New Colombo Plan scholarship for Swinburne student
In Summary
Swinburne University of Technology student Denver Linklater will be heading off to Singapore for six months next year to research water purification membranes under the Australian Government’s New Colombo Plan.
Ms Linklater is a third year Bachelor of Science (Biotechnology)/Bachelor of Commerce (International Business) student.
Last year she took part in Swinburne’s Future Leaders Study Tour to China for high achieving students.
“Studying international business impresses upon me the importance of institutional relationships between countries and Australia’s involvement in the Indo-Pacific region is of particular interest to me,” Ms Linklater said.
“This scholarship will help me achieve my personal and professional goals by enabling me to experience a foreign culture, as well as explore career opportunities overseas.”
Ms Linklater will work on a research project testing water purification membranes, creating reliable testing protocols and investigating application fields at the BASF Global Research Centre in Singapore, beginning in January 2015.
“Because I will be in Singapore I also hope to gain insights into how the trading hub works and learn more about international business,” she said.
Ms Linklater has an interest in agricultural science, having grown up in Speed, a small farming community near Mildura, where her parents grow commercial grain crops.
“I hope to enter into the field of agricultural research, specifically looking at increasing tolerance in plant species in extreme conditions such as salinity, drought and frost,” she said.
The New Colombo Plan is an Australian Government initiative that aims to lift knowledge of the Indo-Pacific region and strengthen people-to-people and institutional relationships, through study and work placements undertaken by Australian undergraduate students in four pilot locations – Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and Japan.
It encourages a two-way flow of students within the region, complementing the thousands of students from the region coming to Australia to study each year.