faculty of science - web.science.mq.edu.auweb.science.mq.edu.au/intranet/auqa/appendix 12.pdf ·...

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FACULTY OF SCIENCE

DRAFT REVIEW OF

TECHNICAL STAFF

FUNCTIONS

September 4th, 2008

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OVERVIEW ..................................................................................................................4

1. Part 1: Review of Current Practices.......................................................................6 1.1 Environmental and Life Sciences ......................................................................6 1.1.1 CBMS, Biological Sciences and Health & Chiropractic ...............................6 1.1.2 APAF .............................................................................................................8 1.1.3 Physical Geography/ Human Geography/GSE..............................................8 1.1.4 Earth and Planetary Sciences and GEMOC...................................................8 1.2 CISAB................................................................................................................9 1.3 Information and Communication Sciences........................................................9 1.3.1 Physics ...........................................................................................................9 1.3.2 Mathematics.................................................................................................10 1.3.3 Electronic Engineering.................................................................................10 1.3.4 Computing....................................................................................................10 1.3.5 METS...........................................................................................................11 2. Part 2: Functional Groupings ...............................................................................12 2.1 Learning and Teaching ....................................................................................12 2.2 Service Provision .............................................................................................12 2.3 Research Laboratory Management and Support..............................................12 2.4 Specialist Equipment or Service Management ................................................12 2.5 OH&S ..............................................................................................................13 3. Part 3: Findings And Areas In Need Of Attention...............................................14 3.1 Learning and Teaching ....................................................................................14 3.1.1 CBMS, Biological Sciences and Health & Chiropractic. ............................14 3.1.2 Physical Geography/Human Geography/GSE.............................................14 3.1.3 Earth & Planetary Science ...........................................................................14 3.1.4 Physics .........................................................................................................15 3.1.5 Electronic Engineering.................................................................................15 3.2 Service Provision .............................................................................................15 3.2.1 ELS ..............................................................................................................15 3.2.2 ICS – Physics & Electronic Engineering .....................................................15 3.3 Research Laboratory Management and Support..............................................16 3.3.1 Specialist Equipment/Service Management ................................................16 3.3.1.1 Biology.........................................................................................................16 3.3.1.2 CISAB..........................................................................................................17 3.3.1.3 CBMS ..........................................................................................................17 3.3.1.4 Physical Geography .....................................................................................17 3.3.1.5 EPS/GEMOC ...............................................................................................18 3.3.1.6 Physics .........................................................................................................18 3.3.1.7 Electronic Engineering.................................................................................19 3.3.2 OH&S ..........................................................................................................19 3.3.2.1 Division of ICS ............................................................................................19 3.3.2.2 Division of ELS ...........................................................................................20 4. PART 4: RECOMMENDATIONS......................................................................21 4.1 Learning and Teaching ....................................................................................21 4.2 Services ............................................................................................................21 4.3 Research...........................................................................................................24 4.3.1 Specialist Equipment/Support Management................................................24 4.3.1.1 CISAB..........................................................................................................25 4.3.2 OH&S ..........................................................................................................27

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5. Part 5: CONCLUSIONS......................................................................................28 6. Appendices...........................................................................................................29 6.1 Appendix 1.......................................................................................................29 6.2 Appendix 2.......................................................................................................30 6.3 Appendix 3.......................................................................................................32 6.4 Appendix 4.......................................................................................................36

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OVERVIEW This review surveys the current status of technical support in the nascent Faculty, identifies functional groupings, highlights areas in need of special attention and makes recommendations that will address these deficiencies. Its major recommendation is that the Faculty should seek support and funding for the appointment of an additional 21 technical staff to maintain excellence in research, learning and teaching. Technical staff within the various Departments comprising the Faculty of Science carry out an extremely diverse range of tasks, reflecting the many fields of endeavour undertaken by Faculty. Because of this diversity, and the range of roles an individual position may cover, it is difficult to classify positions into precise boxes either by Department or by function. As an illustration, one Senior Scientific Officer position, funded by Biological Sciences, provides support to that Department in Learning and Teaching, by servicing undergraduate units. The position also supports the Graduate School of the Environment in Management of Specialist Equipment, in maintaining that School’s boat. Further, the position plays a major role in OH&S, as the occupant is a University Dive Officer and Deputy Marine Fieldwork Manager. The University’s policy to raise its research profile, through many CORE appointees, has begun to impact on the Faculty of Science. As most of these new staff members are additional to existing academic staff levels and research-intensive, it can be assumed that the numbers of HDR students will also increase. More academic staff and more HDR students will mean that existing technical staff will be stretched to cover the gaps in support. Clearly, more technical staff are needed to adequately support staff and students in a professional, safe and efficient manner. It is regrettable that the University apparently failed to recognize that CORE appointees would expect some level of technical support, were promised it was there and now find that it is virtually non-existent in some areas. This situation has come about because of staff cuts, a complete lack of planning and vision for the future support needs of what will now be the highest risk Faculty on campus. Cost cutting by targeting general staff numbers has affected the Science Faculty greatly and needs to be redressed urgently. Part 1 of this document provides a review of current practices, showing the diversity of services that are covered by the term “technical support” in the various Departments, and identifies areas that may require additional staff or attention to management structure. Part 2 shows how technical staff fit into functional groupings of Teaching and Learning, Services Support, Research Laboratoryoratory Management and Support, and Specialist Equipment or Service Management. Part 3 identifies areas in need of attention based on our review. Part 4 provides recommendations based on the functional groupings discussed in part 3.

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Part 5 draws tentative conclusions as a basis for discussion.

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1. Part 1: Review of Current Practices

1.1 Environmental and Life Sciences

1.1.1 CBMS, Biological Sciences and Health & Chiropractic

Most of the technical staff in the Departments of Biological Sciences, CBMS and Health and Chiropractic operate in a team structure (Figure 1). The primary role of the first five teams in Figure1 (Chemistry, Molecular/Physiology, Genetics/First-year, Animal/Field, and Marine) is to provide support for learning and teaching programmes. This support was originally designed for servicing and demonstrating in the practical component of the programme, but has developed to include all aspects of organization of the teaching units. Tasks may now include design and management of unit web pages, organization of casual tutors, compilation of marks and contribution to the design and development of new practical classes. The organization of these teams was designed to allow individual technicians to support one or more units while being availaboratoryle to support of other team members in times of peak load. An example is provided in Appendix 1. Whilst the management structure is one of senior technical staff managing other technical staff, individual technician’s duties are at the direction of the academic staff member/s coordinating the unit/s. The benefit of this structure is that, while a technician may be supporting more than one unit, it has allowed the preservation of a teaching unit team (technician and academic). This is of great benefit to morale and in the development of units, and has also provided greater efficiencies in terms of the technician : unit ratio. All levels in this structure, including the Technical Services Manager, have unit support responsibilities. Most members of these teams have responsibilities additional to those outlined above. These are carried out in conjunction with their primary roles and, in some cases, can be of equal or greater importance. A brief summary appears in Appendix 2. The sixth team in this structure provides specific technical services to the Division. The team manager, Jenny Minard, is the Division’s Chemical Safety Officer and is responsible in supporting the Division to meet its chemical OH&S requirements. The second responsibility of this team is management of Divisional building services, a role carried out by Ron Claassens, in providing building and infrastructure maintenance, access to buildings, rooms and laboratories for all members and employees. Ron Claassens is also the management representative on the Division’s Occupational health and Safety Committee. The purpose of the third position that of Stores Officer, is to operate Division stores, receiving goods and maintaining stocks of consumables.

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The final team in this structure contains two positions that provide microscopy services (both light and electron) to the Division. These positions provide training to, and support of, users involved in research, the HDR programme and the undergraduate teaching programme. The team also provides active support in the outreach activities of Open Day and the Siemen’s Summer Science School.

Technical Manager BIOL

Liz Kean No. 11158 (7)

Technical Manager CBMS

Keith Tonkin No. 18574 (7)


Rekha Joshi No. 16417 (7)

Technical Manager BIOL Ray Cameron No. 4788 (7)


Peter Tung No. 17192 (7)

Technical Manager BIOL Jenny Minard No. 17214 (7)


Debra Birch No. 16655 (7)

SeniorScientific Officer BIOL Nicole Vella

No. 19563 (6)

Building Services

Manager ELS Ron Claassens No. 5365 (7)

Stores Officer

ELS Keith Maxwell No. 18544 (6)

Senior Scientific Officer BIOL

Penny McCracken

No. 19941 (6)

Scientific Officer (pt) BIOL Libby Eyre

No.19367 (5)

Fieldwork Manager BIOL

Craig Angus No. 6567 (7)

Scientific Officer BIOL

Ray Duell No. 18669 (5)

Scientific Officer

BIOL Masood

Muhammad No. 6869 (5)

Scientific Officer

CBMS Angela Moncrief

No. 20157 (5)

Scientific Officer CBMS

Thi Huynh No. 20923 (5)

Scientific Officer Fixed term PT Bo Davidson No.19303 (5)

Senior Scientific Officer CBMS Elsa Mardones No. 7722 (6)

Senior Scientific

Officer BIOL Rita Holland No. 19854 (6)

Scientific Officer

HEALTH Monika King No. 20268 (5)

Senior Scientific Officer CBMS

Mark Tran No. 18577 (6)

Scientific Officer

CBMS Thulasey Jeyendra

No. 18576 (5)


Hong Nguyen No. 18575 (5)

Scientific Officer

CBMS (60%) Tony Wang

No. 20284 (5)

Dean of Division, (and delegated Heads of Department where appropriate)

Technical Services Manager BIOL/CBMS/HLTH No. 4243 (9)

Chemistry Molecuar/ Physiology

Genetics/First Year

Animal/Field Marine Service Microscopy

Figure 1 Structure of technical Staff - ELS

Biol Sciences, CBMS, Health & Chiro, August 2008

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1.1.2 APAF

APAF currently employs 18 fixed term members of technical staff on 5 year contracts. These positions support the research and service functions of APAF and will not be discussed in this document.

1.1.3 Physical Geography/ Human Geography/GSE

There are two scientific officer positions in the Department of Physical Geography, one full time (Russell Field), the other at 80% (Jenny Spagnolo). Both positions are managed by the Head of Department. The full time position provides support for geoecology. This includes support and maintenance of the practical components of the undergraduate units, GEOS 112, 117, 266, 399, 398, 334 and ELS 301, support to research (14 HDR students, 8 academic staff, and 4 laboratory areas) management of the fleet of vehicles and maintenance, management and instruction in fieldwork and specialist analytical equipment. Increasingly, facilities and equipment within Physical Geography are sought by other Departments. This has required support in terms of training, access and additional maintenance of equipment. Russell Field is also chair of the Division’s OH&S Committee and spends significant time on OH&S related issues. The 80% position provides support for atmospheric sciences. This includes support for GEOS 117, 216, 214, 301, 313 and 325, research programmes (5 HDR students, 5 academic staff, and 1 laboratory) I.T. support (web and PC laboratory) and management and maintenance of the University’s weather station. Human Geography employs one continuing technical staff position, Judy Davis. Her workload includes web and graphic design, map preparation, poster preparation, technical support for HDR and Honours students as well as academic staff, and preparation of materials for publications. She manages the HG website on a daily basis. GSE does not employ any continuing technical staff.

1.1.4 Earth and Planetary Sciences and GEMOC

The continuing technical staff positions in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences are:

• Nigel Wilson – Technical Officer • Michael Engelbretsen – Technical Officer

• Dr Norm Pearson – Manager of the Geochemical Analysis Unit • Mr Peter Wieland – Geochemist • Mr Justin Payne - Geochemist • Vacant position - Geochemist

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• Ms Manal Bebbington - Rock Preparation Technician (0.6 FTE) • Mr Steve Craven - Rock Preparation Technician (0.4 FTE)

The two members of technical staff employed outside GEMOC (Wilson, Engelbretsen). are managed by the Head of Department. One position provides support for the practical components of the undergraduate postgraduate programmes in palaeontology. This position and the palaeontology programme will be moving to the Department of Biological Sciences in 2009. The other position provides support for the practical component for all the other units offered by the Department. Most of this group work within GEMOC providing support for research, HDR students and professional obligations. Non Continuing Technical Positions In this Division there are also approximately 30 fixed term positions, outside APAF and GEMOC, funded in the most part by research grants. These positions are not discussed in this document.

1.2 CISAB

CISAB currently employs three full time technicians on a fixed term basis. The main responsibility of these positions is the care the animals used by CISAB and the maintenance of their enclosures. The positions are at this stage fixed term and report to the Head of the Centre.

1.3 Information and Communication Sciences

1.3.1 Physics

Technical staff in the Department of Physics have recently gone through a change management process, culminating in the support structure shown in Figure 2. The team’s main focus has been on teaching support, in the form of management and maintenance of teaching laboratories and equipment, including the design and development of practicals and associated instructional notes, as well as lecture demonstrations, and support of the MU Observatory. Technicians have supported units carried out in particular laboratories in this way:

• First year Physics + lecture demonstrations • Second year Physics + second and third year Astronomy • Third year Physics + second and third year Opto Electronics (Optical

technology) units The recent changes have seen the introduction of a position that manages the team and, additionally, manages Physics’ shared facilities; the Wet Chemistry Laboratory, the Clean Room and the MU Observatory. This manager is responsible for oversight of OH&S practices within the Physics teaching and research laboratories, and also

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supports the learning and teaching programme through direct involvement in the servicing of the teaching laboratoryoratories as part of the team. There is still some flux in the allocation of duties and the number of staff that are required for this team as the new position/structure/duties evolve. This recent restructure has resulted in hours spent directly supporting the teaching laboratoryoratories being redirected to these other management duties. The team is managed by the Head of Department and, although the scientific officers report to the team manager, direction of practical development tasks comes from the academic(s) involved with particular units. Technical support for the research activities in Physics is predominantly derived from the services of METS and/or external technicians. Laboratoryoratory technical duties in the research laboratoryoratories are currently carried out by postgraduates, researchers and academics involved in those laboratoryoratories. In the recent past an arrangement was made whereby a mechanical services specialist from METS was seconded to work full time for the MQ Photonics Research Centre (through research funding). Currently, this arrangement is constrained to half time due to funding constraints. This arrangement has proved extremely effective in efficiently servicing some of the technical needs of that research group, in particular CUDOS (a subset of MQ Photonics).

1.3.2 Mathematics

Technical assistance for the Department of Mathematics (apart from ‘standard’ computer technical services provided by CTS) is provided by an IT support officer maintaining the Access Grid Room 2.5 days per week (through research funding). This area is more appropriately handled by the IT review.

1.3.3 Electronic Engineering

Technical support is primarily in the teaching laboratoryoratories, provided by one Laboratoryoratory officer (Steven Xie) reporting to the Head of Department. Mr Xie occasionally works overtime to keep up with the increasing demand as Electronic Engineering expands in undergraduate teaching at 300 level. A casual appointment has also been made to develop experiments for the new units on offer.

1.3.4 Computing

The Department of Computing’s technical support for learning and teaching is provided by ICS Computer Technical Services. Support for research activities is derived from research funding and individual support staff are managed by the relevant group heads/academics. These include:

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• an IT Support Officer (50%) to support the virtual reality laboratory for the VISOR research group. This IT officer also works (50%) for the Maths Access Grid Room (John Porte).

• a research programmer working for HCSNet under Robert Dale (CTS advise that this role is as a technical support for the group)

• research fellows (approximately one per large grant)

This area is more appropriately handled by the IT review.

1.3.5 METS

METS primarily provide services to the Divisions of ICS and ELS, as well as to the wider University. Services provided range from small signage jobs to sophisticated one-off pieces of high end and very specialised equipment used in MQ research laboratoryoratories. The team includes an overall manager with an assistant manager for each of the METS Mechanical & METS Electrical teams.

Physics Electronics Maths Computing

Laboratoryoratory Officer

Steven Xie

Technical Manager Physics

Karl Lukezic

IT Support Officer Supporting the

Access Grid For Maths (1/2 time) and The Virtual

Reality Laboratory for Computing (1/2

time) John Porte

Technical support through

CTS

Research Fellow (providing Technical support for

Thinking Heads) Rainer Wasinger

(Reaserch Funded)

Research

Programmer for HCSNet

Ben Phelan (Reaserch Funded)

Senior Scientific Officer

Physics Teaching Adam Joyce (vice Gina Dunford)

Scientific Officer Physics Teaching Danny Cochran

Mets

Assistant Manager METS Mechanical Walther Adendorff

Assistant Manager METS Electrical

Greg Yates

Electronic Services Specialist

Recently retired Not replaced

Electronic Services

Officer Ken Yuen

Mechanical Services Specialist

Brian Hayes


John Funnell

Mechanical Services Officer

Rob Roy


John Rea


Peter Bracken

Manager METS John ten Have

Mechanical Services Officer (Casual)

Alfred Sfirse


Sebastian Trovato

Signage Specialist (Casual)

Bruce Schumacher

Physics has 20 FT Academics

20 FT Research Fellows 44Postgrads students 8 Honours students

Dean of Division, (and delegated Heads of Department where appropriate)

Figure 2 Structure of technical Staff - ICS

Physics

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2. Part 2: Functional Groupings

In Part 1, we have divided technical services by Department. Here we consider these services in terms of function, in four broad categories:

2.1 Learning and Teaching

This category covers the provision of support to units that have a practical laboratory / fieldwork component. This support is not limited solely to the provision of that practical component. Unit administration and maintenance of web presence commonly fall within an individual technician’s duties.

2.2 Service Provision

This category covers a broad range of activities. Building Service Management, METS, and the central store facility are some examples.

2.3 Research Laboratory Management and Support

This function does not currently exist at Department level, but can be found in the Centres (e.g. APAF and GEMOC) where technical support for research projects, HDR students and commercial products, is provided from the level of management to that of laboratory assistant. In terms of the research-only laboratories, management of day-to-day running does not exist. Generally, academics control certain laboratory space for research, which is then occupied by their postgraduate students, assistants, etc. Support is provided by the Division for the acquisition and disposal of chemicals. Chemical safety is covered by one staff member, whose remit is Division wide. Management, safety issues, good laboratory practices are, for the most part, dealt with in an ad hoc way. Responsibility with regard to supervisors and supervision is frequently poorly understood. A better model would be to remove academics from laboratory management roles, so that they could focus on research and HDR support. This can only be achieved by the appointment of professional staff to fill laboratory management and training roles.

2.4 Specialist Equipment or Service Management

Specialist equipment support can be defined as providing staff to maintain and operate equipment that has been purchased for large sums of money derived from grants such as RIBG, MQSIS etc. This type of equipment usually requires specialist training when first purchased and may, or may not, be connected to funded service contracts that cover maintenance and calibration over a specified time period. Staff in this position would be required to maintain, operate and/or train other staff and HDR students. There may also be more interaction with 2nd and 3rd year undergraduate units.

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Dedicated staff should stay informed of developments and modernization or upgrade options as this equipment ages. They should be involved in advising the relevant Departments of any issues related to the equipment, including cost recovery. It is essential that someone understands the equipment well. An example is the Microscopy Unit located in Biological Sciences, which may be regarded as ‘best practice’.

2.5 OH&S

Some OH&S requirements and services are covered by technical staff whose principal duties lie elsewhere, mainly in teaching and learning, others are covered by committees or academic positions. There is just one technical position in the Faculty solely dedicated to an OH&S issue, which is the ELS Chemical Safety Manager. The problem with OH&S at Macquarie is that it is under-resourced in terms of appropriately qualified professionals to provide direction and support in what should be a ‘top down’ management framework.

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3. Part 3: Findings And Areas In Need Of Attention


Technical support for the learning and teaching programmes across the Faculty of Science are only barely meeting the needs of the Departments. In all Departments technical positions in this area have been cut, to varying degrees over the years, in order to make budget savings. Some Departments have fared better than others.

3.1.1 CBMS, Biological Sciences and Health & Chiropractic.

While the management structure has proved to be excellent, technical support in these Departments is only just adequate to meet the technical needs of the units delivered. Some limited specialist service and instrument support are also provided by these technicians. The structure outlined in Figure 1 allows short-term absences to be covered. However, long-term absences, caused by long service leave or serious illness, require extra casual appointments.

3.1.2 Physical Geography/Human Geography/GSE

Two technical positions are expected to meet the needs of 11 GEOS undergraduate units, as well as having responsibilities for other activities in the Departments. Both positions provide instrument and service support. While the demands for technical services from these units may not be as great as in other Departments, an extra staff member is required. The duties of the one position in Human Geography will expand, and require re-evaluation, when the Departments combine. There is need for a technical position in GSE to cover the roles currently being filled by Biology technical staff, in the rapidly expanding field of marine biology.

3.1.3 Earth & Planetary Science

Paleontology and one of the two technical positions move to Biology in 2009. This will impact mainly on teaching-related technical support and will leave the other technical position to oversee non-geochemistry technical support for the Department. EPS could benefit from at least one more technical officer as a support for teaching, field-related research and the rock collection. Currently members of academic staff complete many of the tasks previously undertaken by technical support staff. EPS recently lost its drafting and multimedia design technical support (Judy Davis – 0.3 FTE) in a cost-cutting move. This work is now completed by a staff member on soft money. Not all staff have access to this person. Therefore EPS would benefit

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from at least 50% of a technical support officer in this role, unless this is provided at Faculty level.

3.1.4 Physics

There is still some flux in the allocation of duties and the number of staff that are required for the support provided by this team, as the new position/structure/duties evolve. However, at current levels it is not proving possible to adequately cover all tasks required of this team. Additional support is needed.

3.1.5 Electronic Engineering

Support for teaching laboratories is already stretched and casual support is currently being utilized. An additional support role covering the teaching laboratories is needed.

3.2 Service Provision

3.2.1 ELS

The central store in ELS is managed by one person. This person orders and supplies many common consumables for laboratory and office, manages the ordering and receiving of gases and acts as a central point for the reception of courier deliveries. This store also services many of ICS’ requirements. The position plays a major role in recording items for the University’s asset data base. A weakness in this arrangement is that the many demands placed on this person necessitate that the store is only open for two one-hour periods each day. An extra staff member to support provision of services and building services is required. The other technical service provider is the Building Services Manager. This position is working well, but will need additional support if required to provide similar services across the Faculty.

3.2.2 ICS – Physics & Electronic Engineering

The recent retirement, without replacement, of Doug Wilson (Electronic Services Specialist) from METS has severely limited the capacities of researchers within Physics and Electronic Engineering. Access to the particular skills of electronic design and construction of highly specialised equipment is a necessity for research outcomes in these Departments. The provision of these services has been signed off by the DVC Research in supporting several research grant applications which have explicitly made mention of those services. Currently there is a wide concern about the lack of attention to these needs. Specialist electronic and mechanical services contribute to the institutional research support for all internationally competitive Physics Departments. If the University is to be regarded as truly research-intensive, it is essential that customised electrical and

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mechanical equipment can be obtained. Further, specialist electronics technical staff have, in the past, provided valuable HDR training.

3.3 Research Laboratory Management and Support

Faculty of Science wide Apart from APAF and the GEMOC/EPS association, no Department carrying out laboratory and/or field research provides an organized system of research laboratory management and/or research support. All support and management for research activities, outside those two centres, is provided by technical staff on fixed term appointments funded by research grants, members of academic staff or HDR students. Laboratories, parts of laboratories or even bench spaces are managed by those who have ‘possession’ of the area. This has, among other issues, led to:

1) a breakdown in the application of OH&S requirements, 2) absent or inconsistent standard operating procedures, 3) poor training of HDR students in many aspects of laboratory practices, 4) poor utilization of space and lack of planning in laboratory layout, 5) loss of corporate memory, 6) loss of specialist skills, 7) services being provided by HDR students or research assistants that should be

provided by the University. 8) Late submission of theses. 9) This Working Party considers this lack of management and support to be

the most critical area of technical support in the Faculty in need of redress.

3.3.1 Specialist Equipment/Service Management

This area is closely linked to (iii), Research Laboratory Management and Support, outlined above. The only areas where Equipment and Service management are adequately provided are in APAF and GEMOC/EPS. Some Departments have no need of these functions. However, in those that do, the level of provision varies.

3.3.1.1 Biology

In Biology there are four functions that fit the category of specialist equipment/service management.

a) There are two continuing technical positions in the microscopy group, these operate very satisfactorily. There may be the need for extra support if this facility is combined with microscopy in ICS.

b) There is a half time continuing position managing the plant growth facility. This position may need to be expanded if there is growth in the plant requirements of the CORES.

c) The Lungfish Facility has the support of part time (15 hours/week) technician which is sufficient at present.

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d) The gene sequencer is currently managed and operated by a full time fixed term appointment funded partly by the charging for services, partly by research grant support and partly by the Department. There is a need for this position to be fully funded, continuing.

3.3.1.2 CISAB

The three fixed term positions in CISAB providing the service of animal care would be more appropriately converted to continuing positions.

3.3.1.3 CBMS

There is one part time (40%), continuing position in MUCAB operating, providing maintenance and training for chromatography equipment. There are approximately 20 items of major equipment with a value of ~ $5.5 million for which there is a lack of appropriate management. (See Appendix 3, Memo: Head of Department CBMS to Stephen Thurgate, Dean of Faculty of Science.)

3.3.1.4 Physical Geography

Geoecology The following specialist equipment is run and maintained by one of the two members of technical staff supporting teaching and learning, Russell Field, and Dr Damian Gore (academic position). Panalytical Xpert Pro MPD (Multi Purpose Diffractometer) or x-ray diffractometer Panalytical Epsilon 5 EDXRF (Energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence spectrometer) 2 x Panalytical Minipal 4, Molybdenum and Rhodium tube EDXRF spectrometers Malvern Mastersizer 2000 laser diffraction particle size analyzer Micromeritics Sedigraph 5200 X-ray sedimentation particle size analyzer Anticipated future acquisition: Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) reader for dating of quartz grains. This will require the development of a specialized laboratory and need additional staff support to deal with a complicated sample preparation and analysis technique. As there is only one fulltime technical officer in Physical Geography dealing with Learning & Teaching, Services, and Research & Specialist Instrument support, there is an obvious need for additional personnel for this equipment. Atmospheric Sciences Specialist support for the equipment below is provided by Jenny Spagnolo and Dr Richard deDear (academic position). It is the view at this time that this is sufficient.

• Viasala tethersonde, ozonasonde, particle counters $175k • Innova multigas analyzer $125k

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• AWS – Macquarie University Automatic Weather Station $200 • Data loggers, windtunnels ans anemometer arrays $105k

3.3.1.5 EPS/GEMOC

While this Department/Centre is probably served best of all in this category, there are still the following gaps. There is a vacant position in the Geochemical Analysis Unit that needs to be filled in order for this world-class facility to continue to operate at its present level. There are 3 areas that currently have no technical support provided by the Department. These include the high-pressure experimental laboratories where staff and post docs provide the technical support, the geochemistry laboratory where staff provide the technical support and the geophysics area where staff provide the technical support with some help from Nigel Wilson. EPS could use a further technical support officer to cover these areas.

3.3.1.6 Physics

There are several optical characterisation facilities within the Dept of Physics and MQPhotonics, currently maintained by academics, researchers and HDR students. These include;

• Optical polishing equipment (two dedicated polishers) • Veeko Surface Profiler • Atomic force microscope • Scanning near field optical microscope • Cary UV-visible spectrophotometer

Technical support for the optical microscopy facility (including microRaman, fluorescence and confocal optical microscopy) is currently supported by the NCRIS scheme for Characterisation. Some other laser machining facilities are currently supported under the NCRIS scheme for Fabrication. Note that the NCRIS scheme is for an initial period of 5 years, with no guarantees of technical support or maintenance after that period. We believe that all these specialist facilities would be much better maintained and better utilised if they were under the control of specialist technical staff who could train users as needed, and manage maintenance appropriately. There is also a need for specialist staff to be involved in the installation and commissioning of new equipment, such as that purchased under ARC RIBG or LIEF schemes in most years. Additionally there is a large quantity of equipment which needs on-going support by technical laboratory managers. Appendix 4 lists a fraction of such equipment in Physics. Many other items of equipment are used in the Physics Department, also requiring specific technical knowledge to operate safely and effectively.

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3.3.1.7 Electronic Engineering

Technical support of the specialized measurement equipment in the Microwave Research laboratories is currently carried out by researchers, HDR’s and partly by the Electronics teaching support staff person equating to ~30hrs/week with an additional estimated 23hrs/week of required support not done. The lack of support for major equipment items is seen, by this Working Party, to be the second most critical area in need of additional technical support.

3.3.2 OH&S

3.3.2.1 Division of ICS

Occupational health and safety within the Division of ICS is currently managed by a committee. All committee members perform these roles on top of their regular positions.

• Committee Chair – Abaya Nayak • MU Committee Rep –Abhaya Nayak • Division Office Rep – Cathy Wright • Computing Dept. Rep – Abhaya Nayak • Electronic Eng Dept. Rep – Graham Town • Physics Dept Rep – James Rabeau • Mathematics – Dilshara Hill • METS – John ten Have • Employer Rep - mailto:[email protected] Thurgate

The role of the ICS Occupational Health and Safety Committee is primarily to advise management on OH&S systems, policy and process matters identified by committee members and staff.

• Lack of Laser safety management: The laser safety policy adopted by the Division (Feb ‘07) requires the appointment of a Laser Safety Officer as the authority on all laser safety issues within the Division. There is currently no Laser Safety Officer in ICS. This is an urgent requirement in light of the numerous extremely high powered (and dangerous) lasers used in the Division. It should be noted that the very nature of the research carried out with lasers in MQPhotonics involves extreme laser hazards which must be adequately controlled.

• Lack of chemical safety management The Physics Wet Chemistry Laboratory is a shared facility which makes use of some extremely hazardous chemicals and requires expert input regarding procedures and processes. The current OHS structure within ICS does not address this.

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3.3.2.2 Division of ELS

Occupational health and safety within the Division of ELS is currently managed by a committee comprising 2 academic and 5 Professional staff. All committee members perform these roles on top of their regular positions. Organisation and Areas of Risk covered are:

• Chairperson: Russell Field • Secretary: Anthony Hale (ELS Centre) • Management Rep: Ron Claassens

• Biosafety (Elsa Mardones) • Chemical Safety (Jenny Minard) • Fieldwork (Russell Field) • Health and Chirpractic (Peter Tuchin) • Radiation (Rob Willows) • APAF (Keiran Wicks) • Vacant Position

The committee meets 4 times a year, carries out inspections of laboratories, makes recommendations for action and disseminates information from the University Safety Committee. This committee has struggled to ensure that OH&S regulations across the Division are enforced. This situation has been caused by a variety of factors.

1) The volume of work required to satisfy the OH&S needs of a science Division is a massive undertaking. All members of this committee are fully occupied in their regular positions. For example, it has been found to be impossible to carry out tasks such as laboratory safety inspections on a regular basis.

2) When problems are identified to supervisors or Heads, the recommendations may or may not be acted upon.

3) An unfortunate culture has developed in many areas of the Division that sees OH&S issues as bureaucratic nuisances.

In addition to this committee structure, ELS has designated safety managers for areas which are identified as high risk and/or where regulations demand it.

1) The Chemical Safety Manager (continuing PT 6/7) is devoted to totally to chemical safety and compliance. This position works well but may be require of more resources.

2) The Radiation Safety Officer position is filled by a member of academic staff. This role would be more profitably covered by a technical position.

3) Marine Fieldwork management and Dive Officers are filled by 2 members of the Biology Learning and Teaching technical organization. This works well, but is overstretched.

4) Terrestrial Fieldwork management in Biological Sciences is managed by another position in the Biology Learning and Teaching organization. There is no similar position in the Geological Science Departments.

This organization of designated managers has been found to work well.

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4. PART 4: RECOMMENDATIONS


1) We recommend that technical staff involved in learning and teaching be

managed Faculty-wide in a structure similar to that which has proved successful in ELS.

2) We recommend the addition of 2 new Scientific Officer positions in the

Learning and Teaching Field.

One new position is to be placed in the Geological Sciences team to provide assistance in undergraduate units, where a shortfall has been identified. The second recommended position is to be placed in Engineering/Physics group to replace a casual position and ease the load for a stretched group of staff. The proposed Structure appears in Figure 3. Recommended new positions are highlighted in bold type.

3) Training of new staff for the future We also would like to recommend the introduction of a system of rolling traineeships where a laboratory assistant trainee (HEW 2) is employed, possibly direct from High School, and enrolled in appropriate training, whether certificate, degree or diploma. It is envisaged that the trainee would rotate through the teams on a semester basis to receive appropriate on-the-job training. The position should be redesigned and regraded as the trainee gains experience, qualifications and is given more complex duties. If a position is introduced each year, or every second year, eventually we should be able to reach a steady state system. Retiring/resigning members of senior technical staff could be replaced by appropriately trained personnel, rather than the current situation where a specialist position has to be filled at very short notice from outside. External appointees may lack the understanding and corporate memory that the position requires. The introduction and management of this system would be a duty of the Senior Technical Manager, Learning and Teaching.

4.2 Services

The proposed structure for services is outlined in Figure 4. Recommended new positions are highlighted in bold type.

1) We recommend that METS replace the Electrical Services specialist. 2) We recommend that the ELS Building Services Manager and the ELS Stores

Officer positions be expanded to cover the Faculty. To provide assistance for the extra work involved, we recommend the appointment of an assistant

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Building Services Manager and technical assistant. The former to provide help with the day to day handling of tasks of the Building Services Manager, the latter to provide assistance where needed in the store, such that expanded access hours can be supported.

3) It is further recommended that the incoming Technical Manager instigates a

review of the Science Services Store and a review of the structure and funding model for METS to ensure best and efficient service and practice.

Genetics/First Year

Molecular/ Physiology

Field/Marine


Peter Tung No. 17192 (7)


Rekha Joshi No. 16417 (7)


Liz Kean No. 11158 (7)

Geo Sciences

Technical Manager

To be selected from group

Senior Scientific Officer Physics

Adam Joyce (vice Gina Dunford)

Scientific Officer

Physics Danny Cochran

Laboratoryorator

y Officer Electronics Steven Xie

Scientific Officer

Electronics

Senior Scientific Officer PG

Russell Field No. ……..(6)

Scientific Officer

PG Jenny Spagnolo No. ……….(5)

Scientific Officer

BIOL Michael

Engelbretsen No. ……(5)

Scientific Officer

EPS Nigel Wilson No. …..(5)

Scientific Officer

HG Judy Davis

Scientific Officer GEOS

Scientific

Officer PG Specialist

Equipment

Fieldwork Manager BIOL

Craig Angus No. 6567 (7)

Senior Scientific

Officer BIOL Penny

McCracken No. 19941 (6)

Scientific Officer

(pt) BIOL Libby Eyre

No.19367 (5)

Technical Manager BIOL Ray Cameron No. 4788 (7)

Scientific

Officer GSE Specialist

Equipment

Scientific Officer BIOL

Ray Duell No. 18669 (5)

Scientific Officer

BIOL Masood

Muhammad No. 6869 (5)

Scientific Officer

CBMS Angela Moncrief

No. 20157 (5)


Thi Huynh No. 20923 (5)

Scientific Officer Fixed term PT Bo Davidson No.19303 (5)

Senior Scientific Officer CBMS Elsa Mardones No. 7722 (6)

Senior Scientific

Officer BIOL Rita Holland No. 19854 (6)

Scientific Officer

HEALTH Monika King No. 20268 (5)

Senior Scientific Officer CBMS

Mark Tran No. 18577 (6)

Scientific Officer

CBMS Thulasey Jeyendra

No. 18576 (5)


Hong Nguyen No. 18575 (5)

Scientific Officer

CBMS (60%) ……………….. No. 20284 (5)

Chemistry Physics/ Electronics

Technical Manager CBMS

Keith Tonkin No. 18574 (7)

Technical Manager PHYS

Karl Lukezic No. …… (7)

Senior Technical Manager Teaching and Learning Rod Nurthen (retiring)

No. ……….()

Manager Technical/Facilities

No…………()

Services Technical Support/Management

Research Technical Support/Management

LEARNING &TEACHING

FIGURE 3

Recommended Structure of Learning and Teaching Technical Staff

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Assistant Building Services Manager

(5)

Building Services Manager ELS Ron Claassens No. 5365 (7)

Stores Officer ELS Keith Maxwell No. 18544 (6) Tech

Assistant (2)

Teaching and Learning Technical Support/Management


No…………()

Research Technical Support/Management

SERVICES

Assistant Manager METS Mechanical Walther Adendorff

Assistant Manager METS Electrical

Greg Yates

Electronic Services Specialist

Recently retired Not replaced

Electronic Services

Officer Ken Yuen


Brian Hayes


John Funnell


Rob Roy


John Rea


Peter Bracken

Manager METS John ten Have


Alfred Sfirse


Sebastian Trovato

Signage Specialist (Casual)

Bruce Schumacher

FIGURE 4 Recommended Structure of Services Technical Support/Management

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4.3 Research

The University aims to support its researchers and externally funded projects to achieve outstanding research and HDR outcomes. With improved technical support, we would anticipate increased productivity for both HDR students and for the externally funded research projects. Research support via technical staff is non-existent in many areas, or barely covered in other areas of the Science Faculty. It is recommended that sixteen positions be created within the Faculty, and four fixed term positions be converted to continuing, to support the safe and efficient operation of laboratories and equipment. Research support for research active academics and HDR students is essential in the use of common, and not so common, laboratory procedures, laboratory management, and equipment use. Good laboratory practice standards cannot be applied if there is no one to apply them and oversee staff and students to ensure that everyone operates in a safe, low risk environment. The Working Party recommends the following research laboratory technical manager positions: Area Department/s No. of Researchers Laboratory Managers (rec) E8ABC/1,0 Biology 6 Staff, 26 HDR 1 E8ABC/2 Biology/CBMS 21 Staff, 67 HDR 2 E8ABC/3 Biology/CBMS 8 Staff, 29 HDR 1 F7B CBMS 11 Staff, 30 HDR 1 E7B/1,2,3 Physics 25 Staff, 32 HDR 2 F7B/0, E6B/0 E6A/2 Engineering 11 Staff, 20 HDR 1

4.3.1 Specialist Equipment/Support Management

There is a need for continuing technical positions to provide management of major items of equipment. This management would include operation, training of HDR students and staff and the organization of maintenance. The Working Party recommends the creation of four scientific officer positions to operate, maintain and train staff & students in the use of the following fields and

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items of equipment currently located in CBMS. The use of this equipment will not be limited to CBMS but will be available Faculty-wide. •Chromatography: HPLC, GC •Mass Spectrometry: MALDI, ESI •Spectroscopy: NMR, EPR •Flow Cytometry: Flow Cytometer There are several optical characterisation facilities within the Dept of Physics and MQPhotonics, and we recommend a scientific officer position be created to maintain and manage these facilities: Optical polishing equipment (two dedicated polishers) Veeko Surface Profiler Atomic force microscope Scanning near field optical microscope Cary UV-visible spectrophotometer This role would support at least 25 staff and 32 HDR students of the total within the Physycs Department. We recommend employment of a Scientific Officer position to provide support, mainly for GSE and the new combined Department of Environment and Geography. This position would be for service of marine equipment, but also for assistance with the fieldwork management of HDR students, both marine and terrestrial. As the marine team in Teaching and Learning provides most of the HDR and research support to the field of marine biology, it was considered that the Learning and Teaching management group is the best place for this new position even though it may not be involved with undergraduate units. We similarly recommend the addition of a Scientific Officer in Physical Geography to manage equipment currently managed by an Associate Professor. This position would also be better managed in the Learning and Teaching management group.

4.3.1.1 CISAB

There are three fixed term technical positions in CISAB supporting 14 Academics and 25 HDR students. With planned expansion, it is envisaged these numbers will increase to 16 academics and 35 HDR students by the late 2009. The Working Party recommends these positions be fully funded and converted to continuing. The proposed structure for both Research Laboratory Management and Specialist Equipment/Support Management is outlined in Figure 5. Recommended new positions are highlighted in bold type. Existing fixed term positions that are recommended to be made continuing are italicized.

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Senior Research Laboratory and

Service Manager To be selected

from the Research

Laboratory

BIOL Technical Manager

Microscopy Debra Birch

No. 16655 (7)

SeniorScientific Officer

Microscopy Nicole Vella

No. 19563 (6)

BIOL/CBMS Technical Manager

F7B

Scientific Officer

Spectroscopy

Senior Scientific Officer (7) Fixed

Term Gene Sequencer

Paul Worden

Scientific Officer (5) (40%) MUCAB No 20284

ICS Technical Manager Physics

Technical Manager Physics

Technical Manager

Electronics

Scientific Officer Physics

CISAB Senior

Scientific Officer

Scientific Officer

Scientific Officer

Teaching and Learning Technical Support/Management


No…………()

Services Technical Support/Management

RESEARCH

BIOL/CBMS Technical Manager

E8ABC – 1

Technical Manager E8AB – 2

Technical Manager E8C – 2

Scientific Officer Flow Cytometry

Technical Manager

E8ABC – 3

Scientific Officer Chromatography

Scientific Officer

Mass Spectrometry

FIGURE 5 Recommended Structure of Research Technical Support/Management

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4.3.2 OH&S

The Working Party strongly endorses the Executive Dean’s decision to appoint an OH&S Manager in the Faculty of Science. It is recommended that this position will:

1) be directly supervised by the Executive Dean of Science, 2) be responsible for managing all OH&S issues in the Faculty, 3) directly supervise and manage the existing ELS part time (25 hours/week)

Chemical Safety Manager, 4) manage, but not supervise the technical staff that already have OH&S

responsibilities as part of their duties (eg Dive Officers and Fieldwork Managers),

5) fulfill the role of Radiation Safety Officer (currently filled by an Associate Professor),

6) fulfill the role of Laser Safety Officer (currently unfilled),

Figure 6 OH&S Management structure

Executive Dean of Science

Faculty OH&S Manager

Technical Manager – Chem

Safety Jenny Minard No. 17214 (7)

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5. Part 5: CONCLUSIONS

The following tables summarise the additional technical positions that the working party sees as necessary for the efficient operation of the Faculty.

Table 1 – New Positions Faculty/Department No of Staff Functional Group/Area - Position Faculty of Science 1 Services – Asst Building Services Manager 1 Services – Stores assistant 1 OH&S – Faculty Manager Physical Geography 1 Research and Specialist Equipment _

Scientific Officer EPS 1 Learning and Teaching– Scientific Officer Electronic Engineering

1 Learning and Teaching– Scientific Officer

1 Research laboratory management - Manager GSE 1 Specialist equipment – Scientific Officer CBMS/Biology 4 Specialist equipment – Scientific Officer 5 Research laboratory management - Manager Physics 1 Specialist equipment – Scientific Officer 3 Research – laboratory management Total no. required 21

Table 2 – Existing fixed term positions to be converted to continuing

Department No of Staff Functional Group/Area - Position Biology 1 Specialist equipment – Scientific Officer CISAB 3 Specialist equipment – Scientific Officer

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6. Appendices

6.1 Appendix 1

2008 2nd Half Year TEACHING COMMITMENTS

First Year/Genetics Rekha BIOL 115 DNA-Thread of Life Dave R Ray D BIOL 346 Biosci. Ethics & Reproduction Irina BIOL 347 Aust & World Veg Michelle Masood BIOL 368 Ecology & Evolution Chris Thi CBMS 317 Plants Cells Molecules Tom CBMS 8** Paul Angela CBMS 224 Biochem. & Mol Biol. II Rob W CBMS 309 Biochem Rob W +Bo (20h/w)

Molecular/Physiology Liz BIOL 367 Immunobiology Raff/Sham Rita BIOL 358 Physiology II Julia Elsa CBMS 300 Molecular Biotechnology Helena CBMS 215 Microbiology Michelle P Monika HLTH132 Introductory Histology ????

Field/Animal Ray C. BIOL 208 ASF Marie Rod BIOL 227 Ecology Lesley Craig BIOL 350 Aboriginal Impact Jim BIOL 351 Aboriginal Resources Field Jim

Marine Kerstin (Peter) BIOL 373 Temp Marine Biol. Jane Penny ELS 303 Marine Science Project ???? Penny BIOL 372 Marine Birds & Mammals Rob H.

Chem

Mark/Keith CBMS 103 Introductory Chemistry B CBMS 101 Introductory Chemistry A (Ext) TEP 434 (Chemistry) Keiran CBMS 329 Topics in Physical Chemistry TEP 434 (Earth & Environment) Hong CBMS 208 Chemical Analysis I TEP 434 (Physics) Thulasy CBMS 341 Organic & Biological Chemistry B TEP 434 (Biology)

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6.2 Appendix 2

OTHER COMMITMENTS 2008 First Year/Genetics

Rekha Joshi Technical Team Leader

Biology Budvisor ctte First aid officer Rod Nurthen Technical Services Manager Biology Timetable Ctte Div. Gen. Staff Grants Ctte Ray Duell Biology AV equipment General IT support

Fire warden First aid officer

Angela Moncrief Biology Milli-ro water High Speed Centrfuges E8A building fire warden Teaching spectrophotometers Thi Huynh Masood Muhammad Plant growth facility (50%)

Molecular/Physiology Liz Kean Technical Team Leader Univ. Staff & Student Contact Officer Rita Holland Elsa Mardones M.U. Biosafety Ctte & Biosafety Officer Div. OH&S Ctte Biology and CBMS autoclaves, PC2 laboratory, freeze dryer, biosafety

cabinets. Biology and CBMS radiation badges and waste Biology Quarantine facility M.U. Quarantine facility manager Monika King

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Field/Animal Ray Cameron Technical Team Leader Biology light microscopes, cameras and monitors Biology vehicles Craig Angus Fieldwork Manager – Terrestrial Biology field, communication and recovery equipment Siemens Summer Science Experience - Biology

Marine Peter Tung Technical Team Leader

Marine Collecting Team (Leader) M.U. Dive Officer

Fieldwork Manager – Marine Biology boat Penny McCracken M.U. Dive Officer

Seawater facility manager Assist SIMS aquarium facility

Marine Collecting Team GSE boat

Maintenance of scuba equipment Libby Eyre Lungfish facility

Biochem/Chem Keith Tonkin Technical Team Leader Chem. Liquid nitrogen Chem. NMR spectrometers Siemens Summer Science Experience - CBMS Secondary Schools Titration Competition Mark Tran Chem. Teaching Instruments. Siemens Summer Science Experience – Chemistry HSC enrichment programme Open day support NMR service (liquid nitrogen and liquid helium) High schools’ titration competition Thulasy Jeyendra Siemen’s Summer Science experience

HSC enrichment programme High school’s titration competition First aid officer Fire warden

Hong Nguyen Tony Wang MUCAB (40%)

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6.3 Appendix 3

MEMO to : Steven Thurgate Dean of Faculty of Science

Date: 30 June 2008

c.c. Kevin McCracken

Associate Dean

FROM: Head of Department CBMS Re: Urgent Technical Support Requirement for Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences Attached is an inventory of the analytical instrumentation necessary for the research activities in CBMS that had a purchase price of greater than $150,000 in the last 5 years (including those older instruments which have been upgraded). This list is not including the equipment in APAF. There is over $5.6 million worth of this large instrumentation, without including probably at least another $2.5 million of smaller instrumentation in the CBMS Department. As you can see the instruments cover a wide range of sophisticated precise measurements, and as such are essential to keep maintained and tuned to achieve the necessary high performance. Without exception, with the recent loss of our one part-time technical officer (2 days/week), the use and care of these instruments rests entirely with senior academic staff or inexperienced postgraduate students. At present there are some maintenance contracts on these instruments which are paid for by internal Departmental funds and require a budget for continued funding. The purchase of these instruments has largely been made through ARC LIEF, RIBG and other MQ Internal granting schemes. We believe that the continued neglect of this state-of-the art instrumentation is reflecting poorly on occupational health, academic research and student completions in CBMS. We cannot afford to have over $8 million of state-of-the-art research instrumentation left unattended. Recommendation: We would like to suggest is that there is an allocation of the equivalent of a full time technical general staff employee, one to each relevant Department that uses this type of sophisticated instrumentation within the Science Faculty. In practice, as it is impossible to find people with all the necessary expertise to carry out the required specialist routine maintenance, repairs and training procedures, we would envisage that different specific skill sets provided by these hands-on technicians could be used across these Departments.

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Technical and OH&S Laboratory

Manager

CBMS

58 HDR students

Biological Sciences

87 HDR students

Physics & Engineering

Geosciences

4 Technical Officers •Chromatography: HPLC, GC •Mass Spectrometry: MALDI, ESI •Spectroscopy: NMR, EPR •Flow Cytometry:

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CBMS Instrument

Location

Purchase

Funding Source Maintenance Status

Volunteer Academic Responsible

LCMS MUCAB $140K Ramaciotti $25K Division $100K Dept

Volunteer Students Service contract (13K / 1Yr)

C McRae F Liu

Ion Trap – LIEF

E8C $545K LIEF (2007) No Service contract

P Haynes

Ion Trap – NCRIS

E8C $250K (2nd hand)

NCRIS (2008) No service contract

P Haynes

Ion Trap – P Haynes

E8C (US) (US – personal) No service contract

P Haynes

PE liquid handling

E8C $300K LIEF (2008) No service contract

P.Haynes

MALDI – MS F7B $200K NSW Cancer Inst (2007)

Warranty until 2010

N Packer

ETD LC/MS LC QTRAP

F7B $400K $460K

NSW Cancer Inst NSW Cancer Inst (2007)

Warranty until 2010

N Packer M Baker

NMR 400 MHz + BACS NMR 600 MHz Cryoprobe

F7B Lvl 0

$400K $80K $800K $420K

LIEF (1997) RIBG (2008) Wellcome Grant LIEF (2006)

NMR costs $45K pa for both Warranty to 12/08 Cryoprobe not installed yet warranty 10/08. then $30K pa

P Karuso P Karuso B Mabbutt

Liquid N2 Division ~$50K / year

Divisional Electronic monitor needed $1800 / pa

No-one needed if monitor purchased

Flow Cytometer FACS Aria

E8C268 $360K LIEF (2007) Under 3 yr warranty. Needs to be serviced before warranty ends approx $40K.

No-one

Flow Cytometer FACS Calibur sort stage

E8C252 $250K ARC GIRD $7K p/a No-one

Flow Cytometer FACS calibur analysis flow

E8C252 $250k ARC GIRD $7K p/a No-one

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CBMS Instrument

Location

Purchase

Funding Source Maintenance Status

Volunteer Academic Responsible

HPLC systems

F7B $171K Divisional RIBG None Tom Roberts, Joanne Jamie

BIA CORE 2000

MUCAB $295K ARC LIEF None Rob Willows

Spectropolarimeter

MUCAB $275K ARC LIEF None Louise Brown

TOTAL purchase cost

$5,646,000

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6.4 Appendix 4

Hurricane femtosecond laser Aerotech ABL20200 and FA130 motion control system Newport frequency resolved optical gating system Olympus BH2 research microscope * CO2 laser and fibre tapering rig * C-Band Swept wavelength system and 4 remote receiver racks * Melles Griot NanoMAX 600 fibre alignment system * NovaCure UV glue and curing system * EFD2000 precision dispensing system * Nettest TLD system * Agilent scanning FPI wavemeter * Fitel S175 fibre optic fusion splicer * Advantest Q8384 OSA * Anritsu OSA * Spiricon LBA-500 beam profiling system * Olympus IX81 inverted frame research microscope * MDT-Near field scanning microscope Renishaw XL80 laser interferometer * Rinck Refractive Index Profilometer * Atago Abbe Refractometer * Olympus BX51 research microscope * Aerotech ABL20100, ABL10100 and WaferMAX motion control system Tetford Box Furnace * Logitech PM5 optical polisher * Logitech PM7 optical polisher * MTI CNC controlled diamond dicing saw * Femtolaser XL femtosecond laser system Verdi-10 green pump laser system Two UV-laser facilities Helium leak detector and general gas handling equipment Crystal growth facility using high temperature furnaces

Note that a typical Physics HDR student would use at least 10 items from such a list and each item may be specialised in its application and operation such that it is inefficient or dangerous for students to use it without training. Physics HDR students would also benefit from a laboratory manager who can provide assistance with Laboratoryview programming to interface equipment to computers, a skill that is typically beyond their undergraduate training.

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