There’s been plenty of good news over the past week

21 Mar 2023

Dear staff,

I am delighted to report that we’ve had a spate of really good news over the past week – with a number of UQ academics and teams receiving recognition, grants, or awards.

Last Tuesday, for instance, it was announced that 11 UQ researchers had been awarded more than $3.1 million in the latest round of the Advance Queensland Industry Research Fellowships program (AQIRF). This Queensland Government program provides support to postdoc researchers to collaborate with industry partners on original research that can be translated into practical outcomes and applications.

Congratulations to the 11 UQ-based AQIRF recipients: Dr Mobashwer Alam, Dr Yahia Ali, Dr Gloria Milena Monsalve Bravo, Dr Ping Chen, Dr Denys Villa Gomez, Dr Sundar Kalaipandian, Dr Veronica Martinez, Dr Syed Naqvi, Dr Md Masud Rana, Dr Jiayong Tang, and Dr Min Zheng.

Also last Tuesday, we received the wonderful news that four UQ researchers had been recognised in the Australian Academy of Science’s 2023 honorific awards for their outstanding contributions to science. Congratulations to Professor David Craik and Professor Catherine Lovelock who received awards recognising their career-long contributions to advancing scientific knowledge, as well as Associate Professor Teresa Ubide and Professor Di Yu who received early- and mid-career awards, respectively.

Then, last Wednesday, it was announced that 21 UQ medical research projects had received grants from the Federal Government’s Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF). UQ researchers secured almost $31 million of funding in this round, out of the $382 million awarded by the MRFF.

The 21 UQ projects are investigating a broad range of medical and healthcare issues. For instance, there are projects that are seeking to improve the quality of life of people living with dementia; improve dental care in vulnerable populations; and aid in the recovery of people who have suffered whiplash injuries in traffic accidents. The largest single grant that UQ secured in this MRFF round (valued at $4.1 million) is for research to improve the diagnosis and management of sleep apnoea amongst Indigenous peoples.

On the topic of important medial research, you may have seen in the news that recruitment is now underway for healthy volunteers to participate in the proof-of-concept clinical trial of the second generation UQ molecular clamp vaccine.

Once again, I’d like to congratulate the whole team, led by Associate Professor Keith Chappell, for their steadfast dedication to developing the ‘molecular clamp’ as an innovative vaccine platform. I would also like to acknowledge the incredible support the team has received from the Australian and Queensland governments, as well as the Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).

On a final note, I’d also like to acknowledge the immense contribution of Emeritus Professor David Reutens, who recently retired from his position as Director of the UQ Centre for Advanced Imaging (CAI). Having served as Centre Director ever since it was founded in 2008, Emeritus Professor Reutens has played a really significant role in establishing CAI’s position as one of the world’s leading centres for imaging science.

We are delighted that David will continue to supervise students and conduct research at CAI in his new role as an Emeritus Professor of the University.

I hope you really enjoy the rest of this week.

With best wishes
Debbie

 

Latest