Premier Fellow
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| Coral concern ... Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg |
A University expert who pioneered research linking climate change projections with coral reef distress is the 2008 Smart State Premier’s Fellow.
Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg is the third University researcher to win the government’s top science prize, now in its third year. He was one of the world’s first scientists to show how projected changes to global climate threaten coral reefs including Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. “For some time now Professor Hoegh-Guldberg has been saying that unless we act to protect the Great Barrier Reef, we could see a situation where in 30 years’ time we won’t have much of our wonderful Reef left,” Premier Anna Bligh said as she announced the award at the University earlier this year.
The five-year fellowship gives a boost of more than $2.5 million to Great Barrier Reef research by Professor Hoegh-Guldberg and a large team. The Queensland Government’s $1.25 million contribution is matched by the University, and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation. The Reef and Rainforest Research Centre and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority are also sponsors.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Greenfield congratulated Professor Hoegh-Guldberg and commended the Queensland Government for continuing to recognise the vital need to fund researchers and their projects as well as their laboratories and equipment. Professor Hoegh-Guldberg will lead one of the world’s largest networks of scientists, research organisations, and government and industry representatives.
Much of the new work will be done at the University’s Heron Island Research Station using the latest technology in wireless sensor networks provided as part of the $16 million Great Barrier Reef Ocean Observing System led by the Australian Institute of Marine Science. Professor Hoegh-Guldberg founded the University’s Centre for Marine Studies and is Deputy Director of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies.
His achievements in recent years include attracting more than $25 million from the World Bank and Global Environment Facility for a global coral reef project that involves researchers and students from 20 countries and is coordinated by UQ. He was lead author of a report which made the cover of the December 2007 issue of the journal Science, and showed coral reefs would disappear within decades if levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide continued to rise.
Other Smart State fellowships to UQ staff included:
• a three-year, $300,000 Queensland Clinical Research Fellowship for Associate Professor of Paediatrics and Child Health, Anne Chang, who will target her work at improving the management of childhood coughs. Dr Chang is also Paediatric Respiratory Physician at Royal Children’s Hospital (Brisbane) and Head of Child Health at the Menzies Health School (Darwin).
• three, $300,000 Smart State Fellowships for
Dr Norelle Daly from the University’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience to develop new anti-cancer drugs. Dr Daly and her research team will investigate using peptides, the building blocks of proteins, to form the basis of a new generation of cancer therapeutics;
Photo: courtesy Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg
Dr Phillip Bond from the University’s Advanced Water Management Centre to develop new technology wastewater treatment. His research is being cosponsored by the Environmental Biotechnology Cooperative Research Centre ($175,000) and Waste Technologies of Australia ($25,000); and
Dr Xiaoying Cui from the University’s Queensland Brain Institute to investigate the effect, if any, of vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy on dopamine function in adulthood. “Dopamine is a chemical messenger in the brain associated with movement and emotions, as well as feelings of pleasure and pain,” Dr Cui said. “We are looking at the link between vitamin D, dopamine and schizophrenia.”
Story author: Fiona Kennedy
Top Photo: Chris Stacey
