APG Engage and Exchange Event

Join us for an insightful lecture by Flinders University’s Associate Professor Yee Lian Chew, followed by dinner at the pub. Light nibbles and drinks will be provided before the lecture.

🗓️ 23/04/2026

⏰ 5:30 - 7:00 PM

📍 Bradley Building, Lv 8

Associate Professor Yee Lian Chew

Associate Professor Yee Lian Chew, ‘the worm lady’, is a neuroscientist who uses the ‘worm’ C. elegans – one millimetre long with only 300 neurons, yet 80% genetically identical to humans – to identify brain pathways that can be targeted for treatment of neurological conditions such as chronic pain.

An early/mid-career academic, Yee Lian earned her BSc (2010) and PhD (2015) from the University of Sydney. In 2015, she moved to Cambridge UK to study worms in colder weather, at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. She returned to Australia in 2019 as a teaching-research academic at the University of Wollongong and is currently an Associate Professor of Physiology and Mary Overton Senior Research Fellow (NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow 2020-2025) at Flinders University.

Outside the joy of experiments, Yee Lian is a budding science communicator. She has given public lectures at schools and at National Science Week, contributed to a children’s outreach program at the Cambridge Science Festival, recorded several podcasts, and filmed an Elevator Pitch for ABC Science. She was part of the 2021–2022 cohort of Superstars of STEM, a program run by Science & Technology Australia to promote the profile of women and non-binary STEM professionals.

The former (2021) Chair of the EMCR Forum Executive supported by the Australian Academy of Science, Yee Lian also aims to promote equity, diversity and inclusion in academia by removing barriers to retention for minoritised groups. In 2021, she was awarded a SA Young Tall Poppy award in recognition of her science communication and research profile. She currently serves on the NHMRC Research Committee for the 2024–2027 Triennium