2015 Vice-Chancellor’s Research Awards Faculty of Science winners and finalists

Transcript for video "UTS Vice-Chancellor's Research Awards 2015 -  Liz Harry"

My research is really about how bacterial cells divide and multiply. And they can do that very quickly, and that’s why we get a full blown infection very quickly. And I want to know how they regulate it, because if we can mess up that regulation, we can kill those cells and that’s what we’re trying to do – develop new antibiotics that target that multiplication so we can kill the cells and cure the infection. And that’s needed, because we need new antibiotics, because the current ones the bacteria are resistant to.

In my research in the future, I hope to achieve a great translation of our discoveries into something that’s useful – into healthcare, for example, with new antibiotics, and also with probiotics, which is a good way of treating an infection or preventing a bacterial disease happening without the issue of antibiotic resistance. So connecting with industry better, and externally, so that we can put our research into good use. The other thing is to help young scientists develop their career in a very challenging economic and social environment for research so that they can be inspired and also help them find sources of income and address that as they develop their careers.

Transcript for video "UTS Vice-Chancellor's Research Awards 2015 - Claude Roux"

Our research delivered better detection and better understanding of different types of evidence and these types of evidence are normally used by law enforcement and ultimately presented in court, so obviously there is a significant social and legal impact. In addition, for any new fingerprint methods that can save a homicide case, it’s estimated to save $1.6 million to the community.

Research impact is absolutely crucial for forensic science, because forensic science is applied science and has a direct impact on law enforcement, the criminal justice system and security at large, so if there is no impact, I could argue that there is no forensic science.

What I enjoy most at UTS is the connection and engagement of the university with industry. My discipline couldn’t exist without that engagement, and in addition, I really enjoyed working with everyone at UTS. I always feel that there is a very friendly and high quality work around the field. 

Transcript for video "UTS Vice-Chancellor's Research Awards 2015 - Bronwyn O'Brien"

My research story really begins with my mum. During her life, she clocked up a total of 11 autoimmune diseases, which I believe is a world record, at least clinically speaking. And so that has always been my intrinsic motivation. And I guess overlaid with that, there’s a little bit of serendipity, astute observation, meeting a wonderful collaborator – in this case it’s Sheila Donnelly, here at UTS – and basically long story short, a 10-year story short, we’ve isolated a single protein from a liver fluke; a parasitic worm. And this protein has the ability to subtly re-educate the immune system so that it doesn’t attack the body’s own tissues, and so autoimmune disease is prevented. Now, there’s hundreds of stories like that throughout UTS, and my objective is to actually develop an authentic symbiosis between research and teaching and learning. By authentic I mean the development of a curriculum that is research facilitated, research orientated, research inspired and research lived.