Research Strengths

Appointment of inaugural CQUniversity Engaged Research Chair

All year I’ve been saying that 2011 is going to be the year of research at CQUniversity.

The University has recently acquired the former CSIRO facilities across the road from our Rockhampton campus – now known as the Central Queensland Innovation and Research Precinct – and I am extremely proud to announce the next exciting development toward making a marked change in the way we conduct our research.

A new CQUniversity site in Adelaide, the Appleton Institute , will be a hub for South Australian research talent, beginning with the appointment of Adelaide-based researcher Professor Drew Dawson as CQUniversity’s inaugural Engaged Research Chair. A national leader in human factors and safety research,Drew and his team at the Human Factors & Safety Research Centre will help to establish a strong, credible and locally relevant presence for CQUniversity in South Australia.

This is not just about expanding CQUniversity’s geographic footprint – it really is about CQUniversity leveraging the best research talent in the nation, to address issues that have a direct impact on the communities we serve.

The Human Factors and Safety Research Centre is considered a world leader in the field of sleep research, with expertise in the areas of human sleep, biological rhythms, sleep disorders, workplace fatigue and risk management. While Drew and his team have a broad focus – including extensive research across the aviation, rail and health industries – the benefits of more widely applying this research to the booming resource sector in Central Queensland are clear.

I am pleased we had the opportunity to acknowledge CQUniversity’s first Vice-Chancellor, the late Dr Arthur Appleton, with the naming of the Appleton Institute. Dr Appleton had strong ties to South Australiathrough his role as Head of Metallurgy at the South Australian Institute of Technology (now UniSA). The Appleton Institute will occupy the site of the former Royal District Nursing Service headquarters inWayville and will house a state-of-the-art sleep laboratory and cognitive performance facility. My thanksgo to the team at Facilities Management for sourcing this wonderful property.

I’m sure you will all join with me in welcoming Drew and his team, including lead researchers Associate Professor Sally Ferguson and Associate Professor Greg Roach, to the CQUniversity community. Further details about the Centre’s work will be shared in the near future.

CQUniversity has plans to recruit up to 10 Engaged Research Chairs to guide our research output over thenext five years and beyond. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Jennelle Kyd and Chad Hewitt for their hard work and commitment to this recruitment campaign and for the assistance provided by the Marketing Directorate in spreading the word to potential recruits.