Club Melbourne Fellowship finalists revealed

Eight of Melbourne’s leading mid-career researchers have been named Club Melbourne Fellowship finalists, with the winning recipient set to receive access to the exclusive Club Melbourne Ambassador Program network.

The inaugural Fellowship recognises excellence in research, innovation and leadership, designed to support high quality Melburnian research projects and the next generation of potential Club Melbourne Ambassadors.

As well as gaining access to the prestigious Club Melbourne network, the Fellowship includes research funding of $10,000, to support attendance at international conferences to enable new research opportunities for their project.

The eight finalists include:

• Dr Peter Macreadie – Deakin University
• Associate Professor Fred Cahir – Federation University
• Dr Shanshan Kou – La Trobe University
• Associate Professor Alex Fornito – Monash University
• Associate Professor Sarah Spencer – RMIT University
• Dr Alan Duffy – Swinburne University of Technology
• Dr Jennifer Day – University of Melbourne
• Dr Fabio Serpiello – Victoria University

Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre’s (MCEC) Senior Manager of Club Melbourne and Business Development, Suzana Bishop said the quality of submissions in the Fellowships’ inaugural year was truly outstanding and each finalist would be a worthy recipient.

“Selected Club Melbourne Ambassadors have a very hard task judging their submissions and research projects. The calibre of finalists is a great example of why Melbourne is so highly regarded internationally for our research and development, and a world-leading hub for ground-breaking discoveries.

“This Fellowship is an invaluable opportunity for these researchers in the midst of their careers, and we look forward to welcoming the winning recipient into our program for the year and supporting their research endeavours,” Ms Bishop added.

The winning recipient will be announced at the Club Melbourne 11th Anniversary Dinner, held at MCEC on Monday 15 August 2016.

Owned and led by MCEC with collaboration and support from the Melbourne Convention Bureau and the Victorian State Government, Club Melbourne has delivered over 110 international conferences worth over $650 million to become one of the world's most influential Ambassador programs.