President Bill Clinton, founder of the Clinton Foundation and 42nd President of the United States and artist / activist Sir Bob Geldof will be among the high-level speakers who will join thousands of the world's top AIDS researchers, scientific and community leaders, people living with HIV and policy-makers at the 20th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2014) taking place on 20-25 July in Melbourne. Their presence is set to further enhance the very strong program that has been put in place for AIDS 2014. President Clinton has a very strong track record in advocating for HIV/AIDS treatment in disadvantaged communities around the world. Sir Bob Geldof has the ability to motivate millions of people as we have seen over decades of activism. His music and such events as Live Aid and Band Aid have raised global awareness of famine and poverty.

Australia’s world ranking for biotechnology innovation jumped from seventh to fourth on Scientific American’s latest ‘Worldview’ scorecard. The publication’s scorecard provides a balanced assessment of biotechnology innovation around the world and indicated that Australia’s biotech market is undergoing a resurgence.

The new Japan-Australia Economic Partnership Agreement (JAEPA), signed on 8 July 2014, will strengthen economic ties between the two nations. Japan is Australia’s third largest direct foreign investor with A$130 million worth of investment stock in Australia in 2013.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has grown its Australian service locations to Melbourne. The expanded company will roll out Amazon CloudFront - a content delivery Web service that offers both businesses and developers an easy way to distribute content with low latency and high data transfer speeds.

Global ratings agency, Moody’s, has reaffirmed Australia’s AAA rating and stable outlook, consistent with recent assessments by Fitch and Standard & Poor’s. Australia’s sovereign credit rating is based on the nation’s highly resilient economy, high level of government financial strength and low level of event risk.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) has reaffirmed Australia's triple-A credit rating and stable economic outlook, stating that the sovereign credit ratings on Australia benefit from the country's strong institutional settings, its wealthy and resilient economy, and a high degree of monetary and fiscal policy flexibility. “These factors provide Australia with a strong ability to absorb large economic and financial shocks, as was demonstrated during the global recession in 2009,” S&P said.

Australia remains a top 10 global destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) for a third straight year after attracting US$50 billion in foreign direct investment in 2013, according to the UN Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) World Investment Report 2014. Over the three years to 2013, FDI flows to Australia rose nearly 55 per cent to US$171 billion from US$110 billion over the previous three years. This impressive growth has expanded Australia’s share of global FDI inflows to 3.8 per cent in 2011-13 from 2.5 per cent in 2008-10. In contrast, developed economies’ share of world FDI inflows fell to 44 per cent in 2011-13 from 53 per cent in 2008-10.

Australia has achieved its highest ever ranking in the 2014 Global Innovation Index (GII). The GII 2014 surveyed 143 economies around the world, using 81 indicators to gauge both their innovation capabilities and measurable results.

Former US President Bill Clinton has told delegates at the 20th International AIDS Conference, AIDS 2014 in Melbourne, that finding more economically efficient ways to respond to HIV is vital to saving lives and preventing the spread of the virus. Mr Clinton’s speech was made to over 2,000 people at one of the most eagerly anticipated sessions at the AIDS 2014 conference in Melbourne.

New Zealand-based hydraulic equipment specialist, Transport Hydraulic Solutions (THS), has opened a large manufacturing facility in the Melbourne northern suburb of Campbellfield (26.5 km north of the city centre). “A growing number of Melbourne clients are located around this area, and for those who are based further away, our office is right near the freeway where the Western Ring Road and Hume Highway intersect,” said Managing Director of THS, Brenden Lyons.

Fleet management service provider, TR Fleet, recently launched TR Fleet Australia – the parent company’s first venture outside the UK. The Melbourne-based manufacturing business will offer a range of services in Australia and New Zealand, including a risk management tool to help employers comply with 2015 changes to workplace health and safety regulations.

Australia’s fastest-growing city, Melbourne, has again been recognised as the best city in the world to live, topping the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) 2014 Global Liveability Index for the fourth year in a row.

Leading global consulting, technology and professional services company, Capgemini, has opened its new Melbourne Global Delivery Centre and Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud services Lab. The French multinational operates in 44 countries around the world and offers a range of integrated services in the business sector.

Rohlig Australia will open a new branch office in the Melbourne western suburb of Truganina in mid 2015. The new Melbourne base for the international logistics company will be a modern 8,730sqm facility that includes space for a large warehouse and an open plan office.

La Trobe University in Melbourne will bring its world-class scientific expertise to the newly launched Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute (ONJCRI).

Australia’s premier business organisation dedicated to promoting investment and trade with China will be the first bilateral business chamber to be part of the Victorian Coalition Government’s new International Chamber House (ICH). The Australia China Business Council (ACBC) will move its head office from Sydney to Melbourne to be part of ICH, which is set to open later this year in Melbourne’s city centre.

Aegis Services Australia has announced it will expand its business processing outsourcing operations in Victoria, creating 550 new jobs over the next two years. Aegis is a global outsourcing and technology company. The expansion will mean a doubling of the company’s existing local workforce and a substantial investment in training and up-skilling of employees. The company’s announcement underscores Victoria's strong reputation as a destination for global investment and business services centre.

The Victorian Government has launched Australia's first web tool specifically designed to help Victorian communities locate mining and exploration activities in their regions quickly and easily. The Mining Licences Near Me web tool ensures greater transparency for communities regarding industry activity in their region, both onshore and offshore, including minerals, gas and quarries.

Australia’s manufacturing sector has been given a boost with the opening of Australia’s largest additive manufacturing hub and a new world-class research facility in Melbourne. The new 3D printing additive manufacturing plant produces parts and devices for the mining, defence, bio-medical, construction, aerospace and automotive industries, in a more cost-effective way than traditional methods.

The Fu Wah International Group will establish its Australian headquarters in Melbourne, bringing 20 jobs to Victoria. A high-end real-estate development and commercial property management group based in China, the company recently took ownership of the iconic Melbourne Park Hyatt Hotel and is exploring other investment opportunities in Victoria's property and hotel sector.

Hong Kong-based independent hotel company the Hind Group is to establish its new Australian headquarters in Melbourne, creating 10 new jobs. The Hind Group is one of Hong Kong's most successful independent hotel and serviced apartment operators. It owns and manages two hotel brands, Ovolo Hotels and Naumi Hotels and also runs two food and beverage businesses, Café O in Hong Kong and Rang Mahal in Singapore.

Indian company Ray Business Technologies (Raybiztech) has chosen Melbourne as its Australian headquarters. The company plans to create 30 new highly skilled local Information and Communications Technology (ICT) jobs over the next two years. Headquartered in Hyderabad, India, with offices in the USA and UK, Raybiztech delivers cloud, mobility, big data and social media solutions to its enterprise clients around the world, in the sectors of finance, healthcare, manufacturing, media, leisure and utilities.

Global technology supplier Finmeccanica – Selex ES will establish its Australian Naval Communications headquarters in Melbourne, creating 80 manufacturing jobs by 2019. Finmeccanica - Selex ES works across the international defence, security, aerospace, naval and transport sectors.

The Victorian Government has secured the right for Melbourne to continue to host the Australian leg of the world’s largest digital games festival, the Penny Arcade Expo Australia (PAX Aus), for the next five years until 2019.

UK packaging company LINPAC has chosen Melbourne as its Australian headquarters. The A$22 million investment will create 72 manufacturing jobs at the new headquarters in the suburb of Truganina in Melbourne’s West, and allow the company to increase its food packaging manufacturing capacity. Operating in 37 countries around the world, LINPAC is a global leader in the production of primary fresh food packaging and food service solutions.

Japanese-based pharmaceutical company Eisai has announced it will open its Australian headquarters in Melbourne to provide a platform to market its portfolio of epilepsy and oncology products. The company ranks in the top 25 pharmaceutical companies in the world by revenue, and employs over 10,000 people worldwide.

Balluff Leuze has invested in a custom-built automation centre in Bayswater, located 40 minutes east of Melbourne’s city centre, as part of its continued Australian expansion plans. The German company, which specialises in technically innovative products for the Automation industry has been working in Australia for 15 years and is considered a leader in sensor technology. They also build a range of safety products that are used in the Victorian manufacturing sector.

Recent research lead by a Melbourne research institute has found that people who carry a particular type of gene have natural resistance against typhoid fever. The Nossal Institute of Global Health at the University of Melbourne conducted the study in collaboration with the Genome Institute of Singapore and Oxford University Clinical Research Unites in Vietnam and Nepal. The research, which is the first large-scale one of its kind, investigated the human natural gene responses to typhoid and associated infectious diseases.

Australia and China have signed an historic free-trade agreement (FTA) which will increase opportunities for foreign direct investment in Victoria. The deal, which is suggested to be worth A$18 billion to Australia’s economy, was announced after almost a decade of negotiations between the nations. The agreement will increase the threshold at which private companies attract scrutiny by the Foreign Investment Review Board from A$247 million to A$1 billion. This will allow corporations to more easily take advantage of the competitive and dynamic business environment that Melbourne has to offer.

For the second year in a row, the Penny Arcade Expo Australia (PAX Aus) was held in Melbourne from 31 October 2014 to 2 November 2014. It opened to the news that Melbourne had secured the right to continue to host the event for the next five years, a huge coup for Victoria and for all Australian digital gaming fans. The announcement meant that Melbourne would host the iconic event, which attracts the world’s biggest and most influential digital games developers, publishers, and enthusiastic players, until at least 2019.

Melbourne has been recognised as the top Major City in Human Capital and Lifestyle, according to the fDi Intelligence Global Cities of The Future 14/15 study. Cities in the study were categorised according to population and, as a Major City, Melbourne was awarded the top position in cities with populations less than 10 million. As winner of the Human Capital and Lifestyle category, Melbourne scored high results in categories such as; literacy rate, education expenditure, health, quality of life, percentage of population as labour force, number of students and numerous other indicators.

Hotel and accommodation booking app, HotelQuickly, has opened an office in Melbourne as part of its plans to expand its operations in the Australian market. The Hong-Kong headquartered company, which was launched in March 2013, has more than 600,000 users globally and offers last-minute discounted hotel and accommodation booking options for travellers.

The Korea-Australia Free Trade Agreement (KAFTA) will enter into force on 12 December 2014, opening up new investment opportunities for Victorian and Korean businesses that will enhance their relationships. KAFTA will increase export opportunities across a wide range of industries: from beef, wheat, sugar, dairy, wine, horticulture and seafood, to automotive suppliers, and the resources and energy industries. It will also open up significant opportunities for service providers.

The Japan-Australia Economic Partnership Agreement (JAEPA) entered into force on 15 January 2015. Japanese interest in Victorian and nationwide investment is continuing to grow, with major fast food chains and convenience store operators looking at investing in the agriculture sector, which will in turn support expansion into the South East Asia marketplace.

The Victorian Government has announced it will begin work on one of Australia’s largest infrastructure projects, the Melbourne Metro Rail Project. The new Melbourne Metro Rail line includes a nine-kilometre twin rail tunnel from Melbourne's south, under the CBD, through to the university and health precinct in the city's north. It will include five new and expanded underground stations.

Melbourne has reinforced its great reputation as the world’s most liveable city with new statistics showing Victoria as the number one destination for Australians moving inter-state.

Event Begins: Thursday, November 14, 2024 7:30pm
Location: Earl V. Moore Building
Organized By: School of Music, Theatre & Dance

Violin students of Professor Fabiola Kim perform a recital.

Event Begins: Thursday, November 14, 2024 7:00pm
Location: Earl V. Moore Building
Organized By: School of Music, Theatre & Dance

The Departments of Chamber Music and Piano present this Belgian piano/violin duo in a master class, coaching U-M students on the performance of piano chamber music.

GUEST ARTIST BIOS

One of the leading Belgian violinists, JOLENTE De MAEYER, has brought her virtuosity and passionate interpretations to diverse global audiences. She is recognized as an exceptionally gifted artist, reflected in the numerous awards and effusive reviews she has received for both her live performances and recordings.

Prizewinner of several international competitions in Portugal (Cardona Competition), Russia (Liana Issakadze Competition) and London (Benjamin Britten Competition), the international career of Jolente started with a successful participation at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. Performances with all major Belgian orchestras and concert tours in Europe and the United States followed. She made her debut in Florida, Vermont, California, Washington DC and Canada in 2017. This was followed by an extensive tour in South Africa. Future engagements include concert tours in Europe, Canada, United States and China.

Her recordings include concerti by Saint-Saëns and Vieuxtemps with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Liège with Christian Arming, awarded an ‘Editors Choice’ from Diapason, and the CD *Kreutzer Sonata* with duo partner Nikolaas Kende, awarded a ‘Gold Label’ from Klassiek Centraal.

After an invitation from Yehudi Menuhin when she was 14 years old, Jolente studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School near London. She continued her studies in London, Berlin and Waterloo where she graduated in the class of Augustin Dumay in 2013.

Since 2018 Jolente is professor violin at the Conservatory of Tilburg, the Netherlands and since 2021 also at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp. Jolente has given masterclasses in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Texas and California.


“Poet in every inch of his fingers” - *Le Progres*

NIKOLAAS KENDE has been praised for his poetic playing and honest, passionate musicality. Critics have honored his sensitive and visionary musicianship and his flawless skills always serving the music. Both as soloist and chamber musician he is a highly demanded pianist on international concert stages.

A winner of several competitions, including the Cantabile, EPTA, Vriendenkrans Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Tenuto competitions, Nikolaas started performing in all major halls in Belgium and the Netherlands. Highlights included the performances of the piano concertos by Brahms, Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann and Bartok with Brussels Philharmonic, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, National Radio Orchestra Romania, among others.

After a concert at the Festival de Dansa y Musica Granada in 2019 *Ideal* wrote: "This promising pianist caresses the keyboard, expressive with colors and tender with the melody and all the degrees of affection that typify the romantic soul."

Besides being a regular guest at the Festival of Flanders, he has also performed at festivals in Italy (Ravello, Rome, Bari), France (Menton, Montpellier, Vexin), Portugal (Coimbra), Germany (Görlitz, Munich, Bad Berleburg) , Austria (Salzburg), Ireland (Westport), UK (Cotswolds), Czech Republic (Prague), Spain (Zaragoza, Madrid).

Nikolaas made his debut in America in 2009 with the 1st piano concerto of Brahms. This debut was well received in the press, “One could almost imagine a young Brahms at the keyboard doing precisely the same thing: more intent on communicating his piece than dazzling listeners with his performance.” Since then he has returned to America annually and has toured in Texas (Houston, Austin, San Antonio), California (San Francisco, Fresno, LA) and Vermont, Florida, California, Texas, Washington DC and New York. In 2019 amongst others his debut for the 'Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts' in Chicago. He also performed in the Netherlands Antilles, Canada and South Africa, where several tours followed.

In 2018 he made his debut in China with recitals in Bejijng, Harbin, Chongqing and Chengdu. Concerts in Shanghai, Xi'An, Yangzhou and Guangzhou followed in 2019. Also for the next seasons, concerts are planned in North America, Canada, South Africa and China.

As a chamber music partner he was a member of the Narziss und Goldmund trio and the Rubens Ensemble. His duo with violinist Jolente De Maeyer, which exists for almost 20 years, is often praised in the press for its exceptional synergy and harmony. The duo's debut CD *Kreutzer Sonata* was released by Warner and won a Golden Label from Klassiek Centraal for best chamber music album of 2016. De Standaard wrote about this: "You want to listen to this captivating recital album again immediately after the last track." In 2020 their next CD *Remains* was released by Evil Penguin Records.

Nikolaas studied in Antwerp with his parents, Heidi Hendrickx and Levente Kende, in Amsterdam with Jan Wijn and in Munich and Fiesole with Elisso Virsaladze. In addition he studied with such artists as Murray Perahia, Aldo Ciccolini and Radu Lupu.

In 2015, Nikolaas was appointed professor of piano at the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp. He has given masterclasses in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Texas, California and China.

Event Begins: Thursday, November 14, 2024 6:00pm
Location: Fellows Lounge (8th Floor of Munger)
Organized By: Sessions @ Michigan

Event Begins: Thursday, November 14, 2024 5:30pm
Location: Off Campus Location
Organized By: Turn Up Turnout

Note: this is a virtual event open to students on all three University of Michigan campuses.

Public schools are run and funded by the government. The federal, state, and local governments all play a role in shaping education policy, but which areas of government influence different areas of policy in our schools?

Join Turn Up Turnout for a nonpartisan, educational presentation on Education Policy to find out. GIFT CARD for participants. *Please note that gift cards will not be sent immediately and will take a few weeks to process.*

Register here: https://sessions.studentlife.umich.edu/track/event/session/81566

Event Begins: Thursday, November 14, 2024 4:00pm
Location: East Hall
Organized By: Representation Stability Seminar - Department of Mathematics

Draisma proved that infinite dimensional varieties of tensors, defined uniformly with respect to the base vector space, are topologically Noetherian up to the action of the general linear group.The infinite power Z^N of a finite dimensional variety Z is ring-theoretically Noetherian up to the action of the infinite symmetric group permuting the copies of Z. We show that infinite powers of infinite dimensional varieties of tensors are defined set-theoretically by the Sym x GL-orbits of finitely many equations. This talk will browse these results.
Joint work with Chiu, Draisma, Eggermont, and Farooq.

Event Begins: Thursday, November 14, 2024 4:00pm
Location: Lorch Hall
Organized By: Department of Political Science

*The Ford School's International Policy Center is a co-sponsor of the 2024-2025 Political Economy Workshop events.*

Tuesdays, 1:00 - 2:20 pm

Eldersveld Room, 5670 Haven Hall

Faculty Coordinators: Hoyt Bleakley, Edgar Franco-Vivanco, Mark Dincecco, Iain Osgood

Graduate Student Coordinators: Jun Fang and Pedro Luz de Castro

Fall 2024

9/26: Christopher Blattman, University of Chicago (Thursday, 4-5:20pm, 201 Lorch) (joint with Economic Development Seminar) (note different time and place)

10/22: Volha Charnysh, MIT

11/5: Hoyt Bleakley and Paul Rhode, UM Economics

11/14: Ceren Baysan, University of Toronto (Thursday, 4-5:20pm, 201 Lorch) (joint with Economic Development Seminar) (note different time and place)

11/21: Saumitra Jha, Stanford University (Thursday, 4-5:20pm, 201 Lorch) (joint with Economic Development Seminar) (note different time and place)

12/3: Cristina Bodea, Michigan State University

Winter 2025

2/4: Amy Pond, Washington University in St. Louis

2/11: Megan Stewart, UM Ford School of Public Policy

2/25: Luis Schenoni, UCL

3/11: Hye Young You, Princeton University

4/8: Layna Mosley, Princeton University

4/15: Aditya Dasgupta, UC Merced

4/22: Christopher Paik, NYU Abu Dhabi

Event Begins: Thursday, November 14, 2024 4:00pm
Location:
Organized By: University Career Center

Take your coffee break with our recruitment team via live chat to learn about our positions at Miami-Dade County Public Schools!Join us every 2nd & 4th Thursday of the month from 4-6pm! Be sure to register here: https://app.brazenconnect.com/a/miami_dade_county_public_schools/s/Xdbb3/0JBLr

Event Begins: Thursday, November 14, 2024 4:00pm
Location: Biological Sciences Building
Organized By: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

This event is part of our ongoing Thursday Seminar Series.

About this seminar: The Amazon hosts one of the largest and richest rainforests in the world and has a history going back to the beginning of the Cenozoic (66 Ma). Species richness was mainly driven by climate and geological forces in combination with edaphic and biotic factors. Here I will review the Neogene history and past species composition in the Amazon in the light of Andean uplift, plate-mantle interaction, climate and environmental change, and marine incursions.