The EMCR Forum has published a discussion paper that aims to stimulate conversations between people in academia, industry and other sectors carrying out research. Starting the conversation between academia and industry will not only allow for greater engagement, but will ultimately lead to more fluid career paths for researchers across these sectors.
The discussion paper has been constructed for further development as a best practice guide for researchers looking to engage across sectors. If you would like to get involved or contribute please email the EMCR Forum: emcr@science.org.au
We would like to invite you to encourage EMCRs to join the EMCR Forum. The EMCR Forum’s web pages have recently been updated to allow easier access to events, opportunities and resources. If you or any of your colleagues are interested in joining, now is a great time to become a member—see all the benefits. Joining is free and open to all researchers within 15 years of receiving their PhD excluding career breaks.
Already a member? Feel free to fill in our new membership form to update your details. The new form will help us better understand the composition of the Australian EMCR community and allow the EMCR Forum to target advocacy and events more effectively.
We have two exciting and highly relevant events—as always—planned for next year. The Theo Murphy High Flyers Think Tank will focus on nutrition and be held in Perth on 26-28 July. The Theo Murphy Australian Frontiers of Science will be on Antarctic science and will be held on 13-15 September in Hobart.
These highly-regarded annual events bring together early- and mid- career researchers and experts in their fields to identify potential opportunities for future research collaborations and to propose innovative solutions for nationally significant sciences.
Calls for applications will be made early next year for both events.
Several members of the EMCR Forum executive committee have recently been recognised for their achievements in research.
Associate Professor Sharath Sriram was awarded the 2016 3M Eureka Prize for Emerging Leader in Science for the creation of an electronic multi-state memory cell which can mimic the way the human brain processes information.
Dr Elizabeth New was awarded the NSW Premier’s Early Career Researcher of the Year award for her research on diseases of ageing. Her team has developed medical sensors which indicate the location of oxidative stress experienced by the body from diseases such as Alzheimer’s. The sensors have been found to be applicable across many other fields of medical research and two sensors have been commercialised so far.
Dr Drew Evans was recently awarded $375,000 from the Australian Research Council Future Fellowships scheme for his research into microdiffraction capabilities for mineral and corrosion analysis, and for his team to continue research into materials, polymers and thin films.
The Academy's Early- and Mid-Career Researcher (EMCR) Forum has announced changes to its executive team for 2017. The new team includes Dr Carly Rosewarne as committee chair, with Dr Nikola Bowden, this year’s chair, stepping into a supporting role as deputy chair and Dr Adrian Carter remaining as the second deputy chair. Three new members, selected from 35 applicants, will join the executive.
Dr Carly Rosewarne joined the EMCR Forum Executive this year. She is a Research Scientist at CSIRO Food and Nutrition in Adelaide, researching the characterising role of microbes in promoting human gut health. Carly is a passionate advocate for gender diversity in science and is seeking to encourage more female EMCRs to acts as mentors, with the aim of enabling younger women coming through the system to reach their full potential.
Dr Nikola Bowden has been a member of the EMCR Forum Executive since 2014 and served as the Chair in 2016. Nikola leads a team of researchers investigating DNA repair triggered by sunlight and chemotherapy in melanoma at the Hunter Medical Research Institute in Newcastle.
Dr Adrian Carter joined the EMCR Forum Executive in 2015 and was deputy chair this year. His research examines the impact that neuroscience has on understanding and treating addiction and other compulsive behaviours. He is based at Monash University.
Dr Amber Beavis was an inaugural winner of ABC Radio National-UNSW’s ‘Top 5 under 40’ Scientists in residence program which she used to showcase the research field of taxonomy, her specialty being arachnids. She currently works as a senior research officer for the Office of Australia’s Chief Scientist and is also a visiting Fellow at the Centre for the Public Awareness of Science at the Australian National University.
Dr Róisín McMahon, is passionate about characterising and targeting the virulence proteins that bacteria use to cause disease, in order to develop new antimicrobial drugs for life-threatening infections. She has been coordinator of the Brisbane node of the HealthHack, a weekend hackathon designed to provide solutions to patients, clinicians, and biomedical researchers. She currently works at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience at the University of Queensland.
Dr Jackson Thomas’ research is unravelling novel treatment options in the field of skin disease. He was an ACT Young Tall Poppy in 2015 and is an active contributor to the Australian Society for Medical Research. He is based at the Health Research Institute at the University of Canberra
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