Curtin University health researchers will share in more than $13 million to go towards projects to benefit Western Australian children after receiving Stan Perron Charitable Foundation People Grant funding.
Led by researchers from the Curtin School of Population Health, enAble Institute, Curtin Medical School, Curtin School of Nursing and Curtin School of Allied Health, the 11 projects will each span three to five years and tackle a wide array of health-related issues.
The Stan Perron Charitable Foundation has helped facilitate research delivering real-world impact for children, adolescents and young people since 1978.
Curtin University Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research Professor Melinda Fitzgerald said the projects highlighted the incredible talent and dedication of Curtin’s health researchers.
“From innovative mental health programs and hospital safety to empowering girls and supporting Aboriginal families to early interventions for physical health, each of these diverse projects address real challenges faced by young people today,” Professor Fitzgerald said.
“By partnering with the Stan Perron Charitable Foundation, we can translate world-class research into practical solutions that reach children and families where they need it most.
“We are proud to support research that not only generates knowledge but actively co-designs solutions with the communities it serves, demonstrating how evidence-based interventions can make a tangible, long lasting difference in the lives of young people.”
2025 STAN PERRON CHARITABLE FOUNDATION PEOPLE GRANT RECIPIENTS
- Associate Professor Kefyalew Alene (also with The Kids Research Institute Australia)
Geospatial analytics for the control of influenza in Western Australian children
Identifying where in WA children are most affected by influenza and where vaccination rates are low, to help design targeted strategies to increase vaccine uptake, reduce hospitalisations and protect children, especially in disadvantaged communities.
- Professor Yvonne Anderson
Enhanced child health and wellbeing outcomes through equitable contemporary models of care
Around 15 per cent of Perth children are overweight or obese, which is expected to rise to almost 50 per cent by 2050. This project builds on a successful community-based program supporting families in a non-judgmental, culturally inclusive way and prepares it for wider rollout across WA so more children can access early, multi-faceted care.
- Professor Jaya Dantas
EMPOWER-Her Plus
Working with young women from culturally diverse backgrounds to prevent forced marriage, modern slavery and other hidden forms of harm. It adapts a proven, community-designed program to help girls recognise warning signs, stay safe and get the right support, while also guiding police and community services to respond better.
- Professor Sarah Egan
Empowering Young Minds: Improving prevention and treatment of youth mental health problems through internet self-help interventions
Mental health problems among young people in WA have more than doubled in the past decade, with one in four experiencing anxiety or depression and most never receiving help. This project co-designs free, online mental health programs with young people and uses efficient, evidence-based approaches to reach more youth, especially in rural and remote areas where services are hardest to access.
- Professor Fenella Gill
Keeping our children safe in WA hospitals
This project improves how hospitals identify when a child’s health is worsening, by making sure families’ concerns are heard and acted on early. It strengthens and expands a state-wide early warning system, with a focus on Aboriginal and culturally diverse families, to reduce preventable harm to children in hospital.
- Professor Penelope Hasking
Preventing suicide among West Australian youth
Suicide is the leading cause of death for Australians aged 15-24, accounting for almost 40 per cent of youth deaths in WA. This project expands proven early-intervention programs to support TAFE students, young people who self-injure, and Indigenous young men before they reach crisis.
- Dr Elizabeth Hill
Finding their voice: Addressing biases in mental health services faced by children with language difficulties
Around 80 per cent of young people with mental health conditions have unmet language needs, making care harder to access and less effective. This project develops simpler, more accessible mental health treatments and trains health workers to better support young people whose language needs are often overlooked.
- Associate Professor Elizabeth Newnham
Resilient futures: Co-designing mental health interventions for children and young people in disaster-affected communities across Western Australia
This project aims to improve mental health outcomes for children and young people in Western Australia affected by disasters such as bushfires, floods and heatwaves. Working with young people as co-designers, it will scale up and evaluate a peer-based program that builds emotional skills, resilience and recovery before and after emergencies, particularly in rural and remote communities.
- Dr Felicity Roux
Promoting mental and menstrual wellbeing amongst adolescent girls through strengths-based menstrual health education and care
Along with period pain, heavy bleeding and premenstrual symptoms, girls disproportionately experience poorer mental health with anxiety, depressive mood, poor body image and self-injury all associated with the menstrual cycle. This project will oversee programs promoting best practice menstrual health education and care.
- Professor Carrington Shepherd
Increasing the pace of change to equity in Aboriginal perinatal health: Evidence for advocacy and intervention
Aboriginal families who have experienced stillborn or newborn death often receive care that is not culturally safe during pregnancy and after loss. This project is an Aboriginal-led research program working with communities to prevent stillbirth, improve maternity and mental health care and develop culturally secure bereavement support for Aboriginal families.
- Associate Professor Roslyn Ward
B5: Bridging the Gap – From Misunderstood to Understood
Around 12 per cent of Australian children live with a disability and more than half have a communication impairment, with speech sound disorders affecting about one in 10 preschoolers. This project improves early diagnosis and access to effective speech therapy for young children in WA, especially in regional areas, by developing better assessment tools, digital therapies and a stronger specialist workforce so children get help before long-term impacts occur.
For more information about the Stan Perron Charitable Foundation People Grant, visit here.
