This year ResearchFest hosted eleven activities held in the week of 29 July - 2 August.
120 abstracts were received

We focused on highlighting the impact of research.

There was a mixture of in-person, hybrid and online events, eleven activities in all.
Three events organized by Allied Health (Sue Berney Lecture, Physiotherapy Symposium and Allied Health Showcase) and the Nurse Led Research Symposium, and the Quality Improvement Presentations continue to be very well attended. 

New events were similarly well attended – specifically a spotlight event for the Australian Centre for Transplantation Excellence and Research (ACTER) and a networking event.
The Networking Event featured structured interactions enabling participants to address the room (a three-minute elevator pitch) and catch up with other researchers, and included a display of A3 sized posters.

Abstract authors were invited to prepare an A3 sized poster using the Cochrane Colloquium better poster template, with a focus on the impact of the research. Copies of the posters were displayed in the corridor around the Health Service Library where we encouraged readers to give a sticker to their favourite poster, resulting in a rash of stickers.

Prize winners for 2024.

AMRF Distinguished Scientist Award
Professor Elif Ekinci

Honouring Professor Ekinci's contribution to the research community at Austin Health, in both clinical and basic research and her commitment to fostering young people into research and supervision of post-graduate degree students

Nurse-Led Research Award
Margaret Phillips
Austin Transition Clinic for complex sub-acute pain: opioid weaning and functional recovery​

Quality Improvement Award
Kate Schimmelbusch
Nurse led mobility following hip and knee arthroplasty can assist with next day discharge for Enhanced Recovery Program participants​

Allied Health Research Award
Elena Gerstman
Exploring the characteristics, outcomes and clinician perspectives of general medicine patients with complex allied health needs in the digital age – an observational cohort and cross-sectional survey

Rob Pierce Memorial Award
Charissa Zaga
Navigating tracheostomy decannulation: A decade of insights from the Global Tracheostomy Collaborative

Research Discovery Award
Natasha de Alwis
New generation antiplatelet drugs for prevention of preeclampsia: novel roles in mitigating maternal vasoconstriction in human models of disease

Austin Medical Research Foundation (AMRF) Young Investigator Award
Brooke Chapman
Reversing malnutrition and low muscle strength with targeted enteral feeding in patients awaiting liver transplant: A randomized controlled trial

Peoples Choice Poster Awards
Man Ting Chong, Werribee Mercy Hospital Multicultural Services Unit
Talk to Me! Transforming Care, One Language at a Time
Enhancing Communication for CALD Patients with the ‘Talk to Me’ App,

Peter Barnes, Michelle Kostidis, Julie Nguyen, Molly O’Donoghue
Local Diagnostic Reference Level assessment promotes optimal mammographic imaging

Kate Schimmelbusch, Karen Blakemore, Rebekah McGaw, Marisa Delahunt
Nurses can improve outcomes for patients and length of stay