Reflecting on her time at The University of Queensland (UQ) as a geologist undertaking an Australia Awards short course in 2018, Johanna Linus can pinpoint the moment she realised she was in the right place. She observed the University’s slogan – Create Change – on campus signs and knew she would be able to make a difference here.
“I woke up to my potential at UQ,” she explains.
“It was the first thing that struck me. I saw that people are working to create change in the world and I thought, ‘I can create some change in the world',” Linus said.
“As a child I wanted to help people, and it took me a while to work out how. Now, I know I can impact lives. In Africa, we have a high level of poverty and it takes a lot away from a person. Life becomes about surviving. My transformation came from the short course run by UQ International Development.
“My dream is to go as far as I can and to use the PhD to keep exploring my potential to make change and have more impact at the global level.”
In June 2025, Linus returned to UQ to commence her PhD as part of Professor Daniel Franks’ $1.2 million Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowship at the Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI). She is one of 3 PhD candidates selected from a large and competitive field to work with Professor Franks on this ground-breaking research, which will fill a crucial gap in understanding global poverty by assessing its mineral security dimensions.
