Celebrating outstanding women in science
Associate Professor Elizabeth Hinde and Dr Helen Green have received 2022 Women in Science Emerging Researcher (WISER) Awards to help further their respective research careers.
Launched in 2020, the Faculty of Science WISER Awards support early or mid-career female researchers who have excelled in their chosen fields and are emerging leaders in the sector.
There are two categories awarded annually, each providing the awardees with resources to further their growing careers and to help retain women in the field.
Associate Professor Elizabeth Hinde from the School of Physics was awarded the 2022 Mathematical Physical Sciences Award to advance her research on understanding living cell genome architecture in real-time.
“The WISER Award will enable me to focus on the development of new microscopy tools to quantify protein trafficking events with the nuclear landscape of a living cell, and promote the field of cellular biophysics to students interested in physics and biology,” Associate Professor Hinde said.
Dr Helen Green from the School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences received the 2022 Natural and Health Science Award to advance her critical work in dating and protecting Kimberley rock art.
“The Award will facilitate crucial relationship building with Indigenous communities and corporations in the Kimberley, allowing consultation and co-design of any resulting research programs and identification of opportunities for both the University researchers and the community members involved. Plans are already in place for an initial face-to-face meeting in the Kimberley with local groups in November 2022,” Dr Green said.
The Faculty of Science values the work that our female staff and academics do to promote science within the community and selection considers the candidate’s engagement with outreach activities including community and school involvement.
The Faculty of Science would like to acknowledge John Haasz for supporting the WISER Award in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences.
Associate Professor Elizabeth Hinde
Elizabeth Hinde is an ARC Future Fellow in the School of Physics at the University of Melbourne.
In 2010 Elizabeth completed her PhD in fluorescence spectroscopy at the University of Melbourne and was then recruited to the University of California, USA, to pursue a post-doctoral fellowship under the mentorship of Professor Enrico Gratton.
Her work is focused on the development of imaging methods to quantify the architectural organisation of a living cell and the use of this technology to understand how biological proteins navigate this dynamic three-dimensional (3D) landscape at the single-molecule level.
Among other achievements, Elizabeth's work has been recognised by the US Biophysical Society with the 2014 Young Fluorescence Investigator Award and the Australian Society of Biophysics with the 2016 McAulay-Hope Prize for Original Biophysics. She has held Fellowships from both the ARC and NHMRC throughout her career and has been invited to present at over 50 workshops and international conferences.
Dr Helen Green
Helen Green is the Kimberley Foundation Fellow in Rock Art Dating from Rock Art Australia and the Ian Potter Foundation. The focus of Helen’s research is understanding and dating mineral accretionary systems forming in association with aboriginal rock art. Primary applications of her work include isotope geochemistry, geochronology and archaeological science.
Helen’s research over the last five years has focused on analysing mineral accretions using a range of geochemical techniques to characterise and understand the formation processes occurring in relation to rock art pigments in northwest Australia's Kimberley region. Using the knowledge of various dating techniques, her research focuses on generating bracketing ages for different rock art styles comprising the established rock art sequence in the Kimberley region.
Helen has held several leadership roles such as the Science Early Career Advisory Network (SECAN) Chair – (2019-2021) and has been invited for keynote speaking roles on numerous occasions including the Rock Art Australia Fundraising Event.