Recognising excellence in health and medical research

Research Australia is calling on nominations for the annual Research Australia Awards, which recognise the contributions and accomplishments made to health and medical research in Australia.

The awards are presented for excellence across the areas of discovery, advocacy, philanthropy, lifetime achievement, leadership and innovation. Nominations are open to scientists, advocators, philanthropists and corporations who invest their time and/or money into supporting pioneering research.

Research Australia CEO and MD Elizabeth Foley said that Research Australia was pleased to provide the opportunity to acknowledge the outstanding achievements across all areas of health and medical research.

“Over the past 10 years, we’ve awarded recipients from across the community, including universities, hospitals, medical research institutes and also well-known personalities and business leaders,” Foley said. “In 2012, Australian of the Year Ita Buttrose AO OBE was awarded the Bupa Advocacy Award in recognition of her longstanding commitment to promoting health and medical research. Leading Australian businessman Harold Mitchell was also presented with an award, in recognition of his philanthropy.”

The awards include:

• The Discovery Award
• The Advocacy Award
•  The Leadership in Corporate Giving Award
• The Leadership & Innovation Award
• The Great Australian Philanthropy Award
• The Lifetime Achievement Award
• The Peter Wills Medal (for advancing Australia’s reputation within the sector)

This year the GlaxoSmithKline Award for Research Excellence will be presented at the same event in November. Now in its 33rd year, this prestigious award recognises outstanding achievements in medical research and aims to facilitate career development with potential importance to human health and Australian research, with the recipient receiving a research grant of $80,000.

Sponsors for this year’s awards have already expressed their interest with Griffith University, Bupa Australia, the Macquarie Foundation and the Victorian Department of Business and Innovation signed up to be involved.

The Awards will take place on Wednesday 13 November at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Melbourne.

Nominations are open until Monday 1 July. More information about the awards and placing nominations is available on Research Australia’s website.