2023 Research Australia Health and Medical Research Awards

Nominations for the 2023 Awards are now CLOSED.

We thank all of nominators for their submissions, finalists will be notified from the 20th September 2023, we wish all the nominees good luck.

General Criteria

To nominate you must identify a primary nominating organisation and a secondary nominating organisation.
The primary nominating organisation must be a current financial Research Australia member.
The secondary nominating organisation does not need to be a Research Australia member.
You can nominate across as many categories as you choose and submit multiple nominees under one/each category.
A nominee may also be nominated across more than one category
A person/individual can only be contact of the primary nominating organisation across a maximum of 2 award categories (more allowed only if internal protocol absolutely dictates they must be the key signatory/approver of the nomination) ie If you are submitting multiple nominations then please vary the primary nominator/contact where possible.

How to Nominate

You can download the Criteria and Nomination form here. Once you are familiar with all the criteria and questions to answer, you simply click on the link to the Nomination portal at the bottom of each Award below. You then fill in the form with all the details and submit your nomination.

Nominations will close midnight Wednesday 9 August 2023

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

Peter Wills Medal

The Peter Wills Medal was created in honour of Research Australia’s Deputy Chairman, Peter Wills AC, a great leader whose work led to the inception of Research Australia. The Peter Wills Medal is the Ceremony’s 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 should not be regarded as being limited to researchers. We welcome submissions for individuals who have made an outstanding contribution in the area of health and medical research, for harnessing government, research, industry and philanthropic collaborations – all to promote a healthier community.

Questions for the nominators to address – please keep your submission to 700-800 words:

Please tell us about the person you are nominating and why you believe their work should be recognised and rewarded.
Provide specific examples of the nominees work that highlights the reason why they deserve the award.
What are the major contributions to the health and medical research sector this work has achieved?
How has the nominee contributed to building Australia’s international reputation?

Great Australian Philanthropy Award

This award profiles philanthropy that is outstanding in its generosity, effectiveness, vision, high impact and transformative quality. The Award recognises and encourages personal or professional philanthropic donations over a period of time by an individual(s), partnership, family or business to Australian health and medical research.

The Awards Committee will consider nominees that can display evidence of:

Achievements of a philanthropic individual, couple, family or organisation;
Engendering leadership and advocacy to give with impact, offering examples of good practice for others in the philanthropy sector;
Scale of financial contribution made or generated; and
Recognition of philanthropic achievements in at least the last five years (since 2018).

Health Services Research Award
proudly sponsored by NSW Government

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.

Questions for the nominators to address – please keep your submission to 700-800 words:

At what stage of their career is the nominee?
How has the nominee contributed to the development of the health services field?
Please detail how the nominee has provided leadership in health services research (including positions held etc).
Please provide information, including examples, of how and where the nominee’s research has been translated and the resulting improvement in health systems and/or healthcare delivery.

Digital Health Technology Award

The rate of advancement in the development of digital health technologies is unprecedented. This inaugural Award seeks to recognise innovators who are at the forefront of digital health technologies.

The Digital Health Technology Award is presented for an emerging, innovative technology that advances healthcare delivery and/or enables healthcare users and providers to improve health outcomes.

Eligible 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.

This award will go to the individual, team or organisation who has developed, trialled, or implemented the technology.

Applications should demonstrate how the technology can have a significant impact on digital transformation of the health sector and be implementable in a scalable manner.

Note – We have used the definition of Digital Health as by the one outlined by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

Questions for the nominators to address – please keep your submission to 700-800 words:

Describe how the nominee has demonstrated innovation in the design and development of digital health technologies.
How did the nominee differentiate the innovation from existing practices being used in the delivery of healthcare?
What is the actial or potential for translation of this innovation, and the broader impact on health outcomes?
How has this digital health innovation been applied or translated; if the technology has been trailled in practice the outcome of the trial should be outlined.

Data Innovation Award Sponsored by Digital Health CRC

The importance of promoting the value and use of data as a national resource both within and external to the health and medical research sector is more prevalent today than ever before.

In its third year, the Data Innovation Award is presented to an individual or team that has developed the most innovative method of gathering, making available, processing or interpreting data in a way that advances health and medical research, including matching of data and data sets which have not previously been linked.

Individuals and teams from all fields of health and medical research are eligible for nomination, not just those who specialise in the manipulation of data. Innovations that provide new methodologies for research or have increased the availability of data for research are encouraged.

This year we are searching for a individual, team or organisation that has demonstrated the importance of community understanding as a pivotal role in their project for collection and use of big data.

Questions for the nominators to address – please keep your submission to 700-800 words:

Describe how the nominee has demonstrated innovation in the management, design and development or use of data.
How has this data innovation been applied or translated; or if it has not yet concluded, what is the research’s intended application?
How did the nominee differentiate the innovation from existing data practices being used in the HMR sector?
How has the nominee disseminated or promoted the innovation to the relevant end users?

Griffith University Discovery Award

The health and medical research sector is committed to support and develop early career researchers. This award recognises an early career researcher (anytime from qualification but no more than 5 years past PhD) whose paper/patent/discovery has already demonstrated its importance or impact. Please confirm that the nominee has no more than five years post-doctoral experience.

Questions for the nominators to address – please keep your submission to 700-800 words:

Outline the intended impact of the nominee’s project.
Provide details of the nominee’s paper, patent or discover.
Describe the importance/impact of the nominee’s work in the research field.
What is the actual or potential for translation of this research, and the broader impact on health outcomes?
Provide evidence that you meet the criteria of an early career researcher anytime from qualification but not more than 5 years post PhD or Masters by research (not by course work).

Advocacy Award Sponsored by AbbVie

This award recognises and congratulates champions of health and medical research that raise community awareness and understanding about the importance of health and medical research.

The Awards Committee will be looking for examples and evidence of corporates, individuals or teams who have exhibited excellence in supporting or enabling Australian communities through the championing of health and medical research.

The application may explore the personal strengths of an individual, the corporate commitment of an organisation or the innovative approach of a group of people who have made a difference and inspired others to contribute to their community through the support of health and medical research.

Questions for the nominators to address – please keep your submission to 700-800 words:

How has the nominee raised awareness in supporting and promoting health and medical research?
How has the nominee championed change in their community to positively benefit the health and medical research sector?
How has the nominee inspired and motivated others?
What are the future goals and objectives of the nominee – what is the longevity of their advocacy project(s)?

Frontiers Award Sponsored by ANU

The Frontiers category showcases Australia’s potential to extend beyond existing knowledge and boundaries to transformative practical application. Australia is already a global leader in health and medical research excellence, the challenge is to leverage this advantage through bold leadership and game changing innovation.

This category recognises transformative research by an individual, team or corporate that could revolutionise health outcomes within Australia and potentially internationally.

A frontier outcome could be, but is not limited to, applying emerging capabilities in areas such as machine learning, artificial intelligence or robotics; understanding how humans function in extreme environments; reducing healthcare costs without compromising patient outcomes; or ground-breaking transformative medicine.

Questions for the nominators to address – please keep your submission to 700-800 words: