er-office

The first breach in the Iron Curtain occurred along the Austro-Hungarian border in early May 1989. The collapse of Communism in Central Europe twenty years ago has transformed the region, while presenting it with both opportunities and challenges to the ongoing process of democratisation.

On Monday 16 November, the Austrian Embassy and the ANU National Europe Centre (NEC) joined efforts to launch the symposium After the Iron Curtain: Transitions and Transformations in Central Europe, 1989 -2009. Attendants from the federal government and the diplomatic and academic communities in Canberra filled the NEC auditorium.

Each year students from the Italian Studies Program in the School of Language Studies and the School of Art are encouraged to reflect upon the cultural aspects of the Italian language and culture.

The ‘Istituto Italiano Di Cultura Premio Italia’ Italian Prizes are aimed at fostering the students’ creative abilities. Students are invited to submit written compositions and artistic works based on a theme, as determined by the Worldwide Celebrations associated with the “Italian Language and Culture Week”, occurring in October each year. This year’s theme centered on Science, Art and Culture.

The best students’ works are awarded the ‘Istituto Italiano di Cultura Premio Italia’ Italian Prizes, provided by the Istituto di Cultura Italiana di Sydney (Italian Institute of Culture in Sydney).

On Monday 26 October the Australian Research Council (ARC) released the results of the latest round of Discovery and Linkage Applications.

ANU’s College of Arts and Social Sciences (CASS) performed extremely well. Seventeen Discovery Project (DP10) applications from the College were funded, along with two Linkage Project (LP10) applications and one Discovery Indigenous Researcher Development (DIRD) proposal.

The total value of the grants comes to around $5.8 million.

Additionally six postdoctoral fellowships and one professional fellowship were awarded.

The CASS success rate for Discovery Project (DP10) applications was just over 30%, compared with a national success rate of 22.7%.

Congratulations to Dr Susan West on receiving the prestigious ANU Vice Chancellor's Award for Community Outreach! This award recognises the excellence and dedication Susan has brought to her role as Convenor of the innovative Music Education Program at the ANU School of Music. The award will be presented by the Vice Chancellor Ian Chubb on the 12th November in the Great Hall, University House.