HDA and CRF PhD Excellence Award

Funded by the Foundation since 2008, the PhD Excellence program is designed to build research excellence and career development in children’s health and development in South Australia.

The program provides PhD top-up scholarships for South Australian-based scholars who are undertaking projects in the area of healthy development. The successful applicants will each be receiving $5,000 per annum for 3 years to augment their scholarships.

It’s also an inspiring platform for the Foundation to continue its 45 year-dedication to fostering opportunities for early career researchers where grant funding is rarely unavailable.

The 9th Cohort 2020 recipients of the CRF PhD Excellence Award are …

Leanne Winner : PhD candidate within the Childhood Dementia Research Group in the College of Medicine and Public Health at Flinders University.

Leanne’s research project aims to identify proteins that track the progression of childhood-onset dementia (Sanfilippo syndrome) which can be used to predict disease trajectory in children diagnosed with the syndrome. Additionally, these proteins are likely to reveal symptom-generating functional pathways that may be targeted with novel treatment strategies; an area of strategic focus in the Childhood Dementia Research Group. Ultimately, Leanne hopes the families of Sanfilippo patients identified by newborn screening can be counselled as to the expected disease progression of their child, appropriate treatment can then be provided, and its efficacy measured biochemically.

Susan Smith : Registered Nurse/Midwife and PhD candidate within the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at Flinders University.

Susan’s research project will focus on increasing the uptake of antenatal influenza immunization in pregnancy and parenting. This in turn will ensure optimal health outcomes for both mothers and babies. Influenza acquired in pregnancy can result in prematurity, spontaneous abortion, birth anomalies and death of mother and baby. The influenza vaccine has been shown to be both safe and effective in protecting both pregnant women and infants up to six months of age. Ultimately Susan hopes to encourage a proactive role in immunization promotion and provision, moving towards independent practice in this area.

For full information on the Award, including the application and eligibility criteria for 2021, please visit Healthy Development Adelaide.

HDA and CRF Schools Communicators Award

Healthy Development Adelaide and the Channel 7 Children’s Research Foundation has combined to launched the Schools Communicator Award as a way to help South Australia’s emerging researchers showcase their research to high school students with the aim of getting them excited about the amazing opportunities open to them in health science or science career pathways.

2021 Awardee : Dr Anya Arthurs

College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University

Dr Anya Arthurs is a postdoctoral researcher within the Pregnancy, Health and Beyond Lab with Professor Claire Roberts (HDA Co-Convenor) at Flinders University.

Anya’s research focuses on molecular mechanisms driving pregnancy complications by altering the placental transcriptome. She is very interested in non-coding RNAs and splicing mechanisms. Ultimately, Anya hopes that she can elucidate mechanisms contributing to placental damage in stillbirth and other pregnancy complications.

Anya plans to show high school students the amazing opportunities a career in science can bring and to showcase her research in an engaging and understandable format.