Professor Rob Harcourt, Faculty of Science

It's time to grow up and share the data: a new approach to understanding how Australia's seas are changing.

Rob has pioneered a new collaborative approach to measuring how large marine vertebrates (seals, sharks, fish, seabirds) and invertebrates (lobster, cephalopods) utilise our coasts and oceans. By sharing information across multiple studies we are able to see the big picture, critical in this time of rapid environmental change. Rob has led the Australian Animal Tagging and Monitoring System supporting 120 researchers across 34 Institutions and over 60 research projects. 40+ postgraduate research theses have arisen from this network with many more on track. AATAMS is now global and has fundamentally altered our understanding of higher trophic level responses to ocean change.

Professor Ian Paulsen and Dr Sasha Tetu, Faculty of Science

Life in the dark: investigating the ecology of bizarre, aquatic 'microbial slime communities' found deep beneath the Nullarbor desert.

It has traditionally been thought that almost all life on earth ultimately derives its energy from sunlight. However, deep below ground certain microbes can use chemicals to generate energy. Exploring these ‘dark communities’ infinitely expands our understanding of life on this planet, and indeed the possibility of life elsewhere. Beneath Australia’s Nullarbor desert, underwater caves house microbial ‘slimes’ living in complete darkness. We discovered that this community is composed of diverse bacterial and archaeal genera. This community generates energy by oxidising ammonia and nitrite from cave water. This is the first record of an unusual and unique way of living.

Dr Nicholas Badcock, Faculty of Human Sciences

A video-gaming system to measure event related brain activity in research

Nicholas and his team have validated a commercial gaming system for the measurement of research quality event related brain activity. In doing so, they have overcome a number of limitations with traditional methods which revolutionizes the scope of their research due to the efficiency and portability of the system. Where previously they were restricted the laboratory, this new system extends their research environment to schools, homes, doctor’s surgeries, and even zoos! This significantly enhances their research with respect to the number and variability of individuals they can test which will have direct benefits to the validity of their research and its impact.

Professor John Magnussen, Australian School of Advanced Medicine and Dr Jaye McKenzie-Clark, Faculty of Arts

Dual Energy CT for the non-destructive analysis of ancient ceramics

Ancient ceramics are a finite and irreplaceable resource and often the only surviving link to ancient cultures and civilisations. John and Jaye have developed a completely no-touch technique for compositional analysis instead of existing partially or completely destructive methods – they can create a growing, rather than shrinking, resource for future study.

Dr Kornkiat Snidvongs, Australian School of Advanced Medicine

Corticosteroid nasal irrigations after endoscopic sinus surgery for recalcitrant chronic rhinosinusitis

Although having strong anti-inflammatory effects, steroid sprays provide poor sinus delivery for treating recalcitrant chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). A new treatment of corticosteroid nasal irrigationsafter endoscopic sinus surgery which combines the therapeutic effects of sinus surgery and effective delivery of corticosteroid is proposed. In this treatment paradigm, the purpose of sinus surgery is to create access for topical therapies rather than relieving obstruction. High-volume and positive pressure irrigations allow pharmaceutical preparations to better contact sinus mucosa and enhance themechanical removal of mucus and inflammatory products. When recalcitrant CRS is managed with effectively delivered pharmaceutical solutions, therapy is greatly optimized.

Mr Johnny Ho Yin Wong, Australian School of Advanced Medicine

Investigation into the factors that promote development and expansion of spinal cord cysts

Spinal cord cysts (syringomyelia) occur in approximately 28% of patients following spinal cord injury. It causes pain and progressive disability with development of weakness and paraplegia over months to years after the initial injury. The underlying mechanisms for syringomyelia development and expansion are still poorly understood. Treatment for syringomyelia is associated with high failure rates, and more effective treatment will not be developed until a better understanding of causative factors is obtained. This research aimed to investigate the factors promoting syringomyelia development, such as the chemistry, pulsations and flow of syrinx fluid and molecular channels in human and animal studies.

Dr Loren Mowszowski, Faculty of Human Sciences

Cognitive Training enhances neurophysiological responses in ‘at risk’ in Older Adults

Cognitive training may have the capacity to delay or slow cognitive decline in older adults ‘at risk’ of dementia; however little is known about its capacity to alter underlying brain functioning. This novel application of a neurophysiological biomarker, the "Mismatch Negativity" (MMN) event-related potential paradigm, demonstrated a reduced response in ‘at risk’ groups relative to healthy older controls, which was also associated with neuropsychological and psychosocial functioning. These findings suggest that MMN may have utility as a marker of brain dysfunction. Results also demonstrated that the MMN response in 'at risk' older adults was enhanced following a 'Healthy Brain Ageing' cognitive training program, suggesting improved fundamental information processing and alterations in underlying brain functioning following this non-pharmacological intervention. This cognitive training program is engaging, cost-effective and has the potential to be implemented across a variety of clinical or community settings. Replication and longitudinal follow-up is now warranted to clarify the potential for this program to delay cognitive decline in this group.

Ms Genevieve Quek, Faculty of Human Sciences

Understanding the mechanisms of selective attention: Insights from the Reach-to-Touch Paradigm

As we move through the world, we are bombarded with an overwhelming amount of visual, auditory, and tactile information. Yet we effortlessly filter this immense datastream by selectively attending to the information that is relevant for current goals. A core initiative in cognitive psychology is to understand this remarkable human capacity: selective attention. My research aims to establish the temporal properties of selective attention. To do so, I have developed a new continuous behavioural measure with sufficiently high temporal resolution to reveal attentional processes as they unfold over time – a goal that traditional behavioural measures have been unable to achieve.

Dr Melanie Bishop, Faculty of Science

Building A Disease Resilient Oyster Industry

Australian oysters support a valuable food industry ($73.3 M p/a) and promote healthy estuaries by providing vital ecosystem services. QX disease is economically and environmentally important because it causes mass mortality of Sydney rock oysters. To restore oyster production, managers are trialling aquaculture of triploid Pacific oysters and QX-resistant Sydney rock oysters in QX-affected estuaries. Our research has ascertained that these strategies have negligible impacts on (i) wild oyster populations and (ii) ecosystem service provision. Our research has facilitated expansion of the Pacific oyster industry and Sydney rock oyster selective breeding programs, helping to build a sustainable oyster industry.

Dr Vladimir Strezov, Faculty of Science

Application of thermal science to industrial ecology

This nomination is to recognise the industrial applications of the thermo-analytical techniques designed by A/Prof Strezov and applied in a service, consulting activities and collaborative research programs with several Australian primary industries in the area of industrial ecology. The work comprised of thermal characterisation of materials, monitoring energy required for their processing and understanding fundamental properties responsible for pollutant formation at source. The industries benefitted from improved energy efficiency and pollution reduction. The partnerships established through this service resulted in strong research platform for Macquarie University with significant success in collaborative research performance.

Dr David Frew, Faculty of Science

David is an early career researcher in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Macquarie University.  Since graduating with a PhD from Macquarie, David has worked at Perth Observatory, WA, as an astronomer, and as a research associate at Macquarie University with the successful ARC Linkage Space To Grow Science Education Project. He is currently a Macquarie University Research Fellow, working on his passion, the late-stage evolution of stars.  David's PhD dissertation was nominated for the 2009 Bragg Medal of the Australian Institute of Physics, and since then his career has flourished. His key work on the Galactic population of planetary nebulae, and on statistically unbiased, volume-limited PN samples is at least two years ahead of the field, and this has led to him being invited onto some of the most cutting-edge international observing projects as a key collaborator, e.g. for the Chandra X-ray Space Telescope, and the Herschel Space Observatory.  David has also been invited to several international symposia to present his findings, and he is on the scientific organising committee of the APN6 Symposium, to be held in the Riviera Maya, Mexico, November 2013.  He has also individually won many awards of peer-reviewed telescope time for his research, including on the 8-m Very Large Telescope in Chile, and the Hubble Space Telescope.

Dr Ross MacKenzie, Faculty of Science

Ross received his PhD from the University of London. His main research interest is the impact of trade liberalisation on health, specifically focusing on the global strategies and operations of transnational tobacco corporations. He is currently involved in an international research project funded by the National Institutes of Health that is investigating tobacco industry influence on trade and investment policy, illicit trade in tobacco, and ways in which corporations can be governed within a global economy. Publications in leading health and medical journals include analyses of the tobacco industry, media coverage of health, and the medicalisation of smoking cessation.

Dr Paul Formosa, Faculty of Arts

Paul was awarded his PhD in philosophy from the University of Queensland in November 2008. Paul lectures in philosophy, has completed a Macquarie University Research Fellowship and is currently undertaking an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award Fellowship at Macquarie University. Paul has a total of 29 publications, including 17 sole-authored journal articles, 7 books chapter, and an edited book. His work is highly cited and he has already attracted over $800,000 of external research funds. His research areas are in moral and political philosophy with a focus on the concepts of moral evil, Kantian ethics, respect, autonomy, justice and human dignity.

Dr Brent Nongbri, Faculty of Arts

Brent’s scholarship combines an interest in detailed historical work in the field of ancient Christianity (papyrology, textual criticism, archaeology) with broad questions of method and theory in the study of religion and history. Brent arrived at Macquarie in 2010 as a postdoctoral fellow in early Christianity, and his time so far in the Department of Ancient History has been highly productive. He has published a number of articles revising the dates of early Christian manuscripts.  He also produced a monograph, Before Religion: A History of a Modern Concept, with Yale University Press. Brent’s work has an international reputation and has been praised as innovative and important by experts in the fields of early Christianity and religious studies.

Professor Jennifer Hudson, Faculty of Human Sciences

Jennie has an exceptional track record as a leading researcher in the field of clinical child psychology, demonstrated by sustained and distinguished performance in grant funding, publications, citations and research supervision. She has developed an international reputation as evidenced by invitations to serve as keynote speaker and invitations to serve on Editorial Boards for leading journals in her field. In addition to demonstrating leadership and excellence within her field of research, Jennie has been significantly involved in the evolution of the Centre for Emotional Health, significantly contributing to its growth and sustainability. She has established an active team of researchers and has demonstrated leadership in the practice and the scholarship of supervision and mentoring of her team.

Professor Lesley Hughes, Faculty of Science

Lesley is an ecologist with a longstanding interest in the impacts of climate change on biodiversity. She leads a research team that approaches this challenging issue with a wide variety of techniques including field surveys, laboratory and field experiments, bioclimatic modelling and data mining. Over the past decade, she has increasingly focused on facilitating a broader research effort, leading initiatives at a university, state, national level, including co-directing Climate Futures at Macquarie, and co-convening the Terrestrial Biodiversity Adaptation Research Network for the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF).  Lesley has also contributed to international climate science efforts as a Lead Author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and Australian representative on initiatives within the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). She is passionate about connecting science with policy makers such as via her membership of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists and Climate Scientists Australia, and to the public, via her role as a federal Climate Commissioner.