Multicultural festivals were popular last month at CQU Melbourne International Campus.

The Islamic festival Eid-Ul-Fitr was celebrated in October at the end of Ramadan – a month-long period in which Muslims fast between dawn and sunset each day.

ISANA, the representative body for international education professionals in Australia and New Zealand, hosted its 8th Victorian State Conference in October.

Speakers from both government and the Australian international education sector presented at the conference, while 8 staff from CQU Melbourne International Campus attended.

The Telstra Foundation this week released an evaluation of CQU's CHASE (Creating Healthy Adolescents & Secondary School Environments) project.

The evaluation was part of a nationwide external review of childhood obesity projects supported by the Telstra Foundation Community Development Fund, and was carried out by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

CQU graduate and staff member Catherine Krezalek is moving on in her career with a role in Communications and PR at MICOMM (Mining and Industry Communications).

"The role sounds like a huge challenge with a lot of hard work and commitment, however I am hoping the experience I gain there will pay off," she says.

Heidi Erbs and her brothers Haydn and Jarrod are at various stages of their relationship with CQU, and all are encouraged by their options for career progression.

Heidi is impressed that her track record in the Bachelor of Occupational Health and Safety and a letter inviting her to apply for an OHS honours year (subject to completion of her first degree) were enough to secure a position as safety officer with global verification, testing and certification company SGS (she started in November).

Some leading firms operating in Australia are linking with a European network of leading companies, which are sharing the best ways to cope when their innovation pathway is disrupted by technological, regulatory or marketing changes.

The Aussie-based firms, including Broens Industries, B&D Australia, Stramit Building Products and ResMed, gathered in Sydney on November 28 to hear from Professor John Bessant, the leading researcher and driving force behind the 'discontinuous innovation learning networks' in Europe.

CQU Rockhampton is now the headquarters of an Australian research team seeking better ways to prevent respiratory infections which kill millions of people worldwide every year.

The Capricornia Centre for Mucosal Immunology has been established under the leadership of Professor Jennelle Kyd, whose research on immunity and vaccines is recognized internationally.

Two CQU projects were nominees for the Business/Higher Education Round Table (BHERT) awards night in Melbourne on November 14.

The BHERT Awards recognise outstanding achievement in collaboration in research and development and education and training.

CQU academics Professor Paul Hyland and Daryl Alcock visited Longreach last week to provide feedback on research into Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in times of drought in rural areas.

The Institute for Sustainable Regional Development (ISRD) project encompasses the CQ region, including Longreach, Barcaldine, Blackall and Charleville, and is due for completion soon.

November 25 was the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and CQU Bundaberg supported this event with a morning tea.

White Ribbon Day was created by a handful of Canadian men in 1991 on the second anniversary of one man's massacre of 14 women in Montreal.