Awards Boost for Top Researchers

July 3rd, 2012

Associate Professor Alison Reid

Assistant Professor Gina Ravenscroft

Eight outstanding Western Australian researchers, including two from the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research (WAIMR), have each been awarded $10,000 to carry out important medical and health research in Western Australia.

The researchers received the money through the 2012 New Independent Researcher Infrastructure Support (NIRIS) Awards - a program that supports new researchers by funding the resources and infrastructure required to further develop their careers.

"This year's awards recognise eight exceptional, emerging researchers working across a wide variety of areas such as the impact of the built environment on health, the prevention of pre-term births and improving occupational health and safety of migrant workers," WA Health Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Robertson said.

The 2012 NIRIS award recipients included Associate Professor Alison Reid from the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research (WAIMR) and University of Western Australia (UWA) for her research which involves improving the occupational health and safety of migrant workers.

"This grant will be extremely useful in my research," said A/Professor Reid.

"International studies have shown that migrant workers have more work-related accidents and injuries than foreign-born workers but we don't know if this is the case for Australia. I am looking at this issue in Australia, by analyzing national mortality and hospital admissions data."

Another upcoming researcher with WAIMR and UWA to receive an award was Dr Gina Ravenscroft whose research involves identifying genes and developing therapies for genetic skeletal muscle diseases.

For more information please contact:
Carolyn Monaghan
Communications Manager
Mobile: 0448 021 932 (media enquiries only)
Office: (08) 9224 0377