Collaboration generates innovation

Seed Funding Awards

Australia’s health and medical research sector has the potential to be one of the most innovative and commercially successful in the world – employing thousands of people and creating preventative therapies, vaccines and treatments for the betterment of human health.

However, a constrained funding environment means many promising early and mid-career scientists no longer necessarily receive funding for their research, even when it is assessed as ‘outstanding’ by peer review.

Hudson Institute’s Research Committee established the Innovation Seed Awards to provide seed funding to support innovative blue-sky ideas, interdisciplinary research, and collaborations between researchers. This funding allows researchers to gather the baseline data for out-of-the-box ideas – and provides a clear pathway to sustainable funding.

Senior Researcher Award Winners

Dr Beth Allison, Professor Mark Hedger

Project title Finding a new marker for brain injury following birth

Disease impact | Brain injury at birth, cerebral palsy

Associate Professor Simon Chu

Dr Wilson Wong

Project title Utilising powerful imaging technology to uncover drug targets

Disease impact | Ovarian granulosa cell tumours

Dr Robert Galinsky, Professor Richard Ferrero

Project title A new approach to investigating infection-related inflammation in the preterm brain

Disease impact | Preterm brain

Postdoctoral Researcher Award Winners

Associate Professor Jun Yang, Dr Miranda Davies-Tuck

Project title Aldosterone and renin in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (ALDOHOP study)

Disease impact | Hypertension in pregnancy

Dr Rukmali Wijayarathna, Dr Eveline de Geus

Project title | Could interferon-epsilon protect against viruses affecting male reproduction?

Disease impact Protecting the male reproductive system against viruses, e.g. mumps, Zika virus and herpes simplex virus

Dr Le Ying, Dr Raissa Wibawa

Project title | Establishing a novel stem cell model to study Legionnaires’ disease

Disease impact Legionnaires’ disease, pneumonia

Dr Marius Dannappel, Dr Catherine Carmichael

Project title | Identifying novel regulators of immune cell function and differentiation

Disease impact

Inflammation and cancer

Dr Shanti Gurung, Dr Michelle Chonwerawong

Project title Treating gastrointestinal-graftversus-host-disease with endometrial mesenchymal stem cells

Disease impact Graftversus-host-disease, gastrointestinal tract