Environmental Chemistry Medal
Congratulations to Professor Youhong Tang who will receive the 2025 Environmental Chemistry Medal from the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI). The medal acknowledges more than 10 years of research at Flinders University using AIE sensors embedded into portable devices with advanced manufacturing technology.
Matthew Flinders Professor Tang will present at the R&D Topics Conference in Analytical and Environmental Chemistry (in Adelaide from 7–10 December 2025), when he will be presented with his medal.
Last month, Professor Tang presented a keynote talk on his aggregation-induced emission luminogens (AIEgens) research at Peking University, and also visited Tsinghua University in China.
Congress award for MDRI director
Professor Karen Reynolds, who leads the Flinders Medical Device Research Institute (MDRI) and founder of the Medical Device Partnering Program, has been recognised for significant contributions to her field at the World Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering last week. The International Union for Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine (IUPESM) 2025 congress was held at the Adelaide Convention Centre from 29 September to 4 October.
The award recognised Professor Reynolds’ work in translational innovation and connecting research with real-world clinical needs.
These international awards reflect individual excellence, leaders who inspire the next generation, and bridge engineering, medicine and global collaboration.
Next month, Professor Reynolds will host Tonsley Innovation District industry partners and other visitors for a tour of the new Flinders Factory of the Future, at the MTPConnect “Accelerating Medtech Manufacturing’ event on 16 October. Register here.
Life support training first in remote SA
Last week, history was made as local doctors and nurses gathered at Kangaroo Island Hospital to take part in the Island’s first ever Advanced Life Support Level 2 Training Course. This was the first time that the Australian Resuscitation Council’s internationally-recognised emergency training has been run in a Modified Monash Model 7 area (the most remote classification of Australian healthcare) in South Australia.
The course, which is recognised not just in Australia, but also in New Zealand, UK and Europe, teaches health workers how to lead a team to resuscitate people in imminently life-threatening situations eg. cardiac arrest, massive heart attack or stroke, trauma.
Running this course onsite in towns in remote SA is the latest initiative developed by the newly appointed Director of the Flinders University SA Regional Training Hub, Dr David Lam, who also served as medical director for the inaugural KI ALS2 course. Following the success of the KI ALS2 course, Flinders SA Regional Training Hub will continue to bring even more medical training courses to rural and remote towns in South Australia
Dr McCarthy to steer the ship
Dr John McCarthy, Senior Lecturer in the Flinders University Maritime Archaeology Program, was elected President of the Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology (AIMA) at their annual AGM in Hobart on the 4th of October.
AIMA is the peak body for maritime archaeology’ across Australasia.