From the President and Vice-Chancellor

The vicissitudes of nature are part of Australian life, and our cover story takes us into the heart of the wild storms that lashed Australia’s east coast in June this year. The connection with UNSW? Our Water Research Laboratory team, led by Professor Ian Turner, swung into action to conduct the most detailed study of storm-affected coastline anywhere in the world. It’s a gripping read of force and fury on one hand and rapid response on the other, delivering research that will help forecasters predict the damage that could be caused by wild coastal weather, not only in Australia but worldwide.

I’ve recently returned from Uganda, where – as part of our Global Development Initiative – UNSW signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Gulu University in the country’s far north, so I was intrigued to read about UNSW’s innovative work in helping African cattle farmers tackle the problem of predatory lions. Dr Neil Jordan, from UNSW’s Centre for Ecosystem Science, came up with the idea of painting evil eyes on the backsides of the cattle, to scare off the lions. A great example of lateral thinking, or perhaps a case of hindsight?

By the way, our joint programs with Gulu University – including training and technical support, and student and staff exchanges – will extend the already significant global impact of UNSW in public health care, climate science, energy and water, AIDS/HIV, post conflict trauma, migration and other fields.

In this edition I was also fascinated to learn more about the work of UNSW’s Laboratory for Ageing Research and the inaugural Australian Biology of Ageing Conference we hosted recently. Professor David Sinclair and his team, working with a sister lab at Harvard Medical School, have isolated a compound found in red wine that prolongs life in worms and fruit flies. (Red wine lovers take heart!)

We’re also revisiting two challenging presentations: the call – by Professor Emma Johnston, our Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) – for all Australian universities to lift their game on gender equity, and the riveting Wallace Wurth Lecture delivered by journalist Stan Grant in July, in which he called for a national truth and reconciliation commission into the treatment of Australia’s Indigenous peoples.

As spring comes, there’s a definite buzz around the campus, and this issue reflects that energy as well as the incredible diversity of what’s happening right now at UNSW. I hope you enjoy it.

Professor Ian Jacobs