Queensland Young Tall Poppy Science Awards

Nominations for the 2024 Young Tall Poppy Awards are now open. Apply now!

The annual Queensland Young Tall Poppy Science Awards are hosted by the Australian Institute of Policy and Science (AIPS) in partnership with the Office of the Queensland Chief Scientist.

These awards recognise and celebrate researchers who demonstrate scientific excellence combined with a unique passion for science communication, which can inspire young people to enter STEM study and careers.

This event was held in October 2023 to announce the Queensland Young Tall Poppy Science Award winners.

Congratulations to Associate Professor Carissa Klein from The University of Queensland who has been awarded the 2023 Queensland Young Tall Poppy of the Year.

Twelve other researchers were acknowledged with a Young Tall Poppy Science Award on the night.

All delivered a one minute pitch on the research and communication activities that led to them being short listed for the award.

Read more about this year’s award-winning scientists and their research below.

2023 Queensland Young Tall Poppy of the Year

Associate Professor Carissa Klein
The University of Queensland

It is predicted that there will be two billion more people on earth by 2050. One of the biggest challenges facing the world is feeding these extra two billion people without having an overwhelming environmental impact. If we improve our fishing, aquaculture and trade policies seafood could play an important role in solving this challenge.

Associate Professor Klein uses fishing and seafood trade data to improve our understanding of what seafood species we eat and where they are sourced. Associate Professor Klein’s research assesses the social and environmental implications of seafood consumption to improve the sustainability of fishing and seafood trade policies.

2023 Queensland Young Tall Poppy Science Award winners

Dr Nathan Boase
QUT

Current treatments for debilitating diseases rely on separate processes for diagnosis, treatment and monitoring disease progression. If we can design new smart molecules that can do all these things simultaneously it would improve therapy by lowering side-effects and allow for personalisation of a patient’s care.

Dr Boase uses chemistry to create smart polymers that combine disease detection and treatment. He is looking at how these smart polymers can be controlled inside the body using light and radiation, allowing for remote control of these materials. He is also investigating how polymers interact with cell membranes, which often blocks their entry into cells.

Dr Melanie Finch
James Cook University

Green energy technology such as wind turbines, solar panels and electric car batteries are made up of a range of metals, such as copper, cobalt and rare earth elements. These are referred to as ‘critical metals’ due to their importance in the global switch to green energy technology. The switch to green energy technologies will be quicker and cheaper if we find more critical metal deposits within Australian rocks.

Dr Finch investigates how the minerals needed for green energy technology are concentrated in rocks, helping explorers find new mineral deposits.

Dr Cullan Howlett
The University of Queensland

An understanding of gravity and dark matter is essential to technologies such as GPS and others that improve our way of life.

Dr Howlett’s research involves using telescopes to map the positions and motions of millions of galaxies in our universe. Gravity combined with the light and dark components of our universe creates patterns in these maps. By measuring and modelling these patterns, Dr Howlett enables us to better understand our place in the cosmos and investigate how our universe came to look the way it does today.

Dr Zeinab Khalil
The University of Queensland

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria are increasingly resistant to antibiotics. By 2050, it is expected we will have 10 million deaths globally per year due to untreatable infections.

Dr Khalil leads the Antimicrobial Research and Development program and the first Australian citizen science program Soils for Science, focusing on soil microbes for drug discovery. Her work has yielded unprecedented benefits, including finding new chemical compounds and potential solutions for drug resistance.

Dr Kevin Koo
The University of Queensland

The current clinical test for prostate cancer detection is only accurate about half the time, men worldwide have to go through unnecessary biopsies and live with the side-effects of these invasive procedure.

Dr Koo’s research is investigating better biomarkers and technologies that can enable non-invasive prostate cancer detection. He has developed novel nanobiosensor technologies for detecting prostate cancer using biomarkers in urine with enhanced sensitivity, specificity and speed.

Dr Samuel Robinson
The University of Queensland

One in five Australians will suffer from chronic pain at some point in their lives. Many types of chronic pain remain poorly treated and there is worldwide demand for new and creative pain treatment strategies.

Dr Robinson is an expert on plants and animals that sting. Not all stings are equal as venoms represent a vast and diverse source of different pain-causing chemicals. By exploring the diverse chemistry underpinning different stings and how these chemicals interact with our bodies to cause pain, Dr Robinson can identify new potential drug targets in our pain signalling circuitry. Ultimately, this could lead to a completely new generation of painkiller drugs for different types of chronic pain.

Dr Nora Tischler
Griffith University

Secure communication systems based on quantum physics could help protect sensitive information such as medical records and financial transactions. Quantum computers could solve problems that are currently difficult, leading to advances in fields from healthcare to finance.

Dr Tischler uses photons, the fundamental particles of light, to encode, manipulate and read quantum information. She encodes information into different properties of photons, such as their polarisation, energy, timing or path. Quantum information could lead to new ways to process, store and communicate information that is more powerful and efficient than today’s information processing methods.

Dr Sarah Wallace
The University of Queensland

Every 19 minutes someone in Australia has a stroke and a third of those who survive will have aphasia. Aphasia affects language—our ability to speak, understand, read and write. The loss of language is devastating and people with aphasia are more likely to develop depression, less likely to return to work, and find it difficult to keep friendships and stay involved in important activities.

Dr Wallace is a speech pathologist who works with people with aphasia, families and clinicians to develop new treatments, systems and standards that make life with aphasia better.

Dr Chun Xu
The University of Queensland

Craniofacial and orodental defects are highly prevalent and have a significant impact on human health and wellbeing. For example, cleft lip and palate affects approximately one in 700 newborns in Australia. Currently, bone regeneration materials lack the required bioactivity, often resulting in less than satisfactory outcomes.

Dr Xu utilises nanotechnology to create materials which help our bodies naturally regrow bone. These materials are designed with specialised functions, such as attracting stem cells and preventing bacterial growth. Stem cells then turn into bone cells and can repair bone defects. He also uses 3D printing methods to produce personalised scaffolds, with these new materials, that fit the patient’s size and shape for easy handling and better result.

Associate Professor Hongzhi Yin
The University of Queensland

Privacy and AI domination are significant challenges that humankind faces in the context of big data and AI. AI's heavy reliance on data has led to the empowerment of tech giants and reshaping the global order.

Associate Professor Yin's research aims to counter this AI monopoly controlled by tech giants and return the power of AI and its data to the hands of the users. He has developed a new decentralised intelligent computing model that collaboratively processes and analyses data on connected personal devices, providing real-time intelligent services without relying on a central controller.

Dr Sobia Zafar
The University of Queensland

Dentistry is a profession that relies heavily on developing fine motor-skills and hand-eye coordination through structured preclinical activities in preparation for clinical practice. There is a constant demand to increase preclinical hours as every student attains manual dexterity skills at their own pace.

In response, Dr Zafar has introduced a series of innovative teaching tools in digital dentistry and brought those to the simulation laboratory setting to transform the student experience. She aims to tackle the struggles and anxieties that come with moving from the protected space of the simulation laboratory to take on patient care.

Dr Cheng Zhang
The University of Queensland

Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) “forever” chemicals are highly persistent and have been used extensively in a wide range of common household products and industrial applications in Australia, including non-stick cookware and fire-fighting foams. Unfortunately, the properties that make PFAS so effective in many applications also make them toxic to the environment and human health.

Dr Zhang’s research focuses on the design of new and efficient methods to remove toxic PFAS from drinking water, wastewater and the environment as well as to destroy PFAS. He has made significant breakthroughs in this area, including an innovative and efficient process that removes more than 99 percent of common PFAS chemicals in less than a minute. He has also developed a novel technology to destroy PFAS chemicals and convert them into useful products, contributing to the development of sustainable solutions for managing PFAS contamination.

Past winners

Find out about the 202220212020 and other Queensland Young Tall Poppy Science Award winners.