Two of Murdoch's leading researchers have each received $100,000 under the WA Near Miss Awards: Emerging Leaders 2021 Program.
The WANMA Program provides support for Western Australian researchers who narrowly missed out on a highly sought-after National Health and Medical Research Council grant.
Professor Sam Abraham from Murdoch University’s Harry Butler Institute received funding for his project ‘Tackling antimicrobial resistance human-animal interface: A One health Approach’.
He is currently leading the One Health Infectious Diseases research team at Murdoch University’s state-of-the-art Antimicrobial Resistance and Infectious Diseases (AMRID) Laboratory.
He said the funding will be specifically used for developing high throughput robotic assays to investigate antimicrobial resistant bacteria from diverse ecological niches including animals, food and humans.
Associate Professor Belinda Brown received funding for her project ‘Physical activity and dementia prevention: Establishing evidence for impact and translation.’
Dr Brown has been focused on investigating the role of lifestyle in maintaining a healthy ageing brain and preventing cognitive decline and dementia, and has received many accolades including the Early Career Development and Achievement prize at the Murdoch University Vice Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence in Research.
Under WANMA program, Emerging Leadership grants provide funding to specifically enhance areas of the NHMRC application which were found to be improvable during the NHMRC peer review process.
Awarded in this round were 16 one-year Emerging Leadership Grants of $100,000 and 4 Emerging Leaders Fellowships of up to $600,000 each, provided over a two or three-year period.
The program is funded by the WA government's Future Health Research and Innovation Fund, which provides a secure source of funding to drive health and medical research, innovation and commercialisation.
Visit the FHIRF website for further information.