Education 

In addition to addressing fundamental questions in their research program, the Burns lab is committed to providing a platform to train the next generation of scientists to help facilitate their goals and aspirations.

PhD and honours opportunities

Past, present, and future Honours and PhD students are what have shaped the lab and are the next-generation of scientists making new discoveries and opening doors for new students to come through and take the torch. Undertaking research within the Burns lab allows students to have the genuine capacity to advance science and to make a real difference in the world. The goal of the Burns lab is to disseminate by publication the novel findings we acquire, and indeed the majority of the Burns group publications are a result of the hard work and dedication of graduate students within the lab. The Burns lab is all inclusive and promotes a culture of diversity, welcoming anyone and everyone who has a passion to delve into the unknown….

UNSW courses

At the undergraduate level, Dr Burns convenes a third year Environmental Microbiology course (MICR3071/MICR9071). Students who enrol in this course become immersed in all aspects of microorganisms in the environment, including biodiversity, adaptation, control of global nutrient cycles, novel next-generation tools to study microbiomes, and the impact of climate change. Many of the Burns labs research themes permeate throughout this course, and this course is indeed and ideal staging point to then continue Honours and/or postgraduate study within the Burns group. Please feel free to contact Dr Burns if you interested in undertaking this course as part of your UNSW degree.

Mentoring and other opportunities

When there is an opportunity, the Burns lab is available to mentor and help students early on in their undergraduate studies, potentially through volunteer projects in the lab that gives students a ‘taste’ for research in a lab and help prepare for Honours. Opportunities are available to students currently enrolled in degrees at UNSW or those undertaking their degrees at overseas institutions who come to UNSW as part of an exchange program.

An example of such a successful partnership is through an exciting project initiated by UNSW undergraduate student Scarlett Li-Williams through Biosphere UNSW, who reached out to Dr Burns lab help and participate in an exciting Australia-first project: to undertake a space agriculture project. The first experiment is planned to send live cultures up to space will be launching in April 2019 in Queensland, as part of the Australian Universities Rocketry Competition. The collaborative team’s end vision is to be able to sustainably grow harvestable crops such as legumes in space for future colonies, in both satellite, and Martian conditions

The rocket will contain a bacterial payload, HUMMUS1, an experiment examining bacterial growth, and the results that come from this will determine the payload for HUMMUS2 going to the International Space Station - a project in collaboration with UNSW, University of Sydney’s Institute of Agriculture, International Space University, and mentors at NASA. These experiments all investigate the growth of legumes under lunar and mars conditions. The project, experiments and contacts were all created, designed and made by an UNSW undergraduate student and the experiments will be carried out by UNSW undergraduate students. If successful, HUMMUS2 will be Australia’s first agricultural payload sent to space and put on the ISS.