Cutting edge research showcased at student conference

Sep 28, 2006

Research projects including the stabilisation of soft railway tracks, stopping rear vision mirrors in cars from shaking and the revitalisation of cinema were just some of the exciting presentations on display yesterday (Wednesday 27 September) at the University of Wollongong's Higher Degree Research (HDR) Student Conference.

The Conference was attended by students, industry partners and academic and general staff and showcased the diverse range of projects being undertaken by UOW research students based on five themes - promoting and maintaining good health, frontier technologies and scientific discovery, cultivating creativity and innovation, understanding societies and culture and understanding our environment.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), Professor Margaret Sheil, officially opened the conference.

"The annual conference is an outstanding opportunity to showcase our world-class research and give potential students the chance to see the range of opportunities available in postgraduate research at UOW," said Professor Sheil.

Prizes included a $500 cheque and certificate for the best presentation in each theme and a $250 cheque and certificate for the best poster.

Winner of the "Frontier technologies and scientific discovery" category was Tony Larchez for his project titled 'Predicting the Good Vibes: Cancelling the Shaking in Vehicle Mirrors'.

Winner of the "Promoting and maintaining good health" category was Diane Riddiford-Harland for her project "Obesity, Midfoot Plantar Pressures and Plantar Fat Pad Thickness: Are These Parameters Related in Children?".

Winner of the "Cultivating creativity and innovation" category was Diane Epoff with her project 'Paphos Theatre: A work-In-Progress'.

Roslyn Weaver won the "Understanding our societies and cultures" category for her project 'Australian Speculative Literature and Apocalypse After 1945'.

The "Understanding our environment" category was won by Emilie-Jane Ens for her project "Unlocking a Key to Bitou Bush Invasion: A Search for Chemical Interference Mechanisms and Methods of Native Plant Preservation".

The Overall Poster Winner was Rob Peterson for his research titled 'Using the Internet to Connect Geographically - Dispersed Special Education Communities in Bulgaria'.

Keynote speaker at the event was the Director of the Intelligent Polymer Research Institute at UOW, Professor Gordon Wallace.

Professor Wallace's research interests include organic conductors, nanomaterials and electrochemical probe methods of analysis. A current focus involves the use of these tools and materials in improving biocommunications from the molecular to skeletal domains - improved Bionics. In 2006 he was the first-ever UOW academic to be awarded an Australian Research Council Federation Fellowship.