Fourteen outstanding students have been awarded a Charles Perkins Centre Summer Research Scholarship for 2026-27, selected from a highly competitive pool of 55 proposals spanning five University faculties.
This year’s Summer Scholarship projects span the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Science and Sydney Law School, reflecting the Centre’s commitment to multidisciplinary approaches to improving health and wellbeing.
"The Summer Research Scholarships are often a student's first experience of genuinely interdisciplinary research," said Professor Leanne Redman, Academic Director."
This year's projects bring together perspectives from health, law, engineering, science and the social sciences to address some of the most pressing challenges in chronic disease prevention, population health and health equity.
"We are also deeply grateful for the continued support of Dr Barry Catchlove, whose generosity has helped create opportunities for emerging researchers for more than a decade."
This year’s projects address challenges ranging from healthy ageing and eye health to nutrition, chronic disease prevention, health inequality and the social dimensions emerging health technologies reflecting the breadth of multidisciplinary research being undertaken at the University.
The scholars will complete their projects over the summer period and present their findings to their peers, mentors, and the Charles Perkins Centre community at a presentation day in February 2027.
2026 Charles Perkins Centre Summer Scholars. Row 1 L-R: Aparna Balakumar, Eshaan Prashar, Giordano Gandalfo, Jun Kwoun, Lily Sluis, Audrey Luo, Maahirah Ahamed; row 2 L-R: Mohamed Mohamed, Van Nguyen, Nivriti Vikram, Prachet Singh, Yating Le, Xiaoshi Zuo, Nora Liu
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Link2026 Summer Scholarship projects
- Maahirah Ahamed — From Access to Uptake: An Evidence-Based Marketing Strategy for the Box Divvy Fresh Produce Hub at the University of Sydney
- Aparna Balakumar — Taking the Easy Way Out? GLP-1 Narratives and the Moral Politics of Weight Loss Drugs
- Giordano Gandolfo — Decoding the Transcriptional Signature of SARM1 Activation: a multi-omic search for neuroprotective targets in Glaucoma
- Jun Kwoun — Red Roosters and Latte Lines: Nutritional Health Inequality and the Sydney Food Environment
- Yating Le — From Motivation to Health Action: Building a Framework for Health Behaviour Prioritisation Across Physical Activity, Nutrition and Sleep
- Lezhi Liu — Governance of Industry Sponsorship in Patient Groups: Informing the Toolkit development for Independence
- Audrey Luo — From Systemic Frailty to Glaucoma: Proteomic Pathways Linking Ageing, Adiposity and Future Glaucoma Risk
- Mohamed Mohamed — Developing an AI-assisted Evidence Map for Glaucoma Neuroprotection
- Van Nguyen — Understanding inequities in lipid-modifying therapy trajectories for cardiovascular disease prevention in Australia
- Eshaan Prashar — Mapping recommendations for eating disorder assessment and monitoring in obesity care: a scoping review
- Prachet Singh — Development of an Evaluation Framework for AI-Assisted Glaucoma Evidence Synthesis
- Lily Sluis — Dynamic insulin responses as potential markers of early insulin resistance.
- Nivriti Vikram — Zoned Out: A Spatial-Legal Analysis of How NSW Planning Law Produces Unequal Type 2 Diabetes Risk Across Sydney
- Xiaoshi Zuo — Identification of biomarkers for early detection of cardiovascular risk in patients with Type II diabetes
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