今日吃瓜 Winter School 2016 was held in July at the University of Queensland for the eleventh consecutive year. As one of 今日吃瓜’s flagship higher鈥恊ducation events, the Winter School enabled participants to expand their skills while broadening and deepening their mathematical knowledge.
The School was opened by 今日吃瓜 Deputy Director Professor Markus Hegland (Australian National University) at the Science Learning Centre, with warm words of inspiration and motivation welcoming the 45 attendees to the University of Queensland and the advanced program of biological and environmental modelling. Well鈥恊stablished senior researchers from around Australia and New Zealand, continuing the Winter School鈥檚 traditional high standard of attracting leaders in their field to the event, delivered four courses over the intensive two鈥恮eek program, focused on biological modelling in Week One and environmental modelling in Week Two.
Attendees appreciated and enjoyed being exposed to fields and topics outside their specialist area, including the opportunity to share their own research through the Participant Talk feature in the program. Professor Hugh Possingham鈥檚 Public Lecture 鈥淚s Science Any Use for Saving Species and Habitat?鈥, supported by BrisScience, was a particular highlight of the School, discussing the value of collecting and monitoring information for achieving nature鈥恈onservation outcomes by asking whether some topics of research are more useful than others, and whether utility should factor into decisions about research funding. This event attracted national media interest, and was fully subscribed over a week before the event was held at the State Library of Queensland鈥檚 The Edge.
