UQ conference focuses on television

Television at the beginning of the new century is the focus of a major international conference to be held at The University of Queensland's St Lucia campus from December 1 to 3.

"This is the first conference focusing solely on television to be held at an Australian university," said Professor Graeme Turner, Director of UQ's Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies, which is organising the conference.

He said the conference was shaping up to be to be an outstanding collection of presenters and topics, with panels ranging from current affairs to children's television, and sessions covering Buffy, new media, digitalisation and Deleuze.

Keynote speakers will include eminent media and cultural studies scholars such as Professor Lynn Spigel of the University of Southern California, Professor John Fiske of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Professor John Hartley of QUT.

Professor Turner said panel sessions were already generating much interest.

Chris Masters (from Four Corners), Hugh Riminton (Channel 9 News) and Richard Fidler (Race around the World) will join Catharine Lumby in a panel examining television news and current affairs. An international authority on children and the media, David Buckingham, will contribute to the children's television panel, and well known British media researcher Philip Schlesinger will speak in a panel on television policy.

"In addition to over 90 Australian and overseas academics, there will be speakers from the ABC, the ABA, Foxtel, and other media organisations," he said.

"We're aiming to reach a general audience and we're keen to attract media teachers from around Brisbane, with the Saturday program designed to make one day attendance as stimulating as possible."

The conference registration desk will open at the Forgan Smith Building, Room E220 on November 30 4-6 pm, and December 1-3 from 8-8.30 am daily.

Registration costs are: postgraduate/unwaged rate - $231; full three day rate - $286; daily rates: $80 postgraduate/unwaged; $96 waged (inclusive of GST).

This is the inaugural conference of the Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies which was established at The University of Queensland in January 2000.

Under the direction of Professor Graeme Turner, the CCCS aims to foster and promote research culture within the arts and humanities, with a particular emphasis on the ?new humanities' - critical theory, film, media and cultural studies. It is intended that an annual themed conference will be a major event on the CCCS' calendar.

Full details are available on the web http://www.arts.uq.edu.au/cccs/ or by contacting Andrea Mitchell - Project Officer Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies, 7th Floor Duhig Tower, Social Sciences and Humanities Library, telephone (07) 3365 7182, email: a.mitchell@mailbox.uq.edu.au or email: communications@mailbox.uq.edu.au