UQ PhD graduate Amanda Rasmussen has achieved well beyond her expectations having recently received the prestigious Marie Curie Fellowship, which funds a 24-month research project anywhere in Europe.
Dr Rasmussen is currently working with research collaborators at the University of Ghent in Belgium.
After completing an undergraduate degree with honours in botany and ecology, Dr Rasmussen took a position with the Department of Conservation and Land Management in Western Australia.
This was followed by a research officer position at the then Department of Primary Industries (DPI), now known as the Department of Employment, Economic Development
and Innovation (DEEDI).
It was her work with DPI teamed with the encouragement from her honours advisor Associate Professor Christine Beveridge that led Amanda back to UQ.
Dr Rasmussen's research aims to improve plant root formation in stem cuttings in order to enhance propagation.
"Propagation of plants is extremely important for lots of industries from forestry to horticulture and my research aims to ensure these techniques will improve and increase the production of plants for a variety of reasons; even to the point of assisting keen backyard gardeners," she said.
While completing her doctorate, Dr Rasmussen embraced every opportunity, participating in multiple skills training activities, UQ's Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, and attending UniQuest's commercialisation workshop.
She also won UniQuest's Trailblazer competition, was a postgraduate student representative, and completed a Graduate Certificate in Higher Education concurrently. In 2009 Dr Rasmussen was awarded a Queensland Government International Fellowship.
"During my PhD at UQ I spent seven months in Europe on travel grants attending very specific conferences, working in key laboratories and visiting the French National Institute of Agricultural Research," she said.
"The people I have met at universities and conferences have been instrumental in attaining the Marie Curie."
It was through a travel grant that she met Professor Danny Geelen, her current advisor at the University of Ghent.
Media: Dr Jessica Gallagher at the UQ Graduate School (07 3346 0508, j.gallagher@uq.edu.au)
