We recognise our stars.
AWARDS
What's Available?
The 2026 call for award nominations is now open!
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The ASBTE is calling for nominations for the:
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ASBTE Award of Research Excellence - deadline 18/2/2026
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ASBTE Emerging Leadership Award - deadline 18/2/2026
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ASBTE Early Career Research Award - deadline 18/2/2026
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ASBTE Lab Travel Awards - deadline 14/1/2026
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ASBTE Conference Attendance Awards - deadline 14/1/2026
Note that the awards are not restricted to academics and nominations for biomaterials and tissue engineering professionals outside of academia are also encouraged.
ASBTE Award of Research Excellence 2026
This award recognises a member of ASBTE who has a made a significant research contribution to the discipline of biomaterials and tissue engineering.
Full details here
The deadline for the nomination is Wednesday, 18 February 2026 at 5pm (AEST).
ASBTE Emerging Leadership Award 2026
This award recognises an early to-mid career researcher, who has demonstrated outstanding leadership contributions to ASBTE and broader communities in biomaterials and tissue engineering.
Full details here
The deadline for the nomination is Wednesday, 18 February 2026 at 5pm (AEST).
ASBTE Early Career Research Award 2026
This award recognises an early career researcher, who has demonstrated emerging research impact and potential for a distinguished career in the field of biomaterials and/or tissue engineering.
Full details here
The deadline for the nomination is Wednesday, 18 February 2026 at 5pm (AEST).
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ASBTE Lab Travel Awards​ 2026
The ASBTE will fund Lab Travel Grants up to $2,000 for international travel or up to $1000 for domestic/local travel each for postgraduate research students and early career researchers, for visits to academic collaborator and/or industry partner labs during 2026.
Full details here
Application form here
The deadline for ASBTE Travel Awards 2026 is Wednesday, 14th January 2026 at 5pm (AEST).
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​ASBTE Conference Attendance Awards 2026
The ASBTE will fund Awards up to $500.00 each for postgraduate research students and early career researchers to attend the 2026 ASBTE Annual Conference at the National Wine Centre, Adelaide, Australia on 7-10 April 2026.
Full details here
Application form here
The deadline for ASBTE Conference Attendance Awards 2026 is Wednesday, 14th January 2026 at 5pm (AEST).
2025 Awardees
ASBTE Award of Excellence 2025 - Veronica Glattauer, CSIRO
Veronica Glattauer is a Principal Research Scientist in the Biomedical Manufacturing Program at CSIRO Manufacturing. She graduated from La Trobe University with a Bachelor of Biological Sciences with Honours in Biochemistry. Subsequently, she received a Postgraduate Diploma in Computer Science from Monash University. Her expertise spans broad interdisciplinary knowledge in the area of biomaterial science and engineering. Her research project activities have involved a large number of commercially driven partnerships with Australian and overseas companies. The quality of her research contributions are reflected by ~70 journal publications and book chapters, 2 CSIRO Research Medals and her election in 2020 elected as Fellow, Biomaterials Science & Engineering (FBSE) by the International Union of Societies for Biomaterials Science & Engineering (IUSBSE). Her service to the society started more than 30 years ago and continues to this date. She currently serves as the Executive Officer of the ASBTE.
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‘…her exceptional service to the ASBTE, and more broadly her outstanding service to the field of biomaterials & tissue engineering. Her dedication is reflected by her society positions over several decades, the fact that she has organised and promoted many conferences and symposia, and importantly that she has also been a fantastic mentor and an inspiration for many young scientists…’
ASBTE Emerging Investigator Award 2025 - Jiao Jiao Li, UTS
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As a biomedical engineer, Jiao Jiao works at the interface of engineering, science and medicine to deliver new regenerative therapies for chronic diseases, particularly musculoskeletal diseases such as osteoarthritis and bone injuries. Her research has led to 106 publications (80 since 2020), with citations placing her in the top 0.03% in Australia in ‘Bone Regeneration’ and ‘Tissue Engineering’ (Expertscape). Top-of-field inter/national recognitions include Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine International Society award, Eureka Prize for Emerging Leader in Science, Metcalf Prize for Stem Cell Research, Premier’s Prize for NSW Early Career Researcher of the Year, NSW Young Tall Poppy of the Year, and Australian winner of Falling Walls Lab. Her work has been supported by the Rebecca L Cooper Foundation Al & Val Rosenstrauss Fellowship, NHMRC Early Career Fellowship, and ARC Training Centre for Innovative BioEngineering where she served as Co-Deputy Director. Supporting her passion in STEM advocacy and diversity, she was elected Board Director of Science & Technology Australia by >235,000 scientists from 140 member organisations, and serve as Chair of its Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, building on her experiences of representing Australian women in STEM as a 2021-22 Superstar of STEM.
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‘…Dr Li’s research vision is based on the firm belief that everyone is entitled to healthy ageing. Since her NHMRC Early Career Fellowship in 2017-2020, followed by establishing her own team at UTS in 2020 and commencing a prestigious Rebecca L Cooper Al & Val Rosenstrauss Fellowship in 2025, she has built a cross-disciplinary research program that pushes the boundaries of TERM…’
ASBTE Early Career Research Award 2025 - Kieran Lau, USyd
Kieran is a talented emerging researcher that has strong potential as a future leader in the field of biomaterials and tissue engineering. Upon beginning his postdoctoral research position at the University of Sydney in 2023, he has established his own research focus towards the development of sequential drug-eluting biomaterials towards vascular and neural tissue engineering applications. He has a strong track record in biomaterial characterisation and development as evidenced by this publication record, primarily in Q1 peer-reviewed journals. Together, thus far, Kieran’s research has generated 12 publications, 12 conference presentation and 1 patent as the co-inventor. He is on an onward trajectory with a FWCI of 2.18 in 2024, indicating his work is being cited 118% more compared to other researchers in the same field. His high research potential is further endorsed by his recent success with a highly competitive Heart Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship.
Aside from his dedication to good quality research, he is also a hardworking individual that has contributed consistently to teaching, training, and mentoring of the next generation of researchers. In addition to the course demonstrating over his research career since 2017 and his guest lecture in 2023, he has consistently mentored several honours (1-3/year), Master and PhD students. This year, he has also conceptualised an honours project as the co-supervisor, which has been awarded the 2025 Merck Honours Project Grant, a merit-based programme that supports innovative and sustainable research project.
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‘‘ …Kieran is an excellent candidate for the ASBTE Early Careers award, having established himself as an outstanding individual amongst his peers. He has consistently demonstrated that he possesses the necessary attitude and skillset to deliver high-quality research outputs towards translational biomaterial research and development. Kieran has shown strong ambition in research and has shown he possesses the qualities to become a leader in the field…’
ASBTE Conference Attendance Awards
Congratulations to everyone who received a Conference Attendance Award in 2025!
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Max Yavitt
Markos Alemie
Astrid Nausa
Hien Tran
Aafreen Ansari
George McColgan
Jiankun Yang
Veronica Perera
Behzad Shiroud Heidari
Mustafijur Rahman
​Chayla Reeves
Negar Mohammadi Rizi
Willoraaratchige Roshantha Perera
Shuqian Wan
Clare Maher
Amy Xie
See the full history of our award-winners here