Leading Griffith University researchers have been honoured at the Vice Chancellor’s Research Excellence Awards held at the Gold Coast campus.
Vice Chancellor Professor Ian O’Connorwarmly congratulated all the researchers who took part.
“The winners are just a small part of the Griffith story of research excellence,” Professor O’Connor said.
“We had many other fantastic researchers nominated and I thank you all.”
The awards were presented by theChancellor, Mr Henry Smerdon AM DUniv.
Excellence in the Research Leadership
The award for excellence in research leadership was won by Professor Huijun Zhao, Director of the Centre for Clean Environment and Energy and Deputy Director of the Environmental Futures Research Institute.With a record of prolific publication in refereed journals, securing more than $12 million in research funding and earning international regard for his expertise regarding chemistry, energy and environmental materials, Professor Zhao says he is excited about guiding the next generation of research leaders.
“This is a great honour, both personally and because I see this recognition as feeding into the University’s strategy and philosophy,” he said.
Excellence in an Early Career Researcher
Dr Kyra Hamilton from the School of Applied Psychology won the award for excellence in an early career researcher.
A health psychologist and registered nurse, Dr Hamilton was recognised for her work on health behaviour decision-making, including the cancer preventative behaviours of physical activity, sun safety and nutrition, sexual health of men with prostate cancer, as well as family and child health behaviours.
Excellence of an Individual Mid-Career or Senior Researcher
The award for excellence of an individual mid-career or senior researcher went to Professor Diego de Leo AO, Director of the Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention (AISRAP).
Professor de Leo has been recognised for his outstanding research in suicidology and psychogeriatrics. He aims to increase awareness around the issue of suicide and fight the stigma that limits help-seeking behaviour.
Under his leadership AISRAP has been recognised as the National Centre of Excellence in Suicide Prevention.
Excellence Award for Research Supervision
Associate Professor Michael Haugh from the School of Languages and Linguistics was recognised for his distinguished record in research supervision. With eight PhD supervisions and nine honours supervisions completed, he has helped to lift the School of Languages and Linguistics’ research profile significantly since joining Griffith in 2004.
Associate Professor Haugh is also the recent recipient of a 2015 Thomson Reuters Australian Citation and Innovation award for his research on Language Role in Social interactions.
This prestigious award recognises an Australian researcher is producing highly cited research at the forefront of an emerging, high impact field according to Thomson Reuters’ analysis.
Excellence of a Research group or Team
The Vice Chancellor’s Research Excellence Award for a research group or team went to the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice: The Queensland Linkage Project: Advancing Life-Course Criminology. The team comprises the leader, Professor Anna Stewart, Associate Professor Susan Dennsion, Dr Troy Allard, Dr Carleen Thompson, April Chrzanowski, Emily Hurren Paterson, Associate Professor Lisa Broidy and Dr Belinda Crissman.
Over the past decade, this team has been involved in the development and ongoing expansion of three population-based longitudinal linked administrative databases to better understand the mechanisms that influence offending over the life course . They have identified and examined the accumulation of risk factors, the time of exposure to risk and their key points of transition in childhood, adolescence and adult development.
Outstanding Research Achievement
The inaugural Outstanding Research Achievement award was given to Dr Maxime Aubert and Dr Adam Brumm for their ground breaking research into Pleistocene cave art from Sulawesi, Indonesia which was named by Science journal as one of the top 10 scientific achievements of 2014.