UNSW Global Water Institute (UNSW-GWI) Director Professor Greg Leslie presented the student awards at the 24th International Congress on Modelling and Simulation (MODSIM2021) on Thursday 9 December.
The awards were given to PhD researchers Danielle Udy (University of Tasmania), Hamid Yahyaei (Macquarie University) and Johan Visser (UNSW Sydney) for presentations that were clear, well organised, scientifically sound and received strong audience engagement. Each received a $500 cash prize, sponsored by UNSW-GWI.
Seven other students were also commended for their presentations: Philippa Higgins (UNSW Sydney), Jacob Simpson (UNSW Canberra), Shuang Liu (UNSW Sydney), Pengcheng Zhao (The University of Melbourne), Kate Coelli (University of Sydney), Marcela Silva (Monash University) and Shirui Hao (The University of Melbourne). GWI affiliate Prof Jason Evans was also awarded the biennial medal and became a fellow of the society during the meeting.
UNSW Sydney Faculty of Engineering Professor and Associate Dean (Research) and Water Research Centre Director Lucy Marshall said, “As one of the convenors for MODSIM, I was thrilled that GWI chose to support our outstanding student presenters, who represent the best research in modeling and simulation across multiple disciplines.
“MODSIM is uniquely a truly interdisciplinary conference, with presentations spanning water resources, biodiversity, defense, applied mathematics, energy, computer science, and many others. It was outstanding to see our UNSW awardees in such a strong and diverse group of students.”
The theme for MODSIM 2021 was ‘Modelling for action with a flood of data and a cloud of uncertainty’. The conference was held in hybrid format from 5-9 December 2021, attracting over 200 physical attendees in person and more than 500 virtual attendees.