Maryborough home to first Indigenous Smart Futures PhD scholar

Maryborough’s Victoria Close is among 27 of Australia’s top research students who will take up Smart Futures PhD scholarships at universities across Queensland in 2009, and she is bringing a lifetime of experience and tenacity to her work.

Minister for Tourism, Regional Development and Industry Desley Boyle said the Queensland Government scholarships award each postgraduate $22,500 over three years for full-time research in varied disciplines.

Mrs Close, 69, who is legally blind but has a decorated academic history, said she’s extremely excited at the prospect of conducting a landmark study into the Aboriginal perspective on health.

“A lot of the time my people don’t understand what is being communicated to them in a health setting,” Mrs Close said.

“There are many issues that could be remedied if we understood what Aboriginal people feel and interpret from health workers, the media and programs presented to them.

“Protocols associated with Indigenous customs and healthcare need to be understood, otherwise people can die.”

Mrs Close said she will conduct interviews with Indigenous people across Queensland, from remote communities, through to educated, urban professionals.

“Aboriginal communities are affected by a range of issues, often with health ramifications, for example the loss of pride and substance abuse,” Mrs Close said.

“This research is also about trying to get a sense of what’s needed to imbue a sense of self-worth and healthy living in Indigenous people within the wider community.

Mrs Close will be based at the University of Southern Queensland’s Toowoomba campus for her doctorate, where she also completed a Masters Education.

Mrs Close was one of the generation of Indigenous children removed from their parents, and has overcome several personal challenges throughout a career in nursing and the media, before finding an academic niche after losing her sight at 57.

“There is no age-barrier to success, I received a national and international award for academic excellence from the Golden Key International Honour Society and the Queensland Education Award for the ‘Outstanding Adult Learner’ in 2007,” Mrs Close said.

Ms Boyle said other projects undertaken by the PhD scholarship-holders will include climate change on the Great Barrier Reef, skin cancer treatment, obesity intervention, developing new learning methods, improving police investigative practices and the effects of aerosols on rainfall.

“While Brisbane universities will host eighteen of the scholarship-holders, the other ten will study at universities across the state from James Cook University in Townsville to Griffith University on the Gold Coast.

“These scholarships foster innovation in the state’s research and development sector, helping build the foundations for a sustainable state-wide research community.

“This in turn plays a key role in our economic prosperity and social advancement,” she said.

Ms Boyle said Queensland has a reputation for building world-class R&D infrastructure and now there is a push to attract leading researchers too.

“During the past 10 years the Queensland Government has invested $3.4 billion in 36 new research institutes and more than 230 research scholarships and fellowships,” Ms Boyle said.

“The four-year $120 million Smart State Strategy, launched in 2008 and incorporating the Smart Futures scholarships, will boost science and industry’s capacity to solve problems through research, innovation and partnerships across public and private sectors.”

Ms Boyle congratulated all scholarship recipients and said she looks forward to the outcome of their research.

12 February, 2009

Media contact: Marcus Taylor 3225 1005/0419 025 326 or Zoe Russell 3224 2007/0437 436 914
2009

University of Southern Queensland: Josh Ada 4631 2559

Link to photo of Victoria Close:
http://www.dtrdi.qld.gov.au/media/20093001_smartfutures/Smart%20Futures%20PhD%20scholarships%20winner-%20Victoria%20Close.jpg



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