astronomy

UCL Australia

UCL Australia is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand UCL Australia rather than just read about it. In short: UCL Australia was an international campus of the University College London, located on Victoria Square in Adelaide, South Australia. It had three parts: the School of Energy and Resources (SERAus), the International Energy Policy Institute (IEPI) and a branch of UCL's Mullard Space Science Laboratory.

Key takeaways

UCL Australia belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect UCL Australia to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of UCL Australia from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

UCL Australia was an international campus of the University College London, located on Victoria Square in Adelaide, South Australia. It had three parts: the School of Energy and Resources (SERAus), the International Energy Policy Institute (IEPI) and a branch of UCL's Mullard Space Science Laboratory. UCL Australia described its university community as "welcoming, dynamic and influential." The campus closed in December 2017.

History In December 2008, Professor Michael Worton (Academic & International UCL Vice-Provost) said of the establishment of UCL Australia that the university was "committed to working to solve real-world problems and we relish the opportunity to work not only with the South Australian Government but also with Santos and a range of other Australian and international energy companies through our presence in Adelaide." UCL Australia established key corporate partnerships with two major resource and energy companies operating in South Australia: Santos and BHP. Santos' South Australian interests include onshore and offshore oil and gas developments while BHP Billiton's interest is concentrated on the expansion of the Olympic Dam mine—the world's largest known deposit of uranium. Its campus was established in the Torrens Building on Victoria Square, Adelaide after the Government of South Australia committed A$4 million to refurbishing the building. at the time, the building also housed an international campus of Carnegie Mellon University. In 2010, UCL Australia completed its first full academic year. Agreements between the partners were negotiated by Adelaide lawyer and public servant, Pamela Martin.

Closure In January 2015, UCL Australia announced that its campus would close within three years but agreed to support currently enrolled students through their degrees and courses. The A$10-million agreement with the Government of South Australia and Santos expired in 2017. The UCL Adelaide satellite campus closed in December 2017, with academic staff and students transferring to the University of South Australia. As of 2019 UniSA and UCL are offering joint master qualifications in Science in Data Science (international) or Science in Sustainable Energy Systems.

Research In 2012, research undertaken at UCL Australia included efforts to address problems in water processing for coal seam gas (coal bed methane), design evaporative cooling systems for buildings using sea water and develop integrated energy systems for sustainable wine production. In 2015, UCL Australia's research was focused on the following areas:

Shale and other unconventional gas The low carbon economy Electricity markets, transmission and renewables Adding value to resources Community engagement and governance Environmental and resource monitoring

School of Energy & Resources (SERAus)

The UCL School of Energy and Resources was established in partnership with the Government of South Australia and oil and gas company, Santos. It was established in 2009, with its first full academic year commencing in 2010. Its objective was to develop management capability to help the resources and energy sector meet the challenges of energy security, affordability and regulation, sustainability, environmental impact and climate change.

Research In 2015, research projects undertaken at the School of Energy and Resources included:

Reliability and resilience of Smart Grid technologies and architecture Design and optimization of water distribution networks Monitoring of environmental impacts from dredging and port development International regulation of offshore energy exploration and exploitation

Scholarships The School of Energy & Resources offered incentives for student enrolment, initially awarding 10 Santos scholarships to students wishing to undertake a Masters of Science in Energy and Resources. The scholarships covered full tuition fees and provided each recipient an additional $25,000 annual stipend. In 2016, scholarships were still being offered, with each scholarship "worth" up to $114,500 over two years, comprising full tuition plus a A$50,000 tax-free stipend.

International Energy Policy Institute The International Energy Policy Institute (IEPI) was housed on the Adelaide campus of University College London, Australia. In 2011, UCL signed a five-year $10 million partnership with BHP Billiton to establish the International Energy Policy Institute in Adelaide and an Institute for Sustainable Resources in London. The Institute was created to address challenges of complexity and sensitivity in the energy policy field through intensive research. Stefaan Simons was appointed the inaugural BHP Billiton Chair of Energy Policy. His directorship of the Institute commenced on 1 September 2012. The Institute was seeded by donations from oil and gas company Santos and the resource multi-national BHP.

Research Research at IEPI was focused on upstream (exploration and production) issues, acknowledging the Asia Pacific region's influence on global Coal, nuclear and gas markets, and its growing uptake in renewable energy. The Institute complements and contrasts the downstream (consumer) focus of the UCL Energy Institute which is based in London. Research undertaken at IEPI followed four themes:

adding value to energy resources fossil, nuclear and renewable energy futures community engagement climate strategies In 2015, projects at the IEPI included:

Adding value to global Uranium resources The impact of climate policies on Australia’s Steel Manufacturing Sector Energy epidemiology – demand response management Engaging regional communities in climate action plans and sustainable energy futures The prospects for a Shale gas revolution in Australia Alternative uses for coal – do they make sense?

Staff Notable staff of the IEPI included Emeritus Professor Anthony "Tony" Owen, Visiting Professor Timothy "Tim" Stone CBE (non-executive director of Horizon Nuclear Power) and Honorary Reader James "Jim" Voss (former managing director of Pangea Resources).

Grote Lecture series UCL Australia has presented a series of lectures, most of which have been accessible to the general public. Subjects and presenters have included:

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with UCL Australia

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what UCL Australia claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to UCL Australia before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about UCL Australia ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of UCL Australia

In research: UCL Australia appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses UCL Australia in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: UCL Australia is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Defunct universities and colleges in Australia, History of University College London, Nuclear power in Australia, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for UCL Australia outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study UCL Australia in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what UCL Australia means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain UCL Australia out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is UCL Australia in simple terms?

Why does UCL Australia matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study UCL Australia?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on UCL Australia.