Professor Ian O'Connor
In this issue of the Griffith Gazette we celebrate creativity. There are articles on traditional 'creative' areas of study such as fashion, music and photography, and you will also find examples of creative thinking in micro technology (such as the device that can judge a snowboarding competition), and creative solutions to the human condition including the only tertiary scholarship in Australia dedicated to a student with a psychiatric illness.
Creativity is not just about creating ideas now but for the future, and for universities to do this we need to continue our honourable role as think tanks of creative opportunities. It is a hard task when the milieu around you seems determined to make it all about the bottom line but we have to make this premise the heart of the argument for our existence.
Griffith University is now considered a leader in the critical area of water research, but it was the creative vision of academics 30 years ago who began Australia's first School of Environmental Studies who can take the credit for planting the seeds for this now crucial area of study.
Creativity is not always born in easy conditions. Back in those founding days, Griffith was forced to forge its way forward with areas of unique research because our existence was based on the premise that we did not tread on the toes of the already established tertiary institutions; of course two of these areas, Environmental Studies and Asian Studies have gone on to be core areas of study in universities across the land. Creativity also needs to be contagious, not just bottled up by the genius academics of the world.
One way we've tried to engage creative solutions for the future and at the same time spread the net outside the university hothouse is our public forum series Our Future Your Say. At the end of last month, Malcolm Turnbull and Peter Garrett battled it out on the topic of climate change in front of a sell-out vocal audience. The capacity crowd the series has attracted tells us that the community wants to be involved in creative solutions about their future.
To some of us creativity comes naturally, but it is a much harder trait to inculcate across a whole institution. It is the lifeblood of universities yet, ironically, it is hard for large institutions to maintain. It seems it rarely moves far from its twin word 'innovation' if it is to be successful. This issue with its myriad examples, inspires us to keep searching for the creative solution, to 'see what others do not see' and to 'think what others are not thinking,' not just for now but for the future.