Dominic Agyei

Chemical engineering HDR student Dominic Agyei has received an AINSE Postgraduate Research Award.

20 scholarships were awarded to students in 14 universities covering NZ and six states in Australia.

The AINSE Postgraduate Research awards are offered to promising HDR students with projects associated with nuclear science. The recipients receive a supplement stipend as well as a yearly sum to cover costs involved in accessing top of the line facilities at the Australian Nuclear Science & Technology Organisation (ANSTO).

“I feel excited about the rare opportunity to be sponsored to conduct part of my study with the Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering (AINSE). It will require some hard work, I know, but I trust that the outcome will be rewarding. I look forward to making some useful contribution to the field of peptide biologics and peptide surfactants.” Dominic said about his achievement.

Dominic received the award for his thesis “Interfacial properties of stimuli-responsive peptide biosurfactants and their interaction with chemical surfactant s for advanced foaming control.”

“Soft matter foams have a large market share because they are utilized in many industrial settings such as mineral processing, oil recovery, waste-water treatment, paper production, chemical industries, fermentation, pharmaceutical formulation and food processing.” Dominic said.

“The project seeks to use advanced neutron reflectometry to study and unravel the foam stabilization mechanisms of biosurfactant and establishing the link between interfacial structure, properties and application.”

Dominic’s project will address the research gap within the development of foam and their application.

“The outcome will be a better understanding of foam structure and design with improved function, performance and added functionality.” Dominic said.

Dominic would like to acknowledge his faith, academic staff and Monash University for providing the support and opportunity that has allowed him to gain this award.

The Faculty of Engineering would like to congratulate Dominic for winning the AINSE Postgraduate Research Award.