Seventeen individual researchers and one research team have been named in the 2024 Vice-Chancellor’s Research Awards, in recognition of the considerable contributions they have made to research at Flinders University.

Presented annually, these awards recognise the research contributions of early- and mid-career researchers, as well as acknowledging research leadership, impact and engagement.

The five recipients of the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Early Career Researchers for 2024 have been recognised for their remarkable contribution to Flinders’ research endeavours as they embark on their research careers. In 2024, the awards winners are:

• Dr Huah Shin Ng for her research aiming to identify older adults with breast cancer who are most likely to benefit  from cancer medicines and those who are most at risk of developing side effects.
• Dr Lemma Bulto for his work understanding and addressing the widespread impact of heart disease in underserved communities including those with low incomes, diverse cultural backgrounds, and those living in rural and remote areas.
• Dr Simone Deegan for her research combining criminology and law to understand how trauma and disadvantage set young Australians on a pathway to prison.
• Dr Lauren Lines for her research focussing on the roles of nurses and health professionals in disrupting cycles of abuse as universal touchpoints for all families.
• Dr Mariya Goray for work into touch and trace DNA with the aim of delivering the first standardised shedder test for identifying how people deposit DNA at crime scenes

The Vice-Chancellor’s Awards for Mid-Career Researchers were awarded to five individuals 6-15 years post-PhD. This year’s winners are:

• Professor Andrew Rowland for his work focussing on making medicines work better and safer for each individual by combining lab experiments with computer analysis
• Professor Emma Thomas for her research into political extremism and understanding the psychology behind when, why and how people decide to join collective efforts for change
• Associate Professor Amy Reynolds for her research into improving early intervention and access to sleep disorder care for your shift workers
• Associate Professor Mike Morley for his work in microarchaeology, studying sediments at the microscopic level to under what environments and landscapes looked like in the past
• Dr Pankaj Sharma for his contributions into revolutionising the way data is stored in order to make devices more energy efficient

The Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Research Leadership recognises and values the outstanding contribution to the University of individual researchers who have demonstrated leadership in their research field and have made a major contribution in advancing knowledge and research outcomes. The 2024 awardees are:

• Associate Professor Daniel King for research into technology addiction including online gambling, video games and social media and identifying practical ways to combat excessive use.
• Professor James Smith for being a nationally and internationally recognised applied public health research leader with expertise in health promotion, men’s health, alcohol and other drugs harm minimisation, social and emotional wellbeing, and Indigenous health and education.
• Professor Udoy Saikia for his work focusing on understanding how people live and thrive, not only in terms of income but by considering other critical factors as well including food, access to education and quality healthcare, and the freedom to make their own choices.

Two individuals whose research has shown considerable impact outside of the academic community have been recognised with the Vice-Chancellor’s Awards for Impact & Engagement (Early Career Researcher). The early career winners are:

• Dr Bryce Brickley for leading innovative, people-centred research to empower men to live healthy and well, leveraging sports settings as a vehicle to engage diverse populations and contexts, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men, and men in regional, rural, and remote areas.
• Dr Tets Kimura for work initiating unique ways of analysing cross-cultural relationships between Australia and Japan/Asia, and as they cross fields in the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences

A further two mid-career researchers who’s research has made a considerable impact outside the academic community have been recognised in the Vice-Chancellor’s Awards for Impact & Engagement (Mid-Career Researcher). They are:

• Associate Professor Martin Breed for his work as a restoration ecologist dedicated to the science of repairing nature, collaborating closely with practitioners, management agencies, policymakers, and innovators to make tangible improvements to how we restore nature.
• Associate Professor Rachel Milte for research aiming to inform policy and practice across health and aged care by promoting system efficiencies whilst maximising the health and quality of life of older Australians.

The Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Research Impact & Engagement (Research Team) has been awarded to the CareSearch Team lead by Professor Jennifer Tieman and including Dr Rachel Damarell, Dr Madeleine Juhrmann, Eric Yang, Cameron Shepherd, Susan Gravier and Jasmine Lewis. CareSearch is a national palliative care online resource managed by Flinders University. The team aims to help translate existing research evidence and undertakes new research to improve care at the end of life for Australians, supporting the health and care professionals providing palliative care and those affected by the need for palliative care.