Five of the best and brightest early career researchers at the University of Canberra (UC) have been chosen as finalists for UC’s Big Research Pitch 2020.
In a statement, UC said the public, industry, colleagues and students had all had the chance to vote for their favourite pitch during the first round of competition over the past two weeks.
“The finalists [are] to convince a panel of judges to award them seed funding from the $12,000 prize pool as part of a live Facebook event this Thursday evening (7.30pm, 29 October),” UC said.
“Tune in to hear how these research projects provide solutions, like how social media technologies can be used as means for social support, what the benefits of physical activity has on brain health in cancer populations, and how mental fatigue impacts sufferers,” it said.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research and Innovation at UC, Leigh Sullivan said the Big Research Pitch was more than just a competition.
“Yes, it does offer our researchers the chance to win much-needed research funds, but it’s a whole lot more than that,” Professor Sullivan said.
“Research not communicated is invisible, so UC’s Big Research Pitch is the culmination of a whole training program dedicated to research communication,” he said.
Professor Sullivan said the finalists were Maryam Ghahramani, Shyam Barr, Irfan Khan, Joe Northey, and Kristy Martin.
Further information on the competition, as well as the finalists’ pitches can be accessed at this PS News link.
