Field work
Last week I had the opportunity to catch up with a few researchers in Brisbane who are also involved in bauxite residue mud research. It’s hard to know what to expect from people when you’ve only arranged to meet them over email, but they were all very friendly and more than happy to discuss different aspects of residue rehabilitation. Nerds of a feather stick together, or something like that I guess. Talking with them was valuable not only for getting some different perspectives on my research proposal and experimental approach, but also for finding out what areas are being researched right now (and what has been done recently but not yet published). Conversion of experiments to published papers can mean lag times of anywhere upwards of a year, so it was worthwhile talking to active researchers to shortcut the publication process.
Just for the record, I was actually on holiday in Brisbane, visiting my boyfriend Stefan. He’s undertaking two months of his PhD research into synthesising biodegradable scaffolds for tissue engineering with a polymer chemistry group at the University of Queensland. So I didn’t spend the whole trip nerding it up – we also went to Noosa for the long weekend, saw the Glasshouse Mountains, the Big Pineapple (not nearly as tacky as we’d hoped) and Ettamogah Pub, and caught up with a friend who’s moved from Kojonup to Toowoomba for work. Noosa and the Glasshouse Mountains did provide some examples of soil science in action though, and I couldn’t resist taking a few photos (attached).