Issue 15 – July 2015
From the Associate Dean Research Early in 2014 the Faculty of Built Environment set in place a formal process to identify research areas to prioritise for future investment. This exercise came on the back of our having drafted a new faculty research plan for 2014-2016 which reiterated and recalibrated our aspirations for more and better research but required substantive areas on which to concentrate. A major catalyst at that time was the previous Vice Chancellor’s ‘spires’ initiative, a university-wide program to identify and back research winners across all faculties offering prospect of significant returns on investment. In March last year the faculty hosted an internal Research Futures Forum to hear and discuss ideas on possible topic areas/research initiatives in which the Faculty might invest in some way. This proved a productive workshop with a range of opportunities being flagged, some of which remain relevant and have continued to be pursued by individuals and groups most directly concerned, such as our research clusters. But out of that event and subsequent deliberations and investigations two BE-led ventures were identified as major research priority areas: urban informatics (developing on the potential of urbanbuilding analytics) and design technology research and teaching (picking up on the area of architectural science). Both these areas were seen as strongly supportive of the ‘sustainable cities’ spire identified by the VC. Assessment of the feasibility and desirability of developing both areas as research targets proceeded and on 1 July 2014 the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research) was briefed on our plans to seek the university funding to help support these areas. We continued to develop plans on both fronts, but initially targeted urban informatics where the strong nexus with the City Futures Research Centre provided a firm foundation and the need to move quickly was paramount. A formal submission made in late November 2014 proved successful and was the basis for our hiring Professor Chris Pettit (ex-University of Melbourne) who commenced as our Professor of Urban Science in May this year. We will move to make two supportive research appointments later this year. Meanwhile, work proceeded with developing and refining what we called the ‘High Performance Architecture’ initiative as the basis of a second submission to the DVC(R) and the University’s executive. Key drivers of this exercise were the desire to uplift our capabilities in design science and technology that had been an historic strength of faculty research since the 1970s alongside a parallel review of new directions for the professional teaching curriculum in Architecture. Two weeks ago we learnt that this second submission had also been successful. It entails a significant investment by the University to fund several academic positions for both research-teaching academics and postdoctoral research fellows. The Faculty itself has committed funding to complement what will represent a transformative investment of our research and teaching capacity in Architecture. More details will be made available as the recruitment process unfolds.
Both these initiatives will need to be bedded down over the new few years. But we need to ensure we have a long term view and later this year we will have another Research Futures Forum to help identify new strategic opportunities and priorities for the future.
Rob Freestone Associate Dean Research
Research Highlights Reminder: Annual SAHANZ Conference Comes to UNSW The Faculty of Built Environment is hosting the annual conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand (SAHANZ) from 7-10 July this year. The theme of the conference is ‘Architecture, Institutions and Change’. All faculty staff members and postgraduate research students are warmly invited to attend. Registrations are now open and a link to the online registration portal can be found within the conference website. (A day rate is available). The conference website also contains an outline of the conference theme, the conference program, information about the conference tours and biographies of the two keynote speakers. Part of the conference program is the Utzon Lecture to be delivered by Professor Dell Upton on the evening of Wednesday 8 July. As usual, this lecture is open to all faculty staff, students and friends and it would be a great opportunity to join the conference community and to enjoy Professor Upton’s lecture in the surrounds of the Eternity Playhouse, winner of the 2014 AIA Lachlan Macquarie Award for Heritage and the 2014 National Trust Award for Adaptive Re-Use (Government/Corporate). The conference is being organised by members of the Faculty’s Urban Typologies Research Cluster along with colleagues from the University of Sydney. Please feel free to contact either Dr Paul Hogben or Dr Judith O’Callaghan if you would like further information.
Volunteers Needed for Bathroom Design Research The Enabling Built Environments program is looking for elderly volunteers to assist them with their research into bathroom design. If you have an elderly relative 85 years or older, who lives within a 30km radius of UNSW, they may be able to help shape the future designs of bathrooms for older people. More information...
Meet the Researchers – Ainslie Murray I am a Lecturer in the Architecture discipline and I’ve been at UNSW since 2005. I studied Architecture at the University of Adelaide and worked in exhibition and museum design prior to academia. I completed my PhD in Visual Art in 2011 at Sydney College of the Arts by creative practice and thesis. I’ve been co-convener of the Design Collaboration Research cluster since May 2015. My research is practice-led with an orientation to the visual arts, and is focused on intangible aspects of architectural space. Through my practice I strive to draw attention to aspects of architectural space and experience that are invisible, overlooked and habitual. My PhD thesis explored aspects of walking
and repetitious movement in relation to atmosphere, and in more recent projects I’ve investigated architectural space in relation to air and water quality. My practice is highly collaborative and I often work with other researchers to present research visually or spatially in order to engage a broader audience. Current projects include projects with connections across choreography, performing art, electronic music, spatial ecology and fluid mechanics. One current project, supported by a 2014 Faculty ECR grant, investigates atmosphere, ecology and breath through the work of Japanese architect Kengo Kuma. In this work I’ve collected original video footage from three Kuma buildings in Shanghai, Tokyo and Aix-en-Provence and developed a ninescreen projection that will be shown in a variety of settings through 2015 and 2016. My output encompasses interactive performative works, large–scale spatial installations, textiles, drawings and paintings. I’ve recently shown work at UNSW Galleries, the Australian Tapestry Workshop, Australia Square, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University and RMIT Gallery. I’ve won a range of grants over the years including numerous Faculty Research Grants, New Work Grants from the Australia Council, and grants from the National Association for Visual Arts.
BE Research in the News Hal Pawson: Victoria Considers Introducing 10 year Rental Leases. ABC Radio, The World Today, 25 June 2015. Listen to or read story. Hal Pawson: Is it Time to Recast the Great Australian Dream? ABC Radio, 612 Queensland, 24 June 2015. Listen to interview. Hal Pawson/Bill Randolph/Viv Milligan: Tackling Housing Unaffordability: A 10-point national plan. The Conversation, 24 June 2015. View article. Hazel Easthope: Speaking With: Hazel Easthope on designing for high density living. The Conversation, 19 June 2015. View article. Bill Randolph: The 50 Most Expensive Suburbs to Rent a Room in Australia. Sydney Morning Herald/Domain, 18 June 2015. View article. Bill Randolph: A Fresh Lens on Housing Unaffordability – Fixing the problem. City Futures Blog, 18 June 2015. View article Chris Martin: Slumlords are the Last Rung of the Shelter Ladder. Sydney Morning Herald, 17 June 2015. View article. Bill Randolph: A Fresh Lens on Housing Unaffordability – The problem and its causes. City Futures Blog, 16 June 2015. View article Chris Martin: Abbott, Hockey and Housing. City Futures Blog, 15 June 2015. View article Bill Randolph: Stamp Duty: Baird government raises $5 billion as housing affordability crisis escalates. Sydney Morning Herald, 13 June 2015. View article. Martin Loosemore: Social Enterprises Can Help Drive Social, Economic Growth. Sourceable Industry News, 2 June 2015. View article Chris Martin: Senate Report on Affordable Housing: Landmark or lost opportunity? City Futures Blog, 28 May 2015. View article Bill Randolph: Sex for Rent: The seedy underbelly of Australia’s housing affordability crisis. Sydney Morning Herald, 20 May 2015. View article.
Bill Randolph: Sydney is Turning into a Ghetto as Poor are Trapped by Fewer Jobs and Rising Housing Costs. Sydney Morning Herald, 10 May 2015. View article. Bill Randolph: Sydney’s Rich and Poor: The rising crisis in our suburbs. Sydney Morning Herald, 10 May 2015. View article. Bill Randolph: Gen Y’s Property Hopes a Paradox: Report. Sydney Morning Herald/Domain, 7 May 2015. View article. Bill Randolph: Classic Red-Brick House in Eastwood Soars $200,000 Over Reserve at Auction. Sydney Morning Herald/Domain, 2 May 2015. View article.
Have you have had your research mentioned in the media recently? Send details to Toni Hodge for inclusion in the next newsletter.
News from the Centres CITY FUTURES RESEARCH CENTRE The Centre has just published its quarterly newsletter updating on their recent updates including announcement of the release of a book co-edited by Susan Thompson, The Routledge Handbook of Planning for Health and Well-Being. This international compendium on planning for health and well-being includes contributions from BE staff including Robert Freestone, Linda Corkery and PhD candidate Louise McKenzie. Featured in the book are theoretical, historical and philosophical perspectives plus the latest research on how planners can help to create environments that support healthy living. Case studies from developing and developed countries, including Australia, conclude the book. Reviews by luminaries contain an exciting endorsement from none other than Kevin McCloud of ‘Grand Designs’ fame. Two new positions to support the urban analytics program, under Chris Pettit’s leadership, are now being advertised. A Research Fellow in Urban Modelling and Simulation and a Research Associate in Urban Data Analytics and Visualisation can both be found on the Jobs@UNSW page. The Centre has also launched a new blog to discuss “all manner of things to do with housing and cities”. Housing affordability is the subject of some of the first posts from Director Bill Randolph.
HDR News Graduating Students Congratulations to the following HDR candidates who have recently completed their degrees. These students will be attending the November Graduation to accept their awards: • • •
Sian Thompson (MPhil), supervised by Hazel Easthope and Gethin Davison; Rui Wang (PhD), supervised by Sid Newton and Russell Lowe; David Marchant (PhD), supervised by Jim Plume and Harry Margalit;
We wish them well in their future research endeavours.
Events st
1. The next monthly cohort workshop for 2015 is scheduled for Wednesday July 1 at 11am in the AGSM room (2001). The DPGR will be attending and all HDR students are encouraged to come along to contribute their ideas and opinions. th
2. Social Night Out: Friday 24 July – STRIKE BOWLING th The cohort will get together on the evening of Friday 24 July for some good old fashioned fun. A game of bowling plus Karaoke and Pool are on the agenda. The event will begin at 6:30 and conclude at midnight. 3. PGR Student Event : Save the date 27 July Professor David Gordon (Queens University, Canada) will be presenting to the HDR students on Tuesday 28 July on sustainable suburbs drawing on Canadian research. More details about the th event will be advised shortly. The monthly cohort meeting on the 5 of August has been cancelled and brought forward to accommodate this event.
University Updates UNSW Measure of Research Performance Trial Continues in 2015 The University has announced that preparations have begun on this year’s trial of the new research performance metrics. This measure was run for the first time in 2014 and BE staff will receive their individual result for that year in their upcoming annual research performance summaries. This year’s exercise will mark the end of the trial period and at the conclusion of the process, later this year, the effectiveness of the metrics will be reviewed in consultation with all Faculties.
Upcoming BE Events BE Research Seminar
Reform Options on Investor Landlord Negative Gearing Tax Concessions Prof Richard Holden, UNSW Business School
Wednesday 22 July 2015; 12.00pm, Rm 4035, Red Centre Details being confirmed – watch your inbox for further information. More information and to register.
BE Research Seminar
Is Australia a Suburban Nation? Prof David Gordon, School of Urban and Regional Planning, Queen’s University, Canada
Wednesday 29 July 2015; 1.00pm (lunch from 12.45pm), Rm 2001 (AGSU), Red Centre Details being confirmed – watch your inbox for further information. More information and to register. Utzon Lecture
Varieties of Architectural Materialism Professor Dell Upton, University of California
Wednesday 8 July 2015; 6.30pm, Eternity Playhouse, 39 Burton St, Darlinghurst
Both the practice and the history of architecture are based on deeply materialist premises: that in some way, the physical environment affects, and can even be used to shape, human values and human behaviour. The carceral institutions of the Enlightenment, thrown into such disrepute by Michel Foucault, were built on materialist premises. Foucault’s reliance on Jeremy Bentham’s panopticon, however, has skewed our understanding of these building types, which in fact were more varied than scholars commonly recognize, and which were often built in explicit opposition to the panopticon type. Moreover, common spatial forms were often used for a variety of purposes. Professor Upton's talk will discuss a familiar form – the penitentiary – in an unfamiliar context: that of spaces designed for voluntary self-improvement in the first half of the nineteenth century, primarily in the United States. It will conclude by considering the twentieth-century legacies of these nineteenthcentury practices. More information and to RSVP.
Other Events Portraits of Practice: At Work in Architecture Exhibition Opening: Exhibition Dates:
Tin Sheds Gallery, University of Sydney
Friday 10 July 2015, 6.00 – 8.00pm 10 July – 11 September 2015
Maryam Gusheh is part of a 3-strong curating team for this exhibition honouring wormen’s contribution to architecture through two photographic series, which document architects and architectural workplaces. More information
RSVP to Opening
Women in Research Network (WiRN) UNSW’s Women in Research Network helps research active women, who are academic members of staff, connect with one another in order to form positive professional relationships. The network is guided by a Planning Group of women researchers and supported administratively by the Researcher Development Unit. More information and to join the network.
Research Training – Upcoming UNSW Events Introduction to Unix for HPC (HPC for Wimps) Monday 6 July 10.00am to Tuesday 7 July 4.00pm A repeat course by Intersect. High Performance Computing is a very powerful tool to use when facing computationally intensive tasks. If you are waiting hours or days for your computer to crunch through your data, this course is for you! It will enable you to use the HPC facilities available to the university through its support agencies such as Intersect and NCI. If you’re using one or more of a very broad range of applications currently supported, this should allow you to use the application you are familiar with to process your data much more quickly. More information and registration link.
Cleaning & Exploring Your Data with Open Refine Wednesday 8 July 2015; 10.00am – 12.30pm A repeat course by Intersect. Open Refine is a powerful free tool for exploring, normalising and cleaning up datasets. In this tutorial we'll work through the various features of Refine, including importing data, faceting, clustering, and calling into remote APIs, by working on a fictional but plausible humanities research project. More information and registration link. Data Visualisation with Google Fusion Tables Wednesday 8 July 2015; 2.00pm – 4.00pm A repeat course by Intersect. This two hour workshop introduces Google Fusion Tables and uses a practical example whereby participants create a "heat map" of NSW highlighting crime hotspots by drawing together geospatial data containing Local Government Area (LGA) boundaries together with NSW Crime statistics to illustrate the power of Fusion Tables. More information and registration link. Excel Fu Friday 10 July 2015; 9.30am – 5.00pm “Excel Fu” workshop runs over one day and comprises of a series of hands-on exercises and slidebased background material. Attendees will leave with two key skills – how to handle their research data within Excel, and how to use advanced features of Excel to answer research questions pertaining to their data. More information and registration link. Orientation to Research Tuesday 11 August 2015; 10.00am – 1.00pm This event provides academics new to UNSW an essential introduction to the Division of Research and identifies the critical services and broad support available. It includes a panel discussion and an opportunity to meet key Division of Research staff. To ensure a place please send an expression of interest to n.brun@unsw.edu.au to join the invitation list.
Publications The following 2015 research activities have been entered into ROS since the release of the last newsletter. Books Maier, G., & Herath, S. (2015). Immobilienbewertung mit hedonischen Preismodellen (1 ed.). Weisbaden, Germany: Springer-Verlag. doi:10.1007/978-3-658-02862-6 Book Chapters Pettit, C. J., Barton, J., Goldie, X., Sinnott, R., Stimson, R., & Kvan, T. (2015). The Australian Urban Intelligence Network Supporting Smart Cities. In S. Geertman, J. Ferreria, R. Goodspeed, & J. Stillwell (Eds.), Planning Support Systems and Smart Cities (pp. 243-259). Berlin: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-18368-8_13 Russo, P., Pettit, C. J., Costabile, F. M., & Lanzilotti, R. (2015). Usability of Planning Support Systems: An Evaluation Framework. In S. Geertman, J. Ferreira, R. Goodspeed, & J. Stillwell
(Eds.), Planning Support Systems and Smart Cities (pp. 337-353). Berlin: Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-18368-8_18 Whybrow, S., & Bridge, C. (2015). Accessibility Outcomes in Disaster Recovery - A Critical Concern, a Minimum Requirement or an Afterthought?. In N. Rusford, & K. Thomas (Eds.), Disaster and Development: an Occupational Perspective, 1st Edition (1st Edition ed., pp. 296 pages). Retrieved from http://store.elsevier.com/Disaster-and-Development-an-OccupationalPerspective/isbn-9780702040474/ Conference Papers Legacy, C., Liu, E. Y., & Davison, G. (2015). Delivering Social Housing: Examining the Nexus between Social Housing and the Urban Democracy Agenda. In European Network for Housing Research. Lisbon, Portugal. Conference Presentation Bridge, C. E. (2015, May 5). What housing works for people with a disability, and what do disabled clients want and need?. In NSW Housing Conference - Setting New Directions. Sydney. Journal Articles Freestone, R. (2015). The exhibition as a lens for planning history. Planning Perspectives, 30(3), 433446. doi:10.1080/02665433.2014.1002105 Barton, J. E., Goldie, X. H., & Pettit, C. J. (2015). Introducing a usability framework to support urban information discovery and analytics. Journal of Spatial Science, 1-17. doi:10.1080/14498596.2015.997315 Rodrigo, R. (2015). Making Public Pasts: Cultural Dialogue and Negotiation in Public Space. Landscape Review. Retrieved from http://journals.lincoln.ac.nz/index.php/lr/article/view/805/583 Sinnott, R. O., Bayliss, C., Bromage, A., Galang, G., Grazioli, G., Greenwood, P., . . . Widjaja, I. (2015). The Australia urban research gateway. Concurrency and Computation: Practice and Experience, 27(2), 358-375. doi:10.1002/cpe.3282 Pettit, C. J., Klosterman, R. E., Delaney, P., Whitehead, A. L., Kujala, H., Bromage, A., . . . Nino-Ruiz, M. (2015). The Online What if? Planning Support System: A Land Suitability Application in Western Australia. Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy. doi:10.1007/s12061-015-9133-7 Freestone, R., & Wiesel, I. (2015). Privatisation, property and planning: the remaking of Canberra Airport. Policy Studies, 36(1), 35-54. doi:10.1080/01442872.2014.981053
New Internal Grants Awarded Hazel Easthope/Edgar Liu Faculty Research Grant: $15,355. Multicultural Strata Living. Imriyas Kamardeen Faculty Research Grant: $14,544. Developing a Causality Model for Psychological Injuries in the Construction Industry. Imriyas Kamardeen Scholarship of Teaching & Learning Grant: $3,000 Personalizing learning in built environment education through “Digi Explanations� strategy
Ainslie Murray Early Career Research Grant: $13,281. Everyday Life in the Atmosphere: Collect and integrate data towards the development of a major creative work Judith O’Callaghan Faculty Research Grant: $13,066. Modern Living: Residential architecture and interiors in Sydney’s King’s Cross 1912-2016. Simon Pinnegar Scholarship of Teaching & Learning Grant: $3,000 Innovation and integration of teaching, learning and practice: the Bachelor of City Planning’s new work integrated learning Practice Year Bill Randolph/Hazel Easthope Faculty Research Grant: $9,784. Evidence for Best Practice Apartment Design and Development. Christine Steinmetz Scholarship of Teaching & Learning Grant: $3,000 Re-Thinking Skills for Planners: TELCO as a case study Lisa Zamberlan Scholarship of Teaching & Learning Grant: $3,000 A review of the BIA peer tutor program
Did You Know….? …. you can search for research funding through the SPIN research grant database? This database allows researchers to access details about potential funding sources, both local and overseas. The search engines enables you to tailor your searches and you can also set up email alerts according to your specifications. You can access the database simply by logging into InfoEd and then selecting Find Funding located in the top right hand corner of the home screen. .... if you present at a non-refereed conference you can still record it as an output in ROS? Invited or other types of conference presentations that don’t meet normal HERDC or refereed paper requirements can still be entered as an output in ROS. The category of “Conference Presentations” was provided for this purpose.
Current Faculty Funding Opportunities Visiting International Scholars This program aims to support short term stays in the Faculty by distinguished overseas scholars with the aim of encouraging research collaborations and production of research outputs Closing date:
24 July 2015
More information
Symposia/Exhibition Support Research symposia include workshops, conferences, and colloquia involving critical discourse around a single topic. Exhibitions can be both traditional physical and digital displays of creative work, with the intent of showcasing faculty research efforts ideally through a formal curated process Closing date:
24 July 2015
More information
Book Publication Subsidy This program is intended to provide financial support which makes possible the publication of scholarly monographs authored by BE staff by quality commercial publishers (HERDC-eligible books). Closing date:
24 July 2015
More information
Special Project Development Grants A new initiative in 2015, these grants support major research projects which will benefit from a strategic faculty contribution and which might otherwise not be supported through the faculty’s existing research support programs. Applications accepted throughout the year.
More information
Conference Funding Funding of up to $3,000 per annum, per person, is available assist academic staff to present papers at peak professional and academic conferences. The funding may be used to support any legitimate conference costs including registration, travel, accommodation and living expenses. Applications accepted throughout the year.
More information.
Other Funding/Research Opportunities ARC Future Fellowships The funding rules for ARC Future Fellowships are now available on the ARC website. Future Fellowships are 4 year awards for outstanding Australian mid-career researchers undertaking research in national priorities that will result in economic, environmental, social and/or cultural benefits for Australia. Applicants must have been awarded a PhD on or between 1 March 2000 and 1 March 2010. Note: If you are intending to apply for a Future Fellowship in this round please inform Toni Hodge so that appropriate mentoring support and communication channels can be put in place for you. Internal Closing Date: 21 July 2015
More information
Cité Residency, Paris – 2016 Applications are now open for academics and postgraduate research students in design and the visual and performing arts for the Cité Residency. An information forum is being held on 11 June from 1.00pm – 2.00pm in the Elwyn Lynn Conference Centre on the Art & Design Campus. Closing date: 24 July 2015
More information
Byera Hadley Travelling Scholarships Administrated by the NSW Architects Registration Board, these scholarships enable recipients to undertake a course of study, research, or other activity approved by the Board which allows the promotion and encouragement of education of students of and/or graduates in architecture. The scholarship must involve travel which may be overseas or within Australia. Applicants must be a student or graduate of a degree from an architecture school in a NSW university. Closing date: 31 July 2015
More information
Australian-American Fulbright Commission – Fulbright Senior Scholarships For senior level academics to undertake research at a US institution. Closing date: 1 August 2015
More information
Open Society Fellowships To support individuals pursuing innovative and unconventional approaches to fundamental open society challenges. A fellowship project might identify a problem that has not previously been recognised, develop new policy ideas to address familiar problems, off a new advocacy strategy. Project themes should cut across at least two areas of interest. Among these are human rights, government transparency, access to information and to justice, and the promotion of civil society and social inclusion. Closing date: 3 August 2015
More information
Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in Fine Arts The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts makes project-based grants to individuals and produces public programs to foster the development and exchange of diverse and challenging ideas about architecture and its role in the arts, culture, and society. Closing date: 15 September 2015
Related Links BE Research Resources UNSW Research
More information