Deakin's Researcher Bags 2024 Victorian Young Tall Poppy Award

Victorian Young Tall Poppy Award recognizes excellent contributions to research and passion for the science.

Study in Australia: Deakin University's researcher has received the prestigious title of Victorian Young Tall Poppy of the Year. This title has been won by the university's researchers in a row for the fourth year. This year, the 2024 Victorian Young Tall Poppy of the Year is awarded to Dr Kate Lycett from Deakin’s SEED Lifespan.

This award is granted by the Australian Institute of Policy and Science for passion for the Science subject and enthusiasm for communicating the subject beyond laboratory walls. It is also to recognize the excellence in research.

While commenting on the award, she said, "Making our research easily accessible to citizens and policymakers is essential to drive evidence-based decisions to build a more sustainable and equitable future. I am delighted to achieve the Tall Poppy, an award that celebrates science communication."

2024 Victorian Young Tall Poppy Award Recipient Details

Her research areas include public health, epidemiology, children and young people, mental health, subjective well-being, well-being economies, environmental justice, obesity, societal progress and air pollution. Her research aims to find out the key measures of health and well-being to expand the understanding beyond the economic metrics. It will help in driving evidence-based change.

Australian Unity Wellbeing Index is a study which is for the last 25 years tracking the subjective well-being of Australians. Dr Lycett is the lead researcher in this study and also in ‘Breathe Melbourne’, and Future Healthy Countdown 2030. Her research team has received more than $3 million in grant funding and she has co-authored more than 80 peer-reviewed articles in high-quality journals.

PhD Researcher Wins People's Choice Award

Deakin’s Institute for Frontier Materials (IFM) Dilendra Wijesekara has won the People’s Choice Award in the 2024 Virtual Asia-Pacific Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Final. She won this for her three-minute presentation about her work. She worked on the fabrication of silk-based biomaterials and talked about their possible use as packing materials for ear surgery. She worked in partnership with Ear Science Institute Australia. Her presentation was called the - , ‘Unlocking the power of silk: next-generation packing materials for ear surgery’.

"I’m honoured to be chosen as one of eight finalists and thrilled to receive the People’s Choice Award at the Asia-Pacific 3 Minute Thesis competition. This platform allows me to share a glimpse of the remarkable research undertaken at Deakin University with the world," Dilendra said.

"I’m grateful for the support of Deakin’s Researcher Development Academy throughout my 3MT journey and proud to represent the Institute for Frontier Materials on a global stage. With great research comes great responsibility – Silk Superhero, signing off. Regular researcher, reporting back to duty," she added.

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