We are delighted to announce our newest scholarship recipient of the HDR scheme (Higher Degree by Research) – Savuti Henningsen.
Savuti is a PhD student at The University of Western Australia, where she works in collaboration with Kings Park Science and Alcoa. Growing up in Botswana and moving to Perth in 2013, Savuti has been able to follow her passion and study environmental science. Currently, she is working on her thesis, ‘Ecophysiology of seed dormancy and germination of Hibbertia to inform seed propagation for ecological restoration’.
Her research aims to investigate the ecology of the Jarrah Forest Hibbertia and, from there, develop practical, scalable dormancy-break treatments for restoration. Within this research, Savuti seeks to identify the environmental drivers of dormancy loss in a range of Hibbertia species through studies of the efficacy of the laboratory-based dormancy pre-treatments in promoting seed germination, investigate inter-specific and intra-specific variation in dormancy depth and germination timing, and develop practical, scalable and ecologically informed seed dormancy break treatments for a range of Hibbertia species with complex germination requirements.
Welcome aboard, Savuti. We look forward to your collaboration and the outcomes of your exciting research in the future!
Applications are now open for top-up scholarships for Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students from First Nations backgrounds.