I was fortunate enough to receive Impact Seed Funding from Flinders University in 2018. While in the grand scheme of things it was a relatively small amount of money, for an Early or Mid-Career Researcher (EMCR), awards like this can go a long way.
This funding enabled me to pursue my own line of research into palaeoneurology (fossil brains) and supported a visit to the Berlin Museum für Naturkunde (Natural History Museum) and a trip to the famous Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology & Paleoanthropology (IVPP) in Beijing, China.
Having museum visits funded in this way help me to research how brains evolved in our early fish ancestors, and enable me to try to understand the adaptations and novelties acquired in the brains of the first tetrapods (terrestrial vertebrates). Studies such as these go on to form “pilot studies” for larger funding schemes and projects, and provide me with the opportunity to lead and manage my own projects whilst forming new international collaborative partnerships.
I’m ever so grateful to the donor community and Flinders University for the Impact Seed Funding for Early Career Researchers. Being awarded these funds greatly supports my ongoing development into becoming an independent and competitive researcher.
Thank you.
Dr Alice Clement 