Knowledge and skills for life public seminar

‘Knowledge for life and skills for living: humans within their ecosystems’ is the topic of the next seminar in Southern Cross University’s popular 2009 Science Conversation Series, being held in Byron Bay next Thursday, September 10.

Hosted by the School of Environmental Science and Management, the informative and cutting edge presentations in the series are regularly held in Lismore, Coffs Harbour, the Tweed and Gold Coast area and in Byron Bay. They are free and open to the public.

Presenter for next week’s seminar, Professor Judy Atkinson, director of Gnibi College of Indigenous Australian Peoples, believes all peoples have inherent rights to education, or what she calls ‘knowledge for life’.

She tells the story of an Hawaiian Elder who, when asked his definition of education, said it should provide him with ‘the skills to feed my family’.

“Such education, handed down across generations, would need to be comprehensive,” Professor Atkinson said.

“Marine science, oceanography, weather systems, and even astronomy are a few of the academic disciplines needed by an Elder Hawaiian fisherman to feed his family.

“Knowledge can also be defined as wisdom, understanding, good judgment, and the application or praxis of such qualities in skills for living.

“But this knowledge – which has been acquired across many generations – is now being put to the test, as we humans continue to damage our environments. Because of this, we also need to understand how we can work together to help repair our environments, just as we need to work together to help in human recovery from trauma.”

The implications these concepts have for environmental studies, especially within tertiary institutions, will be discussed when Professor Atkinson delivers her seminar.

Professor Atkinson has published widely and her practical experience encompasses leadership and involvement with programs and workshops for community healing and violence prevention.

In 2006, she was awarded the Neville Bonner Teaching Excellence in Indigenous Education Award, from the Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (now Australian Learning and Teaching Council).

The seminar will be held on Thursday, September 10, at the Byron Bay Community and Cultural Centre, 69 Jonson St, Byron Bay, from 6pm to 7.30pm. RSVP via email to esm@scu.edu.au or for more details phone 6620 3650.

The final seminar in the Science Conversation Series will be on ‘Water resources in the 21st Century’, being held on Wednesday, October 28, at SCU Riverside campus, Brett Street, Tweed Heads, from 6pm to 8pm.

It will be a joint presentation by Associate Professor Alison Specht and Associate Professor Caroline Sullivan. They will speak about ‘Environmental considerations of meeting water demand in our region under a changing climate’ and ‘Global water resources: present state and future prospects’.

Photo: Professor Judy Atkinson, who will deliver the next public seminar in SCU’s Science Conversations Series, at Byron Bay, on Thursday, September 10.