GSA congratulates Dr Denise Harrison of the Royal Children’s Hospital on the successful completion of her large-scale statistical study on the effectiveness of giving sugar solutions to sick babies before painful procedures to reduce pain.  

The results have been widely reported this week in the world’s media: 
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/05/13/2898651.htm?section=justin

Denise’s preliminary research on the subject was the topic of her article in the first edition of GSA’s academic journal “Traffic”, for which she was awarded first prize in 2002.

Papers for this years’ edition of Traffic (Number 12): 'The Big Picture' have now closed.  Thankyou to all contributors.

"Universities live and breathe facts and fiction--they encourage us to have critical minds, to question what is known, and to imagine what might be. At the postgraduate level students often ask if current facts are fictions; use creative methodologies to create fiction; and establish new facts which may hen be challenged as fictionsin the future. This is the cut and thrust of academic life..."

Dr Ralph Hampson, Monash University (PhD Melbourne 2009)

23 November 2009 saw the launch of Traffic number 11 'Fact or Fiction' at the Gryphon Gallery in the University of Melbourne Graduate Centre. The Honourable Michael Kirby and Provost Professor John Dewar attended and spoke at the launch.

The winner of the Traffic prize of $1000 was Christian Clark from the School of Philosophy, Anthropology and Social Inquiry for his article "Knowledge, Numbers and the Northern Territory Intervention: Re-conceptualising Facts in Remote Indigenous Australia." The runner-up was Dr Madonna Grehan from the School of Health Sciences for "Heroes or Villains? Midwives, Nurses, and Maternity Care in Mid-Nineteenth Century Australia".

See our photo gallery here >

Click image to view launch invitation (PDF)

Michael Kirby will explain the differences we have had in the courts (including the High Court of Australia) concerning whether one can tell the difference between truth and falsehood by the impression of witnesses in the artificial circumstances of a court room. Or anywhere else for that matter. In recent years, the High Court has moved to reduce the previous confidence in the mystical judicial capacity to evaluation truth based upon impressions. Instead, it has insisted upon greater reliance on contemporaneous records, objective facts, and the internal logic of the circumstances.

A light snack and drinks will be provided at the seminar. Please RSVP to events@gsa.unimelb.edu.au if you wish to attend.

Traffic Style Guide

For any style issues not covered in the Traffic style guide see the Australian Government Publishing Service's Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers (6th ed.). Spelling and hyphenation should follow the Macquarie Concise Dictionary (3rd ed.).

Muse 4 Cover

Date: 04 March 2009
Time: 6 pm
Venue: Garage Cafe and Bar, 221 Berkeley St, Carlton (near the Alan Gilbert Building)
RSVP: publications@gsa.unimelb.edu.au