November Edition 2010
News on Campus @ Bond University
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NEW HEAD OF SOHEIL ABEDIAN SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE ANNOUNCED
Bond University has appointed Queensland Government Architect Professor Philip Follent as the Founding Head of its new Soheil Abedian School of Architecture. Professor Follent commenced his appointment on August 30, with the new school set to open to students from January 2011.
He said the opportunity to shape a refreshing architectural course for students who might one day exert a significant, positive influence over the world’s built environment attracted him to Bond. “The Gold Coast has been my home for 30 years and I have watched Bond University grow to a point of maturity that sees it now ready for a School of Architecture and it is a great event to participate in the shaping of the new course,” said Professor Follent.
“I was also attracted by the opportunity to be a part of Bond’s quest to build a fine piece of architecture to house the new course and the new purpose-built environment for studio-based teaching will be a wonderful asset to our students and also the University community as a whole.” Professor Follent said his vision for the School is to produce architectural graduates who are highly regarded by the profession for their strong theoretical understanding, their design skills and leadership capacities. “Architecture, as an art, is often received with indifference by the wider community yet architectural thinking is needed more than ever to tackle the challenges of urbanisation and sustainability.
“Bond’s architecture graduates will leave the University well equipped to develop as responsible and ethical citizens each capable of determining where their architectural expertise can be further advanced and effectively utilised,” he said. The new Bachelor of Architectural Studies will commence in the 2011 January semester with a high number of school-leaver applications already received by Bond University
“The small cohort size will enable much more one-on-one tuition from not only University staff, but also inspirational practitioners in the fields of architecture, fine arts, music, social psychology, philosophy, engineering and building. “It will train students to think…to challenge the status quo and to enjoy their studies,” Professor Follent said..
Professor Follent was appointed (and remains) the Queensland Government Architect on September 1, 2008, is the Chair of the Board for Urban Places, and also holds a position on the Queensland Design Council. One of the youngest architects to have been elevated to Fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects, Prof Follent was awarded Life Fellowship in 2007 for exceptional contribution to architecture.
MOBILE LEARNING TECHNOLOGY ARRIVES ON CAMPUS
Bond University has become the first university in Australia to introduce the Blackboard Mobile Learn application to students, following in the footsteps of Stanford and Duke Universities in the United States.
The application allows students to access and contribute to information regarding their course online through their mobile device – from checking recent administrative announcements, to reading lecture notes while on the move or participating in online discussions with their peers.
Associate Professor of Communication and Media at Bond University, Jeffrey Brand said the application is an important and timely implementation for Bond. “We have settled on evolving a blended learning environment that leverages the amenity of our on-campus delivery with the utility of mobile access,” said Professor Brand.
“The Blackboard Mobile Learn application provides us with a chance to engage students in new ways and encourages them to frequent Blackboard – our learning management system – more often and more completely,” he said.
Professor Brand is currently preparing a study with colleague Dr Shelley Kinash to commence in January 2011 to establish whether mobile learning in fact improves learning opportunities and outcomes, or whether it just moves the way content is delivered. The study will be partly funded by Bond University’s Office of Quality, Teaching and Learning.
BOND MEDIATION EXPERTS WIN INTERNATIONAL AWARD
At a prestigious Mediation Dinner and International Awards Ceremony on 17 November at the Waldorf Hilton Hotel in London, Laurence Boulle and Miryana Nesic won the award for international Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) publications with their book, Mediator Skills and Techniques: Triangle of Influence (London: Bloomsbury Professional Books, 2010).
The black tie event was hosted by the London-based Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) and recognised the top international achievers in ADR and celebrated achievements from the last two decades. The event was attended by over 200 dignitaries from across the globe.
The judges for this year’s awards were Lord Woolf of Barnes, Sir Alex Jarett (CEDR Life President), Deborah Prince of Which, Noel Campbell of Holman Fenwick Willan, Patrick Deane of Nestle SA and Martin Josephs of COLT Group plc.
The other prize winners were Tokiso from Johannesburg which was awarded the international prize for initiatives in conflict management, the Scottish Mediation Network in Edinburgh, The Lagos Multi-Door Courthouse in Nigeria and Herbert Smith LLP, London, for their significant achievements in dispute resolution.
Laurence Boulle is Professor of Law at Bond and Director of the Mandela Institute in the School of Law, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and Miryana Nesic is a practising mediator based in London UK, an Adjunct Associate Professor, at Bond University and Visiting Professor of ADR at NLS in the UK.
BOND'S ANTI-BULLYING PROGRAM GOES GLOBAL
Bond University’s anti-bullying program has gone global, with Bentley University in the United States adopting its “One Goal, One Community” initiative.
The initiative aims to encourage community members to sign a pledge to commit to behaviours that will better society and put an end to bullying. Associate Professor of Management and Director of the Bond University LEAP Research Centre, Dr Amy Kenworthy, together with her former Service Learning student Sarah Benson – who has just returned to Bentley University after studying a semester abroad at Bond – led the charge to replicate the program internationally.
They officially launched the program for Bentley’s Service Learning Centre, presenting their anti-bullying presentation to the local Massachusetts communities of Waltham and Milton. The Centre will now continue to roll out the program to local schools in the area, with the aim of encouraging at least 10,000 community members to sign an anti-bullying pledge this semester.
The “One Goal, One Community” initiative has already achieved great success in Australia, with over 10,000 people having signed an anti-bullying pledge in April of this year when the program was run with Varsity College in Varsity Lakes. Dr Kenworthy said her students are now working with another ten schools in Gold Coast region with the goal of securing an additional 20,000 signatures in those communities through face-to-face conversations by the end of the year.
The Centre was set up to conduct socio-legal research in public and applied legal studies, and to provide consulting services to government and non-government organisations. It has 21 academic members with wide-ranging expertise.
Set up to capitalise on cross-Faculty multidisciplinary research opportunities, the Centre is presently coordinating six research projects involving 17 academics across all of Bond University’s Faculties.
Two major symposia are scheduled to take place in early 2011: The Courts and the Media in the Digital Era and Australasian Solicitors-General Conference: History, Contemporary Practice and Impact. 12 November 2010
Graduating from Bond University in 2007 with a Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours) / International Relations as Valedictorian and Law and Humanities Medallist, Ms Mansted has spent the last three years working as a solicitor at top-tier Sydney law firm Mallesons Stephen Jaques and as an Associate to Justice Crennan in the High Court of Australia.
Soon after graduating from Bond, she set her heart on further study at Oxford University. “It has everything,” Ms Mansted said; “An international reputation, a sense of history, sought-after academic staff and the unique Oxford tutorial system.”“The admission process is very competitive, and I was delighted when I was accepted earlier this year by the Law Faculty and also by Christ Church, one of Oxford’s largest constituent colleges that was founded by King Henry VIII.
“I will be studying for the BCL (Bachelor of Civil Law), known as one of the most rigorous, challenging and, for that reason, prestigious law degrees in the world. “I am incredibly excited, and I know that Bond law has prepared me well to deal with new challenges in the academic world,” she said. 15 November 2010
Elizabeth Scott candidature presentation on "Understanding Working Memory Biases for Negative Information in Anxiety"
Attentional control theory (Eysenck, Derakshan, Santos, & Calvo, 2007) predicts that elevated state anxiety contributes to deficits in working memory performance. The aim of the proposed research is to identify, describe and produce an analysis of the interacting anxiety-related factors which influence performance on working memory tasks. The series of studies intends to determine the nature, extent and effect of state and trait anxiety on performance of working memory tasks, the nature, extent and presence of any preferential biases for negative information in working memory tasks, the role and possible significance of memory tasks for use as diagnostic tools for anxiety, and address implications for attentional control theory (Eysenck et al.). The proposed thesis will investigate cognitive biases in anxiety and seek to provide a useful framework of interest to both theorists and clinicians.
Julien du Vergier - Bond Alumnus - Awarded a full scholarship to Cambridge University
Bond Alumnus Julien du Vergier is living his long-held dream of pursing further studies at one of the world’s great universities after being awarded a scholarship to study a Master of Law at Cambridge University.
Mr du Vergier’s opportunity to study at the prestigious English university came in June this year when he was awarded the full academic Patrick Moore Scholarship by the Cambridge Australia Trust. He has recently arrived in Cambridge to commence his 12-month Master of Law (LLM) postgraduate studies and says he is looking forward to learning from some of the world’s greatest minds. “I’ve no doubt this opportunity will be not only professionally beneficial, but extremely personally satisfying as well,” said Mr du Vergier.
“I am looking forward to being a part of a very exciting, unique and dynamic student environment,” he said. As a member of Cambridge’s St Edmund’s College, founded in 1896, Mr du Vergier will be living in residence and is anticipating a lifestyle steeped in the traditions of an old medieval university, which celebrated its 800th anniversary last year. “Generally speaking, I would like to be active in my College community, contribute to the development of ideas in the Law School and be involved in some of the wider, socially conscious societies of the University,” he said.
Graduating from Bond University in 2009 with a Bachelor of Biomedical Science/ Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours), Mr du Vergier has spent the last year completing his practical legal training with top-tier law firm Mallesons Stephen Jaques and was admitted to practice in September. He believes his time at Bond University has prepared him well for the challenges that lie ahead. “The Faculty of Law’s mooting program has had a particularly significant contribution to my successful placement and my ability to make the most of the opportunities that will come my way at Cambridge,” he said.
VISITORS TO CAMPUS
Marie Isabelle Pellan - Counsellor, Trade and Environment Division, WTO Secretariat, Visiting WTO Fellow, Institute for International Trade, University of Adelaide presented at The Tim Fischer Centre for Global Trade and Finance “The Interface between the Trade and Climate Change Regimes: Avoiding Conflict and Fostering Mutually Supportive Outcomes”
Bruce Johnston - whilst visiting the Gold Coast last week as part of the V8 Supercars Armor All Gold Coast 600, The Beach Boys’ singing sensation and Bond parent, Bruce enjoyed a game of volleyball at Bond University with son Max, who is currently studying a Bachelor of Computer Games.