Emerging scientists at Griffith University have been recognised as winners at the Queensland Young Tall Poppy Science Awards for 2018.

Dr Michelle Langley with Professor Jenny Martin AC.

Three researchers based at Griffith Science and another at Griffith Health received their awards from the Queensland Chief Scientist.

The four academics recognised were Dr Michelle Langley, Dr Qilin Wang, Dr Roisin McMahon and Dr Michael Simmonds.

The Young Tall Poppy Awards were initiated by the Australian Institute of Policy and Science to promote excellence in research, innovation and the communication of science.

The prestigious annual awards ceremonies also aim to increase public engagement while also informing policy and policy-making.

Dr Qilin Wang with Professor Jenny Martin AC.

Dr Michelle Langley is an Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution archaeologist and a DECRA Research Fellow at the Environmental Futures Research Institute. Her research focuses on bone technology and learning more about children of the Ice Age.

“It’s a privilege to be named as a Queensland Young Tall Poppy,” Dr Langley said.

“It’s wonderful to be recognised for the effort that goes into our research and the role in communicating that work to the public.”

Dr Roisin McMahon with Professor Jenny Martin AC.

Innovative technologies for urban water and wastewater management represent the core area of Dr Qilin Wang’s work at the School of Engineering, Centre for Clean Environment andEnvironmental Futures Research Institute.

Dr Roisin McMahon works on drug resistance and infectious diseases at the Griffith Institute for Drug Discovery where her passion is in targeting proteins in bacterial pathogenesis to develop new antimicrobials drugs for life-threatening infections.

“I love sharing my research through storytelling, and so to be recognised for bothmy science and my role as a communicator is an absolute honour,” Dr McMahon said.

“Building a research career is great fun, and it’s also pretty tricky. It very special to have a chance to publicly celebrate the research I do and

Dr Michael Simmonds with Professor Jenny Martin AC.

the outstanding colleagues and collaborators that I do it with. ”

Dr Michael Simmonds, who is Head of Griffith’s Biorheology Research Laboratory, is researching the biophysical and biochemical properties of blood cells, and how artificial medical devices affect the property of bloods and ultimately disrupt blood flow in the body.

He said winning a Young Tall Poppy Award was extremely invigorating and strengthened his resolve to pursue the scientific problem at hand.

“We hope to create new generations of medical devices that are friendlier to blood,” he said. “I hope we can use this as a platform to engage community both for scientific understanding but also to invigorate people to consider careers in science.”