UNE > News and Events > Browse by article > Young scientists practise their communication skills

Next Travelling scholarship gives wings to students of ancient Greece February 20, 2006  

Previous “Freshers” get support from peers February 16, 2006 

Young scientists practise their communication skills

February 17, 2006

JohnstMull.thumb.JPGPostgraduate students in a wide range of science disciplines at The University of New England have gained valuable experience in the organisation of - and participation in - a scientific conference.

They staged a Postgraduate Conference last week in UNE's School of Biological, Biomedical and Molecular Sciences.

The full-day event, on Friday 10 February, included research papers delivered by 14 students, and 16 poster presentations. The presenters came from disciplines within the School as diverse as chemistry, physics, human biology, molecular and cellular biology, and physiology.

About 60 people - mainly postgraduate students and staff of the School - attended the conference. Kathleen Mullen, the PhD student who organised the event, said it had been "a great opportunity for our students to present their research and gain feedback from staff in a friendly environment". Ms Mullen pointed out that it was important for young scientists to develop the skills involved in presenting conference papers. "The more opportunities we're given to practise our presenting skills, the better-equipped we'll be when we present at national or international conferences," she said. Many of the presenters felt that having to speak within the strictly-enforced time limits of a conference timetable had been a particularly useful exercise.

The participants were both on-campus and external students at all stages of their postgraduate programs. The guest speaker for the day was Dr Martin Johnston from Flinders University, who completed his PhD studies at UNE in 1993.

Ms Mullen said that last week's conference had been the first of its kind within the School, and that most of the participants would like to see it become an annual event. She herself won one of the three prizes for "best talk". Her discipline is chemistry, and she spoke about a new approach to the development of tiny, "molecular-sized" mechanical devices. The two other prize-winners in this category were Joshua Boyd (Physics, UNE) and Brad Hine (CSIRO). The four prizes for "best poster" went to Linda Agnew, Samiya Al-Jaaidi, Michael Chen and Joshua Smith. The judges commented on the high quality of all the presentations at the conference, and the difficulty they had had in choosing the prize-winners.

"It's been a solid day's conferencing," said Professor Stephen Glover (Chemistry, UNE) at the end of the day, congratulating Ms Mullen on the smooth running of the conference and remarking on the high standard of the presentations.

Funding for the day came from the New England Section of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, as well as from the Head of School, the Dean of the Faculty of The Sciences, and the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research and Development) at UNE.


Media contact: Kathleen Mullen, Chemistry, UNE (02) 6773 2382 or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE (02) 6773 3049.

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here, showing Kathleen Mullen with Dr Martin Johnston during the conference, is at:
http://photodatabase.une.edu.au/albums/incoming/2006/EVENTS/Postgrad%20Research%2006/Postgrad%20research6.JPG

Posted by Jim Scanlan at February 17, 2006 11:20 AM