Students will have the opportunity to contribute to the development of a new digital product or service focused on health with the following theme: How can we harness modern technologies to improve the fitness and wellbeing of the Australian population?

This is an all-inclusive event requiring mixed skills from business development, digital, consulting, IT, finance, human resources, legal and marketing and is open to all students currently studying at Macquarie University. Go to the website for more information and to submit an idea.

Comprising of Ben Jackson, Amelia Taylor and Udai Kamath, Team Macquarie 1, remained undefeated for the entire tournament, winning the grand final on the topic: ‘That we regret the popularisation of performance and skills previously associated with sex work (eg. Pole Dancing, Burlesque Strip Tease)’.

Ben was also given the prize of Overall Best Speaker and Amelia was the third highest ranked novice. Our other team, Macquarie 2, were also successful in breaking to the out-rounds of the tournament, ranking equal 16th, but unfortunately lost the opportunity to further their victory by falling on the wrong side of the coin toss. MUDS President, Georgia Chahoud, competed as a judge, making it all the way through to the semi final. MUDS life members, Ryan Thalari and Daniel Dummer, also successfully broke as judges to the out-rounds of the tournament.

This is the first time Macquarie has won Easters, and is by far MUDS’s most successful tournament in recent history. Congratulations to the debaters and the society on their phenomenal achievement.

How can you get involved?
Come to our internals! We meet every Monday at 5.30pm at Ubar and then at 6pm we head to classrooms where we hold workshops and have practice debates. We encourage all skill levels and like to create an environment where people are free to voice their opinions as well as give people the ability to articulate themselves in the most effective way possible.

FameLab is a live science communication event where PhD students present their research in three minutes.

Vanessa is one of 12 finalists competing for the national title, which includes a $1000 prize and a trip to the UK to present at the international finals.

Vanessa’s research is revolutionising the way scientists collect health information from whales. Her project investigates the use of drones to collect health information from fre- swimming whales. Collection of whale blow/snot is done via a custom-built waterproof drone installed with a petri dish.

Previous methods to collect health information from whales came from those that washed up on a beach, in which case their health was compromised, or from those that were deliberately hunted. Current methods involve close boat approaches using a pole.

Australia’s Science Channel will livestream the event, so to watch Vanessa and the rest of the finalists in action, click for a preview here.

Click on the video here:

News just in (11 May): The British Council has congratulated  Vanessa for winning the national FameLab competition for her engaging presentation on her use of drones to collect whale snot. She will go on to represent Australia in the FameLab International finals in the UK. We contacted her shortly after her win to ask her about it.

FameLab is all about presenting your project in three minutes in a compelling way. What do you think won the judges over with your presentation?

It could have been a number of things but most likely my presentation met the FameLab criteria of the three C’s; content, clarity and charisma. They also judge your responses to questions.

How did you feel when you won?
I still can’t believe that I won! It took a few seconds to sink in. All the other competitors were amazing and I thought maybe one of the others was sure to have won first place.

When will you head to the UK to compete at the International FameLab 2018?
I  head there early June. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to share my research on a international stage. I am really excited.

Will you keep the presentation the same for the international competition?
Competitors in the international final have to have two versions of their talks. I will need to make some final tweaks to both talks in preparation for the final event. Thank you for your support with my FameLabAus experience.

You can keep updated on Vanessa Pirotta’s research by following her on twitter @VanessaPirotta

Register here for the Big Idea Social Enterprise Competition and get involved in an opportunity to build a business that contributes towards making a better world (and get program credit for it through PACE)!

Undergraduate students can enter the Big Idea Social Enterprise competition and receive credit towards their degree through PACE. The competition will run in Session 2, 2018 at Macquarie University. Eligible students will need to apply online by 1st June 2018.

Held in Macquarie’s new Finance Decision Lab, the competition challenged students to develop a $1 million portfolio of Australian small-cap equities and pitch this portfolio to a panel of academics and industry professionals. They also had to provide a sound investment thesis and evidence of quantitative analysis.

The challenge was organised by Macquarie and the University Network for Investing and Trading (UNIT) and proudly sponsored by FactSet and Aberdeen Investment Management.

Over 100 students registered for the initial round of the competition to compete for the grand prize, which is a chance to intern with FactSet, one of the Finance Decision Lab’s industry partners.

The top five teams made it through the challenging first round and were invited to present in the finale, which was judged by a panel of experts from FactSet, Aberdeen Investment Management and the Department of Applied Finance.

Each team provided sound economic background material, well-informed portfolio analytics and discussed intricate details of their selected portfolio. The judges asked gruelling questions which tested the contestants’ knowledge of their chosen macro-economic environment, investment thesis and individual equity picks.

“I was genuinely impressed by the quality of presentations on the night,” said Michelle Lopez of Aberdeen Investment Management. “The depth of analysis and confidence when presenting was a stand-out.”

Tom Ovnerud of FactSet also praised the students’ work and the value of the competition: “Congratulations to all those participants … for an impressive contribution which will no doubt set you up well for tangible experience entering the financial services industry.”

The winning team, Analytics, consisted of students Milind Lokhande, Aditya Srivastava and Arjun Suresh; and the runners-up team, Peter Lynch, included David Orsos, Max Tanaka and Pewiwei Zhhang.

Find out about how you can sign up for the next competition and more at the Finance Decision Lab.

Sport Scholar Esther Qin (pictured below right) won a gold medal at the women’s three-metre board synchronised diving event (with Georgia Sheehan, pictured below left) and a bronze medal in the women’s one-metre springboard final.

Esther and Georgia stepped up and nailed an inward two-and-a-half somersault to score 71.10 for a total of 284.10, which proved enough to win gold in the synchronized event.

The gold was Esther’s second at a Commonwealth Games, as she won the three-metre springboard event in Glasgow four years ago.

Tom Craig (pictured below) and the Kookaburras (our men’s hockey team) continued their extraordinary 20-year Commonwealth Games gold medal streak with a punishing 2-0 win over New Zealand in the final.

Dominique Du Toit (pictured below) and the Women’s Rugby 7’s team won silver against New Zealand who got their revenge claiming gold at the Commonwealth Games in an epic contest that had to go to extra time.

The trans-Tasman rivals couldn’t be separated at full time with both teams locked at 12-12 in front of a packed house at Robina Stadium on the Gold Coast. It took until the end of the first passage of extra time for New Zealand to claim a 17-12 victory, with Kelly Brazier producing a length-of-the-field effort to score.

Fellow Sport Scholar Lachlan Anderson (pictured in top image) and the Men’s Rugby 7’s team finished fifth following a 26-0 win over Scotland.

Congratulations also to Sport Scholar James Boyer who represented Australia at the games as a basketball referee.

Read more about Macquarie University’s elite sport scholarship program.

And this year, Macquarie University and the Faculty of Business and Economics, in conjunction with ModelOff, is running its first ever financial modelling contest, especially for Macquarie students!

In the first online round, you will be asked to solve financial questions and case studies. If selected, you will then be invited to come and participate in the finals on 27 April. At this mega event, you will have access to the world-class Finance Decision Lab, hear from industry speakers, win prizes and network with our excellent partners. Winners have an opportunity at an internship with Thomson Reuters and FactSet.

Register for the event now to ensure your spot!

Watch as a select group of undergraduate students go head-to-head in an attempt to penetrate the University’s own perimeter defences from a contained external network, competing to win a trip to Aus Cert 2018. Hack Mac 2017 aims to increase awareness of cyber security issues and provides our budding security specialists with rare real-world experience. To make the competition a bit more interesting a number of ‘Honeypots’ are placed around the network as opportunities for additional points.

The event is closely monitored by Jeremy Koster, Macquarie University Information Security Manager and supported by Macquarie University cyber security lectures.

From a tightly controlled environment specifically created for this event, all participants are digitally and physically monitored for the length of the competition and are bound by a strict set of conditions to ensure the security and safety of University data.

The University has extensive protection measures to ensure that staff and student data remains safe. As typical in the industry, the University regularly commissions similar activities to be performed by trusted third parties to test the Universities external defences.

The comp will be held on Level 2 of MUSE from 9am-9pm. Want to find out more? Head to goto.mq/hackmac.

Please note that Macquarie University does not permit hacking or unauthorised access to systems or information. Only contestants competing in the Hack Mac challenge are permitted to partake in the challenge. Contestants are monitored and bound by conditions of entry. Please be aware of the Acceptable Use Policy located on Policy Central.

Hack Mac is being run as part of Stay Smart Online Week (9 – 13 October 2017), the Australian Government’s online safety and security initiative designed to help everyone understand the risks and simple steps we can take to protect personal and financial information online.

Find out more about Stay Smart Online Week at goto.mq/ssoweek, or check out the Macquarie University Campus Facebook page and MQU_IT Twitter for daily hints and tips.

Univative Sydney is an inter-university, inter-discipline, and inter-cultural consulting project competition, jointly organised by a collective of university career services including Macquarie, UTS, UOW, and other Sydney-based universities. Sponsored by Study NSW and Nagcas, university career services put together teams of students from different disciplines and cultural backgrounds to compete with other university student teams to provide solutions for problems posed by participating organisations.

Sixteen organisations including EY, IBM, White Ribbon, Kantar TNS, and Accor, to name a few, congratulated all 350 participating students on their work. Four of the eight Macquarie teams were awarded winners in their projects, the highest success rate of all participating universities this year.

“Univative was an incredible experience, providing us with knowledge that cannot be gained from textbooks. Whilst it was extremely challenging, it developed our skills in project management and provided us with a practical understanding of consulting in the modern business environment.” -Emma Tippett, Winning Team of Spacer Project

“I can confidently say the whole team and I have been challenged and learnt more than we could have imagined. From teamwork to good leadership, communication, resolving differences, and perseverance through tough challenges; both the skills and new friendships forged are truly something special.” -Angela Wang, Winning Team of Kantar TNS Project

“Our project focused on connecting refugees and employers with a mobile app that demonstrates refugees’ skills rather than experience… Despite studying different degrees (information systems, human resources, accounting, finance, actuarial studies, and criminology), our team designed a prototype app that could be developed and implemented within 12 months. It improved our creative thinking, project management skills and presentation skills to deliver an engaging 15-minute pitch to a judging panel. We have greatly improved our graduate employability skills, and gained practical experience in approaching a problem from multiple perspectives to formulate the best solution. Univative provided us with valuable networking opportunities where students engaged in cross-pollination of ideas and shared their innovative solutions; facilitating inter-disciplinary consulting expertise.” -Harkiran Khanna, Winning Team of Thrive

“Univative has been truly a rewarding experience as it taught all of us that team work can be so much fun if we all have a common goal. The competition contributed to our personal and professional development. It gave us the true insights of consulting and acted as a good proxy of the real thing. We are thankful to Macquarie University for this opportunity that allowed us to showcase our talent whilst making new friends from different disciplines.” -Poornima Aggarwal, Team Leader of the winning team Massive Interactive

Interested in participating? Univative will return in 2018 – stay tuned for more details about how to get involved next year!