A free public seminar will showcase how research by the University of the Sunshine Coast is helping local, national and international athletes along the road to the Olympics and other elite level sport.

Part of USC’s annual Research Conference from 11-14 July, the seminar will complement a program of presentations, workshops and challenges to highlight local research projects having real-world impact.

A panel of USC’s leading sports researchers will present the seminar, ‘From the Sunshine Coast to Rio de Janeiro: along the pathway of high performance sport’ on Wednesday 13 July at USC’s Innovation Centre auditorium from 5.30pm.

Sport scientist Professor Brendan Burkett said partnerships between the University and the sports community had helped create elite sports performers in the local community while enhancing sports participation and outcomes.

“The seminar will end with a question and answer session with the panel of experts and will be of interest to athletes, coaches, administrators, researchers and practitioners, and those who just thrive on the Australian sports culture,” he said.

The global menace of cybercrime will be the focus of another free public seminar on Tuesday 12 July by USC Senior Research Fellow Dr David Lacey, titled ‘Cybercrime and you – when bad things happen to your good name’.

Research Conference Chair Professor Paul Salmon said the conference theme ‘local research, global impact’ aimed to raise awareness of the excellent research and innovation happening across USC’s campuses.

“It provides opportunities for researchers to share and engage in rich and lively conversations on a range of topics that have international significance,” he said.

In keeping with the theme, teams of academics will have one hour to demonstrate ‘out of the box’ thinking to investigate a problem with worldwide implications in a Lunchtime Innovation Challenge on Wednesday 13 July.

“The only catch is that idea must be inspired by a random object assigned to their team on the day,” Professor Salmon said.

A group of academics and postgraduate students will also have to perfect the art of being brilliant but brief for two other entertaining high-speed challenges.

In the Three Minute Thesis Competition, Higher Degree by Research students will have just 180 seconds to engage their audience with succinct summaries of their complex projects.

USC academics will have even less time to make an impression when they present their work in a fun, fast fashion in ‘A Minute to Win It – My Research in 60 Seconds’.

For information on the 2016 University Research Conference and to register for the public seminars go to the website.

— Clare McKay