Latest Story
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Five Ways to Flourish!
Clive Leach | March 29, 2010In February I attended the 2nd Australian Positive Psychology & Well-being Conference at Monash University. It was fascinating to learn more about the evidence-based practice being undertaken in these fields and how it is really beginning to influence social, economic, education, health and business policy. The key take-away for me however was from a presentation by Felicia Huppert from the University of Cambridge Well-being Institute.
Felicia talked about the recent research and work that has been done to define, measure and promote flourishing within the population. The findings add tremendous value to my work as a coach and facilitator but I believe they are equally relevant to parents, managers, teachers, workplace colleagues – in fact anyone who wants the very best for those around them!
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A Greenhouse Gas Trajectory Change-Enabler
Andrew Jones | March 29, 2010The Fifth World Urban Forum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was this week the location of the launch of the Global Greenhouse Gas Standard for cities, enabling a common approach for cities to calculate greenhouse gas emissions within their boundaries. The Standard was launched by UNEP, UN-HABITAT and the World Bank.
The Standard builds on a number of existing protocols and methodologies, including the WBCSD, ICLEI and IPCC, and a host of existing efforts by cities to estimate baseline emissions and apply emissions accounting tools.
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Harmony Day Celebrating Diverse Australia
Shaun Hazeldine | March 27, 2010Just how rich a multicultural society we are is borne out by official statistics: more than half of all Australians in the 2006 Census claimed non-Australian ancestry. Collectively, we speak more than 200 languages and come from about the same number of birthplaces.
Harmony Day, 21 March 2010 , was a day when people all over the country acknowledged the enormously valuable contribution of the many diverse cultures to the nation that is Australia today. Harmony Day coincides with the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
According to the last census, 24 per cent of the Australia population was born overseas, 40 per cent have one or both parents born overseas and over 60 per cent have at least two different ethnic origins. More than two million Australians (or about 14 per cent of those aged over five) speak a language other than English at home.
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UncategorisedSURVEY: UTS research Gov2.0 trials
editor | March 25, 2010If you have taken part in any online government consultation during the past year – state or federal – Open Forum and the University of Technology Sydney would like to hear about your experiences. Read more, or go straight to the quick survey.
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Diverse cultures strengthen Australia’s sporting culture
Melinda Turner | March 24, 2010Many people from migrant and refugee backgrounds are enthusiastic about sport and recreation. Like other Australians, they want to participate in a supported and structured way.
According to the key findings of the Sports Participation report published in 2005 by the Australian Bureau of Statistics people from culturally diverse backgrounds are two-thirds less likely to participate in sport than other Australians. This discrepancy can be attributed to cultural differences, a lack of awareness and, sometimes, the institutional attitudes of some sporting bodies.
This means many people are missing out on all of the health and social benefits of sport that others enjoy. It also means that at the both grassroots and elite level Australian sports are missing out on the greater participation rates and skills which people from culturally diverse backgrounds have to offer.
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Give us your views about online government consultation
jim.macnamara | March 23, 2010If you have taken part in any online government consultation during the past year – State or federal – Open Forum and the University of Technology Sydney would like to hear about your experiences.
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Make every day Harmony Day in your workplace
Dr Hass Dellal OAM | March 19, 2010The message of Harmony Day is "Everyone Belongs". Millions of Australians are employed in small to medium sized businesses, so yous SME workplace is a good place to start putting this philosophy into practice.
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Sharon from What’s for Dinner? takes the OZ SI Camp Changemaker Quiz
Sharon Lee | March 17, 2010Sharon Lee introduces her new project from OZ SI Camp, "What’s for Dinner?", in a quick Q& A.Had you ever entered a contest like this before?No, ASIX is my first.How much research did you do to find out if other people are already developing an idea like yours here or overseas?
Book Review: ‘Australian Sustainable Energy – by the numbers’, by Peter Seligman
Dr Gideon Polya | March 17, 2010Professor Peter Seligman is not alone in estimating that Australia can rapidly and relatively cheaply ($253 billion) achieve 100% sustainable energy.
Aequus Partners Workplace Flexibility Survey
Juliet Bourke | March 15, 2010Did a new “flexibility” normal get kick-started in the GFC?
If so, what could it mean for the workforce of the future as we move into recovery?
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics suggests that Australia experienced an overall drop in full-time hours and an increase in part-time hours in 2009, and media reports heralded the beginning of a four-day week.
The question is: were the 2009 employment statistics a short-term workplace adjustment, or did something change fundamentally? Did the GFC cause employees to question the rat-wheel we had been running on at an ever increasing pace? Did the GFC give employers an experience of the business benefits of flexibility and confidence that they could “do” part-time work, working from home and purchased leave?
Uncategorised1st National Pain Summit launched
editor | March 11, 2010In Canberra on 10 March 2010 The Hon. Nicola Roxon MP declared the first National Pain Summit open, remarking that "Given the breadth and importance of the topic it may be odd to outsiders that such a conference on such a topic has not been held before – but you are breaking new ground, as indeed we are by showing the leadership needed to stabilise and secure health investments for the future".
UncategorisedCongratulations Refugee Buddy
editor | March 11, 2010Last weekend 5-7 March 2010 was the innaugral OZ SI Camp. Congratulations to all the teams, with a special mention to the prize winners. In third place Emergent Reality’s initiative ISIS, or Interlocked Social Information Systems, from the collaboration that began as Citizen Driven Stats. In second place The 2 Bob’s Worth crew. And taking out first place was (drumroll) Refugee Buddy, sign up to be a buddy today at www.refugeebuddy.org
