Suzanne Lazaroo
28 July 2020: It’s that time once again, for the combination of innovative research and open competition encapsulated by the University of Canberra’s annual Rapid Fire Research competition, to be held on Wednesday 29 July.
Hosted by the Faculty of Health, the annual event sees both student researchers and academics presenting proposed, ongoing and completed research. They can use a maximum of three slides in three minutes in their presentations.
Presenters focus on health-related research, with some competitors doing so in collaboration with other Faculties.
As the name implies, the research presentations are short and sharp – and anyone going over the three-minute time limit (or five minutes, for teams) gets ‘shot’ by a Nerf gun wielded by one of the organisers.
“Rapid Fire Research is now in its third year, and it’s just been getting better and better in terms of the quality of the performances and presentations,” said Associate Dean of Research Professor Jennie Scarvell, who started Rapid Fire Research.
“Last year, some of the presenters even had costumes!”
To facilitate physical distancing requirements, this will be the first time that the competition will stream to an online audience. It will also have a limited live audience.
This year’s event will be officiated by Professor Leigh Sullivan, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Innovation at the University of Canberra.
“Expanding to an online platform means that we will probably have a bigger audience, because it will be easier for people to join in from wherever they are,” Professor Scarvell said.
The researchers will be competing for cash prizes of $500 for the winning individual, and $1,000 for the winning team. Winners will be determined by an online voting system, so it’s all up to the audience.
“Rapid Fire Research provides a way to present research that is fun, accessible and creative,” Professor Scarvell said. “It’s the bright edge of research.”
Here are this year’s presenters:
Individual presentations
Bernie Bissett | Beyond COVID-19: Rethinking Rehab after the ICU |
Amanda Mckie | Supportive Care of a Young Person with Kidney Transplant |
Natasha Jojo | How Long Do We Remain Silent? Promote Justice, They Do Have the Right to Live a Happy Childhood |
Dick Telford | Early Learning: New Evidence of Mind-body Co-operation |
Angie Fearon | How Does Greater Trochanteric Pain Syndrome turn into Hip Osteoarthritis? |
Kristy Martin | Mental Fatigue |
Amanda Mckie | What’s God Got to do with Having a Renal Transplant? |
Team presentations
Celeste Coltman and Rob Davidson | Determining Thoraco-abdominal Organ Location for Applications in Body Armour Design |
Nick Ball, Nick Brown, Wayne Spratford | The Best of Friends: Profiling the Muscle-Tendon Relationship |
Janie Busby-Grant, Glen Fuller, Lean O’Brien, Ro McFarlane and James Neill | Fun for the Whole Family: Highlighting Family-friendly Cycling Infrastructure in the ACT |
Rapid Fire Research will be held from 11.30am–2.30pm on 29 July 2020 at 12B50 and online.
Attendance is free. To register, send an email to healthresearch@canberra.edu.au.
