There will be plenty to nourish mind and body when the University opens its doors for Expo Uni from noon to 5pm on May 17 and 18.
High-tech research laboratories, street theatre, water-powered rockets and multicultural food will be just a few of the attractions expected to draw about 50,000 people to the St Lucia campus for the weekend event, last held in 1994.
Free parking will be available including undercover parking in the multi-level car parks on Sir Fred Schonell Drive, St Lucia. Bus and City Cat access is also available.
According to organising committee chair Dr Lisa Gaffney, the University of Queensland's Great Court will be a central focus of activity, complementing the many departmental displays located throughout the campus.
While most visitors would come from South-East Queensland, in the past many had also travelled from northern New South Wales and distant parts of Queensland.
Dr Gaffney said Expo Uni offered family entertainment as well as displays and demonstrations of the University's outstanding research and teaching.
'We want the public to know that the University is an exciting, accessible and friendly place,' she said.
Free activities and entertainment over the two days include:
- Physiotherapy Department advice for those suffering back pain and an Anatomical Sciences Department muscular control and strength workshop to check lower limb posture.
- Performance of excerpts from Macbeth by physical theatre group Zen Zen Zo. Some of its members are masters students in the English Department, and trained in the Japanese theatre styles - Butoh and the Suzuki method.
- Weigh yourself on a crane or learn how to deflect steel with your finger, activities organised by the Mechanical Engineering Department.
- Fire a water-powered rocket in the Great Court and discover a practical and fun application of the laws relating to projectile motion mathematics.
- Attend a mock trial conducted by the Law Student's Society in the Moot Court which will be broadcast on closed circuit television in the Forgan Smith Building.
- Take a heritage walk of the St Lucia campus with guides from the History Department or learn how to trace their family history.
- Tune into a multitude of international satellite programs including Beijing news bulletins and Spanish dramas, to be shown at the Centre for Language Training and Research.
- On Saturday, a performance of excerpts from a collage-style piece of theatre on tourism and media representations of Asia by drama students. The complete piece will be performed at the Avalon Theatre, 8pm from May 15-17 ($8/$5).
For more information, contact Dr Gaffney (telelphone 07 3365 1333).
