Guided by our values of equity, excellence, sustainability and engagement, the University of Newcastle has built a strong reputation as a world-leading university making an impact within our own regions, in Australia and across the globe. We are ranked in the top 200 of the world’s universities by QS World University Rankings 2021.
Across our campuses in Newcastle, the Central Coast, Sydney and Singapore, the University of Newcastle enrols more than 37,000 students from diverse backgrounds, with a focus on equity and developing our next generation of socially-oriented leaders, entrepreneurs and innovators.
Our University has long been known as a champion of innovative approaches to teaching and learning. Many of our courses are designed to integrate theory with practice, offering rich opportunities for real-life, hands-on experiences.
We are also a research-intensive university and proud of the great things we have achieved in collaboration with our partners in industry, business, government and the community here and around the world. Our sights are set firmly on the future, as we work hard to build our research capacity and maintain our position as a competitive destination for the world’s best researchers and global innovation leaders.
Food poisoning doesn’t just come from dodgy kebabs, under-cooked chicken and restaurants with poor hygiene practices – it can also occur in the home. And anyone who has suffered a bout of food poisoning…
Journalists are having an increasingly hard time producing high-quality health stories. Medical journal articles feature in many health stories but new research shows their press releases may contribute…
As mentioned already on this site and others, this year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of famed British mathematician Alan Turing. The outline of his remarkable life and sad ending has by now…
The idea that mental illness can harm family relationships is not new. But it’s usually the mother’s parenting that has been the centre of attention. So an article I co-wrote in today’s issue of the Medical…
There’s been plenty of commentary recently on the “numeracy crisis” threatening the economies of many developed nations, including Australia. A 2009 report by the National Academies in the US was not the…
The attempt to rein in offensive “shock jock” style radio commentary received mixed reaction in the media, but the notion of banning words that might demean a particular group opens up an enticing possibility…
In NSW the last 12 months has seen a quantum leap in the government focus on coal seam gas (CSG). In December 2010 the then-Labor NSW state government introduced a moratorium on gas well fracking. They…
In one respect, science and religion have been largely reconciled since the 19th century, when geologists such as Charles Lyell recognised the evidence for a very old Earth. Within a few decades, most…
Elephants in the room, part one For all our schemes and mantras about making this or that part of our lives environmentally “sustainable”, humanity’s assault on the planet not only continues but expands…
Few Australians can be unaware of yet another summer season where widespread floods are covering large areas of eastern Australia. As with last year’s summer deluge, this year’s rainfall is directly caused…
Across the world, outbreaks of food-borne illness, contamination and environmental scares have generated a lot of media attention and plenty of fear around food safety. Think of the recent E. coli outbreaks…
Given the importance of science and technology to modern life, particularly in developed nations, why don’t we see more scientists in leading governmental positions? This dearth is particularly stark in…
These are painful times for those hoping to see an international consensus and substantive action on global warming. In the US, Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney said in June 2011: “The…
Social issues involving young children and warring interest groups make good media fodder. So researchers involved in these areas have to decide very carefully how to promote their findings to stop their…
What do iPhones, Twitter, Netflix, cleaner cities, safer cars, state-of-the-art environmental management and modern medical diagnostics have in common? They are all made possible by Moore’s Law. Moore’s…
We humans have long been interested in defining the abilities that set us apart from other species. Along with capabilities such as language, the ability to recognise and manipulate numbers (“numerical…
Recently there was an excellent, and much read, article on The Conversation entitled There’s no place for pseudo-scientific chiropractic in Australian universities which made the case against chiropractic…
Assessing risk is something everyone must do every day. Yet few are very good at it, and there are significant consequences of the public’s collective inability to accurately assess risk. As a first and…
MILLENNIUM PRIZE SERIES: The Millennium Prize Problems are seven mathematics problems laid out by the Clay Mathematics Institute in 2000. They’re not easy—a correct solution to any one results in a US$1,000,000…
It comes as no surprise to see that parenting programs attract mothers. Drop into a “toddler taming” discussion, a workshop on parents and literacy or a seminar about communicating with your teenager and…