Dr. Laura Bray, who recently completed her doctorate in biomedicine at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), is the first awardee of this new prestigious scholarship, initiated by Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Dr Bray was engaged in research on the engineering of artificial tissue for severe injuries to the surface of the human eye.
Her PhD supervisor, Professor Dr. Dietmar Hutmacher is one of a number of German scientists working at QUT. The choice of location of the two-year long research scholarship is open to the recipient. Dr Bray has selected the Leibniz Institute for Polymer Research, Dresden, with Professor Carsten Werner as her mentor. Prof. Hutmacher and Prof. Werner have cooperated on a number of projects in the field of regenerative medicine. The Prime Minister's Awards ceremony was held in the National Gallery of Australia, in the presence of the Minister for Tertiary Education Chris Evans and Foreign Secretary Peter Varghese. Pre-recorded video messages from Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Governor-General Quentin Bryce were also shown during the ceremony.
