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: Fiona Wood
Achievement: Winthrop Professor Fiona Wood AO from UWA’s Medical School has been awarded a Royal Medal C (also known as King’s Medals) by the Royal Society for her pioneering work resulting in the invention of spray-on skin, an innovation that has transformed the lives of burns victims globally. The Royal Society is a self-governing fellowship of distinguished scientists, drawn from all areas of science, engineering and medicine who recognise, promote and support excellence in science, and encourage the development and use of science for the benefit of humanity. Professor Wood said it was “simply overwhelming” to receive the medal. “As I started my career as a surgeon, I was focused on learning something each day so that I could reduce the suffering of those it was my privilege to treat each day,” Professor Wood said. “I have engaged in the wonder of the science and technology and have been fortunate to be a driver of new knowledge in my field of endeavour. As I reflect on those who have suffered burn injury over the years it is to them I owe my thanks for the inspiration to keep me going in what was frequently an austere environment.”
Name: Stuart Cobbett
Achievement: Lawyer Stuart Cobbett, who has previously worked as a tutor in UWA’s Juris Doctor program, has been appointed to the Magistrates Court and Children’s Court of Western Australia. Mr Cobbett, most recently an assistant state counsel with the State Solicitor’s Office, holds a master’s degree in commercial law and has more than 16 years’ post-admission experience including contractual disputes, compulsory acquisition and injurious affection claims, taxation review proceedings, native title matters and class actions. He has previously appeared as counsel in the Wardens Court and Magistrates Court, conducting court-based and private mediations. Announcing the appointment, Attorney General the Hon. Dr Tony Buti said Mr Cobbett was widely respected within the legal profession for his expertise in civil and complex commercial litigation, dispute resolution and advocacy, and would strengthen the courts’ civil jurisdiction.
Name: Keighlee Burkhardt
Achievement: Political science and international relations student Keighlee Burkhardt has been awarded the WA Centre for Rural Health’s Student Research Award in recognition of her research addressing health inequity in regional areas. The work was undertaken as part of Keighlee’s research internship with UWA’s McCusker Centre for Citizenship, during which she took on a leadership role within a small team of interns. The group gathered information on ongoing workforce shortages in rural and remote communities in both WA and Scotland, including looking at the experiences of students and early career professionals. Keighlee said her time in WA’s Mid West had influenced her career direction and opened her eyes to the severity of existing health inequities between metro residents and those in rural and remote communities.
Name: Emily Zhen
Achievement: Dr Emily Zhen, a clinical lecturer with the UWA Medical School, anaesthetist at Fiona Stanley Hospital and founder of Materia Health, won three accolades at the national 2026 iAwards – Australia's longest running and most comprehensive innovation recognition program, run by the Australian Information Industry Association – for developing MateriaPOD, an organ and tissue preservation device. The project received the Inspiration Award, won Not for Profit & Community Solution of the Year and Merit in Start-Up Solution of the Year. The device, which departs from ice-based preservation methods widely used for decades, is designed to preserve organs and tissues for transplant through a portable, reusable system. The judges recognised MateriaPOD as a technological innovation aimed at transforming a medical practice that has remained largely unchanged since the 1950s.
Dr Zhen said winning Not for Profit & Community Solution of the Year reflected the broader impact MateriaPOD could have beyond the technology itself. “Organ and tissue donation connects an entire community, with donors, families, recipients, clinicians and healthcare teams all playing a part in making a transplant possible,” Dr Zhen said. “We’re proud that MateriaPOD can contribute to this community and help protect donated organs and tissues throughout their journey to the patients who need them.”
Name: Tanya Fitzgerald
Achievement: Professor Tanya Fitzgerald, from UWA’s Graduate School of Education, has been awarded a Distinguished Fellowship of the British Educational Leadership Management and Administration Society (BELMAS). Founded in 1971, the Society is a Learned Society dedicated to advancing educational leadership and the BELMAS Distinguished Service Award is their highest accolade. Distinguished Fellows are individuals who, throughout their careers, have made significant contributions to the field of educational leadership, management and administration. These individuals have ‘moved knowledge forwards’ within the Society and the wider community. Professor Fitzgerald is the first international scholar to receive this award that recognises her significant contributions as a leading interdisciplinary scholar in the field.
Name: Zeeshan Ahmed
Achievement: PhD student Zeeshan Ahmed from UWA’s School of Molecular Sciences received two prestigious awards at the 2026 Annual Combined Biological Science meeting. The annual scientific meeting promotes biological sciences in WA by connecting scientists, students and industry professionals to network, share research and explore innovative solutions in life sciences. Mr Ahmed was awarded the 2026 New Investigator Award for Plants and Genetics and Best Poster Award for Plant Science-Food Science and Applied Biology. This brings to five the number of awards he has received since commencing his PhD researching rare variegated Kangaroo paw genetics. His findings are expected to advance our understanding of plant adaptation mechanisms and energy-efficient strategies for sustainable urban gardens and climate-resilient agriculture.
Name: Whitney Payne and Montana Walsh Baddeley
Achievement: UWA PhD students and emerging agricultural researchers Whitney Payne and Montana Walsh Baddeley have been awarded bursaries by the South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub (SW WA Hub). The bursaries will allow them to work with farming communities to gain firsthand experience of the challenges growers face as they work to make agriculture more resilient to a drying, warming and increasingly variable climate. Whitney will work with Wyloo Station to research strategies to improve reproductive outcomes of livestock undergoing heat stress in WA’s rangelands, while Montana is working to understand how genetics and grazing behaviour influence body composition in WA rangelands beef cattle, especially during times of drought. The SW WA Hub bursary program supports PhD students to integrate and extend their research in real world scenarios. Bursary recipients can use the funds to work with WA grower groups and industry, develop participatory research and attend or present at workshops, field days, or conferences.
Name: Heather Bray
Achievement: Dr Heather Bray, from UWA’s School of Biological Sciences, has been recognised with the 2026 Science Communication Hero of Australia Award from the Australian Science Communicators. The award is a career-level award recognising significant impact and achievement within the science communication sector in Australia. Dr Bray said she was extremely humbled to have been recognised in this way by science communicators in Australia - a community that has inspired and supported her for most of her 30-year career in the field. "Science communication is a diverse field of practice and research which - at its core - is about making scientific information more accessible to the community," she said. "I feel so lucky to have had such a diverse career in science communication - from working in science centres, science outreach, and social media and content creation, to now teaching and researching with the next generation of science communicators here at UWA." Dr Bray has been an important part of the Australian Science Communication community, with an influence that has spread far beyond her own work, via teaching, advocacy and voluntary service roles. She has championed inclusivity and diversity as crucial parts of successful engagement.
Name: Meizhu Chen, Louis De Saran, Konstantine Panegyres, Agyeya Pratap, Julyan Tan and Yujie Wei
Achievement: Meizhu Chen, from the Business School; Louis De Saran from the School of Design; Konstantine Panegyres and Yujie Wei, from the School of Humanities; Agyeya Pratap, from the School of Molecular Sciences; and Julyan Tan, from the School of Biomedical Sciences were awarded Associate Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy. The Fellowship Scheme supports academic and professional staff to receive recognition for their excellence in teaching and/or support of learning. The Fellows enhance the student experience by reflecting on and understanding how students learn and the impact of their teaching and learner support.
Name: Farah Alkhatib, Eranda Bandara, Lisa Bowdin, Bobby Gillham, Kate Hammer, Andre Honora, Enamul Hoque, Marrwa Ibrahim, Rawdah Juma'at, Adil Khan, Joshua Lake, David Lim, Andrew Milne, Mehdi Rajabi Asadabadi, Jade Rimmer, Fayliesha Spyker, Maduka Subasinghage, Shawn Raphael Tan, Leei Wong, Pauline Xu, Wei Zhang and Lin Zou
Achievement: Farah Alkhatib, Bobby Gillham and Lin Zou, from the School of Engineering; Eranda Bandara, Andre Honora, Mehdi Rajabi Asadabadi and Maduka Subasinghage from the Business School; Lisa Bowdin, Marrwa Ibrahim and David Lim from the Dental School; Kate Hammer, from the School of Biomedical Sciences; Enamul Hoque and Shawn Raphael Tan, from the School of Population and Global Health; Rawdah Juma'at, from the Centre for Integrity and Impact in Teaching Excellence – Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Academic); Adil Khan and Fayliesha Spyker, from the School of Molecular Sciences; Joshua Lake and Leei Wong, from the School of Social Sciences; Andrew Milne, from the School of Humanities; Jade Rimmer, from the School of Health and Clinical Sciences (Nursing and Midwifery); Pauline Xu, from the School of Health and Clinical Sciences (Optometry); and Wei Zhang, from the Graduate School of Education were awarded Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy.
Name: Ezrina Fewings and Susan Young.
Achievement: Ezrina Fewings, from the Centre for Integrity and Impact in Teaching Excellence – Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Academic) and Susan Young from the School of Health & Clinical Sciences (Social Work and Social Policy) were awarded Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy. All staff are invited to join the UWA Excellence in Teaching Awards Ceremony from 3.15pm until 6pm on Monday 23 November at The University Club of WA, where we will recognise and celebrate the success of our awarded Fellows and Teaching Excellence Award recipients. Register here.
Name: International Student Support team
Achievement: UWA’s International Student Support team was recognised in the ISANA: International Education Association’s 2026 awards. The team won the Student Experience, Access & Inclusion Award, in recognition of their exceptional dedication to enhancing international student wellbeing and building inclusive communities.
Name: Danka Sampson
Achievement: Dr Danka Sampson, from UWA's Medical School and the Lions Eye Institute, is a finalist for the 2026 Marie Krogh Young Women in Science Prize for her innovative contributions to retinal imaging, computational ophthalmology and precision eye care. Her research advances retinal imaging toward more reproducible, clinically relevant tools for diagnosing and monitoring eye disease. Dr Sampson led the teams that developed OCTAVA, an open-access retinal image analysis platform used by researchers worldwide, and international standards that advance biomarker discovery, clinical trials, and earlier detection of retinal conditions. Recognised with the WA Young Tall Poppy Award, the Australian and New Zealand Optical Society Mid-Career Prize, and induction into the WA Women’s Hall of Fame, she combines scientific innovation, open science, and leadership to improve vision outcomes and inspire the next generation of women in STEM. The Marie Krogh Young Women in Science Prize aims to recognise and celebrate outstanding young women in science and medicine who embody innovation, leadership and impact.
Congratulations UWA staff, alumni and students.
Image top: Winthrop Professor Fiona Wood AO, Zeeshan Ahmed, Dr Danka Sampson and Keighlee Burkhardt.