The Forrest Research Foundation has responded to the research funding crunch caused by COVID-19 by appointing 13 post-doctoral Prospect Fellows to continue their outstanding research at Western Australian universities.
Prospect Fellowships provide 18 months of funding, together with mentoring and a professional development program, to ensure that these brilliant early career researchers can continue with research that will benefit all Australians.
They are drawn from across the spectrum of academic research, from creative arts, humanities, social science, and psychology to biology, medicine, engineering, physics and mathematics. Their research addresses some of the biggest social, economic and scientific issues of the day – stress and fatigue in the workplace, the aged care workforce, cancer immunotherapy, the development of the hydrogen economy, the treatment of rare diseases, the welfare of animals in the livestock industry, the new frontiers of quantum physics and nanotechnology.
COVID-19 has forced many of these leading early-career researchers to forego offers of research positions in Europe and North America; these Forrest Foundation fellowships ensure that they can continue to develop their research careers and apply their huge talents to creating new knowledge that will benefit everyone.
Warden of the Forrest Research Foundation Professor Paul Johnson, said the Foundation is proud to be able to provide support for early career researchers at this moment of acute need. “Without our support many of these fellows would have to terminate their research, and that would negate the years of investment they and the Australian taxpayer have made in training them to be world leaders in their field.”
The Forrest Research Foundation was established in 2014, by Andrew and Nicola Forrest through their Minderoo Foundation.
