42 Institute members were recognised in 2025 for their outstanding contributions to research, leadership, teaching, collaboration and community impact.
From prestigious national and international honours to Deakin and Institute awards, these achievements celebrate the breadth of talent across our research community and the real-world value of our work. Together, they reflect our shared commitment to improving health and wellbeing through excellence, partnership and impact.
Dr Simone McCarthy was a finalist in the Public Health Stream of the Premier’s Health & Medical Research Award.
Tan Nguyen was awarded the Bastas Academy for Health Leadership Scholarship and the Judith Albino Award for Outstanding Research in Health Equity from the International Association for Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Research, Behavioral, Epidemiologic and Health Services Research Group.
Deakin Distinguished Professor Catherine Bennett who has been awarded the 2025 Sidney Sax Public Health Medal from the Public Health Association of Australia.
Dr Virginia Hagger was awarded an Honorary Life Member of the Australian Diabetes Educators Association (ADEA). This prestigious award is the highest honour that ADEA bestows on a member.
Associate Professor Lemai Nguyen was awarded the ‘Best Solution for Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work’ award at the National Safety Council of Australia Foundation Annual Safety Awards of Excellence 2025, with a Western Health team.
Associate Professor Deb Kerr received the IS Community Champion Award, issued by the Australasian Association for Information Systems at the Australasian Conference on Information Systems 2025 for distinguished contributions towards Service and Leadership, especially for creating and leading the very successful AAIS Digital Health Community of Practice.
Dr Laura Brooks was awarded a Faculty of Health Outstanding Thesis Award, an honour given to only 4 Faculty of Health PhD graduates per year (less than 4% of all completed candidates). Her doctoral thesis was titled: ‘Culturally Sensitive End-of-Life Communication in Intensive Care’.
Dr Paula Medway was awarded a Faculty of Health Outstanding Thesis Award for the most outstanding thesis, outcomes, and impact. Awarded in recognition of the outstanding quality and impact of her doctoral research ‘Policy to Practice: Exploring the Implementation and Impact of Australia’s National Maternity Strategy’, showcasing significant contribution to this field.
Tarryn Armour (PhD Candidate) won the Australian College of Perioperative Nurses (ACORN) 3 Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition 2025 for ‘Readiness for postgraduate perioperative nursing education’.
Tendayi Bruce Dziruni (PhD Candidate) was awarded the Kathleen AB Smith Memorial Award for Best Early Career Researcher Publication 2025 and the Alfred Health Emerging Nurse Researcher Award 2025.
Dr Olumuyiwa Omonaiye through the Springer Nature Editor of Distinction Awards 2025, received the following award: The Editorial Contribution Award for contributions to BMC Public Health.
Madison Frith was awarded the HSD Head of School Award for Team Member of the Year. This award recognises an individual who has consistently demonstrated exceptional teamwork, collaboration, and dedication to achieving outstanding results within their team at Deakin University.
Prof Suzanne Robinson, Madison Frith, Alice Petcopoulos, Dr Sean Rendall, Dr Feby Savira were awarded the School of Health & Social Development (HSD) Recognition for Collaborative Teams. This award honours a team that has exhibited exemplary collaboration, cooperation, and effective teamwork to accomplish significant outcomes, showcasing the power of collective effort within the Deakin University community.
2025 Deakin Institute for Health Transformation Awards
The awards recognise the impact of our research and celebrate our Early and Mid-Career Researcher’s academic achievements.
Impact Award Winners
Winner (Team) Sally Schultz, Jane Jacobs, Erica Reeve, Kathryn Backholer, Colin Bell
Project Title: Assessing School Nutrition Environments in Europe and Central Asia
Highly Commended (Team) Edith Holloway, Jane Speight, Elizabeth Holmes-Truscott, Timothy Skinner, Jennifer Halliday, Sarah Manallack.
Project Title: LISTEN: Low Intensity Support to Enhance emotional wellbeing in diabetes
2025 EMCR Award Winners
Individual Graduate Research Award: Hannah Jongebloed, QPS
Individual ECR Award equal winners: Adyya Gupta and Navoda Liyana Pathirana, GLOBE
Individual MCR Award: Lan Gao, DHE
Values Based Leadership: Ha Le, DHE
Excellence in Consumer Engagement: Helena Rodi, QPS
Excellence in Integrating Research and Teaching: Emily Tomlinson, QPS
2025 Deakin Vice-Chancellor’s Awards
Education and Employability Awards
Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Team of the Year
‘Transforming Nursing Education: a course-wide approach to embedding generative AI literacies’ team: Susie Macfarlane, Sara Aryal, Dr Emily Tomlinson, Dr Monica Schoch, Fiona Kumar, Dr Sara Dingle (2025)
Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Academic Leadership and Contribution
Professor Jane Speight
Deakin Service Award for 30 years
Highlighting commitment and significant contributions to the school, faculty and university over a sustained period.
Deakin Distinguished Professor Bodil Rasmussen
Share