The University of Western Australia has a continual roll call of awards, scholarships and prizes presented to staff and students.

To recognise these achievements, an article is published on the UWA news page on the website and in UWA Forward on the first week of every month. If you know of great awards or achievements across the University please email [email protected]

Outstanding success for UWA at Raine Medical Research Foundation Awards

Fourteen researchers received funding from the Raine Medical Research Foundation including four Raine Priming Grants awarded to early-career scientists progressing towards an independent research career. 

Raine Robson Fellow Dr Qi Fang, from BRITElab and the UWA-affiliated Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, received $236,720 for his project Low-cost and wireless imaging for cancer detection during surgery. 

Raine BrightSpark Fellow Dr Nelly Amenyogbe, from the UWA-affiliated The Kids Research Institute Australia, was awarded $242,793 for Harnessing innate immune metabolism to save newborns from infectious death. 

Raine BrightSpark Fellow Dr Rachael Zemek, from The Kids Research Institute Australia, received $244,360 for Leveraging the surgical wound healing immune response to stimulate local cancer eradication. 

Raine Cockell Fellow Dr Penelope Strauss, from The Kids Research Institute Australia, was awarded $242,886 for Enhancing suicide prevention for LGBTQA+ young people. 

Three Clinician Research Fellowships were awarded to clinicians to develop their research capability while continuing some clinical duties,: Adjunct Dr Pamela Laird, $225,760, for Improved respiratory health for Aboriginal children through knowledge and translation; Dr Wee Loong Chin, $435,259.30, for Designing a prediction framework for mesothelioma response to chemoimmunotherapy; Adjunct Dr Michael O'Sullivan, $384,975, for Establishing an adaptive platform trial for food oral immunotherapy (ADAPT-OIT).   

Dr Jonathan Chee received a $27,812 Healy Research Collaboration Award, for early-career medical research, for Can inhibition of JAK-STAT signalling prevent autoimmunity and improve anti-tumour immunity?

Cockell Research Collaboration Awards, for mental health research, have been awarded to:  Dr Julian Basanovic, $12,768, for Creating tools to help clinicians protect the mental health of children with chronic pain; and Dr Lynden Miles, $17,208, for Investigating the negative relationship between social anxiety and interpersonal coordination: identifying mechanisms and developing interventions. 

Raine BrightSpark Research Collaboration Awards, for early-career child health research, have been given to: Dr Henry Hui, $29,864, for Improving survival in childhood leukaemia; The Kids Research Institute Australia's Dr Akila Rekima, $29,986, for Influence of early life diet on intestinal epithelial cell development and function.  

Raine Research Prize, for the best published research by an early-career medical researcher, was awarded to: Dr Lakshini Herat, $5,000, for SGLT2 Inhibitor–Induced Sympathoinhibition: A Novel Mechanism for Cardiorenal Protection; Dr Michelle Olaithe, $5,000, for Cognitive deficits in obstructive sleep apnea: Insights from a metareview and comparison with deficits observed in COPD, insomnia, and sleep deprivation.


Name: Jay Jay Jegathesan, HDR Coordinator, Graduate Research School
Achievement: Soul Catcher, filmed on the grounds of UWA, won the Best Narrative Short Film Award at the Will Rogers Motion Picture Film festival in Claremore, Oklahoma, USA. Mr Jegathesan directed and acted in the film which has been selected for 30 film festivals around the world. This is the 8th International award Soul Catcher has won. Mr Jegathesan was also nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Performance for the WA Screen Culture Awards, for the role of Brock Aloysius Chopra in Soul Catcher.

Name: Children’s University Western Australia
Achievement:  Children’s University Australasia has been recognised for Outstanding Achievement in The Australian Charity Awards 2021. A joint initiative between UWA, Edith Cowan University and Children’s University Australasia, the Children’s University Western Australia Partnership was launched in 2020 and has grown to include 27 partner schools and more than 600 children in Albany, the Peel region and Perth.

Congratulations UWA staff and students.