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Griffith University
Pool Transcript

Interviewer: Lawrence Leung
Interviewee’s: Caitlin and Jeremy

L: Here I am on my big red couch with Caitlin and Jeremy, welcome.

C + J: Hi

L: So you guys are currently grade 12 at the moment, how is that going, Caitlin?

C: Yeah its going well, we are close to the end now, and I think we have had a really good year, enjoyed it all, and looking forward to university next year.

L: And what do you want to be when you grow up?

J: Well I wouldn’t mind being an engineer, solving the worlds problems.

L: And what do you think you need to know, to gain that?

J: Oh well a general understanding of how things work

L: Caitlin do you think its important to know how things work in your particular field?

C: I’m looking at going into law and arts majoring in communication and journalism, so I guess its important to know people work, and especially the communication channels we all use now.

L: Are you a School Captain or something?

C: Yeah I’m a School Captain

L: Oh you are! I can tell, somehow I can tell.
And do you have a background in building things like Lego structures, is that why you’re in Engineering?

J: Without a doubt, I was the king of Lego in my days, so that’s definitely had an impact.

L: So what would you like to build in the future?

J: Well I have no idea yet, civil engineering, structural engineering, mechanical, anything, ill see how I go in the first year of engineering then I’ll specialise.

L: So you guys obviously haven’t been to uni before, but what do you imagine it to be like, what do you expect?

C: I don’t know, from everything I’ve heard, you know, it’s a very different environment and atmosphere to school so. I think I want to go in there and be challenged, make new friends and really be able to live the whole university experience because from what I have heard, that is the real highlight of those years there.

L: So its not just about the books?

C: No, I think to really enjoy university; you have to encompass everything they have to offer.

L: What do you think about that?

J: I think university sounds very casual but at the same time challenging as well, and being around like minded people, definitely a benefit.

L: Well Griffith Uni is currently pushing the line if you know more you can do more, what does mean for you?

J: To me I think that means if don’t want anything, you cant really do anything, you gotta get the foundations down first, and I thin that’s what Griffith will be able to do for me.

C: Yeah any sort of education is going to progress your further, and I think that Griffith have a lot of connections in a lot of different fields. So being able to work with those kinds of people will be invaluable for future occupations and just experience.

L: You don’t mind being on the internet saying all this stuff do you?

C: It’s totally fine (gives thumbs up) Griffith University!

L: Well good luck with all your studies

C: Thank you; I love your comfortable couch

L: Yeah it’s okay I’m just going to chuck it in the pool after….it floats

C: It would make for a good shot.

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Griffith University
Footy Transcript

Interviewer: Lawrence Leung
Interviewee: Professor Skinner

L: So, Professor Skinner. Welcome to this stadium, but what’s really interesting for me is that sport is not just about kicking a ball around stadiums like this. What does it have to do with the business faculty at Griffith University?

P: Well Lawrence, sport is a massive commercial enterprise, and if we look at professional sport, for example we see there is a large broadcasting rights around it the media is intimately involved, sponsorship is closely connected to it. Athletes are paid large amounts of money to perform on a weekly basis. Seemly the commonwealth games will be a massive enterprise involving the media and lots of logistics work. People to work in these areas need to be highly qualified, they need to have an understanding of finance, an understanding of human resource management, an understanding of how an organization functions, an understanding on how to deal with the media, and the business faculty develops those skills within our graduates, and puts in the context of sport.

L: So what types of people come to study with you?

P: Well, we have a range of students that come to see us, we have students who are in undergraduate programs, students that are in post graduate programs, and students who come to us to do research into a specific area around sport or tourism or events, a range of areas.

L: So its not just people who are fresh out of high school?

P: No, at all. Some of our best students are students who have been out of school for a while. And they bring with them a biography of experiences that they have had in life and are able to apply to their studies. Their presence not only helps them grow, it helps those students that are school leavers grow as well, because they bring new experiences to the classroom or to the lecture theatre.

L: Do you get a lot of sports people involved?

P: We get people who have played sport, we get them at the elite level, and people who just enjoy playing for their local club or local community.

L: Who is the oldest person that studies at the business faculty with you?

P: The oldest person? Am I allowed to say that?

(Laugh)

I have a masters student, who is currently doing a research project, who would be their late 60’s early 70’s, and he has been intimately involved in sport in various ways throughout his life. He is a very passionate and enthusiastic student.

L: Okay and so are you also involved in performance enhancing drugs?

P: No, well my research area is involved in performance enhancing drugs, and what I try to do is try to understand why an athlete might consider taking performance enhancing drugs, cause we know from our research that elite athletes are under a lot of pressure and there are certain times in their lives where they might consider taking performance enhancing drugs. Whether it be to try and recover from an injury or just take themselves more competitive. If we can understand those reasons why athletes would want to take performance enhancing drugs we can develop interventions or strategies to reduce that risk; to alleviate that of that potential occurring.

L: I’m quite rubbish at sport, um, so if you can help me out in someway? Maybe we should go and kick the footy out there.

P: I’m more than happy to give it a go…

L: Great.

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Other media: view the full conversation with school leavers Caitlin and Jeremy.

Transcript:
Lawrence: If you could know more about anything to get your dream job, what would it be?

Student 1: I’d like to know more about how the brain works

Student 2: Mega structures…

Student 3: Freedom of speech on the internet…

Student 1: Neurotransmitters…

Lawrence: Neurotransmitters?

Student: 2: I want to know more about water management…

VO: If you’re hungry for knowledge, choose the university with the lecturers, facilities, and attitude to help you get it and use it. Because whatever career you want, when you know more, you can do more.

Lawrence: Mega structures?

Student 2: Mega structures!

Griffith University. Make the right choice.

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Norfolk Island

Interviewer: Lawrence Leung
Interviewee: Professor Lyn Griffiths

L: Well here we are at Norfolk Island Professor Lyn Griffiths, you have been here a few times haven’t you?

LG: Yeah I’ve been here quite a number of times actually.

L: Is it always this windy?

LG: It’s not always this windy, its really windy today.

L: Now a lot of people don’t know, it’s a remote island, about 2 and half hours off the coast of Australia, its very tiny, its very remote. But what’s so special about this island, Norfolk?

LG: Well I suppose the most special thing about the island is that the population that lives here is really quite unique. The majority of the population can trace their ancestry back to a very small number of founders, and those were the bounty mutineers who came from the mutiny on the bounty, which is kind of a famous historical event. Originally those bounty mutineers went to a little island called pick can island, but many years later they were relocated to Norfolk island, so most of the people who actually live here can trace their inheritance back 12 generations to those original founders from the bounty mutiny in the 1700’s.

L: And for yourself. Why did you come here to Norfolk Island. Why are you seeking knowledge here?

LG: Well I’m a Geneticist and I’m interested in trying to identify genes for common human genetic disorders, and we originally came here to Norfolk to see if this population could aid in our studies to try and identify genes for cardiovascular disease and also migraine and a few other disorders.

L: So your saying that because there is about 1600 people here on this island , with a genetic code that’s easy to study that its much like a living laboratory for you?

LG: To a certain degree, since majority of the people can trace their ancestry back to a small number of founders, if there were any genes with diseases in this population, you would expect them to be amplified over the generations. We have been able to kind of construct a family structure of all the people on the island, back 12 years to those founders. Because they have all lived in relative isolation, they have things like the environmental noises cut down. So they have the same sorts of food, same sort of weather like this horrible wind, and the same sorts of background noise would be cut down because they all live in isolation in this area. So that allows us to hone in on the genetics of the sorts of studies that we are looking at.

L: So what have you found out so far?

LG: Well what we have found out is that, as we were hoping, if there were any genes with disorders they would be amplified in this population. As an example, if you look at something like a migraine, about 12% of the population in Australia and New Zealand would suffer from migraines, but in the population here, we found about 27%. So that’s an increase level of migraine. Its similar with cardiovascular disease, we’ve got higher levels of cardiovascular risk factors like. High cholesterol levels, high blood pressure levels etc, they are increased in the population as well. Now because those levels are increased, they are kept within this unique population with the environmental noise limited, we can hone in on trying to find the genes for these disorders. At the moment we’re currently undertaking a full gene scan which means we test many different DNA markers across all the different chromosomes, to try and work out which particular chromosomes are implicated in these disorders.

L: That’s really fascinating.

LG: Yeah well we’ve actually recently identified some novel chromosomal components that are involved in migraine and also cardiovascular disease risks, so right now we are trying to not just work out which chromosome, but the actual gene on the chromosome is involved using the DNA from this unique population.

L: So if I was a young scientist or researcher wanting to get into this area, what advice can you give to me?

LG: Well I’ve actually had quite a number of young scientists that working with me to help with these studies. So the way to be interested and to undertake these sorts of things would be to undertake something like a biomedical science degree and get some good training in genetics and molecular genetics before hand, and then you could also do things like PHD studies and I have had several PHD students working with me to help investigate the genetics of the Norfolk population.

L: Did you know that hear in Norfolk Island, because so many people share a common surnames and common names, that in the phone book sometimes they list it by their nicknames?

LG: Absolutely, and in fact if you look at the phone book I think there is about 5 major last names, and many similar names, so that’s why they do have to list people by their nick names otherwise you wouldn’t know who people are.

L: It was a pleasure talking to you today, I think our plane is grounded because it is so windy so we might have to stay here for a bit longer.

LG: Well I don’t mind.

L: I found out there is a show tonight, where they are doing a re-enactment of the mutiny and the bounty, and some of the actors are actually descendants of those mutineers.

LG: This is absolutely true, that’s the whole point, majority of the people on the island are descendants of the bounty mutineer, and yes you might see them in the show.

L: Oh wow. Its kind of like if we saw a play about King Henry the 8th , played by William and Harry.

LG: (laughs) Possibly

L: Chopping off Kate Middleton’s head

LG: Oooh I don’t think we should chop off her head now.

L: No. It was great to talk to you.

LG: Yeah you too

L: Do you want a sample of my DNA?

LG: Yes please if you have some nice disorders even better

L: I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not really

(Both Laugh)

L: Thank you

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Transcript:

Boggo Road

Interviewer: Lawrence Leung
Interviewee: Professor Paul Mazerolle

L: Professor Paul Mazerolle (shakes hand), it’s a pleasure being incarcerated in this prison with you.

P: Nice to meet you Lawrence

L: Now as a criminologist, ah I guess its your responsibility to try and get people out of places like this? Not get them to bust out but prevent them getting in here in the first place.

P: That is a major theme with criminology and some of my research looks at that. We have a great opportunity to look at why people commit crime, what is in their background that leads them down that pathway, and more importantly what we can do to keep them out of prisons and jails.

L: So for students of criminologists and post grads, why is research so important?

P: I think its really fundamental to their learning if they have an opportunity to learn from professors who are undertaking a range of different research projects that are trying to inform knowledge, that knowledge can not only be translated into research and policy and practice, but also to inform them on how research can make a difference. We have a really great opportunity with a really research intensive university with criminological research, students will learn about policing, they will learn about corrections, they will learn about the kinds of ways we can prevent people committing crimes over their life course.

L: So really making a difference to society

P: Yeah

L: By looking at the criminal mind

P: That’s a big part of it and we’re really fortunate that ethos of criminology at Griffith is not just about producing knowledge, but its knowledge that has impact that is relevant for police organisations, criminal justice systems, generally the courts, so its research that has applied focus because ultimately if we use knowledge in a way that try to make a difference for individuals, I think we will have a bigger impact on society.

L: Yep, and when some of these students have graduated, where have they ended up, like what kind of fields?

P: Criminology is a really attractive program of study we have literally hundreds and hundreds of students come every yeah, and what we find is that the skills that they require for their criminology degree, are very applicable across a range of disciplines. So some of them end up working at local councils and crime prevention offices as crime prevention officers some work in insurance, some work at furthering their degree’s in law, some become researchers, some work for the police and criminal justice system like in prison’s or as probation officers, but its really a range of areas that knowledge about crime, why it occurs, how do we better prevent it, it creates lots of opportunities across other sectors.

L: Um but not so much parking ticket inspectors

P: No we probably have enough of those

L: Yeah I hate those guys

P: Laughs…

L: Hey I want to ask, shows like CSI and underbelly, how accurate are they?

P: well they are very accurate those kinds of shows, and they do paint a picture about aspects of crime and do we solve crime. Um, they aren’t perfectly reflective of what always goes on a lot of the hard crime work in crimes, tend not to get solved in 30 or 60 mins you see on television, but if anything it shows that science can be used to help us why crime events occur in certain locations and how police and others can do better work.

L: You have got some insight into the criminal mind, and also the murky side of human nature, does it make you less trusting of people, are you more suspicious when you walk down the street?

P: I think that’s a great question, I’ actually not. As a criminologist and somebody who studies crime across locations and across individuals, you come to appreciate that crime is still relatively rare event, serious crime is a rare event, but we need to understand why those serious events are occurring. Really low-level crime is widespread in the sense that most people have done a few things in their life that they know they probably shouldn’t have done. But it doesn’t mean that they are hard serial offenders. But having said that we do have a real need to understand why serious crime is occurring, why individuals who are young offenders for instance become chronic offenders across their life course or more persistent offenders, or more violent offenders so we do have a huge opportunity to try and understand and prevent that.

L: So you’re saying your less trusting or more trusting of people?

P: I’m more trusting

L: More trusting?

P: And I recognise that some individuals who end up pursuing crime, and getting caught up in the criminal justice system it doesn’t mean that their future is going to involve that. There are opportunities for rehabilitation, and they have pretty good evidence showing that rehabilitation can make a difference, programs matter, individuals who end up in jail or prisons have an opportunity to turn around their life and re engage with society, re-connect socially and have good economic and social futures.

L: One final question, just to get your professional opinion on something, I love heist movies, con artist movies, I’ve never ever stolen anything in my life, but when I’m in an art gallery, or a library I often imagine how, say, fantasise about how I would go about stealing artwork or books from the library, through the security system, I’ll never do it, but I like to work out how to do it. From your professional opinion, what does that say about me? Do I have an innate criminal mind or something?

P: I think what that says, is that you’re a very creative individual and your are inquisitive about the possibilities of art theft and other kinds of issues, but I think your well placed to not go down a criminal pathway. So thankfully.

L: Thank you.

L: So I’m not dodgy?

P: No, I think you’re on a good pathway.

L: Oh that’s good to hear. Thank you professor Mazerolle. (Shake hands)

P: Lovely to talk to you.

L: How do we get out of here?

P: Ah, I think we are going to have to break out…

L: Maybe we’ll have to stay here over night?

P: Have you got cards?

L: Yeah yeah we could play cards. I cheat though!

P: I’ve heard that

L: (Yells) Can someone let us out!

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Other media: view the full conversation with Professor Michael Good.

Transcript:

LAWRENCE LEUNG:
I’m curious, what does knowledge have to do with mosquitoes?

MICHEAL GOOD:
Lawrence, knowledge of the smallest things can make the biggest difference.

What I’ve learnt from studying the tiny malaria parasite that comes from mosquitoes is leading to a malaria vaccine which could save millions of lives.

That’s the best thing about knowledge in any field,
get it and you can use it.

LAWRENCE LEUNG:
So .. change the world.

MICHEAL GOOD:
Yes for sure.

LAWRENCE LEUNG:
I like changing the world.

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Other media: view the full conversation with Professor Lyn Griffiths.

Transcript:

LAWRENCE LEUNG:
I like to know lots of stuff so I can impress people at dinner parties

… but apparently there’s more to it than that.

LYN GRIFFITHS:
Lawrence, knowledge is so much more than just facts. It’s about understanding.

That’s why I’ve been researching the unique genes of the people out here on Norfolk Island .

The more we understand, the closer we get to a cure for genetic diseases like migraine.

That’s what knowledge is all about.

LAWRENCE LEUNG:
So it’s what you do with it?

LYN GRIFFITHS:
That’s right.

LAWRENCE LEUNG:
Want to come to my dinner party?

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Other media: View the full conversation with Professor Paul Mazerolle.

Transcript:

LAWRENCE LEUNG:
I really love knowledge, but I don’t think I’d like to go to jail for it.

PAUL MAZEROLLE:
But Lawrence, that’s the exciting thing about knowledge, it really can come from anywhere.

LAWRENCE LEUNG:
Even from prisoners?

PAUL MAZEROLLE:
Absolutely. As a criminologist, the more I know about why a crime happens, the more I can do to try to prevent it. Same with my students. As long as we all share knowledge, anything is possible.

LAWRENCE LEUNG:
I know how to cheat at cards.

PAUL MAZEROLLE:
Ha! I’m sure you’re really good at it.

LAWRENCE LEUNG:
Ooh yeah.