02 9541 3500Winners of our Young Scientist Travel Award Nov 2013
Congratulations to our first prize winner, Mr Jeffrey Kelleway, PhD Candidate at University of Technology Sydney (UTS). His supervisor Prof. Peter Ralph (Plant Physiology and Climate Change Cluster C3, UTS) leads a multidisciplinary team dedicated to improving predictions about the impacts of climate change.
Jeffrey is currently undertaking postgraduate research at UTS, investigating carbon sequestration in coastal saltmarsh wetlands. Jeffrey hopes identify the processes which allow carbon to accumulate and be stored in wetland soils for thousands of years.
“I decided to enter the competition as I knew I had an entertaining story to tell about a serendipitous moment in science” said Jeffrey. Jeffrey’s winning entry was based on a field campaign along the drought-stricken floodplains of the Murrumbidgee River where his team discovered “Serendipity in Science is finding yourself standing in poo, just when you need it most!”
Jeffrey plans to use his award to assist him to travel and attend a wetland science conference in 2014 where he hopes to present results of his current PhD research.
Congratulations to our first runner up, Dr Shih-Ping Su (Jim) a young researcher in the Functional Genomics Laboratory, Kolling Institute of Medical Research, University of Sydney.
“I am delighted that ATA Scientific has decided to award Dr Shih-Ping Su with the second prize of the ATA Scientific Travel Award” said Jim’s supervisor, A/Prof Deborah J Marsh.
Jim’s research seeks to determine the mechanisms by which tumour suppressor protein, CDC73, regulates cell death and division and to establish whether this protein, can be used as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of cancer.
“I believe the role that serendipity plays in scientific discoveries is very important and somewhat underestimated. Some of the major breakthroughs in science were surprise discoveries. I believe that we should all keep in mind that no matter how good we are as scientists, we are human and therefore should always keep an open mind when analysing unexpected results”.
Jim intends to use his award to attend the HUPO (Human Proteome Organization) 13th Annual World Conference in Spain next year (Oct 5-8, 2014).
Congratulations to our second runner up, Robin George Andrews, an enthusiastic Postgraduate Volcanologist currently undertaking a PhD in experimental volcanology under A/Prof James D.L. White, Geology Department, University of Otago. Robin is investigating cratering dynamics and the thermodynamic system behind the 1886 Rotomahana (New Zealand) eruption. His final thesis will combine experimental physics, numerical modelling and fieldwork to form a comprehensive framework for the physics behind volcanic eruptions.
Click here to view the winning articles
We would like to thank all those that participated. The next Travel Award for 2014 will be posted on our website soon.
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