Presidential honour for national first
Last Friday Dr Gerti Szili and Emily Millar represented Flinders University at the Planning Institute Australia SA 2024 Awards for Planning Excellence Gala Dinner at Adelaide Pavilion, where they received the President’s award for the project of the Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning Course for South Australia.
This course has been co-designed with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Planning Institute of Australia and leading Planners within the Urban and Regional Planning sector.
It will be the first Undergraduate degree in South Australia since 2019 and the first three-year year planning degree in Australia.
This was a fantastic way to celebrate the hard work of all involved, with the Flinders team consisting of Gerti Szili, Emily Millar, Chris Brebner and Kris Natalier.
Transforming the approach to PTSD
Driving transformative ways to predict, identify and intervene in post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) is the goal of a major new Flinders University research project.
Led by chief investigator, Professor Sean Cain from FHMRI Sleep Health , the five-year $6,008,111 Wellcome Mental Health Award will investigate whether exposure to light at night increases the risk of developing PTSD after a traumatic event, and whether people with higher light sensitivity are at an increased risk.
The project, ‘Circadian Light Sensitivity as a Mechanism for PTSD Vulnerability’, will study the physiological and genetic contributions of circadian light sensitivity and circadian disruption to someone’s PTSD risk.
Part of the research will include a trial to test a highly feasible, cost-effective intervention designed to protect against PTSD by reducing the disruptive effects of night light exposure on the circadian system.
Best of the best
The accolades keep coming for the SBS series ‘Australia’s Sleep Revolution with Dr Michael Mosley’ winning ‘Best Documentary’ series at the prestigious Asian TV awards broadcast live across Asia.
Congratulations to co-presenter Associate Professor Sutapa Mukherjee and the FHMRI Sleep Health team led by Professor Danny Eckert.
Top of their class
Congratulations to Professor Okke Batelaan and Dr Duncan Taylor, who have been named in The Australian’s 2025 Research Magazine as the top Australian researchers in their fields. To read the full list, click here.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Raymond Chan also penned an op-ed for the magazine, which you can read here.