Gernelyn specialises in the integrated risk approach to Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASM).
The preliminary title of her thesis is: “Integration of health and safety risk management into the gold processing technology of artisanal and small scale mining (ASM) communities in the Philippines.” She is passionate about optimising people-centred benefits of project interventions with positive health and safety, environmental and social outcomes by managing risk perceptions and enhancing risk communication strategies. Her work includes identifying the risks that matter in any given context, analysing stakeholder risk perceptions, and understanding the promoters and barriers to achieve objectives. Her skills and qualifications in engineering, qualitative research and descriptive statistics equip her to pursue her academic and research interests.
Gernelyn holds both Master and Bachelor of Science degrees in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of the Philippines. During her candidature at SMI, Gernelyn is the winner of the SMI Excellence Award for Outstanding Student Contributor in 2016. She is a runner-up and people choice awardee of the 3MT competition in 2016 and 2017. She was also a recipient of the UQ Graduate School International Travel Award (GSITA) and the Student Host Program in the Queensland Mining Industry Health and Safety Conference in 2016. She was the Chair of the committee for the SMI RHD Conference 2016: “Transforming research into sustainable practice in the resources industry.” November 11, 2016. Gernelyn has been a guest lecturer for two undergraduate courses in the faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology.
Industry
Gernelyn had several years of experience working with artisanal and small scale miners, operators and ASM cooperatives in the Philippines through her specialist work in Cleaner Technologies, Engineering Research and Development for Technology (ERDT) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). Gernelyn had a mining industry background as well. Her previous technical specialist background includes process flow design and construction; gold recovery and equipment optimisation.
Collaborations
Publishing a book with Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt of the Australian National University (ANU), Canberra, Australia. "Between the Plough & the Pick: Informal mining in the contemporary world."
Key Publications
Logrosa, G., Hassall, M., Cliff, D. and Bofinger, C. (2016). Identifying risks that matter: A case study on introducing technology into artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM). Proceedings of Risk and Resilience Mining Solutions (Vancouver). InfoMine. ISBN: 978-1-988185-00-2.
Griffin, M., Moore, A., Logrosa, G., Kamanga, E. and Pearce, M. (2014). Water-Related Safety, Health and Sanitation of Artisanal and Small-Scale Miners and the Affected Communities. International Mining for Development Centre (IM4DC) Report.
Funding
Gernelyn was a recipient of the UQ Graduate School International Travel Award (GSITA)