Pictured above (clockwise from L-R): DECRA recipients Dr Zixin Huang, Dr Daozhi Xu, Dr Emma Burns and Dr Hamid Karimi-Rouzbahani
Five Macquarie University researchers awarded prestigious DECRA Fellowships
Congratulations to Macquarie University researchers, Dr Zixin Huang, Dr Jean-Simon Lemay, Dr Hamid Karimi-Rouzbahani, Dr Emma Burns and Dr Daozhi Xu on being awarded highly competitive DECRA Fellowships from the Australian Research Council with a total award of $2,007,289.
Dr Zixin Huang’s project ‘Quantum-enabled super-resolution imaging’ will aim to design large scale, quantum-enabled imaging systems to boost the resolution of state-of-the-art instruments by three to five orders of magnitude.
Dr Jean-Simon Lemay will investigate ‘New foundations for algebraic geometry’ which aims to use differential categories to create new foundations for algebraic geometry, and to generate new knowledge on the connection between algebraic and differential geometry.
Dr Hamid Karimi-Rouzbahani will research ‘Characterising brain networks of intelligence through information tracking’. The outcomes of this project will be fundamental insights into the mechanisms of human intelligence and new connectivity analysis software that will have wide application in brain research.
Dr Emma Burns will investigate ‘The power of teacher-student relationships to optimise student outcomes’, aiming to determine how teacher-student relationships support adolescents’ motivation, engagement, and achievement in mathematics, science and English.
Dr Daozhi Xu will explore ‘Chinese Australian writing on indigenous country’. This project will produce the first major study of Chinese Australian writing about indigenous people, culture, and country from the 19th century to the present.
Nationally, 200 DECRAs were funded, outcomes can be viewed on RMS.
Competitive Phase-A study in adaptive optics to include Australian Astronomical Optics
Congratulations to Professor Jon Lawrence, Dr Michael Goodwin, Tony Farrell, Helen McGregor, Dr Jessica Zheng, and Lew Waller from Australian Astronomical Optics (AAO-Macquarie), who have finalised an agreement with the US consortium AURA to conduct a competitive Phase A study for an adaptive optics bench for the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii.
The adaptive optics bench is a significant component for the Gemini North Adaptive Optics project that will provide the Gemini North telescope with a state-of-the-art adaptive optics facility enabling the capability to obtain very high resolution near-infrared images over almost the entire sky. This will allow targeting of distant galaxies to study their formation and evolution, back to a time in the early universe when galaxies were first forming. It will also allow astronomers to gain insight into the physics of star formation within the Milky Way galaxy.
The Phase A study will be led by AAO-Macquarie representing the Astralis Instrumentation Consortium with Astralis partner ANU and their investigator Franois Rigaut; as well as international partners the French Aerospace Lab ONERA, Laboratoire d’Astrophysique and the French company ALPAO.
A number of international teams are competing in this 12-month Phase A study. At the conclusion of the study, AURA will select one team for the contract for final design and construction of the facility.
Anniversary and accolades for MindSpot
On 10 October, Macquarie’s pioneering online mental health clinic, MindSpot, celebrated its 10th anniversary. Two days later, Executive Director Professor Nick Titov was presented with an Exceptional Contribution Award at The MHS Mental Health Service Awards of Australia and New Zealand.
The MindSpot team celebrated with stakeholders and supporters at a virtual event hosted by Deputy Vice Chancellor (Medicine and Health) Professor Patrick McNeil.
Professor Titov received the award in recognition of his ongoing contribution to mental health research and treatment.
This latest honour comes on the heels of a Training Excellence Award for MindSpot Academy at the 2022 Australian Business Awards. The academy was launched in 2020 and is the only program in the world to offer a specialised digital mental health clinical training pathway for mental health professionals.
Formed in 2012, MindSpot is not-for-profit service that has built a reputation as a world leader in the online mental health space, and has provided free assistance to more than 200,000 Australians experiencing stress, anxiety, depression, OCD, PTSD, chronic pain and substance abuse.
As well as providing online and telephone treatment, MindSpot has a range of resources available on its website, including the recently launched The Big Five, which provides advice on the keys to maintaining good mental health.
Telstra Digital Health Award for Johanna Westbrook
Professor Johanna Westbrook, Director of the Centre for Health Systems and Safety Research at the Australian Institute of Health Innovation, has been named as one of the 2022 Telstra Brilliant Women in Digital Health and Aged Care. Johanna is known for her research on the effectiveness and safety of clinical IT systems in hospitals and in aged care. She has recently built on her groundbreaking work on the effects of electronic medical management systems (eMM) in adult hospitals with the completion of the largest and most comprehensive study of eMM in paediatric hospitals.
Responsible Gardening program named finalist in 2022 New South Wales Sustainability Awards
Congratulations to the Gardening Responsibly Team, including Distinguished Professor Michelle Leishman from the School of Natural Sciences, for being recognised as Finalists in the 2022 NSW Sustainability Awards, in the NSW Small and Medium Enterprise Transformation Award category. Distinguished Professor Leishman is the program’s Expert Advisor and led the development of the plant risk assessment tool that underpins the program.
The collaborative initiative takes a groundbreaking approach to finding and promoting plants with a low risk of becoming invasive weeds, allowing industry to add-value to current sales and demonstrate their strong commitment to sustainability and the protection of the environment.
Winners of the NSW Sustainability Awards will be announced on 25 October at the Gala Awards night.
Best Article Award for Centre for Emotional Health researcher
Dr Natasha Magson from the Centre for Emotional Health has been awarded the Emerging Scholar Best Article Award for 2022 from the Journal of Youth and Adolescence for her paper, Risk and Protective Factors for Prospective Changes in Adolescent Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The paper was mentioned in Time Magazine and has already been cited more than 630 times since it was published last year.
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