First Step to Research Seminar

Embark on Your PhD Journey: Master Research Foundations in our Seminar!

This seminar is for students who are new to research (PhD) or planning to start a PhD soon. 

The guest speakers, Dr Vivian Chua & Dr. Muhammad Rizwan Azhar, will be talking about their journey into PhD and their careers after completing PhD.

The event is on Tuesday 2 July from 4-6pm in room JO7.102 

Light refreshments will be included

Tickets are free but please register. We look forward to seeing you there. 

Dr Vivian Chua: I am a Vice Chancellor’s Research Fellow (VCRF) at the School of Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University. I am also an early-to-mid career representative of the Center for Precision Health at ECU. I am a cancer and molecular biologist with a research focus on uveal melanoma, the deadliest form of eye cancer in adults. I was born in Malaysia and then moved to Perth, Australia with my family. I completed undergraduate studies in Biomedical Sciences and Forensic Biology & Toxicology at Murdoch University (Perth) and obtained my PhD in Pathology, Cancer Cell Biology, and Molecular Biology at the University of Western Australia in 2016. My thesis was focused on signaling pathways in breast cancer. In 2016, I was offered the opportunity to train as a post-doctoral research fellow at Thomas Jefferson University (Philadelphia, USA) under the mentorship of a globally recognised melanoma researcher, Prof. Andrew Aplin. In 2020, I was promoted to Research Instructor, a junior faculty position and in 2022, to Research Assistant Professor. I returned to Perth in 2024 and commenced as a VCRF at ECU.

To date, I have authored 15 publications. I am first author of 8 of these publications in journals such as EMBO Molecular Medicine (impact factor: 14), Science Signaling (impact factor: 9) and Clinical Cancer Research (impact factor: 13.8). During my training as a post-doctoral research fellow, I was a recipient of two prestigious postdoctoral fellowships by the National Cancer Center (USA) and by the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)/Ocular Melanoma Foundation (OMF) award which supported my research work. I am a recipient of two Melanoma Research Institute of Excellence Pilot Awards (October 2022 - October 2023 and October 2023 - October 2024). In 2021, I was also awarded the USA Department of Defense Melanoma Research Program Scholar Award (September 2022 - September 2025).

Dr Muhammad Rizwan is a Chemical Engineer with a diverse background in materials engineering and nanotechnology. His research focuses on Sustainable Energy and Resources. He is passionate about sustainable energy and hopes his research will significantly contribute to achieving net-zero emissions. His aim is to develop safer battery technologies that are reliable in harsh environments