Month in review: October 2017
October was a very busy month, with quite a few presentations and writing deadlines. We had the opening event for our JCU Tropical Urbanism and Design Lab (TUDLab), I met a group of Brazilian Vice-Chancellors in Townsville, presented my research at the Chambers of Commerce Luncheon, and attended other events.
Research
This month I started arranging interviews for the first part of a research on Urban Comfort and Economy. Data collection for this research has been going on for a while through a questionnaire, but the methodology also includes in-depth interviews and I have started to work on those.
Writing
I worked and submitted a paper to be peer-reviewed and published at the International Urban Design Conference which happens in November in the Gold Coast. And I also revised a book chapter which came back with required changes.
Presentations
I decided to add this category here this month, because a lot of what went on doesn’t fit into any of the other four categories.
In October we hosted the Opening event of the TUDLab (which I talked about here). Each of the Lab’s team members spoke about ongoing projects, and we had two keynote speakers: Charles R Wolfe and Richard Briggs.
I also presented the research about urban comfort and economy at the Chambers of Commerce Luncheon, participated on a discussion panel at JCU’s Community Garden about the movie Inhabit: A Permaculture Perspective, and presented my research in a three minute presentation at JCU’s TESS Conference.
Teaching
I delivered a lecture on Urban Climate to the Human Geography subject (EV 1008), and prepared a tutorial.
Learning
Also in October I attended the Queensland Climate Change Response Community Event, and some events related to the Architecture Week, and learned a lot about the local market and conditions for architects’work in Far North Queensland, including that we have the highest number of women architects in Australia!
This was a busy month, and the reward for this all is that I got a new computer – my poor old one was a survivor of my PhD, and definitely showing signs of a needed retirement! I also sold my old DSLR and got a new camera. Photography is one of my passions and hopefully I will have some time to make the photo blog more active and beautiful in the months to come.
October was busy and November won’t be any easier. I will travel to a conference in the Gold Coast and then to Brazil, where I will participate in meetings, Masters examination panels, and another conference, before enjoying holidays with family. It will be awesome, but also busy!
* The sketch featured in this post was done by Richard Briggs during my speech at the TUDLab opening event. Thanks Richard!
SILVIA TAVARES 