Celebrating success in the SA Science Awards
Congratulations to Dr Richard Lilly and Dr Tahlia Perry who are finalists in the 2021 South Australian Science Excellence and Innovation awards!
The awards recognise South Australia’s top scientists, researchers, educators and innovators for their outstanding contributions to the advancement of science and research.
Dr Lilly is a finalist in the STEMM Educator of the Year category and Dr Perry, the PhD Research Excellence category. The award winners will be announced on Friday November 26 - the event will also be live streamed.
Dr Richard Lilly
Dr Lilly is currently an Embedded Research Fellow at the University of Adelaide where he teaches, supervises and coordinates a range of minerals industry related research projects for companies including Mount Isa Mines and OZ Minerals.
In 2016, Richard co-founded the successful National Exploration Undercover School (NExUS), which provides advanced training to the most promising geoscientists in Australia. The NExUS program has an alumni of 161 geoscientists from across Australia who are engaged in a wide range of geoscience roles to benefit the discovery and use of natural resources essential for our daily lives.
The NExUS program has also expanded to offer professional development workshops, 'work ready' activities for undergraduates and a geoscience/STEMM outreach program. NExUS has a strong national and international reputation for its program of activities and unique style of teaching.
Dr Tahlia Perry
Dr Perry is a postdoctoral researcher, award-winning scientist and science communicator who is passionate about conserving Australia’s wildlife using innovative methods to engage the public.
In 2017, she launched the Australia-wide citizen science project, EchidnaCSI, which relies on public input to submit echidna sightings and scat samples to better understand wild echidna populations for conservation purposes.
Tahlia has developed molecular techniques to analyse the gut microbiome and diet of echidnas from scats submitted through EchidnaCSI, bringing together areas of genetics, microbiology, and bioinformatics with ecology, public engagement and conservation.
Findings from her research are being used to inform conservation management practices and policies of endangered Australian monotremes, and to build extensive international collaborative networks to further conservation research.