Congratulations to this year’s recipients of the Brain and Mind Centre’s Engagement Collaborative Grants (ECGs) and Emerging Researcher awards (ERs). 4 successful recipients were awarded Engagement Collaborative Grants, and 5 recipients were awarded Emerging Researcher Awards. 

This year’s schemes awarded $50,000 in funding to 4 successful applicants. The BMC Engagement Collaborative Grant scheme is endorsed by the BMC Executive Leadership Committee. 

Engagement Collaborative Grants Recipients

Associate Professor Melissa Sharpe

A/Prof Melissa Sharpe, a senior researcher in the School of Psychology and the Centre for Psychology and Cognition (CPC), will be collaborating with Dr Morgan James from the Translational Psychopharmacology team. Their project, “Revealing how drug cues motivate drug seeking: GABA–orexin interactions in the lateral hypothalamus,” aims to uncover the neural mechanisms that drive drug‑seeking behaviour. 

Dr Lipin Loo

Dr Lipin Loo, a senior researcher in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences and the Drug Discovery Initiative (DDI), will collaborate with Professor Kevin Keay from the Translational Psychopharmacology team. Their project, “A Spatial Multi‑Omics Platform: Developing Targeted Therapeutics for Chronic Pain,” seeks to advance precision approaches for chronic pain by integrating cutting‑edge spatial multi‑omics technologies. 

Dr Shaikh Nayeem Faisal

Dr Shaikh Nayeem Faisal, a mid‑career researcher (MCR) in the School of Biomedical Engineering, will be collaborating with A/Prof Paul Austin from the Translational Psychopharmacology team. Their project, “Pre‑clinical study of a millimetre‑scaled wireless all‑ceramic opto‑electronics implantable device for the potential treatment of neuropathic pain using photobiomodulation,” aims to advance next‑generation, device‑based therapies for chronic and neuropathic pain. 

Dr Kevin Law

Dr Kevin Law, an early‑career researcher (ECR) in the School of Medical Sciences and the Centre for Psychology and Cognition (CPC), will collaborate with Dr Lewis Crawford from the Translational Psychopharmacology team. Their project, “Mapping and Characterising the Breathing Centre in the Human Brain,” seeks to deepen understanding of the neural circuits that control respiration. 

Emerging Researcher Recipients

The Emerging Researcher Award support scheme aims to provide travel funding for EMCR researchers to engage and network with the broader brain and mind science community nationally and globally to facilitate their development as an emerging researcher.

Congratulations to the following applicants:

• Dr Samuel Warren - from the Social Functioning Modelling research team.
• Dr Lewis Crawford - from the Translational Psychopharmacology research team.
• Dr Dilushi Chandrakumar - from the Technology Addition research team.
• Dr Zoe Menczel Schrire - from the Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases research team.
• Dr Jacob Crouse - from the Youth Mental Health and Technology research team.