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Tuesday, 4 September 2018

The University of Western Australia has a continual roll call of awards, scholarships and prizes presented to staff and students.

To recognise these achievements, a monthly article is published on the UWA news page on the website and in UWA Forward on the first week of every month. If you know of any great awards or achievements across the University please email [email protected]

Name: UWA students Nyat Mulugeta and Gisele Ishimwe and UWA Professor David Mickler
Achievement: Inaugural WA African Community Awards
Nyat and Gisele were finalists in the Outstanding Youth Award which recognises a young African Australian aged 18 to 25 years who has demonstrated leadership in the community. Nyat was named the winner at the awards ceremony, convened by the Organisation of African Communities of WA (OAC). Professor Mickler, Director of the new UWA Africa Research & Engagement Centre launched last week, won the Community Pillar Award, which recognises an individual who has been well regarded by the OAC’s executive management for promoting the interests of the African community.

Name: Dr Louise Devenish, Head of Percussion at the Conservatorium
Achievement: WA Award for Performance of the Year at the APRA AMCOS 2018 Art Music Awards.
This is the second time Dr Devenish has won the category of Best Performance for WA - this year for “Never Tilt Your Chair Back” by Kate Neal. Bringing together three of Australia’s leading female percussionists, “Never Tilt Your Chair Back” is a sonic double bill exploring the evolving role of women throughout history, featuring the world premiere of a composition by celebrated Australian composer Neal and the Australian premiere of Dressur by Mauricio Kagel.

Name: UWA Professor Eric May
Achievement: Winner of the Energy Innovation of the Year category at the WA Energy Awards.
This WA Chamber of Minerals and Energy and Australian Institute of Energy award recognises the work of companies and individuals who strive to build a world-class energy industry in their field of expertise. In 2017, Gas Capture Technologies, was spun out of UWA to undertake large-scale trials with a new adsorbent material. Once successful, this new technology will be significant for commercially processing low-grade natural gas resources and unlocking current economically unviable, marginal fields. Professor May and his team have also led the development of two other new technologies with significant, far-reaching industrial impact.

Name: Professor Wendy Erber, Dr Kathryn Fuller and PhD student Henry Hui
Achievement: Eureka Prize winners.
The Australian Museum Eureka Prizes are Australia’s leading science awards and the UWA medical research team won the Eureka Prize for Innovative use of Technology for developing an automated method for rapid leukaemia detection. The method they have developed, named Immuno-flowFISH, enables the chromosomes and the whole leukaemia cell to be seen using a microscope built into the instrument used for this test. More than 20,000 cells can be studied in one test, a vast improvement on current methods which only assess a few hundred cells and are much slower.

Name: UWA Social Sciences student Theo Stapleton
Achievement: Oceania Champion of the 17th Hanyu Qiao Chinese Language Competition
Hanyu Qian is an annual worldwide Chinese language and culture competition for university and high school students, which attracts millions of students in nearly 200 countries around the world. After winning regional, national and continent competitions, Theo competed against a Russian student for the World Championship.

Name: UWA Alumni Rida Ahmed
Achievement: 2019 Future Female Leader in Sport Scholarship award winner
Rida has accompanied the Pakistan Hockey team on various occasions and in a range of roles including team management, athlete representation, team liaison and media and promotions in Australia, including the team’s most recent campaign at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. In line with the spirit of the scholarship, Rida will be going into the MAS program, motivated to inspire girls and women, regardless of their age or background, to back themselves and support each other in striving for leadership.

Name: Professor Akshay Venkatesh
Achievement: Fields Medal winner
Professor Venkatesh is one of UWA’s youngest graduates and only the second Australian to have been awarded one of the world’s most prestigious mathematical awards. The Fields Medal is awarded to between two and four researchers worldwide under 40 years old, to recognise outstanding mathematical achievement for existing work and for the promise of future achievement.

Name: Dr David Matthews and Dr Ben Travaglione
Achievement: Dr Matthews and Dr Travaglione from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, along with their colleague Andrew Munyard from the Department of Defence, Science and Technology (DST) have been recognised by Dr David Kershaw, Chief during the past eight years. Through their collaboration they supervised final year Masters and Thesis students, raised the profile of both DST and the Maritime Division and helped to grow and shape the nation’s future capacity for underwater acoustic sensing.

Name: Professor Rhonda Clifford, Head of School, Allied Health, UWA
Achievement: Voted one of the Australian Journal of Pharmacy’s top 12 agenda setters for 2018.
Professor Clifford has played a crucial role in expanding the profession’s scope of practice through fostering inter-disciplinary collaboration, and has been a key proponent in pharmacist prescribing. She was the only West Australian and the only University academic in the top 12. UWA alumni and Professor Clifford’s past PhD student, Dr Amy Page, was voted number two. Notable mention to Deirdre Criddle, UWA sessional staff who was voted in the top 20 and was the only other West Australian listed.

Congratulations UWA staff and students.

Media references

Jess Reid (UWA Media and Public Relations Advisor)                                (+61 8) 6488 6876

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