Seven important The Kids Research Institute Australia research projects have received support from the Future Health Research and Innovation Fund through the WA Near-Miss Awards (WANMA).
Projects selected cover areas including vaccine development, Aboriginal child health, suicide prevention for young LGBTQA+ people, pre-term health and cancer treatment.
Each of the projects was rated very highly by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) but missed out on the most recent round of funding. The WA Near-Miss Awards provide funding for outstanding emerging West Australian researchers to help them lay the groundwork for future NHMRC grants.
Associate Professor Hannah Moore, from the Wesfarmers Centre for Vaccines and Infectious Diseases at The Kids Research Institute Australia and the School of Population Health at Curtin University, won an Emerging Leaders Fellowship for a project on data decisions to drive vaccine development.
Associate Professor Moore, who is also supported by the Stan Perron Charitable Foundation, will receive $400,000 over two years to use “big data” to help fast-track vaccine development for two serious childhood illnesses that are not yet vaccine preventable– Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) and Group A Streptococcus Diseases (Strep A).
“RSV is one of the leading causes of hospital admission in young children in Australia and globally, while Strep A, while under-recognised, is one of leading causes of illness and death globally. Both these pathogens have been listed as vaccine priority targets by the World Health Organization, but neither yet has a licensed vaccine,” she said.
"Along with my team, I will be conducting data-driven research about the burden of these diseases in children to produce the key information needed to drive vaccine policy decision-making."
Six other The Kids Research Institute Australia researchers were awarded Emerging Leaders Grants worth $100,000 for a range of year-long research projects.
The Kids Research Institute Australia Executive Director, Professor Jonathan Carapetis, said each researcher was supported by a talented team of collaborators.
“These awards show the breadth of research talent we have at The Kids Research Institute Australia and are an important stepping-stone to more detailed research,” he said.
Each of these individuals is part of a team, often working across multiple institutions, and its exciting to see how these projects will make real changes to the lives of West Australian kids.
Professor Carapetis congratulated the WA Government and the Future Health Research and Innovation Fund for providing these grants.
“This supports some of our most productive researchers usually in a developing stage of their careers and recognises excellent research that only misses out on national funding because of the extraordinarily tight circumstances that research funding finds itself in,” he said.
These are career-launching grants that will improve the lives of children and families in WA.”
Full list of Near-Miss Award recipients at The Kids Research Institute Australia:
- Associate Professor Hannah Moore (The Kids Research Institute Australia and Curtin university) won the Emerging Leaders Fellowship for the project: Data-driven approaches to vaccine development, implementation and evaluation.
- Dr Christopher Brennan-Jones (The Kids Research Institute Australia and Curtin university) won an Emerging Leaders Grant for the project Djaalinj Waakinj (Listening, Talking): partnering with the community to improve prevention, treatment, and long-term outcomes for children with ear disease and hearing loss.
- Pamela Laird (The Kids Research Institute Australia and Perth Children’s Hospital) won an Emerging Leaders Grant for her project Improved lung health for Indigenous children through knowledge translation.
- Dr Rishi Kotecha (The Kids Research Institute Australia and Perth Children’s Hospital) won an Emerging Leaders Grant for the project Novel therapeutic agents for infant acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
- Associate Professor Tobias Strunk (The Kids Research Institute Australia, King Edward Memorial Hospital and The University of Western Australia) won an Emerging Leaders Grant for the project Reducing the burden of neonatal sepsis.
- Associate Professor Shannon Simpson (The Kids Research Institute Australia) won an Emerging Leaders Grant for the project Arresting and reversing lung function decline for survivors of preterm birth.
- Dr Penelope Strauss won an Emerging Leaders Grant for the project Enhancing suicide prevention of young people of diverse genders and sexualities.