Life is more than a juggle for Camilla Donnelly.
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After relocating her husband and three children to Wagga just over a year ago, Mrs Donnelly will this week receive her Honours degree in science from Charles Sturt University.
During her graduation ceremony this coming Monday, she will also be given the much-coveted university medallion.
"I just love science [and] working in the lab," Mrs Donnelly said.
"It was never a goal to get the medal, I just wanted to produce good science."
Mrs Donnelly completed her undergraduate study via distance while living in her home town of Inverell in the state's north.
But in 2018, Mrs Donnelly made the difficult decision to uproot her family's life, and travel nearly 1000km to make a new home in Wagga.
"As I was finishing my bachelor's, I needed to make a choice. I either continued to study or move for employment, there was nothing, no jobs in my home town. Either way, we'd move," Mrs Donnelly said.
"The kids were sad to leave behind their friends and family. Majority of both mine and my husband's family still live in Inverell,"
Aged six, 10 and 12, it meant that her children would face their biggest milestones away from the town of their birth.
"My eldest started high school in Wagga and my littlest started kindy," Mrs Donnelly said.
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But Mrs Donnelly paid tribute to the role of her husband and children in aiding the transition to a new city for her studies.
"[Studying with children] is very difficult, my husband is just so supportive. He was so critical to this equation and he deserves an equal chunk of this medal," she said.
"He's juggled work and taking on a lot with the kids, and he's just been so open to my crazy ideas and suggestions."
Mrs Donnelly's field of study in structural biology has primarily focused on the interactions of proteins in the Hendra and Nipah viruses.
Ultimately, she hopes her work will contribute to finding a treatment for the currently incurable diseases.
"In Australia, Hendra hasn't seen a human case for many years, it mostly affects horses. But in June in Scone, there was a case, and that's the most southern case, so it looks like it is spreading," Mrs Donnelly said.
"Nipah affects hundreds of people in India and Bangladesh, with the potential to expand."
Mrs Donnelly will continue to pursue her research along with Professor Jade Forwood in Wagga, first by heading back to the classroom to complete her PhD.