A Charles Sturt University PhD candidate’s GIS work has seen her become the recipient of two significant international accolades — a Google PhD Fellowship and a prize in the international Spatial Thinking Student Competition.
Krystal Dacey, a student at the Charles Sturt School of Agricultural, Environmental and Veterinary Sciences, is developing an agent-based spatial model that explores humans’ interaction with the environment by investigating the relationship between human navigation behaviour and terrain.
Ms Dacey’s Google PhD Fellowship — in the machine learning category — is one of only five that have been awarded in Australia out of the 67 Google Fellowships bestowed worldwide in 2023.
“I am so passionate about my project, and it is very validating when others can see the possibilities of my research in the future,” Ms Dacey said.
“I am really looking forward to working with my Google mentor as part of the program and I hope to run many of my ideas past them to get their perspective.”
Ms Dacey also is a winner in the Spatial Thinking Category of the recent International Statistical Institute (ISI) and ESRI Spatial Thinking Competition, which is sponsored by both organisations to promote the convergence of research, spatial thinking and curiosity.
The Competition encourages leading-edge research in the integration of statistical and geospatial data, taking advantage of GIS technology.
Ms Dacey’s research has led to her working with South Australia Police and the Australian Federal Police, both of which see the practical value of her studies.
“Both police forces are very supportive of my work and are actively assisting me to validate my model,” Ms Dacey said.
“After successful validation, I will look to test the model in real-life situations by initially looking at cold cases and longer-term lost-person incidents.”
Ms Dacey’s PhD is supervised by Associate Professor Rachel Whitsed, Associate Dean (Academic) in the Charles Sturt Faculty of Science and Health, and Dr Prue Gonzalez, Sub-Dean, Learning and Teaching.
Professor Whitsed said Ms Dacey’s research has practical applications and is capturing the attention of research colleagues and search and rescue professionals.
“Research on geospatial models of how people move about in the wilderness — including navigation, wayfinding, and search and rescue — is an emerging application of spatial modelling, and Krystal finds herself at the forefront of research in this area,” said Professor Whitsed.
“These awards recognise the global value of her work, and in particular the Google Fellowship will pair her with a mentor to help with model development. We are very excited by the potential and expertise that pairing with Google will bring to the project.”
