POSTGRADUATE NEWS October 2004
Sges Travel Grants Round 2
The deadline for round two this year is 8th October. Application forms can be downloaded from: http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/ges/pgrad/travel.html
Monash Postgraduate Expo
Tuesday
October 5, 12 noon - 7.30pm Melbourne Town Hall Inspire yourself
at the Monash Postgraduate Expo!! Course Advisers from Art and Design,
Arts, Business and Economics, Education, Engineering, Information
Technology, Law, Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences and Science
will be available to help you select a course that suits your needs.
For more information and registrations visit:
http://
www.monash.edu.au/postgraduate
Progress Seminar
Friday 12th November, 2.30pm, Venue TBA. The following students will be presenting: Cecilia Elwood (PhD ) Wendy Stubbs (PhD) Naomi Maunter ( MA ) Confirmation of Candidature Anuporn Wanwisade ( MA ) Please mark this date in your diary. More information to be circulated shortly.
Report On the International Palynological Congress
Rochelle Johnston Myself and Peter Kershaw were amongst ~500 delegates from 35 countries that attended the 11th International Palynological Congress held in sunny Granada, Spain, from 4 to 9 July 2004. During the Congress there were 78 sessions organised covering all aspects of pollen research including topics such as pollen biology, forensic palynology, aerobiology, palaeopalynology and evolution, Quaternary palynology, pollen & spore morphology, entomopalynology & meissopalynology, pollen & allergy and world pollen databases.
The Quaternary palynology session was of most interest with a focus on the timing and nature of vegetation responses to abrupt climate changes, tropical palaeoecology, processes of environmental change & cultural change (archaeological palynology) and climate change in the Mediterranean. Even though there were a number of presenters from the southern continents the session was dominated by the presentation of high resolution records from the Northern hemisphere which had large collaborative teams working on multi-proxy data sets. Most of the Northern hemisphere records were matched to ice core event chronologies, with researches focusing on the timing periods such as the Last Glacial Maximum, deglaciation, the Younger Dryas, the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, the 8,200 cold event, and more recent climatic change in response to human activities. In contrast, the presentations from the Southern hemisphere researchers (including Peter and myself) indicated that some of the records from the Southern hemisphere do not match the climatic event chronologies developed by Northern hemisphere researchers. Therefore the current challenge is to try and understand the possible global mechanisms that trigger and drive these vegetation responses and climatic changes. It also became very apparent that there is a stark difference in the amount of money being invested in palynological research in the Northern hemisphere compared to the Southern hemisphere.
Aside from the formality of the Congress there was a busy social agenda arranged by the Spaniards. There was much to be enjoyed and experienced in Granada including tapas, red wine (a plenty), the history and architecture of the Alhambra and Generalife, the views and unique vegetation of the Sierra Nevada and traditional flamenco dancing of the gypsies.
I would like to thank the School of Geography and Environmental Science and the University for providing me with travel grants to get to Spain so that I could present my PhD research.
Adios
Seminars in October
- Tricks of the Trade TUESDAYS 5-6.30pm in Room E457, Menzies Building 12 October 2004 Confirmation of Candidature
- 26 October 2004 Beyond the PhD : postdoctoral directions and opportunities
- SGES Lunchtime Seminars WEDNESDAYS 1-2pm IN H6 6 October 2004 Transnational Communities in Rural Victoria Dr Sue Carswell & Dr Bruce Missingham
- 13 October 2004 Adventures in the vin trade: tales of regional identity and Australian wine. Dr David Dunstan, Director, National Centre for Australian Studies
- 20 October 2004 Facilitating Organisational Change for Integrated Urban Water Management Dr Rebekah Brown
- Environmental Forum WEDNESDAYS 5-6.30pm in SGO3 6 October 2004 Sustainable Building Systems John Novotny
- 13 October 2004 Keynote Speaker TBC
- 20 October 2004 The Role of Corporations in Environmental Sustainability Greening Australia Victoria
Details of other research seminars in related disciplinary areas can be found at:
SCIENCE
FACULTY
http://www.sci.monash.edu.au/postgrad/seminar.html
ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE
http://www.meteorology.monash.edu.au/research/seminar2.shtml
BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
http://biolsci.dbs.monash.edu.au/seminars/departmental.html
GEOSCIENCES
http://www.earth.monash.edu.au/news+seminars/news+seminars.html