Alumni Updates

Daniel Austin – Horticulture in four continents

2007 TAFE SA /Playford Trust Scholarship

I was an apprentice in horticulture when I was awarded my Playford Trust Scholarship, which acted as a springboard for my career. I immediately benefitted from the networks and prestige associated with the Trust and my career went from strength to strength.

I completed my apprenticeship earning the title ‘South Australian Apprentice of the Year’ and this exposure allowed me an opportunity to become an intern in horticultural media with Radio 5AA, while at the same time beginning a role as a Lecturer in Horticulture for TAFESA. Following this, I had the opportunity to undertake a further internship with CSIRO at the National Herbarium in Canberra.

In the years since, my career has become quite unique. Extending over four continents, it has allowed for a diverse range of experiences, from working with subsistence farmers in Tanzania and establishing vocational training programs for AusAID in the Solomon Islands to studying the nursery industry in South Africa and working in Israel at the Jerusalem Botanic Gardens.

I have worked extensively with the horticulture industry in Australia and abroad in roles involving everything from horticultural media and consultancy to management and training. One of my regular roles is to write for the nationally circulated Hort Journal Australia and in late 2021, I released my first book ‘Off the Garden Path: Green Wonders of the World’ which won the Horticultural Media Association of Australia’s (HMA) Book Laurel in 2022. The book highlights some of the world’s most spectacular flora in some of the planet’s most exotic locations and is the first in a series with ‘Off the Garden Path: Green Wonders of Australia’ on its way. 2022 was a big year and I was also named the Australian Horticulturist of the Year by the Australian Institute of Horticulture (AIH), was a finalist for the South Australian VET teacher of the year, and became the editor of the International Plant Propagators’ Society (IPPS) Australian Region’s national publication.

In day-to-day life, have a permanent lecturing role at TAFESA’s Urrbrae Campus, where I get to enjoy seeing students finding their own paths in horticulture, and assisting them to take up some of the opportunities I have been fortunate enough to be afforded.

 It’s been a great career so far – and it all started with receiving a Playford Trust Award.

More Alumni Updates

Bradley Kirk – Material scientist in sustainable energy

2018 Playford Trust Honours Scholarship / 2020 Playford Trust PhD scholarship
Bradley is a material scientist who currently specialises in the development of organic and inorganic-based semiconductors specifically geared towards energy production.

Susan Lee – Environmental pioneer

2006 Playford Trust PhD Environmental Scholarship
I was the first student to receive a Playford Trust Environment Scholarship in 2006. Studies in the environment tend to include a lot of fieldwork and trips away from civilisation, so the scholarship really helped me with these costs!

Lucas (Tuan) Tran – Energy Engineer

2021 Playford Trust/Cooper Energy Petroleum Engineering Scholarship
In 2017, I came to Australia as an international student from Vietnam to pursue a world-class education in Petroleum Engineering at the University of Adelaide. After finishing my Honours degree, I began my PhD project…

Robert Trott – Exoskeleton and physiological measurement

2017 Playford Trust PhD Scholarship
Robbie is now working as a Research Fellow at the Australian Industrial Transformation Institute (AITI) – a national leader in industry and workplace innovation research – and he’s based at Flinders University.

Bec Pedler – R&D technician, Clean Seas Seafood

2019 Playford Trust Regional Science & Engineering Scholarship
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Alexander Makarowsky – Maths modelling and energy

2018 Codan/Playford Trust Engineering Scholarship
The year after winning his scholarship, Alex joined the company that sponsored him – Codan/Minelab Electronics. There he used mathematical modelling to optimise the geometry of metal detector coils.

Joe Kupke – Man of the trees

2018 Playford Trust/TAFE SA Award
At the time Joe received his Playford Trust Award, he was employing just two staff in his arborist business, Adelaide Hills Tree Services. Now there are 10 on the team…

Phiala Shanahan – Professor of Physics at MIT

2011 Scantech/Playford Trust scholarship
In 2020, respected Science News magazine named Phiala one of its Top 10 elite young scientists ‘pushing the boundaries of scientific enquiry’. All of those honoured…

Georgina Duguid – Structural design engineer

2018 Playford Trust Honours Scholarship
Having completed my Bachelor of Civil Engineering at Flinders University in 2018, I am working as a structural design engineer with Mineral Technologies/Downer EDI – the company…

Michael Dello-Lacovo – Space scientist

2014 AusIMM/Playford Trust Honours Scholar
I received the AusIMM/Playford Trust Scholarship for my Honours degree in geophysics in 2014 for the thesis topic ‘heat flow and geothermal energy in South Australia’….

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We love to hear from our alumni and to share their news. To let us know where your studies have taken you, email an update and a picture to admin@playfordtrust.com.au