Outstanding Griffith University researchers have been honoured for their dedication and extraordinary achievements in the annual Vice Chancellor’s Research Excellence Awards.
Professor Ian O’Connor said he was delighted to be able to recognise the contributions ofkey members of the Griffith community in this way.
The Research Leadership Award
The Research Leadership Award has been received by Professor Mark von Itzstein, Director of the Institute for Glycomics.
Throughout his scientific career Professor von Itzstein has undertaken ground-breaking research in carbohydrate chemistry and biology and his achievements include the co-discovery and development of the first anti-influenza drug, Relenza.
Under Professor von Itzstein’s Directorship, the Institute for Glycomics has attracted ARC and NHMRC grants as well as significant research funding from national and international agencies. It has also drawn a number of the world’s best researchers to come and work there.
Over the past three years he and his team have been published in a range of high impact journals including Nature Chemical Biology, Nature Communications, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of the American Chemical Society and Angewandte Chemie Int Ed Eng. Professor Mark von Itzstein has more than 3,500 citations with approximately 50% of these coming from work published in the last 5-year period.
Professor von Itzstein has successfully supervised to completion and award 20 PhD students covering a range of topics in chemical biology, including molecular virology. He has also acted as primary supervisor for three completed research masters students, all of whom have gone into industry postings either in Australia or internationally. He has supervised 11 Honours students since being at Griffith University (2000) with 9 achieving H1 and 2 H2A.
Senior Researcher Award
The Mid-Career / Senior Researcher Award was given toProfessor Adrian Wilkinson,Director ofCentre for Work, Organisation and Wellbeingwithin the School of Business. He holds Visiting Professorships atLoughborough University,SheffieldUniversityand theUniversityofDurham, and is an Academic Fellow at the Centre for International Human Resource Management at the Judge Institute,University of Cambridge.
He is best known for his work on employee voice and high performance work systems. Professor Wilkinson has written/edited twenty books and more than one hundred articles in refereed journals. He also served on the Australian Research Council College of Experts from 2008-2010 and was appointed as a British Academy of Management Fellow in 2010. In 2011 he was elected as an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences in recognition of his contribution to the field, and most recently was appointed a Fellow of the (British) Royal Society of the Arts (2012). In 2012 he was short listed by HR magazine for the award of HR Most Influential International Thinker.
Early Career Research Award
Dr Wendy Steele of the Urban Research Program in the School of Environment was recognised with the Early Career Research Award. Wendy is also affiliated with the Griffith Climate Change Response Program, Griffith Social and Behavioural Research College and the ARC Centre of Excellence in Policing and Security (as an invited Research Associate). She is an Australian Research Council (DECRA) Fellow (2012-2014)
Since her PhD conferral in 2010, Wendy has co-authored two edited books, 10 book chapters and 10 peer-reviewed journal articles predominantly in A ranked journals. She has also presented at 20 international or national conferences. In 2012 Wendy received the SEET Pro Vice Chancellor’s Research Excellence Early Career Researcher Award.
In the Team or Group Research Award category two teams were highly commended. The team led by Associate Professor Alison Waters was recognised for work into Enhancing treatment outcomes for childhood anxiety disorders: A multidisciplinary approach to innovative interventions.
The second highly commended research team was led by Professor Joy Cumming of the School of Education for their work into Assessment, Literacy and Equity.