Winners of the Vice Chancellor’s Research Excellence Awards
The Vice Chancellor’s Research Excellence Awards, which were held last night, celebrate the University’s research achievements and acknowledge the achievements of outstanding individual researchers and research groups. We take great pleasure in congratulating the winners in each category and commend the far-reaching benefits and diversity of their research. Their dedication to advancing scholarly knowledge is helping to transform our world.
The winners in each of the award categories are:
Research Supervision – Professor Jane Hughes, Australian Rivers Institute
Professor Jane Hughes has had a long and distinguished record in research supervision. She has supervised, either as Principal or Co-Principal Supervisor, a total of 57 honours students with 37 being awarded First Class Honours. Three students have been awarded University Medals. 38 Honours students have gone on to do PhDs, 29 of them under Professor Hughes’ supervision. Jane has supervised 61 Higher Degree Research (HDR) students to completion, 48 as Principal or co-principal supervisor, 8 as Associate supervisor and 5 as external supervisor. All these students have been awarded their degrees, being given ‘no change’ or ‘minor change’ or ‘rewriting one or a few sections’, with only one being required to go back to an examiner.
Early Career Researcher – Dr Olivera Simic, Griffith Law School
Dr Simic’s research addresses transitional justice and accountability for war crimes, in particular genocide; the involvement and accountability of UN peacekeepers in transnational organised crimes, such as human trafficking; the accountability and involvement of UN civilian police officers in sexual exploitation and abuse; and local perspectives on war crimes including the ways that local actors have dealt with the past.
Research Group or Team – Applied Cognitive Neuroscience – Improving Human Functioning by Understanding Brain-Behaviour Relationships, Team members include Professor David Shum, Associate Professor David Neumann, Dr Glenda Andrews and Associate Professor Allison Waters
The team seeks to join the particular expertise each has in order to address central issues in attention, memory, learning, executive functioning and problem solving that have their analogues in the class-room, rehabilitation clinic, and mental health service.
Individual Mid-career or Senior Researcher who has demonstrated an outstanding record of achievement in research – Professor Geoff Pryde, Centre for Quantum Dynamics
Professor Pryde’s research program aims to make fundamental advances in the theoretical and experimental understanding of quantum systems (especially photons); and use these advances as resources to make significant progress in developing quantum technologies, including quantum computers, quantum communications, and quantum-enhanced measurements.
Research Leadership – Professor Wendy Chaboyer, Centre of Research Excellence in Nursing
Professor Chaboyer’s area of research focus is patient safety and the role nurses play in improving the quality of hospital care and patient outcomes. Wendy’s body of research has focused on the nurses’ role in preventing or mitigating patient risk and subsequent harm because nurses provide care 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In 2009, Wendy led a team of researchers from a range of disciplines to submit a successful application for an NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Nursing Interventions for Hospitalised Patients.
We offer our warmest congratulations to these outstanding researchers and know that the postgraduate community will join us in applauding their achievements.
