Evelyn Lavu Travel Scholarship

• $5000 to travel to Australia to develop your skills in tuberculosis research.
• Open to PNG citizens and permanent residents.
• Applications close Thursday 5 December 2024. Recipients will be announced by the end of January 2025.

See how to apply

Professor Evelyn Lavu was an outstanding clinician, researcher and laboratory scientist. She was Director of the Central Public Health Laboratory in Papua New Guinea (PNG) for many years. She was also the first woman to be appointed Professor of Medicine at the University of Papua New Guinea in 2021.

“Evelyn was inspirational and impressive as a leader for women in PNG to engage in academia and science,” said honorary Burnet researcher Professor Steve Graham.

“It was her vision to strengthen laboratory diagnostics for TB and multidrug-resistant TB in PNG. That was the focus of her PhD and is a focus of this scholarship,” he said.

Professor Lavu’s collaborations with Burnet addressed a range of infectious diseases including parasitic diseases such as malaria, viral pathogens such as hepatitis and HIV, and diseases due to bacteria and mycobacteria.

Professor Lavu provided support to the World Health Organization Western Pacific Region and the PNG National TB Program, and she made important contributions to operational research training on tuberculosis in PNG. She was also a regular valued contributor to the annual symposium of the Australian Centre of Research Excellence in Tuberculosis Control (TB-CRE).

Professor Lavu passed away suddenly in 2021. She leaves behind a significant legacy.

“Evelyn would be immensely proud of such a legacy to provide an opportunity for researchers from PNG to strengthen their skills to fight TB,” Professor Graham said.

This $5000 scholarship provides a person from Papua New Guinea with the opportunity to travel to Australia to participate in training or collaborative research activity with tuberculosis researchers.

Through this scholarship, Burnet Institute and TB-CRE honour the late Professor Evelyn Lavu’s legacy by supporting promising clinicians, researchers, scientists, and others interested in tuberculosis research and elimination in PNG, through travel and engagement with Australian counterparts.

Nomin-Dora Tenakanai and Jennifer Kopania Banamu were recipients of the inaugural Evelyn Lavu Travel Scholarship. They visited Australia in September 2024 and met with teams at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, the Mycobacterium Reference Laboratory (MRL) at the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, and the Queensland MRL.

To be eligible for this scholarship, applicants must:

• be PNG citizens or permanent residents
• have a professional interest in tuberculosis research or elimination
• be able to demonstrate how travel to Australia will further their development and interest in tuberculosis research and elimination.

Women are strongly encouraged to apply. Burnet Institute aims to award this scholarship to female applicants at least 3 out of the 5 years it is offered.

Please email the following 2 documents to scholarship@burnet.edu.au:

• your completed application form (DOCX, 217KB)
• a recent CV.

Applications close Thursday 5 December 2024. Recipients will be announced by the end of January 2025.

If you have any questions, please contact scholarship@burnet.edu.au.