Last week, the Alere Function Centre hosted the 2023 Emerging Leaders Showcase (ELS), bringing together approximately 140 academics, industry sponsors, professional staff, students, and invited guests over two days. 

The event served as a platform for networking, sharing diverse research insights, and vying for the prestigious ELS Award. This annual gathering offered attendees the chance to engage in meaningful discussions and connect, fostering conversations on innovative ideas with the potential to enhance health outcomes.

“We wanted to create an event that allowed early and mid-career academics along with students to showcase their research in a safe, supportive environment. We also wanted to create an environment where presenters across all three FHMRI themes could present work to those that may not be familiar with that particular research or educational area to help foster a wider understanding of the work being done in the college but also potentially to build cross-disciplinary collaboration,” said committee member Helen Harrison.

The dynamic two-day program of events commenced on Thursday with plenary speakers, short talks, and poster presentations showcasing the excellent works of our emerging leaders before the opportunity to meet and mingle at an afternoon networking session.

“The quality of the presentations was excellent across both days and all sessions.  The four plenaries were interesting and informative with all four focusing on slightly different elements of leadership but with the common theme of ensuring you are meeting the needs of the stakeholders, being person-centered, the importance of developing diverse teams and improving equity and quality in research and education.”

Highlighting the broad width of talents within the College of Medicine and Public Health (CMPH), the showcase also exhibited artworks from CMPH student Rebbecca Medhurst.

Friday featured an engaging panel of speakers discussing the theme of ‘Unlocking Education and Research Synergies with Industry and Community.’

2023 ELS Awards

The highly anticipated ELS awards ceremony concluded proceedings, presented to winners from each category:

• Best Short Talk from an Early-Career Academic (ECA): First place: Dr Charlotte Downes, Runner-up: Dylan De Bellis
• Best Short Talk from a Mid-Career Academic (MCA): First place: Dr Jean Winter, Runner-up: Dr Pramod Nair
• Best Short Talk from a HDR Student: First place: Antonia Kolovos, Runner-up: Razia Rahman
• Best Poster Presentation: First place: Michael Luppino, Runner-up: Dr Karissa Barthelson
• Best 3-Minute Thesis (3MT) Presentation from a HDR student: First place: Yee Chern Tee, Runner-up: Marsall Smith

Acknowledgments and thanks

The ELS 2023 was supported by the College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute (FHMRI), Flinders Foundation, Biosensis, Pathtech, The Conversation, Quantum Accounting and Cengage.

Many thanks to the organising committee (Dr Helen Harrison, Dr Dusan Matusica, Dr Norma B. Bulamu, Mrs Shannon Macfarlane, Mr Brad Mitchell, Ms Andrea Morello, Ms Vibha Singh, Dr Dan Thorpe. Dr Sara Tommasi, Ms Nicole Grivell, Ms Alana White, and Ms Emma Thomas) and event sponsors, the college looks forward to future showcases that promise to be educational and inspirational.