Twenty-four individual researchers (and one team) have been named in the 2025 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 2025 have been recognised for their remarkable contribution to Flinders’ research endeavours as they embark on their research careers. In 2025, the awards winners are:

Name	College	Research Field
Dr Annabelle Small	CMPH	Understanding the underlying immune drivers of Rheumatoid Arthritis
Dr Georgia Middleton	CNHS	Public health nutrition, social and behavioural sciences targeting children’s health
Dr Imogen Ramsey	CNHS	Cancer survivorship and psycho-oncology
Dr Matthew Firth	CHASS	Pre-modern English history, its transmission and continued influence
Dr Miia Rahja	CMPH	Dementia, aged care, reablement, occupational therapy, health policy

 

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

Name	College	Research Field
Associate Professor Ching Li Chai-Coetzer	CMPH	Sleep health services research
Professor Daniel King	CEPSW	Clinical Psychology – Behavioural Addictions – Digital Technology
Dr Feargal Ryan	CMPH	Systems biology, gut microbiome, host-microbe interactions, bioinformatics
Dr Jean Winter	CMPH	Gastrointestinal cancer biomarkers and treatment
Associate Professor Mihir Wechalekar	CMPH	Inflammatory arthritis: rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis and gout

 

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 2025 awardees are:

Name	College	Research Field
Professor David Lewis	CSE	Materials Science including polymer science and nanotechnology
Professor Rebecca Golley	CNHS	Nutrition and Dietetics, Behavioural Nutrition, Knowledge Translation/Implementation Science, Public Health

 

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:

Name	College	Research Field
Dr Claudia Virdun	CNHS	Optimising palliative and end-of-life care in the hospital setting
Dr Jake M. Robinson	CSE	Restoration ecology innovation, and biodiversity-health connections

 

A further two mid-career researchers whose 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:

Name	College	Research Field
Dr Amir Zanj	CSE	Sustainable Energy Production Systems, Advanced Wind Turbine Technologies, Smart Manufacturing
Associate Professor Ryan Balzan	CEPSW	Cognitive drivers of psychopathology and creating scalable mental health interventions

 

The Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Research Impact & Engagement (Research Team) has been awarded to the Food Relief Team, made up of these researchers:

Names of Team Members	College	Research Field
Professor Svetlana Bogomolova	CBGL	Social impact marketing, co-design, food and social systems
Dr Tahna Pettman	CBGL	Social impact and public health implementation and knowledge translation
Professor Ian Goodwin-Smith	CBGL	Social policy and equity research in services and systems
Professor John Coveney	CNHS	Public health nutrition and food policy in social contexts
Professor Jon Buckley	External (UniSA)	Nutrition and exercise research for health and performance
Carmel Williams	CMPH	Health equity, Health in All Policies, policy, and research translation
Sahar Faghidno	CBGL	Food insecurity, service evaluation and marketing
Diana Eyers-White	CBGL	Food relief service design and social innovation