The Gladys M Brawn Memorial Fellowship Scheme

 

History

The Gladys M Brawn Fellowship Scheme was established  by Leslie Harold Brawn and, at his request, the scheme started when he passed away in 1995.  Mr Brawn wanted the then Faculty of Medicine to establish strong research leadership that would enable the University of Newcastle to expand its medical research and provide a permanent memory of his late wife Gladys.  Mr Brawn began donating his possessions and money to the University in 1985.  At the time of his death his donations were worth $5 million.

The Gladys M Brawn Senior Research Fellowship

Launched in 1995, the key aim of the Brawn Fellowship was to attract outstanding career scientists with international reputations to Newcastle, and to retain them.  It was the first fellowship scheme in Australia to actively recruit fellows and, partly due to this Fellowship scheme, the University of Newcastle's Faculty of Health is now a national and international leader in health research.

Senior Brawn Fellows receive an appropriate academic status in the Faculty, a grant-in-aid up to the value of $500,000, an allocation of $35,000 which can be used for a range of purposes including salary support, research project support and other legitimate research-related expenditure and should their external salary support fail to be renewed a guarantee two years salary.

Current Senior Brawn Fellows

Name	Fellowship Period	Research Area
A/Prof Dirk van Helden	1998 - Present	Cellular Rhythmicity, often referred to as pacemaking, in various smooth muscles (e.g. lymphatic, gastrointestinal, uterine), heart and the brain.
Prof Leonie Ashman	2002 - Present	Molecular markers of human cancer cells.
Prof Amanda Baker	2009 - Present	Psychological treatments of comorbidity with a focus on drug and alcohol problems.
A/Prof Xu Zhang	2011 -	Human Melanoma

The Gladys M Brawn Postdoctoral Fellowship

Postdoctoral Brawn Fellowships are available for up to 3 years and will provide a salary on the academic level A/B scale as well as a research expense allowance of $10,000 per annum.  The postdoctoral fellow must have the potential to obtain external support and will be expected to apply for this support in the first and subsequent years of the fellowship and sacrifice the Brawn Fellowship if and when successful.

For more information contact:
Ms Shirley Savy
Research & Research Training Officer
Phone: +61 2 4921 5603
Email: Shirley.Savy@newcastle.edu.au