BORN and bred in Newcastle, Dr Jessica Allen is passionate about her home roots and finding ways to combat the climate crisis.
The electrochemical engineer is a senior lecturer at the University of Newcastle in Chemical and Renewable Energy Engineering, and last month she was recognised with a NSW 2023 Young Tall Poppy Science Award for her outstanding contribution to science communication.
"I research electrolysis and electrochemical systems, but what I like to do in the community is help people understand technology, that is going to be important in the future and help them understand why it is important in the future," she said.
Dr Allen's impact extends beyond the classroom, with a vast captive audience from pre-schoolers to retirees, TikTok users and Parliament House, her work in the community is making a difference in how people understand new critical technologies.
She said technologies like green hydrogen, batteries and offshore winds will play a role in de-carbonising not just the world, but the Hunter specifically.
"Because of our strong history in energy exports, this is a big change for us going through a transition of this scale," she said.
She has always been in the Newcastle area and said it was uncommon for people in research to stay in the same place.
"They're really encouraged to travel and go overseas and get experience everywhere but Newcastle is my home and I can see that I can have an impact here.
"What I'm doing is relevant here, and it can help the community here, so I've never really felt the need to travel to have that sort of impact," she said.
Dr Allen said it was exciting to be a part of a group of people working on solutions for a global problem and felt honoured to receive the award.
"It was great to get the award and felt very humble to be among such an amazing group of people being recognised for their contribution to science communication," she said.
