We are delighted to announce and congratulate our 2024 Rebecca Cooper Fellows – A/Prof Joanne Reed, The Westmead Institute for Medical Research; A/Prof Catherine Satzke, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute; A/Prof Michael Lazarou, WEHI; and Prof Ethan Goddard-Borger, WEHI. These exceptional researchers exemplify excellence and promise to leave a lasting impact on their respective fields of research. The Rebecca Cooper Fellowship will provide $1.5million to each Fellow over five years to support and propel their innovative research programs.
To find out more about our 2024 Rebecca Cooper Fellows, take a look at the “Meet our Fellows” section of our Homepage.
Al & Val Rosenstrauss Fellowships have been awarded to Dr Maria Di Biase, University of Melbourne; Dr Gang Liu, University of Technology Sydney; and Dr Jiao Jiao (JJ) Li, University of Technology Sydney. We are delighted to support these talented early-career researchers for the next five years so that they may advance their innovative research programs and strengthen their positions as emerging leaders within their respective fields of expertise .
To find out more about our 2025 Al & Val Rosenstrauss Fellows, take a look at the “Meet our Fellows” page.
Congratulations to our 2024 Al & Val Rosenstrauss Fellows! The Foundation is delighted to announce that it will support Dr Sophia Davidson, WEHI; Dr Amy Winship, Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute; and Dr Shayanti Mukherjee, Hudson Institute of Medical Research for the next five years as they grow their wonderful research programs and continue to build their careers as leaders within their areas of expertise.
To find out more about our 2024 Al & Val Rosenstrauss Fellows, take a look at the “Meet our Fellows” section of our Homepage.
We are delighted to announce that our 2023 Al & Val Rosenstrauss Fellows are Dr Anai Gonzalez Cordero, Children’s Medical Research Institute (CMRI), A/Prof Tamsyn van Rheenen, University of Melbourne and Dr Miguel Rentería, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute. These three talented researchers have bright futures in medical research and the funding provided to them over the next five years will support them in growing their research programs and continuing to establish themselves as leaders within their areas of expertise.
Take a look at each Fellow’s profile (on our Homepage) to find out more about their exciting and impactful research programs.
We are pleased to announce that Rebecca Cooper Fellowships have been awarded to A/Prof Sylvia Gustin, University of New South Wales and A/Prof Andrew Zalesky, University of Melbourne. Both applicants were deemed worthy of holding a Rebecca Cooper Fellowship because they have established an impressive research program and were able to project a strong vision for their future career path.
The goal of the Rebecca Cooper Fellowships is to support highly-reputed experts within the fields of research supported by the Foundation to become future leaders of Australian medical research. The Foundation is delighted to support these outstanding researchers and looks forward to being a part of their journey for the next five years.
To learn more about their research programs, take a look at each Fellow’s profile (below).
The 2022 Al & Val Rosenstrauss Fellowship has been awarded to three outstanding applicants, Dr Valentina Lorenzetti, Australian Catholic University, Dr Selina Parry, University of Melbourne and Dr Hannah Vanyai, WEHI. These were the three applicants ranked highest by Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Committee, out of the of the 73 applications received.
A major goal of the Al & Val Rosenstrauss Fellowship is to give support to Australia’s outstanding early- to mid-career researchers, so they can contribute to our understanding and treatment of diseases and disorders within the Foundation’s chosen areas of support.
Take a look at each Fellow’s profile (below) to hear more about their research programs.
Having undertaken a comprehensive review of our funding opportunities, a new funding strategy will be implemented in 2021. Our strategy is to support talented researchers with strong research vision in the fields of research supported by the Foundation. Thus, future funding will be used to fund Fellowships that will fund a salary and will have a Research Support Package. This strategy builds on the outstanding success of the already-established Al & Val Rosenstrauss Fellowship scheme which has funded up-and-coming researchers and aided their transition to an independent research career.
In implementing this strategy, we will continue to fund Al & Val Rosenstrauss Fellowships but in addition, we are excited to announce the introduction of a new fellowship scheme, The Rebecca Cooper Fellowship. It is the view of the Foundation that by funding these Fellowship schemes we will provide support to exceptionally talented researchers as they transition from Early- to Mid- career.
Details of each Fellowship scheme:
THE REBECCA COOPER FELLOWSHIP: 10-15 years post-doctoral
Targeted at Mid-Career Researchers, our new Rebecca Cooper Fellowship scheme will provide future leaders of Australian Medical Research with a salary of $220,000 per year and a research support package of $50,000 per year to propel their program of research for a five-year term.
The inaugural Rebecca Cooper Fellowship round will likely open in August 2021. Please check the website for updates.
THE AL & VAL ROSENSTRAUSS FELLOWSHIP: 5-10 years post-doctoral
The revised Al & Val Rosenstrauss Fellowship has an increased salary component of $120,000 per year and an additional research support package of $50,000 per year for a five-year term.
The Al & Val Rosenstrauss Fellowship round will likely open in April 2021. Please check the website for updates.
In 2021, the Al & Val Rosenstrauss Fellowship has been awarded to three outstanding applicants, Dr Samantha Barton, The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Dr Amie Hayley, Swinburne University of Technology and Dr Natalie Matosin, University of Wollongong. These were the three applicants ranked highest by Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Committee, out of the of the 66 applications received.
Whilst the Foundation typically awards one fellowship per year, the Board of the Foundation has decided to increase the number of Fellowships in 2021 in recognition of the outstanding calibre of these three researchers. A major goal of the Foundation is to give support to Australia’s outstanding mid-career researchers in the Foundation’s chosen areas of research so they can navigate the exceptional challenges they face in continuing to contribute to our understanding and ability to treat diseases and disorders. The Board of the Foundation hopes that funding additional Fellowships in 2021 will help during what are difficult times facing the medical research sector in Australia.
Click here to find out more about our Fellows.
Al & Val Rosenstrauss Fellow, Associate Professor Sylvia Gustin, from NeuRA and UNSW, and her US collaborator Associate Professor Zina Trost from Virginia Commonwealth University will lead the first-ever study to examine the underlying brain processes associated with treatment and pain recovery in people with spinal cord injury; and the preliminary results are strong. A/Prof. Gustin says “Our cutting-edge research uses virtual reality to facilitate an immersive walking experience that can reactivate the brain’s sensorimotor signals and thereby ease the pain these people are in”. Click here to find out more.
Assoc. Prof Sylvia Gustin, 2017 Al & Val Rosenstrauss Fellowship recipient, has received $2.5 million from NSW Health for her RESTORE project, which aims to use virtual reality to help individuals with complete spinal cord injury regain a sense of touch and feeling throughout their body.
The funding is part of $6.4 million awarded to researchers at UNSW and Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) to provide better treatments for people with spinal cord injuries.
To find out more about Assoc. Prof Gustin’s project and others funded under this award, see UNSW’s announcement.
