IMAGES OF RESEARCH

Stress testing

Andrew Whittaker
UniSA Creative

“This image depicts load testing laser-cut acrylic cantilevers using Polaroid lenses to highlight stress concentrations. This exercise formed part of a studio design and analysis practical.”

Coming from 20 years of consulting to industry, Andrew now teaches in the Bachelor of Design (Product Design) and the Master of Design (Industrial Design). His specialties are in design for manufacturing and industry collaboration.

Mutant

Peter Walker
UniSA Creative

“This photo captures a moment of serendipity and imagination, essential elements in a creative process.”

“Naturally filtered sunlight creates a world of shadows and an evocative landscape, transmuting the wooden sculpture as it evolves. The image is a snapshot taken on the studio floor whilst working on the piece.”

Peter Walker is currently Program Director, Master of Design in UniSA Creative. Prior to this Peter was Associate Professor at the Rhode Island School of Design 2001-2011, serving as Graduate Program Director for the Department of Furniture Design and Department Head. His work is represented in public and private collections, including the Australian Parliament House Permanent Art Collection and the RISD Museum. Peter exhibits work regularly across Australia and USA, maintaining an active balance between studio practice and teaching.

Heading to the brink

Carol Tilt
UniSA Business

“This photograph represents both the beauty and precarious nature of our planet.”

“The caterpillar is a pest, destroying the foliage that sustains it, but is also an important part of our ecosystem. This can be equated with corporations who are an integral part of our economy but often leave a trail of destruction in the wake of their pursuit of growth and profit. Without urgent restraints and accountability measures, we may be heading to the brink of our existence.”

Carol Tilt is a Professor of Accounting and Director of the Markets, Values and Inclusion research concentration in UniSA Business.  She has over 25 years of experience – as a leader in her research area, her research focuses on social and environmental impacts of corporations and their role in the sustainability of our planet.

Floating an island of repurposed waste materials to nurture aquatic flora and fauna

Thanusshan Packiyarajah
UniSA STEM

“This image demonstrates the effectiveness of Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste which can be used as a filtre medium in Constructed Floating Wetlands (CFWs), allowing plants to remove pollutants from urban water sources.”

“This type of system will be able to act as a soil-less green infrastructure and nurture aquatic plant life by repurposing manufactured materials.”

Thanusshan is pursuing a Master by Research at UniSA. His research interest is drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater treatments. His current project is focused on utilising construction and demolition waste materials as a growing medium for floating wetland plants to remove pollutants from urban water sources.

The colours of energy

Mohammed Mahmoud
Future Industries Institute, UniSA STEM

“This image presents a series of coloured disks displayed against a backdrop of coloured beams representing energy. These disks are being used in the manufacture of a new generation of lithium ion batteries and the surprising aspect is that they all contain the same element, namely, silicon.”

“What gives rise to their many and varied colours is the manner by which the silicon is deposited using a process called physical vapour deposition. Altering the nano-structure and density of the silicon not only produces beautiful colours, but more importantly it opens the door to a new generation of ultra-high capacity batteries for the energy needs of tomorrow’s technologies.”

Mohammad is a PhD student at UniSA working with fabricating silicon thin-films for many applications including anodes for lithium-ion batteries and optical uses.

Koala in my patch

Cameron Lomas
UniSA STEM

“I was busily photographing eucalypt leaves when the tree I was studying suddenly moved. The koala had been holding a branch and eating from it when I spooked him and he let it go. He was about 1.5m above me in the tree and I snapped a few shots as I began to back away.”

Cameron is completing his Bachelor of Environmental Science at UniSA. His experience in the bush as a volunteer firefighter motivated him to begin studying environmental science and to participate in other volunteer activities towards protecting Australian ecosystems.

Every place matters

Sandy Horne
UniSA Business

“Research around place-based policies recognises the importance of each and every city, region and rural district. This image captures the connectivity that is so crucial to Australia’s regions and highlights the importance of communication, energy, highways and transport.”

“In contrast to spatially-blind policies which often leave many places behind, place-based policies can help every region reach its potential.”

“Place-based research along with regional studies show that regional Australia matters more today than it has at any other time since the 1940s.”

Sandy has been a researcher for more than eight years, with a wide range of experience providing support for projects covering topics such as regional studies, structural adjustment programs, housing, homelessness, public housing stock transfer and private rental support programs. She has worked on projects funded by the Australian Research Council, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Wyatt Trust, and the Regional Australia Institute. Currently, as Project Officer: Research, Sandy has coordinated the ARC Linkage Project: Local Government and Housing in Australia since its inception in 2016 at the University of South Australia.

Knowledge continuity in the midst of a pandemic

Jelina Haines
UniSA STEM

“Who would have imagined that a pandemic would bring about a lot of change to our everyday life activities?”

“In the Indigenous context one of the changes, as well as a challenge, was the knowledge continuity of passing the skills of cultural weaving face-to-face. So, as a Storyteller and cultural weaver, adapting to digital technology was the only method to maintain the passing of knowledge to future learners.”

“This image tells a vital story – a tale of adaptation and the stability of traditional weaving against the anecdotal event of social distancing caused by the epidemic. The use of the tablet and laptops for live streaming, and the mobile phone as an internet hotspot, were instrumental in delivering digital weaving. Likewise, the image portrays the co-existence of traditional learning and the value of digital equipment for interactive learning while preserving the wisdom and practices of weaving.”

Jelina Haines is a current PhD student whose research focuses on the new phenomena coined as 'Indigenous Knowledge Journey' (IKJ) - practices observed during the cyclical process of how Indigenous Elder's knowledge is created, synthesized and translated, and the ethical dissemination of both cultural stories and communal activities within a social and cultural context. This research is grounded by community-based participatory research (CBPR) principles and the video ethnography paradigm. Jelina has been a previous Images of Research winner, taking out 1^st prize in Images of Research 2017.

Catch and release

Zoë Doubleday
Future Industries Institute, UniSA STEM

“I filmed this video, practically blind, as I plunged my GoPro into the sea from a rocking boat whilst releasing 30 or so octopus back into the water as part of a UniSA research project - which as you can imagine was a handful or should I say armful.”

Dr Zoë Doubleday is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow and marine ecologist at the Future Industries Institute at UniSA. Zoe is on a mission to build ecological knowledge about the marine realm and develop solutions to address today’s environmental challenges. She is also an octopus biologist who loves working with these fascinating animals, that challenge our perceptions of intelligence and "higher" animals.

Leading edge of a dragonfly wing

Nasim Chitsaz
UniSA STEM

“It may look like the surface of another planet or an aerial image of some kind, but in fact, this is a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) captured image of the leading edge of a dragonfly wing, consisting of membrane and veins.”

“The purpose of this image is to identify the aerodynamic role of the smaller features of the dragonfly wing during flight. The structure of the dragonfly’s wing has a direct application for the development of highly maneuverable micro-air vehicles with flapping wings.”

Nasim is completing a PhD at UniSA focusing on the optimisation of a bio-inspired corrugated flapping wing.

The faces of cancer

Robert Brooks
UniSA Clinical & Health Sciences

“The tissue samples displayed in this image were sourced from Discovery Life Sciences and the Australian Prostate Cancer BioResource. All tissue sections were cut, processed/stained and then imaged by the Mechanisms In Cell Biology and Diseases Research Group at UniSA, using a Zeiss Axio Scan Z.1.

Robert is a researcher within the Mechanisms in Cell Biology and Disease Research Group and has a specific interest in endosomelysosome cell biology in cancer, and is developing diagnostic, prognostic and imaging technology for biochemical medicine which will benefit patients.

Exposed

Andrew Beck
UniSA Clinical & Health Sciences

“This is an image of a brown snake embryo Pseudonaja textilis - exposed for an evolutionary developmental study which compares embryonic tail bud somites across a range of species to investigate evolutionary changes in mechanisms controlling axis elongation.”

Andrew Beck is a Technical Assistant at UniSA Clinical & Health Sciences - with more than forty years of experience across a broad range of medical laboratory disciplines, providing technical support to practical classes and related areas of research. Andrews’s expertise, especially in histopathology, has led to many research connections covering areas as wide as snake evolution, venom, neuroscience, and cancer research.

A stable eye on the many colours of sand

Isaac Ahenkorah
UniSA STEM

“This image is an artistic summary of my research, which involves using a sustainable bio-cementation approach for stabilising loose sand. The different colours of sand symbolise the diversity in the behaviour of sand, which can be monitored - demonstrated by an eye in the image - using a sustainable approach through advanced engineering research.”

Isaac is currently in the final year of his PhD in civil engineering at UniSA. His research involves using a sustainable bio-cementation approach to enhance the strength and stability of loose soils for civil and geotechnical engineering purposes. This technique is cost and energy efficient, renewable and bio-degradable, with many potential applications in civil and geotechnical engineering. Isaac won the 2nd prize in Images of Research 2019 for his image Stabilising Loose Sand for a Sustainable Future.

Deep down and dirty for science

Michael Short
Future Industries Institute, UniSA STEM

“This photo shows my colleague Dr Gianluca Brunetti in the bowels of the old Royal Adelaide Hospital during the early hours of the morning as we embarked on a 12-hour hospital sewage sampling campaign.”

“We took wastewater samples from several sewers around the hospital every hour between 6:00am and 6:00 pm and analysed them for antibiotic resistance as part of our RTIS project Waste not the water: Using municipal wastewater for community-scale health assessment led by our Future Industries Institute colleague Dr Barbara Drigo.

Michael is a Senior Research Fellow at UniSA’s Future Industries Institute. He is a wastewater scientist and environmental microbiologist with more than 15 years’ experience in wastewater systems at all scales. His research interests include urban water systems, environmental microbiology and microbial ecology, sustainability and life cycle assessment, and the intersection of environmental science and policy.

Ecological evolution

Stefany Bensimon
UniSA Creative

“As an architecture student, one of our main roles is to provide spaces that adapt to environmental circumstances. However, I felt a special curiosity to research the other side of the coin: is the ecosystem really adapting to us?”

“This photograph showcases the process of ecological evolution. Where the biological community gradually experiences change due to diverse factors; such as natural ecosystem evolution or through the disturbance caused by human activity. And one of the most common human activities is the building of shelters and settlements.”

“This means that architectural designers have the power to reduce habitat destruction and the impact of introduced species.”

“In my picture, the frog - as a part of the biological community - gradually changes from blue to green in an attempt to adapt to its environmental surroundings. The colourful particles show this constant change and how ecosystems in a cycle of resilience try to adapt to disturbance.”

Stefany Bensimon, who was born in Venezuela, is a Master of Architecture student whose goal is to promote environmental awareness through research and design settlements in a sustainable manner.

Ring a ring o' roses

Kelly Ryan
UniSA Justice & Society

“This photo is of a child in regional South Australia running towards the Spencer Gulf. Storm clouds roll in whilst the child is cloaked by jolly, carefree nursery rhyme characters.”

“The photograph depicts the current position of children living in regional South Australia in 2020. This year has been difficult and confusing for all, but particularly children living in regional and remote areas who would otherwise have access to child protection systems – including schools, sport and peers.”

“Children are particularly vulnerable to the fears and frustrations of adults, and because of the virus, services and support systems have not operated as they should. The events of this year have made already invisible, vulnerable children more so. Children who should be engrossed in the joys of childhood are far more at risk than they would otherwise be - leaving the jolly, carefree nursery rhyme characters in the past, whilst the storm rolls in.”

Kelly Ryan is completing a PhD in child protection law. She is examining the legal rights, risks and responsibilities of foster carers, and what work the law can do to improve outcomes for children living in out-of-home care. This is the third time that Kelly has featured as a finalist in Images of Research; in 2019 her image It Takes a Village featured her son.