STRICTLY SPEAKING | ESPORTS
The different spellings for “ electronic sports ” – eSports , e-sports or esports – reflect the rapid takeup of video games as a competitive sport around the world . The growth of esports can be traced from South Korea , with the founding of the Korean e-Sports Association in 2000 to promote and regulate them . Professional esportsmen emerged along with live-streaming of competitive games , and audiences grew steadily in Asia as well as Europe and the Americas . Tournaments proliferated with ever-bigger prizes to be won . Inter-university competitions in the US helped to raise the status of esports , prompting some universities to offer scholarships to skilled esports players as college-level athletes . But do esports really count as a sport by Olympic criteria ? Where does physical fitness come in ? Would its players prepare and train for an Olympic games with the same intensity as for other long-recognized sports ? The International Olympic Committee ( IOC ) was also concerned about the violence embedded in esports and the focus on killing opponents . It prompted a new wave of esports based on real sports and virtual reality , including five that formed the Olympic Virtual Series in the countdown to the 2021 Tokyo Olympics : baseball , cycling , rowing , sailing and motorsport . A head of “ virtual sport ” was appointed to the IOC in January 2022 to oversee the Virtual Series , though the IOC still considered it premature to hold esports as medal events in the 2024 Olympics . At least it has supported a less violent genre of video games .
Written by Emeritus Professor Pam Peters , researcher with Macquarie University ’ s Linguistics Department .
DAVIS TOP PUBLIC SERVANT
Former UniMelb VC Glynn Davis has taken on the position of secretary of the Department of Prime
Minister and Cabinet .
Most recently the CEO of the Paul Ramsay Foundation , Davis has spent time at the head of Griffith University in addition to his 14 years at UniMelb .
Universities Australia President Catriona Jackson said : “ As we emerge from challenging times , we look forward to working with Professor Davis to deliver the productivity gains that highly-skilled people and technological and social advances provide to the economy .”
CURTIN ’ S SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
Curtin University has appointed its first Dean of Sustainable Futures in its department of humanities .
Environmental scientist , researcher and author Professor Josh Byrne has a longstanding relationship with Curtin and is a regular presenter on ABC TV ’ s Gardening
Australia program .
Since completing his PhD Byrne has run nationwide research projects with Curtin and the Cooperative Research Centre for Low Carbon Living .
Byrne said “ Curtin has an excellent reputation in sustainability across research , teaching and outreach ,” and added he was “ honoured ” to return to the university and take up the new role .
UOW DEAN OF MEDICINE
Prominent neonatologist and academic Professor Zsuzsoka Kecskes is UOW ’ s new Dean of
Graduate Medicine .
Kecskes comes to the role from ANU where she served as Dean of its medical school .
“ As a leader for Medicine at ANU for a few years I have worked with colleagues from UOW and have been impressed by their passion and dedication to medical education and research ,” Professor Kecskes said .
She takes up the role in August .
GREEN CHAIR AT UOW
John Green has been appointed Chair of the UOW Global Enterprises Board .
Green is a company director , publisher and writer who has published five crime-thriller novels . He has previously worked in investment banking and law and is a noted philanthropist focused on literacy , education and the arts .
“ I am excited to join the UOWGE Board as chair . Education is an important rung in the ladder of opportunity ,” Green said .
“ What UOWGE does to make higher education accessible to so many people across the globe is awe-inspiring .”
ANOTHER FIRST FOR CURTAIN
Yindjibarndi woman Mandy Downing has been appointed Curtin ’ s first Dean of Indigenous Futures in the Faculty of Humanities .
Downing was raised on Wadjuk Noongar Boodjar and has worked in various research management and institutional governance roles at Curtin for 10 years . This year she was appointed the co-chair of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies National Research Ethics Committee .
“ I ’ m grateful to be part of a faculty that values Indigenous knowledge in education and research , and I look forward to building upon the existing foundations ,” she said .
HOLMES OFF TO HARVARD
La Trobe ’ s Professor Katie Holmes has been appointed by Harvard University as the Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser Visiting Professor of Australian Studies for the 2023 – 24 academic year .
The internationally renowned environmental historian and humanities scholar said : “ I ’ m very honoured to have been given this wonderful opportunity to represent Australia in a global academic role and introduce Harvard students to Australia ’ s long and dramatic environmental history .”
“ I ’ m also looking forward to working with some of Harvard ’ s leading scholars to mutually enhance our understanding of our unique environmental legacies .”
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