Monash scientist receives women in science award
Vanessa Kellermann
An early career researcher from Monash University has been awarded with a unique Fellowship for her work into the effects of climate change on tropical species.
Dr Vanessa Kellermann, from the Faculty of Science, was announced as one of the winners of the L’Oreal Australia & New Zealand Women in Science Fellowship, at an event held at Melbourne’s Botanic Gardens last night.
Every year a panel of judges selects three finalists from a shortlist of women who have shown scientific excellence in their career to date. Dr Kellermann is one of just three early career researchers from across Australia and New Zealand to win this year.
Dr Kellermann said she was delighted to be one of the recipients of this year’s L’Oreal Australia & New Zealand Women in Science Fellowship.
“I was absolutely thrilled to find out that I had been selected for this Fellowship. Not only does this present me with the opportunity to build my profile as a researcher, the funding will accelerate my research into the effects of climate change on tropical species, which is a crucial area of work.”
“As well as supporting me as I embark on my career as a research scientist, what’s great about this Fellowship is that it also seeks to inspire the next generation of scientists. I’m looking forward to meeting school students at future L’Oreal education events, and showing them that it is possible to have a career in science,” Dr Kellermann said.
The Fellowship, which was set up in 1998 in Australia and New Zealand aims to help early career women scientists consolidate their careers and rise to leadership positions in science. Each of the Fellows will receive $25,000 AUD over 12 months to facilitate their work.
Dr Kellermann researches the evolutionary responses to climate change in a little fly species called Drosophila. With insects representing over 80 per cent of the worlds biodiversity and playing a key role in every ecosystem, understanding how climate will affect insects is critically important. Through her work, Dr Kellermann hopes to predict the extinction risk of species to climate change and provide guidelines for increasing resilience and minimising extinction risk.
Dr Vanessa Kellermann began her career as a PhD student at The University of Melbourne looking at the adaptive responses to climate in rainforest Drosophila. From there she spent two and a half years as a post doctorate at Aarhus University in Denmark examining more broadly how climate shapes Drosophila species distributions. She moved to Monash University in 2012 to continue her research and was awarded a DECRA fellowship commencing in 2014 which will examine the extent to which species can rapidly respond to changing environments.