University Of New South Wales - Sydney, Australia

Taking the whiff out of durians – a UNSW professor has helped a grower develop natural formulae to increase the life of packaged fresh fruit and block the pungent smell of durians.

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Award for gifted education expert

Leading gifted education expert Professor Miraca Gross has been awarded the 2003 Sir Harold Wyndham Medal for helping to change the educational face of NSW.
Gross is the founding director of the University’s Gifted Education Research, Resource and Information Centre (GERRIC) and professor of gifted education at UNSW.
She said she was honoured to receive the Wyndham Medal. “It recognises not only my own work but also GERRIC’s outstanding contributions to education over the last eight years.” Two UNSW start-up companies received awards under the latest round of the Biotechnology Innovation Fund program (BIF).

V-C joins ARC board

Vice-Chancellor Professor Rory Hume has been appointed to the board of the Australian Research Council.
The Federal Minister for Education, Dr Brendan Nelson, said the appointment for three years of Professor Hume, Nobel prize winner Professor Peter Doherty, Janet Holmes à Court and Dr Patricia Kailis represented a wealth of experience across the academic, business and community sectors.
Professor Hume has held many university positions both in Australia and internationally, and holds directorships for several organisations, including the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, the National Institute of Dramatic Art and the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute.

Pianist scores international win

Ian Munro, pianist with the University’s Australia Ensemble has won this year’s Queen Elisabeth of Belgium international music competition for composition.
Munro’s Dreams, a one-movement

concerto for piano and orchestra, won the prize for a new work in the competition, which is also intended to test the musicality and virtuosity of the piano finalists.
The piece, which was inspired by Australian poet Judith Wright, was selected by the jury from 99 scores.

World class Robodogs

UNSW’s soccer playing robotic dogs won the international Sony Four-Legged Robot League championship in Padua, Italy last month. This year’s win makes three firsts and two seconds over the last five years of competition for UNSW.
The rUNSWift team won the Australian championship in early May. The team then went on to represent Australia against 30 universities from around the world. At the international finals, they played the University of Pennsylvania in a close game.
The robotic dogs are a student project. Coached by NICTA and UNSW researchers, fourth-year computer science and engineering students program the dogs so they play tactically and intelligently.

Cosgrove, Eales at HR conference

UNSW will host this year’s Group of Eight Human Resources/Industrial Relations conference to be held on August 21–22 at the Hotel InterContinental, Sydney.
Keynote speakers will include chief of the Australian Defence Force, General Peter Cosgrove, and former Wallabies Rugby Union Captain, John Eales.
The conference theme – Leadership – Shaping the future – was chosen to reflect the fact that the higher education sector is at the crossroads and its future will depend on a new vision, supported by leadership and management excellence.