Flinders University early career researchers Dr Dhani Dharmaprani and Mehrdad Aghamohamadi have been named among the 2021 Fresh Scientists for SA, recognising their scientific endeavours to improve medical treatments and renewable energy systems.
Fresh Science is a national competition helping early career researchers find, and then share, their stories of discovery.
The program takes up-and-coming researchers with no media experience and turns them into spokespeople for science, giving them a taste of life in the limelight with a day of media training and a public event presented in their home state.
Fresh Science is produced and run by Science in Public.
Dr Dharmaprani, a Postdoctoral Fellow in Cardiac Electrophysiology, working in the College of Medicine and Public Health, says her selection signifies the realisation of her long-standing promise to help better understand abnormal heart behaviour after losing her brother to a heart condition many years ago.
“I feel very grateful to be one of the Fresh Science Finalists for SA this year, and I am particularly excited to learn how to use my voice to communicate my research more effectively,” Dr Dharmaprani.
“Given that atrial fibrillation is the most common arrhythmia in the world, and ventricular fibrillation the leading cause of sudden death in society, I believe that it’s important to convey why we desperately need more effective therapies for these significant heart rhythm disorders.”
Mehrdad Aghamohamadi, a PhD student in the college of Science and Engineering, is conducting research into renewable and sustainable power and energy systems.
“I believe this opportunity can provide better community awareness towards the employment of electric vehicles and their associated effects on the electricity distribution system,” he says.
“My research includes the integration of electric vehicles into renewable energy power systems. I specifically analyse the energy management and planning approaches for the integration of electric vehicles through optimal management of renewable energy sources, such as solar farms, wind units, energy storage units (electrical batteries) and mechanical storage in electricity distribution systems.”