What’s happening at QUT

Island Dreaming – QUT Study Abroad and Exchange Orientation Camp

Lazing on some of the world’s best beaches.Learning one of the great Australian pastimes of surfing. What a way to kick off the academic semester!

Over 100 Study Abroad and Exchange students from the USA, Germany, Sweden, France, Norway and Canada kicked off their study abroad experience at the Study Abroad and Exchange Orientation Camp at idyllic NorthStradbrokeIsland.

Having seen the best of Brisbane on a river cruise during the week students travelled to NorthStradbrokeIsland to spend three days soaking up the sun, sand and surf on the 22 kilometres of surf beach.

Students were taught how to ‘hang ten’ during a surfing lesson, try their hand at sea kayaking and catch a glimpse of local wildlife on a guided hike.

As well as enjoying the best of the Queensland outdoor lifestyle the camp provided a great opportunity to forge new friendships before hitting the books.

From Oz to Abu Dhabi: Education Without Borders

Fourteen QUT students committed to making a difference on a global stage took part in the Education Without Borders conference in Abu Dhabi during February 2007.

The talented young people were selected to attend the humanitarian event to help generate innovative solutions to global challenges.

Education Without Borders is one of the world's largest student-led conferences and was held from February 25 to 27 and involved more than 800 high-achieving students from 100 countries.

Conference highlights for the students included a speech by Professor Muhammad Yunus - the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Winner and "banker to the poor" who founded the Grameen Bank - and travelling into the desert for a concert under the stars by famed tenor Placido Domingo.

Fourteen QUT students attended Education Without Borders in Abu Dhabi, including:

- Michelle Mills (Bachelor of Journalism)

- Asgeir Frimannsson (PhD in Software Engineering)

- Natalie Alexander (Bachelor of Journalism/Bachelor of Business)

- Annabel Murphy (Bachelor of Mass Communication)

- Helen Stylianou (Bachelor of Journalism/Bachelor of Laws)

- Shabia Mantoo (Bachelor of Journalism/Bachelor of Laws)

- Kristiana Kilvert (Bachelor of Creative Industries/Bachelor of Business)

- Lauren Carr (Bachelor of Creative Industries)

- Joe Caruso (Bachelor of Education Secondary)

- Gina Beschorner (Bachelor of Creative Industries/Bachelor of Business)

- Deanna Borland-Sentinella (Bachelor of Creative Industries)

- Sian Graham (Bachelor of Journalism)

- Dewi Stamenkovic (Bachelor of Journalism)

- Sue Yuh Wong (Bachelor of Architecture)

Third-year QUT journalism student Michelle Mills worked with the organising committee,

where she was one of only 16 students worldwide invited to help organise the event.

PhD student Asgeir Frimannsson from QUT's Faculty of IT also scored a conference coup - he was invited to present a paper at the conference, Community-driven Translation of Software and E-Content.

QUT researcher is Oxford bound

Dr Marcus Foth

OxfordUniversity beckons Queensland University of Technology researcher Dr Marcus Foth who has been awarded a visiting fellowship from July to October at the Oxford Internet Institute, a world-leading centre for the multidisciplinary study of the internet and society.

Dr Foth, who is a senior research fellow at QUT's Institute of Creative Industries and Innovation, will join the world's best minds in designing internet systems to support the formation of social networks of people in urban areas.

The focus of Dr Foth's research is the intersection of people, place and technology as he pioneers the development of people-centred, interactive systems that support and enhance social networks.

Currently, his postdoctoral research centres on a three-year Australian Research Council Discovery grant-funded study mapping communication patterns in Brisbane's Kelvin Grove Urban Village, Australia's first government/university partnership to build an integrated community that comprises educational, residential, health, retail, recreational facilities.

"Our research at the KelvinGroveUrbanVillage looks at ways social alienation and isolation can be reduced by supporting residents to create and maintain social networks. These networks consist primarily of "friends who live close by" rather than just "neighbours"," Dr Foth said.

"We see the neighbourhood as an opportunity space and want to inform the design of new media technology to enhance and augment this space.

"We do not believe in a "build it, and they will come" approach, so we are looking at ways new interactive features can be integrated seamlessly with established media such as email, mobile phones and instant messengers which residents employ to keep in touch with their friends and peers."

At OII Dr Foth will work with other senior researchers to study opportunities for internet technology to support social networks of urban residents in Australia, the UK, Mexico and South Africa.

"The design of internet technology to facilitate social interaction in inner-city neighbourhoods is increasingly important for many countries," Dr Foth said.