2018 Grants Award Ceremony

EMF celebrated its grant recipients for 2017-18, with an award ceremony on Tuesday 13 March, in Brisbane. The event was an opportunity for EMF to publicly congratulate its recent grant recipients as well as celebrate ground-breaking research outcomes from its grants program.

Guest speakers at the event included Dr Mark Larsen from the Black Dog Institute, Professor Marianne Wallis from the University of the Sunshine Coast, and members of the FEISTY team: Dr Don Campbell, Mrs Elizabeth Wake and Dr Glenn Ryan.

Representatives from 17 of the 19 projects awarded grants in 2017-18 attended the ceremony, along with collaborators from QIMR, The University of Queensland, Queensland University of Technology, Griffith, the University Southern Queensland, the University of the Sunshine Coast, James Cook University and the University of Tasmania.

According to EMF Chair, Dr Anthony Bell, EMF’s grant recipients represented an important solution to the ever increasing demand on Australia’s emergency services.

“There is no simple solution to the complex issues contributing to more and more people relying on our emergency services,” Dr Bell said.

“However, we can all agree that governments need to address this escalating situation strategically and I strongly believe funding research is a key part of the solution.

“Queensland is unique in Australia. For the past decade, our State Government has funded acute care research via EMF. It’s the only government to provide dedicated funding for this area of health and in doing so it has enabled EMF to build a strong culture of acute care research in Queensland.

“Since our first grant round in in 2008, EMF has awarded 151 Queensland Research grants and scholarships totaling $14.27 million. We have also committed a further $2 million to funding a Research Support Network (RSN).

“Through its programs, EMF empowers and supports front-line clinicians, paramedics and allied health professionals to engage in clinically-relevant and collaborative research. Together, they are creating the solutions needed for more effective and efficient solutions to acute care and the healthcare system.

“The research by EMF-funded clinicians has led to outcomes which have been adopted clinically. Their work has brought about improvements in patient care as along with the State’s healthcare system, with economic analyses on just a handful of projects showing that they are delivering more than twenty million dollars in economic benefits to Queensland each year.

“EMF projects have also generated more than $45 million in leveraged, linked and follow-on funding as well as in-kind funding associated with them.”

Despite the Foundation’s success, Dr Bell said EMF future in Queensland was by no means guaranteed and the EMF Board and staff were working together to look at all funding opportunities, including talking with other state governments.

Dr Bell also encouraged clinicians to lend their support to the RSN, which he said was providing an important research infrastructure in Queensland.

Launched in late 2015, the RSN has people on the ground directly supporting eight of Queensland’s Hospital and Health Service (HHS) districts, while the RSN Manager was supporting clinicians interested or participating in research in the other eight HHS.

According to Dr Bell, the RSN has led to 11 emergency departments implementing research plans, a significant increase in research activity and national and international research collaborations.

“EMF has committed more than $2 million from its reserves to funding the RSN. However, we don’t have the funding to continue fully supporting the network and we’re speaking with the HHSs as well as other stakeholders.

“If you value the RSN, I strongly urge you to lend your support to EMF’s proposals and lobby your HHS to help support this valuable initiative.”

Pictured above: The 2017-18 EMF grant recipients and/or research team members at the ceremony

Trainee grants: Dr Kerina Denny & Dr Volha Pankevich; Staff Specialist grants: Dr Katherine Isoardi, Prof Louise Cullen, Dr Ben Lawton, Dr Jason Chan, Mr Peter Gilies (for Dr Alex King), Dr Pieter Nel (for Dr Sarah Boxall), Dr Rob Eley (for Dr Tina Bazianas) & Dr Rose Jones; Project grants: Dr Mark Edwards, Dr Shane George (for Dr Christa Bell), A/Prof Luregn Schlapbach (for Dr Peter Snelling), Prof Gerben Keijzers, Ms Leanne Diggelman ( for Dr Natalie Phillips) & Prof Marianne Wallis (for Dr Elizabeth Marsden); Capacity building grant: Dr Alan Yan (for Redcliffe Hospital).