2025-26 Research Australia Health and Medical Research Awards

Nominations for the 2025-26 Awards are now open.

General Criteria

  • To nominate you must identify a primary and a secondary nominator.
  • The primary nominator must be from a current financial Research Australia member and an Australian citizen.
  • The secondary nominator must be from a different organisation to the primary nominator. The secondary organisation does not need to be a Research Australia member.
  • A person can be a primary nominator across a limit of 2 award categories. They can nominate one person per award category. They must be the key signatory/approver of the nomination.
  • An individual or organisation can be nominated for more than one award as long as the nomination meets the criteria for that Award.
  • Self-nominations are permitted, however must include a letter of endorsement from the nominees’ current or most recent place of employment.

How to Nominate

You can download ALL the Criteria and Nomination information here.
Once you are familiar with all the criteria and questions to answer, you can complete the
form on the online portal. You then fill in the form with all the details and submit your nomination.

NOMINATE NOW

Nominations will close 11.59pm AEST, 24 April 2026.

If you have any questions you can email awards@researchaustralia.org or call 02 9295 8545.

Advocacy & Philanthropy Award

This award recognises exceptional contributions made by individuals, groups, families, or organisations that have demonstrated excellence in advocacy and/or philanthropy to support and advance health and medical research and innovation in Australia.

The award celebrates those who have raised awareness and understanding of the importance of health and medical research and/or demonstrated personal philanthropy that is outstanding in generosity, effectiveness, and impact.

The Awards Committee will be looking for examples and evidence of advocates or philanthropists who have demonstrated outstanding practice in helping and advocating for communities within Australia.

Discovery Award 

The health and medical research and innovation sector is committed to supporting and developing early career researchers.   

This award recognises an early career researcher (anytime from qualification but no more than 5 years past PhD or research higher degree) whose paper/patent/discovery has already demonstrated its importance or impact. 

Health Services Research Award

Embedding research in Australia’s health system can ultimately deliver safer, more effective, evidence-based and efficient health care. Translating research findings efficiently and in a timely manner into changes in clinical practice is one of the keys to improving patient management; reducing adverse events and readmissions; and reducing wasted spending on unnecessary tests and treatments.

This Award is for an individual or team who has provided leadership and made an outstanding contribution to health services by driving research that has led to a significant improvement in healthcare; and/or has championed the development of the health services research field.

Frontiers Award

The Frontiers category showcases Australian research that pushes existing boundaries, answers difficult questions, or explores undeveloped fields of study that contribute to increased understanding of physical, living or social aspects of health or medical research. Note the criteria for this category has been updated from previous years.

This research (by an individual, team or corporate) addresses an area of study that:

  • has not been exploited or explored before
  • acquires new knowledge that adds to the existing body of knowledge
  • asks questions that are difficult to answer using traditional approaches
  • is curiosity or innovation driven
  • explores undeveloped or emerging fields of study.

Digital and Data Health Innovation Award 

Digital and Data Health innovations are driving unprecedented advances in healthcare. These platforms are intertwined and reliant on each other to drive unprecedented technological advancements in the way that we understand, treat, and manage current and new health conditions.

This Award seeks to recognise innovators who are at the forefront of the innovative use of data, data linkage or data matching, and or the innovative use of data and digital health technologies.

The Digital and Data Health Innovation Award is presented for to an individual, team or organisation for an emerging, innovative use of digital health technology and or data, data linkage or data matching, that advances the use of healthcare information, healthcare delivery and/or enables healthcare users and providers to improve health outcomes.

Eligible innovative use of data, data linkage and or technologies will have been supported through Australian health and medical research, they will have at least one Australian individual, institution, or organisation as a collaborating partner.

  • The Peter Wills Medal

    The Peter Wills Medal was created in honour of a great leader whose work led to the inception of Research Australia. The Peter Wills Medal is the flagship award and recognises someone who has made an outstanding, long-term contribution to building Australia’s international reputation in areas of health and medical research and fostering collaboration for better health. 
     
    Nominations are welcome from any individuals who have made an outstanding contribution in the field and should not be regarded as being limited to researchers.