Student Innovation Awards

This award recognises innovative student projects with the potential to drive a positive social impact in the wider community. 

This year, two people won this award: Olivia McRae and Barnabas Buffier.

Lines of Best Fit - Olivia McRae 

'Lines of Best Fit' is an improvised theatre show that brings together scientists and improvisors to communicate science in a creative and innovative way. Through combining science talks with improv comedy, these performances aim to engage audiences with science and provide them with an enjoyable experience. Each performance features a talk by a scientist which the improvisors have never seen, followed by a set of improvised scenes inspired by the science. The improv aspect entices people to engage with science in a new and fun way and also helps to solidify the concepts introduced in the talks.

Startly - Barnabas Buffier 

Startly is a peer-to-peer social ecommerce platform that serves to modernise the outdated practices of selling art, by condensing the art selling process into an accessible, easy-to-use and cost effective procedure that bridges the gap between amateur artists and art enthusiasts.

This award recognises innovative student projects with the potential to create positive environmental impact.

For the first time in 2022 an exciting cross-University collaboration, the Award for Planetary Impact is sponsored by new partners Sydney Environment Institute and Sustainability at Sydney.

Amber Linz is the reciepient for this year's Planetary Impact award. 

Zipr: making secondhand fashionable to lessen our impact on the planet - Amber Linz 

Zipr enables creators to monetise their wardrobe through video. We're building a community that unites local fashionistas on a global scale. Our mission is to make secondhand fun, exciting and beautiful so that it becomes the first choice for Gen Z. By making secondhand entertaining and personalised, it will build the necessary hype needed to transform the minds of traditionally non eco-minded people. Zipr connects people based on their style, body type and location so that as they scroll through their feed, they can feel inspired and meet up locally to exchange clothing.

This award recognises interdisciplinary student projects with the potential to lead to innovative real-world applications.

Noah Sant, Jackie Tu, Yichao Lin, Chuyi He, Marie Hu, Lily Xue and Laura Yu are the recipeint's for this year's Interdisciplinary Impact award. 

Ever Evolving: The Future of Online Luxury - Noah Sant, Jackie Tu, Yichao Lin, Chuyi He, Marie Hu, Lily Xue, Laura Yu 

The luxury landscape is ever-evolving as the digital shift is changing consumer purchasing behaviour. In partnership with Cartier, we have identified the challenge of providing exclusive and personalised services through its website. This report adopts practical methodologies and extensive research, providing three feasible recommendations that effectively improve a client's journey on Cartier’s website. Our recommendations include the aesthetic redesign of Cartier’s website page to protect the luxury trait of exclusivity, the hand visualiser function, which enhances the personalisation of the client journey, and the virtual appointment for re-establishing the human touch of Cartier’s valuable assistant-customer interaction in an online environment.

This award recognises research projects with the potential to lead to innovative real-world applications.

The Award for Research Impact is sponsored by the Sydney Knowledge Hub and includes a three month membership to the University's coworking space for innovative businesses seeking to collaborate with the University.

Jordan Martenstyn is this year's recipient for the Research Impact award. He is awarded $5,000 and a three month membership to Sydney Knowledge Hub. 

Establishing Effective Treatments for Muscle Dysmorphia - Jordan Martenstyn

Muscle Dysmorphia is a psychological disorder included in the DSM-5 that is defined by intense preoccupation that one lacks muscularity and/or leanness, causing significant functional impairment in social, occupational, and other activities. Although the first scientific article on Muscle Dysmorphia was published back in 1993, there have not been any clinical trials conducted on the disorder. Next year, as part of my PhD, I’ll be conducting the first ever clinical trial on Muscle Dysmorphia. This clinical trial represents the first step to helping people with Muscle Dysmorphia receive the treatment they deserve.

Franco De Joya, Adam Taras, Adam Parslow, Lydia Fagan, Angela Tran, Annaliese McGuirk, Harrison Armour, Fiona Dieu, Peter Savignano and Matthew McGuire are the recipients of this year's People's Choice prize, recieving $1,000 to go towards their idea. 

EDhance Learning - Franco De Joya, Adam Taras, Adam Parslow, Lydia Fagan, Angela Tran, Annaliese McGuirk, Harrison Armour, Fiona Dieu, Peter Savignano, Matthew McGuire 

EDhance Learning asks the question: “what if we made education design collaborative and accessible?” We at EDhance Learning, aim to build community collaboration platforms that empower educators, industry stakeholders and the broader learning community to take ownership of reimagining curriculum and learning design. We enable people to show, not tell, what they would like to see in education. We aim to leverage the hackathon model to develop hands-on professional development, conferences and other events that produce tangible evidence of collaboration that are shareable. Our innovative digital platform, The Learning Library, then allows educators across Australia to access these learning resources.

Ethan Samuels and Eesha Agrawal are the recipients for this year's second People's Choice prize, recieving $500 to go towards their idea. 

Blue Osmosis - Ethan Samuels and Eesha Agrawal 

Addressing the lack of access to clean drinking water in remote communities. Blue Osmosis has created a coupled system to improve water quality on a global scale. With your support, our innovative filtration and purification system will improve health and water sanitation in impoverished and rural communities across the globe.