Newsworthy & Interesting

December 2005

College Down Under is now Campus Down Under

Bond MBA students going for another world champ title

A Bond University Executive MBA team will represent Australia at the world renowned International Moot Corp Competition, following their dominating performance at the inaugural John Heine Entrepreneurial Challenge (JHEC) - Australia's premier business planning competition.

The talented team of four swept the stage at the JHEC (formerly Moot Corp Australia) this past weekend, being judged Overall Winner in addition to winning the Academic Advisor's award and the 60-second “elevator pitch” competition.

Bond University MBA students Drew Blaxland, Veronica Boulton, Laurie Martyn and Daniel Noordzy presented their Nudleman business plan to a panel of venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and CEOs, out-shining the other four finalist teams from the Queensland University of Technology, Monash, Deakin and Swinburne Universities to take top honours.

The team developed the Nudleman business concept to meet the needs of today's time-poor and health conscious population. Their brand promise of high quality, fast served Asian-style meals is characterised by a sixty-second preparation time and widespread point of sale through mobile Noodle Vending Units (NVUs).

Academic Advisor to the team and Bond University Teaching Fellow Baden U'Ren said it was the team's real-world approach and practical business nous that helped them stand out from the rest.

“The judges stated that out of all the contestants, Nudleman had the best overall business vision. They said they believed it was a viable business opportunity and had the capacity to make money,” Mr U'ren said.

“Unlike most of its competitors, the Nudleman concept didn't rely on disruptive proprietary technology; rather, it was the result of clever branding leveraging the unique characteristics of the product and the practical application of the team's business knowledge,” he said.

As Overall Winners of the John Heine Entrepreneurial Challenge the team received $10,000 in seed money to assist in developing the business, as well as $15,000 to cover the expenses of representing Australia in the International Moot Corp Competition.

Held annually at the University of Texas in the United States, the Moot Corp International Challenge attracts entries from 30 of the world's best business schools. It is touted as the “The Super Bowl of World Business-Planning Competitions” and offers the largest guaranteed prize of any student contest in the world (US$180,000).

This won't be the first time Bond University will represent Australia in the prestigious contest. The university has a reputation as the most consistent performer in the international challenge, having previously championed over the likes of Harvard, Stanford and UCLA to be record three-time world champions.

Business Faculty Dean Professor Garry Marchant attributes the success of Bond's MBA students to the intensely practical nature of the program.

“Too many MBA programs focus on abstract scientific theory at the expense of actual business practice. Business is not a science,” Professor Marchant said.

“The point of difference with Bond's MBA Program is that it focuses on real-life situations and uses experiential learning to build an understanding of the impact management decisions can have on the running of a business.

“We have designed our MBA to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship in our students, and I think our strong record of success in competitions like the international Moot Corp Challenge signifies that we are doing this well.

“I commend The John Heine Entrepreneurial Challenge for providing a forum for students to experience the real venture capital raising process as they launch and manage their own businesses,” he said.

School of Medicine gets international recognition

Bond University has made an international name for itself in the arena of acute respiratory research, having recently been awarded two prestigious grants from the British National Health Service (NHS).

Competition for the 15 NHS grants – valued at £5,000 each – was strong, with over 57 nominations from 29 Cochrane Review Groups globally. Bond University says that by winning two of the strongly contested incentive payments it will be able to enhance its work in the vital clinical area of acute respiratory infections.

“This represents half of all grants awarded to Australian applicants, and is a tribute to the vision and international relevance of the work being done by the Cochrane Acute Respiratory Infections Group here at Bond University,” said Professor Chris Del Mar, Dean, Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine and Head of the research group.

The grants are part of the NHS's mandate to update Cochrane systematic reviews, relating to evidence-based medicine. Cochrane Review Groups from Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy and Norway were also recipients of the incentive payments.

Professor Chris Del Mar, said the grants would assist the group's research on antibiotics for a sore throat and methods for preventing and treating influenza A in adults.

“Our research capability here at Bond is now being recognised on a world-stage, and we are proud to be representing Australia as recipients of such a prestigious research grant,” he said.

News of the NHS grant comes in addition to the recent awarding of a £3000 grant ($6,700 AUD) to Bond's Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI) Group from the international Cochrane Collaboration's Discretionary Fund, with the aim of ensuring the Collaboration is well positioned to respond to a possible avian influenza or ‘bird flu' outbreak.

The £3000 grant was the maximum possible award per single application and put Bond University in the company of the likes of Oxford University and The University of Liverpool.

The work of the Bond University Cochrane ARI Group is currently funded with the support of a grant from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.

Film & TV Students rack up more awards

Bond students and graduates of the Centre for Film & Television (ranked in World top 10) continue to excel on the world stage, scooping numerous awards at prestigious international film festivals, including Festcine in Spain and the strongly contested Spirit on Screen awards in New Zealand.

Closer to home, the success continued at the Annual Australian Cinematographers' Society Awards, where talented Bondies scooped no less than five awards. Congratulations to all.

Festcine, Spain: “Periodic Reproduction” wins Best Production award and Third Overall

A Bond University film entry - “Periodic Reproduction” - conceived, written and produced by Bond student and Teaching Fellow Alex Fischer, received the award for Best Production at Spain's international, invitational, film festival, Festcine, held in November.

Sponsored by the Gabarron Foundation and screening simultaneously in New York, Paris, Chicago, Vallellodid, Mexico City, Lisbon and Buenos Aires, Festcine featured the best work from 12 university film schools world-wide, with Bond's Centre for Film, Television and Screen-based Media the only Australian invitee.

As well as the Best Production Award, “Periodic Reproduction” was awarded third place in the Best Film category. Alex is a doctoral student and Teaching Fellow in the Centre, and his production team included students and graduates of Bond University. Director Jordan Barrow, a 2003 graduate, is currently working for MTV in Los Angeles.

Spirit on Screen, New Zealand: “Life on Mars” wins three Awards

Produced by 2004 graduate Daniel Lake and written and directed by current students Matthew Clayfield and Austin Andrews respectively, “How My Next Door Neighbour Discovered Life on Mars” took top honors in three categories at the “Spirit On Screen” film awards in Invercargill, New Zealand.

“Life on Mars” was awarded Best Actor, Best Short Film and Best Student Film, and over $5000 in prize money.

Ranked as New Zealand's premier short film festival, Spirit on Screen attracted a strong field of entries so Daniel, Matthew and Austin and the many other Bond students and graduates involved deserve congratulations.

Australian Cinematographers' Society (ACS) Awards, Brisbane, 2005: Five awards to Bondies

Four Bond graduates and students received awards at the annual ACS awards ceremony held in Brisbane last month. Film and TV Alumnus Jan Reichle won two cinematography awards for corporate productions he produced for Gold Coast production company Blizzard Media (of which he is a Company Director), while Alumni Matt Weston and Wotin Cai were also recognised, for their respective films “How My Next Door Neighbour Discovered Life on Mars” and “Rocket Science 2 (Directed by Alumni Chris O'Kelly and Manolo Andrade Gorab)”. Bond Masters student Dominic Meunch also won an award for his Cinematography and Lighting 2 assignment, “Sext Lingerie”.

Student Short Film "Dead Shift" accepted to numerous festivals

Bond student short film "Dead Shift' has been accepted into around 12 festivals worldwide, and hopefully this award is the first of many.

"Dead Shift" will also screen in the "New York City Horror Film Festival"...America's premier genre film festival.  "Dead Shift" has a high probability of being picked up by the "Horror Network",a soon-to-air US genre cable channel...as it is a major sponsor of the festival, along with "Dark Castle Entertainment".

TV Student Commercials aired on Channel Nine.

Three television commercials produced by Bond students will screen on television as part of the “Good Morning Australia” show. The commercials were produced in the subject “Television Commercial Production” coordinated by Brian McDuffie. The commercials were produced for the company Good Dog Mortgages which acted as client and met the costs of production.

Famous Film Directors on Campus - Bruce Beresford & Richard Franklin

Both these directors were part of the original "new wave" of Australian film directors in the 1970's and both have worked extensively in Australia and the USA.

Mr Beresford's directing credits include Double Jeopardy, Paradise Road, Black Robe (AFI Award for best Cinematography to Peter James), Driving Miss Daisy (Academy Award for Best Film of 1989, and best actress Jessica Tandy), Crimes of the Heart Academy Award nomination for Sissy Spacek who also won the golden Globe in the same category), Tender Mercies (Academy Awards to actor Robert Duvall and screenwriter Horton Foote, and Academy Award nomination to Beresford for best director), Puberty Blues, The Club, Breaker Morant (Academy Award nomination for best screenplay of 1979),and the Adventures of Barry McKenzie (and many more)

Mr Franklin's directing credits include Visitors, Brilliant Lies, Hotel Sorrento, FX2, Cloak and Dagger, Psycho 2, Road Games (and more).

Australia's #1 Security Chief talk at Bond

The Director-General of National Security and Head of Australia's Domestic Spy Agency - ASIO Paul Sullivan is came to Bond to give a talk on Terrorism -- Espionage -- Domestic Political Violence. This lecture is part of the Australian Government + Politics Course and was very well received by students.

High Court Judge speaks at Bond

High Court Justice of Australia Callinan recently visited the campus .His Honour gave an interactive presentation. Staff and students were allowed to ask questions at the conclusion of his Honour's presentation. This was an extremely rare opportunity to meet and see the High Court Judge.

Top Journalist speaks at Bond

Michael Gordon was the first journalist to gain unrestricted access to the refugee detention centre on the tiny island of Nauru, the centrepiece of the Australian government's Pacific Solution. He examines how ordinary Australians forced the Howard Government to drop the harsher elements of its border protection policy. And, as the pressure grows back in Australia for a policy change, he assesses the costs, in human and financial terms, of the Pacific Solution. He will also be fielding questions on the new anti-terrorism laws and how they will impact upon free speech and reportage.

New 'School of sustainable development' proposal

The University Council reviewed a submission in relation to the creation of a School of Sustainable Development.

Council noted that most of the world's population in this century will be living in large urbanised regions and that this will present enormous challenges in minimising environmental damage and maintaining social cohesion. Economic development is sought by societies not only to satisfy basic material needs, but also to provide resources to improve the quality of life in other directions, meeting the demands for health care, education and a good environment. The mission of a School of Sustainable Development would be to develop awareness, knowledge and understanding of the inter-relationships between planning practice, property development and environmental, social and economically sustainable design.

We are uniquely positioned at Bond University to deliver on this mission due to our location on the Gold Coast, the fastest growing region in Australia and the perfect living laboratory for sustainable development experiments, and our strong multi-disciplinary focus and history which enables us to provide a unique blend of programs in planning, property, project management, design and sustainability, building on the existing high quality programs already offered by Bond University.

College Surfing Competition update

Last week 4 dedicated members of the Bond University Surfing Club competed at Famous Bells Beach, Victoria, in the Australian University Surfing Championships. Business student and Surfing Club President Danny Bycroft was joined by fellow Business students Tim Lewis and Danny Gonzalez and Film & TV student Charlie Smith. The competition was spread over 5 days during week 12 and was contested by university teams from all over Australia.

Congratulations to Danny Bycroft who took Bronze in the men's Body board event while each of the other 3 competitors reached quarter-finals in their respective events including standup and Long board.

Record Number of Bond Teams in Australian University Games

In less then 2 weeks, Bond will send a record 9 teams to the Australian Uni Games, which will be held in Brisbane during week 3. For the first time we have 9 teams competing which should produce our best ever result at an AUG.

Congratulations and good luck to the following teams; AFL (Australian football), Badminton (M & W), Basketball (M), Beach Volleyball (W), Mixed Netball, Rugby, Ultimate Frisbee and Mens Waterpolo.