Shawn Price

Hi my name is Shawn Price, I am in my final year of study of a Doctor of Philosophy, Science. My pathway to a PhD was through a 2015 Bachelors of Chemical Engineering (UNSW) and a 2019 Masters of Science (UTS).

I was inspired to pursue a research career because in 2018, I decided to dedicate my life to fighting for the environment. Cost is a major barrier holding back many sustainable alternatives such as biofuels and bioplastics. I thought the best way to help, with a technical skillset, was to help bring down the cost of these technologies through research and development. My research aims to make bioplastic using cyanobacteria (photosynthetic microorganisms) which use atmospheric CO2 as their feed source instead.
Currently, most bioplastic is made from fermenting sugar from crops into biopolymers. This sugar feed source is very expensive and is why bioplastics cost several times more than petrochemical plastics

I was attracted to my research topic because I wanted to work with microalgae and cyanobacteria due to their potential to solve many critical problems facing the human race. These photosynthetic microorganisms are a form of sustainable biomass, and don’t require arable land or fresh water to grow. They can even be grown on nutrient in wastewater, and have applications as a sustainable feed source for animals, food for humans, biofuels to power society and bioplastics too.

I chose the UTS Climate Change Cluster (C3) to do my PhD because of the size of the team and breadth of knowledge of the team members and the facilities and equipment available. There are postdocs with expertise in biosensors, bioinformatics, photosynthesis, photobioreactor design and much more.

A key highlight of my time at C3 has been the ability to work with overseas collaborators with more in depth speciality knowledge in my research area. I had a lab visit planned in Austria, but unfortunately this was cancelled due to Covid-19.The PhD degree has turned me into an independent researcher capable of exploring the unknowns of science, and coming back with new knowledge to share with the world.

After graduation I’ll be working at a renewable energy strategy consultancy which focuses on accelerating the energy transition. The consultancy serves a range of clients from government, to banks, power producers, manufacturers and much more. My research topic has given me speciality knowledge in sustainability, biotechnology and bioenergy, and my project management, research and data analysis skills from my PhD are directly applicable in this job.

There are three pieces of advice I’d give to undergraduate students considering postgraduate research studies

• Try do an internship or volunteer with a research lab. If possible, do a few of these with different lab groups to expose yourself to a range of research areas and to meet lots of researchers.
• Do an honors research project. Hopefully, you’ll have made some connections from your internships/volunteering and be able to hit the ground running on a real research project. Based on this experience, you can decide whether further research is right for you. If not, graduating with honors still sets you up for a great industry career.
• If possible, work in industry for a few years before doing a PhD. This will give you a greater sense of perspective when coming back to do your PhD. I completed a graduate program at Unilever before starting my PhD, and this helped me start my PhD with a more practical and commercial mindset.

Learn more about higher research degrees at UTS Science