Eleanor Beidatsch, a disability affairs reporter and Master of Science student from the University of New England, recently visited Curtin to research the mineral composition and inorganic chemistry of a 520-million-year-old Chinese fossil, which is the first time this kind of research had been performed on this fossil type.

Miss Beidatsch, who has spinal muscular atrophy type 1, worked in the labs at Curtin’s Western Australian Organic and Isotope Geochemistry Centre (WA-OIGC) alongside John Curtin Distinguished Professor Kliti Grice, having met at a palaeontology conference in Perth three years ago.

Miss Beidatsch said she had wanted to be a palaeontologist since she was nine years old and lab work enabled her to pursue her dream. She is currently completing her degree from the University of New England, New South Wales.

Thank you to Professor Grice and her team for welcoming Miss Beidatsch to our campus and providing the opportunity to undertake lab work at the WA-OIGC.

Two woman, one sitting in a wheelchair, smiling at the camera.
L-R: Eleanor Beidatsch and John Curtin Distinguished Professor Kliti Grice in the labs at Curtin’s Western Australian Organic and Isotope Geochemistry Centre.