University of Adelaide's Dr Mary Brushe has been acknowledge for her PhD work at the South Australian Government's SA Science Excellence and Innovation Awards.
Dr Brushe who is an Adjunct Fellow in the School of Public Health and is a Senior Research Officer at The Kids Research Institute Australia, was awarded the PhD Research Excellence Award at a gala presentation on Friday
Her PhD research focused on understanding the early language environments of young children and the impact of screen time on early childhood development using data from a longitudinal cohort study.
It has shown screen time interferes with children's early language experiences, which has important implications for children's later language development.
Dr Brushe's work has also informed state and national policy including the National Early Language and Literacy Strategy, and South Australia's Royal Commission into Early Childhood Education and Care.
"It was a huge honour to have my research recognised by the SA Science community and be given the opportunity to platform the importance of early childhood development and healthy screen time," said Dr Brushe.
"Through the support of this award, I'm looking forward to continuing my career in public health research to tackle some of the biggest problems facing our community."
Dr Brushe already published 13 peer-reviewed articles, including five as a lead author, and has had her research featured in more than 800 news outlets.
