PhD candidate Ariane Mora, from The University of Queensland’s School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, has been selected as a 2023 Schmidt Science Fellow.
Schmidt Science Fellows – an initiative of Schmidt Futures, delivered with the Rhodes Trust – are chosen from around the globe to try and tackle some of the world’s most pressing, multifaceted problems, such as microbial resistance, species extinction, an aging population and climate change.
As a Fellow, Ariane will be pivoting from biological sciences to earth sciences, studying carbon-cycling in closed systems with the aim of mitigating the impact of climate change.
“I really wanted to do ‘something’ about our changing climate, but it’s hard to know where to start,” Ms Mora said.
“Obviously stopping emitting would make the biggest difference, but human behaviour is far too complex for me to understand, so I’ve decided to focus on engineering biological organisms to take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere instead.
“Over the next two years, my goal is to augment existing large-scale infrastructure for carbon sequestration.
“To do this I’ll be working at one or more international institutions – collaborating with some of the world’s best scientists.
“Climate change is inevitable, it’s now just down to how much can we mitigate it – I hope my research plays a role in solving that puzzle.”
This is the first time a UQ researcher has been selected for this global honour.
Ms Mora believes the fellowship’s unique structure will allow her to not just focus on publishing research, but on solving this fundamental challenge to humanity.
“I’ll be able to go beyond the confines of traditional academia – the awesome thing about this particular fellowship is that the projects are encouraged to be bold and risky,” she said.
“I get to pursue something which I really believe could make a huge impact, but that also has a high likelihood of failure, which is honestly rather scary – and at times feels overwhelming.
“I’ve just submitted PhD, moved countries, and am pretty tired, but it’s such a privilege to be selected and to join such an inspiring community so hoping to give this project my all for the next few years.
“The fellowship also provides mentorship, the team of other scholars, and resources within the Schmidt community.
“I’m hopeful that something cool will come out of this, not only in of tangible outputs but also in terms of collaborations.
“I’m so excited to be part of a group of amazing scientists with whom ideas can grow and new projects can develop.
“When it comes to solving enormous, complicated problems like climate change, multiple brains are better than one!”
Ms Mora would like to thank Associate Professor Mikael Boden for his much-appreciated support and critical feedback, as well as family, friends and colleagues.
Media: Faculty of Science Media, science.media@uq.edu.au, +61 438 162 687.
