Ian Davey Research Thesis Prize awardees
The Ian Davey Research Thesis Prize fund established by the University of South Australia supports a prize to acknowledge the most outstanding research thesis by a University of South Australia Higher Degree Research Student leading to a Doctor of Philosophy degree.
2010
Dr Ben Johnson
No-one
could be more surprised than Dr Ben Johnson himself that the thesis has
attracted so much positive attention. Just last month his work won him
the Mike Miller Medal from UniSA's Institute for Telecommunications
Research following hot on the heels of the announcement that the work
won the university-wide prize for an outstanding thesis - the Ian Davey
Thesis Prize.
'It has been a bit of a surprise to gain all this attention for the thesis but I must say I have enjoyed the whole process and especially the stunningly good relationship I have with my supervisor - Professor Yuri Abramobich from the Defence Science and Technology Organisation and an adjunct professor at UniSA,' he says.
Dr Johnson's research focuses on adaptive signal processing in high frequency radar. His thesis explores and provides a greater understanding of how adaptive systems can be developed to more reliably eliminate extraneous interference. More information
2009
Dr Georg Grossmann
Dr Georg Grossmann, a Research Fellow in the School of Computer and Information Science (Division of Information Technology, Engineering and the Environment), has been awarded the 2009 Ian Davey Research Thesis Prize.
Dr Grossmann undertook his PhD research through a UniSA President's Scholarship. His research was partially funded by an Australian Research Council (ARC) project in the area of Business Process Integration and the Cooperative Research Centre for Integrated Engineering Asset Management (CIEAM).
Dr Grossmann said 'I was in the unique position of having two professors as supervisors who are experts in my area.' Professor Markus Stumptner, Director of the Advanced Computing Research Centre at the School of Computer and Information Science, was Dr Grossmann's primary supervisor. His associate supervisor was Professor Michael Schrefl, Head of the Department of Business Informatics - Data & Knowledge Engineering, Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Austria. More information
2008
Dr Katrina Jaworski
UniSA's postdoctoral research associate in health sciences,
Dr Katrina Jaworski has been awarded the
Ian Davey
Research Thesis Prize for the most outstanding 2007 PhD thesis, The
gender of suicide.
Completed at the
School of
Communication, Dr Jaworski's thesis looks at how gender plays an
important part in the way that society understands suicide.
Dr Jaworski's thesis was supervised by Director Research in the School of Communication, Dr Vicki Crowley, and passed without any changes. Dr Jaworski paid tribute to Dr Crowley, who encouraged her work to be interdisciplinary, to be rigorous and to use different theoretical tools in conducting her research. More information
2007
Dr Diwakara Halanaik
Water economist Dr Diwakara Halanaik is the winner of the
inaugural Ian Davey Research Thesis Prize for the most
outstanding PhD thesis. Dr Halanaik undertook his PhD research through a UniSA
President's Scholarship
'What was particularly good, and particularly interesting for me, about the thesis was that it had very, very complimentary reports indeed,' Prof Davey said. 'There had already been evidence of publication in international journals - which we thought was an indication of quality already. The examiners from the University of Indiana and a very well-established and reputable private research centre in Bangalore, India, were internationally recognised in the field.
'And the thesis topic of water and water policy focuses on a whole set of issues that is so topical today, not only in Australia but throughout the world in terms of how we manage our water resources more effectively.' More information (UniSANews)