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The world’s best young minds are invited to apply for this year’s prestigious Forrest Foundation Research Scholarships, available to international and Australian students who wish to undertake a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) at one of Western Australia’s five universities.

One of last year’s scholarship recipients, Tim Hammer from the US, is already making exciting discoveries in plant biology, focusing on the Ptilotus species.

Tim is on a research trip in the Pilbara where his team has discovered that many of species of the Ptilotus plant have both hermaphrodite and male sterile plants. One of his PhD supervisors, Professor Ian Small from the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology at UWA, said the research could lead to some exciting discoveries.

“Better understanding how male fertility is controlled in these plants will increase our ability to produce new hybrid crop plants in species such as wheat,” Professor Small said.

In October 2013, Andrew and Nicola Forrest made what is believed to be the largest single philanthropic donation in Australian history – $65 million to attract the best minds to Western Australia.

The donation included $50 million for the establishment of the Forrest Research Foundation to fund PhD scholarships and postdoctoral fellowships across all five WA universities. A further $15 million will go towards the establishment of Forrest Hall – a new building to accommodate scholarship and fellowship recipients.

Nicola Forrest said she hoped the scholarships would continue to attract a high calibre of applicant to come to Western Australia.

“We want to ensure that we stay at the cutting edge of the research world and bringing the brightest young researchers to Perth will help us achieve that,” Mrs Forrest said.

Scholarship recipients will be selected from international and Australian applicants who demonstrate outstanding academic ability and the potential to undertake research work that will change the world. Applications open this week and close on October 30.

Media references

David Stacey (UWA Media and Public Relations Manager)      (+61 8) 6488 3229 / (+61 4) 32 637 716