Beryl Nashar Young Researcher Award - 2022

Dr Aaron Elbourne is an early-career researcher who is widely recognised as a mentor and leader in his field. Only five years post-PhD, he has established his own research group, research direction, and reputation as a mentor for students and fellow Early Career Researchers.

Aaron is using nanobiotechnology to find better solutions to health problems such as antibiotic resistance. His work has already been translated into three patents and multiple industry partnerships. His research offers much-needed treatment methods for bacterial and fungal infections which are a significant threat to public health.

“I really like translational research - research that I can take and do the fundamentals in the laboratory and then hopefully move through to a product,” said Aaron.

His industry collaborations have received over $300,000 of research investment and look at stroke therapeutics, antimicrobial hand sanitizers, antimicrobial cannula devices, and antimicrobial animal feed.

Dr Aaron Elbourne - 2022 Beryl Nashar Young Researcher Award

Aaron has published 72 refereed articles in high-impact, international journals and three book chapters. This research has had 2,136 citations and a H-index of 24. The impact of his research has been recognised by numerous early career researcher awards and $3 million in grant funding.

Beyond his research, Aaron is dedicated to mentoring, including 17 PhD, two masters, and five honours students and fellow Early Career Researchers.

“People are at the heart of research; dealing with people, training people and also translating it through to the community so that people understand science – is fundamental to everything that I do.”

“One of my main passions has been mentoring students and supporting the next generation of scientists. They're about to get jobs in different fields, and they're going to be the ones that are driving research with me ….hopefully it propagates out and we can make real-world change,” said Aaron.

Aaron Elbourne

Aaron Elbourne
ARC DECRA Research Fellow, RMIT University

Doctor of Philosophy (Chemistry) 2017, Bachelor of Teaching 2011/ Bachelor of Science (Hons) 2012

People are at the heart of research; dealing with people, training people and also translating it through to the community so that people understand science – is fundamental to everything that I do.

Alumni Excellence Awards

Beryl Nashar Young Researcher Award

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