The Channel 7 Children’s Research Foundation’s Annual Grant Awards celebrates some remarkable South Australians who dedicate their careers to improving the lives of children through research.   

Congratulations to Professor Rebecca Robker from The University of Adelaide, named the 2025 Excellence in Children’s Research winner at last Thursday’s event. 

The event, hosted by 7NEWS presenter Mike Smithson, also celebrated Dr Todd Norton and Dr Natalie Stevens from SAHMRI, recognised for their top-scoring grant applications in the 2026 grant round, which will see almost $1.7 million awarded across 19 groundbreaking projects. 

The awards were presented by the Foundation’s Patron – Her Excellency, Frances Adamson, the Governor of South Australia and Mr Rod Bunton. 

Click here for a full list of our awarded grants

This year the Foundation also launched a bold new initiative — Impact Projects — designed to deliver faster, more direct help to children in need. The first, a world-leading collaboration with The Embrace Collective, will create positively framed nutrition resources for high schools to support the 77% of young people who are in body image distress.  

Every breakthrough has a beginning — and we can’t wait to see what our 2026 funding will make possible.  

A heartfelt thank you to our event sponsors, Matthew Amato and John Fowler from Ord Minnett, and the team at Communikate, for their support. 

See more photos here: