Merryn Fraser from the Australian National University and Clara Jiang from the University of Queensland recently travelled to Berlin – with Mars Buttfield-Addison from the University of Tasmania joining remotely – to share their innovative ideas at Falling Walls Lab 2022. They were selected for the international event from a talented field of 10 Australian finalists in September.
Falling Walls Lab is a world-class, interdisciplinary pitch competition and networking forum that acts as a stepping-stone for students and early-career professionals from across the world. It gives young innovators from fields as diverse as agriculture, engineering and medical sciences a global stage to share their breakthrough ideas for tackling modern-day challenges.
Falling Walls Lab is part of a three-day Falling Walls Science Summit – a forum for global science leaders from academia, business, politics and civil society to debate the potential of scientific breakthroughs to solve grand challenges and shape a sustainable future.
Team Australia, alongside 77 other Falling Walls Lab national winners from 54 countries, gave their diverse and engaging presentations to the audience and jury, drawing global attention to their important work.
Merryn’s work explores the biology of Plasmodium parasites which cause malaria, using modified cholesterol molecules to sneak antimalarial drugs past the parasite’s defences.
Clara’s idea focuses on repurposing drugs that share similar gene expression fingerprints, like statins and anti-depressants, which could save time and money.
Mars’s idea is to use existing sensors such as astronomical radio telescopes to track space debris.
Based on the breakthrough factor, potential impact and performance of each presenter, the jury had the difficult task of selecting the three ‘Breakthroughs of the Year’ in the Emerging Talent category.
Tamlyn Sasha Naidu, Falling Walls Lab Pretoria winner, won the main prize with her pitch on Breaking the Wall of Acid Mine Drainage, tackling mining-related water pollution and land loss.
The Australian Labsters, as they were known at the forum, were joined by Professor Joan Leach from the Australian National University and Professor Dr Michael Scheutz and Professor Peta Ashworth from the University of Queensland.
Professor Dr Scheutz and Professor Ashworth, together with the Liveris Academy for Innovation and Leadership, hosted a Falling Walls Circle roundtable, a platform for world-leading scientists to shape the agenda of the future of science.
Their roundtable, ‘Sustainability meets healthcare’, shone a spotlight on carbon footprint reductions and waste minimisation in the healthcare sector to improve health system functions, deliver better outcomes for patients and contribute to larger social and economic benefits.
Professor Leach was also part of the Robert Bosch Foundation’s Great Debate on science communication post-COVID.
© 2024 Australian Academy of Science
