Research Student Excellence Awards

Top graduate research students are recognised for their outstanding work. 

Examiners are asked to indicate whether students should be awarded a Dean’s Commendation and/or University Research Medal when they make a recommendation on a student’s thesis as part of their examination. 

Dean's Commendation for doctoral or master by research thesis excellence

All students that meet the criteria for a Dean’s Commendation will receive a letter of congratulations from the Dean of Graduate Studies.  Acknowledgement of the Commendation will also be added to their academic transcript. The Research Student Handbook details the eligibility criteria for a Dean’s Commendation.

University Research Medal

Established in 2009, the University awards up to 15 doctoral research medals and up to 2 master by research medals for the highest quality theses (in the top 3%) examined each year. Medals are presented at the relevant April/May Graduation Ceremony in the year following the one for which the medal was awarded, or privately by appointment. Recipients are eligible for VIP seating for two guests. The Research Student Handbook details the eligibility criteria and selection process.

Previous winners of the University Research Medal

  • 2023

    2023 Doctoral Research Medal winners 

    Student name School
    Dylan Henderson Elder Conservatorium of Music
    Catherine Robinson Adelaide Law School
    Ariane Gienger School of Social Sciences
    Catherine Storer Adelaide Dental School
    Laurine Kaul Adelaide Medical School
    Jean Jacques Noubiap Nzeale Adelaide Medical School
    Emma Solly Adelaide Medical School
    Syeda Fatima School of Public Health
    Kunsheng Hu School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials
    Xin Xu School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials
    Qiang Dan Gao School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
    Emily Mackie School of Agriculture, Food and Wine
    Roland Croft School of Computer Sciences
    Sarah French School of Physical Sciences
    Laura Nath School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences

    2023 Master Research Medal winners

    Student name School
    Alanah Varricchio School of Biomedicine
    William Allan School of Mathematical Sciences

     

  • 2022

    2022 doctoral Research Medal winners

    Student name School
    Emma Gregan Elder Conservatorium of Music
    Ruchira Ranaweera School of Agriculture, Food and Wine
    Hang Thi Nguyen School of Animal and Veterinary Science
    Matilda Handsley-Davis School of Biological Sciences
    Stuart Paul De Poi School of Biological Sciences
    Kamrul Hassan School of Chemical Engineering
    Xinlong Wang School of Computer Science
    Bing Yan School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
    Weijie Gao School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
    Zhi Lian School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
    Byron Guerroro Hinojosa School of Mechanical Engineering
    Emily Aldridge Adelaide Medical School
    Anna Emilie Williamson Adelaide Medical School
    Sarah Halliday School of Psychology
    Kate Obst School of Psychology

    2022 master Research Medal winners

    Student name School
    Jessica Pohlmann School of Humanities
    Shaykhah Abdulaziz K Almaghrabi School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

     

  • 2021

    2021 doctoral Research Medal winners

    Student name School

    Mark Anthony Reyes Cayanan

    School of Humanities

    Daniel Pitman

    Elder Conservatorium of Music

    Ali Farajpour Ouderji

    School of Mechanical Engineering

    Md. Saiful Islam

    School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

    Laiquan Li

    School of Chemical Engineering & Advanced Materials

    Jieqiong Shan

    School of Chemical Engineering & Advanced Materials

    Zhi Tian

    School of Computer Science

    Lemma Negesa Bulto

    Adelaide Nursing School

    Annabel Sorby-Adams

    Adelaide Medical School

    Matthew William Richard Stevens

    School of Psychology

    Christina Frances Stothard

    School of Psychology

    David John Brunton

    School of Agriculture, Food and Wine

    Laura Burchill

    School of Physical Sciences

    Lauren Ashleigh Marie Murray

    School of Physical Sciences

    Alexander Theodore Salis

    School of Biological Sciences

    2021 master Research Medal winners

    Student School
    Benjamin Nagy School of Humanities
    Marne Durnin School of Agriculture, Food and Wine

     

  • 2020

    2020 doctoral Research Medal winners

    Student Name School
    Larissa Boechat Chequer Australian School of Petroleum & Energy Resources
    Sunita Maria Christina De Sousa Adelaide Medical School
    Nhi Hin School of Biological Sciences
    Emily Ireland Adelaide Law School
    Huanyu Jin School of Chemical Engineering & Advanced Materials
    Siew Yee Lim School of Chemical Engineering & Advanced Materials
    Sonia Samanthi Mayakaduwage School of Agriculture, Food & Wine
    Madeline Leah Melrose Elder Conservatorium of Music 
    Vikrant Minhas School of Biological Sciences
    Pedro Henrique Ribeiro Santiago Adelaide Dental School
    Stephanie Joan Thomson School of Humanities
    Blesson Mathew Varghese School of Public Health
    Anthony Joseph Vasileff School of Chemical Engineering & Advanced Materials
    Max Robert Verdugo Ihl School of Chemical Engineering & Advanced Materials
    Ossama Yahiaoui School of Physical Sciences

    2020 master Research Medal winners

    Student Name School
    Alec Hannaford Gunn School of Physical Sciences
    Ben Moore School of Mathematical Sciences
  • 2019

    2019 doctoral Research Medal winners

    Student Name School
    Matthew Aubert School of Agriculture, Food and Wine
    Skye Badger School of Animal & Veterinary Science
    Dylan Crismani Elder Conservatorium of Music
    Habtamu Tesfaye Edjigu School of Economics
    Andrew Jackson School of Humanities
    William M. Keyser School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials
    Cheryl Suwen Law School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials
    Linh Anh Le School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering
    Craig Liddicoat School of Biological Sciences
    Hanh Hong Nguyen School of Biological Sciences
    Keith Ransom School of Psychology
    Emily Skelly School of Biological Sciences
    Patrick Taggart School of Animal & Veterinary Science
    Rui Wang Adelaide Medical School
    Yi Yang School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering

    2019 master Research Medal winners 

    Student Name School
    Kimberly Becker School of Mathematical Sciences 
    James Biddle School of Physical Sciences
  • 2018

    2018 doctoral Research Medal winners

    Student Name School
    Camille Roulière School of Humanities
    John Feenstra School of Mathematical Sciences
    A.S. Nazmul Huda School of Electric and Electronic Engineering
    Phuong Dong Le School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering
    Jinlong Liu School of Chemical Engineering
    Azmeraw Amare Adelaide Medical School
    Robert Bryant Adelaide Medical School
    Caroline Giezenaar Adelaide Medical School
    Alistair Jukes Adelaide Medical School
    Qazi Haque School of Economics
    Sarah Moulds Adelaide Law School
    Alexander Chambers School of Physical Sciences
    Erinn Fagan-Jeffries School of Biological Sciences
    Phong Nguyen School of Physical Sciences
    Naomi Tucker School of Physical Sciences

     

     2018 master Research Medal winners

    Student Name School
    John McCarthy School of Mathematical Sciences
    Timothy Hersey School of Economics
  • 2017

    2017 doctoral Research Medal winners

    Student Name

    School

    Aidan Coleman

    School of Humanities

    Alessandro Lovat

    School of Education

    Alkiviadis Kontonikas-Charos

    School of Physical Sciences

    Atma Ivancevic

    School of Biological Sciences

    Clara Stockigt

    School of Humanities

    Dana Michalski

    School of Psychology

    Daniel Headland

    School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering

    Eleonora Dal Grande

    School of Medicine

    He Shuai

    School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering

    Luke George

    School of Physical Sciences

    Jingrun Ran

    School of Chemical Engineering

    Md Julker Nine

    School of Chemical Engineering

    Nghia Trong

    School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering

     

    2017 master Research Medal winners

    Student Name

    School

    Aoife McFadden

    School of Physical Sciences

    Lachlan Bubb

    School of Mathematical Sciences

  • 2016

    2016 doctoral Research Medal winners

    Student Name

    School

    Alison Kirkby

    School of Physical Sciences

    Amina Omarova

    Entrepreneurship, Commercialisation and Innovation Centre (ECIC)

    Bonnie Henderson

    School of Physical Sciences

    Carolyn Collins

    School of Humanities

    Francesco Arboit

    School of Physical Sciences

    Hannah Wardill

    Adelaide School of Medicine (formally School of Medicine)

    Hui Zhang

    University of Adelaide Business School

    Jana Sisnowski

    School of Public Health

    Jasmine Palmer

    School of Social Sciences

    Jingrun Ran

    School of Chemical Engineering

    Morgan Disspain

    School of Biological Sciences

    Rebecca Harper

    Adelaide School of Medicine (formally School of Medicine)

    Sara Borazjani

    Australian School of Petroleum

    Stephanie Begg

    School of Biological Sciences

    Yulong Yang

    Australian School of Petroleum

     

     2016 master Research Medal winners

    Student Name

    School

    Konstantin Shamray

    Elder Conservatorium of Music

    Rebecca Chao

    School of Physical Sciences

  • 2015

    2015 doctoral Research Medal winners

    Student Name

    School

    Andrea Barclay

    School of Nursing

    Carly Osborn

    School of Humanities

    George Opie

    School of Medical Sciences

    Kieren Mitchell

    School of Biological Sciences

    Kuljit Singh

    School of Medicine

    Manuel Peter Samonte Solis

    Law School

    Mary Mather

    School of Humanities

    Matthew Doyle

    School of Biological Sciences

    Michelle Turvey

    School of Biological Sciences

    Mohammadreza Bonyadi

    School of Computer Science

    Phiala Shanahan

    School of Physical Sciences

    Rajeev Kumar Pathak

    School of Medicine

    Robert Klaebe

    School of Physical Sciences

    Tushar Kumeria

    School of Chemical Engineering

    Ye Wang

    School of Chemical Engineering

     

    2015 master Research Medal winners

    Student Name

    School

    Tianyu Xie

    School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering

    Zhigang Lu

    School of Computer Science

  • 2014

    2014 doctoral Research Medal winners

    Student Name

    School

    Simon Divecha

    Business School

    Liudmila Tarabashkina

    Business School

    Jillian Schedneck

    School of Social Sciences

    Edward Cleland

    School of Medicine

    Ashley Day

    School of Psychology

    Emma Kemp

    School of Psychology

    Rajiv Mahajan

    School of Medicine

    Nicola Vincent

    School of Psychology

    Ji Liang

    School of Chemical Engineering

    Seyed Mostafa Rahimi Azghadi

    School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

    Tao Zhang

    School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering

    Owen Burnell

    School of Biological Sciences

    Sarah Catalano

    School of Biological Sciences

    Lun Cui

    School of Biological Sciences

    John Wilford

    School of Physical Sciences

     

    2014 master Research Medal winners 

    Student Name

    School

    William Crawford

    School of Mathematical Sciences

    Kerry Peek

    School of Translational Health Sciences

  • 2013

    2013 doctoral Research Medal winners

    Student Name

    School

    Mayank Kaushik

    School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

    Justin MacDonald

    The Australian School of Petroleum

    Markus Wagner

    Computer Science

    Tongzhi Wu

    School of Medicine

    Elizabeth Harford-Wright

    School of Medicine

    Kara Holloway

    School of Medicine

    Marwa El-Ashmouni

    School of Architecture and Built Environment

    Jennifer Davidson

    School of Agriculture Food and Wine

    Claire Weekley

    School of Chemistry and Physics

    Dion Bennett

    School of Agriculture Food and Wine

    Ismail Ismail

    School of Agriculture Food and Wine

  • 2012

    2012 doctoral Research Medal winners

    Student Name School
    Abbas Zeinijahromi Australian School of Petroleum
    Andrew Lowther Earth and Environmental Sciences
    Anna Leonard Medical Sciences
    Benjamin Whelan Physics
    Chaohua Dong Economics
    Christina Adler Earth and Environmental Sciences
    Daniela Ribeiro Dentistry
    Gabrielle Appleby Law
    Guiqin Cai Earth and Environmental Sciences
    Justin Hardi Mechanical Engineering
    Omid Kavehei Electrical and Electronic Engineering
    Ove Gustafsson Molecular and Biomedical Sciences
    Rowan Valentine Medicine
  • 2011

    2011 doctoral Research Medal winners

    Student Name School
    Samuel Cohen Applied Mathematics
    Olga Muzychenko Business School
    Stephen Warren-Smith Chemistry and Physics - Physics
    Nicholas Payne Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
    Shaghik Atakaramians Electrical and Electronic Engineering
    Andrew Lloyd Genetics
    Thomas Raimondo Geology and Geophysics
    Peter Burdon Law
    Kayla de la Haye Psychology
    Caroline Miller Public Health
    Lisa Yelland Public Health
    Andrew Foreman Surgery
    Zoe Jordan The Joanna Briggs Institute
  • 2010

    2010 doctoral Research Medal winners

    Student Name

    School

    Adriel Cheng

    Electrical and Electronic Engineering

    Alan Goldstone

    History and Politics - Politics

    Alana Hansen

    Public Health

    Caroline Bull

    Microbiology and Immunology

    Danielle Moreau

    Mechanical Engineering

    Jing Ma

    Medicine

    Kate Vandyke

    Medicine

    Matthew Haskett

    Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering

    Nganying Serina Chan

    Centre for Asian Studies

    Peter Moran

    Chemistry and Physics - Physics

    Renate Faast

    Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

    Sally Gibson

    Gender, Work and Social Inquiry

    Sarah Biggs

    Paediatrics

    Simon Skrodal

    Education

  • 2009

    2009 doctoral Research Medal winners

     

    Student Name

    School

    Anna Sheppard

    Molecular & Biomedical Science

    Catherine Leahy

    Population Health & Clinical Practice

    Clancy James

    Chemistry & Physics

    Dominique Wilson

    Humanities

    Fang Xia

    Chemical Engineering

    Hayley Stevenson

    History & Politics

    Joanna Drimatis

    Elder Conservatorium of Music

    Jonathan Carroll

    Chemistry & Physics

    Julie Stevens

    Medicine

    Mark Christensen

    Business School

    Mohsen Forouzangohar

    Earth & Environmental Sciences

    Sally Martin

    Medicine

    Soon Kong Lee

    Mechanical Engineering