Antarctic Science Council secures Flinders expert, PhDs take out best papers at maritime conference (and debut popular VR dive video), women trailblazers make SA Ceiling Smashers list and global accolade for pharmacy research.
Antarctic appointment
Professor Sabine Dittmann has been appointed to the Australian Antarctic Science Council, one of just two university professors sharing their expertise on the newly formed national body as independent science representatives.
The Australian Antarctic Science Council was established this year to advise Government on the Australian Antarctic Science Program, including priorities in the context of the Australian Antarctic Strategy and 20 Year Action Plan.
Its members include representatives from the Australian Research Council, Bureau of Meteorology, CSIRO and Geoscience Australia.
The Australian Antarctic Strategyand 20 Year Action Plan lay out Australia’s interests and vision for Antarctica engagement and actions to support these. Themes include scientific research, protecting the Antarctic environment, and fostering economic opportunities from Antarctica and the Southern Ocean (consistent with Antarctic Treaty obligations that include a ban on mining and oil drilling.)
Best papers heralds VR video and network analysis
Flinders PhD candidates John McCarthy and Omaima (Mimi) Eldeeb have won the Australian Institute of Maritime Archaeology 2019 conference award for Best Paper and Best Student Paper respectively.
Mr McCarthy’s paper ‘Melckmeyt: A 360 Virtual Reality tour of a ship-wrecked 360 years ago’ described his work on the Icelandic wreck Melckmeyt, a Dutch merchant ship of a type known as a flute. (See news blog.)
The three-minute virtual dive received significant attention by media around the globe, including BBC and Fox news. The video attracted more than 20,000 views in its first week.
Ms Eldeeb’s winning paper is titled ‘Network Analysis and Maritime Archaeology’. She presented the use of a network analysis approach in maritime archaeological, which is an interdisciplinary approach examining the connectivity patterns between different entities.
The aim behind applying it in this field was to investigate the movement process of people, goods, cultural and social ideas, studying ancient societies and entities and the connectivity between them.
Flinders professors make trailblazing list
Professor Karen Burke da Silva and Associate Professor Maria Parappilly have been heralded in a list of 22 South Australian women trailblazers in education and political change.
When The Advertiser showcased 125 amazing women who shaped South Australia earlier this year as part of 125 anniversary celebrations of women’s suffrage, it sought nominations for a community-selected top 125.
These are now being published, with Part Two of the Ceiling Smashers’ readers choice series in The Advertiser this week – including Professor Burke da Silva and Associate Professor Parappilly among our top women contributors to education and politics.
Global accolade for pharmacy research
Flinders University has been recognised for outstanding pharmaceutical research through a paper by Asha Kapetas, Professor Michael Sorich and colleagues, that won one of two awards presented by the Simcorp Consortium each year for research excellence.
The paper, titled ‘Guidance for Rifampin and Midazolam Dosing Protocols to Study Intestinal and Hepatic Cytochrome P450 (CYP) 3A4 Induction and De-induction’, was awarded the consortium’s Most Informative Scientific Report Award for 2019.
The Simcyp Consortium is a collaborative research center comprising a number of organisations including 37 leading biopharmaceutical companies. Its focused on the development of best practices and advancement in studying drug handling by the body in computer-generated, virtual patients (progress physiologically-based pharmacokinetic – PBPK.)
Gone fishin’ back from the harbour city
A team of mechanical engineering students will display a device they built (called Gone Fishin’) at the Tonsley Open Night in December. They have just returned from the Warman Design and Build Challenge in Sydney over the weekend, where they placed 11th out of 18 teams.
Each year the Warman Challenge sets teams the challenge of inventing a novel device to fulfil a particular mission, read more about the event here.