A small octagonal timber building originally used by veterinary science lecturers when demonstrating to students on cows and horses has won a major heritage award from the National Trust of Australia this week.

Located on Camperdown Campus, the building was designed in 1920 by the University architect and the first dean of the faculty of architecture, Professor Leslie Wilkinson, who named it the Round House despite its octagonal design.

The historically meticulous restoration by the heritage architects Clive Lucas, Stapleton and Partners saw the building awarded the 2012 National Trust of Australia Heritage award for the best small project in the 'corporate and government' category.

The architects' work included restoring the wooden shingles on the roof, and repairing the damaged skylight and timber structure. A steel frame that had been installed in 1954 was also removed.

The newly restored Round House will now once again be used by the Faculty of Veterinary Science for teaching and small group demonstrations. It will also be used for faculty celebrations and graduation and cocktail parties.

Read the full story.

Tomorrow a diverse group of 70 Sydney high school students will visit Camperdown Campus to participate in the ‘IScience Program’ – an initiative that supports the professional education of ‘pre-service’ high school science teachers.

The program is funded by the University’s Widening Participation Grants scheme, which is designed to address our strategic goals for ensuring that we attract promising students from a variety of backgrounds, and that they find an inclusive and diverse learning environment while studying at the University.

The program will match groups of high school students with Faculty of Education and Social Work students who are studying to become science teachers. Together they will design a science project that the high school students will complete by August. On returning to their schools, the students will continue to work on their projects, reporting their progress and discussing their ideas using the IScience ‘wiki’ (an online tool for sharing ideas).

The high school students will later return to the University to work on their projects and examine aspects of science research at the University. Our pre-service teachers will mentor the school students with support from postgraduate students from the Faculty of Science and the Australian Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis. The high school students will meet again in August when the completed projects will be showcased at a celebratory event.  

“We are looking forward to seeing the IScience project in action. Our pre-service teachers will have the opportunity to develop the skills associated with teaching science through enquiry. The school students get a chance to be involved in their science project, using resources not available in their school or classroom,” said Dr Louise Sutherland, who is leading the IScience Program team.

The IScience Program is one of 37 initiatives funded through the 2011 Widening Participation Grants scheme, jointly administered by the Social Inclusion Unit and the Institute for Teaching and Learning. Another project that is working with high school students and partially funded by a 2011 grant is the Girls' Programming Network. This initiative is led by Dr Tara Murphy in the School of Information Technologies and was recently featured in the Mudgee Guardian.

A cross-disciplinary team from the University has won an Australian Leadership Awards Fellowships grant to host a delegation of health sector representatives from four developing nations. The $805,000 grant will enable 23 health sector workers from Botswana, Cambodia, India and Zambia to attend an intensive three-month professional HIV program at the University in August.

The program will include intensive multidisciplinary training in the management and prevention of HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections, visits to centres of excellence and leadership workshops, and attending the Australasian HIV/AIDS Conference. Those who successfully fulfill all program requirements will be awarded an International Professional Certificate in HIV Infection.

Now in its third year, the program is headed up by the Sydney Medical School's Dr Shailendra Sawleshwarkar, Associate Professor Richard Hillman and Professor Adrian Mindel, in conjunction with Associate Professor Marylouise Caldwell from the Discipline of Marketing at the University of Sydney Business School.

"We believe the grant represents how educators and program managers concerned with public health are increasingly open to integrating marketing principles into their disease prevention and treatment programs," says Dr Caldwell.

Read the full story.

The University has received more than $3 million in grant funding through 15 successful applications under Round 11 of the Australian Leadership Awards Fellowships program.

Microsoft Office 2010 is now standard for all new computers and available to download by visiting the Ask Sydney – ICT website. 

Office 2010 represents a large shift in the way people use software like Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, and offers exciting new enhancements to help you work more efficiently. To assist you in the transition from Office 2007 to 2010, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) will be running an online webinar series. Each week it will showcase an application and its ‘top five’ features. The first webinar, Introduction to Office 2010, will be held on 4 May, so register now to secure your spot!

For more information, including guides and online tutorials visit the Office 2010 Resource Centre on the ICT Training website.

Download a copy of Office 2010.

Have you experienced chronic low back pain for three months or more? Would you like help to identify those aspects of your low back pain that are most troubling to you, and explore solutions to these problems?

Researchers from the Faculty of Health Sciences are seeking participants for a research study on patient-centred care for chronic low back pain.

The study involves five on-campus individual consultations of approximately one hour, over a two-month period.

For more information please contact Tania Gardner on 0410 449 766 or Lorraine Smith on 9036 7079.

Researchers from the School of Molecular Bioscience are seeking people concerned about their take-away food eating habits.

The study will investigate peoples’ attitudes and behaviours towards their take-away food eating habits. To be eligible, you must be working full-time or part-time and aged 18 to 35.

Participation involves completing a questionnaire and a focus group interview about your attitudes, beliefs and behaviours towards buying and eating take-away foods. This should take approximately one hour and you’ll be reimbursed for your time and travel.

Contact Amelia Cook on 9351 4672 for more information.

Working to reduce the use of animals in research? Apply for our award.

The University will again be offering an award to recognise scientific research that shows potential to reduce or replace the use of animals. To find out more, including how to apply, visit the Research Support website.

Discuss complex social, economic and environmental issues, demands on industry, and what sustainability means for careers in various sectors at this postgraduate roundtable session.

There will also be an opportunity to ask about postgraduate study options in engineering, IT, science, architecture, design and building throughout the event. 

Event details 
When: 6 to 8pm, Tuesday 1 May
Where: Lecture Theatre, Peter Nicol Russel Building, Darlington Campus

For more information, visit the Future Students website.

Distinguished anthropologists Jean and John Comaroff join Sydney Ideas for a lecture on cultural identity.

This lecture is devoted to showing that, increasingly, ethnic groups across the planet are beginning to act like corporations that own a ‘natural’ copyright to their ‘culture’ and ‘cultural products’.

‘Reflections on cultural identity: ethnicity, intellectual property, and the commodification of collective being’ will be a joint presentation by John Comaroff and Jean Comaroff, professors of anthropology and social sciences at the University of Chicago.

Co-presented with the Department of Anthropology and the Department of Classics and Ancient History.

Event details
When: 6pm, Wednesday 9 May
Where: General Lecture Theatre, The Quadrangle, Camperdown Campus
Cost: free
Online registration required

For more information, visit the Sydney Ideas website.

The Confucius Institute and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music are delighted to co-present a gala concert by international award-winning Australian–Chinese soprano and alumna, Shu-Cheen Yu.

Shu-Cheen studied Opera and Arts at the Conservatorium in 1988, after migrating to Australia from China. She has won numerous international awards and has three best-selling albums on ABC Classics.

Event details
When: 2pm, Sunday 27 May 
Where: Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Corner of Bridge and Macquarie streets, Sydney
Cost: $15

Shu-Cheen will also give a talk about her musical journey at 6pm on Thursday 24 May in Lecture Theatre 351, Education Building, Camperdown Campus. To book or for more information, visit the Confucius Institute website.

China expert and historian, cultural critic, filmmaker, translator and web-journal editor Professor Geremie R Barmé joins Sydney Ideas for a China Studies Centre Distinguished Speaker lecture. 

Since 2008, the People’s Republic of China has increasingly focused on ‘telling the China story’. Understanding the official ‘China Story’ as well as some crucial variations of it – ‘telling Chinese stories’ – is crucial to a broad-based engagement with the contemporary Chinese world. This lecture will consider how some of these stories have come to be told, by whom and for whom.

Professor Barmé is the director of the Australian Centre on China in the World at the Australian National University.

Event details
When: 6pm, Tuesday 1 May
Where: Foyer, New Law Building, Camperdown Campus
Cost: free, no booking required

For more information, visit the Sydney Ideas website.

The Charles Perkins Centre invites you to a seminar on new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) research and technology, presented by Dr Olaf Such and Professor Peter Luijten.

Dr Such is from Philips Healthcare and will discuss collaborative MRI projects between Philips Healthcare and leading European universities, including Nottingham University, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Universiteit Utrecht and Leiden University. 

Professor Luijten oversees MRI research at Utrecht University, and will discuss the art, science and practice of high field MRI. 

This event is co-presented by the Charles Perkins Centre and Philips MRI Asia Pacific. 

Event details
When: 9 to 11am, Friday 4 May
Where: Lecture Theatre 106, New Law Building, Camperdown Campus
Cost: free 
RSVP: Charles Perkins Centre website

How does dopamine influence language processing?

This presentation at the Brain and Mind Research Institute (BMRI) looks at data from Parkinson’s disease sufferers to support the view that dopamine enhances language learning and influences language processing through cortical and subcortical mechanisms.

Presented by Associate Professor David Copland, University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research. 

Event details
When: 3.30pm, Friday 27 April
Where: Level 5 Lecture Theatre, BMRI, 94 Mallett Street, Camperdown

What are the benefits of therapeutic brain stimulation for neuropsychiatric conditions?

Therapeutic brain stimulation has revolutionised the treatment of movement disorders and may also benefit other neuropsychiatric conditions.

Presented by Associate Professor Zelma HT Kiss MD from the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Calgary.

Hosted by the Brain and Mind Research Institute (BMRI).

Event details
When: 1 to 2pm, Monday 30 April
Where: Level 5 Lecture Theatre, BMRI, 94 Mallett Street, Camperdown

See some of the world's leading researchers in the field of molecular imaging at this one-day event at the Brain and Mind Research Institute (BMRI).

Learn about progress in the field of imaging science, and meet fellow researchers from a diverse range of disciplines and application fields. 

Hosted by the BMRI, home of the collaborative Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation/BMRI imaging platform, and part of the Australian National Imaging Facility. 

Event details
When: 9am to 6pm, Tuesday 1 May
Where: Conference Room, Building G, Level 1, Brain and Mind Research Institute, 100 Mallett Street, Camperdown

To register or for more information, visit the BMRI website. Registrations close Friday 27 April.