Raising the Bar Perth

Dr Heather Bray

Senior Lecturer, School of Biological Sciences

"... served with a side of science": What food tech would you choose?

Increasingly food producers are being asked to account for or reduce their impact on the environment, and several technologies offer solutions to this challenge. In this talk, we'll discuss a few of the technologies in development to help you decide whether they should be on your plate.

Bio

Dr Heather Bray has more than 25 years' of experience in science communication as a practitioner, scholar, teacher and researcher. She explores community understandings of, and attitudes to, the role of science and technology in food production to improve communication between different stakeholders in the agri-food system.

Event

Tuesday 29 October, 5:30pm @Market Grounds, 10 Telethon Ave Perth

Register here

Dr Cele Richardson

Senior Lecturer, School of Biological Sciences

Can young people sleep their way to better mental health?

Professor Allan Rechtschaffen famously said, “if sleep does not serve an absolutely vital function, then it is the biggest mistake the evolutionary process has ever made.” But just how important is sleep for young people’s mental health?

This talk will summarise the key processes that influence adolescent sleep, unpack the relationship between sleep and mental health in young people, and explore how sleep treatments may represent an exciting new avenue for mental health problems.

Bio

Dr Richardson’s research focuses on sleep and mental health in young people. In particular, Cele has worked to develop the evidence base to treat sleep problems such as Delayed Sleep Wake Phase Disorder and Insomnia in children and teenagers. Most recently, Cele has applied these effective sleep treatments to young people with depression. Sleep and internalising problems, such as depression and anxiety, commonly co-occur and Cele works to identify mechanisms linking sleep with emotional problems in adolescence.

Event

Tuesday 29 October, 7:00pm @Market Grounds, 10 Telethon Ave Perth

Register here

Dr Tracy Redhead

Lecturer, Conservatorium of Music

Music and AI – Competitor, Collaborator or Copycat

In an era of heated debate over AI’s impact on music, Dr. Tracy Redhead explores her experience working on projects that fuse AI with music, within the broader context of the music industry's evolution. From the datafication of personal experience—hinting at the ways data influences and shapes our interactions—to innovative music playback systems, she shares insights into how AI is reshaping the landscape.

Recorded music is so readily accessible that it’s easy to take for granted. But imagine a future where a song is never the same each time you play it—a future where recorded music is as dynamic and fluid as the world around us. Transmutable music represents a radical shift in how we understand recorded music, now only possible thanks to the latest advancements in music technology, video games, and artificial intelligence (AI).

Bio

Tracy Redhead is a versatile musician, composer, researcher, and producer with almost 30 years of experience in the music industry, interactive media, and music technology. From her roots as a singer-songwriter to pioneering interactive music projects, Tracy’s career reflects a deep passion for innovation and creativity.

She holds a Master of Arts and a PhD in Music and is currently the Chair of Contemporary Popular Music and a lecturer in Electronic Music and Sound Design at the University of Western Australia. Her research explores the impact of interactive technologies on music-making, drawing connections between creative practice, artificial intelligence, video game composition, the music industry, and audience engagement.

Event

Tuesday 29 October, 5:30pm @Universal Bar, 221 William St Perth

Register here

Associate Professor Karen Wallman

Associate Professor, School of Human Sciences

The impact of heat on human performance: from mine sites to marathons to surgical theatres

What is the effect of ambient heat on human performance? Prolonged exposure to heat can have detrimental effects on mental performance as well as physical ability. In some cases, prolonged heat exposure can result in death. This talk will discuss the effects of heat on the human body and what measures can be undertaken to reduce this impact. The effects of heat exposure will considered in respect to athletes on the sporting field,  workers on a mining site and surgical staff in a burn surgery. 

Bio

Associate Professor’s research interests are varied and range from working with elite athletes to research in chronic illnesses. Her areas of interest include water recovery in athletes, the effect of static stretching on performance, caffeine as a performance aid in athletes and sedentary populations, as well as the use of exercise as an intervention in cancer, obesity and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Event

Tuesday 29 October, 7:00pm @Universal Bar, 221 William St Perth

Register here

Professor Mayowa Babalola

Professor/Stan Perron Chair in Business Ethics

The Ethics-Family-AI Tango: Leading Tomorrow's Workplace

In this talk, Professor Mayowa Babalola will unravel the intricate dance of modern work life, where ethics, family, and AI intertwine. Drawing from his extensive research on organisational psychology, leadership and behavioural ethics, he reveals how leaders orchestrate the delicate balance between people and profit, as well as work and family life, setting the rhythm for workplace cultures and employee well-being. He also demonstrates how family relationships and work outcomes move in harmony, each influencing the other's steps. As the music of technology grows louder, he introduces a new element: artificial intelligence.

His ongoing research on how AI might change the dance adds a thought-provoking dimension, exploring how technology might alter the graceful movements of positive workplace behaviours—and how to mitigate potential pitfalls. Overall, this talk provides a unique insight into how we can thrive in a world where the lines between work, family and technologies are increasingly blurred.

Bio

Professor Mayowa Babalola holds the Stan Perron Chair in Business Ethics at The University of Western Australia Business School. His research revolves around leadership, behavioural business ethics, and work-family relationships.He investigates how effective leaders emerge and their roles in promoting ethical behaviour in organisations, building a healthier and more productive workforce, and cultivating long-term positive work and family relationships. More recently, he has been exploring the intersection of leadership and AI within the workplace.

Event

Tuesday 29 October, 5:30pm @The Globe, 495/497 Wellington St Perth

Register here

Anna Faber

School of Molecular Sciences, UWA Oceans Institute

Can marine bacteria be superheroes in the fight against plastic pollution? 

What if we could use marine bacteria as tiny superheroes in the fight against plastic pollution? Working with UWA colleagues, Anna teaches the fastest-growing bacterium in the world to eat certain types of plastic in seawater conditions. The marine bacteria then turn some of the plastic degradation product into bacterial fat which can be harvested as a biodegradable plastic alternative. Anna also hunts for natural bacteria in Perth’s Swan River Estuary to learn more about microbial plastic degradation in our oceans. Come along and  find out how synthetic biology turns marine bacteria into the superheroes we need in the fight again plastic pollution.

Bio

Driven by her excitement for knowledge and social contribution, Anna Faber started her PhD in the School of Molecular Sciences (UWA) to tackle marine plastic pollution. By combining methods of synthetic biology and biochemistry, Anna and her research colleagues in the FritzLab aim to engineer marine bacteria for plastic degradation and bioplastic production. As a Forrest Research Scholar, Anna is also passionate about science communication and public engagement, and has worked with school students, NGOs and media to address plastic pollution.

Event

Tuesday 29 October, 7:00pm @The Globe, 495/497 Wellington St Perth

Register here

Associate Professor Paul Maginn

Associate Professor/Director of UWA Public Policy Institute

(Sub)Urban Dreamscapes/Nightmares: From Blandscapes to Brutopianscapes

Perth is a (sub)urban city characterised by a high-density urban core and low-density housing in the middle and outer rings. But things are changing, and changing rapidly, especially in morphological terms. Perth is now characterised by a dynamic evolving mosaic of (sub)urban landscapes: ‘blandscapes’; ‘blendscapes’; ‘brutalscapes’; and, ‘brutopianscapes’. This raises questions as to whether we are living in a suburban dream or nightmare.

Bio

Paul Maginn is an urban geographer/planner and the Director of the UWA Public Policy Institute. His research focuses on the intersections of people, place, policy and politics on the 4 ‘S’s – strategic planning, suburbanisms, the sex industry, and submarines.

Event

Tuesday 29 October, 5:30pm @The Shoe, Shop GSO7 Yagan Square, 376 - 420 Wellington St Perth

Register here

Dr Jess Kolbusz

Research Fellow, School of Biological Sciences

Remaining chilled under pressure: insights from a deep-sea oceanographer

There is still much to learn about the deepest parts of our oceans, from surprise squids to submersibles, temperature changes, and the age of water in trenches.
This talk will explain why the unseen movement of the deepest waters in our oceans is an important component of the interconnectedness of our atmosphere and oceans. For example, how does melting ice in our poles reach such depths? How do fish survive in the hadal zone under the physical pressure of the ocean above them, and what extremes can they withstand? Despite their minimum and maximum liveable depths, can the oceans' circulation provide answers to questions about species population connectivity? Will our changing oceans have a similar impact on them, and if so, on what timescale?

Bio

Dr Jessica Kolbusz is a Research Fellow at UWA in the Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Centre. She is an observational oceanographer who works primarily with data collected from oceanographic sensors that monitor factors such as temperature, salinity and pressure.

Jess's research focuses on the deep sea's circulation and mixing, the characteristics of various water masses, and the effects of environmental changes on deep-sea life at scales ranging from micro to macro.

Event

Tuesday 29 October, 7:00pm @The Shoe, Shop GSO7 Yagan Square, 376 - 420 Wellington St Perth

Register here

Associate Professor Nicki Mitchell

Deputy Director, UWA Oceans Institute

Pushing the boundaries: how far should we go to prevent species extinction?

We are all feeling the impacts of less rainfall and higher temperatures in the South West of Australia. And so are our threatened species. Assisted colonisation – the introduction of a species outside its indigenous range for conservation purposes – has been suggested for several decades as a pragmatic response to the stressors posed by climate change. But virtually no one has tried it.

In this talk Nicki Mitchell will describe the early results of world-first trials of assisted colonisation which aim to reduce the threat of extinction of a critically endangered freshwater tortoise.

Bio

Associate Professor Nicki Mitchell’s research is interdisciplinary but has a strong grounding in physiological ecology. Her current focus is to understand if threatened biodiversity needs assistance to adapt to rapid environmental change, using both modelling and field trials to support management decisions. Nicki is a lead councillor of Australia’s Biodiversity Council and has worked in a scientific policy role for the Commonwealth Government.

Event

Tuesday 29 October, 5:30pm @The Stables, 888 Hay St Perth

Register here

Professor Danail Obreschkow

Head International Space Centre

Black holes: what are they and how are they created?

Under extreme gravity, space and time defy our intuition. They bend and morph into one another, giving rise to one of the most enigmatic phenomena in the Universe: black holes. Join UWA Space Director and Astrophysicist Danail Obreschkow for a journey through the discoveries and mysteries surrounding these dark objects.

Bio

Danail Obreschkow is an astrophysicist at the UWA node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research and Director of the International Space Centre. His primary research lies in extra-galactic astrophysics, with a focus on the evolution of galaxies. He is also passionate about experimental research in micro-gravity and has served as a mission specialist on 354 parabolic flight manoeuvres aboard the Airbus Zero-G with the European Space Agency ESA.

Event

Tuesday 29 October, 7:00pm @The Stables, 888 Hay St Perth

Register here