University of Western Australia
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]
Name: Dr Jilen Patel
Achievement: Dr Jilen Patel was presented the Australian Dental Association’s 2022 Outstanding Young Dentist Award. The national award was in recognition of his contribution to specialist paediatric dentistry, voluntary work, community service and his work at UWA Dental School. Dr Patel plays an active role in developing oral health policy and practice for underserved remote and regional communities and has established programs to provide services for refugee children.
Name: Dr Mehwish Nasim
Achievement: Dr Mehwish Nasim, from UWA's School of Physics, Maths and Computing, was named the Women in Tech Western Australia’s 2023 Shining Star in AI, Robotics and Data Analytics. The award recognises women who have demonstrated sustained excellence over many years in their field of research. Over the course of her work studying disinformation, Dr Nasim has analysed vast volumes of data to identify how misinformation is spread through social media, developing models to detect fake news and better inform executive decision making around it.
Name: Dr Ivan Lin
Achievement: Dr Ivan Lin, of the WA Centre for Rural Health in Geraldton, is a finalist in the Rural Allied Health Professional of the Year category for his work at Geraldton Regional Aboriginal Medical Service, Midwest. As a longstanding rural clinician and researcher, Dr Lin works towards improving the quality of health care and outcomes in diverse communities. As well as being a senior lecturer at the Centre for Rural Health, Dr Lin practices as a physiotherapist with the Geraldton Regional Aboriginal Medical Service. His research is on improving the clinical effectiveness and patient experience of health care, especially Aboriginal health care.
Name: Professor Angus Turner
Achievement: Professor Angus Turner, from UWA Medical School and the Lions Eye Institute, won the inaugural Digital Health Technology Award at Research Australia’s Health and Medical Research Awards. The award recognises his team’s achievements in using artificial intelligence, developed in partnership with Google, to accurately detect eye disease in patients in remote communities in WA. The awards celebrate Australia’s top medical researchers and the philanthropists and advocates who support them to improve health outcomes and change lives.
Name: Dr Chris McDonald
Achievement: Dr Chris McDonald, from UWA’s Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering, has been awarded the Australian Computer Society (WA) 1962 Educator Award in recognition of his significant contribution to ICT Education in Western Australia. In February this year, Dr McDonald was also awarded the 2023 Australasian CORE Teaching Award.
Name: Professor Carmela Pestell
Achievement: Professor Carmela Pestell, from the School of Psychological Science, was recognised in two categories at the Australian Psychological Society awards. Professor Pestell received the President's Award for Distinguished Contribution to Psychology in Australia. The award recognises distinguished contributions by psychologists at later stage in their career who have made a difference to psychology and the Australian community. Professor Pestell also received the College of Clinical Neuropsychologists Outstanding Service award. The award recognises clinical neuropsychologists who have made outstanding contributions to the field of neuropsychology through practice, research and mentorship.
Name: Professor Ashleigh Lin
Achievement: Professor Ashleigh Lin, from the UWA Centre for Child Health Research and School of Global Population and Health, was recognised at the WA Mental Awards. Dr Lin won the Minister’s Award for her outstanding work in youth mental health research in WA, with a primary focus on improving outcomes for marginalised groups, including LGBTQIA and Aboriginal youth.
Name: Professor Tanya Dalziell
Achievement: Professor Tanya Dalziell, from the School of Humanities, was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities at the 2023 Annual General Meeting held on 22 November. The Fellowship of the Academy comprises more than 700 distinguished individuals elected in recognition of the excellence and impact of their scholarship in various humanities - Professor Dalziell’s election as a Fellow is testament to her outstanding contribution to her discipline and the exceptionally high regard in which she is held by her peers.
Name: Winthrop Professor Jiake Xu
Achievement: Winthrop Professor Jiake Xu has been named the top researcher in the field of Physiology in the Australian Newspaper’s list of leading Australian researchers. Dr Xu is Head of the Molecular Laboratory at UWA’s School of Biomedical Science, a founding Fellow at the Faculty of Science at the Royal College of Pathologists of Australia, Fellow of American Society of Bone and Mineral Research, Fellow of International Orthopaedic Research and ex-president of the Australian and New Zealand Orthopaedic Research Society 2012-2015).
Congratulations UWA staff, alumni and students.
Image above: Winthrop Professor Jiake Xu, Professor Tanya Dalziell, Professor Ashleigh Lin and Amber Jade Sanderson, and Dr Ivan Lin.