The University of Western Australia has a continual roll call of awards, scholarships and prizes presented to staff and students.
To recognise these achievements, an article is published on the UWA news page on the website and in UWA Forward on the first week of every month. If you know of great awards or achievements across the University please email [email protected]
Name: Bridget Cleary
Achievement: Bridget Cleary is the WA finalist in the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia’s Pharmacy Student of the Year competition.
The competition showcases the talents of the next generation of pharmacists, giving them the opportunity to develop and grow their skills.
Finalists will compete for the top prize at Pharmaceutical Society of Australia ’s national conference in August. The final will test pharmacy students with a real-life clinical situation, where a patient will present with symptoms or a specific medicine or product request. Students are then required to use their clinical knowledge and communication skills to identify the most appropriate management, tailoring their response to provide the patient-centred advice.
Name: Alexander Turner, Jia Min Ho, Amy Hung and Trieu Huynh
Achievement: Four UWA Data Science graduates won the Western Australia Police Force and WA Data Science innovation Hub hackathon. Alexander Turner, Jia Min Ho, Amy Hung and Trieu Huynh won for their AI/data solution for the State’s 000 Emergency Call Centre. The team developed a chatbot that could help 000 operators understand what was being said on emergency calls and prompt them into asking the next best question. The hackathon is a launchpad for students, innovators, thinkers and developers who’re keen on using cutting-edge GenAI to improve the safety of West Australians.
Name: Paul Abbott
Achievement: Emeritus Professor Paul Abbott from the UWA Dental School has been awarded the International Association of Dental Traumatology’s highest award, the Jens O. Andreasen Lifetime Achievement Award in Dental Traumatology. The award is given only occasionally to distinguished IADT members who, during their lifetime, have made exceptional contributions to the field of dental traumatology in research, education, and organisational leadership. The award was presented to Professor Abbott the 22nd World Congress on Dental Traumatology in Tokyo, Japan.
Name: Tom O’Donoghue
Achievement: Congratulations to Emeritus Professor Tom O’Donoghue from UWA’s Graduate School of Education on the publishing of his new book The Development of University Teaching Over Time Pedagogical Approaches from 1800 to the Present. Key chapters deal with the history of the following teaching approaches: The Disputation. The Lecture. The Tutorial. The Research Seminar. Workplace Teaching. Teaching Through Material Making. The Use of Role-Play.
Name: Andrew Nguyen
Achievement: Public Health Registrar Dr Andrew Nguyen of the WA Centre for Rural Health of UWA has been awarded the Newnham Fellowship for 2025. This award will support his tuition costs to complete a Graduate Certificate in Health Professions Education. The Dr Arthur and Mary Newnham Fellowship supports clinical education or public health outcomes in the communities where rural doctors live and work.
Image: WAARC postgraduate scholarship students.
Name: WAARC postgraduate scholarship students
Achievement: The WA Agricultural Research Collaboration has announced its first cohort of 23 postgraduate scholarship students as part of a new program to inspire future leaders and grow agricultural innovation in the State. Congratulations to Darcy Lefroy, Chloe Rout, Montana Walsh Baddeley, Roberto Lujan Rocha, Saira Azmat, Mahnaz Afsar, Yusi Zhang, Angelia Tanu and Huyen Pham from UWA. The Scholarship Program will provide successful applicants with top-up scholarships to the value of $24,000 a year for up to 3.5 years, to support living expenses while completing their PhDs. Students will also be part of a professional development program aimed at building their agricultural research and development knowledge, skills, networks and first-hand industry experience.
Name: Lee Yong Lim and Connie Locher
Achievement: Professor Lee Yong Lim and Associate Professor Connie Locher, from UWA’s School of Allied Health, are collaborating on an Ear Science Institute Australia research program selected by MedChem Australia in the first round of pilot projects. The project is led by Associate Professor Elaine Wong and Professor Marcus Atlas, in collaboration with Dr Victor Chuang Honorary Fellow at Ear Science, Professor Lim and Associate Professor Locher. The project will benefit from the expertise of drug discovery for sensorineural hearing loss that will pave the way to reduce the health burden of hearing disorders. The portfolios and projects selected by MedChem seek to develop new therapeutic interventions for different cancers, heart disease, a paediatric genetic disorder, hearing loss, and obesity.
Congratulations UWA staff, alumni and students.
Image top: Dr Andrew Nguyen , Bridget Cleary and Professor Paul Abbott.