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Graduate Research Awards

The Faculty of Science Graduate Research Awards recognise excellence in graduate research, supervision and contribution to the Faculty and School community.

Excellence in Postgraduate Research Supervision View

This Award recognises research supervisors who have undertaken exceptional and unique supervision practices to benefit and enrich the experiences of their postgraduate research students.

The nominees are:

Over the past five years, Jeremy has supervised seven PhD students as primary supervisor, with all submitting their theses on time. His students have achieved outstanding research outcomes, including a Mollie Holman Medal and lead-author publications in Nature, Nature Medicine and Nature Microbiology. Five of the seven graduates have gone on to postdoctoral positions in Australia and Europe. As a member of the Monash Centre to Impact AMR, Jeremy is committed to developing the next generation of leaders in phage research.
Professor Jessica Purcell is a leading pure mathematician and internationally recognised researcher in topology. She has also held significant leadership roles, including President of the Australian Mathematical Society and Associate Dean Research in the Monash Faculty of Science.
Over a five-year period, Jessica has supervised six graduate researchers to completion, an outstanding record in pure mathematics, where supervision is particularly intensive and individualised. Her students have received awards and secured prestigious positions, while her supervision has helped foster a thriving graduate research environment within the School of Mathematics’ award-winning Topology group.
Professor Paul Lasky is a leader in gravitational-wave astronomy whose committed and individually tailored approach to supervision helps graduate researchers develop into confident, independent scientists.
Over the past five years, Paul has guided seven PhD students to timely completion, with his students averaging 4.7 first-author publications while also contributing to major international collaborations and transformational discoveries. By integrating students into his global research networks and involving them in landmark astrophysics experiments, Paul has helped launch graduates into prestigious academic fellowships and high-impact industry careers.
Dr Michelle Yap is a Senior Lecturer and Program Director of Medical Bioscience at Monash University Malaysia, with expertise spanning molecular pharmacology, proteomics, biochemistry and biomolecular modelling.
Michelle leads the Toxin Pharmacology Research Group, with a strong record of publications, research funding and successful graduate research completions. Her group is working to address global challenges posed by neglected tropical diseases through the development of next-generation biotherapeutics. An international ambassador for the Biochemical Society, Michelle is also active in global research networks and community outreach.

Outstanding Contributions by a GR Student to the Faculty/School Community View

This award celebrates outstanding contributions to the life of the Faculty of Science or School community by graduate research students that go above and beyond their own research and the expectations of a postgraduate student.

The nominees are:

Nathan Roden is a second-year international PhD student who has made an exceptional contribution to building community within the School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment and across the Faculty of Science.
During 2026, Nathan led or co-organised nearly two dozen social, professional and volunteering activities for students and staff through the School’s Postgraduate Committee and the Faculty of Science. His sustained commitment to creating a welcoming, connected and enjoyable environment for his colleagues goes well beyond the usual expectations of a graduate research student and has made a significant contribution to the broader academic community.
Carisa Su-Ann Wong is a PhD student and Graduate Research Excellence Scholarship recipient studying the population genomics of Malaysia’s threatened helmeted and rhinoceros hornbills to support their forensic identification and conservation.
Beyond her research, Carisa has built partnerships with Malaysia’s Department of Wildlife and National Parks and contributed to regional collaborations linked to the Vertebrate Genomes Project and Earth BioGenome Project. She has also led public science communication initiatives, served as Social Media Manager for the Monash Science Symposium 2025 and represented the School at the TOMIDAI Global Science Frontiers Workshop in Japan, where she received the Best Presentation Award (Gold). In 2026, she received the School of Science Graduate Research Award for Community Engagement.

Norris Family Award for Outstanding Author Contribution by a GR Student View

The Norris Family Award for Outstanding Author Contribution by a Graduate Research Student to a Published ‘Quality’ Scholarly Research Output recognises an outstanding contribution by a graduate research student to the authorship of a quality scholarly research output, such as a book, book chapter, journal article or conference proceeding.

The nominees are:

Jack Manera is a final-year PhD candidate investigating how human-driven environmental change affects cognition and behaviour in aquatic wildlife.
Jack was first and corresponding author of research published in Environmental Science & Technology showing that environmentally realistic levels of pharmaceutical pollution can disrupt learning in wild fish. He led the research from conception through to publication and developed custom open-source software to process behavioural tracking data, strengthening the reproducibility and broader application of the work. His research demonstrates outstanding intellectual leadership and technical independence while providing important new evidence about the effects of environmental contaminants on wildlife.
Thongley is a second-year PhD student with a background in civil engineering, surveying, remote sensing and geographic information systems.
Before commencing his PhD at Monash, he was an academic at the Royal University of Bhutan, where he taught surveying, remote sensing and geographic information systems and served as Program Leader for the Bachelor of Surveying and Geoinformatics. He completed a Master’s by Research with high distinction at Naresuan University in Thailand and, while working as a lecturer, secured three national research grants and an international grant from the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure as a principal investigator.
Anthony Pisani is a first-year PhD student who has already developed an international research reputation through significant contributions to computational group theory.
During his Honours research, Anthony explicitly constructed the maximal subgroups of the Monster group, a vast sporadic simple group, helping resolve problems that had resisted researchers for decades. He developed new computational techniques that provided practical ways to work with this fundamental mathematical information and identified a long-standing error in the literature, prompting corrections to multiple peer-reviewed articles. His work has attracted the attention of leading international researchers and has been discussed at major international conferences.
Tasmia Rahman is a PhD researcher and International Behaviour Therapist whose work bridges academic research and clinical practice in neurodevelopmental care.
Her Honours research examining autism interventions in Bangladesh resulted in a first-author publication in Research in Developmental Disabilities, establishing an important baseline for understanding intervention practices in the country. Tasmia has since expanded this work through her doctoral research and founded the ABA Support Program, extending engagement across healthcare, education and therapy organisations. Her work combines scholarly research with a strong focus on translating evidence into practice for underserved communities.

Award for Research Impact by a Graduate Research Student View

This award recognises research by a graduate research student that is creating real-world impact in sectors and society beyond academia.

The nominees are:

Adam Yaney-Keller is a PhD candidate whose research addresses conservation challenges facing coastal wildlife and translates scientific evidence into practical solutions.
Working with Professor Richard Reina, Dr Rebecca McIntosh and Professor Rohan Clarke, Adam has focused on marine wildlife affected by fishing gear and marine debris. His research has moved beyond academic outputs to inform wildlife monitoring, training, rescue planning and public awareness. With a background in wildlife conservation and research across several countries, Adam is also a committed science communicator who has shared his findings with researchers, wildlife managers, welfare responders and the broader community.
Chima Anyaegbu is a synthetic chemist whose PhD research at Monash has established ethenesulfonyl fluoride as a versatile platform spanning small-molecule synthesis, polymer chemistry and biomaterials.
His research delivered the first controlled RAFT copolymerisation of ethenesulfonyl fluoride and styrene and a new photocatalytic approach to functionalising polyethylene glycol, leading to materials with potential applications in drug delivery, hydrogels and sensing. Chima has published his research in journals including Organic Letters and Polymer Chemistry and presented at leading national and international conferences. Demonstrating impact beyond academia, his research has also enabled kilogram-scale production and commercial availability of advanced compounds arising from the work.
Chui Yang Mok is a final-year doctoral student investigating how the gut microbiome influences sleep, physical activity and metabolism in healthy Malaysians.
As lead student researcher on the 1000 Malaysian Microbiome Project, Mok has coordinated large-scale participant recruitment, sample processing, metagenomic sequencing and data visualisation for one of Malaysia’s most comprehensive population microbiome initiatives. His research has taken him to the Human Microbiome Conference at EMBL Heidelberg and advanced metagenomics training at EMBL-EBI in the United Kingdom. He has also undertaken a research attachment at the Medical University of Graz, Austria, supported by the PhD Mobility Scheme. His work combines advanced microbiome research with participant engagement and public communication to extend its benefits beyond academia.
Tasmia Rahman is a PhD researcher, International Behaviour Therapist and Certified Autism Specialist working to improve neurodevelopmental care in resource-limited settings.
Her doctoral research has engaged 37 organisations and around 2,000 participants in Bangladesh, with a focus on developing culturally and socio-economically relevant evidence-based practices that improve the accessibility and affordability of care. Tasmia also founded the ABA Support Program, a telehealth initiative supporting thousands of neurodivergent people. Through her combination of research, clinical practice and community engagement, she is working to translate evidence into sustainable improvements in neurodevelopmental care.

Mollie Holman Doctoral Medal and VC's Commendation for Thesis Excellence View

The Mollie Holman Medal was established in 1998 and is named after the late pioneering physiologist Emeritus Professor Mollie Holman AO, in honour of her significant contributions to science and education. Each year, a maximum of 10 medals are awarded to doctoral students who have fulfilled their degree requirements and presented their faculty’s best thesis of the year.

The Vice-Chancellor’s Commendation for Thesis Excellence recognises outstanding doctoral and research master’s thesis excellence. Each year, a maximum of five commendations are awarded to doctoral and/or research master’s students who have fulfilled their degree requirements and presented as outstanding contributors to research by their faculty.

All students nominated for the Mollie Holman Medal are also nominated for the Vice-Chancellor’s Commendation for Thesis Excellence.

The nominees are:

Thesis title: The role of GCN2 in somatic maintenance and ageing
Thesis title: Development of Electrochemical Imaging Techniques: Exploring the Dynamic and Complex Nature of Biological Systems
Thesis title: Investigating the vulnerability of the Aurora Subglacial Basin in a changing climate
Thesis title: Latin Subrectangles
Thesis title: Multi-time Structures from Many-body Dynamics
Thesis title: Discovery of Aptamers Targeting Epitopes of Cobra Venom Cytotoxin as Novel Antitoxins Using Computational and Conventional SELEX
Thesis title: Analysis of urinary EVs for the development of AI-assisted application for prostate cancer detection