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Bionics Institute PhD student wins back-to-back public speaking awards

Bionics Institute PhD student wins back-to-back public speaking awards

Bionics Institute PhD student, Elise Ajay has won two prestigious public speaking awards in the space of a week, taking top prizes at the 2022 Australasian Auditory Neuroscience Workshop and the Biomed Link 2022 conference.

Elise was awarded best student speaker at the 2022 Australasian Auditory Neuroscience Workshop in November for her presentation titled: ‘A complete deafness model for optogenetic, electrical, and hybrid optogenetic-electrical stimulation of the auditory nerve’.

“It was a wonderful workshop, and I had a lot of fun sharing our latest research with the broader scientific community. I feel really lucky to be awarded for talking about what I’m passionate about!

Elise then won first prize in oral presentation at the Biomed Link 2022 conference, held at the Bio21 Institute at the University of Melbourne in December.  

Following an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering and biomedical science, Elise Ajay’s passion for music and her keen interest in the field of prosthetics led her to undertaking her PhD working with the Bionics Institute’s Optogenetics team to improve hearing treatments.

The awards add to Elise’s impressive list of early-career achievements, including last year’s win in the national “Pitch it Clever” competition.

Bionics Institute is a really conducive environment to research collaboration and learning. Elise Ajay

Elise has been a student at the University of Melbourne since 2020 and will be undertaking one more year of research at the Bionics Institute to complete her PhD.

Elise has also been a mentor in the Bionics Institute Girls in STEM Mentoring Program where she worked with high school students to help cultivate their interest in science and inspire them to undertake undergraduate studies in STEM. 

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