Gemma Sharp wins Paul Bourke award

A/Prof Gemma Sharp with the Paul Bourke award

Associate Professor Gemma Sharp, NHMRC Early Career Research Fellow in the Department of Neuroscience at Monash University, is a recipient of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia’s 2022 Paul Bourke Award for Early Career Research (see the video 3:17 mins). 

A/Prof Sharp is an exceptional early career researcher who is known for pioneering research in body image, eating disorders and digital mental health interventions. She has published more than 55 research outputs in high quality journals and amassed more than $5 million in research funding. Her research excellence has been recognised with over 50 awards including the US-based Association for Psychological Science Rising Star Award (2021).

She has also been invited on 38 occasions, as a guest speaker, to present at prestigious national and international conferences. Her exemplary track record positions her as an emerging leader.

This prestigious award is named after the late Professor Paul Bourke who served as Academy President from 1993 to 1997 and honours researchers in the early part of their career who have achieved excellence in scholarship in one or more fields of the social sciences. The award has been received by some of Australia’s leading social scientists as the Paul Bourke Award since 2008 and as the Academy Early Career Award from its inception in 1987. 

The Academy presented A/Prof Sharp with a certificate and medallion at its Annual Dinner on Tuesday 29 November 2022. The Academy has also invited Monash University to co-host a public lecture to showcase A/Prof Sharp’s research to a wider audience during Social Sciences Week, to be held from 4 -10 September 2023.