Eliminating the barrier to success for outstanding translational neuroscientist

Associate Professor Bridgette Semple in the lab

Neuroscientist Associate Professor Bridgette Semple, from the Department of Neuroscience has been granted a Victorian Near-Miss Award to uncover the cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie damage to myelinated tracts after paediatric traumatic brain injury. See 16 June veski media release.

The Victorian Near-Miss Award is a pilot scheme in 2022, administered by veski, which aims to provide financial support to eligible individuals who narrowly miss out on the 2021 NHMRC Investigator Grant funding in the Emerging Leaders 2 stream. 

The Award, valued at $74,000 AUD to be matched by the employing institution or University, supports medical research for a 12-month period to enable emerging researchers in Victoria’s health and medical research workforce to recover from impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, assist in their retention in the sector, and improve their competitiveness for future funding opportunities from both government and non-government funding sources.

As Head of the Paediatric Neurotrauma Group, A/Prof Semple is currently the lead investigator (CIA) on a funded US Army Department of Defense grant (2021-2023), and is a named lead investigator (one of 50) on a funded MRFF grant (2021-2022). Yet these projects sadly do not provide salary support for A/Prof Semple's position. This award could not have come at a better time, she said, as her previous NHMRC Career Development Fellowship is coming to an end this month. 

"I feel very fortunate that the Victorian Government has recognised the value of supporting the retention of emerging researchers like myself, who have faced barriers to their career success. In my case, the pandemic on top of ongoing career disruptions greatly affected my research outputs, impact and opportunity to obtain salary support to continue my trajectory as a future leader in my field.

“The award will ensure that I do not lose the momentum for my research program (with a break in salary support), which would have a myriad of negative consequences for my research and team. This funding will enable our continued growth to produce new knowledge, towards the ultimate goal of developing novel therapeutic interventions to improve outcomes and quality of life for young survivors of traumatic brain injuries,” said A/Prof Semple.