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The 2008-09 WQRA Summer Research Scholarship reporting seminar was held at the Ibis Hotel in Melbourne on the 17th February. Around 40 people came along on the day - some stayed for the whole day and others just for part of it. It was great to see good support from local and interstate WQRA research and industry partners. Some Melbourne delegates were unable to attend for the whole day or at all due to the Victorian bushfires.

The audience heard 10 excellent presentations from our hard working summer vacation students. Judging the presentations were Emeritus Professor Nancy Millis (former Chairman of the CRC for Water Quality and Treatment), Dr Kathryn Linge from Curtin University and Jodieann Dawe, the CEO of WQRA.
Download the Program (PDF) and Project Report Summaries (PDF) of the student projects.

2008/09 WQRA Summer Research Scholarship Students with some audience members More Photos

Prizes were given to three outstanding students - Tom O'Rielly, Jane-Louise Lampard and Dylan Irvine.
•  Tom's project, investigating industry water recovery using membranes and waste heat, was conducted under the supervision of Associate Professor Mikel Duke (Victoria University) and Nigel Corby from City West Water.
•  Jane-Louise Lampard's project was to look for contaminants of concern in recycled water and her supervisors were Associate Professor Heather Chapman and Dr Fred Leusch at Griffith University.
•  Dylan Irvine's project was to investigate the potential of using modified Zeolite to prevent biological clogging of artificial recharge structures. He was supervised by Dr Huade Guan, Dr John Hutson, Professor Craig Simmons at Flinders University.

The day following the Seminar was due to be spent on a tour of the Yan Yean Water Treatment Plant and Wallaby Creek Catchment. Sadly this beautiful reserve was one of the areas burnt out in the bushfires, and a last minute change in plans was necessary. The students were instead taken to see the Royal Park Wetlands and then the Melbourne Aquarium. We are grateful to Liam Pettigrew, who made all of the tour arrangements for us.

Feedback from students on their WQRA Summer Research Scholarship experience:

"Improved my professional experience and confidence (particularly with seminar presenting); gave me great personal experience into culture and social issues; exposure to industry for future career options / employment. An overall highly beneficial experience for my future career and personal knowledge."

"Applying University knowledge in the real world, networking, enhance university knowledge."

"Become more familiar with the Australia Water Industry as well as a good experience for the scholars."

1. "It gave me a taste of what a research life is like in the real world.
2. I have learnt many things during the summer from the research.
3. It built up my personal skills in time management, presentation, research skills etc.
4. The conference also provided a good opportunity to meet other students from different places.
5. I have had a great look into what working in research is like. I have managed to build on my experience and knowledge in a way that university study would not offer. I will also have a research project that I can put my name to."

"The WQRA Scholarship experience provides undergraduate students the opportunity to work in a lab environment and learn specific techniques that may become useful throughout the researching career of the student. The seminar programs allows wonderful opportunity to network with fellow students, industry members and academics who are in a related field."