On Thursday July 31, 2014, the Sir John Walsh Research Institute held its seventh annual research day, held again at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. Students, practitioners, and academics from around campus and around the world joined us for a day that celebrated the research achievements of the staff, students and collaborators of the SJWRI, and paid tribute to the legacy of the late Professor Jules Kieser (1950-2014), founding Director of the Institute.
The day's proceedings were opened by Acting Dean of the the Faculty of Dentistry, Professor Alison Rich, followed by a Māori welcome by Professor John Broughton and an opening address by Professor Richard Blaikie, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise).
Keynote research presentations were delivered by Dr Brian Monk (Oral Sciences), 2012 Sir John Walsh Research Award winner, on 'Antifungal drug discovery – insights, highlights and reality'; Dr Don Schwass (Oral Rehabilitation) and Dr Carla Meledandri (Chemistry), on 'Delivering the silver bullet: Development of a silver nanoparticle application for treating dental caries'; and Dr Jonathan Broadbent (Oral Rehabilitation), on 'Fluoridation in Dunedin'.
Following Dr Monk's keynote, SJWRI Director Professor Richard Cannon presented the 2013 Sir John Walsh Research Institute Awards. Congratulations to the past year's winners:
Basic Research Award: Dr Neil Waddell
Clinical Research Award: Dr Lyndie Foster Page
Research Support Award: Kate Wheeler
2013 Postgraduate Publication Award: Kai Chun (KC) Li
2014 Three Minute Thesis Competition Winner: Dara Shearer
In keeping with this year's theme of 'Celebrating research excellence', our postgraduate research students were invited to present their research. The award for Best Student Speaker was shared between Sophie Gray, who is in her final year of a Doctorate of Clinical Dentistry in Orthodontics, and forensic biology PhD student Anne-Christine (Anki) Lindström. Sophie's research, supervised by Professor Mauro Farella and the late Professor Jules Kieser, is on validation of the Cervical Vertebral Maturation method for predicting mandibular growth peak. Anki's research, also supervised by the late Prof Jules Kieser in collaboration with A/Prof Jurian Hoogewerff (Chemistry), Dr Zuzana Obertova (University of Auckland), Dr Josie Athens (Preventative and Social Medicine), A/Prof Warwick Duncan (Oral Sciences) and Dr Neil Waddell (Oral Rehabilitation), is on gunshot residue preservation in seawater.
This year's Research Day also saw the introduction of a Poster Competition for staff, undergraduate and postgraduate students. Congratulations to our winners:
| Award | Name | Title | Authors |
| Undergraduate | Catherine Edwards | Effectiveness of single-use BDS tips for dental air-water syringes | C Edwards, V Bennani, N Chandler, B Lowe |
| Postgraduate | Janine Tiu | Evaluating clinical molar preparations – Using the coordinate geometry method | J Tiu, B Al-Amleh, JN Waddell, WJ Duncan |
| Staff | Don Schwass | Enhanced antimicrobial activity and penetration of micelle-stabilised silver nanoparticles into dentine with iontophoresis | D Schwass, C Meledandri |
As in previous years, the 2014 SJWRI Research Day was made possible by the generous support of 3M ESPE.
Please download the SJWRI Research Day 2014 Programme and Abstracts book for more information on our keynote and student research presentations.