MERIT 2008 Research Symposium
Melbourne Engineering Graduate Research Students Look to the Future
The Melbourne Engineering Research Institute (MERIT) held a very successful graduate research student event, the 2008 MERIT Symposium: Graduate Research Students Look to the Future, on Thursday October 2.
The event showcasing graduate research was well-attended with around 270 staff, students and industry guests, packing out the ICT foyer, along with the 60 student posters that were on display.
Highlights of the day included student presentations; a poster exhibition; award ceremony and an excellent keynote address “Biomedical Engineering and Computational Physiology: Challenges and Opportunities” by Prof Peter J Hunter, Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
The standard of presentations and posters was very high and the judges had a difficult job in coming to their final decisions.
Prize Winners
The MERIT Best Presentation Award went to Alisa Becker for “Redox-active Polymer Microcapsules for DNA Delivery”.
Luan Ismahil from NICTA presented the NICTA Best Poster Award for Research Excellence, which went to Andre Peterson and Elma O’Sullivan Greene for “Modelling for Understanding and Predicting of Epileptic Seizures”.
Rob Shepherd from the Bionic Ear Institute presented the Bionic Ear Institute Award for Innovative Health-Related Research, which went to Hang Ta for “A Drug Delivery Hydrogel System for Osteosarcoma Chemo Gene Therapy”.
Jeanette Pritchard from NanoVic presented the NanoVic Award for Commercialisation Potential, which went to Jing Fung Tan for “Well-defined Core Cross-linked Multi-star Assemblies and Dumbbell Polymers: A Route Towards Enhanced pH-responsive Polymers”.
Christopher Ozga from AusbioTech presented the Ausbiotech AusMedTech Future Technology Award to Daniel Taft for “Inner Ear Phase Delays for Cochlear Implants”.
Honourable mentions went to Melissa Leung for “Biofunctionalised Capsules for Targeted Drug Delivery;" Jill Fagan for "Dynamic System Engineering to Inform Sustainable Urban Water Policy";and Dean Freestone for “Epileptic Seizure Prediction Using the Electric Fields of the Brain”.
Congratulations and Thanks
Congratulations to all the winners, but also to all research higher degree students who made a contribution to the day. All 112 poster submissions were of a very high standard and will be put on display around the School shortly.
Special thanks to our sponsors, NICTA, the Bionic Ear Institute, NanoVic and Ausbiotech. We would also like to thank the MERIT Symposium Organising Committee, in particular: MERIT Director, Doreen Thomas; student representatives, Andrea Varsavsky, Michael Feng, Alisa Becker and Nader Karimi; and Research Unit staff, Theoni Sklavos, Larissa Brindle and Jenny Thomas.
All aspects of the Symposium were well-received, with many favourable comments received from sponsors, industry guests, staff and students, making this event a wonderful celebration of the work of our graduate research students.
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Graduate Research students presenting their posters at the 2008 MERIT Symposium. |