Research Action Awards 2023
Research Action Awards
The Sax Institute’s annual Research Action Awards honour individuals whose research has made a significant impact on health policy, programs or service delivery.
Up to two Awards are granted and each winner receives a prize of $5,000
About the Research Action Awards
Two public health researchers were honoured in the Research Action Awards 2023 ceremony for their impactful contributions to policy and practice in providing safe and enjoyable meals for people with swallowing disabilities and advancing obesity prevention.
The winners this year are:
- Professor Bronwyn Hemsley, Head of Speech Pathology, University of Technology Sydney – Providing safe and enjoyable meals for people with swallowing disability
- Professor Gary Sacks, Professor of Public Health Policy and Co-Director of the Global Centre for Preventive Health and Nutrition, Deakin University – Food-EPI Australia initiative: advancing obesity prevention policy
Professor Bronwyn Hemsley, Head of Speech Pathology, University of Technology Sydney
Providing safe and enjoyable meals for people with swallowing disability
Improving the quality of life for people with difficulty swallowing, known as dysphagia, is the focus of Professor Hemsley’s work. Around 8% of the general population and up to 80% of people with a disability have dysphagia, which impacts hugely on their health, nutrition and quality of life. Tragically, choking on food and aspiration pneumonia are leading causes of death in residential care.
Professor Hemsley was the lead investigator for a project funded by the NDIS Quality & Safeguards Commission and Victorian Department of Families, Fairness, and Housing to address this issue. She led a large, interdisciplinary team to investigate and co-create training for support workers providing mealtime assistance to people with swallowing difficulty.
The result was an online course, “Co-Creating Safe and Enjoyable Meals for People with Swallowing Disability’, which has provided training for well over a thousand support workers across Australia. It has been adopted into NDIS legislation and rules, practice standards, quality indicators, practice alerts, and training materials.
“Our research is having a real impact in an area that affects so many people but that often flies under the radar. I’m very pleased to see our work recognised with this award,” said Professor Hemsley.
Professor Gary Sacks, Professor of Public Health Policy and Co-Director of the Global Centre for Preventive Health and Nutrition, Deakin University
Food-EPI Australia initiative: advancing obesity prevention policy
Professor Sacks’s work focuses on obesity prevention, at a time of soaring obesity rates in Australia. He initiated and continues to lead the Food Policy Index (Food-EPI Australia) initiative, which provides an ongoing assessment of the extent to which Australian jurisdictions are implementing recommended policies for obesity prevention, with reference to international best practice.
The Food Policy Index covers up to 50 key policy areas – including food composition, labelling, promotion, prices and provision – that have been shown to have an important impact on population diets and obesity, as well as infrastructure support that helps facilitate effective policy implementation. It has contributed to important advancements in obesity prevention policy in Australia, including as part of the adoption of the National Preventive Health Strategy in 2021 and the National Obesity Strategy in 2022.
“There is global consensus on the best policies and actions to create healthier food environments. But policy implementation has been slow globally and in Australia,” said Professor Sacks.
“Through our research, we’ve improved implementation of effective policies and highlighted the responsibility of governments and the food industry to create healthier food environments.”
Previous winners
Two public health researchers whose work has had a direct effect on policy and practice in areas as diverse as COVID-19 infections among children and hospital-acquired pressure injuries were honoured in the Sax Institute’s annual Research Action Awards held in Sydney on 24 November 2022.
- Dr Archana Koirala, National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance, for her work on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Australian paediatric population
- Dr Michelle Barakat-Johnson, Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Sydney, for her work on the prevention and management of hospital-acquired pressure injuries.
Two public health researchers whose work achieved real impact in HIV prevention and the social and emotional wellbeing of young children were honoured at the Research Action Awards 2021.
- Dr Benjamin Bavinton, Senior Research Fellow at the Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney, for world-leading research that for the first time proved HIV drug treatment effectively prevents sexual transmission of the infection between men.
- Dr Claire Blewitt, Research Fellow at the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, for a groundbreaking intervention to address social and emotional difficulties in early childhood.
Two public health researchers who achieved high impact in obesity prevention in Australian children and improving the death certification process in the developing world were winners at the 2020 Research Action Awards.
- Scientia Associate Professor Rohina Joshi, School of Population Health, University of New South Wales and Head of the Global Health Workforce, The George Institute for Global Health – Improving the quality of death certification of home deaths in the Philippines
- Associate Professor Luke Wolfenden, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle – Implementation of nutrition, physical activity and obesity interventions in NSW
Researchers whose work had a significant impact on dental health care for Indigenous populations; adolescents’ access to healthcare; and reducing unintentional drownings in Australia’s rivers were winners at the 2019 Research Action Awards.
2019 winners:
- Adjunct Associate Professor Kylie Gwynne, Poche Centre for Indigenous Health, University of Sydney
- Associate Professor Melissa Kang, Australian Centre for Public and Population Health Research, University of Technology Sydney
- Dr Amy Peden, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, UNSW Sydney
Three Australian health researchers whose inspiring work has had a major impact in childhood trauma, stroke prevention and homelessness were winners at the 2018 Research Action Awards.
2018 winners:
- Associate Professor Anne Abbott, School of Public Health & Preventive Medicine, Monash University
- Professor Kate Curtis, Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Sydney
- Associate Professor Lisa Wood, School of Population and Global Health, University of Western Australia
Researchers whose work is having a real impact on the ground in areas as diverse as alcohol-related violence and supporting people to gain driver licences were winners at the 2017 Research Action Awards.
2017 winners:
- Professor Kypros Kypri, University of Newcastle
- Ms Patricia Cullen, George Institute for Global Health
Researchers focused on making a real-world impact on vaccine safety, maternal and reproductive health, and strengthening the Medicare system were winners at the 2016 Research Action Awards.
2016 winners:
- Associate Professor Kristine Macartney, National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS)
- Associate Professor Kees van Gool, University of Technology Sydney
- Associate Professor Angela Dawson, University of Technology Sydney
The 2015 inaugural Award winners conducted research that had an impact on diverse areas – from being pivotal in having commercial sunbeds banned, to changing the way health workers communicate about vaccination with hesitant parents. Read more about the 2015 Award ceremony and winners.
2015 winners
- Dr Anne Cust, University of Sydney
- Dr Santosh Khanal, NSW Ministry of Health
- Associate Professor Julie Leask, University of Sydney
- Associate Professor Farah Magrabi, Macquarie University.
Contact us
For any questions about the Research Action Awards, contact us at communications@saxinstitute.org.au