HRC grants $15M to support careers in research

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