Four of Murdoch’s most accomplished researchers have been recognised for their decades of forging strong international links while passing on their knowledge and expertise to past and present Murdoch students.

Each was been recognised in the 2018 Vice Chancellor’s awards for their research excellence and strong body of expertise.

Mary Anne Kenny: passionate advocate for refugees and asylum seekers

During her more than 15 years at Murdoch, Associate Professor Mary Anne Kenny has an established national and international reputation on legal issues relating to refugees, human rights and law reform.

She has taken on an advisory role with the Minister for Home Affairs, the Department of Home Affairs, and the Republic of Nauru government on matters relating to the human rights of refugees and asylum seekers.

Research, policy analysis and community work, along with Professor Kenny’s advocacy for asylum seekers in Australia, who arrived by boat and subsequently placed in held detention, has been held in the highest regard nationally.

She has taken a direct role in reviewing the relationship between mental deterioration and legal processes associated with refugee status determination in immigration detention centres on Nauru, Christmas Island, Yongah Hill, Perth and Darwin.

Professor Kenny's often multi-disciplinary research on refugee law and policy was inspired and informed by her past practice with community legal centres, continuing pro bono work with refugees and asylum-seekers, visits to detention centres, close links to non-government organisations, lawyers and advocacy groups, and active commitment to human rights and social justice.

“My interest has always been in the area of human rights, advocacy and social justice,” Professor Kenny said. “I do my best to use my research as a tool to create positive change.”

Professor Kenny was awarded the Vice Chancellor’s Research Excellence Award for Impact in Communities in recognition of her work.

Neil Loneragan: Fish ecology expert with strong Murdoch connections

Professor Ian Potter, his father Jack and his later mother Mona have all been inspirations to Neil Loneragan throughout his long academic career, which has included two separate stints at Murdoch – the first from 1979 to 1989, and the second commencing in 2005.

Professor Loneragan is widely regarded as one of Western Australia’s foremost fish and marine experts, whose extensive international links – particularly in China, Indonesia and the United States – have brought attention to Murdoch’s wide-ranging research projects.

His research covers the broad areas of fisheries ecology, marine biology, data-limited fisheries, fisheries stock enhancement and sea ranching.

Restocking of school prawns in the Swan-Canning estuary and the socio-economic values of small-scale fisheries in south-western Australia are examples of his recent research projects, which interests have provided opportunities for the development of many young people through the completion of Honours and PhD research degrees.

Professor Loneragan has also led large, multi-disciplinary research collaborations such as the CSIRO Collaboration project on the Ningaloo Marine Park and the WA Marine Science Institution project on ecosystem indicators for fisheries management.

Joe Fontaine: Fire ecologist and lover of natural history

Originally from the western USA, Joe Fontaine joined Murdoch in 2008, studying the impacts of wildfire and forest management on birds, mammals, and vegetation.

Since arriving in Western Australia, he has continued to develop his keen interest in working with on-ground managers to find solutions to environmental challenges associated with fire, climate change, and land use.

Dr Fontaine’s work focuses on the interplay of fire and climate change and has contributed to improved conservation of WA’s spectacular biodiversity and gained global attention to the importance of climate change-fire interactions.

His research has shown how soil moisture deficits and dry seasons can result in forest vegetation experiencing additional water stress, leading to woody materials drying out and triggering bushfires.

Working with fire managers to do experimental burns in woodlands and heaths, he continues to measure how native plants survive after bushfire, along with assessing how weed invasion, rainfall decline and global warming affects native plant species.

His work also includes investigation of the impacts of urbanisation on Mediterranean woodlands and ways to retain biodiversity in the city both in urban reserves and in suburban gardens. 

Sam Abraham: microbes, antimicrobial resistance and gene transfers

After receiving a Bachelor of Science in Zoology in 2006 from Mahatma Gandhi University in Kerala, his home town in India, Dr Abraham moved to Australia where he joined the University of Wollongong.

He completed a Masters in Biotechnology and a PhD in Micro and Molecular Biology, before transferring to the University of Adelaide in 2012.

There he worked with Professor Darren Trott to establish the first national network on antimicrobial resistance surveillance in Australian animals and arrived at Murdoch University in 2015 as an academic lecture in veterinary and medical infectious diseases.