs compared to landfilling material.”

The process, developed with Professor Damien Batstone from UQ’s Advanced Water Management Centre, can be used to make thousands of products, from concrete sealers to detergents.

“The transition towards circular economies is a movement which is gaining momentum and something I’ve always been interested in,” Mr Pirie said.

“My PhD has highlighted how we need to make use of both the raw materials in ‘waste’ streams and the energy embodied in them during manufacture.”

UQ Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Peter Høj attended the event in Berlin, which also featured Microba, a UQ startup selling the most advanced DNA sequencing of the micro-organisms in a person’s intestinal tract available in Australian.

“It was a privilege to see a UQ PhD scholar succeed in a field of 100 top young researchers from more than 60 countries,” Professor Høj said.

“As one of Australia’s leading research and teaching institutions, and a university ranked among the world’s top 50, UQ recognises that knowledge itself won’t suffice in an increasingly interconnected world.

“Instead it will be the application of knowledge – and the skills that support it – that equip graduates and researchers to chart their own path, and to drive innovation across diverse industries and sectors.”

The Falling Walls Conference is a global gathering of innovators and scientists, brought together to share their breakthroughs and plans to impact science and society.

The conference is held annually on the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, with 2019 marking 30 years since the wall fell.

Mr Pirie was selected to present in Berlin by the Australian Academy of Science after impressing judges at the Falling Walls Lab Australia event in Canberra in September.

He received support from Trade and Investment Queensland and UQ Global Engagement and Entrepreneurship to attend.

Media: Genevieve Worrell, g.worrell@uq.edu.au, 0408 432 213.

The University of Queensland was awarded three Australian Research Council (ARC) Centres of Excellence and three ARC Australian Laureate Fellowships in this round – with UQ securing the largest share of funding in the competitive grants.

This represents $310 million in competitive funding across the life of both schemes — recognising and reflecting the outstanding quality of our 2000-strong interdisciplinary research community.

UQ Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Peter Høj AC said he was thrilled the University had secured three Centres of Excellence in this round, enabling UQ academics to undertake research in areas of national significance.

“This is a tremendous outcome for the University which will see in excess of $300 million of funding into UQ-led research,” Professor Peter Høj said.

“With three of the nine highly sought-after ARC Centres of Excellence awarded to UQ, we have now secured more centres than any other university – not only in this round but since the scheme’s inception in 2003 – which exemplifies UQ’s leadership in innovation and transformational research over the past 15 years.”

Three University of Queensland researchers have also been awarded Australian Research Council (ARC) Australian Laureate Fellowships – with UQ securing the largest share of funding in the competitive grants.

Professor Debra Bernhardt, Professor Sara Dolnicar and Professor Lianzhou Wang have attracted more than $9.8 million in funding over the next five years for their research.

Australian Research Council Australian Laureate Fellows (from left) Professor Debra Bernhardt, Professor Sara Dolnicar and Professor Lianzhou Wang.

Professor Peter Høj congratulated each new fellow on their achievement.

“The ARC Australian Laureate Fellowships are fiercely competitive and awarded to Australia’s best and brightest researchers,” Professor Peter Høj said.

“Each of our Laureate Fellows are highly regarded academics in their respective fields, and securing five years of funding means they can continue their innovative research that could have not only national but also global impact.”

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