HRC grants $15M to support careers in research
4 December 2023
Addressing inequities and fostering the next generation of researchers are aims of Health Research Council awards totalling $15M.

Researchers looking to address inequities in Māori eye health and rheumatic fever are among many Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland scientists to gain career development awards from the Health Research Council (HRC).
Renata Watene was awarded a $265,000 Māori Health Clinical Research Training Fellowship for a doctoral project to improve Māori eye health in Aotearoa New Zealand.
This research seeks to address significant gaps in service provision, disease detection, treatment, and vision impairment experienced by Māori, as well as inform the development of culturally responsive tools to improve Māori eye-health services.
Research fellow Dr Siobhan Tu’akoi was awarded a $487,000 Pacific health postdoctoral fellowship to address rheumatic fever inequities with a series of innovative community co-design interventions.
Despite reductions across most high-income countries, rheumatic fever remains a significant issue in Aotearoa New Zealand, largely affecting Pasifika and Māori.
Although a range of interventions and initiatives have been implemented over time, rates have not shown any consistent, long-term reduction. Dr Tu’akoi says innovative models of care, designed and led by Pacific communities, are needed to address the significant health inequities faced by Pacific peoples.
Her research will focus on a co-designed social-media based intervention, aimed at improving health literacy and awareness for Pasifika in Auckland.
Chief executive of the Health Research Council, Professor Sunny Collings, says the $15 million career development awards are essential to building health research capability in New Zealand and sustaining research careers.
See below for the full list of Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland recipients, divided into three categories: Māori health research, Pacific health research, and a general category focused on clinical and postdoctoral career development. For lay summaries of research proposals, visit the HRC’s Research Repository.
Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland recipients of the 2024 Career Development Awards
2024 Māori Health Research Career Development Awards
Māori Health Clinical Research Training Fellowship
Dr Tiwini Hemi, Transforming crosslinking services to support Māori health equity in keratoconus, 12 months, $100,000
Carly Pohatu, Improving outcomes for Māori accessing in-patient mental health services, 36 months, $265,000
Māori Rangahau Hauora Training Grant
Tuakana August, Aging and care for kaumātua in Kahungunu, 6 months, $12,000
Māori Health Research PhD Scholarship
Tori Diamond, Novel methods for making Māori health data relevant to local decision-making, 36 months, $129,259
Māori Health Research Knowledge Translation Grant
Dr Tess Moeke-Maxwell, Rapua te Mārama, 8 months, $5,000
2024 Pacific Health Research Career Development Awards
Pacific Health Research Masters Scholarship
Cecile Vine, Samoan students' mental wellbeing and belonging at Waipapa Taumata Rau, 12 months, $29,625
Pacific Health Clinical Research Training Fellowship
Esmeralda Lo Tam, Visual impairment in Aotearoa: Inequity in access for Pasifika to eye care, 36 months, $260,000
Pacific Health Research Postdoctoral Fellowship
Dr Samuela Ofanoa, Pacific gout intervention to improve Pacific men's understanding of gout and ULT, 36 months, $469,657
Pacific Health Research PhD Scholarship
Julia Imo, Investigation of soft wearable sensors for human vitality monitoring, 36 months, $132,350
Pacific Health Research Summer Studentship
Gloria Tu'itupou, Do kahoa lole impact Pacific health?, two months, $7,500
2024 Career Development Awards – general category
HRC and Girdlers’ UK Fellowship
Dr Sophie Farrow, Liggins, Epigenomics in Parkinson’s disease: a potential diagnostic tool? 36 months, Value to be determined
Sir Charles Hercus Fellowship
Dr Bruce Harland, Enhancing and understanding functional improvements after spinal cord injury, 48 months, $599,381
Dr Iman Kavianinia, Multi-Drug antibody-drug conjugates for targeted cancer therapy, 48 months, $599,244
Dr Gonzalo Maso Talou, ABI, An integrative diagnosis of neurovascular function for Alzheimer's disease, 48 months, $505,964
Clinical Research Training Fellowship
Dr Natalie Allen, Corneal transplantation in Aotearoa: COVID-19, confocal and clinical outcomes, 27 months, $200,000
Dr Jane Canning, Effects of caffeine in late preterm infants, 36 months, $260,000
Dr Andrew Fox-Lewis, Enhanced surveillance of Strep A disease in the Auckland region, 48 months, $260,000
Dr Sarah Hunter, Cause and effect in childhood bone and joint infection, 36 months, $260,000
Dr Sang Ho Kim, A novel wireless intracranial pressure sensor for patients with hydrocephalus, 30 months, $220,000
Yutong Liu, Ectopic fat deposition: novel insights into nutrition and glycaemic control, 29 months, $213,333
Dr Orna McGinn, Supporting primary care to achieve equitable outcomes i women’s health, 36 months, $260,000
Dr Claudia Paterson, Probiotics/synbiotics and postoperative infection rates after colorectal surgery, 28 months, $206,667
Dr Chris Varghese, A digital biomarker platform for upper gastrointestinal symptoms, 36 months, $260,000
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FMHS media adviser Jodi Yeats
M: 027 202 6372
E: jodi.yeats@auckland.ac.nz