Perth university student co-authors medical research

AUTHORING a research journal with the Telethon Kids Institute has been a dream come true for UWA student Yanyu Chen.

The Crawley resident and Bachelor of Science student completed a McCusker Centre for Citizenship internship at the Institute.

Ms Chen’s intern project included reviewing the effectiveness of psychology interventions in children and young people with chronic illness.

The 22-year-old international student will now be listed as a co-author on the resulting publication.

“My internship at the Telethon Kids Institute was all about helping kids and teenagers, and I became very interested in how researchers can directly contribute to society,” she said.

“I learned about the process of doing research, from brainstorming to finalising the scope, splitting up the workload and finally, coming up with the paper.”

Before starting her internship, Ms Chen said her understanding of ‘community’ and ‘active citizenship’ concepts were “just empty talks”.

“What you can learn from the organisation you intern for is not only professional knowledge, but also the way you see and think about the world,” she said.

“I would tell any UWA student to just apply, seize the opportunity and be prepared to have a wonderful journey.”