Upulie Divisekera | |
|---|---|
 Upulie Divisekera in 2017 | |
| Alma mater | |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Monash University |
Upulie Pabasarie Divisekera is an Australian molecular biologist and science communicator. She is a doctoral student at Monash University and is the co-founder of Real Scientists, an outreach program that uses performance and writing to communicate science. She has written for The Sydney Morning Herald , Crikey and The Guardian .
Divisekera wanted to be a scientist since she was a child. [1] She is of Sri Lankan descent. [2] After finishing high school she worked for biochemist Mary-Jane Gething from 1995 through 1997. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Melbourne in 2001. [3] Here she worked on molecular parasitology with Malcolm McConville. Between 2002 and 2004, she worked as a research assistant at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research on apoptosis and antibody production. She joined Australian National University for her postgraduate studies, graduating in 2007. [3] Divisekera worked on the epithelial to mesenchymal transition in fruit fly embryos in Canberra. [2] She worked as a research assistant at the University of Melbourne in 2007. Divisekera worked as a research assistant at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre from 2008 to 2012. [3] [4] [5] During this time, she worked in developmental biology and cancer research with Mark Smyth. [2] She studied CD73 as a potential immunotherapy for breast cancer. [6] She is a doctoral student in the department of chemical engineering at Monash University working on nanoparticles and drug delivery. [7] [8]
In 2011, Divisekera participated in and won the online science communication competition, "I'm a Scientist, Get Me Out of Here". [3] Divisekera spoke at TED x Canberra in 2012 on dinosaurs, curiosity and change in science. [9] She has written for The Guardian, The Sydney Morning Herald, Crikey, and ABC TV's panel show Q and A, while also regularly contributing to ABC Radio National. [1] [10] [11] In 2013, she was one of three co-founders of the Real Scientists project, a rotating-curator Twitter account where a different scientist is responsible for a week of science communication. [12] Real Scientists looks to democratise access to science through live diarising of a scientists' day on Twitter, as well as demonstrating the diversity in the sector. [12] She appears regularly on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's radio channels. [13] [14] [15] Divisekera provides training for academics, postgrads, clinicians and humanities students in science communication.
Alongside science communication, Divisekera is involved with arts programming, including events at the Wheeler Centre. [16] [17] [18] She took part in a discussion with Cory Doctorow and Maggie Ryan Sandford about the prospect of inhabiting Mars in 2015. [19] Since 2016 she has been a speaker at the Melbourne Writers Festival, and has spoken at The Writer's Bloc, the New South Wales Writers' Centre and the Emerging Writers' Festival. [20] [21]
Divisekera was included in the Government of Australia Chief Scientist "Five Scientist Pledge". [22] She has spoken on Australian Broadcasting Corporation about what can be done to support more women into science. [23] [24] She gave a keynote talk at the March for Science in Melbourne. [25] In May 2018 Upulie took on Elon Musk in a Twitter feud after he referred to nanotechnology as "bs". [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] She is a contributor to the literary magazine The Lifted Brow. [31]
| Authority control databases: Academics |
|---|
