
We want to hear about your research and why it matters!
The Early Career Researchers Competition is the annual competition run by the Cooperative Research Australia (CRA) celebrating research and challenging early career researchers to enhance their communication skills, receive peer reviews, and gain skills surrounding presentation of their research to a broad audience.
Introduce your project to us in one minute and you could win a trip to Adelaide to present your work at Collaborate Innovate 2023, 10-12 July, the annual conference of CRA.
If you are chosen as a finalist, you will be asked to create a five-minute thesis presentation that clearly explains your research and how it can be applied to a non-specialist audience.
The three best entries will get:
- A trip to Adelaide with airfares, transfers, conference registration and all social events, including the Gala Dinner and Excellence in Innovation Awards (value $3,000)
- The opportunity to give a five-minute thesis presentation on your work at Collaborate Innovate 2023
- The chance to win $5,000
Closing Date: Friday 16 June 2023.


Mr Dylan Ashton, PhD Candidate at University of Sydney/Innovative Manufacturing CRC
WINNER Dylan is a PhD Candidate at the University of Sydney, and is also involved in a project with the Innovative Manufacturing CRC.
His project, Kangaroo Xenograft for Human ACL Replacement, involves the development of a kangaroo tendon xenograft as an alternative graft source that are safe for human implantation for use in surgical recontructions.
FINALIST Dr Indrani Mukherjee, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at University of Tasmania
Indrani is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Geochemistry at the University of Tasmania.
Her project, Detecting fingerprints of ancient life, has used high resolution microanalytical imaging techniques that can differentiation biological vs non-biological signatures in rocks that are billions of years old, generating a toolkit that can detect mineralised remains of ancient life on earth.

FINALIST Mr Mathew Alexanderson, PhD Candidate at Southern Cross University/Soil CRC
Mathew is a PhD Candidate at Southern Cross University, and also involved in two projects within the Soil CRC.
His project, Regenerative Agriculture: Exploring the Boundaries, explores regenerative agriculture, contributing to our understanding of this alternative agricultural system, and improve our knowledge on farmer behaviours, aspirations and motivations, and their perceptions of existing and proposed R&D initiatives.
FINALIST Dr Yunru (Chloe) Lai, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Southern Queensland/Soil CRC
Chloe is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at University of Southern Queensland’s Centre for Sustainable Agricultural Systems, and also involved in a project within the Soil CRC.
Her project, Better quantification of phosphorus in the landscape, addresses the limitations of existing soil tests of phosphorus, enabling quantitative phosphorus modelling in agricultural settings to improve its use efficiency.