By Vina Putra Merryn is a Scientia PhD candidate in the School of Chemistry, UNSW. Her research focuses on analysing chemicals in the breath for the detection of lung diseases such as lung cancer. This could ultimately present a cheaper, non-invasive way to…

By Octavia Soegyono Sukanya (Suki) Jaiswal is pursuing a PhD in Optometry at University of New South Wales (UNSW). She completed her Bachelor of Optometry/Bachelor of Science in 2013 and has worked as a clinical optometrist since in both Sydney and Canberra. She…

By Charuni Pathmeswaran Savannah Minihan is a Scientia PhD researcher exploring adolescent mental health and the development of novel digital prevention interventions. Savannah is an accomplished UNSW Woman in Maths and Science Champion and is keen to make an impactful change in the…

By Charuni Pathmeswaran Ifeoma Ugwuanyi is a biology PhD candidate at the Tree of Life lab at UNSW. Ifeoma is an accomplished UNSW Woman in Maths and Science Champion who is passionate about science communication and engages with the public on issues related…

By Charuni Pathmeswaran Allegra Angeloni is pursuing a PhD in epigenetics at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research affiliated with UNSW. Prior to that she did her Bachelor of Advanced Science and majored in genetics and microbiology at UNSW and did her Honours…

By Charuni Pathmeswaran Sam is a chemist with a special interest in drug development. She is also a teaching fellow in chemistry with a passion for science communication. When not doing her PhD, Sam enjoys learning about behavioural science of animals, which helps…

Fatima is a 2nd year PhD student at School of Optometry & Vision Science, UNSW and proud women champion. Her research focuses on developing methods to understand the structure and function of oil producing glands that prevent eyes from getting dry. Her research…

Zoe is a third-year PhD student at the UNSW School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, focusing on invasive plant species. Her research involves a lot of fieldwork in a range of environments, spanning 6 countries and 2 continents. She comes to university…

By Charuni Pathmeswaran Thay is a marine biologist investigating the impacts of the 2019/20 Black Summer fires on estuaries.  Prior to pursuing her PhD in Australia, she completed her Honour’s and Master’s degrees in Brazil. She has worked on projects involving population dynamics, primary productivity,…

by Charuni Pathmeswaran Tehilla grew up in Israel, moved to Switzerland at 21 to attend university. After completing her bachelor’s in psychology and her master’s in economics and decision making in Switzerland, she moved to Australia with her two kids to pursue a PhD in cognitive psychology. Her research looks into how risk-taking is related to…

By Allegra Angeloni Negin Sarmadi is a PhD student at the UNSW Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (SMaRT@UNSW) specialising in waste management and recovery. Negin is one of the talented Women in Maths and Science Champions and is currently working on innovative environmental…

By Charlotte Beloe Being a part of the UNSW Maths and Science Champions Program this year has been an amazingly enriching experience. Having not yet had the opportunity to try out my new skills I was curious about what life after the Champions…

Interviewed by Sara Loo Joanne Beames is currently a post-doctoral researcher and clinical psychology registrar at the Black Dog Institute. She is passionate about seeing results come out of the work she does with school students. As one of our ECR cohort, we…

Interview by Charlotte Beloe Carolina Gutiérrez-Chávez is a Scientia PhD Candidate and one of our UNSW Women in Maths and Science Champions. She has always believed that following her passions is important and this week we got to find out how that has…

Interview by Sara Loo Understanding cancer has been on the heart of Early Career Champion Natalia Castaño Rodríguez ever since she was a clinician in her home country of Colombia. She moved to Sydney in 2009 to pursue research and has quickly established…

By Charlotte Beloe Most of us have a preconceived idea of maths as a dry, difficult subject… but is it really? Not according to Sara Loo; Research Associate in the School of Biotechnical and Biomolecular Science (BABS) and one of our Early Career…

By Sara Loo Caitlin Healy is a lecturer in Materials Sciences and one of our Early Career Researcher Champions. She remembers always being interested in science, and certain moments stick out for her as having cultivated this passion for science. Thinking back on her…

By Akasha Kaleem   Tasmia Zaman is an international student who has come all the way from Bangladesh to pursue a PhD degree in Materials science and engineering. Her field of research is on lead-free Piezoelectric ceramics. She likes to make new friends…

By Mahjabeen Khan Are you brave enough to travel 10,000km away from home to pursue your dream? Zahra Tajbakhsh is! Growing up in Fars province, Iran, Zahra always excelled academically in science subjects, so much that her family nickname was Dr Zahra. Years…

By Lisa Nivison-Smith From drawing chemical structures on the back of Panadol packets when she was a little girl to now developing drugs which may replace antibiotics, PhD candidate Basmah Almohaywi, has come a long way on her science journey. Originally hailing from Saudi…

By Munkhshur Myekhlai Meet Ornella Mekountchou. Hailing all the way from Cameroon, Ornella has been interested in maths and science since her childhood. Her interests led her to India where she graduated as an optometrist from the Bausch and Lomb School of Optometry…

By Zahra Tajbakhsh  Microbiologist Mahjabeen Khan first became interested in bacteria when she realised these unseen organisms caused so much illness in the world. Her interests led her to a degree in microbiology at Hazara University, Pakistan then a job in poultry research organization…

By Koumbo Ornella Why is the sky blue? Why are leaves green? Why is the sun bright? These are typical questions we expect from children about the outside world. But not Munkhshur Myekhlai; she was wondering how she could protect the environment of her country…

By Dr Ruth Thomas Dr Laura McKemmish is not just a chemist or a physicist – she’s both! Straddling the boundary of two scientific fields – Laura’s research uses computational methods and theory to tackle the complicated problems in chemistry and physics, looking…

By Lisa Nivison-Smith After being fascinated by space from a young age, Dr Mireia Montes Quiles is now a researcher at the School of Physics, trying to expand our knowledge of the universe by researching one of its largest components – galaxy clusters. Beyond…

By Kristina Fidanovski Emily, like many scientists, leads a double life. She doesn’t begin with that though. When she sits down for this interview, she has an easy smile and ready words to set me at ease (I’ve never interviewed anyone before), and…

By Raisa Rafique It was love at first sight for Kristina when she found her current research project at UNSW after multiple lab placement programs. Since then every day for her has been something like a wild quest into unlocking the secrets of the…

By Emily Vohralik After moving halfway across the world from the US to Australia for her PhD, Jenny has found herself immersed in the world of mathematical psychology. She didn’t expect to be living in Sydney coding all day long, but she loves…

By Dr Poppy Watson After finishing her PhD and doing research in medicinal chemistry, Dr Ruth Thomas decided to use her passion and experience in a more education-oriented way. As a technical officer in the teaching laboratories in the School of Chemistry, she…

By Dr Lisa Nivison-Smith Dr Poppy Watson did not always want to be researcher. After a lack-lustre introduction to the world of Psychology at University, she spent the first part of her working life dabbling in sound editing and travelling. Almost a decade…

By Dr Lisa Nivison-Smith Meet Dr Emma Gibson – optometrist, researcher, science communicator and Jiu Jitsu instructor Originally hailing from Wales, Emma wanted a new challenge away from her daily life as an optometrist and so travelled halfway across the world to embark…

By Dr Lisa Nivison-Smith Meet Dr Sharon Oberstein, the Deputy Clinic Director at the Optometry clinic on the UNSW campus. Breaking down the stereotype that optometrists merely make glasses, Sharon recently finished her PhD  doing the impossible–finding ways to help those with vision…

By Dr Lisa Nivison-Smith Meet Mariana Mayer Pinto-marine biologist, UNSW Scientia fellow, yoga enthusiast and STEM advocate. With a love for the sea from a young age, Mariana has travelled from one side of the world to the other (Brazil to Australia) to pursue…

By Jennifer Sloane After 5 years of being a student at UNSW, Nicole still doesn’t get sick of walking through the beautiful campus and taking in all of the greenery and open space (at least when she’s not hard at work in the…