Research in Excellence Awards

Associate Professor Joachim Ribbe

Dr Nam Mai-Duy and Dr David Turnbull

The University of Southern Queensland (USQ) academic board and council recently conferred 2007 Excellence in Research Awards to Dr Nam Mai-Duy, Dr David Turnbull and Associate Professor Joachim Ribbe.

Vietnamese in origin, Dr Nam Mai Duy is an USQ PhD Graduate (2002) and a recipient of three prestigious post-doctoral fellowship awards and an active researcher in the domain of Computational Mechanics. He has won two Australian Research Council Discovery Project grants in the period 2006-2008, which is an immense effort for an early career researcher. He has authored 67 publications including 2 book chapter and 40 journal articles. He is a referee for several Australian and international journals. His research efforts have been duly recognised by USQ.

Dr David Turnbull, researches in a niche area called "Solar Radiation".  His research findings are of interest to the community both nationally and internationally. As many as 1600 Australians die from skin cancer each year and approximately 380,000 Australians are treated for skin cancer.  Health costs alone have been estimated at $264 million each year and Dr Turnbull's research in the domain of solar radiation and Vitamin D has been receiving wide publicity through radio interviews and media articles and particularly on "UV radiation in shade environments". As an early career researcher, Dr Turnbull has won about $178,000 through competitive grants. He has numerous publications and assists as an Associate supervisor for post graduate students at USQ.

Associate Professor Joachim Ribbe, a PhD graduate from Flinders University, joined USQ in 2001. Since joining USQ, he has established a national and international reputation in the area of ocean general circulation modelling and general circulation modelling. His main focus is upon processes that drive rainfall variability and the ocean's influence on Australia's Climate. He has over 80 publications of which some are published in highly ranked international journals including Nature. He has managed more than $740,000 in research funding obtained through various collaborative partnerships with government bodies including ARC. Dr Ribbe is also an Associate Editor of Elsevier journal of Ocean Modelling and has membership to various committees.

Congratulations to Dr Nam Mai-Duy, Dr David Turnbull and Associate Professor Joachim Ribbe.

Contact: Dr Ren Yi, Director Office of Research and Higher Degrees, +61 7 4631 2866