• Charles Sturt’s Faculty of Science and Health hosted its HDR and Honours Symposium
• HDR and Honours students gave 10-minute presentations of their research to their peers
• Students presented their research and also participated in professional development workshops

Future leaders in science and health from Charles Sturt University presented their research projects to industry experts, academics and student peers during an online forum.

The Higher Degree Research (HDR) and Honours Symposium was recently held online and provided HDR and Honours students the chance to showcase their research to their peers.

Students had 10 minutes to present their research, followed by five minutes of question time. Monetary prizes were awarded to the best and runner-up HDR seminar, the best and runner-up Honours seminar and the best and runner-up poster.

The winners and runners up for best HDR and Honours presentation were:

• Best HDR Presentation: Darby Taguiam for ‘Identification and pathogenicity of persimmon dieback pathogens in Australia’
• Best Honours Presentation: Natalie Perez De Villarreal for ‘Does a low-fidelity canine suspensory ligament model improve veterinary student confidence and preparedness during live ovariohysterectomy surgery?’
• Runner-up HDR Presentation: Milad Kazemi for ‘Valorisation of canola oil refining waste-streams for recovery of micronutrients’
• Runner-up Honours Presentation: Joshua Slattery for ‘Development of a diagnostic assay to detect Trichomonas tenax using CRISPR-Cas12a’

The symposium allowed students a chance to extend their peer networks, develop presentation skills for communicating with a non-specialist audience and attend professional development workshops to enhance their research career.

The Sub Dean, Graduate Studies with the Charles Sturt Faulty of Science and Health in Wagga Wagga Professor Sandra Savocchia said there was an extraordinary variety of research on display.

“Our research investigates fundamental human needs such as food and water, through to the health of both humans, animals and the environment,” she said.

“It is exciting to be able to present a symposium that offers such a diversity of research.”

Participants had a chance to meet staff and other students in person during networking lunches in Wagga Wagga, Orange, Bathurst, Port Macquarie and Albury-Wodonga.

Professor Savocchia said this opportunity allowed students to meet other participants and discuss their research with their peers in a supportive environment.

Mr Darby Taguiam’s PhD research aims to provide persimmon growers with effective strategies to combat dieback, which is a disease causing significant yield losses.

“Dieback disease in persimmons in Australia remains understudied, with limited understanding of the pathogen's identity and life cycle,” he said.

“Research on how to manage it is also very limited, leaving growers without clear solutions to combat the disease.

“Over the years, I’ve come to realise that publishing numerous papers holds little value if the information fails to reach the stakeholders.

“This is why it’s crucial for our research results to be translated into practical, easy-to-understand knowledge that our stakeholders can effectively apply.”

Mr Taguiam said winning best HDR presentation was both a humbling and proud moment.

“Knowing that the time and effort I’ve invested in this study have been recognised feels truly rewarding,” he said.

“This achievement is not the conclusion but a motivation to push myself further, aim higher and continue striving for excellence.”

Ms Perez De Villarreal’s research involved the creation of a canine suspensory ligament model that focuses on replicating the key components of a canine spey.

The study was completed with fourth-year veterinary science students completing spey clinic at Charles Sturt in Wagga Wagga as a representative sample of novice surgeons.

The aim was to assess the model’s impact on their confidence and preparedness in performing an ovariohysterectomy as part of spey clinic.

“Multiple studies have shown that veterinary students are graduating with low confidence and limited experience in performing an ovariohysterectomy and experience negative emotions towards the procedure due to this,” Ms Perez De Villarreal said.

“This project aims to create a realistic suspensory ligament, ovarian pedicle and mesovarium within the scope of a low-fidelity model, with the primary objective to increase student confidence and preparedness in performing live spey surgeries.

“This study also aims to create a surgical training tool that may be suitable to be utilised as an ethical and practical teaching model for future veterinary students.”

She said being named Best Honours Presentation gives her confidence going into the final stages of her assessment and motivates her to continue to reach the finish line.