Research Impact Competition
The Research Impact Competition showcases research from across all of the University's research themes to an audience of external stakeholders, staff and students. One researcher is selected from each School and Institute to compete in the competition, presenting their research in just five minutes using a single PowerPoint slide.
2023 Competition
The 2023 Research Impact Competition was held on 11 July 2023 as part of Research Week.
Credit: Sally Tsoutas
Competition Winner
Dr Manuel Esperon-Rodriguez from the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment received $5000 towards his research for Are Urban Forests Ready for Climate Change?
Investigating the impacts of climate change on urban forests, Dr Esperon-Rodriguez is focused on understanding how urban trees cope with extreme urban conditions such as heatwaves and limited space, while working with councils to make science-based plant choices, to ensure urban greening programs are successful.
Runner-up
Dr Hazel Keedle from the School of Nursing and Midwifery received $2000 towards her research for All Women Deserve Respectful Maternity Care, But Do They All Receive It?
Joint People's Choice
Dr Anna Fiveash from The MARCS Institute received $1000 towards her research for Brain, Behaviour and Development: Music’s Potential to Improve Language Processing.
Dr Michelle Ryan from the School of Science received $1000 towards her research for Using the Iconic Platypus to Restore Western Sydney Waterways.
Western Ventures
The inaugural Western Ventures prize is an initiative to support projects with excellent commercialisation potential. There were two winners selected this year:
Maria Rashidi from the School of Engineering, Design and Built Environment received $5000 towards her research for Eye in The Sky Keeps Bridges Safe.
Phoebe Zhou from the NICM Health Research Institute received $5000 towards her research for Safety in Your Hands A User-Friendly Digital Tool for Drug-Health Supplement Interactions.
2022 Competition
The 2022 Research Impact Competition was held on 1 November 2022 as part of Research Week.
Competition Winner
Dr Jonathan Plett from the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment received $5000 towards his research for Million Dollar Fungi – Using Our Fungal Wealth to Support Forestry Health and Tackle Climate Change.
Joint Runners-up
Dr Tendai Chikweche from the School of Business received $2000 towards his research for Women’s Empowerment via Partnership – Addressing Mobility Crises in Rural Zimbabwe Through a Shared Community Multi-purpose Electric Vehicle Solution.
Dr Anthony Butera from the School of Engineering, Design and Built Environment received $2000 towards his research for CO2 Concrete.
People's Choice
Dr Deep Bhuyan from the NICM Health Research Institute received $1000 towards his research for Harnessing the Power of Gut Microbiome to Fight Cancer.
2021 Competition
The 2021 Research Impact Competition was held on 26 October 2021 as part of Research Week.
Competition Winner
Dr Maggie Davidson from the School of Science received $5000 towards her research for Preventing occupational lung diseases in the stone industry.
Runner-up
Dr Katherine Kent from the School of Health Sciences received $2000 towards her research for Purple food for thought.
People's Choice
Dr Lynde Tan from the School of Education received $1000 towards her research for Improving literacy teaching and learning with augmented reality.
2020 Competition
The 2020 Research Impact Competition was held on 20 October 2020 as part of Research Week.
Competition Winner
Dr Freya MacMillan from the School of Health Sciences received $5000 towards her research for A New Dawn: Reducing the Impact of Diabetes in Pasifika Communities.
Runner-up
Dr Olayide Ogunsiji from the School of Nursing and Midwifery received $2000 towards her research for Beyond illegality: What do we need to eradicate female genital mutilation (FGM).
People's Choice
Dr Sebastian Pfautsch from the School of Social Sciences received $2000 towards his research for Cooling Sydney.
2019 Competition
Competition Winner
Dr Roberto Parada from the School of Education received $5000 towards his research for Revealing Dragons in Schools: Uncovering the Nature and Structure of School Bullying.
Runner-up
Dr Tanya Notley from the School of Humanities and Communication Arts received $2000 towards her research for Advancing the News Media Literacy of Young Australians.
People's Choice
Justin Sinclair from the NICM Health Research Institute received $1000 towards his research for Cannabis for Endometriosis: from (reefer) madness to medicine.
2018 Competition
Competition Winners
The 2018 Research Impact Competition resulted in joint competition winners with Dr Emma George from the School of Science and Health and Dr Mike Armour from the NICM Health Research Institute sharing the podium. Both Emma and Mike received $5000 towards their research.
Dr Emma George – Active Breed: tackling men's health through rugby league
Dr Mike Armour – The problem of period pain
People's Choice
Dr Belinda Ratcliffe from the School of Social Sciences and Psychology received the People’s Choice Award for her audience grabbing presentation, Mental Health Prevention in Autism. Belinda received $1000 towards her research.
2017 Competition
Competition Winner
Dr Philippa Collin from the Institute for Culture and Society won the competition with her presentation, Control Shift: changing the debate on young people’s technology practice and impacting policy and practice from Granville to Geneva.
Runner-up
Dr Mark Hohenberg from the School of Medicine was the runner-up with his presentation, What we need as we get older: perceptions from elders and health care staff in the Macarthur region of Sydney.
People's Choice
Dr Michael Salter from the School of Social Sciences and Psychology received the People’s Choice Award for his audience grabbing presentation, Organised child sexual abuse: prevention, detection and treatment.
2016 Competition
Competition Winner and People's Choice Awardee
Dr Ian Wright from the School of Science and Health was the competition winner and people's choice awardee for his presentation, What happened when research discovered major water pollution of a highly valued river from a coal mine?
Runner-up
Dr Mark Antoniou from the MARCS Institute received the runner-up award for his presentation, Can learning a foreign language protect your brain?
2015 Competition
Winner
Dr Evan Alexandrou from the School of Nursing and Midwifery was awarded first place and $5,000 towards his future research after impressing the judges with his presentation, One Million Global Catheters Worldwide Prevalence Study.
Runners-up
Dr Justine Humphry – Homeless and Connected: Mobile Phones and the Internet in the Lives of Homeless Australians.
Dr Vahid Vakiloroaya – Design and Development of a Novel Air Conditioning System for Carbon and Energy Reduction.
People's Choice
Dr Joanne Orlando – Children's Uses of Technology for Learning.
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