A sleepy awards night
Members of the FHMRI Sleep Health /Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health have been recognised at the Sleep Down Under conference.
Professor Danny Eckert was awarded the NEST (Network of Early Career Researchers in Training) mentor award which recognises an Australasian Sleep Association (ASA) member who demonstrates excellence in the mentoring of students and early career researchers in the fields of sleep health and sleep science.
Dr Jenny Haycock was awarded the Nick Antic Career Development Award, a scholarship established to assist an ASA member in their professional career development.
Associate Professor Ching Li Chai-Coetzer was awarded the Helen Bearpark Scholarship, which facilitates international travel and exchange in order to develop skills in sleep research or clinical sleep medicine. Nicole Grivell was awarded the best sleep and breathing presentation prize. Nikki Stuart was one of six selected to present her work on “Tracking wake propensity across night shift lighting conditions with ORP” at the prestigious New Investigator Plenary session.
Super supervisor recognised
Professor Udoy Saikia from the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences has been awarded the 2025 Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Higher Degree Research Supervision. With more than 20 years of experience, Professor Saikia is celebrated for his humanistic and inclusive approach to supervision, empowering students from diverse backgrounds through empathy, flexibility, and respect. He will deliver a professional development workshop for HDR Supervisors and be formally recognised at the Staff Awards Ceremony next month. Congratulations Udoy! Read more here.
Remote leader wins big
Well done to Tobias Speare – winner of the 2025 NT Allied Health Excellence Award for Excellence in Leadership.
Toby is a pharmacist, educator and remote health champion based in Central Australia. He’s helped transform medication safety and culturally responsive care across Australia and even pioneered the first onsite aged care pharmacy service in Alice Springs. Through his teaching, research and leadership, Toby continues to make a real difference in remote communities.
Flinders contributes to longitudinal Indigenous report
Associate Professor Stuart Ekberg and Tirritpa Ritchie from the College of Nursing and Health Sciences have been central to a recently released report, reshaping how we understand the early experiences that help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children to thrive as they grow up.
Drawing on 14 years of data from more than 1700 children and their families, the Footprints in Time: Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC) Early Childhood Report was led by QUT and commissioned by the Australian Government Department of Social Services.
In undertaking the research, Mr Ritchie (Kaurna) and Associate Professor Ekberg (Western Arrernte) developed a new method for using data to tell stories. Recognising that stories are central to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing, being, and doing, they adapted existing Indigenous methodologies to work with large-scale data and identify common narratives.
You can read more about their work and the report on the Flinders news blog.