RESEARCHER PROFILE
Dr Rikki Jones (Filmed July 2024)
Senior Lecturer in Nursing
University of New England,
New South Wales, Australia
Dr Rikki Jones completed her Bachelor of Nursing degree at the University of New England (UNE) in 2000 and a Ph.D in Nursing at UNE in 2021. She has over 17 years of clinical nursing experience in emergency nursing, community health, rural and remote nursing, and theatre nursing. Since undertaking her role at UNE in 2017, Dr Jones has gained extensive experience in curriculum development/design, unit coordination, and is passionate quality meaningful research and student support.
At UNE, Dr Jones has been actively involved in and undertaking leadership roles in research, teaching and student support. Dr Jones is the HDR (higher degree research) coordinator for the School of Health (SOH), and the Chair of Research Committee SOH. Recently she has been awarded an MRFF (Medical Research Future Funds)- Early to Mid-Career Researcher Initiative 2023 for her research focusing on regional, rural and remote first responders’ mental health.
Dr Jones has been awarded to date a total of over AUD$430,000 in research funding. She is currently leading four large national research teams focusing on rural health and sustainable rural health workforce (include mental health of first responders, sexual violence in rural Australia, virtual simulated nursing placements, and nursing students experience with online learning, connection and transitioning to practice).
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At the frontier of human cellular neuroscience research
Associate Professor Cedric Bardy is the Director of The Laboratory for Human Neurophysiology, Genetics & Stem Cells, located at SAHMRI. South Australia.
His current research uses preclinical, patient-derived cell models to test innovative therapeutic strategies, with a current focus on Parkinson’s disease, brain cancer and childhood dementia (Sanfilippo syndrome).
His work has established a platform to facilitate the discovery and validation of treatments for brain disorders. Their research is at the frontier of human cellular neuroscience research and translational applications that benefit global public health.
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ROCK-induced early-onset bowel cancer progression
Professor Michael Samuel is a cell biologist whose research interest is in understanding how cancer mechanobiology influences the tumour microenvironment, thereby promoting tumour progression. He is Professor of Matrix Biology at the University of South Australia, Adelaide and heads the Tumour Microenvironment Laboratory at the Centre for Cancer Biology and the Cancer Mechanotherapies Laboratory at the Basil Hetzel Institute for Translational Health Research.
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Respiratory health and the microbiome in the lung environment
Dr Taylor leads the Respiratory Health Group within the Microbiome and Host Health Program. His research employs tailored techniques that allow the lung environment to be characterised to a high level of accuracy, including detailed measurements of airway microbiology (microbiome), mucus composition, and inflammation. This information is used to identify predictive markers of chronic lung disease severity as well as determine effective forms of therapy.
