Flinders University research colleagues and synchrotron users Rachel Popelka-Filcoff and Claire Lenehan have been honoured with a 2012 Tall Poppy Award and the 2011 Robert Cattrall medal respectively. 

Archaeological chemist and synchrotron user Rachel Popelka-Filcoff (left) from Flinders University is South Australia’s 2012 Tall Poppy of the Year. In recognition of her dedication to her research and her passion for communicating science to the public, Rachel received a $10,000 cash prize.

Rachel’s colleague Claire Lenehan was awarded the 2011 Robert Cattrall Early Career Medal from the Analytical and Environmental Chemistry Division of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute. This award is presented for excellence in pure or applied scientific work in analytical chemistry in Australia, and for service to analytical chemistry. The award specifically recognises these contributions within the first 10 years of the recipient’s career.

Rachel uses synchrotron beam and neutron techniques to investigate the origins of ochres used in Aboriginal Australian artefacts. The x-ray fluorescence microscopy beamline at the AS provides trace element signatures for ochres from different artefacts or even from different places on the same object. This chemical information is helping the researchers to identify which mine sites the ochres came from, and to re-create the exchange pathways that led to ochres being used in areas a long way from where they were originally mined.

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Photo acknowledgement: Ashton Claridge, Flinders University.