Achieving first-class honours at Griffith University is a huge achievement for anyone, but for Daniel Clarke, this extraordinary accolade is worthy of recognition.
Daniel has cerebral palsy, though he has never let his disability stop him from achieving his goals.
Prior to his academic endeavours, Daniel has been recognised nationally and internationally for his conservation and advocacy work.
He was named the 2021 Queensland Young Australian of the Year, served as the National Ambassador for the 2021 International Day of People with Disability, and co-authored two award-winning books on orangutan conservation which were incorporated in the NSW school curriculum.
With achievements also spanning sport and public service, Daniel has represented Queensland in wheelchair rugby, appeared on ABC’s Australian Story, received a Pride of Australia Medal, and personally signed letters of recognition from former United States President Barack Obama, David Attenborough and the Princess of Wales, Princess Catherine.
“I’ve always been the type of person who doesn’t let my disability get in the way of anything I do,” Daniel said.
With a Bachelor of Social Science majoring in politics, Daniel began work on a Community Transport project as a research assistant at Griffith University, and was encouraged to incorporate this topic into a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) thesis.
Director, International (Arts, Education and Law) and Senior Lecturer, Migration and Security (School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science) Dr Samid Suliman was Daniel’s honours supervisor.
“Throughout his honours degree, Daniel paired his passion for human rights and social justice and his commitment to his academic excellence with unique research insight that can only come from researchers with lived experience of living with disability,” Dr Suliman said.
Daniel’s thesis had three areas of focus surrounding community transport which included: mapping the complex funding pathways of the National Disability Insurance Scheme and Commonwealth Home Support Package, which fund community transport; analysing technological advancements in the sector; and identifying user tolerances of clients using community transport.
“Community transport has received very little attention and investigation,” Daniel said.
“My research was able to uncover and present the range of algorithms, smartphone apps and technologies currently used by community transport operators to provide an efficient service.
“When separate operators are sharing an algorithm to service the community, it provides a seamless service to customers and improves efficiency to the community transport fleet, instead of individual drivers competing for minimum distance for maximum pay off.”
This research was unique, as Daniel drew on his lived experience of disability to shape his thesis, outlining the challenges he had to overcome when completing his honours.
These challenges included disability-induced fatigue and support worker availability.
Determined to overcome these challenges, he worked closely with Griffith staff to raise awareness and find solutions to reach his goals.
“Whenever I needed a bit more time, or if I needed to take a break from work for a bit, everyone around me at Grifith has been so supportive,” Daniel said.
Dr Suliman said Daniel’s hard efforts to deliver meaningful research despite the challenges, and continue his advocacy work, was a testament to Daniel’s determination to succeed and was well deserving of achieving first-class honours.
“There’s always a pathway to achieve my dream,” Daniel said
Looking ahead, Daniel is now working with a team using quantum computing to help people with disability navigate crowds and transport at the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The project analyses pedestrian flows to minimise risk and transport routes to maximise efficiency, helping people in wheelchairs navigate high-traffic pedestrian areas and ensuring they can get to their destination in a timely fashion.
“We know we’ll get a huge number of visitors in 2032, and by using quantum computing we can effectively calculate millions of different journeys to make sure everyone can get to their destination easily and safely,” he said.
“At the moment there is a mismatch between support and demand – there is more demand for access to vehicles than there are vehicles.
“At the Paralympic games, demand will go through the roof.
“We need an algorithm to ensure people with disability don’t experience major delays, their dignity is not impacted and people with disability aren’t excluded from events.”
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Samid Suliman
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