Where would you travel to with $10,000?
For The University of Queensland’s Discovery Tour winner, Joshua Deerain, it’s the place that influenced Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theory of natural selection – the Galápagos Islands (Ecuador).
Mr Deerain, a second year Bachelor of Biomedical Sciences student at UQ, said winning the $10,000 Facebook competition would further enrich his passion for travel and biology.
“I’ve always had a love of travelling, so to win this prize is truly a dream come true,” he said.
“Darwin’s research at the Galápagos Islands and his subsequent work there changed the way we (scientists) view the origins of life.
“I love the unknown and admire anyone who has the persistence to break through it. I consider Darwin to be one of the most influential biologists of all time.”
The online competition, launched on UQ’s Facebook page in June, offered entrants the opportunity to win $10,000 worth of travel to explore the world.
Entrants used Google Earth technology to find five discovery locations around the world, where UQ staff, student and graduates are making a difference.
In addition, they were asked to write, in 25 words or less, where they would go on their Discovery Tour and why. Each entry was individually judged based on the literary and creative merit, and originality of the answer.
Mr Deerain demonstrated his love for biology in his winning entry; I'd go to the Galápagos Islands to discover the place where my hero, Charles Darwin did some of the greatest biological research of all time.
His enthusiasm for discovery and travel has recently taken him to University College Dublin (Ireland) for a six-month exchange, which he is currently undertaking.
“When I entered the competition I was in Switzerland, so the time difference meant that while I was on Facebook, there was nobody in Australia online to talk to, so I was looking through a range of Facebook pages,” Mr Deerain said.
“I found the UQ Discovery Tour page and thought the questions were very interesting and decided to try my luck and enter,” he said.
Upon his return to Australia in February 2012, Mr Deerain said he would start focusing on his specific interests in biomedical sciences.
“I would mostly like to specialise in genetics, molecular and cellular biology or immunology and infectious diseases,” he said.
“Since undertaking a high school research project with Professor Ian Frazer, I was inspired to use my love for biology to help humanity fight the diseases of today.”
Keep in touch with UQ on our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/uniofqld
Media: Carly Barrett (Office of Marketing and Communications; 07 3365 1943 or c.barrett1@uq.edu.au or Caroline Bird 07 3365 1931, c.bird1@uq.edu.au)
