Nine researchers from The Kids Research Institute Australia have secured vital support through the WA Near Miss Awards, allowing them to continue innovative health projects that narrowly missed out on national funding.
Funded by the WA Government’s Future Health Research and Innovation (FHRI) Fund, the Awards provide critical second-chance grants under two categories: Emerging Leaders and Ideas Grants.
The grants are aimed at WA researchers who scored highly in their submissions to the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Emerging Leaders and Ideas Grant programs but missed out due to the funding pool being exhausted.
The funding will support WA researchers at critical stages in their careers, from early career researchers enhancing their ideas to mid-career researchers advancing their leadership potential.
The following researchers from The Kids received grants under the Emerging Leaders program:
Dr Pamela Laird, a Senior Clinician Research Fellow at The Kids and paediatric respiratory physiotherapist at Perth Children’s Hospital, received a $387,224 fellowship to improve lung health for Indigenous children. Specialising in the impacts of bronchiectasis – a chronic lung disease disproportionately affecting Indigenous children – she will collaborate with Indigenous communities, government health services, and other key stakeholders to develop and implement evidence-based strategies for early detection and management.
Associate Professor Kefyalew Alene, Head of The Kids’ Geospatial and Tuberculosis Team and a Senior Research Fellow at Curtin University, was awarded $100,000 to enhance tuberculosis screening and treatment through advanced technologies. His research will develop an AI-powered diagnostic tool and predictive algorithms for personalised care, targeting high-risk and resource-limited communities to reduce TB-related illness and deaths.
Dr Charlie McLeod, Deputy Head of the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases at The Kids, received $100,000 to lead an adaptive platform trial evaluating immunisation strategies, initially focusing on pneumococcal and RSV vaccines. Her goal is to generate high-quality comparative data to inform national vaccine policies and streamline the rollout of new immunisations.
Associate Professor Hannah Moore OAM – Program Head of Infections and Vaccines and Co-Head of Infectious Diseases Epidemiology at the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases at The Kids, and an Associate Professor with the School of Population Health at Curtin University – received $100,000 to investigate how best to implement and evaluate vaccines for RSV and Group A Strep (Strep A). Her project will measure disease burden, develop tools to track vaccine impact, and assess broader effects of immunisation programs to guide long-term policy.
Senior Research Fellow Dr Jane Oliver, who is a member of The Kids’ Strep A & ARF Therapeutics team, an Adjunct Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia and has an honorary role at the University of Melbourne, was awarded $100,000 to support community-led delivery of a less painful treatment for rheumatic heart disease (RHD), a life-threatening condition predominantly affecting Aboriginal children. Her project will evaluate the SCIP model – reducing painful injections from 13 to five annually – and develop a culturally safe implementation framework for wider use.
Dr Laird’s fellowship and the grants awarded to Dr McLeod and Dr Oliver will be administered by The University of Western Australia, while Dr Alene and Associate Professor Moore’s grants will be administered by Curtin University.
The following researchers have received support under the Ideas Grant stream:
Dr Omar Elaskalani, a Senior Research Officer with The Kids’ Sarcoma Translational Research team, received $100,000 to develop new cancer immunotherapies tailored for children. He will seek to develop innovative paediatric mice models to replicate the conditions of a child’s growing body and create treatments specifically tailored to young patients, offering them more effective and targeted options in their fight against cancer.
Dr Huong Le, a lead analyst from the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases, received $100,000 to investigate the uptake of seasonal influenza vaccines (SIV) among WA children. Her study will analyse vaccination trends and barriers across different populations, while also assessing the long-term health and financial outcomes of childhood flu immunisation. Her findings will aim to improve vaccine accessibility and equity.
Dr Thomas Iosifidis, a postdoctoral researcher with the Airway Epithelial Research Team at The Kids, was awarded $100,000 to identify early-life biomarkers for childhood asthma. Using nasal and placental samples from the AERIAL study, his research will explore how environmental exposures in utero and early infancy influence asthma risk. This could help identify at-risk children earlier and open up opportunities for preventive care.
Dr Tao Wang, a Cancer Council WA Research Fellow with The Kids’ Sarcoma Translational Research team, received $100,000 to develop advanced RNA therapies to enhance cancer immunotherapy. His recent research successfully created virus-based RNAs that showed remarkable effectiveness. With this funding, he will refine these RNAs using cutting-edge modification techniques to improve their stability, safety, and effectiveness. He will test them in advanced immune cell and animal models to ensure they work optimally.
All four Ideas Grants will be administered by The University of Western Australia.
Executive Director of The Kids Research Institute Australia, Professor Jonathan Carapetis AM, praised the WA Government’s commitment to supporting early-career and high-impact health researchers.
“These grants provide a crucial safety net for brilliant ideas that narrowly missed out on national funding,” Professor Carapetis said.
“It’s a smart investment in the future of health and medical innovation in Western Australia.”
In all, 45 Western Australian researchers will benefit from this round of the Near Miss Awards. For more information, see Medical Research Minister Stephen Dawson’s announcement here.