Published on the 27th August 2018 by ANSTO Staff
Three French students and one Australian student have been selected to receive the 2018 Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering (AINSE)-ANSTO-French Embassy Research Internship Program scholarships. The scholarships facilitate an international exchange that allows the recipients to complete research at a guest institution.
The scholarships, which foster international collaboration, were awarded in four areas within nuclear science and engineering: human health, environment, and the nuclear fuel cycle.
“We were greatly impressed with the quality of the applicants and the quality of the projects. This year extended the scholarships to four students and broadened the disciplines. ,” said AINSE Managing Director, Michelle Durant.
Human Health
PhD candidate Denver Linklater from Swinburne University of Technology will continue her work on nanomaterials with the ability to rupture bacteria cells at the Institute of Advanced Biosciences, University of Grenoble-Alpes in France.
Linklater will be investigating the underlying physio-mechanical interactions of nanostructures at the bio-interface.
Nanofeatures that exhibit effectiveness against harmful organisms have application in bio-medical sensors, vaccines, and implant technology.
PhD candidate Jean Goder (not shown) from the Ècole Normale Superiere de Paris investigates fundamental physical interactions of mobile lipid bilayer surfaces.
The scholarship will take him to the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and ANSTO, where he will use small angle X-ray scattering and other techniques to characterise the membrane system.
The novel system has a tethered polymer that acts as hydrated cushions for trans- membrane proteins.
PhD candidate Izabella Zahradnik from the Doctoral School of Particles, Hadrons, Energy, Nuclei, Instrumentation, Imaging, Cosmos and Simulations at University Paris-Saclay will be spending six months at the University of Wollongong (Centre for Radiation Physics) and ANSTO (Nuclear Stewardship) to work on her diamond-based micro-dosimetry project for particle therapy and space applications.
Zahradnik hopes to obtain state-of- the- art energy measurements required for use under clinical conditions in the delivery of particle therapy.
The linear energy transfer of particles is fundamental to predicting the relative biological effectiveness of particle therapy, an innovative form of radiation therapy.
She is expected to be supervised by Distinguished Prof Anatoly Rozenfeld at the University of Wollongong and Dr Dale Propokovich at ANSTO.
The SAAFE scholarship is awarded annually with the support of ANSTO, AINSE and the Embassy of France in Australia.
Environment
Oswald Malcles, who is completing a PhD at the University of Montpelier, has received a scholarship to further his research into understanding the intra plate dynamics of recent vertical movements associated with the French Massif Central.
The processes at work across intra plate locations are not well understood nor whether the mountains formed by plate thrusting are young or old.
Malcles will be using cosmogenic nuclide dating under the supervision of environmental scientist Dr David Fink to determine a timeline for river incision and bedrock erosion across the Massif Central.