Conversations with Australian scientists

Dr Elizabeth Dennis interviewed by Professor Frank Gibson in 2000. Dr Elizabeth Dennis is an eminent plant molecular biologist and a Chief Research Scientist working in the Division of Plant Industry of CSIRO in Canberra, where she leads a large team of research workers.

Dr Lloyd Evans interviewed by Professor Bob Crompton, 2003. Dr Lloyd Evans is a highly distinguished plant scientist whose research has focused on the physiology of flowering. After completing a DPhil at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, he worked at the California Institute of Technology before becoming a research scientist at the CSIRO Division of Plant Industry.

Interviewed by Dr Max Blythe in 1993 with Dr Max Day. Dr Max Day studied botany and zoology at the University of Sydney, receiving a BSc in 1937. He was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 1956.

Dr Moira O’Bryan interviewed by Ms Nessy Allen in 2001. Dr Moira O’Bryan, despite her youth, has already made a major contribution in the area of molecular reproduction and endocrinology. She started her career at St Vincent’s Hospital, in Fitzroy, Melbourne, working on the characterisation of an immune regulator in the male reproductive tract, and its effect on infertility.

Dr Natashia Boland interviewed by Ms Marian Heard in 2001. Dr Natashia Boland was awarded a PhD by the University of Western Australia for her work on operations research using continuous optimisation techniques in 1992. She was a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Waterloo, Canada, in the Department of Combinatorics and Optimisation.

Nicole Webster was born in Ormskirk, UK in 1973. Webster completed a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in 1995 and a PhD in 2001, both at James Cook University in Queensland. Her PhD thesis investigated the microbial ecology of a Great Barrier Reef sponge, focusing on the stability of the symbiotic associations over different areas and under different stresses. Webster’s first postdoctoral fellowship was with the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) in 2001.

Oliver Mayo was born in Adelaide in 1942. Mayo was educated at St Peter’s College and then enrolled in a BSc degree at the University of Adelaide. He completed this degree, with Honours, in 1964. Mayo then began his PhD, again at the University of Adelaide, which he completed in 1968.

Patricia Woolley was born in 1932 in Denmark, Western Australia. After she earned a BSc from the University of Western Australia (1955) she continued working there as a research assistant to Professor Harry Waring, investigating marsupial biology. Her lifelong interest in dasyurid marsupials began at this time.

Dr Phillip Law interviewed by Professor John Swan in 1999. Dr Phillip Law was born in Tallangatta, Victoria in 1912. His family moved to Hamilton, Victoria where he attended Hamilton High School. Law was educated at Ballarat Teachers' College and worked as a secondary school teacher in Hamilton and Geelong before beginning study at the University of Melbourne.

Dr Robin Batterham, a chemical engineer, was born in Brighton, Australia to a family with a talent for music and engineering. He faced an early choice between science and the arts before graduating from the University of Melbourne in Chemical Engineering and completing a PhD in 1969.