Carmen a friend of the Coast

Her research is helping conserve a vulnerable plant

Sonja Larsen
Editorial assistant, Connections
Avondale College of Higher Education
Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia

The University of Newcastle has honoured an Avondale College of Higher Education lecturer whose research is helping conserve a vulnerable species of shrub.

The quality of Carmen Booyens’s study of the effect of fire and slashing on populations of Darwinia glaucophylla in and around Gosford earned her the Central Coast Campus Friends Research Award.

Carmen completed the study as part of her master’s degree, which she began after the National Parks and Wildlife Service’s Biodiversity Unit in Gosford contacted the university to learn more about the plant.

With Darwinia glaucophylla’s listing as a vulnerable species, Carmen’s study aimed to identify factors influencing extinction and to recommend revised fire and slashing practices to conserve the species.

Carmen, an associate lecturer in the School of Science and Mathematics at Avondale, received the academic merit-based award on May 17. The university presents it to students—including those at TAFE NSW—Hunter Institute and at Central Coast Community College—on its Ourimbah campus who are conducting research of benefit to the Central Coast.

Colleague Dr Ewan Ward, a senior lecturer in the school, says he is proud of Carmen’s achievement. He also notes how the contacts Carmen is making will benefit students who plan to complete a higher degree by research.