Australian science boosted by Synchrotron Research Fellowships

Chair of the Australian Synchrotron Research Program (ASRP) and ANSTO CEO, Professor Helen Garnett, has announced six leading scientists from Australia and overseas will each received fellowship grants of around $70,000 per year to conduct research into improved cancer treatments, forensics, molecular biology, minerals, synthetics and technology.

"The ASRP Fellowships will fund the selected research projects for two years," she said. "Importantly the Fellowships have enticed two Australian researchers to return home from overseas to conduct their research. It is always encouraging to see Australian scientists either stay in Australia or come back after a period of time. We are pleased that the Fellowships have been successful in bringing two back this time."

ASRP's Facility Director, Dr Richard Garrett said the projects illustrate the unique breadth of science that can be performed with synchrotron X-rays.

"The potential for this research to benefit society is broad and the high quality of the candidates is also a testament to the success of the ASRP," he said.

The six successful ASRP Fellows are: Dr Hugh Harris; Dr Bayden Wood; Dr Carl Chen; Dr Stephanie Corde; Mr Ivan Kempson; and Dr Nigel Kirby.

The ASRP will provide the researchers with access to state-of-the-art synchrotron radiation research capabilities at overseas synchrotron light source facilities - the primary tool for all the Fellows' research. These facilities are at the Australian National Beamline Facility (ANBF) at the Photon Factory, Tsukuba Science City, Japan, the Advanced Photon Source at the Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago, USA and the National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, Hsinchu, Taiwan.

The researchers will spend approximately six weeks per year located at either of these facilities and will submit a full research report at the end of the two year term.

For more information and descriptions of the ASRP Fellows and their projects, please visit www.ansto.gov.au

Item provided courtesy of ANSTO