Awarded to an outstanding scientist who is within the first 5 years of completing their highest degree and who has demonstrated excellence in a field of science, scientific research or technological advancement.
Now in its 23rd year, the Premier's Science Awards recognises and celebrates the outstanding scientific research and engagement taking place in Western Australia.
This year, 6 finalists have been selected for the Early Career Scientist of the Year category:
Dr Eleanor Dunlop
Deakin University and Curtin University
Dr Eleanor Dunlop is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and MS Australia Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, Deakin University) and an Adjunct Research Fellow (Curtin University). Her research focuses on dietary vitamin D, food composition and the role of diet in multiple sclerosis. She has produced Australia’s first comprehensive vitamin D food composition database, the first accurate estimates of vitamin D intakes in Australia, and internationally relevant data on the effect of vitamin D food fortification on vitamin D status. The quality and value of her work has been recognised through research awards bestowed by Dietitians Australia and the Nutrition Society of Australia.
Dr Lucy Furfaro
The University of Western Australia
Dr Lucy Furfaro is an NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow at The University of Western Australia, leading research to tackle bacterial infections during pregnancy and early-life by exploring a century-old discovery known as bacteriophages.
Since completing her PhD in 2019, Dr Furfaro has excelled as an early career researcher. She has been awarded multiple highly competitive fellowships, led high-impact grants, and has been published widely.
An advocate for early and mid-career researchers and women in science, Dr Furfaro is driven to positively impact health in the community; she actively communicates her research with those impacted, as well as the broader public through media and science initiatives.
Dr Pamela Laird
Telethon Kids Institute
Dr Pamela Laird is a Clinician-Research Fellow at Telethon Kids Institute and Perth Children’s Hospital focused on reducing chronic respiratory disease burden in Aboriginal children. Her research has provided: world-first data on the prevalence of the life-shortening, ‘orphan disease’ of bronchiectasis; addressed significant health-service and health-outcome gaps for Aboriginal children in regional and remote Western Australia – where barriers to access are serious; and dramatically improved awareness, healthcare-seeking and follow-up for bronchiectasis and its precursor, chronic wet cough.
In close partnership with Aboriginal medical services and leaders, Dr Laird has contributed to national guidelines and created accessible resources that, with her research, have already helped save more than 1,000 little lungs.
Dr Kieran Mulroney
Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research and The University of Western Australia
Dr Kieran Mulroney is an early career clinical research microbiologist with a focus on developing new diagnostics for serious infections. Working with a multidisciplinary team across multiple institutes, he has co-invented and developed a new method for determining which antibiotic will best treat life-threatening infections in just hours, rather than days, receiving numerous awards for the technology.
Dr Mulroney is passionate about achieving real-world impact from research, co-founding and acting as CEO for a Western Australian-based medtech spin-out company that will see the technology validated and regulated so that it can reach the people who need it most.
Dr David Preece
Curtin University
Dr David Preece is a Fulbright Scholar, Raine Robson Fellow, and Clinical Psychologist at Curtin University, where he directs the Perth Emotion and Psychopathology Lab. His research focuses on the assessment, understanding, and treatment of emotional disorders. He has over 85 publications and has won several prestigious national research awards.
Dr Preece has created a large suite of tools to assess emotional problems, which have now been translated into over 15 languages and are widely used around the world. Much of Dr Preece’s work now involves using these tools to better understand emotional disorders and inform new treatment approaches.
Dr Neil Robinson
The University of Western Australia
Dr Neil Robinson holds a Forrest Fellowship at The University of Western Australia and a Strategic Research Fellowship within the Future Energy Exports CRC. An interdisciplinary chemist, engineer and materials scientist, he is considered one of Australia’s most innovative energy researchers.
Dr Robinson’s multi-award-winning work focuses on the development of next-generation materials and measurement systems to solve global issues in sustainability and decarbonization; these include new catalysts to produce low-carbon fuels, novel measurement techniques to optimise environmentally friendly engineering cements, and material design strategies to enable the efficient and large-scale transport of hydrogen. This research has the potential to make WA a world-leader in clean energy technology.
Dr Robinson is further recognised internationally for his sustained contributions to outreach, engagement and communication training, and was named an Energy Influencer of the Year in 2023.
