Events from Griffith University http://www.griffith.edu.au/ 06 July 2009 (06 July 2009) Nigerian Law School, for the first time in over forty years of its existence, extensively reviewed its academic programme between 2006 and 2008. The review consisted of several components including discussions with relevant stakeholders (law teachers, the judiciary, government and the legal profession), advice from external consultants and a programme of staff development and training. This process led to the adoption of a new curriculum and teaching methods for the School that came into force in November 2008. Professor Ernest Ojukwu will review during this seminar, the process of change and examine how the new curriculum and teaching method adopted fit the definition of clinical legal education. Professor Ojukwu is the Deputy Director General and Head of Campus Nigerian Law School , Augustine Nnamani Campus, Enugu and Director at the Institute of Continuing Legal Education of the Nigerian Bar Association . He was Associate Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Law at Abia State University Uturu from 1995 to 2001 and has published extensively. Ernest also plays an active role in the professional activities of the Nigerian Bar Association where he presently chairs the Academic Forum. Lunch will be provided. http://www3.secure.griffith.edu.au/03/events/view.php?eventID=10114 08 July 2009 (08 July 2009) Urban Research Program 2009 Seminar Series Ms Cheryl Desha Rapid curriculum renewal towards engineering education for sustainable development Despite a rapidly changing market and regulatory environment incorporating new innovations and technologies for sustainable development, engineering curriculum remains remarkably unchanged. The issue of how engineering education can systemically embed knowledge and skills for sustainable development (EESD) is a major global consideration for engineering educators. This presentation discusses key barriers and opportunities for timely curriculum renewal to EESD, proposing a number of ‘elements of rapid curriculum renewal’ that can support a timely transition to EESD. Cheryl is the Education Director of The Natural Edge Project (TNEP), and a lecturer in the Griffith School of Engineering. TNEP is hosted by the Urban Research Program, Griffith University, and the Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University. http://www3.secure.griffith.edu.au/03/events/view.php?eventID=10134 13 July 2009 (13 July 2009) During this Socio-Legal Research Methods Forum, Professor Jane Juffer will consider the question: "Can the Law be Queered?" She will examine the heterosexual and nuclear family bias of the United State's legal system, focusing on three examples: pornography, divorce and immigration. Jane joins us from the Department of English and the Program of Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Cornell University, New York. Morning tea will be provided. http://www3.secure.griffith.edu.au/03/events/view.php?eventID=9515 13 July 2009 (13 July 2009) Professor Grant Farred will critically address the practices of interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity during this Socio-Legal Research Centre seminar. Grant is a Professor of African Studies and English at Cornell University, New York. He has written extensively in the field of Postcolonial Literary Theory, particularly its intersection with race and sport. Prior to Cornell, Grant was attached to the Literature Program at Duke University, where he taught courses in literature and cultural studies. Lunch will be provided. http://www3.secure.griffith.edu.au/03/events/view.php?eventID=8050 15 July 2009 (15 July 2009) This work is a piece of storytelling mixing fact and fiction with a soundtrack of music and video images of an uninhabited wild place prompting speculations on a particular scene of death.  Obituary revolves around a newspaper article about an Australian woman who died alone in the Highlands of Scotland.  She was a convert to a cult called ''Breatharianism' in which followers believe they can bypass death by surviving on air alone.  Images of the loch where she died are interwoven with text on the screen.  This is a narrative of two lovers arguing about the stranger's death.  A studio session with musicians playing the Scottish bagpipe and the didgeridoo provide the soundtrack to this short story of a death in the landscape.  Polly Gould is an artist and writer, and lectures at the University of the Arts, London.    http://www3.secure.griffith.edu.au/03/events/view.php?eventID=10155 16 July 2009 (16 July 2009) This public event will bring together three scholars working at the leading edge of their respective fields to comment on the question: Do we need to re-define the relationship between life and death, between the living and the dead in the twenty-first century? Speakers: Professor Glennys Howarth, Director, Centre for Death and Dying, University of Bath, England. Dr Kristin Savell, School of Law, Sydney University Dr Margaret Gibson, School of Humanities, Griffith University Moderator: Dr David, Ellison, School of Humanities, Griffith University http://www3.secure.griffith.edu.au/03/events/view.php?eventID=10154 17 July 2009 (17 July 2009) Urban Research Program 2009 Seminar Series Professor John Mawson Multi Level and Regional Governance in England: A decade of experiment under New Labour The Labour Government over the past decade has introduced a radical programme of regional devolution. In England this has proved problematic and instead a complex program of local and regional governance reforms have been introduced. This seminar explores the theoretical and practical issues surrounding the development of this form of multi level governance and the consequent problems for strategic planning and this asymmetric devolution of the British State. John Mawson is a Director of the Local Government Centre, Warwick Business School and Professor of Local and Regional Governance, University of Warwick. He has also held Chairs in Town and Regional Planning at the University of Dundee and Public Policy and Management at Aston Business School. As a practitioner he was Chief Executive of West Midlands Enterprise Board and Director of Economic Development, West Midlands County Council. http://www3.secure.griffith.edu.au/03/events/view.php?eventID=10214 21 July 2009 (21 July 2009) Dr McDonald offers both Research Higher Degree students and researchers the opportunity during this Centre for Work, Organisation and Wellbeing workshop to gain a better understanding of the variety of approaches to qualitative research and how to critically think about producing quality research. An important objective will be the exploration of the critical and varying components of qualitative research design and how they are best integrated to produce high quality projects; ones that can also be published in top tier journals. Workshop participants will also have the opportunity to discuss with Paula their current research topics, and the design issues relevant to their studies. Paula is a senior lecturer in the Business Faculty at the Queensland University of Technology. She has worked in a range of academic and industry research environments including public health, medical education, primary health care, psychology and business. She is currently the lead investigator on an ARC Linkage grant on youth employment which involved fieldwork in 19 state high schools around Queensland in 2008 Afternoon tea will be provided. http://www3.secure.griffith.edu.au/03/events/view.php?eventID=10094 23 July 2009 (23 July 2009) ‘The Old Silk Road in China Today: The Fate of Xinjiang’. By Professor Mark C. Elliott, Mark Schwartz Professor, Chinese and Inner Asian History, Harvard University. Located in China’s remote far west, Xinjiang (also known as Chinese Turkestan) is one of the last great Eurasian frontiers. Boasting a dramatic landscape of vast deserts, snow-capped mountains, and rolling grasslands, for centuries the region saw caravans pass through loaded with goods moving between China and parts west on the ancient Silk Road. Xinjiang today is home to the Uyghurs – a Turkic people numbering about 8.4 million with a proud and distinct Islamic heritage – as well as to Kazakhs, Mongols, Kirgiz, Hui, and Sibe. In recent years, government-sponsored economic development has brought with it new levels of wealth, along with a marked rise in the migration of Han Chinese to Urumqi and the cities of the historic Silk Road oases. Along with high-rise hotels and improved infrastructure, this massive “Go West Campaign” has at the same time introduced considerable dislocation, with many Uyghurs finding their culture coming under increasing pressure. As in Tibet, shifts in official policies and priorities mean the linguistic and religious traditions of the peoples of Xinjiang are in peril of disappearing forever. This lecture will outline the lesser-known history of Xinjiang and its place on the Silk Road and bring the story up to the current day, examining some of the controversies surrounding the struggle of the Uyghurs and other indigenous peoples to find a place for themselves in the modern Chinese state. Mark C. Elliott is the Mark Schwartz Professor of Chinese and Inner Asian History in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University. His first book, The Manchu Way: The Eight Banners and Ethnicity in Late Imperial China (Stanford, 2001), is an influential study in the "New Qing History". His latest book is Emperor Qianlong: Son of Heaven, Man of the World (Longman, 2009), he is also the author of numerous articles. Educated at Yale and the University of California, Berkeley, Elliott studied for many years in Taiwan, mainland China, and Japan.   http://www3.secure.griffith.edu.au/03/events/view.php?eventID=9974 25 July 2009 (25 July 2009) Continuing its well-established collaborative partnership with the Queensland Music Festival, the Conservatorium will be the venue of a series of events during the Festival's second week, which coincides with the beginning of second semester.   A wonderful opportunity to see one of Australia's finest expatriate pianists working with Conservatorium tertiary and Young Conservatoriums students. http://www3.secure.griffith.edu.au/03/events/view.php?eventID=9500