Briefs

Creative fellow

Author Michael McGirr has been awarded the second 2005 H.C. Coombs Creative Arts Fellowship. He will use the fellowship to continue researching his latest non-fiction book, The Story of Sleep.

Legal appointment

The Dean of the Faculty of Law, Professor Michael Coper, has been appointed by the Attorney-General to the International Legal Services Advisory Council. The group advises the Federal Government on how the nation’s legal sector can best compete in the international market, to which it currently exports more than $300 million in business. Professor Coper is also the Chair of the Council of Australian Law Deans.

Sight of success

Professor Trevor Lamb, the head of the Visual Neuroscience Laboratory at the John Curtin School of Medical Research, has been awarded a prestigious international medal. The ARC Federation Fellow and Director of the new Centre for Excellence in Vision has been awarded the Proctor Medal, the highest accolade from the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, based in the United States. Professor Lamb has been named co-recipient of the medal with Professor Edward Pugh from the University of Pennsylvania for their work on how the eye responds to light.

Society appointment

Professor Ron Ekers, an adjunct professor at the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in the UK for his work in radio astronomy. Professor Ekers was the Foundation Director of the CSIRO’s Australia Telescope National Facility and is now a Federation Fellow at CSIRO.

Indonesia Update 2005

The annual Indonesia Update, called Indonesia, Australia, and the Region, will be held from 23 to 24 September at the Coombs Lecture Theatre in the H.C. Coombs building. The conference is presented by the Indonesia Project, Economics Division, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies (RSPAS), and the Department of Political and Social Change (RSPAS). For more information, visit: http://rspas.anu.edu.au/economics/ip/IU05/index.php

Tax brief

Putting off doing your tax? Delay no more. The Human Resources Division and the Australian Taxation Office are hosting a free seminar on tax issues for higher education employees at 12.30pm on 30 September in the Haydon-Allen Tank Lecture Theatre. Enquiries to Paul Kupacz on extensions 52555/56561 or email: paul.kupacz@anu.edu.au

From Genes To Coffee Beans

The café in the new John Curtin School of Medical Research (JCSMR) building will be called Helix Café, to acknowledge the importance of the DNA structure in medical research, and to reflect the helix-like design of the first stage of the facility.

Also in On Campus for September:

Slime time for students

Health officials learn from best

New facility opened at Biological Sciences

Experts hit the road with accessible science

Book targets vanishing tracts

Interns meet with Governor General

Meet Penny Oakes in People @ ANU

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