UWS Futures Forum showcases our young researchers' potential

The University of Western Sydney recently showcased the achievements of its future scientific minds at the annual College of Health & Science, Research Futures Postgraduate Forum.

A diverse range of research within the College was presented from over 250 candidates and 120 honours students in the form of either a seminar or poster presentation, providing an excellent opportunity for learning and collaboration with other scientists from across the College in the fields of natural sciences, medical science, health education, nursing and midwifery, civionics, engineering, mathematics and computing to name a few.

Dr Julia Bowman (School of Biomedical and Health Sciences) and Dr Kathryn Sunn (Innovation & Consulting) had the arduous task of judging each of the 140 posters against set criteria related to technical, communication, organisational and conceptual thinking skills. The judges unanimously awarded, Engineering (construction) honours student, Zhenya Kremyshev’s poster on “Analysis of Sustainable Housing” as the overall winner. Second place also went to an honours student from the School of Engineering. Mitchell Dumesny’s poster on the ”Analysis and design of Electromagnetic Shock-Absorbers” was a very close second.

Again this year, UWS will be competing in the Australia wide 3 Minute Thesis Competition. The College of Health and Science will be sending 3 finalists to compete at the university level Competition. The 3 Minute Thesis Competition, requires graduate researchers to explain their research topic in accessible terms to a lay audience. It is based on the premise that the capacity to present a clear, concise, yet engaging description of the research project in 3 minutes is an essential skill that all graduate researchers should develop.

Whilst the competition was fierce, the ultimate finalists were PhD students Cherylea Browne for her presentation on “Investigating the mechanisms of tinnitus”, Aimee Bourne for her presentation on “Species diversity effects on forest ecosystem water-use” and Greg Whitely for his presentation on “Validation of Cleaning Surveillance Methods in the Control of Healthcare Associated Infection”. The 3 College finalists each received a cash prize of $500, to be used to enhance the research outcomes of their candidature.

If you have any inquiries about UWS research, please contact Professor Deborah Sweeney, College of Health & Science Director of Research on (02) 4736 0995.