The Northern Branch of the Royal Society of Tasmania invites you to a public lecture by Tanya Ringuet, at 1.30pm, on Sunday 26 November 2023, in the Meeting Room, QVMAG, Inveresk, Launceston.

Admission is free for members of the Royal Society of Tasmania, and members of the Geological Society of Australia. General admission – $6. Students, QVMAG or TMAG Friends, and members of the Launceston Historical Society – $4. Full Covid vaccination and the wearing of face masks are highly desirable.

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The Big Picture design for learning is centred around students learning through personal interests, with an emphasis on real-world learning with expert mentors in the community. The International Big Picture Learning Credential puts the ‘person’ back into educational assessment so that young people exiting schooling do so with a rich, customised portrait of their abilities that offers meaningful, accessible information to end-users in the wider community, while allowing students significant agency in the way they are represented.

Tanya Ringuet has over 30 year’s experience as an educator and school leader. Based in Launceston, she is currently seconded to Big Picture Learning Australia as the International Big Picture Learning Credential Coordinator and Big Picture School Coach (Tas). Her role involves overseeing credentialing processes for students within the global Big Picture Learning network. Committed to maintaining the validity and integrity of the credential, Tanya is part of a team that contributes significantly to the network’s objective of empowering students for a dynamic future.

The presentation will explore opportunities and technologies to facilitate decarbonisation of industrial systems through integration of renewable energy supply, storage and utilisation in practical commercial and industrial value chains.

Dr David Harris is a Chief Research Consultant with CSIRO Energy, based in Brisbane, and led CSIRO’s national low emissions and hydrogen-based energy research programs for more than 25 years. He now leads the development of major industrial-scale programs and projects across multi-sector energy value and supply chains, focusing on supporting demonstration and deployment of practical energy technologies that enable large scale renewable energy production, storage, transport, and utilisation.

The Northern Branch of the Royal Society of Tasmania, invites you to two public lectures by PhD candidates Misha Anstari and Stan Kaine, at 1.30pm on Sunday 22 October 2023. The lecture will be held in the Meeting Room, QVMAG, Inveresk, Launceston.

Admission is free for members of the Royal Society of Tasmania. General admission – $6. Students, QVMAG or TMAG Friends, and members of the Launceston Historical Society – $4. Full Covid vaccination and the wearing of face masks are highly desirable.

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Misha Anstari will discuss how regular exercise is key to preventing and managing type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) as it improves blood glucose control. However compliance to exercise is poor. Eccentric exercise, which involves the muscle lengthening under load is less metabolically demanding on the body,  and may be an attractive alternative to conventional exercise. This research investigates the use of downhill walking (eccentric exercise) on the management of blood glucose control and other health-related parameters.

Misha is a professional physiotherapist who is currently pursuing her Ph.D. at the University of Tasmania. Her research is centered around the use of eccentric exercise to manage blood glucose levels in individuals with type 2 Diabetes mellitus. She earned her Bachelor’s and Post-professional Physiotherapy degrees in Pakistan, where she also worked as a clinical therapist and taught before starting her Ph.D. program at UTAS.

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Stan Kaine will discuss how, in a data driven world, access to up-to-date sea state information that could affect vessel safety is paramount. Research is being undertaken to convert the six degrees of vessel accelerations into sea state to allow unsafe situations to be avoided by both the vessel capturing the data and other ships transiting the area via AIS transmissions or the internet. Machine Learning is a key component in making this information available in near real time.

Stan founded a software development company, Point Duty, in 2004 with an initial mission to help track the flow of child abuse material over the internet and assist Law Enforcement to find the perpetrators. The company now has a broader data capture and analytics function.

Stan’s degree is in Computer Science, which when coupled to a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering and a Diesel Fitting Apprenticeship gives him a unique insight into boundaries between IT and the “Real World”.

Recent advances in the treatment of liver disease have seen previously incurable conditions effectively treated. However, the number of cases of fatty liver disease, hepatitis and liver cancer are increasing and predicted to do so for decades. Despite recent breakthroughs in diagnosis and treatment we are seeing increasingly more Australians die from liver disease especially in disadvantaged groups.

Professor Nicholas Shackel is a specialized hepatologist managing all aspects of adult liver disease. He has both a medical degree and a PhD with a track record in both basic and applied research, having trained at both the Australian National Liver Transplant Unit and Duke University in the USA. Prof Shackel has interests in the diagnosis and management of liver cancer, importance of nutrition in cirrhosis and the noninvasive assessment of liver disease severity.

The Northern Branch of the Royal Society of Tasmania, invites you to a public lecture by Dr Ian Kidd, at 1.30pm on Sunday 24 September 2023. The lecture will be held in the Meeting Room, QVMAG, Inveresk, Launceston.

Admission is free for members of the Royal Society of Tasmania. General admission – $6. Students, QVMAG or TMAG Friends, and members of the Launceston Historical Society – $4. Full Covid vaccination and the wearing of face masks are highly desirable.

Abstract

For many years since European settlement, the Tamar/kanamaluka has been seen as a unique system and management decisions were based on riverine science with dire consequences for estuarine health and sedimentation. Poor decision making and the paucity of knowledge/science continued into this century in what must surely be a classic Dunning-Kruger scenario. With hysteresis now clearly evident, remediation requires a greater understanding to that which created the present state. Solutions to provide such remediation will be presented.

Dr Ian Kidd graduated from UTas (1980) with a BSc in physics. He worked in various roles from tutoring, the public service, to building, before completing a Graduate Diploma of Computing. He spent 20 years in the computer industry before assisting Prof Jenny Davis with research into the Tamar/kanamaluka. That assistance became an obsession and Ian completed a PhD on the topic of the Tamar estuary in 2017.

The Northern Branch of the Royal Society of Tasmania, in conjunction with the Tasmanian Branch of the Geological Society of Australia, invites you to a public lecture by Dr Michael Roach, at 1.30pm on Sunday 10 September 2023. The lecture will be held in the Meeting Room, QVMAG, Inveresk, Launceston.

Admission is free for members of the Royal Society of Tasmania. General admission – $6. Students, QVMAG or TMAG Friends, and members of the Launceston Historical Society – $4. Full Covid vaccination and the wearing of face masks are highly desirable.

Methods for generation of geometrically correct, three-dimensional, photorealistic, virtual models have developed rapidly in the last decade. These techniques are applicable at a wide range of scales and are very suitable for digitising both natural geological exposures and geological specimens. This presentation will outline methods for generation of 3D digital models and will showcase selected models from around Australia drawn from the AusGeol virtual library. The use of these 3D models, virtual tours, and new analysis software will be showcased for applications in geological education, geological research and public outreach.

Dr Michael Roach is a geophysicist and long term staff member in the discipline of Earth Sciences and CODES at the University of Tasmania. About 10 years ago Michael saw the potential for the application of emerging digital visualisation methods for geological education and research. Since then, he has pioneered the application of these techniques for teaching, research projects and public outreach.

The Northern Branch of the Royal Society of Tasmania invites you to a public lecture by Michael Attard, at 1.30pm on Sunday 27 August 2023. The lecture will be held in the Meeting Room, QVMAG, Inveresk, Launceston.

Admission is free for members of the Royal Society of Tasmania. General admission – $6. Students, QVMAG or TMAG Friends, and members of the Launceston Historical Society – $4. Full Covid vaccination and the wearing of face masks are highly desirable.

The City of Launceston owns and manages the second largest regional landfill in Tasmania. Recycling and reuse are major Council priorities to reduce the impact on the environment and operational costs This supports a circular approach to the purchase, use and reuse of materials. The presentation will explain how the Council goes about diverting valuable materials away from landfill through recovery projects. 

Michael Attard is the Team Leader for Sustainability at the City of Launceston. He is a waste and recovery professional working with the City of Launceston for the past seven years to lead and deliver sustainability outcomes for the organisation. He has a science background and has previously worked in diverse roles such as abalone hatchery manager, parasitology for Atlantic salmon, and ecosystem health assessment for Kanamaluka the Tamar Estuary.