Projects spanning social welfare, diabetes, climate change and schizophrenia featured at the University of Queensland’s $592,187 Research Week awards last night.
The awards recognised 15 researchers and supervisors across three categories – UQ Foundation Research Excellence Awards (UQFREA), Partner in Research Excellence Awards (PIREA), and Awards for Excellence in Research Higher Degree (RHD) Supervision.
They were presented by UQ Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Høj and guest speaker Leukaemia Foundation of Australia CEO Bill Petch at a celebration at Customs House.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Robyn Ward said the awards gave a snapshot of UQ’s breadth and depth of research, from early to mid-career researchers to industry collaborators and RHD supervisors.
“This is a fantastic opportunity to recognise our exceptional researchers and research mentors, all of whom are creating positive change for people locally, nationally and internationally,” Professor Ward said.
“These awards also give us the opportunity to showcase and thank our UQ’s industry collaborators, which help take the benefits of UQ innovation to people all over the world.
“The University is proud of its research linkages with industry partners in Australia and all over the world, and we are continually striving to build and strengthen these partnerships as well as develop new ones.”
The UQFREA awards – now in their 18th year – recognise excellence and the promise of future success in research for UQ’s early to mid-career researchers.
The 2016 UQFREA winners are:
Dr Cameron Parsell – Institute for Social Science Research
Dr Marta Garrido – Queensland Brain Institute
Dr Chun-xia Zhao – Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology
Dr Arkady Fedorov – School of Mathematics and Physics
Dr Simon Smart – School of Chemical Engineering
Dr Sumaira Hasnain – Mater Research Institute-UQ
The PIREA awards recognise outstanding industry-UQ collaborations that have benefitted industry and the community and were co-hosted by UQ’s main commercialisation company UniQuest.
The 2016 PIREA winners are:
Engineering, Materials and Information and Communications Technology
Professor Darren Martin and Dugalunji Aboriginal Corporation (DAC) CEO, Colin Saltmere
Health
Associate Professor Ingrid Winkler and GlycoMimetics Vice-President, John Magnani
Science
Professor Bernie Degnan and Autore Pearling General Manager Production, Patrick Moase
Social enterprise
Professor Ken Pakenham and MS Queensland Director of Services, Karen Quaile
The UQ Awards for Excellence in RHD Supervision recognise outstanding performance in supervising, mentoring and training RHD candidates.
The 2016 Awards for Excellence in RHD Supervision winners are:
Associate Professor Winnifred Louis – School of Psychology
Professor Greg Monteith – School of Pharmacy
Professor and Head of School Margaret Barrett – School of Music
Associate Professor Amin Abbosh – School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering
The Early Career Advisor Award recognises the special achievement of an early career staff member in supervising, mentoring and training RHD candidates.
The 2016 Early Career Advisor Award winner is:
Associate Professor Jason Tangen – School of Psychology
View all the winners' videos here.
Media: UQ Communications, communications@uq.edu.au or 07 3365 1130.
