Fijian microbiologist Awei Bainivalu is conducting ground-breaking bioremediation research, which aims to use these organisms to clean up oil spills naturally. She is studying bacteria which have been discovered in oil collected by Major Projects Foundation volunteers as it was leaking from WWII shipwrecks in Micronesia. 

Ms Bainivalu is currently undertaking her PhD at The University of Newcastle, Australia. Her work came about as a partnership between the Newcastle Institute for Energy and Resources (NIER), The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and the Major Projects Foundation.

This research could lead to new methods of dealing with hazardous oil in a variety of situations, including potentially polluting wrecks.