Meet the ABC's Top 5 scientists for 2018

Astrophysicist Natasha Hurley-Walker knew from the age of seven that science was her destiny.

From the moment she saw the Starship Enterprise "exploding out of the screen, in this great big fanfare of music", she was hooked.

"I was always really fascinated by space and it kind of pushed me towards science," she says.

"I was one of those kids with the glow-in-the-dark stickers on the bedroom, I had all the planets in exactly the right order … I was obsessed with this stuff. For me, it was the best way of explaining the world."

It is this drive to understand the universe — here on Earth and beyond — that each of the ABC's 2018 Top 5 scientists share.

The Top 5 program is an annual quest to find five of the brightest science communicators in Australia, to help them share their ideas with the country.

Announced this morning, this year's winners are all women — for the first time in the initiative's four-year history. They come from a wide range of research backgrounds, from radio astronomy and advanced manufacturing, to the psychology of trauma, the impact of genetic testing and the use of exercise in cancer recovery.

These brilliant young minds are working to find answers for some of the world's most pressing questions.

We asked them how they plan to do it, and why.

Dr Natasha Hurley-Walker

International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, Curtin University

Tell us about your research

My research is concerned with observing the universe and I use a novel technology called radio astronomy — though it's not so much the field that's new, but the instrument that I'm using and how I'm using it. The telescope is called the Murchison Widefield Array and it's situated in outback Western Australia. I had this ambitious plan and idea to observe the whole sky. This is quite crazy for astronomers, because normally you just pick a little bit, pick a little object, and you look really hard at that.

We had taken some data from across the whole sky, across the whole telescope range of frequencies, and I thought "I think I could make an image of the whole sky", in colour.

Why is your research important?

The telescope observes at these low frequencies and it also can observe over a really wide band. So it doesn't just look at one little narrow frequency, which is what radio telescopes have done until very recently.

That means we can look at the radio colour [of objects in the universe]. If something is bright at low frequencies and dim at high frequencies it looks red in the radio telescope, and if something is the other way around … it kind of looks blue.

That colour aspect is really important. It allows us to immediately tell what things are, based on their colour. For example, we can look at these objects called radio galaxies, which are where there's a black hole and it's emitting massive plumes of gas into space. If it looks red … the jets are dying; if it's blue, its jets have just started. Before, all you would know is that something was there, not what phase of life it was in.

This is a really fun view of the sky. And if you look at the radio colour image, it's quite beautiful, because it's just got all this fantastic colour in it.

What's the best thing about your job?

I would say it's the fact that I get to work with really, really smart people … I'm in awe of some of the other people in my department and we all have different skills. You put us all together and we can create fantastic things and discover amazing things about the universe.

Dr Caitlin Curtis

Centre for Policy Futures, University of Queensland.

Tell us about your research

I'm a genetic scientist looking at how genomics and technology are impacting society. My work focuses on the impacts that genomics is having on people's lives as they start to take genetic tests … in the medical context and in direct consumer genetic testing.

I'm involved in a few different projects at the moment, and one of them is looking at Google Trends data to learn about people's perceptions of genetic testing and awareness of genetic testing.

I'm also working on some cryptography solutions for storing genetic data, with people in IT. And I'm part of the Queensland Genomics Health Alliance — we're looking at the ethical, social and legal issues around the uptake of genomic testing into Queensland Health. I'm very interested in the privacy issue and what happens to our data once we take one of these tests.

How can we create systems to safely manage that data and how do we want that data to be used?

Why is your research important?

The thing that I would like to see is some awareness around the issues with our genetic data — which are the same as the issues with all the other personal digital data that we're seeing online. That, to me, is the big challenge that we're facing right now. Our genetic data isn't like a lot of the other data that is out there, like a credit card.

The decisions that we're making around our genetic data are not only affecting us, as we've seen around the recent Golden State Killer case. When we put our genetic data out there, it's also going to have an effect on our family members — even distant family members we may not have even met.

What's the best thing about your job?

At this point in my career I'm transitioning from doing a lot of work at the bench, doing the science and the pipetting, to doing a lot more writing. I really love writing in a way that reaches the public.

But of course, I'm also a scientist. I like crunching data and seeing patterns in data … I'm very happy as a scientist.

Dr Nasim Amiralian

Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, University of Queensland

Tell us about your research

I work in nanomaterials engineering. In 2013 during my PhD, I discovered unique and high-quality fibres (cellulose nanofibers) isolated from Australian spinifex grass using simple, cost-effective and environmentally friendly methods. These nanofibers are a game-changer for advanced manufacturing.

Currently I am working to validate my patented technology in the real world applications of ultra-thin and strong latex membranes for condom and glove applications, reinforcing cement and recycled cardboard boxes, and a green precursor for renewable carbon fibre.

Why is your research important?

My work will deliver social, environmental and economic benefits to Australia by developing new nanocellulose-based manufacturing industries and exportable high-value raw materials and additives, providing new jobs, and helping to manage our environmental assets by making use of a largely ignored sustainable resource.

Simultaneously, my work will kickstart a new remote Indigenous enterprise.

This training and experience will launch Indigenous people into more high-tech careers (such as in minerals processing or manufacturing) and hopefully inspire them to pursue further STEM education.

What's the best thing about your job?

Dealing with the real-world challenges and finding solutions for them.

Dr Belinda Liddell

Refugee Trauma and Recovery Program in the School of Psychology at UNSW Sydney

Tell us about your research

My research focuses on refugee mental health and also understanding cross-cultural differences.

I'm using neuroscience methods to investigate how trauma affects the brain, which is really important because current treatments — that we know of — lack an evidence base and are less effective than they should be. By understanding some of the biological and neural processes that underpin the effects of refugee trauma, we might be able to develop more targeted treatments.

I'm also looking at factors that drive resilience adaptation pathways and factors that might determine difficulties in the settlement environment, such as reduced mental health or emotion regulation difficulties, or difficulties responding to stressful situations.

The third stream is around trying to understand why different cultural perspectives change our mental and biological processes, particularly underpinning our emotions and our social functioning.

We live in a multicultural society and so trying to understand why different cultural perspectives affect our very basic process, including the way our brain perceives the world around us and processes information, might help us build bridges between different cultural groups and improve understanding.

Why is your research important?

My main motivation is to reduce suffering.

The trauma that refugees are exposed to is typically more extreme, including periods of conflict, human rights abuses like torture, and witnessing atrocities such as the murder of loved ones. This has a really deep impact on psychological and physical wellbeing of people.

We need to understand what these effects are, so that we can design treatments, interventions and policies that can help.

What's the most exciting thing about your job?

What I love about my research career is that you can focus on what you're most interested in, and explore it. This is a novel area, where we're bringing a scientific method to understanding refugee experiences, and understanding those mechanisms.

Meeting and working with refugee communities, as well as service providers and people that engage in the community … that's a really cool part of what I do as well.

Dr Catherine Granger

Royal Melbourne Hospital and a senior lecturer at the University of Melbourne

Tell us about your research

My research focuses on the role of physical activity and exercise for people diagnosed with cancer.

I am looking at the ways in which being physically active can improve many important outcomes for people with cancer, such as quality of life and daily functioning, as well as how we can change the models of care within the health system to ensure people with cancer receive physical activity advice or treatment.

What change do you hope will come from your research?

I hope my research will ultimately improve the quality of survival of people with cancer, through generating high-quality evidence on the need, role and implementation of physical activity and exercise in cancer.

What's the best thing about your job?

For me, my ultimate goal is to improve the quality of survival of people with cancer through generating knowledge about the use and impact of physical activity and exercise after diagnosis.

The Top 5 scientists initiative is a partnership between ABC RN and UNSW. The five researchers will work at the ABC in the first two weeks of July — so look out for more from them next month.

In 2018, the program has been extended to include five top humanities researchers, in partnership with the University of Sydney. Those winners will be announced in coming weeks.