Faculty Future Research Leader Award (<10 years)

This award focuses on excellence by early career researchers who demonstrate research leadership potential with up to 10 years of experience post-PhD.

Prior to 2014 and between 2022-2024, this award was known as the Early Career Research Award with winners being nominated for the corresponding Vice-Chancellor Award.

2025 Jie Tang

Dr Jie Tang is an NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow and Lecturer at D4. Her research focus on developing nanoparticle-based platforms for mucosal vaccine delivery, via oral routes or inhalation, with a particular emphasis on cancer immunotherapy. In 2025, she was named one of Nature Index’s “Four Rising Stars at the Forefront of Cancer Research”.

Jie has published 50 research papers (20 as first/co-first author; 10 as co-corresponding), with >4853 citations and an h-index of 38. Her work features in Nature Reviews Materials, Angewandte Chemie, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Nano Today, Biomaterials, and Nano Letters, etc.Jie has secured > $4M in external funding as CI, including an NHMRC EL1 fellowship, two ARC DPs (CIA, CID), MRFF EMCR grant (CIE), Cumming Global Centre for Pandemic Therapeutics Foundation Grants (CIB), Tour de Cure Mid-Career grant (CIA). Her nanovaccine platforms have been licensed to industry partners including AstraZeneca, attracting over £1.2M and €2M to advance DNA and mRNA vaccine technology toward clinical trials for cancer immunotherapy.

2024 Amandeep Kaur (Early Career Research Award winner)

Amandeep’s research focusses on the development of advanced imaging tools to explore health and disease at the nanoscale. To date, Amandeep has developed ten highly impactful sensors, utilised by >45 research groups globally. Two of the fluorescent redox probes.

Amandeep developed have been commercialised by StressMarq Biosciences, sold by over 50 distributors worldwide. Her impressive publication record boasts 35 papers with >1021 citations, with >93% appearing in Q1 journals. Notable publications include high-impact articles in Angewandte Chemie, ACS Sensors, ACS Central Science and Accounts of Chemical Research. Amandeep is the corresponding author on 7 publications, and first author on 11 publications highlighting her transition from a hands-on research spearhead to an empowering research leader.

Amandeep has successfully secured $3.3 million in research funding, including prestigious national competitive grants and fellowships (ARC DECRA, 2x ARC DP and ARC LIEF). Her contributions and excellence have been recognised nationwide and internationally through the JG Russell Award for Top-ranked DECRA, RACI Rita Cornforth Lectureship and AIPS Tall Poppy Science Award.