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Category: Universities

  • MIL-Evening Report: New experiments finally prove a long-forgotten theory about how quantum particles spin

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arjen Vaartjes, PhD Student, Quantum Physics, UNSW Sydney

    Dmitriy Rybin / Shutterstock

    What makes something quantum? This question has kept a small but dedicated fraction of the world’s population – most of them quantum physicists – up at night for decades.

    At very small scales, we know the universe is made up of waves and energy fields ruled by the laws of quantum mechanics, but at the scale of the everyday world around us we mostly see solid objects following the older rules of classical mechanics. When we ask what makes something quantum, we are asking where the line is between these two realms and how it can be drawn.

    In a new study published in Newton, we answer this question in a previously undiscovered way. We show that a single spinning particle can show indubitable evidence of quantum behaviour.

    The discovery of spin

    One hundred years ago, Dutch physicists Samuel Goudsmit and George Uhlenbeck proposed the idea that most tiny particles never really stand still. Instead, they suggested, electrons – elementary particles that form the outer shell of atoms – behave like minuscule spinning tops.

    The spin can be either clockwise or anticlockwise, or what physicists call “spin up” and “spin down”. This binary nature of spinning electrons means that they can be used as building blocks for quantum computers.

    However, in 1925 Goudsmit and Uhlenbeck’s spinning electron proposal caused an uproar in the physics establishment. At this time, physics was shaped by illustrious names such as Albert Einstein, Max Planck and Paul Ehrenfest, who laid the groundwork for the grand theories of relativity and quantum mechanics that transformed our understanding of the universe.

    After eminent physicist and Nobel laureate Hendrik Lorentz criticised the spin theory, Uhlenbeck got cold feet and wanted to retract the paper. Uhlenbeck and Goudsmit’s mentor Ehrenfest told them to persist, writing: “You are both young enough to be able to afford a stupidity!”

    Old ideas still remain

    This kind of resistance to new ideas is not unusual in physics. As Planck put it, science progresses one funeral at a time.

    Much like the scepticism about the discovery of spinning electrons, today many physicists are educated with a misconception about how spin works. Conventional wisdom, still taught in standard textbooks, tells us that spin is a quantum property that is essential to understanding the behaviour of electrons and nuclei. But at the same time, the textbooks say the rotation of the particle is still somehow perfectly described by classical physics.

    Tsirelson’s forgotten protocol

    A similar consideration applies to another textbook system, the harmonic oscillator (e.g. a pendulum). According to a 1927 theorem by Paul Ehrenfest, the way a quantum pendulum swings is indistinguishable from a swing in the park.

    Strikingly, almost 80 years later the Russian-Israeli physicist Boris Tsirelson had an idea showing that it is possible to discern a quantum pendulum from a swing in the park, provided the quantum system is prepared in a truly quantum state. At the time, Tsirelson’s paper attracted little notice.

    Another 15 years later, the research team of Valerio Scarani in Singapore resurfaced Tsirelson’s paper from the depths of the internet. Scarani’s student Zaw Lin Htoo extended Tsirelson’s idea, proving theoretically that it actually was possible to detect quantumness in the rotation of a spin.

    Bigger particles and Schrödinger’s cat

    Our team at the University of New South Wales decided to take on the challenge and prove the quantumness of a spin in a real experiment. However, we couldn’t do it with a simple spin like an electron. Because an electron is so small, it only has two possible spin states: up and down. Again defying widespread intuition, it turns out that an electron spin can only be prepared in quasi-classical states, which obey the old textbook predictions.

    Instead we used a much larger particle, the nucleus of an antimony atom. The spin of this particle can point in eight different directions, instead of just two.

    We were able to place the atom in a so-called “Schrödinger’s cat” state, in which it is in a superposition of two widely different spin directions at once.

    We then performed the Tsirelson-Scarani protocol, which involves measuring not just the average orientation of the spin, but the positivity of it – a very different kind of measurement to what is done in standard spin resonance setups. This experiment showed unquestionable evidence for the quantumness of the antimony’s spin.

    What’s next?

    Our study is important for discovering fundamental truths about the universe, and for providing clarity on what it means to “be quantum”. However, it may also have real-life applications.

    The states that we demonstrated to be quantum with the Tsirelson-Scarani protocol are exactly the kind of thing that give quantum computation and quantum sensing an advantage over classical counterparts. In the future we will focus making the most of these systems for use in technological applications.

    Arjen Vaartjes receives funding from the Sydney Quantum Academy.

    Andrea Morello receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Australian Department of Defence, and the US Army Research Office.

    – ref. New experiments finally prove a long-forgotten theory about how quantum particles spin – https://theconversation.com/new-experiments-finally-prove-a-long-forgotten-theory-about-how-quantum-particles-spin-250059

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Ukraine isn’t invited to its own peace talks. History is full of such examples – and the results are devastating

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Matt Fitzpatrick, Professor in International History, Flinders University

    (From left to right): Neville Chamberlain, Édouard Daladier, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano before signing the Munich Agreement, which gave the Sudetenland to Germany. German Federal Archives/Wikimedia Commons

    Ukraine has not been invited to a key meeting between American and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia this week to decide what peace in the country might look like.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine will “never accept” any decisions in talks without its participation to end Russia’s three-year war in the country.

    A decision to negotiate the sovereignty of Ukrainians without them – as well as US President Donald Trump’s blatantly extortionate attempt to claim half of Ukraine’s rare mineral wealth as the price for ongoing US support – reveals a lot about how Trump sees Ukraine and Europe.

    But this is not the first time large powers have colluded to negotiate new borders or spheres of influence without the input of the people who live there.

    Such high-handed power politics rarely ends well for those affected, as these seven historical examples show.

    1. The Scramble for Africa

    In the winter of 1884–85, German leader Otto von Bismarck invited the powers of Europe to Berlin for a conference to formalise the division of the entire African continent among them. Not a single African was present at the conference that would come to be known as “The Scramble for Africa”.

    Among other things, the conference led to the creation of the Congo Free State under Belgian control, the site of colonial atrocities that killed millions.

    Germany also established the colony of German South West Africa (present-day Namibia), where the first genocide of the 20th century was later perpetrated against its colonised peoples.

    How the boundaries of Africa changed after the Berlin conference.
    Wikimedia Commons/Somebody500

    2. The Tripartite Convention

    It wasn’t just Africa that was divided up this way. In 1899, Germany and the United States held a conference and forced an agreement on the Samoans to split their islands between the two powers.

    This was despite the Samoans expressing a desire for either self-rule or a confederation of Pacific states with Hawai’i.

    As “compensation” for missing out in Samoa, Britain received uncontested primacy over Tonga.

    German Samoa came under the rule of New Zealand after the first world war and remained a territory until 1962. American Samoa (in addition to several other Pacific islands) remain US territories to this day.

    3. The Sykes-Picot Agreement

    As the first world war was well under way, British and French representatives sat down to agree how they’d divide up the Ottoman Empire after it was over. As an enemy power, the Ottomans were not invited to the talks.

    Together, England’s Mark Sykes and France’s François Georges-Picot redrew the Middle East’s borders in line with their nations’ interests.

    The Sykes-Picot Agreement ran counter to commitments made in a series of letters known as the Hussein-McMahon correspondence. In these letters, Britain promised to support Arab independence from Turkish rule.



    Read more:
    What was the Sykes-Picot agreement, and why does it still affect the Middle East today?

    The Sykes-Picot Agreement also ran counter to promises Britain made in the Balfour Declaration to back Zionists who wanted to build a new Jewish homeland in Ottoman Palestine.

    The agreement became the wellspring of decades of conflict and colonial misrule in the Middle East, the consequences of which continue to be felt today.

    Map showing the areas of control and influence in the Middle East agreed upon between the British and French.
    The National Archives (UK)/Wikimedia Commons

    4. The Munich Agreement

    In September 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier met with Italy’s fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini, and Germany’s Adolf Hitler to sign what became known as the Munich Agreement.

    The leaders sought to prevent the spread of war throughout Europe after Hitler’s Nazis had fomented an uprising and began attacking the German-speaking areas of Czechoslovakia known as the Sudetenland. They did this under the pretext of protecting German minorities. No Czechoslovakians were invited to the meeting.

    The meeting is still seen by many as the “Munich Betrayal” – a classic example of a failed appeasement of a belligerent power in the false hope of staving off war.

    5. The Évian Conference

    In 1938, 32 countries met in Évian-les-Bains, France, to decide how to deal with Jewish refugees fleeing persecution in Nazi Germany.

    Before the conference started, Britain and the US had agreed not to put pressure on one another to lift the quota of Jews they would accept in either the US or British Palestine.

    While Golda Meir (the future Israeli leader) attended the conference as an observer, neither she nor any other representatives of the Jewish people were permitted to take part in the negotiations.

    The attendees largely failed to come to an agreement on accepting Jewish refugees, with the exception of the Dominican Republic. And most Jews in Germany were unable to leave before Nazism reached its genocidal nadir in the Holocaust.

    6. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

    As Hitler planned his invasion of Eastern Europe, it became clear his major stumbling block was the Soviet Union. His answer was to sign a disingenuous non-aggression treaty with the USSR.

    Joseph Stalin and Joachim von Ribbentrop after the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
    German Federal Archives/Wikimedia Commons

    The treaty, named after Vyacheslav Molotov and Joachim von Ribbentrop (the Soviet and German foreign ministers), ensured the Soviet Union would not respond when Hitler invaded Poland. It also carved up Europe into Nazi and Soviet spheres. This allowed the Soviets to expand into Romania and the Baltic states, attack Finland and take its own share of Polish territory.

    Unsurprisingly, some in Eastern Europe view the current US-Russia talks over Ukraine’s future as a revival of this kind of secret diplomacy that divided the smaller nations of Europe between large powers in the second world war.

    7. The Yalta Conference

    With the defeat of Nazi Germany imminent, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin and US President Franklin D Roosevelt met in 1945 to decide the fate of postwar Europe. This meeting came to be known as the Yalta Conference.

    Alongside the Potsdam Conference several months later, Yalta created the political architecture that would lead to the Cold War division of Europe.

    At Yalta, the “big three” decided on the division of Germany, while Stalin was also offered a sphere of interest in Eastern Europe.

    This took the form of a series of politically controlled buffer states in Eastern Europe, a model some believe Putin is aiming to emulate today in eastern and southeastern Europe.

    Matt Fitzpatrick receives funding from the Australian Research Council. He is affiliated with the History Council of South Australia.

    – ref. Ukraine isn’t invited to its own peace talks. History is full of such examples – and the results are devastating – https://theconversation.com/ukraine-isnt-invited-to-its-own-peace-talks-history-is-full-of-such-examples-and-the-results-are-devastating-250049

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI China: How ‘Ne Zha 2’ becomes global box office sensation

    Source: China State Council Information Office 3

    “Ne Zha 2,” the animated blockbuster that has dominated China’s box office, is igniting a global frenzy with its seamless fusion of traditional Chinese mythology and innovative animation storytelling.

    Children look at a poster for “Ne Zha 2” in a theater in Los Angeles County, the United States, Feb. 14, 2025. (Photo by Qiu Chen/Xinhua)

    The film was officially released in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Papua New Guinea on Thursday and hit the big screen in North America the next day, sparking much demand. Additional releases are planned in other countries including Singapore, Malaysia, Egypt, South Africa, Pakistan, Japan and South Korea.

    On social media, #NeZha2 is trending, with fans calling it “visually stunning” and “emotionally powerful.” The film’s IMDb rating stands at 8.3 to date, reflecting its universal appeal.

    How did the animated movie, based on ancient Chinese mythology, become an international box office sensation?

    EXQUISITE ANIMATION PRODUCTION

    “Ne Zha 2” has captivated audiences with its state-of-the-art visual effects — an area once dominated by Hollywood productions.

    By leveraging advanced technologies, such as GPU rendering and artificial intelligence, the film achieves a level of visual sophistication that rivals that of Hollywood films.

    With around 2,000 special effects shots and 10,000 special effects elements, the film’s visual grandeur has blended with traditional Chinese aesthetics, like misty landscapes inspired by traditional ink paintings, creating a visually immersive experience that resonates globally.

    The film’s technical brilliance, as seen in breathtaking sequences, such as the climactic battle at Tianyuan Ding and the transformation of Ne Zha’s physical form, exemplifies the significant advancement of China’s animation industry through the marriage of artistry and technology.

    With contributions from 138 animation studios, “the film showcases the collaborative power of China’s creative ecosystem and heralds an upgrade in both the film industry and its aesthetic standards,” noted Chen Xuguang, director of the Institute of Film, Television and Theatre at Peking University.

    People pose for photos in front of the poster of the Chinese animated feature “Ne Zha 2” at IMAX Sydney in Sydney, Australia, Feb. 11, 2025. (Xinhua/Ma Ping)

    GLOBAL APPEAL

    Inspired by the 16th-century Chinese mythological novel, “The Investiture of the Gods,” “Ne Zha 2” portrays its protagonist as a rebellious boy-god blending contemporary themes of identity, resilience and social justice, a narrative that has struck a chord with global audiences.

    Emotional appeal is a critical factor. The film’s emotional core — family bonds, friendship, and societal marginalization — transcends cultural barriers. As one U.S. viewer noted, “Ne Zha’s struggle mirrors my own battles against prejudice.”

    Director Yang Yu, known as Jiaozi, has emphasized that the international success of Chinese cinema hinges on the intrinsic charm of the works themselves. “It’s about whether a script, a story and its characters can move audiences worldwide,” he said.

    “Ne Zha 2,” with its universal themes and emotional depth, is a compelling example of how Chinese cinema can achieve this.

    Robert King, a Hollywood producer, praised the film’s success in China and its cultural significance. He said “Ne Zha 2” could become a contender for international awards in multiple categories, including foreign film and animation. “This little rascal Ne Zha will resonate with Hollywood,” he said.

    This photo taken on Feb. 13, 2025 shows a projected poster for the Chinese fantasy feature “Ne Zha 2” at a shopping mall in Sydney, Australia. (Xinhua/Ma Ping)

    WIDE AUDIENCE SUPPORT

    The film, with English subtitles, has been well-received by overseas Chinese communities, whose overwhelming support — evidenced by positive social media comments and demands for more screenings — has been pivotal to its global momentum.

    For many overseas Chinese viewers, “Ne Zha 2” offers a sense of cultural pride and nostalgia, resonating deeply with their cultural identity.

    Angela Yu, from northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province and living in the U.S. for nearly 18 years, said the production was top-notch and the story captivated her every second, noting that “this is the best cure I’ve had in recent years.”

    A lady, who gave her surname as Lai, said that she was deeply moved by the film, crying and laughing while watching it.

    “Compared with the century-old Hollywood, Chinese films started late but have made rapid progress in recent years,” she said.

    It is clear that in many ways, “Ne Zha 2” is more than just a film; it’s a cultural milestone. Its success reflects the dynamism of China’s creative industries, the enduring appeal of its cultural heritage, and the potential for Chinese stories to captivate audiences all over the world.

    Having amassed over 10 billion yuan (about 1.39 billion U.S. dollars) in global total earnings, including presales, “Ne Zha 2” is the first film to gross 1 billion U.S. dollars in a single market and the first non-Hollywood title to join the coveted billion-dollar club.

    With domestic earnings projected to surge past 15 billion yuan, the film stands poised to become the highest-grossing animated movie of all time and one of the five top-grossing films globally.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Australian houses are getting larger. For a more sustainable future, our houses can’t be the space for everything

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bhavna Middha, ARC DECRA Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University

    The average Australian household size has decreased from 4.5 people per household in 1911 to 2.5 people in 2024. At the same time, the average house size has increased, from 100 square metres in the 1950s to 236m² in 2020. The average living space in Australian households is now 84m² per person.

    The way we live in our homes – our habits and daily routines – is also growing and changing with our housing, and the way we want to live can shape the size of our homes.

    For a more sustainable future, we need to embrace living in smaller spaces. This means not letting our houses be our primary space for every activity in our lives.

    Our homes and ‘space creep’

    Our houses first became bigger due to space creep, bringing more of the outdoors inside.

    Once, older children were delegated to “sleep outs”, or closed-in verandas, when new siblings arrived. Over time, these draughty and unheated spaces may have been converted into bedrooms, and houses were increasingly built with dedicated rooms for each child.

    Older children were often relegated to sleeping in enclosed verandas, like on this house in Cairns in 1927.
    State Library Queensland

    Our research shows space creep now also occurs even in shrinking, empty nest households. Garages and sheds are increasingly being converted into “man-caves” or rumpus rooms for tinkering, play and privacy.

    Some families we spoke with bought bigger houses because there was a separate “hobby room” for crafts or music, or separate home offices. People now see these spaces as integral to their home life, and buy or build houses with this in mind.

    Space creep is also linked to how we consume. We saw many old fridges and chest freezers in garages, allowing for greater food storage because people were concerned about having enough food in the house, needed to bulk buy items to save money, or because they tried to minimise trips to the store.

    The routines set in these spaces result in us consuming more space. As we, as a society, become used to these spaces, we feel like we should need them.

    COVID changed perceptions of how much space is needed in our homes. People living in apartments now describe them as feeling much smaller than they did before.

    Pets are increasingly viewed as part of the family: almost half of homes have a dog, and one third own a cat. This means either making or buying more space to accommodate pets, as well as more energy consumption.

    Studies have found we spend more time in our houses than in the past, but overall time spent in each space in the house is less. And while the spaciousness of our homes may afford privacy, we lose connection. If every family member is in a different room on their individual screens, we lose some of the benefits of a family room.

    Do we need more apartments?

    After children have left, many people prefer to age in their communities. Without better options of smaller, well-built homes in the same location, older people often hold onto the large family home.

    Planning rules and conventionally designed houses often do not offer the flexibility of subdividing homes that have grown too large. Smaller townhouses in the same area may be two stories with stairs, making them inaccessible for many older people. Older people need to be able to downsize without moving away from their communities, services and local area.

    And yet, it is not as simple or straightforward as everyone living in apartments or units. Some larger houses are still needed to satisfy certain needs, like multi-generational living.

    One in five Victorians want to live in apartments, but only one in ten do.
    Denise Jans/Unsplash

    A recent study found one in five Victorians would prefer to live in an apartment, but only one in ten do.

    In Australia, apartments suitable for families are rare. Students, young couples or young families see apartments as transient living places and not as a forever home, in stark contrast to how families see apartments in many cities in Europe.

    As our lot sizes decrease and our new houses increase in size, garden space is compromised to the detriment of biodiversity, shading from trees and stormwater runoff.

    Low and mid-density living that allows for smaller houses and units with backyards and apartments with generous balconies close to larger shared spaces, like parks and sports grounds, may satisfy the desire for privacy, serenity and improve physical and mental health through contact with nature, while reducing the risk of hotter urban environments.

    Changing priorities

    Transitioning from larger to smaller homes, and from houses to apartments, means shifting from a culture where we have an abundance of private spaces such as pools, home theatres and hobby rooms in our homes to shared social infrastructure.

    We need to see increased investment in social infrastructure – especially in greenfield suburbs with new developments.

    People might chose to have a bigger house so they can have a home gym, instead of a gym membership.
    Pixel-Shot/Shutterstock

    It means investing in walkable community facilities where people can go to pursue their interests and hobbies and connect with others. Instead of a private hobby room, these activities can be brought into a public space. Instead of multiple living areas, families can share one living space or use outside shared spaces such as Men’s Sheds.

    Changes to construction laws may help protect consumers and help householders gain confidence in the monetary value of multi-unit living, by providing solutions for issues in apartments such as cladding, safety and insurance.

    Another important step may be the New South Wales Housing Pattern Book. The book, to be released this year, will contain the winning designs of an international competition for terrace houses and mid-rise apartment buildings that offer compact sized dwellings with flexible room sizes, private and public outdoor spaces and ample natural light. The designs will be able to be licenced for use by developers and home builders, and enjoy faster approval processes.

    The availability of high-quality designs for smaller spaces in connection with attractive neighbourhood places may help Australians reimagine smaller, higher density, good home living.

    Bhavna Middha receives funding from the Australian Research Council for her Discovery Early Career Research Award (2024)

    Nicola Willand receives funding for research from various organisations, including the ARC, the Victorian state government, the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation, the Future Fuels Collaborative Research Centre and the NHMRC. She is a trustee of the Fuel Poverty Research Network charity and affiliated with the Australian Institute of Architects.

    – ref. Australian houses are getting larger. For a more sustainable future, our houses can’t be the space for everything – https://theconversation.com/australian-houses-are-getting-larger-for-a-more-sustainable-future-our-houses-cant-be-the-space-for-everything-245476

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI China: Govt bodies seek deep integration with AI tech

    Source: China State Council Information Office 2

    Local governments in China are racing to embrace cutting-edge technologies, such as artificial intelligence and intelligent robots, to facilitate decision-making and industrial innovation, after Chinese AI startup DeepSeek recently sparked a new wave of global discussions on technology.
    The municipal government of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, recently deployed DeepSeek’s open-source model on its government extranet, a private network for sharing information with selected external users, thereby pioneering the application of the model in fields such as government administration, urban management and public services.
    Chen Geng, head of the infrastructure division at the Guangzhou Municipal Government Affairs Data Administration, said on Monday that the integration of the DeepSeek AI model can improve local residents’ access to policy information and boost the efficiency of document processing.
    Chen said the open-source ecosystem of DeepSeek lowers the threshold for AI applications, benefiting intelligent administrative operations in government institutions at the provincial, municipal and county levels.
    Guangzhou has upgraded its hotline services for handling complaints and suggestions from local residents by integrating with the DeepSeek AI model and other new technologies. This has reduced the average waiting time for calls from the public by 43 percent and increased the accuracy of directing the calls to 97 percent, according to the city government.
    In addition, the government of Hohhot, the capital of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, has also completed the deployment of the DeepSeek-R1 model on its government extranet.
    Li Haigang, director of the service center of Hohhot’s big data management bureau, said on Monday, “We will promote the application of the DeepSeek model across various departments, starting with providing immediate response and intelligent Q&A for the complaint hotline, and gradually expanding to accommodate more departmental business scenarios.”
    Li added that the bureau plans to leverage advanced technologies such as big data and AI to analyze multimodal data, such as texts, images and videos, in order to support the aggregation and sharing of public data.
    As of Monday, at least eight cities in China had announced integration with the DeepSeek AI model to empower local government services.
    Moreover, some local governments have organized learning sessions to help officials and business professionals understand the development and application of DeepSeek and other AI technologies.
    On Saturday, officials of Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, participated in a collective learning session on DeepSeek, during which Shen Yang, a professor at Tsinghua University’s College of AI, provided insights into domestic and international AI models, the use of DeepSeek, and AI-generated content and applications in various industries, according to Zhengzhou Daily.
    An Wei, secretary of the Communist Party of China Zhengzhou committee, called for all officials in the city to master the use of AI models like DeepSeek, in order to fully leverage AI to assist in decision-making and improve work efficiency.
    He also emphasized the need to align with the demands of Zhengzhou’s industrial transformation, promoting the integration of AI technology with strategic emerging industries, advantageous traditional industries, and new business formats such as the use of short videos, livestreaming and cultural creativity.
    In the Jinpu New Area of Dalian, Liaoning province, a training session on applications of the DeepSeek AI model was held on Friday for more than 1,300 participants, including key government officials and representatives from over 500 enterprises, according to Li Yan, chief of the Jinpu New Area’s data bureau.
    She said on Monday that the bureau will use AI models to empower government services by continuously improving the efficiency of government work, facilitating the transformation and upgrading of emerging industries, reducing the costs and increasing the efficiency of enterprises, and driving the high-quality development of the new area.
    In addition to the application of the DeepSeek AI model in government services, the use of AI technology is also being encouraged in other fields, such as the new energy industry.
    In December, a three-year action plan for technological innovation in the new energy industry was jointly released by 11 departments in Shan­dong province. It aims to establish an intelligent power management platform integrated with AI, achieving large-scale application by 2027.
    According to People’s Daily Online, State Grid Shandong Electric Power Co has developed an AI-assisted intelligent power regulation model, achieving real-time control of various segments of the power industry chain.
    Besides AI, senior officials across the country are also focusing on other technologies in emerging and future industries.
    Guangdong Governor Wang Wei­zhong visited the high-tech hub of Shenzhen last week to inspect the development of intelligent robots, AI, autonomous driving and quantum technology, according to Guangdong TV.
    Wang emphasized the need to accelerate breakthroughs in key components such as machine brains, limbs and bodies, and to promote the innovative application of intelligent robots in scenarios such as elderly care and public services.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Fish and chips shouldn’t come with a catch: how Australia can keep illegal seafood off our plates

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leslie Roberson, Postdoctoral research fellow, Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, The University of Queensland

    If you’ve ever been stopped by quarantine officers at the airport, you might think Australia’s international border is locked down like a fortress. But when it comes to trade in seafood, it’s more like a net full of holes.

    Products sourced from illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing can easily slip through to unsuspecting buyers.

    Seafood is among the world’s most traded agricultural commodities. Yet illegal fishing accounts for an estimated one-fifth of all wild-caught seafood.

    This represents a serious threat to marine ecosystems, food security and even human rights. The phenomenon has been linked to organised crime, modern slavery, and the depletion of vulnerable species such as abalone and hammerhead sharks.

    The blame usually falls on countries where the fishing occurs, or where the boat is registered. But seafood markets, including processors, retailers and consumers, play a major role in driving demand. They could also play a crucial role in combating illegal fishing.

    In our new policy paper, we propose more effective controls on seafood imports.

    What is illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing? (Australian Fisheries Management Authority)

    Australia’s role as a seafood-loving nation

    Australia spends considerable effort managing its own fisheries, ensuring they are legal and sustainable.

    Yet, 60 to 70% of the seafood consumed in Australia is imported.

    These imports come mainly from countries with weaker environmental regulations, more illegal activity, and greater vulnerability to labour abuse and slavery.

    Current policies leave Australia vulnerable to illegally sourced seafood. Key information, such as the fishing location or species name, is often not required under current trade measures. This means seafood products can be imported under vague labels such as “frozen fish”, obscuring their identity and origins.

    Suspect seafood products

    Certain seafood products such as shark fins are more likely to be sourced illegally for a variety of reasons, including high market value. Other riskier wild-caught products imported into Australia include:

    Most of the seafood consumed in Australia comes from overseas.
    Shine Nucha, Shutterstock

    A new border policy could help crack down on fishy imports

    Australia has made international commitments to consume sustainable seafood, in fisheries policy and through subscribing to the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and the Global Biodiversity Framework. Meeting these commitments will require being more careful about what we import from other countries. This could take the form of stricter border regulations.

    The Australian government has begun to explore trade measures aimed at denying entry to illegal or untraceable seafood products. A group of organisations was formed two years ago to support this process. While a draft report was released at the end of 2023, the final outcome remains delayed – perhaps until after the next federal election.

    To inform this process, we reviewed the existing seafood import policies and recommend eight key design criteria for improvement.

    Only the United States, the European Union, and Japan have systems in place to verify the legal origin of imported seafood. Since these are some of the world’s largest seafood import markets, their efforts are important. But their schemes all have notable flaws that Australia should avoid replicating.

    These systems are technologically obsolete, lack solid traceability and accounting mechanisms, and rely on trade documents that are often impossible to verify. Most systems are not fully electronic, resulting in shipping containers of seafood arriving with shoeboxes of paper catch certificates.

    There are no mechanisms for cooperation between countries. Crosschecking of the same certificate arriving in both France and Italy, for instance, is not yet possible. This makes it easy to reuse certificates across multiple countries, enabling trade of falsely labelled or illegally caught seafood.

    Unlawful transfer of fish between vessels is an example of illegal fishing activity.
    Richard Whitcombe, Shutterstock

    Australia’s chance to take the lead against fishy imports

    Seafood supply chains are notoriously complex. Without effective certification schemes, keeping seafood sourced from illegal fishing operations out of our market is virtually impossible.

    Although Australia’s seafood appetite is minuscule compared to the US, the EU, or Japan, it has the resources and the opportunity to create a better import control system. Such a system would involve designing an electronic platform with automated fraud detection mechanisms that tracks seafood products from the fishing boat, through the supply chain, to the Australian border. Australia can then start to close the sizeable loophole in its efforts to secure a legal and traceable seafood supply.

    Such policies would support sustainable Australian fisheries and help the country’s biggest seafood suppliers to source responsibly. Nearly every country in the world trades seafood: if countries implement smart import policies, illegally sourced seafood will become much easier to intercept.

    The authors appreciate the valuable contributions of Gilles Hosch, a fisheries expert with 25 years of experience in global fisheries compliance and seafood traceability.

    Leslie Roberson receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

    Carissa Klein receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

    Rosa Mar Dominguez-Martinez receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

    – ref. Fish and chips shouldn’t come with a catch: how Australia can keep illegal seafood off our plates – https://theconversation.com/fish-and-chips-shouldnt-come-with-a-catch-how-australia-can-keep-illegal-seafood-off-our-plates-249481

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: YouTube hosts a lot of garbage – but the government is right to let kids keep watching it

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Page Jeffery, Lecturer in Media and Communications, University of Sydney

    suriyachan/Shutterstock

    When the Australian government passed legislation in November last year banning young people under 16 from social media, it included exemptions for platforms “that are primarily for the purposes of education and health support”. One such platform was YouTube.

    The government is currently conducting private consultations with the tech industry over how the social media ban – which won’t come into effect until at least December this year – will work, and the decision to exempt YouTube.

    Meta and TikTok have criticised the exemption. These tech giants have pointed to research which shows YouTube is the most popular social media platform among young people. They argue all social media sites used by under 16s should be held to the same standard.

    YouTube plays an important part in the digital lives of teens. It is a key source of information and entertainment for young people. At the same time, however, the video streaming platform hosts a diverse range of potentially harmful content, including content espousing misogynistic, racist, hateful and far-right ideologies.

    So is YouTube’s exemption from the social media ban justified?

    A multipurpose platform

    For many teens, YouTube is a major source of information. It offers not only entertainment, but also a sense of community.

    Young people use it to listen to and search for music and for watching television content; to keep up with news; to create their own content; for social connection; and to learn about new topics.

    YouTube has also been found to create a sense of community and boost the collective self-esteem of the LGBTQ community.

    Many organisations – such as mental health and sexual health organisations – seek to deliver important health information to young people through YouTube.

    In my research with families, parents and teens have told me YouTube is an invaluable source of information for both parents and teens. It can facilitate family bonding through co-viewing of either educational or entertaining videos.

    YouTube occupies an important place in the lives of young people. So banning them from it would cut off an important source of information, education, entertainment and connection.

    For many teens, YouTube is a major source of information. It offers not only entertainment, but also a sense of community.
    PixieMe/Shutterstock

    Recommending harmful content

    However, we also know that YouTube – like other social media sites and the internet more broadly – also contains potentially harmful content that the platform may recommend to young users.

    The algorithmic systems that recommend new videos to viewers can be difficult to study due to their opaque nature as commercially valuable IP carefully guarded by platforms.

    But from the studies that do exist, we know YouTube’s recommendation system has served content that is sexually explicit and otherwise distressing to young users.

    A recent report by Reset Tech also found YouTube’s algorithms may promote misogynistic and other extremist content to young people.

    A different design

    YouTube has in place a range of content moderation policies designed to combat these issues. For example, it takes action to prioritise in its recommendations sources from channels it deems reliable and unlikely to contain harmful content, with mixed results.

    Content that might harm young people is explicitly banned under the platform’s community guidelines.

    Of course, most social media platforms have similar restrictions in their guidelines.

    A key difference between YouTube and other social media platforms, however, is the way YouTube is designed to be used.

    Unlike Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, YouTube is not designed to be a social network. Users can and most commonly do go to the platform to passively watch videos, just as they might go to Disney+ or Netflix.

    The social media ban will apply to platforms such as Facebook, X and TikTok.
    Danishch/Shutterstock

    Striking the right balance

    The most alarming research into the impact of social media on young people suggests they are at the highest risk of harm when they are encouraged to actively rather than passively participate on social media platforms.

    Exempting YouTube from the ban strikes the right balance between recognising and valuing forms of cultural practice and consumption important to young people today and protecting them from online harm.

    But we should still continue to demand better practices from YouTube. There is always more these social media companies can do to protect their users from harm. When they fail to do so, they should be held accountable.

    While exempting YouTube from this ban, they should still be held to the highest safety standards under Australia’s Online Safety Act.

    The exemption also does not mean young people should be able to freely engage with YouTube without restriction or oversight.

    We must talk to our kids about what they watch, teach them critical thinking skills and ensure they have rich lives outside of the digital realm.

    One tangible step parents can take to reduce the risk of harm is to turn off the autoplay setting on YouTube for their kids, so videos do not stream back to back, stopping the endless flow of videos and providing an opportunity for viewers to consider what and whether they want to watch another video.

    Catherine Page Jeffery receives funding from the Australian Research Council. She is affiliated with Children and Media Australia.

    Joanne Gray currently receives funding from the Australian Research Council and has previously received funding for research from companies such as Meta Platforms and ByteDance.

    – ref. YouTube hosts a lot of garbage – but the government is right to let kids keep watching it – https://theconversation.com/youtube-hosts-a-lot-of-garbage-but-the-government-is-right-to-let-kids-keep-watching-it-250050

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI China: Chinese blockbuster ‘Ne Zha 2’ brings boons beyond theaters

    Source: China State Council Information Office 3

    Having broken the Hollywood monopoly in the global list of 10 highest-grossing films, the animated feature “Ne Zha 2” is generating ripple effects beyond cinemas, showcasing China’s vibrant consumption and dynamic economy.

    Less than three weeks since its premiere, the global earnings, including presales, of “Ne Zha 2” have exceeded 12.05 billion yuan (about 1.68 billion U.S. dollars).

    Drawing inspiration from a Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) mythological tale, much like the globally acclaimed 3A video game “Black Myth: Wukong,” “Ne Zha 2” reimagines the story of Nezha, a legendary boy with extraordinary powers, for today’s audience. He is also a character in the classic novel “Journey to the West,” which features the Monkey King, or Sun Wukong.

    The film’s success extends to catering, retail, tourism, and capital markets.

    Inspired by the film, a restaurant in north China’s Tianjin Municipality has creatively incorporated the film’s characters and cuisines into its menu, with dishes like “stir-fried squid tentacles” recalling a humorous scene from the movie.

    Traditional specialties, such as lotus root powder — used in the film to remake Ne Zha’s flesh — have seen a resurgence in popularity.

    Additionally, a Ne Zha-themed hot pot restaurant in Yibin, Sichuan Province, has become a popular spot for photos due to its interior design inspired by the film’s elements, like the Red Armillary Sash.

    Craze for IP derivatives

    The craze for IP derivatives is evident, with Ne Zha-themed merchandise selling out rapidly. In Shanghai, movie theater operators reported that popcorn tubs and drink packages featuring Ne Zha sold out within days of the film’s release. In Beijing, action figures of Ne Zha are in high demand, with shipments scheduled as far out as July.

    “I really like Ao Bing (a dragon prince and friend of Ne Zha in the film). I ordered six blind boxes from Pop Mart as soon as the products were released, hoping to get a toy of Ao Bing,” said Dekyi Yangzom, a movie enthusiast from southwest China’s Xizang Autonomous Region, who was deeply impressed by the story and visual effects of the film.

    Online sales of “Ne Zha 2” merchandise have surged, with sales reportedly exceeding 50 million yuan on Taobao, a leading e-commerce platform in China.

    Zhang Zizhong, an assistant professor at Zhejiang University, highlighted the evolving revenue models in China’s film industry.

    “In the past, films mainly relied on box office to generate revenues. However, today, IP derivatives have become a significant source of profits,” said Zhang, adding that the audiences are willing to pay for content beyond the movie itself.

    A boost for local tourism

    The film’s use of various Chinese dialects has entertained audiences and highlighted the unique charm of local cultures, boosting cultural tourism in regions like Tianjin and Sichuan.

    Locations like Chentangzhuang in Tianjin, linked by some people to Chentang Pass in the film, are seeing increased visitors. Capitalizing on the opportunity, Tianjin’s cultural and tourism sector has introduced several Ne Zha-themed experiential routes, resulting in a nearly 30 percent surge in visitor traffic.

    In the Cuiping district of Yibin, known for ancient temples honoring Nezha, newly launched attractions and themed events have drawn crowds, leading to a 34 percent increase in hotel booking.

    In Xixia County, Henan Province, the Nezha Temple attracts global visitors annually. Following the movie’s release, the local cultural and tourism department reported a year-on-year rise in visitor numbers at the county’s major scenic spots, accompanied by a 13.2 percent increase in overall revenue.

    Stock price rise

    As “Ne Zha 2” continues to dominate the box office, the stock prices of the companies involved in its production, including Beijing Enlight Media Co., Ltd., the main producer, have seen a significant uptick.

    Within seven trading days after the Spring Festival holiday, Enlight Media’s stock price hit the upper limit five times, with its market value soaring from approximately 28 billion yuan on Jan. 27 to 101.9 billion yuan on Feb. 14.

    Wang Changtian, the company’s chairman, said that such performance is a direct market response to the box office success of “Ne Zha 2.”

    Zhu Yuqing, vice chairman of the industry review committee of the China Film Critics Association, said that amidst the global sensation of “Ne Zha 2,” investors previously skeptical about the Chinese film market have shifted their stance and are now paying attention to Chinese animated films.

    “The investment rationale for animated films extends beyond box office revenue; their industrial chain is extensive. Derivative products, real-world scenery development, souvenirs, and games can all generate a long-tail effect,” Zhu explained, adding that the capital market is generally optimistic about animated films this year, which marks the 120th anniversary of Chinese cinema and the 130th anniversary of world cinema.

    “The strong start of ‘Ne Zha 2’ is just the beginning. The vast potential for consumption in China’s film market, the broad development space for the film industry, and the growing enthusiasm for domestic blockbusters will drive Chinese filmmakers to create more outstanding domestic animations that will shine on the global stage,” said Zhao Xinli, dean of the Advertising School at the Communication University of China.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Online violence and misogyny are still on the rise – NZ needs a tougher response

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cassandra Mudgway, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Canterbury

    Yesterday’s revelation of a 2023 standoff between the Human Rights Commission and New Zealand’s internet safety agencies highlights lingering concern about the current online safety code.

    According to the report from RNZ, the commission told NZ Tech and Netsafe that social media companies X Corp. and Meta failed to protect former prime minister Jacinda Ardern from misogynistic and dehumanising violence across their platforms.

    The commission’s claim that the Code of Practice for Online Safety and Harms was not fit for purpose apparently drew a sharp legal response from the agencies, which argued the commission showed bias and had overstepped its remit.

    But the historical incident raises important questions New Zealand has yet to grapple with properly.

    Established in 2022, the code is a voluntary set of commitments co-designed with the technology industry, including some social media companies such as Meta and X-Corp.

    Companies become signatories to the code and agree to its commitments. The current signatories are Meta, Google, TikTok, Twitch and X Corp.

    Among other provisions, the code asks signatories to take steps to reduce harmful content on their platforms or services, including harassment (where there is an intent to cause harm), hate speech (which includes sexist hate speech), incitement of violence and disinformation.

    The code is not legally enforceable. Compliance relies on willingness to adopt such measures. But there is an accountability structure in the form of an oversight committee. The public can lodge complaints with the committee if they believe signatories have breached the code, and the committee can remove a signatory from the code.

    When it was launched, the code received some international acclaim as an example of best practice for digital safety. But its critics argued that because it was co-written with social media companies, the commitments were not as strong or effective as they might have been.

    Jacinda Ardern was the target of extreme levels of online misogyny and violent rhetoric.
    Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images

    Is the code effective?

    Last year, Netsafe rang the alarm about increasing rates of online misogyny and violent extremism, including the targeting of public figures and politicians.

    This raises obvious questions about the code’s effectiveness. Since the Human Rights Commission cited the extreme online violence directed at Jacinda Ardern, former Green Party MP Golriz Ghahraman has spoken about the violent online misogyny and racism she experienced while in office.

    These forms of gender-based violence are a breach of women’s human rights. They also lead to women politicians self-censoring, avoiding social media, and generally having less contact with the public.

    Some overseas studies have shown prolonged exposure to online violence has led to women MPs leaving office sooner than planned. Overall, online harm endangers representative democracy and breaches women’s rights to participate in politics.

    The human rights implications also mean the New Zealand government has legal duties under international treaties to prevent online gender-based violence.

    The United Nations has also called on social media companies to do more to prevent the spread of racial hatred. As such, it is a function of the Human Rights Commission to promote and monitor compliance with international standards.

    NZ is out of step internationally

    In its current form, the code is not effective. Its commitments aim to reduce harm rather than eliminate it, and it is not comprehensive about the kinds of harm it wants signatories to reduce.

    For example, it does not include reference to “volumetric” attacks – the type of coordinated harassment campaigns against a person that were directed at Ardern.

    Further, the code’s threshold for “harm” is high, requiring the online violence to pose an imminent and serious threat to users’ safety. This does not easily capture the types of gender-based violence, such as misogynistic hate speech, that over time normalise violence against women.

    The code also emphasises the role of users in managing harmful content, rather than placing a responsibility on the platforms to investigate how their services and technologies might be misused to cause harm.

    Relying on voluntary commitments also puts New Zealand out of step with other countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia which have legally enforceable requirements for social media companies to protect online safety.

    Placing that burden on users – to block, report or remove content – is merely reactive. It does not prevent harm because it has already happened. And for some groups, such as MPs and public figures, the harm they receive can be overwhelming and seemingly endless.

    Preventing online gender-based violence requires proactive measures that are legally enforceable. To fulfil its international obligations, the government should urgently review the need for legal regulation that places the burden of online safety on large social media companies rather than on users.

    Cassandra Mudgway does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Online violence and misogyny are still on the rise – NZ needs a tougher response – https://theconversation.com/online-violence-and-misogyny-are-still-on-the-rise-nz-needs-a-tougher-response-250033

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Appointment of TEQSA Chief Commissioner and Commissioner

    Source: Australian Ministers for Education

    Today I announce the appointment of Professor Kerri-Lee Krause as Chief Commissioner and Emeritus Professor Elizabeth More AM as Commissioner of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA).

    Before joining TEQSA, Professor Krause was the Vice-Chancellor and President of Avondale University and is the current Chair of the Higher Education Standards Panel.

    She has extensive governance and executive leadership experience across the higher education sector including public universities, dual sector and independent institutions.

    Professor More is a leading authority on business education and was the Dean of the Macquarie Graduate School of Management and Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Macquarie University and the University of Canberra.

    Professor Krause’s appointment will commence from 7 April 2025 and Professor More’s term as Commissioner will commence from 24 February 2025, both for five-year terms.

    I congratulate both Professor Krause and Professor More on their appointments and look forward to working with them to strengthen the integrity of Australia’s higher education system.

    The Government thanks Adrienne Nieuwenhuis for her time as Acting Chief Commissioner. Ms Nieuwenhuis will resume her role as a Commissioner from 7 April 2025.

    Professor Krause will stand down as Chair of the Higher Education Standards Panel.

    More information about TEQSA is available at: www.teqsa.gov.au

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Ehrenberg-Bass has earned the undivided respect of global brands over 20 years

    Source: University of South Australia

    18 February 2025

    The five Ehrenberg-Bass directors.

    The world’s largest centre for research into marketing is celebrating 20 years of transforming the industry and working with some of the biggest brands on the planet – and doing it from the small city of Adelaide, South Australia.

    University of South Australia’s Ehrenberg-Bass Institute of Marketing Science has become a global leader in research covering evidence-based marketing, advertising, brand equity, new and traditional media, buyer behaviour and shopper research.

    Over the years the Institute has worked with brand juggernauts such as McDonalds, Nestle, PepsiCo, and AstraZeneca. Based at UniSA’s Business School, it now has a team of more than 70 marketing scientists who work to reshape the world’s understanding of marketing, it’s principles and practices.  While based in Adelaide, the Institute runs advisory boards across North America, Europe and Australasia, bringing together the brightest minds in the business world.

    One of its biggest sponsors is global manufacturer of confectionary, pet care and food, Mars Inc, a company that hit a total annual revenue of US$50 billion in 2023 and in 2024 was ranked by Forbes magazine as the fourth largest privately held company in the United States.

    Mars products such as Mars, Milky Way and Snickers chocolate bars, M&Ms and Wrigley chewing gum are household names in more than 50 countries, as are its pet care brands Pedigree, Whiskas and Royal Canin.

    A two-decade relationship was sparked when Ehrenberg-Bass Director, Professor Byron Sharp delivered a workshop at a Mars Inc. training conference in the early 2000s. The visit evolved into a team of Institute researchers working to transform the role of marketing in the powerhouse company by changing its marketing systems, metrics and practices.

    “We were looking for a real academic partnership. A place where the real work begins extending the Laws of Growth into practical application,” says Bruce McColl, former Mars Inc’s Global Chief Marketing Officer.

    Mars revenue grew from US$25 billion to US$35 billion and led to 80-year-old brand Snickers – one of the most iconic products in the confectionary market – to experience sustained double-digit growth and a 30% lift in advertising performance effectiveness.

    “As we mark our 20th anniversary, we are looking back on our humble beginnings through to our industry leadership. Our journey has been fuelled by passion, perseverance and unwavering support from our incredible team and sponsors,” says Professor Sharp.

    “The companies we work with are celebrating lower marketing costs, greater marketing effectiveness and, most importantly, revenue growth.”

    Prof Sharp has built a solid reputation for challenging traditional marketing notions and the marketing industry’s ‘everyday nonsense’. His book How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don’t Know debunks common myths about brand growth and has become a cornerstone for modern marketing strategies. Heralded as a ‘bible’ for marketers worldwide, it’s sold over 150,000 copies and is available in more than 12 languages.

    Global companies like Coca-Cola and Procter & Gamble, owner of iconic household brands such as Pantene, Gillette, Oral B and Olay, have adopted Ehrenberg-Bass principles to optimise their marketing strategies.

    The Ehrenberg-Bass team is celebrating 20 years.

    One of Prof Sharp’s most popularised approaches is the Double Jeopardy Law, a concept that at first glance may seem intuitive or obvious, but its significance lies in the profound implications it has for marketing strategy.

    The law states that smaller or less popular brands have fewer buyers, and these buyers are less loyal. Larger brands have both more buyers and enjoy higher loyalty from their customers. Traditional marketing practices often emphasise customer loyalty as being the primary goal for growth – but the Double Jeopardy Law shows that loyalty is a result of scale, rather than a driver of growth.

    Prof Sharp says the team’s work reveals insights that often challenge long-held beliefs in marketing.

    “Our work shows that some of the world’s most innovative marketing solutions can emerge from unexpected places,” he says. “Adelaide is home to a team that’s driving global change in one of the world’s most dynamic industries.

    Further quotes from Ehrenberg-Bass sponsors and clients

    “The Ehrenberg-Bass Institute of Marketing Science opened my eyes to debunking many of the commonly held myths about how brands grow.” – Bernice Samuels, former Chief Marketing Officer, First National Bank, South Africa.

    “Common sense backed by hard data – the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute keeps our marketers grounded and makes them better long-term stewards of our most valuable corporate assets – our brands.” – Jane Ghosh, former UK Commercial Marketing Director – Cereal, Kellogg Company, UK.

    …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

    Contact for interview: Professor Byron Sharp, Director, Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science, UniSA
    E: Byron.Sharp@unisa.edu.au  
    Media contact: Melissa Keogh, Communications Officer, UniSA M: +61 403 659 154 E: Melissa.Keogh@unisa.edu.au

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: ALLEGHENY COUNTY – Governor Shapiro and Lt. Governor Davis Host Roundtable Highlighting Proposed Investments in Child Care

    Source: US State of Pennsylvania

    February 18, 2025 – Pittsburgh, PA

    ADVISORY – ALLEGHENY COUNTY – Governor Shapiro and Lt. Governor Davis Host Roundtable Highlighting Proposed Investments in Child Care

    Governor Josh Shapiro and Lt. Governor Austin Davis will host a roundtable at the YMCA Child Development Center at Duquesne University to talk about the Governor’s emphasis in his 2025-26 Budget Proposal on the child care workforce and his work to make child care more affordable.

    During his first two years in office, Governor Shapiro signed into law a historic expansion of the Child and Dependent Care Enhancement Tax Credit and created a new tax credit for businesses who want to contribute to their employees’ child care costs. Those two initiatives helped make child care more affordable – and the Governor’s proposal this year would make child care more available through an investment of $55 million to support child care workforce recruitment and retention grants.

    WHO:
    Governor Josh Shapiro
    Lt. Governor Austin Davis
    Second Lady Blayre Holmes Davis
    Amy Kienle, President/CEO of YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh
    Robert Cherry, CEO of Partner4Work
    Child care workers

    WHEN:
    Tuesday, February 18, 2025 at 1:45PM

    WHERE:
    YMCA Child Development Center at Duquesne University
    112 Washington Place,
    Pittsburgh, PA 15219

    LIVE STREAM:
    pacast.com/live/gov
    governor.pa.gov/live/

    RSVP:
    Press who are interested in attending must RSVP with the names and phone numbers for each member of their team to ra-gvgovpress@pa.gov.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: AFL and NRL pre-seasons are among the longest in world sport – here’s why

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joel Garrett, Lecturer in Exercise Science and Physiology, Griffith University

    Australia’s love affair with the major football codes – the Australian Football League (AFL) and National Rugby League (NRL) – is well documented. However, one aspect that stands out to many observers, particularly those overseas, is the length of these leagues’ pre-seasons.

    While global and international sports such as soccer and the United States’ National Football League (NFL) typically have pre-seasons lasting only a few weeks to two months, AFL and NRL pre-seasons can stretch well beyond that, sometimes up to and even surpassing four months.

    Why do these two codes, more than almost any others, devote such an extended block of time to pre-season training?

    The answer lies in a blend of the diverse physical qualities required to play AFL and NRL and the greater risk of injury associated with short preparation times.

    High-impact collisions and diverse physical demands

    Both the AFL and NRL are considered contact team sports. Athletes are required to cover large distances at speed, with frequent contact.

    AFL players can run upwards of 12–17 kilometres per match, at incredibly high intensities, all while executing numerous technical actions, such as kicking, catching, handballing and tackling.

    NRL players face similar challenges. Athletes are required to perform more than 30 high-impact collisions per game combined with repeated bouts of high-intensity activity, such as running and sprinting.

    This blend of endurance, strength and power, combined with the high contact demands, creates a distinct training challenge.

    Off-season programs must therefore develop multiple physical qualities. These include endurance for sustained high-intensity efforts, speed and agility for generating and closing space, and strength and power for tackling, wrestling and contested ball situations.

    A shorter pre-season can limit the time available to improve each of these qualities safely. This in turn increases the likelihood of in-season injuries and reduced performance overall.

    NRL athletes endure some brutal training sessions to prepare for each season.

    Longer pre-seasons and injury prevention

    From a sports science perspective, a key benefit of extended pre-seasons is the gradual increase in training load. This helps reduce injury risk once the season begins.

    Research has shown the importance of progressive overload (gradually increasing training demands in a safe, structured manner), recovery management, and adequate conditioning to tolerate in-season demands.

    Evidence also shows increased pre-season participation, additional pre-season sessions and higher workloads (such as total distance) result in fewer games missed due to injury within the season.

    These findings underscore that a carefully structured, longer preparation phase, even if it appears arduous, can build resilience.

    By gradually but systematically exposing players to both low- and high-intensity running volumes, physical contact, and skill-based sessions, clubs can equip their athletes’ bodies to withstand the onerous demands of an AFL or NRL season.

    What do other codes do?

    European football (soccer) clubs often have limited downtime between league seasons and international fixtures.

    Pre-season often entails high-profile international exhibition tours, leaving little space for the months-long conditioning programs common in AFL and NRL.

    Moreover, the absence of a draft system can mean injured players are simply replaced via the transfer market. This reduces the incentive for longer pre-season conditioning to keep key athletes healthy.

    The NFL’s pre-season is relatively short. It uses a training camp model that includes a few pre-season games in which their “starters” play a limited role due to injury concerns.

    The sport’s stop-start nature and its athletes’ highly specialised positional requirements also results in players having a more specific physical profile. In contrast, AFL and NRL players require a broader physical profile.

    In recent years, the NFL has become increasingly aware of higher injury rates tied to abrupt increases in training load. It is now exploring extended or restructured pre-season protocols that in part aim to reduce injury risk.

    Changes may be afoot

    Interestingly, the AFL itself may face a similar scenario this year.

    In the most recent off-season, many AFL clubs had only two to three weeks of full-squad structured training before Christmas, followed by three weeks off.

    This approach, designed to provide player downtime, might inadvertently produce an effect akin to what the NFL experiences, where shorter preparation periods are linked to higher rates of tendon and soft-tissue injuries.

    Sports scientists at Australian clubs will be monitoring training loads closely when their players return, aiming to avoid the pitfalls of quick turnarounds meeting high-impact competition.

    There’s a reason for these long pre-seasons

    Devoting three to four months to pre-season training is not merely a quirk of the Australian sporting calendar.

    It is a necessary response to the extreme physical demands of these codes. More importantly, a longer, carefully managed pre-season significantly lowers in-season injury risks.

    Clubs need to strike a balance between giving players sufficient rest and allowing enough time for a measured and carefully planned off-season. This not only enhances performance, but reduces injuries.

    Given the evidence, it is little wonder that Australian codes invest so heavily in this crucial preparation phase.

    Darren Burgess, General Manager of High Performance at Adelaide Football Club, contributed to this article.

    Joel Garrett does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. AFL and NRL pre-seasons are among the longest in world sport – here’s why – https://theconversation.com/afl-and-nrl-pre-seasons-are-among-the-longest-in-world-sport-heres-why-248430

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: EIT celebrates 50 years of providing quality tertiary education and skills training to Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti | EIT Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti

    Source: Eastern Institute of Technology – Tairāwhiti

    29 seconds ago

    EIT has educated generations of locals and this year will celebrate 50 years of providing quality tertiary education and skills training to Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti.

    Originally planned to be a university, what arose from a gifted piece of land in Taradale was the Hawke’s Bay Community College. When it opened its doors for vocational and community education in 1975, not many would have anticipated that it would become EIT.

    At the heart of it all was a bequest of a piece of land close to the Ōtatara Pa site, south of Taradale, by Margaret Hetley.

    Hilda Margaret Hetley (1889-75) had graduated with a Master of Arts from Cambridge University and she wanted a tertiary institution for Hawke’s Bay.  She made her bequest for a campus to honour her late husband, Frederic St Arnaud Hetley, and also to mark the provincial centennial of Hawke’s Bay in 1958.

    It was the start of academic excellence that would expand to include multiple degree programmes – the Bachelor of Nursing being the first in 1996. That same year the name changed to Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT). EIT consolidated itself as the preeminent educational provider on the East Coast when it merged with Tairāwhiti Polytechnic in Gisborne in 2011.

    There have been many developments during the fifty years, including the establishment of the Ōtatara Children’s Centre in 1977; the first computers being set up in 1985; nursing training starting in 1981; Māori studies being launched at Te Manga Māori, now better known as the much-extended Te Ūranga Waka, in 1989; the Twist Library opening in 1993; and by the late 1990s new bachelor degrees were started including business studies, computing systems, Māori studies, visual arts and design, viticulture and wine science.

    Study options continued to expand into the early 2000s, with the addition of bachelor degrees for sport, & exercise, applied social sciences, a master’s degree in nursing, an honours’ degree for Māori studies and a diploma in early childhood teaching. Margaret Hetley’s vision for a regional institution that conferred degrees and postgraduate qualifications was being realised.

    While Margaret Hetley’s vision was being fulfilled, EIT’s foundation has always been in vocational and community education. From humble beginnings as the Hawkes Bay Community College, EIT has become a leader in certificate and diploma level training across a wide range or trades and practical vocations with more than 5500 learners enrolled on these qualifications in 2024

    EIT continues a strong tradition of community education.  EIT is one of the biggest providers nationally of Adult Community Education (ACE) programmes and offers a significant amount of foundation education, particularly in Te Reo Maori which they deliver in scores of locations right across Hawkes Bay and Tairāwhiti including in the evening and on weekends.

    New Zealand’s largest regionally-based Trades Academy opened on the Hawke’s Bay campus in 2012. Now also offered at the Tairāwhiti campus, the Trades Academy works with secondary schools to provide year-long trades programmes to help students achieve NCEA Level 2 and prepare for work or higher-level study.

    EIT has adopted an internationalisation strategy since 1992 when they started welcoming international students to the Hawke’s Bay Campus. As part of EIT’s growth as an institution and to support further expansion of our international activities, particularly in the provision of postgraduate programmes, EIT established a Graduate School Auckland Campus in 2015. 

    International students are attracted by EIT’s quality teaching and learning, applied professional programmes, links with industry and the creation of opportunities for academic and personal growth. Each year, EIT typically enrols international students from over 50 different countries benefitting our campuses and wider communities. 

    Having developed its research capabilities over a number of years, EIT supports its communities in undertaking applied research projects for local industries and community organisations.

    EIT has thrived over the last 50 years, now offering more than 160 postgraduate, degree, diploma and certificate-level programmes. Taking Margaret Hetley’s dream for the region beyond what she could have imagined.

    EIT’s interim Director of Operations Glen Harkness says that EIT has become an integral part of the community.

    “It is a privilege to have been able to play a part in continuing to bring Margaret Hetley’s dream to life for 50 years. EIT’s strength lies not only in its achievements, staff and students but also through the support of the communities of the Hawke’s Bay, Tairāwhiti and our international partners.

    “We pride ourselves on the connections we have created and built over the last 50 years with local businesses, community groups and local Iwi and as we look to the future, we will strive to continue to bring academic and vocational excellence to the region.” 

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Preparing more PhD students to lift productivity

    Source: New Zealand Government

    A new university programme will help prepare PhD students for world-class careers in science by building stronger connections between research and industry, Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Dr Shane Reti says.

    “Our Government is laser focused on growing New Zealand’s economy and to do that, we must realise the potential of our science, innovation and technology sector,” says Dr Reti.

    “New Zealand’s PhD programmes are excellent at preparing students for a career in academia. What they are not doing is giving students the skills to use that cutting-edge science to grow Kiwi businesses.”

    The new applied doctorate scheme will be hosted by the University of Auckland, Victoria University of Wellington, University of Otago and Massey University, in partnership with New Zealand’s science, innovation and technology industry.

    “This scheme will equip PhD students in STEM subjects with the practical skills they need to apply their knowledge to real-world problems within ambitious businesses, alongside their core advanced research skills,” Dr Reti says.

    “This scheme will incorporate practical training and opportunities for students to apply their knowledge and develop strong relationships with the science, innovation and technology industry.

    “With more hands-on experiences that businesses need, such as project management, finance and the ability to commercialise intellectual property, a greater range of career options will open up for PhD students.

    “Businesses will benefit from improved access to advanced researchers, who have the skills to jump straight in and apply their knowledge, and students will be equipped with the skills they need to help grow New Zealand’s economy.”

    $20 million over the next five years will support up to 30 students each year to access the scheme.  

    The host universities will work through details of the scheme and contracting with MBIE, with the aim to invite applications for the first PhD students later in 2025. 

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Statement by the Prime Minister on the passing of Antonine Maillet

    Source: Government of Canada – Prime Minister

    The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today issued the following statement on the passing of Antonine Maillet:

    “It is with great sadness that I learned of the passing of Antonine Maillet, a celebrated figure in Canadian literature and an unwavering voice for the Acadian community.

    “Born in Bouctouche, New Brunswick, Ms. Maillet had a prolific career as a novelist, a playwright, and a scholar, leaving an indelible mark on Canada’s cultural landscape. Over some fifty works, she brought Acadian stories to the forefront. This included her play La Sagouine, which made her a household name, and her novel Pélagie-la-Charrette, which earned her the 1979 Prix Goncourt – making her only the sixth woman to receive this prestigious French literature award and the first non-European recipient. Ms. Maillet’s work helped foster a deeper understanding and appreciation of Acadian culture and earned her widespread recognition. She was a recipient of the Order of New Brunswick, an Officer of the National Order of Quebec, and a Companion of the Order of Canada, among many other accolades.

    “Ms. Maillet was also a translator of literary works and a passionate educator, who taught in Canada and abroad, including at the Université de Montréal and the University of California. From 1989 to 2000, she served as Chancellor of the Université de Moncton, where she further helped shine a light on Acadian culture.

    “On behalf of all Canadians, I extend my deepest condolences to Ms. Maillet’s family, her friends, and the countless people who were touched by her work. She was a beacon of Acadian pride and resilience, and I know her voice will continue to inspire generations to celebrate the stories that make Canada’s cultural tapestry so rich and diverse.”

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Secretary-General Appoints Jens Wandel of Denmark Special Adviser to Secretary-General on Reforms

    Source: United Nations General Assembly and Security Council

    United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced today the appointment of Jens Wandel of Denmark as Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Reforms.  He was previously appointed to this function from 2018 to 2020 during the implementation phase of the reforms. 

    The Secretary-General has tasked Special Adviser Wandel with delivering an internal review of the progress made and remaining gaps implementing the reforms.  Working within and across all three reform streams (Sustainable Development, Peace & Security and Management), the Special Adviser will work to deepen the impact of the three reforms, including by recommendations to the Secretary-General for the key departments, the United Nations Sustainable Development Group, and the United Nations High-level Committee on Management. 

    Mr. Wandel has had a distinguished service within the United Nations.  He served as the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) Executive Director (ad interim), the Secretary-General’s Designate for the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Assistant Administrator, Director of the Bureau of Management.  He also held various positions at the country level, including as Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Turkmenistan and other UNDP positions in Kyrgyzstan and Viet Nam.  He brings a wide range of experience across operational, programmatic and policy matters, which is critical for implementing the key outstanding elements of the reforms. 

    Mr. Wandel holds a Master of Arts equivalent in political science (development and public management) from the University of Aarhus, Denmark.  He is fluent in English and Danish.

    __________

    * This supersedes Press Release SG/A/1821-BIO/5111 of 31 July 2018.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: How far would you trust AI to make important decisions?

    Source: University of South Australia

    18 February 2025

    Would you trust AI to choose your medical treatment?

    From tailored Netflix recommendations to personalised Facebook feeds, artificial intelligence (AI) adeptly serves content that matches our preferences and past behaviours. But while a restaurant tip or two is handy, how comfortable would you be if AI-algorithms were in charge of your medical expert or new hire?

    Now, a new study from the University of South Australia shows that most people are more likely to trust AI in situations where the stakes are low, such as music suggestions, but less likely to trust AI in high-stakes situations, such as medical decisions.

    However, those with poor statistical literacy or little familiarity with AI were just as likely to trust algorithms for trivial choices as they were for critical decisions.

    Assessing responses from nearly 2000 participants across 20 countries, researchers found that statistical literacy affects trust differently. People who understand that AI-algorithms work through pattern-based predictions (but also have risks and biases) were more sceptical of AI in high-stakes situations, but less so in low-stakes situations.

    They also found that older people and men were generally more cautious of algorithms, as were people in highly industrialised nations like Japan, the US, and the UK.

    Understanding how and when people trust AI-algorithms is essential, particularly as society continues to introduce and adopt machine-learning technologies.

    AI adoption rates have increased dramatically with 72% of organisations now using AI in their business.

    Lead author and human and artificial cognition expert, Dr Fernando Marmolejo-Ramos, says the speed at which smart technologies are being used to outsource decisions is outpacing our understanding to successfully integrate them into society.

    “Algorithms are becoming increasingly influential in our lives, impacting everything from minor choices about music or food, to major decisions about finances, healthcare, and even justice,” Dr Marmolejo-Ramos says.

    “But the use of algorithms to help make decisions implies that there should be some confidence in their reliability. That’s why it’s so important to understand what influences people’s trust in algorithmic decision-making.

    “Our research found that in low-stakes scenarios, such as restaurant recommendations or music selection, people with higher levels of statistical literacy were more likely to trust algorithms.

    “Yet, when the stakes were high, for things like health or employment, the opposite was true; those with better statistical understanding were less likely to place their faith in algorithms.”

    UniSA’s Dr Florence Gabriel says there should be a concentrated effort to promote statistical and AI literacy among the general population so that people can better judge when to trust algorithmic decisions.

    “An AI-generated algorithm is only as good as the data and coding that it’s based on,” Dr Gabriel says.

    “We only need to look at the recent banning of DeepSeek to grasp how algorithms can produce biased or risky data depending on the content that it was built upon.

    “On the flip side, when an algorithm has been developed through a trusted and transparent source, such as the custom-build EdChat chatbot for South Australian schools, it’s more easily trusted.

    “Learning these distinctions is important. People need to know more about how algorithms work, and we need to find ways to deliver this in clear, simple ways that are relevant to the user’s needs and concerns.

    “People care about what the algorithm does and how it affects them. We need clear, jargon-free explanations that align with the user’s concerns and context. That way we can help people to responsibly engage with AI.”

    …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

    Contacts for interview: Dr Florence Gabriel E: Florence.Gabriel@unisa.edu.au
    Dr Fernando Marmolejo-Ramos (now at Flinders University) E: fernando.marmolejoramos@flinders.edu.au
    Media contact:     Annabel Mansfield M: +61 479 182 489 E: Annabel.Mansfield@unisa.edu.au

    Other articles you may be interested in

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Is Australia’s GST a tax or a tariff? And why has it become a target in the trade wars?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Deane, Professor, Queensland University of Technology

    Australian beef exports to the United States are GST-free and should not be subject to any retaliatory tariff. William Edge/Shutterstock

    The latest round of proposed tariffs from US President Donald Trump includes a response to what the White House describes as “unfair” taxes – specifically, value-added taxes such as Australia’s Goods and Services Tax (GST).

    Most economically advanced countries have a value-added tax (VAT) or sales tax on consumption. This applies to domestic goods and services as well as to imports. The United States is one of the few countries that does not impose a sales tax, though many of the states impose their own sales tax.

    So the argument, according to the White House, is these taxes apply to imported goods, but not to exports.

    Is the GST a tax or a tariff?

    The GST is a broad-based consumption tax of 10%. It applies to most goods and services that are consumed in Australia, regardless of their origin.

    An import tariff – sometimes called an import duty – is imposed exclusively on imported goods as a condition of market access.

    Tariffs are not imposed on domestically produced goods at all. This is the main point of difference with a domestic consumption tax. The GST applies equally to imported and domestically produced goods, adhering to long-agreed international trade rules.

    It remains unclear how the Trump administration intends to implement a tariff that is equivalent to the 10% GST. In effect, this becomes a tax on US consumers if they buy Australian goods.



    Read more:
    What’s a trade war?

    Such an indirect tax would be regressive, which means it falls more heavily on lower-income consumers. The expansion of tariffs to include other nations’ VAT systems also represents a significant overreach into national sovereignty. It has long been accepted that sovereign nations have the right to tax their citizens and businesses as they see fit.

    Indeed, Australia’s GST is among the lowest among economically advanced nations, for which the average is 19%, so the wider impact on US consumers will be even greater.

    Goods that are exported to the US face a new round of tariffs.
    Shutterstock

    Trump is clearly (and unapologetically) seeking to reinvigorate US manufacturing. But the reality is that US labour costs are high. It is also inefficient for any country to produce all the goods and services its population requires. This is particularly the case in such a high-consumption nation as the US.

    The US has been described as a consumer of last resort
    because strong consumer demand has been filled by ever rising imports from other countries. The mutually beneficial relationship between the US and China has enabled the rise of the middle class in China. Trump’s tariffs may shift this, causing geopolitical tensions and economic instability.

    Australia’s response: pausing the digital services tax

    While these tariffs primarily harm US consumers, Australian businesses will also feel the effects. However, it is unclear to what extent. Notably, one main export to the US, unprocessed agricultural products such as beef, are GST-free and should not be subject to any retaliatory tariff.

    However, many other Australian exports could be disadvantaged. Trump’s policies will raise the cost of Australian imported goods in the US market, potentially making them less appealing to US consumers.

    The threat of these tariffs is clearly a problem for a federal government facing an impending election, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has so far responded cautiously. While a diplomatic approach may secure a minor concession, it’s in stark contrast to Canada’s firm stance, which included immediate threats of retaliatory measures.



    Read more:
    Whether we carve out an exemption or not, Trump’s latest tariffs will still hit Australia

    Trump’s use of tariff threats as a negotiating tactic does appear to be having the desired effect, with a potential suspension of Australia’s proposed big tech levy. This proposal would have imposed a tax on major tech firms such as Meta and Google if they did not reach a direct agreement with local media companies.

    Reports indicate the government has put this proposal on hold due to the risk of retaliatory tariffs from the US. Such a tax would likely have invoked the wrath of the US administration, with the digital services levies of Canada and France specifically referenced in the most recent White House tariff announcement.

    It is fair to say the White House statement deliberately misleads any reader into thinking that tariff percentages directly impact on trade volumes.

    This statement ignores a fundamental principle that has made international trade so appealing since World War II – and why economists have argued in support of it for hundreds of years. Countries produce and trade the goods and services at which they are efficient. Efficiency leads to lower costs which, all else being equal, means consumers are better off.

    The statement from the White House, together with Trump’s past pronouncements, demonstrate that all rules to do with international taxation and fairness have been thrown out.

    This does not appear to be the main concern, however, with Australian negotiators potentially willing to put on hold a crucial policy to ensure the long-term viability of local journalism.

    This is just the beginning. Anyone who felt some comfort and safety in the strength of our own democracy should carefully consider the overreach that is occurring through these threats.

    Felicity Deane does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Is Australia’s GST a tax or a tariff? And why has it become a target in the trade wars? – https://theconversation.com/is-australias-gst-a-tax-or-a-tariff-and-why-has-it-become-a-target-in-the-trade-wars-250041

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Boys not only perform better in maths, they are also more confident about the subject than girls

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Buckley, Senior Research Fellow, Education Research, Policy and Development Division, Australian Council for Educational Research

    Michael Jung/ Shutterstock

    There is a persistent gender gap in Australian schools. Boys, on average, outperform girls in maths.

    We see this in national tests such as NAPLAN, as well as international assessments.

    New Australian Council for Educational Research analysis by my colleague Catherine Underwood shows how boys, on average, are also more confident and positive about maths than girls.

    What can parents do to help their children feel more confident about this core subject?



    Read more:
    Why are boys outperforming girls in maths?

    Boys outperform girls in maths

    An important measure of students’ maths performance is the OECD’s Programme for International Assessment (PISA) test. Run every three years, it measures 15-year-olds’ ability to apply their maths, science and reading knowledge to real-world situations.

    In 2022, 53% of Australian male students achieved the PISA national proficiency standard in maths, compared with 48% of female students. The gender gap on average scores was also greater in Australia than across the OECD.

    As part of PISA, students also completed a questionnaire about their attitudes to learning. ACER’s new analysis uses data from the questionnaire to look at Australian students’ confidence in maths and how this differs between girls and boys.

    Boys outperformed girls in maths skills in the most recent PISA test.
    Monkey Business Images/ Shutterstock

    Why is confidence so important?

    Research suggests students’ confidence has an impact on their academic performance.
    Researchers can call this “self-efficacy”, or the belief in your ability to successfully perform tasks and solve problems.

    Students with high mathematical self-efficacy embrace challenges, use effective problem-solving strategies, and persevere despite difficulties. Those with low self-efficacy may avoid tasks, experience anxiety, and ultimately underperform due to a lack of confidence in their maths abilities.

    We can see this in the 2022 PISA results. Girls in the top quarter on the self-rated “self-efficacy index” scored an average of 568 points on the PISA maths performance test, a staggering 147 points higher than the average for girls in the lowest quarter on the index.

    For boys, the benefit of confidence was even more pronounced. Those in the top quarter of the index scored 159 points on average higher in maths performance than those in the lowest quarter.

    Boys are more confident than girls

    The PISA questionnaire asked students how confident they felt about having to do a range of formal and applied maths tasks.

    Students showed similar levels of confidence solving formal maths tasks such as equations. But male students, on average, showed they were more confident than female students with applied mathematics tasks such as:

    • finding distances using a map

    • calculating a power consumption rate

    • calculating how much more expensive a computer would be after adding tax

    • calculating how many square metres of tiles are needed to cover a floor.

    What about attitude?

    The PISA data also shows Australian boys, on average, have more positive attitudes towards maths than girls.

    For example, in response to the statement “mathematics is easy for me” only 41% of female students agreed, compared with 55% of male students.

    In response to “mathematics is one of my favourite subjects”, 37% of female students agreed, compared with 49% of males.

    But in response to “I want to do well in my mathematics class”, 91% of female students agreed, compared to 92% of males.

    What can parents do at home to help?

    It is troubling that girls, on average, show consistently lower levels of confidence about maths tasks.

    This comes on top of other PISA questionnaire results that have shown in general (not just around maths) that a higher proportion of girls than boys say they feel nervous approaching exams.

    We want all students to have a positive relationship with maths, where they can appreciate maths skills are important in many aspects of their lives, and they’re willing to have a go to develop them.

    Recently, we collaborated with the Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership on resources for teachers, students and parents that focus on addressing maths anxiety.

    Research shows how we talk about maths at home is important in shaping students’ attitudes and persistence. Parents can help create a positive atmosphere around maths by:

    • dispelling “maths myths”, such as the idea maths ability is fixed and no amount of effort or practise can improve it

    • talking about how making mistakes is a normal part of learning

    • thinking about about how we forgive mistakes in other areas (such as sport, art or science): how can we treat maths mistakes in a similar way?

    • telling your child they have done a good job when they put effort into their maths learning.

    Parents can also help their children even if they don’t know the answers to maths problems. It’s perfectly fine to say, “I’m not sure how to do that one but who can we ask for help? Let’s talk to the teacher.”

    Modelling a “help-seeking” approach lets children know that it’s OK not to know the answer, the key is to persist and try.



    Read more:
    ‘Maths anxiety’ is a real thing. Here are 3 ways to help your child cope

    Sarah Buckley is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Faculty of Education at the University of Melbourne and was on the academic advisory group for maths education app TownSquared. Sarah has worked on projects for ACER funded by the national and various state education departments and by ARC research grants.

    – ref. Boys not only perform better in maths, they are also more confident about the subject than girls – https://theconversation.com/boys-not-only-perform-better-in-maths-they-are-also-more-confident-about-the-subject-than-girls-250022

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Australian students just recorded the lowest civics scores since testing began. But young people do care about politics

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Philippa Collin, Professor, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University

    Australian school students’ civics knowledge is the lowest it has been since testing began 20 years ago, according to new national data.

    Results have fallen since the last assessment in 2019 and to the lowest levels since the national civics test began in 2004.

    This follows a federal parliamentary report earlier this month, calling for mandatory civics education in Australian schools (it is currently part of the curriculum but not compulsory). The report cited fears young people are “poorly equipped” to participate in Australian democracy.

    The latest results are certainly concerning. But as a researcher of the political lives of young people, I would caution against assuming young people “don’t care” about politics, or are unable to engage in it.

    We also need to think about how civics education can engage meaningfully with young people and meet their needs.

    What does the new report say?

    This report from the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority is based on a national sample of Year 6 and Year 10 students, who are tested on their civics and citizenship skills. It includes knowledge of democratic principles, the Australian political system and related history.

    The test is supposed to run every three years, but the most recent one was delayed by COVID. In 2024:

    • 43% of Year 6 students attained the “proficient standard”, compared with 53% in 2019

    • 28% of Australian Year 10 students met the proficient standard, compared with 38% in 2019.

    Young people care about history and community

    Alongside their civics skills, students were also asked about their support for a range of “citizenship behaviours”. While these figures have dropped from previous years, they nevertheless indicate most students are engaged in civic issues.

    • 81% of Year 6 students and 75% of Year 10 students thought learning about Australa’s history was “very or quite” important

    • 77% of Year 6 students and 70% of Year 10 students thought participating in activities to benefit the local community was “very or quite” important

    • 85% of Year 6 students and 68% of Year 10 students thought taking part in activities to protect the environment was “very or quite important”.

    Young people are knowledgable and active

    My research with young Australians shows they are interested, knowledgeable and active on civic and political issues in many different ways.

    This includes getting involved in or creating their own organisations, campaigns and online content. The issues range from bullying to mental health, climate change and ending gender-based violence.

    My research also shows even children as young as six have views on how to address complex issues such as climate change.

    When provided with platforms that respect their views, young people show they can research, deliberate and problem-solve. Many have clear opinions on what makes for a good life for themselves, Australia and the world. Initiatives such as a children’s parliament can connect their views directly with those who govern.

    Young people don’t feel included

    But governments and other authorities are historically poor at meaningfully engaging with young people.

    In my work and other research, we continue to hear many students feel they don’t have a genuine voice in the community.

    For example, in the climate movement, young female activists have said they do not feel feel their views are taken seriously by decision-makers because they are under 18.

    This suggests children’s interest and confidence in democracy could be supported by giving them meaningful opportunities to participate before they can vote.

    For example, creating governance mechanisms that include and are accountable to young people on matters that affect them. This should extend to issues which will significantly impact them into the future, such as housing and tax.

    Technology and critical media literacy matter

    We also have to make sure students are supported to get good quality information about issues relevant to them. And that they have the skills and resources to navigate information online.

    Research suggests engagement with news and strong media literacy skills are linked to civic participation.

    Studies have also found many Australian children who have high interest in the news are also involved in social issues online. Research shows social media is a key source for this news (as opposed to traditional sources such as newspapers or television).

    At the same time, just 41% of children aged 8–16 are confident they can tell fake news stories from real ones (which is is similar to survey results for adults).

    We also know some students, particularly from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, lack access to the technology they need for their schooling and everyday lives.

    How can civics and citizenship knowledge be improved?

    The new data certainly indicates the current system for civics education is not working for Australian students.

    As we work to improve young people’s civics knowledge, research indicates any new approach in schools should be created in conjunction with young people themselves. If young people are given a say in how their civics education is designed, they will be more engaged and the lessons will be more effective, especially for students who face disadvantage.

    Other studies we have co-designed and co-researched with young people have resulted in recommendations to trust young people and give them responsibilities and real-world learning opportunities, outside of school. They prioritised self-efficacy (people’s belief they can can control events that affect their lives) and a sense of belonging.

    If civics education is going to be effective, it should acknowledge young people already have an interest and a stake in politics, focus on where they get their information, and involve them in how civics education is designed and delivered.

    We might then have a model for supporting civics and citizenship learning across the community and across people’s lives.

    Philippa Collin receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Google, batyr and NSW Health.

    – ref. Australian students just recorded the lowest civics scores since testing began. But young people do care about politics – https://theconversation.com/australian-students-just-recorded-the-lowest-civics-scores-since-testing-began-but-young-people-do-care-about-politics-250047

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: With just 5 years to go, the world is failing on a vital deal to halt biodiversity loss

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Justine Bell-James, Professor, TC Beirne School of Law, The University of Queensland

    Almost 200 nations have signed an ambitious agreement to halt and reverse biodiversity loss but none is on track to meet the crucial goal, our new research reveals.

    The agreement, known formally as the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, seeks to coordinate global efforts to conserve and restore biodiversity. Its overarching goal is to safeguard biodiversity for future generations.

    Biodiversity refers to the richness and variety within and between plant and animal species, and within ecosystems. This diversity is declining faster than at any time in human history.

    Five years remain until the framework’s 2030 deadline. Our research shows a more intense global effort is needed to achieve the goals of the agreement and stem the biodiversity crisis.

    Biodiversity is in decline

    Biodiversity decline is a growing global issue. Around one million animal and plant species are threatened with extinction.

    The problem is driven by human activities such as land clearing, climate change, pollution, excessive resource extraction and the introduction of invasive species.

    As biodiversity continues to degrade, the foundation of life on Earth becomes increasingly unstable. Biodiversity loss threatens our food, water and air. It increases our vulnerability to natural disasters and imperils ecosystems crucial for human survival and wellbeing.

    The Global Biodiversity Framework was adopted in late 2022 after four years of consultation and negotiation. It involved 23 core commitments to be met by 2030 involving both land and sea. Key to the deal is protecting areas from future harm, and restoring past harms.

    These aims are captured in two targets.

    The first is ensuring 30% of degraded areas are under “effective restoration” to enhance biodiversity. This could involve replanting vegetation, reducing weeds and other pests, or restoring water to drained areas.

    The second is to effectively conserve and manage 30% of land and sea areas – especially those important for biodiversity and the ways ecosystems function and benefit humans. This could mean creating national or marine parks, or nature refuges on private land.

    Importantly, countries should both increase the size of areas protected or under restoration (a matter of quantity), and choose areas where interventions will most benefit biodiversity (a matter of quality).

    Nations were asked to provide an action plan before October 2024. In a paper published today, we reviewed these plans.

    What we found

    Our findings were disappointing. Only 36 countries (less than one quarter of signatory nations) submitted a plan. Australia was one of them.

    And the plans provided were underwhelming. In particular, nations fell badly short on the restoration target. Only nine out of 36 countries committed to restoring a specific percentage of land and sea.

    For example, Italy pledged only to restore “large surfaces of degraded areas” and Australia committed to restoring “priority degraded areas”.

    Defining commitments with numbers is important, because it allows progress to be monitored and measured, and forces nations to be accountable.

    Of those nine countries that made specific restoration commitments, only six committed to the 30% goal: Aruba, China, Curaçao, Japan, Luxembourg and Uganda.

    The results were better when it came to protecting land and sea. Some 22 of the 36 countries set a percentage target for protection. However, only 14 committed to protecting at least 30% of areas, in line with the goals of the deal.

    Again, quality is also important here. Under the deal nations signed up to, protected land should enhance biodiversity, and cover areas very valuable for biodiversity recovery. However, many nations were silent on the issue of quality when outlining their planned protections. It means their efforts could, in some cases, do little for biodiversity.

    A spotlight on Australia

    In recent years, Australia has sought to establish itself as a biodiversity leader on the international stage. This included hosting the global Nature Positive Summit in October last year.

    Following the summit, the federal government claimed it was:

    a tangible demonstration of Australia’s commitments under the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. It showed our willingness to work collaboratively towards the goal of halting and reversing biodiversity loss.

    But despite the rhetoric, our research shows Australia’s plans are not particularly impressive.

    As noted above, Australia does not provide a percentage target for ecosystem restoration. Instead, its plan refers broadly to restoring “priority areas” without defining what these areas are.

    Australia’s plan pledges to identify “priority degraded areas” and define what “under effective restoration” means, but does not outline how this will be done.

    Australia is more aligned with global leaders on protection of biodiversity. It committed to safeguarding 30% of land and water in protected areas.

    However, it provided limited details on how it will select, implement and enforce protection measures. The plan also fails to recognise current shortcomings in protected areas, both in oceans and on land – in particular, Australia’s focus to date on quantity over quality when it comes to selecting sites.

    In contrast, the nation of Slovenia mapped out proposed protected areas.

    So, while Australia did submit an action plan, it has missed the opportunity to be a true global leader.

    Running out of time

    The Global Biodiversity Framework aims to unite nations in the fight to conserve and restore biodiversity. But as our research shows, many countries do not have plans to achieve this, and plans submitted to date are largely inadequate.

    As species and habitats are lost, ecosystems become less stable. This damages human health and wellbeing, as well as economies. Biodiversity loss also undermines vital cultural and spiritual connections to nature.

    All countries must accelerate efforts to avert the biodiversity crisis, and preserve Earth’s precious natural places for future generations.

    Justine Bell-James receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the National Environmental Science Program, and Queensland Government’s Department of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation. She is a Director of the National Environmental Law Association.

    James Watson has received funding from the Australian Research Council, National Environmental Science Program, South Australia’s Department of Environment and Water, Queensland’s Department of Environment, Science and Innovation as well as from Bush Heritage Australia, Queensland Conservation Council, Australian Conservation Foundation, The Wilderness Society and Birdlife Australia. He serves on the scientific committee of BirdLife Australia and has a long-term scientific relationship with Bush Heritage Australia and Wildlife Conservation Society. He serves on the Queensland government’s Land Restoration Fund’s Investment Panel as the Deputy Chair.

    – ref. With just 5 years to go, the world is failing on a vital deal to halt biodiversity loss – https://theconversation.com/with-just-5-years-to-go-the-world-is-failing-on-a-vital-deal-to-halt-biodiversity-loss-249841

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Australians are waiting 12 years on average before seeking help for a mental health problem – new research

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Louise Birrell, Researcher, Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney

    Pixel-Shot/Shutterstock

    Australians are waiting an average of 12 years to seek treatment for mental health and substance use disorders, our new research shows.

    While many of us are proactive in looking after our physical health, we appear to be seriously neglecting our mental health, suffering for many years before reaching out for help. Some people never seek help.

    In our research, the length of delay in seeking help varied depending on the type of mental health problem and other factors such as sex and age.

    But delays in getting help mean mental health problems can become more complex, severe and difficult to treat. So it’s important to understand why these delays occur – and how we can reduce them.

    Some key findings

    We used national data from the 2020–22 Australian National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing, a nationally representative survey by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

    Among the information collected in this survey, respondents were asked about their history of mental health and substance use problems, and when they first sought help from a medical doctor or other professional regarding their symptoms (if at all).

    The survey asked about the most common types of mental health and substance use problems in the general population under three broad categories: mood disorders (for example, depression and bipolar disorder), anxiety disorders (such as social anxiety disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder) and substance use disorders.

    People with mood disorders waited an average of three years before seeking treatment, those with substance use disorders waited an average of eight, and people with anxiety disorders waited the longest to seek treatment – 11 years on average.

    We found people experiencing panic disorder, a type of anxiety disorder, had some of the shortest delays (an average of two years), while those with social anxiety disorder waited the longest (13 years).

    The average delay across all mental health and substance use disorders – 12 years – was calculated based on the prevalence of different conditions. Anxiety disorders, particularly social anxiety disorder, are the most common, which brought up this average.

    We found younger people were more likely to seek help.
    Perfect Wave/Shutterstock

    We also looked at how many people would eventually seek help across their lifetime. Nearly everyone with depression (94%) eventually sought help, but only 25% of people with an alcohol use disorder ever did.

    Women were less likely than men to seek help for alcohol or other drug-related problems but were more likely to reach out for help with anxiety or mood-related concerns.

    Gen Z and millennials were much more likely to seek help than older generations. Compared to people born before 1972, those born between 1992 and 2005 were more than four times as likely to seek treatment for a drug or alcohol problem, more than twice as likely to seek help for a mood disorder, and nearly four times as likely to seek help for an anxiety problem.

    Some limitations

    While the ABS survey is one of the largest and most comprehensive in Australia, it relies on people remembering and accurately reporting when they first experienced symptoms of a mental health or substance use problem, and when they first sought support.

    It was also conducted during the COVID pandemic, a time of heightened stress and increased mental health challenges. However, the impact of this is probably small, given people were asked about their experiences across their entire lifetime.

    The survey also didn’t measure less common (but very impactful) mental health problems such as psychosis or eating disorders.

    How do delays compare to other countries?

    While this data is not perfect, the delays we observed are mostly in line with those seen in other countries. In some ways we are actually doing better.

    The relatively short delays for seeking help for a mood disorder (for example, depression, for which the average delay was three years) are largely consistent with similar studies in the United States, New Zealand, Europe and Asia.

    It’s often several years between when someone first experiences a mental health problem and when they seek treatment.
    Erik Mclean/Unsplash

    While still lengthy, the average delay of 11 years to seek treatment for an anxiety disorder in Australia appears similar if not shorter than in many other countries (ranging between 10–30 years).

    What’s more, when it comes to seeking help for problems with alcohol, things seem to be improving. While overall delays remain long, and most people still don’t seek help for alcohol problems, the delay in getting help appears to have shortened over time in Australia.

    The average time to seek treatment for alcohol use disorder is now eight years shorter than the 18-year delay reported in 2007. This may be due to increased awareness and education around the impact of alcohol use.

    Why do people delay reaching out for help?

    There are a range of reasons someone may delay seeking help. Services are not always available and many carry high out-of-pocket costs. Fear and stigma play a significant role, while many people simply may not know where to seek support or what might help.

    Finding the right treatment can be hard and while some people recover without help, for many these delays come at a huge cost. Delays mean problems can become more complex, severe and difficult to treat.

    We need to actively encourage early help-seeking, as well as continue efforts to reduce the stigma associated with poor mental health. Expanding anti-stigma campaigns and education to encourage people to seek help early could assist with this.

    Alongside these efforts it’s essential that effective treatment services are accessible when people do reach out for help. There has been chronic underinvestment in the mental health treatment system over many decades, while prevalence rates have increased. We need continued and increased investment in mental health treatment, prevention and early intervention.

    Ultimately, by empowering future generations to be proactive about their mental health, we hope we can make going to the doctor for anxiety as normal as doing so for the flu.

    Services available across Australia include the National Alcohol and Other Drug hotline (1800 250 015), Lifeline (13 11 14), Kids Helpline (1800 55 1800) and Head to Health. Each state and territory also has specialised mental health services.

    Louise Birrell receives funding from The National Health and Medical Research Council and The Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.

    Cath Chapman receives funding from The National Health and Medical Research Council and The Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.

    Katrina Prior receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council.

    – ref. Australians are waiting 12 years on average before seeking help for a mental health problem – new research – https://theconversation.com/australians-are-waiting-12-years-on-average-before-seeking-help-for-a-mental-health-problem-new-research-249159

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Should you be allowed to sue a judge? The High Court says no

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Parker, Honorary Professorial Fellow, Melbourne CSHE, The University of Melbourne

    Shutterstock

    Judges in Australian courtrooms have a lot of power. They can decide on someone’s guilt and the punishment for it, including lengthy prison time.

    But what if they get it badly wrong? Should you be able to sue a judge for damages?

    For several centuries the answer has been no in a “superior” court, such as a state Supreme Court, but possibly yes in an “inferior” court, such as a magistrates, district or county court, where most cases are actually heard.

    The High Court of Australia has now ruled that judges are immune from being sued for damages in every court and for all purposes. It is absolute, even if you have been falsely imprisoned.

    But how did this decision come to be, and what does it mean for fair judicial processes?

    The High Court case

    The story behind the ruling began with a legal property dispute between a couple called the Stradfords.

    Judge Salvatore Vasta in the Federal Circuit Court ordered that Mr Stradford should make “full and frank disclosure” of various financial documents. Mrs Stradford complained repeatedly that the disclosure was not complete.

    Judge Vasta adjourned proceedings briefly to allow them to discuss settlement. To give Mr Stradford something to think about, he said he hoped Mr Stradford had brought his toothbrush with him.

    Later that day, Judge Vasta sentenced Mr Stradford to 12 months’ imprisonment for contempt of court in disobeying the disclosure order. Judge Vasta mistakenly assumed a previous judge had already decided Mr Stradford was in contempt.

    Mr Stradford appealed the contempt conviction in the Full Court of the Family Court. It allowed the appeal, concluding “the processes employed [by Judge Vasta] were so devoid of procedural fairness […] and the reasons for judgment so lacking in engagement with the issues of fact and law to be applied” that it would be an “affront to justice” to permit the contempt declaration and the imprisonment order to stand.

    Armed with this finding, Mr Stradford sued Judge Vasta for damages for false imprisonment and won. Judge Vasta then appealed to the High Court, arguing that he was immune from being sued. In its ruling last week, the High Court agreed with him.

    Why can’t judges be sued?

    Immunity from being sued helps protect judicial independence, said the High Court.

    If, at the back of their mind, a judge thinks they might be sued for damages should they make a wrong decision, they might be swayed by that, rather than objectively and impartially applying the law to the facts.

    Immunity also helps to achieve finality in court proceedings and “quell disputes”. Finality is a consideration in all legal systems, and is the reason why some claims are time-barred if not brought within a specified period. You don’t want the same cases dragging on forever.

    The High Court noted that a disappointed litigant can appeal against a decision, but once all appeal avenues have been exhausted, that is that.

    The High Court has ruled judges can’t be sued for their decisions.
    Shutterstock

    If a judge has committed a crime, such as accepting a bribe, then the criminal law can be applied.

    But in the more likely case where the unsuccessful party argues there has been a mistake, or even that the judge was motivated by bias or malice, the only recourse is to appeal. They can’t sue the judge.

    The High Court noted also that a judge can be removed by parliament for misbehaviour or incapacity.

    But there are counter-arguments to which the court didn’t give much attention.

    For those who feel the outcome was wrong, appealing against a decision is very expensive. It’s simply not open to most people, due to the near-disappearance of legal aid in civil cases.

    And the removal of judges by parliaments is extremely rare, while not helping the litigant anyway.

    Is this good public policy?

    In other walks of professional life, indemnity insurance exists. If judges could be sued, but were insured, they would normally not pay compensation personally. And if they could not find insurance, perhaps something needs investigating.

    A compromise position would be possible. Any legal action against a judge could have to exceed a certain threshold of severity to proceed.

    For example, a plaintiff might have to obtain prior permission, and for that they might have to prove malice on the part of the judge or an error so extreme that the judge had been reckless, not merely negligent.

    But courts are different, it seems. Litigants do not make a contract with courts and are not consumers of a court’s services. They are engaging in a public process, where bigger issues are in play.

    The public policy arguments so resoundingly endorsed by the High Court aren’t based on data about what the public thinks, or would necessarily think if all the arguments were presented to them.

    None of this has improved Mr (or Mrs) Stradford’s financial position. No one is going to compensate them.

    Courts are, in a very real sense, a law unto themselves.

    Stephen Parker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Should you be allowed to sue a judge? The High Court says no – https://theconversation.com/should-you-be-allowed-to-sue-a-judge-the-high-court-says-no-249939

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: NHRC, India organized a meeting of the core group in hybrid mode on ‘Recognizing progressive disabilities – Adopting a holistic approach to disability rights’

    Source: Government of India (2)

    NHRC, India organized a meeting of the core group in hybrid mode on ‘Recognizing progressive disabilities – Adopting a holistic approach to disability rights’

    NHRC, India Chairperson, Justice Shri V Ramasubramanian said that the improvement in disability-related laws, policies and their implementation need to be clearly understood

    Among various suggestions, encouragement for collaborative efforts with the private sector to provide quality employment for PwDs emphasized

    Need to revisit the 40% mark for benchmark disabilities to ensure a wide range of disability-suffering people get access to quality healthcare services

    Posted On: 17 FEB 2025 9:00PM by PIB Delhi

    The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), India organised a core group meeting in hybrid mode on ‘Recognizing progressive disabilities- Adopting a holistic approach to disability rights’ in New Delhi today. It was chaired by NHRC, India Chairperson, Justice Shri V Ramasubramanian in the presence of Member, Justice (Dr) Bidyut Ranjan Sarangi, Secretary General, Shri Bharat Lal, Shri Rajesh Aggrawal, Secretary, Dept. of Empowerment of Persons with Disability, other senior officers from the government and NHRC, domain experts and medical professionals.

    Justice Ramasubramanian noted that it took 30 years for the world to adopt a human rights approach to disability rights. Recalling the evolution of laws and policies related to seeking the welfare of disabled persons in the world, he said that in India, parallel to the international developments included the 1987 Mental Healthcare Act, the 1995 Persons with Disabilities Act, and the 2016 Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act.

    However, he said there may be a scope for improvement in disability-related laws, policies and their implementation. For this, he said that all the stakeholders needed to prioritise their suggestions for the improvement in disability-related laws, policies and their implementation requiring the intervention of the Parliament, NHRC and judiciary need to be segregated into three categories to evolve a clear action plan.

    NHRC, India Member, Justice (Dr) Bidyut Ranjan Sarangi said that there is a need to strategise and find ways to improve the lives of persons with disabilities. Therefore, all the stakeholders including the Government need to come together and give them moral support to survive in a dignified manner. The issue of medical expenses needs to be taken into consideration and made available to the person.

    NHRC, India Secretary General, Shri Bharat Lal while setting the agenda for discussion, said that the Commission engages with many stakeholders including government officials, domain experts, researchers, academicians, and people working on the ground. He gave an overview of the three technical sessions- Defining and classifying progressive disabilities, Legal & policy framework for addressing disabilities and Promoting inclusive & equitable support services.

    Shri Rajesh Aggarwal, Secretary, Dept. of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Union Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment said that the 2011 Census reports 2.2% of India’s population as having disabilities. However, at times stigma leads to under-reporting, especially among the elderly, as disabilities in old age are often considered normal. While polio cases are decreasing due to institutional deliveries and improved care, disabilities from accidents and autism are rising, resulting in changes in the nature of disability orders. He said that regarding rights, there is a 4% reservation in government and PSU jobs and 5% in education for persons with disabilities (PwDs). He emphasized the need for better accessibility in buildings, transport, and digital platforms. India lags behind European countries in physical accessibility, though toilet facilities for PwDs have improved. Digital accessibility is relatively better.

    He stressed that education accessibility, equal opportunity, and reasonable accommodation can help 95% of people, which should be society’s priority. If there is a chance that a disability will improve or progress, a temporary certificate is given to them despite having a 5% or 80% disability. But if the disability remains the same or worsens, a permanent certificate will be given. Presently, more than 70% of certificates in the country are permanent.

    The participants included Dr Sunita Mondal, Additional Director General, Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Rupali Roy, Assistant Director General, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Shri Rajive Raturi, Consultant, Ms. Shivani Jadhav Representative, National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP), Dr Satendra Singh, Director-Professor of Physiology, University College of Medical Sciences & GTB Hospital, Ms Purva G. Mittal, Asst. Prof, University of Delhi, Shri Akhil S. Paul, Director, Sense International (India), Dr Vaibhav Bhandari, Founder, Swavlamban Foundation, Shri Vikas Trivedi, Member Secretary Rehabilitation Council of India, New Delhi, NHRC DG(I), Shri R Prasad Meena, Registrar (Law), Shri Joginder Singh, Director, Lt Col. Virender Singh among others.

    Some of the suggestions emanated from the discussions included:

    1. Encourage collaborative efforts with the private sector to provide quality employment for PwDs;
    2. Need to revisit the 40% mark for benchmark disabilities, as this holds back many beneficiaries from being able to access quality healthcare services and even a disability certificate;
    3. Create adequate healthcare and rehabilitation provisions, particularly for those requiring high support needs, consequently, alleviating the burden of caregivers;
    4. Necessity of establishing a clear and comprehensive definition of progressive disabilities and promoting the development and accessibility of assistive technologies;
    5. Need for more inclusive and comprehensive health insurance regimes and schemes, along with increased attention to financial accessibility;
    6. Need for prenatal and pro-natal diagnosis for early intervention;
    7. Reduce the cost of medical expenses;
    8. Enhance local production of medicines to make them more cost-effective;
    9. Awareness and training for doctors, and community-based workers including ASHA workers needs to be increased for proper care of PwDs;
    10. Ensure the availability of AI products to assist persons with disabilities;
    11. Better healthcare, policies, treatments, screenings, financial aid, psychological support;
    12. Create awareness against workplace discrimination;

    The Commission will further deliberate upon the suggestions and more inputs from different stakeholders to finalize its recommendations ensuring the protection of rights of the persons with disabilities.

    ***

    NSK

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    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Text of Vice-President’s Address at Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER), Mohali (Excerpts)

    Source: Government of India

    Posted On: 17 FEB 2025 6:48PM by PIB Delhi

    Good afternoon all of you. If there has been some disruption in your normal activity, because as Vice-President of the country, I take it as my prime obligation to connect with young minds and important institutions. It is from that perspective I solicited this invitation.

    I am grateful that it was accepted. Professor Anil Kumar Tripathi, Director IISER, a man who brings on the table huge experience, commitment, and in his brief address he has revealed the object, the performance and the potential. Professor Renu Vig, Vice-Chancellor, Punjab University, has two distinctions.

    One, she is the first ever woman Vice-Chancellor of the Punjab University, a very prestigious university. I am sure we can applaud her, and, she is the 14th Vice-Chancellor, appointed by a Chancellor, who happens to be the 14th Vice-President of the country, that’s myself. Both of us missed number 13 very narrowly. Professor R.P. Tiwari, Vice-Chancellor, Central University of Punjab. Have you noticed something unique here? There are three Vices. So, Professor Anil Kumar Tripathi can be happy and delighted. Unless he says that prefix of Vice does not mean vice as it is defined in the dictionary, I would not reflect upon myself. But I can assure you, Vice-Chancellor Renu Vig and Vice-Chancellor R.P. Tiwari have no Vices.

    This is a unique Institution and 7 being in number. Having been Governor in the State of West Bengal for three years, I am aware of these Institutions and the seminal role they play in the evolution of the heart. Every institution is defined by the faculty, and I greet members of the faculty who are very distinguished and are futuristic in their outlook, whatever little I have gathered. We as a nation can take pride that we have an unparalleled legacy unknown to other nations. That long, and if we traverse our civilisational journey of 5000 years, we will find Bharat had been glory of the world,epicenter of knowledge and culture. People from all over the world flocked in pursuit of knowledge. That is your motto. What a motto you have picked up. Nalanda, Taxila, people came from all over the world in search of knowledge, shared knowledge and wisdom.

    We at the moment are at a very critical juncture, and I say so with some amount of nostalgia. I got into the seat of governance 35 years ago when I was elected to Parliament (Lok Sabha) and had the good fortune to be a Minister. I know the situation there. The mood of the nation. Our worrisome foreign exchange disturbed Jammu and Kashmir. I saw it all around, and our government didn’t last long, not because of me. And what I see now, 180 degree difference. The nation has an environment of hope and possibility. Our global image is very high.

    Leadership of the Prime Minister is globally acknowledged. And we have traversed against heavy winds. Difficult terrain. From fragile five economies to the world’s largest five economies at the moment. Ahead of those who ruled us for centuries, the Great Britain. It is a matter of time. That we will be marching ahead of Japan and Germany also to be the third largest in about a year or so. Such a jump. When I was elected first in parliament I had no courage to dream. Then that was the time, young boys and girls, where a Member of Parliament felt really an authority because he or she could give 50 gas connections or 50 telephone connections in a year. Imagine where we have come. In the shortest possible time, 550 million people of the country benefited from banking inclusions. They never had that account.

    Over 100 million households have toilets. Cooking gas in every house, electricity in every house, internet in every remote corner, health centres and education centres around, road connectivity, everything is happening. World class infrastructure we are seeing of global benchmark, and therefore, as I said this morning also, no nation in the world has grown as fast in the last 10 years as Bharat. This has created a challenge. A challenge of aspirational youth. They want more. They are entitled to more because they have tasted development. They see it on the ground. They know that per capita internet consumption of India is more than that of US and China taken together, that speaks of our access to technology and adaptability of technology.

    When it comes to direct transfers, a service delivery driven by technology, our direct digital transactions are four times the combined transactions of USA, UK, France and Germany. We are a nation where global entities, International Monetary Fund, World Bank are appreciating us. I recall my days in 1990 as a minister.

    Our gold had to be shipped in an aeroplane to be placed to two banks in Switzerland because our foreign exchange was around 1 billion US dollars. Now it is 700 times. And not a cause of concern, and therefore, the challenge is how do we meet aspirations of our young minds and my message to young minds. Seriously, look around, the opportunity basket which for you is getting larger and larger by the day. Come out of these silos and groove that are defined jobs only with the government or working in a corporate.

    Startups, unicorns are doing wonders. Let me tell you, IITs and IIMs have given these unicorns. But about 50% are from other institutes. I know the potential this country has because I have been to ISRO. Seen for myself. I have seen emerging space economy, there I came to learn for the first time when our rocket had to be put in space. It was not from Indian soil, and now we put rockets of other countries, USA also, developed countries also, Singapore also, from our and make money. Good value for money. Chandrayaan, Gaganyaan – They are defining us.

    I had the good occasion to have discussion with S. Somnathan, ISRO chairman, he was till recently, now V. Narayanan. Their fire, their zeal, their commitment, very different. In Bangalore, Govindan Rangarajan, Indian Institute of Science, and Dr. Clyde Shelby. I had the occasion to see personally what kind of innovations are being done for larger public welfare by scientific and industrial research. I say so because a country’s reputation, image, power is to be defined by research.

    Research is the bedrock of economic supremacy and global distinction. There was a time when we did not bestow attention on research and we thought somebody will give it to us with a price. And that someone will decide how much to give, on what terms to give but now, we have changed that. Nations that lead in research have global respect in economy, in strategy. And countries depend on them. Just imagine how far we have gone when it comes to meteorological predictions. We are one of the best in the world. As Governor-General of West Bengal, and the state is prone to cyclones, super cyclones, there was no mortality on high seas. The prediction was very accurate. Scientific prowess defines strategic prowess. Conventional wars are gone.

    And we have an ancient legacy of having been researchers, discoverers, giving to the world right from zero in arithmetic or mathematics. Aryabhatta, Brahmagupta laid foundations of global mathematics. Our scientific pantheon, Raman known by Raman effect, Bose, Sarabhai, Chandrasekhar, Shah, Bhatnagar, and our former president, they define India’s research mind, orientation. They exemplify commitment to research. And look at those days, we were in colonial shackles. Raman effect discovered against colonial scepticism.

    It stands as a testament to our Indian scientific beliefs. Cutting edge research is demand of the times. And the research has to correlate to fulfil the needs of the society. A research that is to be put on the shelf, a research that is for the self, a research that embellishes the profile, a research that contributes only to credentials is not the research. A research that only scratches the surface is not the research. The research has to be authentic.

    The research must create a wave. It must have positive, cascading impact on the lives of the people. Industries, business, trade and commerce are driven by research. At the moment, boys and girls, we are living in times we never imagined. You are facing those times as much as I am doing. We call them Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Blockchain, Machine Learning and the kind. Blockchain for some may be Blockchain. Machine Learning may be Machine Learning only. But look at the power these technologies have.

    And these technologies are known as disruptive technologies. But these technologies come with enormous challenges that can uproot us. But they come also with a basket of opportunities. And we must focus on unleashing opportunity out of these disruptive technologies. Our research has to come up to that mark. It is our good fortune that the government is alive to the situation.

    And we as a nation, home to one sixth of humanity, are at the moment focussing on these technologies. Our quantum computing. There is a reflection by the director. About 6 lakh or 8 lakh jobs will be created out of investment of 6 lakh crores. Quantum computing, there is allocation of 6,000 crores and 18,000 crores for green hydrogen mission. These are the opportunities for you people. Space economy, blue economy. These are the opportunities for you.

    And therefore research has to facilitate life of the ordinary person. To improve our industry, our administration. A nation of 1.4 billion and a rich human resource unrivalled in the world. If it is catalysed and activated by temperament of research, the results will be exponential, geometric and revolutionary. Because now Bharat is no longer a nation with a potential. Our rise is unstoppable for last few years.

    It is incremental. And therefore, there has to be a greater commitment that research in the country is in the big league, in the Platinum category. And for that, the faculty has to brainstorm. We cannot have satisfying moments. As reflected by a Greek philosopher much before Socrates’ era, Heraclitus, Boys and Girls, now we are having change every moment. Paradigm shift.

    We are virtually at an industrial revolution. Unknown to the humanity before. And if nations have to go ahead of others, we have to focus on research. There was a time in Silicon Valley otherwise we could hardly see an Indian. And there is now hardly a global corporate that doesn’t have an Indian man or woman at the peak. Our demographic dividend now requires universalist engineering, mathematics. And that is why, after more than three decades, a game-changing education policy was introduced. And that was to give you enough room so that you can go after your aptitude and distance from the package of just degrees.

    I will take the occasion to appeal to corporates that they must come forward to drive the engines of research. Liberally contribute because ultimately they are the beneficiaries. Alongside the government they should be making liberal contributions beyond their CSR funds. If you look at the global corporates, how much they invest you will be surprised. We take pride in the last five years. We have increased our research fiscal commitment in the corporates to 50% above.

    From 0.89% of their revenue to 1.32% of their revenue. I find it deficient. Investment has to be many times more. We take pride also because earlier things were not moving. Now things are moving. When things are moving, we notice a change. Patents have nearly more than doubled in the last ten years. But our patents must be in consonance with our demographic participation in the world. One-sixth we must have. Because we are one-sixth of humanity. And this one-sixth of humanity qualitatively is very different than one-sixth. And therefore, taking note of technology access and adaptability, we need to be in optimal performance mindset.

    Imagine a country where 100 million farmers, three times a year, get direct banking transfers. Young boys and girls were not aware, there was a time when corruption was the password for opportunity, recruitment or business licence. Power corridors were leveraged by lies and agents. All this neutralised. And neutralised also through technological applications. Because middlemen have been shown the door. So when I look at your institute, Director, science, education and research, the triangle, this defines your role. Pursuit of knowledge. It starts with education. Because education as a transformative vehicle is very powerful. It brings about equality. Any one of you can have unicorn and be in the big league of industry. You don’t have to look to the situation. That yes, my father was in the industry, that’s true. We need to fight by technology. That’s the sin we are facing. So education. In education, science is important.

    Because science unfolds your mind to generate creativity, innovation. And then the next step is research. A combination of these will unlock the enormous potential of Indian mind. Will make available avenues and vistas to our population. Every nation hopes to be self-reliant. But we as a nation are very large. Complex on occasions. When the nation is growing so fast, some of us, the number is very small. The traction is large. Put personal interest, commercial interest, political interest, above national interest. This can’t be allowed. This is unfair to boys and girls.

    This is unfair to everyone, because if in our democracy there is someone as a class more serious, significant stakeholder in democracy and growth, than any one of us sitting here, is the youth of the country. Because as we march for Viksit Bharat after 2047, you are the driving force behind engines of growth. And therefore we have to give new dimension now. Make in India, start up India. And look at technology. It has to get into healthcare.

    Technology has to get into education. Technology can catalyse that quality health and quality education is available to one and all. And if that happens, Bharat will be what it has been for centuries.Our lean period started in 12th century. Then marauders came, invaders came, recklessly destroyed our culture. They sacrileged our religious places to an extent that they put their own at the same place. Then came the Britishers who did not give us the education to rule ourselves. They gave us education and taught us history as suited to them. Now things have changed. We are much ahead of UK in economy. We have a bunch of institutions now all over the country. IITs, IIMs, Institutions like yours, and therefore we must have this ecosystem with ears and eyes on the ground. The litmus test is changing the life of the ordinary man. We all stand committed to that because that is our preamble.

    We the people of India want these things. I conclude for time constraint. What Vivekananda said, “Arise, awake, stop not till the goal is achieved”. A motto which you must have. From my side I can give it to you. Have no tension, Have no stress, Never fear failure. Failure is natural. Sometimes you will be surprised, Oh he has succeeded, he should not have succeeded, take it in stride. System is transparent, there will be aberrations. Sometimes you will find, Oh! my own success is unjustified. These are situations natural to us, and then Dr. Kalam whose heart was always in education. I recollect when he met his maker. He was with the students in the North East, and what he said I quote,

    “Dreams transform into thoughts, and thoughts result in action” and therefore my ultimate plea with you, If an idea occurs to you don’t allow your mind to be a parking ground for that idea because you fear you may fail. Get rid of it. Failure is a myth because there is no one who has not failed but they never took failure as failure. Chandrayaan 2 was failure for some who are critics, who are recipe for negativity. Chandrayaan II did not fail, It went that far, and Chandrayaan III did the rest. Let your innovations catalyse India’s scientific renaissance, and advance human progress because we are a country that believes in ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ – One Earth, One Family, One Future, that was our motto to the entire world.

    Once again, I am grateful to the Director for making available this opportunity to me at a very short notice. I understand that there has been some inconvenience, I would urge that you overlook it.
    Thank you so much.

    *****

    JK/RC/SM

    (Release ID: 2104169) Visitor Counter : 15

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: WAVES Anime & Manga Contest

    Source: Government of India

    WAVES Anime & Manga Contest

    Celebrating India’s Growing Passion for Animation and Comics

    Posted On: 17 FEB 2025 5:23PM by PIB Delhi

    Introduction

    The WAVES Anime & Manga Contest (WAM!) is a dynamic initiative that aims to harness India’s growing enthusiasm for anime and manga by providing a platform for creators to showcase their talent. Organised by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting in collaboration with the Media & Entertainment Association of India (MEAI), WAM! encourages artists to develop localized adaptations of popular Japanese styles, catering to both Indian and global audiences. With opportunities for publishing, distribution, and industry exposure, the contest fosters artistic expression and nurtures emerging talent. The competition will feature state-level contests across 11 cities, culminating in a grand national finale at WAVES 2025 in Mumbai.

    WAM! is part of the Create in India Challenges, a flagship initiative under the World Audio Visual & Entertainment Summit (WAVES), which will take place from 1st to 4th May 2025 at Jio World Convention Centre & Jio World Gardens, Mumbai. WAVES serves as a premier forum for discussions, collaborations, and innovation in the media and entertainment industry, bringing together global stakeholders to explore new opportunities and shape the sector’s future. The Create in India Challenges, central to WAVES, have seen over 70,000 registrations worldwide, empowering emerging talents with a global stage to showcase their work. With WAM!, India reinforces its position as a vibrant hub for anime and manga, bridging artistic traditions with contemporary storytelling.

    Verticals and Categories

     

    Eligibility Criteria

    Events Calendar

    Date

    City

    Venue

    Registration

    22nd November, 2024

    Guwahati

    NEDFi Convention Centre

    Closed

    24th November, 2024

    Kolkata

    Heritage School

    Closed

    26th November, 2024

    Bhubaneswar

    Sri Sri University

    Closed

    28th November, 2024

    Varanasi

    Sunbeam Suncity School

    Closed

    30th November, 2024

    Delhi

    IIMC, Vasant Kunj

    Closed

    TBD

    Bengaluru

    TBD

    Click Here

    TBD

    Mumbai

    TBD

    Click Here

    TBD

    Ahmedabad

    TBD

    Click Here

    TBD

    Nagpur

    TBD

    Click Here

    TBD

    Hyderabad

    TBD

    Click Here

    TBD

    Chennai

    TBD

    Click Here

    1st – 4th May, 2025

    Finale

    Jio World Convention Centre & Jio World Gardens

    State Level Winners

    Participation Guidelines:

    • Scripts will be provided on the spot for all categories.
    • Only Manga category submissions can be in physical format. All other categories require digital submissions.
    • v Participants must create and submit their work within the specified timeframe and format:
    • Manga (Student & Professional): 2 pages, at least 4 panels each, ink and colour (physical/digital).
    • Webtoon (Student): 7 panels with ink and colour.
    • Webtoon (Professional): 10 panels with ink and colour.
    • Anime (Student): 10 seconds of animation based on the provided script.
    • Anime (Professional): 15 seconds of animation based on the provided script.

    Competition Schedule and Prizes

    • All competitions will be held offline; participants must attend in person.

     

    • Registration opens at 9:00 AM, followed by a debriefing at 9:30 AM.

     

    • The competition will take place from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM.

     

    • Cosplay competitions and other performances will be held from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM on the same day.

     

    • The WAM! Finale will be held at the WAVES summit from May 1 to 4, 2025, at Jio World Convention Centre & Jio World Gardens, Mumbai.

     

    • Winners will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Anime Japan and other international events, supported by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

     

    WAM! Cosplay Competition

    The WAM! Cosplay Competition is open to individuals, including students, staff, and external participants, with no registration fees. Cosplays must be based on characters from anime, manga, gaming, or Indian comics, encouraging creativity and originality. Costumes and props should be self-made, with no restrictions on craftsmanship, but props and weapons must be non-functional and cleared during pre-event inspection. Participants must maintain decorum, with any offensive behavior leading to disqualification. Judging will be based on costume accuracy, craftsmanship, performance, creativity, audience engagement, and an interaction segment where participants may answer questions about their character or costume. Each performer will have 90 seconds for performance and 1 minute for introduction and interaction, with judges’ decisions being final. The top three cosplayers will receive cash prizes, and all participants will be awarded e-certificates.

    References:

    Kindly find the pdf file 

    *****

    Santosh Kumar/ Sarla Meena/ Saurabh Kalia

    (Release ID: 2104113) Visitor Counter : 94

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Key Milestones Reached in Inverness Castle Transformation Project

    Source: Scotland – Highland Council

    Issued by High Life Highland

    The Inverness Castle Experience has reached two key milestones: the completion of glazing on the new link building and the installation of the fully refurbished Rose Window in the South Tower Story Room. These achievements mark significant progress as the attraction prepares to open later this year.

    The contemporary link building, now wind and watertight, will house the Saltire Bistro, offering visitors a unique space to enjoy Highland hospitality. Designed by the renowned LDN Architects in collaboration with NARRO structural engineers, the structure draws inspiration from the Scottish Saltire, a proud emblem of national identity. Its elegant, interwoven roof beams, influenced by the expressed ceiling structures within the historic castle interiors, span the length of the building and sit between large glass roof lights, which bathe the space in natural light.

    The glazing, meticulously crafted and installed by specialist contractors, has been delivered to the highest standards under the supervision of Bancon Construction, the project’s main contractor.

    Adding to the sense of achievement, the stunning Rose Window, a cherished historic feature, has been fully refurbished and now takes centre stage in the South Tower Story Room. Suspended from the ceiling within a bespoke steel frame, the intricate window has been restored to showcase its original craftsmanship, creating a breathtaking focal point in the room where visitors will immerse themselves in the stories of the Highlands.

    Cllr Ian Brown, Leader of Inverness City and Area and Co-chair of the Inverness Castle Project Delivery Group, said: “We are delighted to celebrate these major milestones for the Inverness Castle Experience.”

    “The completion of glazing on the link building and the restoration and installation of the Rose Window highlight the project’s balance between contemporary design and respect for the Highlands’ heritage. Visitors will be able to savour the unique atmosphere of the Saltire Bistro in the new building, and marvel at the beautifully restored Rose Window as part of their journey through the experience in the South Tower.”

    Watch Jason Kelman, Principle Project Manager at The Highland Council give an update here.

    The Inverness Castle Experience project, opening later this year, will benefit from £30m investment to support its redevelopment from the Scottish and UK Governments, The Highland Council, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and a range of other partners.

    The Inverness Castle project is part of the Inverness and Highland City-Region Deal, which is a joint initiative supported by up to £315m investment from the UK and Scottish governments, The Highland Council, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and University of the Highlands and Islands, aimed at stimulating sustainable regional economic growth.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Mr. Jens Wandel of Denmark – Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Reforms

    Source: United Nations MIL-OSI 2

    nited Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced today the appointment of Jens Wandel of Denmark as Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Reforms.  He was previously appointed to this function from 2018 to 2020 during the implementation phase of the reforms. 

    The Secretary-General has tasked Special Adviser Wandel with delivering an internal review of the progress made and remaining gaps implementing the reforms.  Working within and across all three reform streams (Sustainable Development, Peace & Security and Management), the Special Adviser will work to deepen the impact of the three reforms, including by recommendations to the Secretary-General for the key departments, the United Nations Sustainable Development Group, and the United Nations High-level Committee on Management.

    Mr. Wandel has had a distinguished service within the United Nations.  He served as the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) Executive Director (ad interim), the Secretary-General’s Designate for the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Assistant Administrator, Director of the Bureau of Management.  He also held various positions at the country level, including as Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Turkmenistan and other UNDP positions in Kyrgyzstan and Viet Nam.  He brings a wide range of experience across operational, programmatic and policy matters, which is critical for implementing the key outstanding elements of the reforms.

    Mr. Wandel holds a Master of Arts equivalent in political science (development and public management) from the University of Aarhus, Denmark.  He is fluent in English and Danish.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: When a bishop called on Trump to ‘have mercy’, she was following the old Christian tradition of parrhesia

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Morwenna Ludlow, Professor of Christian History and Theology, University of Exeter

    Ambrose.

    When Bishop Mariann Budde closed her sermon at the National Prayer Service at Washington National Cathedral on January 21 she called on Donald Trump, who was sitting in front of her, “to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now”.

    Trump demanded an apology later the same day from “the so-called Bishop” who he said was “nasty in tone”. Republican congressman Mike Collins even suggested that Budde (a US citizen) should be deported.

    The bishop was building on a long tradition of Christian leaders using bold speech. But the idea of bold speech goes back further – to the concept of “parrhesia” in democratic Athens when every freeborn male citizen had the right to speak freely in public debates.

    French philosopher Michel Foucault highlighted that with the decline of democracy, parrhesia came to mean boldly speaking truth to power. For instance, in the Roman Empire, it meant having the bravery to speak to an emperor, a governor, or one’s master as if one was their equal.

    Early Christians picked up on this use of the term in the New Testament. The Acts of the Apostles describes the arrest of Peter and John for healing and preaching in Jerusalem and recounts that the assembled “rulers, elders and scribes” were amazed to hear such parrhesia from “uneducated and ordinary men”.

    The apostles were so popular that the council released them after vainly threatening them to keep quiet. Peter and John’s own community of followers was even said to be so inspired by their bold example that they prayed to be given parrhesia too, a prayer which was immediately answered by the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 4:29, 31). Parrhesia here is seen as a powerful divine gift which enables ordinary people to challenge dominant religious authorities.

    Several sermons on martyrs from John Chrysostom (who was apppointed as the archbishop of Constantinople in AD397) close with exhortations to emulate a martyr’s parrhesia. Chrysostom’s Discourse on Blessed Babylas and against the Greeks describes a bishop who reprimanded an emperor for murdering a child hostage. Chrysostom praises Bishop Babylas for moderate parrhesia, guided by reason, keeping anger and other emotions in check. It recalls the advice of the philosopher Plutarch in “How to tell a flatterer from a friend”: parrhesia must be respectful, in due measure and at the right moment.

    Babylas’s moderate parrhesia produces astonished admiration from the crowd, but it provoked the outraged emperor to order Babylas’ execution.

    Such stories set expectations for the behaviour of bishops even under Christian emperors. Scholars have shown how bishops have exploited their educational and social standing to leverage limited influence with governors and sometimes even emperors.

    Gregory of Nazianzus tells how his friend Basil, a 4th century bishop, faced down the rage of an imperial representative who “roared like a lion till most men dared not approach him”, threatening “confiscation, banishment, torture, death”. When Basil refused to back down, the astonished official declared that no-one had spoken to him with such parrhesia. “Perhaps you’ve not met a bishop before,” Basil replied. “Generally, we know our place and we submit to the law. But where the interests of God are at stake, we care about nothing else.”

    Two of the most famous examples of bishops who exercised parrhesia against imperial authority were the aforementioned Chrysostom and Ambrose (who became bishop of Milan in AD374). Both Chrysostom and Ambrose wrote substantial treatises which (among other things) defended the priest’s right to censure whomever was guilty of sin. Chrysostom warns that fear of powerful authorities causes people to flatter them rather than speaking the truth. Ambrose makes a similar point, reminding his audience that John the Baptist did not flatter King Herod, despite having reason to fear him. These comments resonate with Foucault’s observation that a speaker addressing someone more powerful must choose between flattery and parrhesia.

    Bishop Budde speaking at Washington National Cathedral.

    But the point of these examples is that by the 4th century there was a strong belief that part of the job of being a bishop was being prepared to speak boldly against wrongdoing – even if the wrongdoer was an emperor. And the power of their parrhesia was not so much the success (or otherwise) of their requests, but the way their bold speech sent ripples out into the wider community.

    It is here that we can identify resonances with the case of Bishop Budde. First, parrhesia involves a direct, public but personal appeal to someone who could normally expect to be in authority over the speaker (the Jewish council of elders, a Roman governor).

    The appeal is often made respectfully, but it is still risky and disruptive. It challenges the addressee’s declared vision of the truth, setting against it the speaker’s own sources of authority, including appeals to the divine.

    In Budde’s case too we find this tension between respect and challenge. In an interview for the New Yorker, Budde reflected that she “needed to honor the office of the President and the fact that millions of people placed their trust in him”.

    By addressing Trump respectfully, she acknowledged he had the authority to be merciful. But in drawing on the authority of scripture, Christian tradition and her episcopal role, she challenged the president’s moral authority on key questions of public policy.

    Basil’s parrhesia astonished the imperial representative, but gave his friend Gregory a model for his own episcopal ministry. Similarly, Budde had a two-fold audience in mind. She used parrhesia respectfully but firmly to challenge the authority of a powerful person who did not expect to be challenged and was outraged when they were.

    It is evident that Budde’s past experience of criticising Trump (she commented in the New York Times about Trump posing for a photo with a Bible in 2020) left her in no doubt that her “audacious” direct appeal to the president would bring anger on herself. But she also addressed a wider audience, intending that “people overhearing me talk to Trump” would hear words of solidarity and hope for them.

    The power of Budde’s speech does not depend on the success of her appeal for mercy but in the disruptive nature of her challenge to Trump’s moral authority and the way it rippled out into wider audiences, provoking astonishment, anger or praise.

    History prompts us to look harder at the power dynamics that create such varied and highly charged emotional responses. Now, as in the ancient world, it is in the absence of an open hearing for all, when bold speech is needed.

    Morwenna Ludlow will receive funding from the Leverhulme Trust for a project on ‘God and Good Speech’ for two years from September 2025. She is a priest in the Church of England and has an honorary role as Canon Theologian at Exeter Cathedral.

    – ref. When a bishop called on Trump to ‘have mercy’, she was following the old Christian tradition of parrhesia – https://theconversation.com/when-a-bishop-called-on-trump-to-have-mercy-she-was-following-the-old-christian-tradition-of-parrhesia-248494

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –