Postdoctoral research scientist Dr Samantha McGaughey is the 2025 ACT Emerging Scientist of the Year Award.

Dr McGaughey, a postdoctoral research scientist at the ANU’s Research School of Biology, researches innovative wastewater technologies that aim to advance global efforts in environmental sustainability, water security and resource recovery.

“Water and resource security are significant challenges felt locally and globally, but nature has evolved solutions to many of the problems we face,” she said

“My research aims to leverage nature’s extraordinary capabilities to develop technology to harvest clean water and critical resources from wastewater.

“This achievement is made possible thanks to the incredible support and collaboration across our research community, and it reflects the ACT’s shared commitment to building a more sustainable, resilient, and knowledge-driven future.

“It’s a great honour to be named the ACT Emerging Scientist of the Year, and to be able to represent the incredible research and biotechnological innovation happening in the ACT.”