Carer’s Scholarship
The Franklin Women Carer’s Scholarship aims to reduce the financial and logistical barriers associated with primary caring responsibilities to enable health and medical researchers to participate fully in valuable career opportunities.
Since its inception in 2015, 45 Carer’s Scholarships have been awarded. Although initially focused on funding the additional care required for travel to academic conferences, the scholarship criteria has since been expanded to include broader career opportunities. This was in acknowledgement that unpaid caring responsibilities can impact many facets of an individual’s career.
In 2020 and 2021, scholarship funds were repurposed towards a temporary COVID-19 Carer’s Support Scholarship, which was awarded to 24 individuals who had to assume unexpected additional caring responsibilities in response to the pandemic.
As we are a social enterprise, the funds for this scholarship are raised through Franklin Women memberships. In 2020, these funds were supplemented by our Life Time Members, who kindly responded to our call for help and allowed us to support all 16 worthy applicants. Since 2021, these funds have been boosted through generous support from the Sydney Local Health District, one of our long-term Partner Organisations. We couldn’t be more grateful for the Franklin Women community, who are committed to investing in each other and our sector!
🌟 We allocate 10% of Franklin Women student & professional membership fees – and 20% of leader membership fees – towards this scholarship fund so that it can continue to grow as we do! 🌟
Scholarship rounds
Applications for the 2026 Round 1 Franklin Women Carer’s Scholarship are now open! Closing on 20 Oct 2025.
To be eligible, you must be planning to use the funds before 30 Jun 2026.
We will open another round in mid-Mar 2026 for opportunities taking place between 1 Jun 2026 – 31 Dec 2026.
Application process
Details on scholarship eligibility and requirements, and the application form, can be found below
- FW Carer’s Scholarship Instructions to Applicants
- 2026 Round 1 FW Carer’s Scholarship Application Form
2025 Round 2 recipients
Louise Drysdale
The University of Canberra
Amy Dwyer
The University of Adelaide
Dorna Esrafilzadeh
The University of New South Wales
Sara Mohamed
Children’s Cancer Institute and the University of New South Wales
Yufeng Zhao
The University of Wollongong
Previous recipients
Cheryl Carcel, The George Institute
Ursula Sansom-Daly,University of New South Wales
Belinda Di Bartolo, University of Adelaide
Sally Gainsbury, University of Sydney
Dr Joanna Achinger-Kawecka, Garvan Institute
Dr Adeola Bamgboje-Ayodele, University of Sydney
Sumina Shrestha, La Trobe University
Dr Bao Nguyen, The University of Melbourne
Dr Claire Wilkinson, The University of New South Wales
Dr Kate Filia, The University of Melbourne
Dr Yvette Wooff, Australian National University
Melissa Eaton, University of Wollongong
Nida Afzal, Macquarie University
Joanne Carpenter, University of Sydney
Dr Vita Christie, Heart Research Institute
Dr. Hannah Filmer, The University of Queensland
Samia Aziz, Burnet Institute
Dr Saskia Bollmann, The University of Queensland
Premila Paiva, University of Melbourne
Elizabeth Hinde, University of Melbourne
Ying Zhang, University of Sydney
Willa Huston, University of Technology Sydney
Jennifer Stone, University of Adelaide
Dr Nikki-Anne Wilson, NeuRA: Neuroscience Research Australia
Simran Kaur, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute
Dr Rebecca Poulsen, Macquarie University
Dr Sarah Scealy, University of Sydney
Yufeng Zhao, University of Wollongong
Rachel Hicks, Western Sydney University
Dr Kate Giles, Children’s Medical Research Institute
Dr. Miriam Maclean, Australian Centre for Child Protection, University of South Australia
Dr. Sonia McAlister, The Kids Research Institute Australia and Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases
Echo Mei Xu, Black Dog Institute and the University of New South Wales
Karen Graham, The University of Queensland
Dr Ingrid Honan, Cerebral Palsy Alliance
COVID-19 Carer’s Support Scholarship
2021 recipients (Teresa Anderson Award)
Daria Di Filippo, UNSW, Hunter New England Health
Kavita Bisht, Mater Research Institute, The University of Queensland
Kirsten Morley, University of Sydney, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital
Kristina Cook, University of Sydney, Westmead Hospital
Melissa Farnham, The Heart Research Institute, University of Sydney
Monica Zen, University of Sydney
Shadma Fatima, Ingham Institute of Applied Medical Research
Shu Yang, Centre for MND Research, Macquarie University
2020 recipients
Amy Freeman-Sanderson, University of Technology Sydney
Audrey Adji, Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, St Vincent’s Clinical School, St Vincent’s Hospital
Danielle Borg, Mater Research
Daria Di Filippo, University of New South Wales
Elizabeth Dylke, The University of Sydney
Emily Ramage, The University of Newcastle
Erica Breuer, The University of Newcastle
Jessica Roydhouse, Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania
Kate Giles, Children’s Medical Research Institute
Kelly Williams, Macquarie University
Natalie Matosin, University of Wollongong and Illawarra Health Medical Research Institute
Rachel Hicks, Western Sydney University
Renee Goreham, The University of Newcastle
Rosanne Guijt, Deakin University
Sacha Stelzer-Braid, University of New South Wales and University of Technology Sydney
Simone Sherriff, The Sax Institute and The University of Sydney