Recent awards and recipients

We’re proud to support important research that helps us prevent, diagnose, treat and care for people living with lung disease and lung cancer.

Through our research awards and grants program, we invest in Australia’s best lung health researchers. For researchers starting out or midway through their careers, this program provides vital funding for lung research. It also offers them access to valuable guidance from senior research leaders.

The researchers we support are leading innovative projects and working with partners in Australia and around the world. They’re helping to shape how we treat lung disease and secure more investment to expand their work.

Thanks to the generosity of our donors and supporters, we can continue to invest in research that creates real change and improves the lives of people with lung disease and lung cancer.

For more information or to ask any questions, please contact our Hope Research Program team at research@lungfoundation.com.au.

2025 Award and grant recipients

Each year, we gather to celebrate the recipients of our groundbreaking research grants and those supported through our early career research grants. This ceremony takes place at our annual Lung Foundation Australia Hope Research Fund Dinner.

These researchers are recipients of our 2025 awards and grants round.

Pillar 1: Lung Foundation Australia early and mid-career grants and awards

• Lung Foundation Australia – Chiesi Australia Research Fellowship in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
  Value: $140,000
  Recipient: Dr Julia Chitty, Monash University
  Project title: Assessing the potential of Pirfenidone in novel models of AECOPD.
  
• Tony Britton Memorial PhD Scholarship in Occupational Lung Disease supported by Trail to Triumph
  Value: $45,000
  Recipient: Dr Kirsten Bennett, Institute of Respiratory Health, Curtin University
  Project title: Safer Scans, Healthier Futures: Protecting workers from dust disease with ultra-low dose CT and AI.

• CREATE Hope Fellowship 1
  Value: $75,000
  Recipient: Dr Christian Aloe, RMIT University
  Project title: A novel therapeutic strategy to halt pulmonary fibrosis progression by targeting pathogenic foamy macrophages in the lung.

• CREATE Hope Fellowship 2
  Value: $75,000
  Recipient: Dr Sionne Lucas, Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania
  Project title: Advancing research in pulmonary fibrosis genetics.

• Ivan Cash Grant for Research in Pulmonary Fibrosis
  Value: $5,000
  Recipient: Miss Mymy Tran, Centre of Research Excellence in Pulmonary Fibrosis, The University of Sydney
  Project title: Novel exhaled breath biomarker for detecting and monitoring interstitial lung diseases.

• Lizotte Family Grant-in-Aid for Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Research
  Value: $5,000
  Recipient: Miss Mymy Tran, Centre of Research Excellence in Pulmonary Fibrosis, The University of Sydney
  Project title: Novel exhaled breath biomarker for detecting and monitoring interstitial lung diseases.

• Ludwig Engel Grant-in-Aid for Physiological Respiratory Research
  Value: $5,000
  Recipient: Dr Lisa van der Lee, South Metropolitan Health Service
  Project title: Oesophageal manometry to measure transpulmonary pressure during ventilator hyperinflation treatment in mechanical ventilated patients with severe pneumonia.

• Lorraine Tyler OAM Young Investigator Award
  Value: $10,000
  Recipient: Mr Chellan Kumarasamy, Curtin University
  Project title: Participant Eligibility for Lung Cancer Screening in Australia: An Analysis of Proposed Criteria

• 2025 Australian Lung Cancer Conference Early Career Researcher Award
  Value: $5,000
  Recipient: Ms Kathleen McFadden, The University of Sydney
  Project title: Psychosocial Impacts of, and Barriers to, Lung Cancer Screening: An International Qualitative Study of Healthcare Provider Perspectives

• 2025 Australian Lung Cancer Conference Early Career Researcher Award
  Value: $5,000
  Recipient: Mr Nathan Harrison, Flinders University
  Project title: Text-based Smoking Cessation Resources for Use in Lung Cancer Screening: Rapid Review and Evaluation of Messaging Characteristics

• 2025 Australian Lung Cancer Conference Early Career Researcher Award
  Value: $5,000
  Recipient: Dr Yue He, The Daffodil Centre
  Project title: Projections of lung cancer in Australia by histological subtype and molecular characteristics (2020-2030)

• 2025 Australian Lung Cancer Conference – Roslyn Hogan Award for Best Oral Presentation
  Value: $2,000
  Recipient: Ms Georgia Bartlett, University of Melbourne
  Project title: Equity from the Outset: Understanding the Needs of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Communities in Preparation for the National Lung Cancer Screening Program

• 2025 Australian Lung Cancer Conference – Carolyn Riordan Award for Best Poster Presentation
  Value: $2,000
  Recipient: Dr Julien Robinson, Alfred Health
  Project title: Effect of timeliness of treatment initiation on survival outcomes in non-small cell lung cancer. A registry-based observational study.

Pillar 2: Innovation and incubator grants

• Heart of Australia
  Value: $50,000
  Recipient: Dr Rolf Gomes

• Prof Christine Jenkins AM Woman of Influence in Lung Health
  Value: $10,000
  Recipient: Dr Tracy Leong

Pillar 3: Strategic Partnership Grants

Lung Foundation Australia also proudly supported the following Awards at TSANZSRS 2025:

• Lung Foundation Australia David Serisier Memorial Award for Translational Research in Bronchiectasis
  Recipient: Ms Brooke Bailey for their oral presentation “Patient satisfaction with non-CF bronchiectasis healthcare and patient-reported problems”
  Recipient: Mr Craig Schofield for their poster presentation “Pathogenic cystic fibrosis airway neutrophil subset is absent in non-cystic fibrosis paediatric bronchiectasis.”

• TSANZ Lung Cancer SIG Award
  Recipient: Ms Chloe Charlesworth for their presentation “Discordance of Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status assessed by patients with malignant pleural effusion, their clinicians and carers.”

• TSANZ Bill Musk Occupational & Environmental Lung Disease SIG Award
  Recipient: Dr Christian Aloe for their presentation “Iron alters the transcriptome and volatile organic compounds in the BAL of silicosis patients.”

• TSANZ Orphan Lung Diseases, Lung Transplant, Interstitial Lung Disease and Pulmonary Vascular Disease (OLIV) SIG Award
  Recipient: Dr Ling-ling Tsai for their presentation “Diagnostic agreement between interstitial lung disease multidisciplinary meetings: A bi-national study.”

• TSANZ Physiotherapy SIG Award
  Recipient: Ms Georgina Whish-Wilson for their presentation “Randomised controlled trial of home-based exercise following lung cancer surgery”

• TSANZ Primary Care SIG Award
  Recipient: Prof Bandana Saini for their presentation “Airing out pharmacists’ roles in minimising the environmental impact of inhalers used by patients with respiratory conditions.”

• TSANZ John Reid Pulmonary Physiology and Sleep SIG Award
  Recipient: Ms Helen Luo for their presentation “Implications of race-neutral equations on interpretation of lung function in Australia.”

• TSANZ Respiratory Infectious Diseases SIG Award
  Recipient: Dr Ophir Bar-On for their presentation “Preventing attachment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to respiratory cilia.”

• TSANZ Respiratory Nurses SIG Award
  Recipient: Ms Pauline Connell for their presentation “Healthy teeth for healthy lungs.”
  
• TSANZ Tobacco and Related Substances SIG Award
  Preliminary results of a pre/post evaluation of the Incentive 2 Quit (I2Q) health professional training program.

Past recipients

You can also find information about our past award recipients:

• 2024 recipients: Researchers awarded in 2024, for projects started in 2024/2025
  
• 2023 recipients: Researchers awarded in 2023, for projects started in 2023/2024
  
• 2022 recipients: Researchers awarded in 2022, for projects started in 2022/2023
  
• 2021 recipients: Researchers awarded in 2021, for projects started in 2021/2022.
  

Research projects and our alumni

Explore the innovative research projects from our research alumni. You can find projects focused on early detection, treatments, and improving the quality of life for people living with lung disease or lung cancer.