South Australian Young Tall Poppy Award 2022 announced in Adelaide
From food security to getting young people into sport; heart attacks to artificial intelligence – this is what fires SA’s best and brightest young researchers. And the winner is…
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A researcher who is working ensure food security for future generations is South Australia’s Young Tall Poppy of the Year.
University of Adelaide biochemist Tatiana Soares da Costa was one of eight finalists for the annual award, which recognises young researchers for their achievements and commitment to sharing their passion for science with the wider community.
Dr Soares da Costa leads a team at the Waite Research Institute dedicated to discovering new and safe herbicides which are less prone to developing resistance.
Her initial research involved antibiotics which targeted certain molecules, which led to her discovering that similar molecules in weeds could be killed.
Dr da Costa’s research group uses “innovative, time and cost-effective strategies to expedite bringing herbicides to the market to ensure food security for future generations”.
“Effective herbicides are critical for agriculture,” she said.
“Without them, weeds out compete crops for resources such as sunlight and nutrients, leading to reduced crop quality and yield.”
University of Adelaide deputy vice-chancellor (research) Professor Anton Middelberg said the “Young Tall Poppies” had been “recognised for their innovative research to combat challenges faced by society and ultimately improve people’s lives”.
“Their wide-ranging work focuses on a number of different areas including agriculture, artificial intelligence and biology,” he said.
The Young Tall Poppy Awards are an initiative of the Australian Institute of Policy and Science.
OTHER FINALISTS WERE:
Dr Erinn Fagan-Jeffries
University of Adelaide
Entomologist and science communicator Dr Erinn Fagan-Jeffries specialises in the taxonomy of parasitoid wasps which lay their eggs inside caterpillars.
Dr Fagan-Jeffries has documented and named more than 50 new species, giving them formal descriptions so they can be identified by other scientists and the public.
Dr Fagan-Jeffries leads a citizen science project called “Insect Investigators”.
The team has worked with 50 regional schools around Australia to help students learn more about the insects found around their schools and hometowns.
Dr Fagan-Jeffries is currently an Australian biological research studies postdoctoral fellow at the University of Adelaide, and a honorary researcher at the SA Museum.
Dr Jiawen Li
University of Adelaide
Dr Li is addressing the challenge of accurately diagnosing high-risk plaques before they can cause life-threatening heart attacks.
She builds hair-sized 3D-printed imaging devices, which provide images of blood vessels with high resolution and molecular insight that is not possible with existing technologies.
These cameras can be used to find out whether a heart attack is likely due to the build up of dangerous plaque inside blood vessels.
A senior lecturer at the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Adelaide, she is a fellow of NHMRC, National Heart Foundation and L’Oréal-UNESCO.
She also regularly visits high schools, particularly disadvantaged schools to inspire students to pursue STEM careers.
Dr Rong Zhu
Flinders University
Dr Zhu is an economist who looks at social problems in health, education, and labour.
He has found that more education can increase lifetime income and that increasing the retirement age to save money has unintended costs in the long term.
Dr Zhu received his PhD in economics from UNSW in 2012 before moving to SA.
He is now a senior lecturer in economics at Flinders University, a research fellow at the Institute for Labor Economics (IZA) and a fellow at the Global Labor Organization (GLO) University.
Dr Sam Elliott
Flinders University
Dr Elliott is passionate about supporting young people in sport.
Adopted from South Korea, he grew up in Mount Gambier with a love of sport that led him to a teaching degree in physical education.
He then obtained a PhD scholarship to study the affect of parental behaviour on the experience of sport for children.
Dr Elliott found that negative parent behaviour can reduce young people’s wellbeing and the chance of continuing to play sport.
He is now examining how clubs can help encourage timely and positive involvement of parents in their child’s sport.
Dr Renly Lim
University of South Australia
Dr Lim is a pharmacist and researcher dedicated to improving medicine use and developing the next generation of pharmacy and research leaders.
She is passionate about engaging the public, in particular people who do not have easy access to scientific and health information.
Dr Lim volunteers at nursing homes and has travelled to rural Cambodia to organise workshops and drama performances to increase understanding of malaria.
She is a research fellow at the University of South Australia.
Dr Zohra Lassi
University of Adelaide
Dr Lassi is an epidemiologist who cares about improving the health and nutrition of mothers and their children, particularly for those living in poverty.
She leads a multidisciplinary team with a vision to ensure that disadvantaged women and children in developing countries thrive and have access to health care and quality of life through effective promotion, and preventive and therapeutic care.
Her research has tested different ways to deliver essential health and nutrition services in settings that have limited resources, such as the use of community and outreach workers.
Dr Lassi started as a nurse before completing a MBA in Health and Hospital Management.
During this time, she discovered a love for statistics and research leading her to a Masters in Epidemiology and Biostatistics and then a PhD in medicine.
She is now an NHMRC research fellow at the University of Adelaide.
Dr Qi Wu
University of Adelaide
Dr Wu has been pioneering an area of computer vision technology called visual question answering.
He has developed artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms that leverage the most advanced techniques in computer vision, natural language processing and knowledge representation to enable machines to answer questions.
Dr Wu says the applications of the research are broad, from early year education to aged care and various industries such as farmer and fishing.
A member of the School of Computer Science Outreach team, he encourages secondary school students to study computer science subjects.
He has a key role in developing the Australian Institute for Machine Learning’s partnerships and engagement with industry.
Originally published as South Australian Young Tall Poppy Award 2022 announced in Adelaide
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