Uni of Adelaide students recognised as future leaders

Tuesday, 26 February 2019

Preventing heart attacks and working with vulnerable children are the focus of two University of Adelaide students awarded prestigious Westpac Future Leaders Scholarships today.

They will both receive a scholarship worth up to $120,000 to cover their postgraduate studies, a nine-month leadership development program and the opportunity to study abroad.

Harry Carpenter is a former professional cyclist. After suffering a heart attack at just 24 years of age, he is determined to help prevent this happening to others through a PhD in Engineering at the University of Adelaide.

Harry’s study aims to investigate the causes for dissection in coronary arteries to develop a model capable of accurately predicting the onset of heart attacks.

Harry’s honours thesis in Mechanical Engineering allowed him to explore his favourite technical areas of fluid mechanics and vibrations and apply them to energy solutions. This opened his eyes to the possibility of medical applications.

“Faced with my own health challenges my PhD focuses on mechanically analysing the heart to accurately predict the onset of heart attacks, with possible further expansion to predictive maintenance of infrastructure,” he says.

Alexandra Procter will be undertaking a PhD in Public Health, focusing on vulnerable children and how being born into a family on welfare affects those children’s life chances.

“I am passionate about the health and development of children and believe that as a society, we have a responsibility to ensure every child has the best start to life,” says Alexandra.

“My fascination with the association between health and social determinants has led me to a research career. I enjoy the creativity in research and strive to find innovative solutions to complex problems.”

She hopes the outcomes of her project will have important policy impacts, guiding future interventions to improve inter-generational transmission of welfare dependency in this state.

Westpac Scholars Trust CEO Susan Bannigan says: “This is a prestigious scholarship program attracting some of Australia’s brightest and most innovative young leaders.”

The Westpac Future Leaders Scholarship program was established in 2014 to help support individuals with drive and ideas to help shape the future of Australia.

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