LATEST ARTICLES

Limited mobile phone use during school hours now a fact of life

Limited mobile phone use during school hours now a fact of life

Toongabbie Christian College in Sydney’s west has restricted students’ mobile phone usage during school hours for the past decade and the policy is now deeply ingrained in school life: a simple matter of distancing students from their phones, rather than introducing internet signal restrictions. The school, which has 1100 children and teenagers in classes from Kindergarten …read more

Sharing boosts community spirit

Sharing boosts community spirit

Inspired by the success of sharing their facilities during the pandemic, independent schools across Australia are continuing to keep their doors open to their local communities, says Melbourne University’s Dr Ben Cleveland, who has been studying school-community connections for more than three years. “There’s a propensity for independent schools to want to be seen to be …read more

Chemical weapons remain a concern

Chemical weapons remain a concern

With an Oscar for best feature documentary now linked to his name, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is one of the world’s better-known victims of a chemical weapons attack. Poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok in 2020 by Russian operatives, Navalny was airlifted in a coma from Russia to Germany where he spent months recovering.

Social media platforms are the new battlefields

Social media platforms are the new battlefields

Ballooning suspicion has pushed TikTok onto the back foot across much of the western world with increasing concerns the popular video-sharing app could double as a platform for disinformation as well as data gathering tool for China. Social media disinformation campaigns have been favoured by certain nations for years; deployed to push a range of agendas: …read more

Champion of diversification a force for good

Champion of diversification a force for good

Businesses must seriously consider diversification to be part of the new green economy, says Barney Swan, founder of ClimateForce charity in far north Queensland.  At 28 and armed with business and multi-media degrees from the US, he understands the fears and aspirations of younger generations and he knows that as climate change heats up, business …read more

Visitors in search of a road less trampled

Visitors in search of a road less trampled

As the world takes action to confront the looming threat of climate change, the Australian tourism industry is gearing up for a paradigm shift to greener travel options. With regenerative and sustainable tourism increasingly on the industry agenda, experts foresee a mix of government regulation and incentivisation is on the cards to shepherd the green transformation …read more

Reef tourism operating according to a new purpose

Reef tourism operating according to a new purpose

A new tourist pontoon on the Great Barrier Reef offers far more than sunbeds and soft-drinks. Forty-five kilometres from Cairns, on Moore reef, the Reef Magic pontoon is solar and wind-powered; it has a working scientific laboratory and accommodation for scientists. Launched in April 2022, the pontoon signifies the new thinking in the region: the need …read more

James Rigby was an inaugural Ramsay postgraduate scholar

James Rigby was an inaugural Ramsay postgraduate scholar

With bachelor’s degrees in law and economics from the University of Queensland and a University medal under his belt, James Rigby looked further afield for his postgraduate study, choosing a Bachelor of Civil Law at Oxford University as the course that best suited his interests. Recognised as one of the world’s leading master’s degrees in common …read more

Hiring more women is one answer to the employment crunch

Hiring more women is one answer to the employment crunch

Australia’s male-dominated supply chain and logistics industry is currently dealing with a workforce crunch exacerbated by limited range of a large proportion of the workers: mostly aging men. Hermione Parsons, appointed Australian Logistics Council chief executive officer four months ago, is working hard to drag the industry into the modern age. She is gathering a team …read more

Cuie Wen of RMIT moved from aeronautics to biomedical technology

Cuie Wen of RMIT moved from aeronautics to biomedical technology

A much-awarded bio-materials scientist and a leader in the field of bio-medical technology, Cuie Wen began her academic career at the institution then called the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, but she long ago shifted her gaze from aeroplanes to the human body. Now a professor of bio-materials engineering at RMIT, she says that as …read more