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.

Linus grew up in a small village in Namibia where her father was a machine operator for the local mine. According to Linus, by the time she left school, she had fallen in love with the earth’s resources. This passion fuelled her to train as a geologist and secure a position as Chief Geoscientist for the Ministry of Mines and Energy in Namibia, where she observed the fundamental importance of minerals to local communities.

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.

“Mineral security exists when all people have sufficient and affordable access to the minerals necessary for basic human development,” Professor Franks said.

While these minerals are classified as lower-value and often produced by small-scale miners, they have a powerful impact on people’s lives.

“The whole idea of mineral security is to bring to the front that minerals are crucial in human development,” Linus said.

“If people have access to minerals, it can help alleviate poverty. Minerals are important for shelter, housing, sustenance, energy, roads and agriculture. This has been my work for the past 7 years, working with small-scale miners – and I’ve seen their impact.

“In my village, we used to build houses with wooden poles, which required maintenance every few years. When houses can be built with clay and bricks, the house can be lived in for 20 years or more, which allows people to invest time back into agriculture and producing crops instead.”

Securing the PhD within the SMI Future Fellowship team is a dream come true for Linus.

“The environment at UQ had a great impact on my life,” she said.

“I have been wanting to come back to the Sustainable Minerals Institute specifically, knowing the work they are doing in the extractive and mining areas and the expertise of the team.”

During her studies in 2018, she heard from UQ Business School's Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Cameron Turner, about validating every idea to create impact. This sparked something for Linus.

“It made me think about how I could solve people’s problems. On campus, I saw a painting on the ground with the words, ‘If you can dream it, you can do it.’ Again, that had an impact on me. It became my personal slogan,” she said.

Yet, within a week of returning to Namibia, Linus experienced a great personal tragedy – the loss of her husband. Their daughter was only 6 years old at the time.

“I returned home with my head full, passionate, confident and ambitious. Then this happened. Believe me, my whole world fell apart. The shock was just too much. Everything was so traumatising that I could not do much. I changed psychologically and for 11 months I was in a dark world,” Linus said.

Linus managed to overcome her loss and find her spark again. She confirmed her entry with the University of Dundee to undertake a Master of Laws focusing on International Mineral Law and Policy, which she commenced in January 2020 with a scholarship from Rio Tinto.

“I began barely a year after my husband passed, still grieving. I was trying to balance and understand my course, coming from a science background. My daughter and I were stuck at home during the COVID-19 lockdown, trying to balance my study with her schooling in a different education system. It was really hectic,” she said.

At the end of 2021, Linus graduated with distinction – one of her proudest achievements. She said she approached this PhD opportunity at UQ with the same grit, passion and purpose.

In 2023, Linus was selected to participate in the prestigious European Union-funded Young African Leaders Programme at the European University Institute’s Florence School of Transnational Governance, which enriched her policy work and leadership skills.

“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.”

The ARC Future Fellowship has established a new research centre at UQ – the Global Centre for Mineral Security – with Professor Franks as its Director.