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University Research Centres |
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The Ancient History Documentary Research Centre was established in 1981, to provide for the concentration upon documentary evidence within the research and development activities of the discipline. Published examples of the work done may be seen in the series New Documents Illustrating Early Christianity, which reviews the newly published inscriptions and papyri of a particular year. The periodical Ancient History: Resources for Teachers caters for professional development of secondary teachers.
In recent years professional research fellows have been engaged in the Centre on a dictionary of Roman biography, the Roman histories of Velleius Paterculus, the bilingual inscriptions of Roman Asia Minor, Greek inscriptions and papyri illustrating the New Testament, the chronological ordering of Greek and Christian papyri, and the diplomacy of the successor states after the later Roman empire. In 1996 a major archive on Manichaeism was transferred to the Centre from Europe, with the appointment of Professor Lieu. The Corpus Fontium Manichaeorum project, which is based on this archive, is sponsored by UNESCO and by the International Union of Academics.
The Centre helps to apply to these programs the financial support contributed to the Department of Ancient History through the Macquarie Ancient History Association, the Sir Asher Joel Foundation, The Rundle Foundation for Egyptian Archaeology, the Society for the Study of Early Christianity and the Australian Institute of Archaeology. These organisations are represented on a committee which advises the Director of the Centre.
Directors: Professor Samuel N C Lieu, MA Camb., DPhil Oxf., FRAS, FRHistS, FSA; Associate Professor Alanna Nobbs, BA PhD Syd.
The Australian Centre for Egyptology was established in 1989 to promote, plan and coordinate archaeological field-work undertaken by Australian scholars in Egypt, and also to promote research in Egyptology in Australia and Egypt and to publish reports of excavation and studies in this field.
The Centre is currently undertaking major archaeological work at the important sites of Saqqara, Thebes and Helwan, and is collaborating with the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities and with the University of Suez Canal in Egypt on joint projects.
In addition to the Macquarie University Research Grants, the Centre has received funding from the Australian Research Council, the National Geographic Society and the Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering.
Director: Professor Naguib Kanawati, MA Alexandria, PhD Macq., FAHA
The Centre was established in 1992 to undertake research in disciplines which lie between the earth sciences, the biological sciences and chemistry. It aims to facilitate networking and expand research collaboration in areas such as biostratigraphy, palaeobiology, ecostratigraphy, carbonate petrology, biochronology.
The staff and postgraduates of the Centre are involved in a variety of research projects including mid-Palaeozoic extinction events, biochronology and transgression-regression pattern for Australian mid-Palaeozoic sequences, conodont chronology applied to Australian Palaeozoic stratigraphy, volcanism and tectonics, precambrian stratigraphy, exobiology and the search for life on Mars, palaeobiogeography of the Asia-Australian hemisphere in relation to the amalgamation of Asia and the application of an electronic relational database to palaeontology. Numerous fossil groups are pivotal to the research of the area, especially acritachs, brachiopods, chitinozoans, conodonts, corals, fish, foraminifers, molluscs, stromatoporoids and vertebrate micro-remains.
Further information is available on the Web at http://www.es.mq.edu.au/MUCEP/.
Directors: Professor John Talent, BA MSc PhD Melb. and Associate Professor Ruth Mawson, BA PhD Macq
The Centre for Language in Social Life investigates the main aspects of discourse theory and its application to the analysis of forms of interaction, with a particular focus on professional contexts (health care, law, technical discourse). The Centre's activities are based on the idea that institutional realities are, first of all, communicative networks in which the range of problem solving is often circumscribed by the character of the linguistic patterns built up in the culture of the institution and its traditional roles. This relationship between range of activity and linguistics patterns can be exemplified in fields as diverse as medicine, schooling, and industrial/commercial contexts. The Centre welcomes projects which involve any exploration of this relationship.
The Centre brings the wide expertise of the Department of Linguistics to bear on these contexts and the general problems of institutional maintenance and change. This expertise encompasses all levels of language description - from social semantics and pragmatics down to phonetics and the role of intonation.
Currently, the Centre's projects are mainly in the delivery of health care. In collaboration with the Medical Psychology Unit at the University of Sydney and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, we are examining the ethical issues as they arise in the discourse of clinical trials in cancer care. Also, with personnel from the NSW Department of Community Services (Inner West), we are developing strategies for the enhancement of interactions in group homes for the disabled. The Centre has also continued its projects in the area of discourse and HIV care.
Director: Dr David G. Butt, BA DipEd NSW, PhD Macq.
Research Associate: Ms Alison Moore, BA Syd.
The Centre for Number Theory Research (ceNTRe), within the Division of Information and Communication Sciences, was established in 1991 to promote the maintenance of an active research program in almost all areas of interest in modern number theory. While these range over diverse fields - such as the arithmetic of algebraic varieties, automata, cryptology, diophantine approximation, irregularities of distribution, p-adic analysis and transcendence theory. The fundamental questions being investigated are all related to unravelling the deeper arithmetic relationships between numbers; relationships which are increasingly finding applications in technology.
The work of ceNTRe is promoted by short- and long-term visits by international and Australian collaborators assisted by grants, held by members of ceNTRe. A pre-print series, Macquarie Mathematics Reports, and seminars provide postgraduate and postdoctoral students within ceNTRe with the widest possible exposure to the ideas of those at the forefront of developments in this area.
Director: Professor Alf van der Poorten, BSc PhD BA MBA NSW, Dhc Bordeaux 1, FAustMS.
Category Theory provides an algebra of widespread applicability for the synthesis and analysis of systems and processes in fields as diverse as physics and computer science, but also in mathematics itself. It can be used to clarify and simplify the learning, teaching and development of mathematics and computing.
The Centre of Australian Category Theory (CoACT), within the Division of Information and Communication Sciences, was established in 1999 to conduct basic research on categories, train high-quality mathematics and computer science students, and pursue applications in geometry, physics and computing, and in finance and other industries. In fact, the Australian Category Seminar began in 1971 and is held weekly, alternately at Macquarie and the University of Sydney. The germ of the Research Centre has existed since 1986 when it was awarded a six-year ARC Program Grant. The output of the Centre and the quality of research work have been rewarded by continued ARC Large Grants.
In 1998, Mr S G Johnson made a very generous donation to the Centre, thereby funding Research Fellowships and Graduate Scholarships in memory of Scott Russell Johnson, a former graduate student in category theory.
Director: Professor Ross H Street, BSc Syd., PhD Syd., FAA, FAustMS.
Associate Director: Associate Professor Michael S J Johnson, BSc DipEdSyd., PhD Syd.
The Joint Research Centre was established in November 1991 as a joint venture between the University and the CSIRO. The Centre undertakes collaborative, interdisciplinary, pure and applied research in various aspects of software and systems engineering. These activities involve staff from Macquarie University, the CSIRO and industry partners. The Centre also undertakes contract research and development, provides professional consultancy and training services, offers a research environment conducive to high-quality postgraduate training and acts as a resource centre.
The Centre's research programs are predicated on the notion that Information Technology (IT) - the ever-expanding range of computing and communications technologies - plays only an enabling role in the realisation of the systems eventually used to achieve a user's or a customer's particular defined end. The building of IT-based systems involves, at its core, the still emerging discipline of software engineering, as well as other more traditional areas of engineering and science and a number of important non-technical management, social and organisational disciplines. In recognising this, the Centre supports a number of generic enabling research themes, which are driven by applications-oriented research requirements.
Undertaking industry-based demonstrator projects within and across these thematic areas is part of the Centre's strategic plan, as are national and international research collaborations and the establishment of a software and systems engineering experience database to support the codification of knowledge in what is still a relatively young engineering discipline. The Centre is a member of the International Software Engineering Research Network (ISERN) and RENIOR, a European community, requirements engineering, research network of excellence.
Director: Professor Ray Offen, BSc Auck., PhD Otago, FIEE, CEng, FIREE, FIEAust, CPEng.
The Dictionary Research Centre was established in 1985, within the Department of Linguistics, to promote systematic research into dictionary making and dictionary use, and to support lexicographical work, including the editing of The Macquarie Dictionary. Its research extends into Australian English at large, both contemporary and historical.
The Centre is committed to the creation of multifunction research tools, including the creation of computer corpora; and it holds occasional seminars and workshops on the applications of computer corpora.
The Centre is the home of the National Place Names Project, funded by the Australian Academy of the Humanities.
Director: Mr David Blair, MA Syd.
Associate Director: Associate Professor Pam Peters, BA Melb., MA Syd.
The Foundation was established in 1983 to foster research and teaching in the field of industrial relations. The Foundation's goal is to promote greater understanding of the issues involved in industrial relations and human resource management, and to seek improved practice in the workplace. To this end, the foundation presents a number of conferences and executive development programs during the year and undertakes research. Recent research has explored workplace consultation and employee participation in decision making and leadership. The Foundation has presented the annual Women, Management and Industrial Relations Conference and edited the series Making the Link: Affirmative Action and Industrial Relations.
Director: Professor E. Davis, MA PGCE Camb., MEc Monash, PhD LaT.
MUSEC was established in 1975 to conduct research and development work into the learning and behaviour problems of children with disabilities and special education needs, and to contribute to the training of specialised staff. The intensive teacher training program and on-going program development at MUSEC ensure that research findings are translated into practical applications for implementation by teachers working with children with special education needs in both special and regular schools. Other activities undertaken at MUSEC are concerned with broad policy issues in the area of Special Education. Centre staff, including special educators, psychologists, therapists and researchers backed by technical and administrative support, are involved in research projects both on and off campus.
The Centre consists of classrooms for children (aged from four to twelve years) with learning difficulties and intellectual disabilities; as well as administrative offices, a publications and consultancy office, seminar rooms for the training of students and professional development of teachers and accommodation for academic, teaching, therapy and research staff. The classrooms are registered as a private special school, catering for children from pre-school to primary age who have major difficulties in basic skills such as reading and mathematics and behaviour or language problems. The Centre also hosts a research clinic, and an Early Intervention Network for families with babies and young children showing developmental delay.
The Centre develops curriculum materials, tests and teaching programs which are widely used throughout Australia and overseas.
The models of service delivery in the Centre program are non-categorical and promote integration and community involvement. The Centre enjoys very close links with both the local and the wider community and mounts a number of projects in collaboration with government and community organisations. MUSEC is located within the Division of Early Childhood and Education.
Director: Professor Kevin Wheldall, BA Manc., PhD Birm., FBPsS.
MUCAB provides a unique and active focus for interdisciplinary research into biomolecular analysis in the Departments of Chemistry and Biological Sciences. Successful applications in analytical biotechnology and glycobiology have attracted and fostered direct collaboration with industry. The Centre has a strong record of successful collaboration with companies in new instrument developments, diagnostic applications, trouble-shooting for industrial processes, prototyping and major R&D projects.
Notable recent achievements include a major collaboration to develop laser-based technology around flow cytometry for high sensitivity detection of a wide range of viruses, bacteria and protozoa (including Cryptosporidium and Giardia) in water samples. MUCAB is collaborating with Australian Water Technologies and Becton Dickinson in this venture with substantial funding from the Australian Government.
MUCAB staff in the Departments of Chemistry and Biological Sciences are responsible for teaching undergraduate units in the multidisciplinary Bachelor of Technology (Biotechnology) program. There is also a vigorous research program, which exploits the state-of-the-art equipment available in MUCAB (valued in excess of $A6million).
Directors: Dr Bridget Mabbutt, BSc PhD Syd. and Dr Duncan Veal, BSc Aston, PhD Reading
The NHRC was established in 1994 within the School of Earth Sciences. The Centre is sponsored by several private companies, whose representatives, as well as representatives of the Australian Geological Survey Organisation and University staff, are on the NHRC Advisory Board.
The NHRC's broad research aim is to develop a better understanding of natural hazards and their effects, loss prediction and mitigation. The Centre provides research and consultancies to insurance organisations, government agencies, industry and other interested national and international groups.
The NHRC's work is of particular interest to the insurance industry. Notable is the continuing development and improvement of models to predict the probable maximum losses produced by earthquakes for all Australian capital cities. Work has also been carried out on hailstorms and wind storms. Databases in a variety of forms have been developed for a range of areas, some incorporating the South Pacific region, on landslides, tsunamis, tropical cyclones, bushfires, floods, hailstorms and heatwaves. Such information facilitates assessment of past interactions of hazard and vulnerability which enhances the determination of future risk. Specifically, fatality studies identify population groups most at risk.
The NHRC is leading research on microzonation studies which determine risks on increasingly finer scales. Overall the NHRC's work on integrated risk assessment aims to bring about more effective risk management and disaster reduction.
Funding for the research activities of the NHRC has been mainly through sponsorships and direct contracts. Consultancies for insurers and reinsurers, both in Australia and internationally, the Insurance Foundation, mining and geotechnical companies, AGSO and others have contributed to the income of the NHRC and illustrate the diversity of its work.
Director: Professor Russell Blong, MA Auck., PhD Syd., MEngSc NSW.
The SHLRC was established in the Department of Linguistics in 1968. Its four basic aims are to advance pure, basic and applied research in the speech science field including experimental phonetics and the various aspects of speech technology; to carry out research and clinical analysis in audiology and hearing science; to carry out research and clinical analysis in communication disorders and speech pathology; and to advance pure, basic, and applied research in the field of experimental linguistics and natural language processing.
The Centre receives funding from the Australian Research Council and other external sources, and runs both audiology and speech pathology clinics. The Centre also supports numerous undergraduate and postgraduate programs, including the BSc in Speech and Hearing Sciences and the MSc in Speech and Language Processing.
SHLRC has built up extensive resources for speech and language analysis, including the following:
Director: Associate Professor Jonathan Harrington, MA MPhil PhD Camb.
Associate Director: Dr Robert Mannell, BSc NSW, MA PhD Macq.