An oceanographer developing an alternative to plastic and a scientist exploring biological diversity from The University of Western Australia are among the finalists in this year’s Australian Museum Eureka Prizes.

Dr Julia Reisser, from UWA’s Ocean Institute and co-founder and co-CEO of Uluu, is a finalist in the Emerging Leader in Science category.

Dr Reisser was researching sea turtles in her native Brazil and observed they were mostly eating plastic. This inspired her to complete a PhD in plastic pollution.

Dr Reisser became the lead scientist for Dutch not-for-profit The Ocean Cleanup, but felt she was tackling the symptoms, not the source of the plastic pollution problem.

To address the issue, Dr Reisser co-founded the company Uluu, which is based at the Indian Ocean Marine Research Centre in Watermans Bay. 

The start-up is working to replace fossil plastics with natural materials derived from seaweed, seawater and 'salt loving' microbes.

Dr Reisser said she was humbled to be a finalist and proud to have Uluu’s work replacing plastic with materials that are good for the world recognised.

“We have an incredible team of scientists and engineers and I’m super passionate about the plastic-free future we’re creating together,” she said.

Dr Nerida Wilson, from UWA’s School of Biological Sciences, CSIRO and the Western Australian Museum, is part of a team nominated in the Excellence in Interdisciplinary Scientific Research category.

Dr Wilson and researchers from James Cook University compared the genetic profiles of Turquet’s octopus found in the Weddell, Amundsen and Ross seas of the Southern Ocean.

They found populations on opposite sides of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet mixed about 120,000 years ago, which would only have been possible if the ice sheet collapsed opening the seaways.

The findings suggest that even under global warming of 1.5C – the target under the Paris Climate Agreement is to keep global average warming to well below 2C, and ideally lower than 1.5C – the West Antarctic Ice Sheet could collapse again.

“It’s an honour to be recognised but unfortunately the warning is clear — we need to be doing more to mitigate climate change,” Dr Wilson said.

The 2024 Eureka Prize winners will be announced at an award ceremony on Wednesday 4 September.

Image top: Dr Julia Reisser in the Uluu lab. Photo: Uluu