Cheered on by the Prime Minister The Hon Malcolm Turnbull and Vice-Chancellor Professor S Bruce Dowton, more than 1000 students from around the Asia Pacific recently put their skills to the test at Australia’s largest student robotics competition.

Supported by industry leaders, educators, families and fans, and united by a mutual love of science, technology, and engineering, nearly 50 high school student teams from the United States, Singapore, Taiwan, China, India, and Australia converged at the Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre on 17-19 March to launch robots they’d designed, built and programmed themselves over a six week period.

The 2016 ‘Stronghold’ challenge had a medieval theme that required the robots to overcome obstacles and weaken their opponents’ defences by catapulting ‘boulders’  to conquer their castle tower.

Much more than just a game for robots, the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC), is part of a much larger FIRST^® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) program aimed at inspiring and educating students in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths), and encouraging them to consider further study or career options in these fields.

Joined on the sidelines by Foreign Minister The Hon Julie Bishop, and the Member for Reid The Hon Craig Laundy MP, Prime Minister Turnbull said they were excited to visit the event and to be so inspired by such brilliant young minds.

“They’re right here at the cutting edge of technology; the technology that delivers jobs, the opportunities of the 21^st century for our children and our grandchildren.”

The winning team alliance will compete at the world championships in St Louis in April; an honour which was collaboratively achieved by Team 3132 Macquarie University, Team 4613 Barker College and Team 6035 Ulladulla.

Team 6035 was supported by Robots in the Outback – a program which Macquarie University proudly partners in. Volunteer mentors drove donated cars to 12 high schools in rural and regional New South Wales to support teams with expertise and guidance in order to help them compete.

Take a look at some of the social media highlights from the event below.

As the next step, a team drawn from Governance Services, Human Resources and Student Advocacy and Support has been working on a series of resources, so staff managing complaints have the right sort of training and support to navigate their way through the sometimes complex field of complaint management.

The resources include a short online training video, which features an introduction by the Vice-Chancellor developed in conjunction with Nina Harding. Nina is a professional mediator, facilitator and law lecturer at several universities. Using practical examples, the video demonstrates key steps for responding to complaints. Accompanying the video is a discussion guide for teams to use, and a checklist to remind staff of the steps to consider when dealing with a complaint.

“Effectively managing complaints from our students and community is critical to Macquarie achieving its purpose of being a University of service and engagement,” said Deidre. “These training resources will provide teams and individuals who deal in front line management with the skills to respond to complaints in a timely and professional manner.”

Staff are encouraged to watch the video and use the resources, to learn about how to manage complaints, or to brush up on their existing skills.

Watch the video now.

On the 3 March, Macquarie Abroad hosted a welcome back function for students who have recently returned from their exchange programs.

The night began with ice-breaker bingo, followed by speed friendship facilitated by the MacAbroad team. The vibe was electric and they took to it like ducks to water, showing off the skills and confidence gained while studying abroad. Surrounded by people they didn’t know, they clearly felt comfortable speaking to people they just met (fortunately, they did have a lot of exchange stories to talk about!)

MacAbroad presented on a range of topics including the effects of reverse culture shock – the natural feelings of boredom, restlessness, alienation, and the inability to apply new knowledge and skills. We discussed how to combat these feelings through sharing experiences with others, maintaining a lifestyle and staying ‘international’, with their fingers on the pulse and staying connected with their newly established networks. Many returned students had already signed up for the Buddies program and the MACex student group, which is a great way for them to stay engaged back on campus.

In our ‘Experience + Reflection = Learning’ session, we encouraged our returnees to reflect on their experiences, and in a segment on professional development we trained them in turning travel stories into career stories. The students were also encouraged to attend the upcoming ‘Leveraging your travel experience’ workshop we have created in conjunction with the Career and Employment Service.

Applied finance and economics student Patrick Gonzales, who spent a New Colombo Plan semester at Hong Kong University, and completed an NAB internship in Hong Kong had this to say about his exchange experience:

“The internship was a great opportunity to learn practical skills that aren’t taught in the classroom. It was my first role in an office and I gained valuable office experience. NAB also advised me to think of ‘what’s next’ in a career sense, which I hadn’t thought too much about before.”

Our awe-inspiring photo competition was a highlight of the evening, with prizes for categories including landscape/landmarks, campus pride, food glorious food and new experiences.

We wrapped the evening up with networking and pizza, before students were greeted by current inbound exchange students, to discuss studying overseas and provide advice to the ‘inbounders’ about life at Macquarie.

A HUGE thanks to the Macquarie Abroad team: Simon Tran, Sarah O’Reilly, Charlotte Cox, Stephanie Hickman, Eunice Fung, and Vince Bruin (Department of International Studies advisor), who helped make the event so successful.

Contribute your story  and help celebrate the diversity, passion and collaborative spirit of Macquarie staff.

Anh Nguyen is on his way to being a human movement specialist – in more ways than one.

The Vietnamese figure skating champion is one of 56 students who commenced bachelor degree study this session after successful completion of foundation programs at the Macquarie University International College.

As well as completing the Intensive Foundation Program, Anh somehow also found time to maintain a demanding training program that sees him skating  up to 24 hours per week.

With his eye firmly on admission to the Bachelor of Medical Sciences – and ultimately a career as a physiotherapist – Anh says the stress of balancing training and study was certainly worth it, and was eased by the support he found at the College.

“I would rather spend two months studying extra hard than not feeling fully prepared for university study. Macquarie University International College has definitely helped me to perform my best in both my academic and athletic life.”

College Director Jake Garman says that after all the work that has gone into establishing the College, it’s immensely satisfying to see students like Anh graduating and going on to achieve their goal of university admission.

“We’ve been greatly pleased with the successful launch of the College and the number and quality of students in this initial cohort. In particular, they have responded well to the intensive nature of the teaching terms, with our teachers commenting on how focused and motivated they’ve been.”

“Having worked so closely with academic and professional teams across the University to make their transition to degree study as smooth as possible, we’re confident these graduates will thrive.”

The College is now teaching its foundation and diploma programs out of its own space in E3A and E3B. Diploma students are scheduled to begin entering the second year of a range of undergraduate degrees from Session 2 this year.

Brian will examine mechanisms of choice and decision in the honeybee brain to enable the computer modelling of the insect brain.

“Being awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to Macquarie is a unique opportunity to establish strong international collaborations while achieving great advances in our understanding of the insect brain,” said Brian.

“Understanding how the brain works, processes thought, and how both thought and decisions emerge from brain circuitry are the last grand challenges of modern neuroscience. Working with Dr Barron, I am examining mechanisms of choice and decision in the honeybee brain to enable computer modelling of insect brain function.”

The Scholarships are awarded by the Australian-American Fulbright Commission, which promotes education and cultural exchange between Australia and the United States in order to enhance mutual understanding and strengthen relations between the two countries.

The event will see 35 student teams unleash their robots (which they’ve designed, built, and programmed themselves) onto a medieval-themed playing field which challenges their robots to catapult boulders and scale obstacles to ‘conquer’ an opponent’s tower.

The day is an exciting demonstration of what the students have been able to achieve – but their skills extend much further than the robots they’ve produced.

At a time when three out of four jobs in the fastest growing industries require science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills, FIRST Australia encourages young people’s curiosity,  develops these fundamental STEM skills and knowledge, and builds on their leadership, self-confidence and teamwork abilities.

As home to FIRST Australia, Macquarie is a proud sponsor of the program, which also places a special interest in engaging people who would not ordinarily have access to this level of mentoring in STEM: females, remotely located students or students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Katherine Allen, a member of Macquarie-based Team 3132 (Thunder Down Under) says she loves that FIRST shows young people from a variety of backgrounds what engineering is, has them work alongside professionals, and allows them to see a future for themselves in the field.

“An exciting thing I have been able to be a part of through FIRST are the programs that we run to encourage more women to be involved in engineering, such as the morning teas that we run at events,” said Katherine.

“As one of the few girls on a team full of boys, it can be really challenging. To be able to support these girls, and provide role models at all stages of their careers is something I am proud to be a part of.”

FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a not-for-profit organisation that runs a suite of robotics programs for school students year round.

The FRC event is free for the public to attend – families and supporters are welcome to come check out the action!

Take a look at some of the high school students involved with the FIRST Team 3132 Thunder Down Under.

Event details
When: 17 – 19 March
Where: Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre, Olympic Boulevard, Sydney Olympic Park, NSW 2127
Cost: Free

Find out more from the FIRST Australia website.

Formerly the Student Advisory Board (SAB), the SRC was involved with planning in the lead up to O Week and Clubs and Societies Day, as well as being visibly active during the week. The team were also involved with multiple working groups in the lead up to Orientation, helping to ensure the week was tailored to the needs and expectations of new and returning students.

The SRC had a strong visual presence throughout the week, presenting to new students each day at iSTART, Meet Your Mentor and Tips & Tricks sessions, encouraging new students to get involved with student life, and offering support and assistance when needed. Throughout the week, the SRC displayed a banner in the Central Courtyard, inviting feedback about the student experience that will be passed on to the Student Experience Committee of University Council.  On a practical level, the SRC also handed out more than 1000 bottles of water throughout the week and sponsored a number of student group events, such as the MacDiz movie night.

The current format of student representation is relatively new at Macquarie, with the SAB only launched in 2013. However, feedback has revealed that a large number of students had little to no understanding of what the SAB was, and how it operated. In an effort to combat this, a simple name change was proposed to utilise a pre-existing general level of community understanding around the term ‘student representative committee’.

Members are also now charged with a two-year tenure, allowing for more consistency and efficiency among the group and bringing it more in line with similar models of student representation at other universities.

The SRC’s main objective for 2016 is to increase engagement with the University community – including both students and staff. As an impartial, student driven, non-political committee, the SRC exists to see Macquarie students have the best experience at university as possible, and it recognises that staff are a big part of that experience.

A number of 2016 SRC initiatives are already well underway, including the planned development of a low-cost, healthy ‘breakfast bar’ for students and the introduction of the University’s first gender-neutral bathroom.

To find out how you can help the SRC with any of their upcoming initiatives, or get their input on your projects, visit the SRC website or email src@mq.edu.au for more details.

Attendance throughout the week was excellent. Not only was the Central Courtyard and Library Lawn spaces buzzing with activity, but organised sessions also saw capacity crowds.

• More than 1500 students attended Learning Skills and Career workshops throughout the week (with more sessions scheduled for the next few weeks of session).
• Around 1300 enjoyed ‘Australian’ experiences such as an Aussie barbecue, afternoon tea and sports, a bush dance, Sydney Harbour cruise, and a trip to Featherdale Wildlife Park.
• 850 attended official welcome events with the Vice-Chancellor
• 700 students participated in a speed friendship session, a networking event to help new students to break the ice and feel welcome.

The reinvigorated student mentor program saw more than 140 mentors help out during the week, facilitating campus tours, running information sessions, answering questions and offering wayfinding advice. The mentors have also been teamed up with around 1500 students who have elected to be part of the peer support program that aims to help new students transition to Macquarie and tertiary study during their first session. Find out more about the Mentor program.

Here’s a snapshot of the week in pictures:

(Photos by Chris Stacey)

The Network is part of a broader University strategy developed under the Strategic Research Framework to support ECRs and help them achieve world-leading research at Macquarie. The launch  marked the first event for the Network and will be followed by regular professional development and networking opportunities throughout the year and beyond. According to Professor Lesley Hughes: “Macquarie is building a network that is both supportive and informative to help early career researchers develop their careers.”

Professor Hughes, who has driven the establishment of the Early Career Researcher Support Strategy, says the strategy aspires ‘at the most basic level to raise the bar of ECR support and provide opportunities for all’. Both Professor Hughes and Professor Pretorius acknowledged the many challenges facing today’s early career researchers.

Professor Pretorius described the ECR Support Strategy as an example of our commitment to supporting researchers who have the hunger and aspiration to become future research ‘black belts’. His message to early career researchers was to find balance and not to ‘prioritise what is on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities’, also emphasising the importance of family, friends and wellbeing to a flourishing career.

Early career biologist and 2015 recipient of the NSW Young Tall Poppy Award, Dr Rachael Gallagher, spoke about early career researchers deserving the very best in support and mentorship that Macquarie University can offer and urged her peers to make the most of the opportunities available.

Professor Hughes encourages ECRs to make the Network their own by engaging with events and contributing feedback and suggestions.

Discover more about the Network via the ECR website, Faculty ECR Representatives or via the monthly ECR News email.

Learn more about recent research success stories and external research prizes and award opportunities.

Missed others in our podcast series? Find out how this series came about and listen to the first two episodes featuring Distinguished Professor David Christian and Associate Professor Malcolm Choat.