Ben worked on a project related to drought tolerance in the School of Biology Environmental Biology group and where he researched a wheat gene to see how it affects water use efficiency. Choosing to do a summer scholarship was an opportunity for Ben to expand his horizons and gain some research experience before beginning his honours degree in late 2008.

Ben was in the third year of his Environmental Science degree being undertaken at Flinders University in Adelaide. He visited the Research School of Biological Sciences (RSBS - now part of the School of Biology) in 2007 to attend the inaugural Winter School, Frontiers in Biology, and during this time was fascinated by the work being conducted by some of our researchers and subsequently found out about the summer research scholarship program.

Ben states that a highlight of his summer scholarship experience was the "well chosen and thought out project" which his supervisor had set out for him. Throughout the process Ben was able to use various techniques such as gene expression, plant physiology and CO2 gas exchange.

When not working hard at RSBS, Ben also enjoyed the social aspect of the summer scholarship program living on campus and getting to know a new group of people from all over Australia and New Zealand.