To celebrate our fourth anniversary of highlighting remarkable researchers in our Researcher Profile series, we’re featuring a special retrospective showcasing four outstanding researchers from each of the past four years:
- From 2020, we revisit our very first ever researcher profile, Dr Shima Ziajahromi (School of Environment and Science), and her research into microplastics and the impact of clothing on the environment.
- From 2021, it is Dr Amanda Cox (School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences), discussing the effects of probiotic supplements on hay fever symptoms.
- From 2022, A/Prof Popi Sotiriadou (Department of Tourism, Sport, and Hotel Management) investigating high-performance sport management.
- And from 2023, Dr Troy Meston (Gamilleroi Senior Research Fellow in the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research), exploring the intersections between education, technology and Indigenous studies.
We asked each of them a pivotal question:
What sparked your passion for your research area?
Here are their inspiring answers:
I always was interested in microplastics in the aquatic environment and this is where I started my research. However, my passion for microplastics and clothing came from reading an article about microplastics making their way into our water due to synthetic clothing breaking down during washing.
Whilst we know about the macroplastics, like plastic shopping bags, I realised we weren’t well informed or educated around the environmental impact of the microplastics in our clothing. When we wash our clothes microplastic fibres break down and make their way into the wastewater treatment plants. The problem is capturing these clothing fibres, as even advanced treatment systems might not be able to remove microfibers, particularly for the smaller particles (less than 20 micrometres in length-<20 μm). So, some of these fibres can end up in the aquatic environment and our drinking water.
Dr Amanda Cox: Can changing your gut bacteria reduce your allergies? (2021)
What continues to hold my interest, and what I like about my job, is that there is always something new to learn, particularly for the immune system. Even in the span of my career there are things that we now think about differently and understand better than 20 years ago. It is a privilege to be able to continue to learn and understand better.
I think of the immune system as the center of all disease — a lot of the key diseases that are impactful for humans involve an aspect of immune system function. And immunology always will be part of the future and human disease; no matter how much we know, and how much we think we know, we are still struggling to manage people’s health conditions in efficient and meaningful ways.
A/Prof Popi Sotiriadou: Managing high performance sport (2022)
I started my career in sport as an elite athlete in yachting. I was with the national yachting team in Greece from the age of 13 and continued racing and representing Greece and Australia until 2000. During this period, I completed a double degree in Exercise Science and Physical Education with Honours and in 1993 I went to the UK to continue my studies with a Masters in Sport Management at Loughborough University.
These studies and my elite athletic career drove my interest to fulfill a doctorate on sport management and the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, examining ‘The sport participation legacies and impact of elite athlete success at the Olympics on sport participation’. The expertise I developed over time on sport development processes, systems, athlete management and marketing has resulted in invitations to act as a consultant to the International Olympic Committee, Sports Australia, Sarawak in Malaysia and the Queensland Academy of Sport.
Dr Troy Meston: Digitising the deep past (2023)
My motivation stems from my background as a teacher and parent with Aboriginal children in school. The National Agreement on Closing the Gap centralises education’s role in building safe, healthy and economically independent Indigenous communities. However, despite the national agreement’s intent, scope and investment, comprehensive data indicates that Indigenous learners remain underserviced and culturally alienated in Australian schools.
In parallel to the continuing education challenge, many Aboriginal communities and families also face various socio-technical challenges that hamper benefitting from the possibilities of digital technologies. These challenges include sporadic internet connectivity in remote regions, the scaling cost of digital devices and the internet, and basic digital literacy to navigate the online realm properly. Our research is helping to provide much-needed, innovative thinking to help bridge the challenges of school and the digital divide to ensure Aboriginal children have the same opportunities as others in Australia.
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