Otago rewards up-and-coming researchers

Tuesday 24 July 2007

Otago rewards up-and-coming researchers

University of Otago Vice-Chancellor Professor David Skegg has announced this year’s recipients of the Early Career Awards for Distinction in Research.

The awards, first introduced in 2004, recognise outstanding research achievements by early career academic staff.

This year’s recipients are: Dr Phil Ainslie (Physiology); Dr Warwick Bowen (Physics), Dr Anna Carr (Tourism); Dr Anne-Louise Heath (Human Nutrition) and Dr Rebecca Roberts (Pathology, Christchurch)

Each will receive $5000 to be used for their research and scholarly development.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Geoff White says he congratulates the recipients, who represent the considerable talent among early-career staff at the University of Otago.

“These awards reflect Otago’s emphasis on nurturing promising early-career staff, who will be among our research leaders of tomorrow.”

Dr Phil Ainslie

Dr Phil Ainslie was appointed Lecturer in the Department of Physiology in 2005. Following his PhD in 2002, Dr Ainslie worked at various Universities in Canada, USA and UK where he developed various techniques to permit novel assessment of human cerebral vascular function. Dr Ainslie's current projects are focused on integrative human physiology, with particular emphasis on the interactions between the cardio-respiratory systems and cerebral perfusion. Sophisticated imaging and vascular measurement techniques are combined with biochemical and pharmacological methodologies to help tease out related mechanisms regulating blood flow to the brain.
Current projects include orthostatic tolerance in a range of physiological and patho physiological conditions; physical activity and aging; and consequences of intermittent or continuous hypoxia from obstructive and central sleep apnoea or high altitude. His work is supported by grants from the Health Research Council, Marsden Fund, University of Otago, the Otago Medical Research Foundation, SPARC and the Maurice and Phyllis Paykel Trust.

Dr Warwick Bowen

Dr Warwick Bowen is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Physics. He has made pioneering contributions to the fields of quantum information science and quantum optics; including critical advances towards the longstanding goal of quantum computation, demonstrations of quantum enhanced measurement devices, and studies of the esoteric properties of quantum entanglement.
These contributions have been reported in leading scientific journals and have inspired new research programmes in universities across the world. Dr Bowen’s research is now focused on applying advanced quantum optics techniques to other areas, and particularly to the development of new physical solutions for the biological sciences. His research is supported by the Marsden Fund, the Foundation for Research Science and Technology, and the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology.

Dr Anna Carr

Dr Anna Carr was appointed to the Department of Tourism as a lecturer in 2001. Her PhD research investigated the management of visitors’ experiences of interpretation in natural landscapes of cultural significance to Māori. In 2004, she was honoured to be a recipient of a Te Amorangi National Māori Academic Excellence Award. Subsequent research projects, supported by School of Business and University of Otago Research Grants, examined tourism entrepreneurship, media management strategies and cultural landscape interpretation in Scotland. Recently, she has worked as a co-investigator for several Department of Conservation projects. In 2005, Anna attended an HEDC Women in Leadership course involving a project with Dr Sarah Wakes, Design Studies, researching academic staff experiences of committee service. Dr Carr enjoys supervising research students and advocates research-informed teaching, actively coordinating summer school, distance learning and campus papers including Ecotourism Operations, Cultural and Heritage Tourism and Tourism Entrepreneurship.

Dr Anne-Louise Heath

Dr Anne-Louise Heath is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Human Nutrition. She is particularly interested in testing the scientific evidence for nutrition beliefs long held by health professionals and the general public – particularly those about iron. Can you improve your iron status by eating more meat? Are some people putting themselves at risk by consuming too much iron? Are New Zealand’s elite endurance athletes risking poor performance because they have poor iron status? Or are they risking their long-term health by taking iron supplements unnecessarily? These are questions that Dr Heath is answering in her collaborations with Dr Elaine Ferguson (Human Nutrition), Professor Susan Fairweather-Tait (University of East Anglia, UK), and Dietitian to the New Zealand Olympic team for Athens, Ien Hellemans (Human Nutrition). Dr Heath’s research has been supported by the Health Research Council, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (UK), and the UK Food Standards Agency.

Dr Rebecca Roberts

Dr Rebecca Roberts was first employed by the University through a health sciences postdoctoral fellowship (2003-2004). Since then, she has been a full-time Research Fellow in the University of Otago Christchurch Department of Pathology, funded by a New Zealand Science and Technology Postdoctoral Fellowship. Her primary research focus is inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). This common and debilitating illness is characterised by intestinal inflammation, diarrhoea, weight loss and abdominal pain. IBD has no complete cure and requires lifelong medication, medical supervision and often major surgery. Dr Roberts and her clinical collaborators are conducting studies to identify genetic factors that predict susceptibility to IBD, as well as response to immuno-suppressants used to manage this disease. Her research has resulted in three provisional patents and 20 papers in international peer-reviewed journals since 2003. Dr Roberts has given invited lectures at Kings College London and the Dr Margete Fischer Bosch Institute of Clinical Pharmacology (Germany).

ENDS

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