Funding awarded to strengthen WA early-and mid-career researchers' national success
More than $4.8 million has been awarded to 25 Western Australian early- and mid-career researchers.
The Future Health Research and Innovation (FHRI) Fund’s WA Near Miss Awards (WANMA) Emerging Leaders program is designed to support WA researchers who narrowly missed out on securing a highly competitive National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Investigator Grant.
The 2025-26 round of the WANMA Emerging Leaders program received a record high volume of applications from Western Australian early- and mid-career researchers. The program is providing 12-month grants and 3-year fellowships to eligible researchers who will be required to resubmit their improved applications to the NHMRC.
Emerging Leaders grants provide recipients the possibility to improve areas of their NHMRC application that were assessed by the NHMRC peer review process as being improvable, and the Emerging Leaders Fellowships allow the recipients to undertake the research proposed in their NHMRC application over a 3 year period.
Recipients that met the eligibility criteria were awarded a share of the funding pool.
The 2025-26 WA Near Miss Awards Emerging Leaders program recipients are:
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Recipient
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Responsible Entity
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Activity Title
|
Funding Awarded
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Fellowships |
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A/Professor Belinda Brown |
Murdoch University |
Women’s Brain Health: Lifestyle and health factors in the context of menopause |
$962,265 |
|
Dr Benjamin Dwyer |
Curtin University |
Bridging the gap between patient and organoid responses in primary liver cancer: A fully defined, patient-validated organoid platform modelling tumour immunobiology for advanced liver cancer |
$962,265 |
|
Dr Qi Fang |
University of Western Australia |
Metasurface-enhanced optical refraction tomography: a new paradigm for accurate intraoperative breast cancer detection |
$404,640 |
|
Dr Claire Pulker |
Edith Cowan University |
The advertising practices of Australian supermarkets and their influence over population diets |
$404,640 |
|
Grants |
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Dr Oyekoya Ayonrinde |
South Metropolitan Health Service |
Maternal-fetal significance of steatotic liver disease in pregnancy – assessing the effectiveness of a Mediterranean diet intervention to reduce the severity of hepatic steatosis in pregnancy |
$100,000 |
|
Dr Matthew Bagg |
University of Notre Dame Australia |
ADaptive Data assets Underwriting Clinical Evidence translation (ADDUCE) |
$100,000 |
|
Dr Vivian Chua |
Edith Cowan University |
Identifying therapeutic vulnerabilities in high-risk uveal melanoma |
$100,000 |
|
Dr Luke Garratt |
University of Western Australia |
Decoding Neutrophil Behaviour in Chronic Inflammatory Conditions |
$100,000 |
|
Dr Abadi Kahsu Gebre |
Edith Cowan University |
Getting to the heart of healthy ageing: reducing falls in older Australians with cardiovascular disease |
$100,000 |
|
A/Professor Andrew Gibson |
Murdoch University |
A single-cell bioinformatic approach to predict and prevent Drug Reaction with Eosinophilia and Systemic Symptoms (DRESS) and autoimmune sequalae |
$100,000 |
|
Dr Lakshini Herat |
University of Western Australia |
Targeting Sympathetic Nerve Activity with Incretin Receptor Agonists: Implications for Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic (CKM) Syndrome |
$100,000 |
|
Dr Zoe Hyde |
University of Western Australia |
Exploring the impact of infectious disease on healthy ageing |
$100,000 |
|
Dr Katherine Landwehr |
University of Western Australia |
The critical effects of inhaled pollution: a current and future health crisis that will have the greatest impact on children |
$100,000 |
|
Dr Kenneth Lee |
University of Western Australia |
Translating big data to improve primary healthcare utilisation and service delivery |
$100,000 |
|
Dr Samantha Lodge |
Murdoch University |
Establishing healthy ranges of blood lipids, lipoproteins, and inflammatory markers in children to determine changes induced by chronic disease, bridging the gap from reactive disease care to proactive |
$100,000 |
|
A/Professor Vidya Navaratnam |
Curtin University |
Optimization of Life Years and Morbidity Palliation in InterstitiAl lung Disease (OLYMPIAD) |
$100,000 |
|
Dr Jessica Nolan |
Curtin University |
Revolutionising Stroke Rehabilitation in Western Australia |
$100,000 |
|
Dr Louis Parker |
University of Western Australia |
Blood dynamics in high-resolution: Novel computational approaches to circulatory challenges |
$100,000 |
|
Dr Danial Roshandel |
University of Western Australia |
Advancing Personalised Eye Surface Regeneration Towards Clinical Translation |
$100,000 |
|
Dr Mohinder Sarna |
University of Western Australia |
Breathing easier: Capturing the impact of respiratory virus infections and assessing the cost-savings of respiratory virus interventions |
$100,000 |
|
Dr Annabel Short |
University of Western Australia |
Paediatric Brain Tumours: Understanding Cancer in the Cellular Environment of the Developing Brain |
$100,000 |
|
Dr Cassandra Smith |
Edith Cowan University |
My heart matters: co-designing interventions to empower cardiovascular disease education, screening and prevention in women |
$100,000 |
|
Dr Ingrid Stacey |
University of Western Australia |
Closing the data gaps: population-level measurement of First Nations cardiovascular health and wellbeing |
$100,000 |
|
Dr Belaynew Taye |
University of Western Australia |
Developing clinical risk prediction scores for early detection and treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma in Australia |
$100,000 |
|
Dr Wai Yan Yau |
University of Western Australia |
Translating genetic determinants of dystonia into better diagnosis and treatment |
$100,000 |