Alumni Updates

Daniel Osborne – Brewing with Coopers

2016 Coopers Brewery/Playford Trust Honours Scholarship

My scholarship allowed me to continue studying and complete an Honours degree at the University of Adelaide’s Waite campus, focusing on improving steep conditions during the malting process.

My relationship with Coopers blossomed into a career at the brewery at Regency Park where, after about 18 months in the main laboratory (beginning in 2016), I was directly involved in the commissioning of the malthouse (2017) and setting up the plant for full-scale production (2018).

My main Honours mentor, Dr Doug Stewart, is now my manager and is still my most important supporter and advisor at the malthouse.

I now work as a technician full time. My role is varied and includes running the fully automated plant (steeping, germination and kilning vessels); testing the quality of the barley on incoming trucks; out-loading finished malt; and various cleaning tasks. I’m also involved with barley procurement and export logistics.

Because I had additional knowledge of malting, Coopers recruited me into their ‘brewer cadetship program’ which gave me the opportunity to complete a three-year diploma in brewing. I was also able to attend industry functions, like exhibitions and conventions, to network, increase my knowledge, and further Coopers’ presence in the industry.

I have had the privilege of maintaining my relationship with the Playford Trust by attending several of their events since 2016. I look forward to meeting the future recipients of the Coopers Playford Trust scholarship, and hearing about what differences they are making to further industry in the state of South Australia in the same passionate way Thomas Playford did all those years ago.

 

 

 

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
Marine mollusc extracts represent an almost entirely unexploited source of broad-spectrum antivirals against human viruses. My Honours project involved assessing the hemolymph (blood fluid) from the Greenlip abalone and Pacific oyster for antiviral activity against Human Coronavirus…

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…

SHARE YOUR STORY

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