With a vision to be internationally recognised as a world leader in research, an innovator in contemporary education, and the source of Australia’s most enterprising graduates, Flinders University aspires to create a culture that supports students and staff to succeed, to foster research excellence that builds better communities, to inspire education that produces original thinkers, and to promote meaningful engagement that enhances our environment, economy and society. Established in 1966, Flinders now caters to more than 26,000 students and respectfully operates on the lands of 17 Aboriginal nations, with a footprint stretching from Adelaide and regional South Australia through Central Australia to the Top End.
There’s good evidence showing expectations to get better have significant effects on how patients suffering a variety of ailments feel. This is called the placebo effect from the original meaning in Latin…
Defence minister Stephen Smith has released the findings of a series of reviews into last year’s ADFA sex scandal and the culture of the defence force. The scandal revolved around an incident in March…
A major Japanese construction company, Obayashi Corporation, has announced plans to build a space elevator within 40 years, allowing people to be transported to space stations above the earth. The proposed…
Last week the world became a very scary place for television host Yumi Stynes when she quipped that Victoria Cross recipient Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith, looking buffed, ripped and tattooed in a public…
A much-anticipated review of Australian school funding, spearheaded by businessman David Gonski, was handed to the Gillard government today. We asked Australian education experts to respond to the report’s…
Marcello Costa is a co-founder of “Friends of Science in Medicine”, an organisation established to campaign against university health-care courses that are not adequately supported by scientific evidence…
In the past six months, it seems something has fallen from the sky every second minute. In September, the UARS satellite re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere, causing a media frenzy. In October, the German…
A video has emerged (WARNING: graphic content) depicting US Marines urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters. Afghan President Hamid Karzai had led criticism of the Marines, while US defence secretary…
Some years ago while researching for my book on suicide in Australia, I thought it would be interesting to begin the book with a case study of the first recorded settler suicide in Australia. It did not…
A quiet but significant conversation about caring started across all levels of government and parts of the non-government sector this year. It emanates from two key reports from the Productivity Commission…
Widespread sleep deprivation is driving police into rage, danger, and incompetence, with chronically fatigued officers self-reporting high rates of uncontrolled anger towards suspects and citizens, serious…
The notebooks of Sir Isaac Newton, who was famously reported to have suffered a (scientifically) earth-shaking blow to the head from an apple, are being scanned and published online by the University of…
The Federal Government’s 2011-12 Budget includes $222.4 million for a national rollout of Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centres (EPPICs), but a recent survey has found that almost 60% of…
Remember globalisation? It’s not a term that’s much in vogue any more. Here at Flinders University, our globalisation program closed down last year. But if you were around in the 1980s and 1990s, you might…
Defence Minister Stephen Smith has announced the Australian Defence Force will open up full employment opportunities for women. In a decision made by Cabinet on Monday night, with the full support of the…
Media stories about crime and grief often centre on the concept of “closure”. It’s assumed families affected by crime or loss need to achieve closure and can’t begin the grieving process until the perpetrator…
Does the ABC’s new hit series At Home With Julia demonstrate an unreconstructed sexism in Australian political satire? Should we be cringing at our cultural immaturity again? If the 2010 Election (or subsequent…
Ten years ago, nineteen young Muslims commandeered passenger jets and killed themselves, taking with them 2973 people to the inferno of fire. Since the 9/11 attacks, suicide bombings have become a staple…
Every few weeks or months we see another outbreak of the potentially deadly legionella bacteria. Today, it’s a regional South Australian hospital, where 36 aged residents have been exposed to a contaminated…
Most people believe normal, healthy sleep should be long and uninterrupted from start to finish. Well, guess what? They’re wrong. This erroneous public perception of sleep was apparent in survey studies…
Research Associate, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University