Adelaide University takes research beyond the lab

Connecting school kids with insect science

Dr Erinn Fagan-Jeffries is an entomologist and taxonomist who is working with local school children to identify, name, and describe insects in their local areas. Through citizen science project ‘Insect Investigators’, which won Australia’s renowned Eureka Prize in 2024, Dr Fagan-Jeffries has connected dozens of schools with researchers – benefitting both parties.

The project has contributed to science by documenting thousands of insects across the country, particularly in areas that are often difficult to reach. It has also contributed to Australia’s public DNA database of biodiversity, and has named 17 species.

Dr Fagan-Jeffries tells QS Insights that only about a third of Australia’s insects are formally named and described, so this work helps researchers, industry and the general public recognise their importance.

“Knowing how many species are here, where they live, and how to identify them is the first step to being able to conserve and use them effectively,” she says.

The project also helps to engage students with the sciences and broaden their understanding of the field of insects. “We did surveys with teachers and students and found that students expressed intentions to continue to engage in insect-nature activities,” says Dr Fagan-Jeffries.

“Teachers were keen to continue including insect and taxonomy-related topics in their curriculum.”

As the Insect Investigators team works through the data and publishes its findings, Dr Fagan-Jeffries hopes this project inspires similar research that grows the field and inspires young minds to engage in nature.

“I think everyone deserves the opportunity to connect with their local biodiversity, and we need everyone on board to help document it properly,” she says.

“Young people are often really curious and ask the best questions. We need that curiosity and passion to continue into the future.”

Improving preterm infant care through patient-informed research

Professor Michael Stark is the Deputy Director of Clinical Research at Adelaide University's Robinson Research Institute (RRI) and leads Neonatal Services at the Women and Children’s Hospital. Through their work at the hospital, Professor Stark and his multi-disciplinary team have one common goal: improving infants’ survival after preterm birth while also reducing their long-term neurodevelopmental complications.

The research team has produced many important findings – and their hospital-based work was crucial to this success.

Professor Stark’s transfusion research has led to an established international collaboration with Australian Red Cross Lifeblood that is informing how and when small babies are transfused. In partnership with the university’s Joanna Briggs Institute, Professor Stark and his team have developed a new way to care for vulnerable preterm babies that led to a 40% reduction in early brain injury. They’re also part of an Australia-wide perinatal research collaborative that has secured large funding toward ongoing research into preterm infant care.

Professor Stark says interacting with patients in the hospital improves research outcomes.

“The most important questions to be answered are defined by those with lived experience of preterm birth,” he says. “Consumer involvement is essential to the process of clinical practice improvement and change, so a large part of a clinical academics’ role now is therefore community engagement.”

Working with patients through clinical care enables the researchers to identify the most pressing questions to investigate in the lab. Professor Stark says this integrated model provides benefits beyond research outcomes, too.

“It is an undisputed fact that research-intensive clinical units, led by university staff and with infrastructure support, result in better outcomes for our patients,” he says. “Engagement with the community also ensures that this message is widely heard and that families want to be involved in research to improve outcomes for future patients.”

In his role at RRI, Professor Stark also works with students as part of RRI’s Future in Focus initiative, an immersive programme for senior school students to engage them in medicine, science, and health. The students have the opportunity to join researchers in the neonatal unit to see first-hand how they work with health practitioners and patients.

In its first year, the work experience programme already received more than 150 applicants.

“Excitingly, the Future Focus Scholarship will run again this year – larger and hopefully even better,” Professor Stark says.

Strengthening Indigenous language in remote communities

Dr Paul Monaghan and Karina Lester oversee the Mobile Language Team (MLT) at Adelaide University, which assesses, maintains, and strengthens South Australia’s Aboriginal languages. With partners around the country and world, their aim is to increase the use of the state’s 47 Indigenous languages and advocate for stronger language futures.

Dr Monaghan says MLT’s relationships are key to their work beyond the lab. With research spanning nearly two decades, the team has spent years developing “strong and enduring” partnerships with Aboriginal communities, organisations, families and individuals linked to the Aboriginal languages of the state. They work in communities – and importantly, with community members – to access archival records for Aboriginal communities, record speakers, create learning resources and language courses, and train young Aboriginal people in all aspects of language revival.

“As a Mobile Language Team, we are primarily interested in strengthening Indigenous languages – but languages are not used in a social vacuum,” Dr Monaghan says.

“Their use is linked to benefits in a range of health, education, social, environmental and economic domains, so what other important outcomes can be combined with strengthening Indigenous language use?”

In the Katiti Wiru (Healthy Teeth) project, MLT used language to advance the goals of the national Closing the Gap policy framework, which aims to improve health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The researchers translated oral health education content into the local language of a remote community and delivered it through community-centred workshops, educational resources and partnerships with health service providers.

“Kaṯiṯi Wiṟu takes an innovative approach to improving oral health and strengthening the endangered Yankunytjatjara language in remote South Australian communities,” says Dr Monaghan. “Local content generates a strong sense of identification among participants, builds trust, and strengthens outcomes in oral health and in the health of the language itself.”

MLT’s primary research methodology is what Lester calls “Nyawa, Kulila, Palyala,” meaning “Look, Listen, Make it happen” in the Pitjantjatjara-Yankunytjatjara language. The approach takes the Indigenous practice of having open eyes and open ears through the consultation process and then delivering the community’s desired outcomes.

Dr Monaghan says MLT will continue to “Look, Listen, Make it happen” through their research at Adelaide University.

“Universities have an important role to play in providing opportunities for Indigenous people to undergo meaningful experiences in their heritage languages, to explore employment pathways and to take the lead in creating language futures,” he says.

“For the Mobile Language Team, it’s in partnership with regional and remote communities that our research makes the most difference.”