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Winners of 2024 SSEAC Ignition and Incubator Grants announced
6 December 2024
Fostering impactful research and knowledge partnerships in Southeast Asia
SSEAC awards over $370,000 in new funding to established and emerging researchers to grow their collaborative research in Southeast Asia and tackle significant regional challenges.
The Sydney Southeast Asia Centre is pleased to announce the winners of the 2024 SSEAC Ignition and Incubator Grant schemes.
Both schemes will equip researchers to grow their collaborative research in Southeast Asia and address significant challenges facing the region. They will also help position researchers for outstanding applications for ambitious, large-scale external funding.
Two Ignition Grants valued at $100,000 were awarded at the inaugural Sydney Southeast Asia Research Innovation Symposium held in November, where all five finalists had the opportunity to pitch their research proposals before a panel of judges (Professor Tiho Ancev, Professor Elizabeth Cowley, Professor Greg Fox and Dr Sandra Seno-Alday) and an enthusiastic and supportive crowd.
Associate Professor Sonia Liu accepts Ignition Grant cheque from SSEAC interim Director, Professor Greg Fox
Congratulations to Associate Professor Sonia Liu (School of Life and Environmental Sciences) and her team for their project that aims to optimise small-scale poultry production for native Korat chickens and large-scale centralised production using commercial breeds.
“Winning the Ignition Grant allows us to collaborate with our Southeast Asian academic and industry partners for the first time,” Associate Professor Liu said.
“This grant is a fantastic opportunity for our team to make a meaningful impact on poultry production practices. It opens strategic basic and applied research opportunities to investigate immunological differences between native and commercial poultry that will have significant implications for both Australian and Southeast Asian producers.”
Ignition Grant winner Professor Michael Dibley accepts cheque from Professor Greg Fox
Congratulations also to Professor Michael Dibley (School of Public Health) and his team, who were awarded funding for a study exploring the complex relationship between climate stress and child undernutrition in Maluku Province, Indonesia.
“Our research team in Australia and Indonesia is thrilled to receive this award, which will launch a critically important initiative focused on the effects of climate change on child nutrition in Indonesia,” Professor Dibley said.
“Our findings will help make these effects visible to policymakers, program managers and communities in Maluku. We plan to engage with the Indonesian Ministry of Development Planning (Bappenas) to seek their support through our established Memorandum of Understanding, allowing us to expand our research to other provinces. Ultimately, we aim to create a framework that could be applied in other Southeast Asian countries.”
Associate Professor Alejandro Montoya presents his research proposal at the Sydney Southeast Asia Research Innovation Symposium
An additional $40,000 ignition grant co-funded with the Net Zero Institute was awarded to a team led by Associate Professor Alejandro Montoya (School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering) on developing innovative processes for converting biomass waste from rice and sugarcane into biofuels in Thailand.
“When colleagues from our Thai partner institutions visited the University of Sydney this year, they were struck by the vibrant blue skies – a stark contrast to the grey haze that often blankets the skies back home in Thailand,” Associate Professor Montoya said. “This persistent air pollution, caused by burning agricultural waste, frequently leads to nosebleeds, especially among vulnerable populations. I am thrilled to lead a multidisciplinary team of exceptional researchers dedicated to finding sustainable solutions to this pressing issue.”
A number of Incubator Grants aimed at supporting early- and mid-career researchers to implement formative research on Southeast Asia were also awarded to:
- Dr Vincenzo Costa (School of Veterinary Science) to explore the ecological and evolutionary drivers of microbial transmission in aquaculture in Thailand
- Dr Syamak Farajikhah (School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering) to develop a smart patch capable of monitoring physical and biochemical markers crucial for early disease detection in Vietnam
- Dr Joel Fredericks (School of Architecture Design and Planning) to assess how immersive technologies and AI-supported tools can enhance community engagement and build crisis resilience to natural disasters in Vietnam
- Dr Md Irteja Islam (School of Public Health) to improve the burden of asparaginase hypersensitivity in the therapeutic treatment of children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia in Vietnam
- Dr Stephanie Partridge (Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery) to identify key priorities and target areas for action in preventing non-communicable diseases in adolescents in Indonesia
- Dr Dori Patay (School of Public Health, Menzies Centre for Health Policy and Economics) to investigate whole-of-food system governance in Indonesia and lessons for other Southeast Asian countries seeking to create healthy, sustainable and equitable food systems
- Dr Annmaree Watharow (Centre for Disability Research and Policy) to study the impact of access to low-cost hearing assistive technology on members of a deafblind people’s organisation in Indonesia
- Dr Phoebe Williams (School of Public Health) to evaluate the infant microbiome and subsequent clinical outcomes in Indonesia and Vietnam to reduce the mortality burden of antibiotic-resistant neonatal infections
Congratulations to this year’s recipients from the University of Sydney’s School of Architecture, Design and Planning, Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Medicine and Health and Faculty of Science, and their international partners.
SSEAC can't wait to see the impact of these collaborative projects.