Research Grants

The SPANZA research grants are given by SPANZA to support research in Australia and New Zealand in paediatric anaesthesia, paediatric ICU or paediatric pain management.

2025 RESEARCH GRANTS

In 2025, SPANZA are offering up to A$70,000 in grant funding, which will be split as per the following categories:

  • Research Grant: up to A$40,000
  • Emerging Investigator: up to A$20,000
  • Quality Improvement (QI): up to A$10,000

A maximum funding for each level may be requested for any one grant, and SPANZA reserves the right to partially fund grants.

  • All persons considering submission of a project are invited to present their idea at the Paediatric Anaesthesia Research Meeting (PARM), hosted by SPANZA on 10 August in Adelaide. Presentation at this meeting provides an opportunity to discuss your idea and receive feedback from the research community.
  • If you are unsure of which category you should submit your project under, please contact the Secretariat with your question/s BEFORE the deadline: secretariat@spanza.org.au.
  • The SPANZA research subcommittee reserves the right to request a re-submission of an application if they believe it has been submitted in the incorrect category. Resubmission will be required within 48 hours of request.  We therefore recommend reaching out prior to the deadline date if you are uncertain which category to submit under.

Conditions for eligibility

For all categories:

  1. The chief investigator on the project must be a member of SPANZA at time of application (Note:  it can take up to one month to process membership applications).
  2. The project must be based in Australia and/or New Zealand and the activity must be research relevant to paediatric anaesthesia, paediatric intensive care and/or paediatric pain management.

For Research Grants (recommended):

  • Collaborative projects across New Zealand and Australia. (including mentoring and senior support)
    OR
  • Higher degree candidate – MD, PhD. Must be currently enrolled and project must be part of the higher degree

For Emerging Investigator:

  1. The chief investigator must have no more than 5 publications in the last 10 years (including career breaks)

Things to note before submitting

Conditions on awarding of any grant:

  1. All applicants must be compliant with reporting requirements as follows:
    1. The recipient of funds will provide brief annual reports until the project is completed.
    2. A brief final report will be submitted when the project is completed.
    3. A link to any publications will be provided.
    4. The results of the project will be presented at an annual SPANZA scientific meeting (this may be in addition to other presentations).
    5. Any grant holders who do not present or publish work funded by SPANZA will not be eligible for future grants, until such dissemination of findings occurs.
  1. If you are awarded a grant, you may be invited to present details of the project in the Research Forum at the SPANZA ASM in the year the grant is awarded.

For Research Grants and Emerging Investigator:

  1. The project application must include a clear aim, a complete project outline and a budget. Applications must be in the SUGGESTED FORMAT.
  2. The application will be judged on the following additional criteria:
    1. The plausibility, importance and originality of the objective and the likelihood to change practice and/or result in publication.
    2. The feasibility of the project
    3. The track record of the investigators with respect to ability to complete project

For QI projects:

  1. The project should be structured to address criteria as outlined in the table below.
Criteria Suggested assessment advice
Problem description Nature and significance of the problem locally. The clinical relevance and the impact are clearly outlined.
Available knowledge Key information is summarized w.r.t. what is known locally, best practice in general (and relevant reference/s)
Rationale There is clear rationale linking the intervention to its expected effects
Specific aims Are the Aims SMART? Specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound
Context/organisational characteristics Are these described and would they be relevant to other organisations? Demographics and basic characteristics of the organisation. There may be relevant contextual factors that should be measured prospectively – have these been considered and are they part of the project?
Interventions Description of the intervention is in sufficient detail that others could reproduce it. There is an approach that attempts to establish whether observed outcomes are due to the intervention/s or other factors within the wider system.
Design Description of the qualitative and quantitative methods planned to draw inference from the data. The time period and/or effect size and the number of patients studied are large enough to establish a statistically significant difference for quantitative methodologies. There is a Clear outline of the clinically significant change sought. Methods for understanding variation within the data including the effects of time as a variable.
Comparator What is the QI project comparing to? Is it to local data that establishes a problem? Is it to a known benchmark standard? Is it both?

Score for clarity and higher if clear benchmark or work will establish a benchmark.
Measures Measures chosen. Are they process measures or outcome measures? Are they valid and reliable? Higher score for outcome measures. Description of the approach used for assessment of contextual elements that contribute to success, failure, efficiency and cost.
Data source/reliability Methods employed to ensure completeness and accuracy of data and/or a description of challenges to this.
Patient related health outcomes Are there clear patient related health outcomes – what are they? How relevant/impactful are they?
Timing of intervention and evaluation QI is often about temporary activities being introduced to introduce potentially enduring change. When is the intervention occurring, how and when is it assessed? Is there ongoing late assessment to ensure sustained changed or PDSA cycles planned to ensure continuous improvement
Barriers and facilitators Are challenges identified? Are potential facilitators within the organisation described? Who is on the QI project w.r.t. expertise and diversity of approaches w.r.t. solutions/interventions?
Penetration/reach Is this a single unit/department intervention?  A multi department intervention within the same speciality (eg multicentre)? A interdepartmental intervention (eg within the same organisation)? Score more highly for multicentre and interdepartmental
Sustainability Is the intervention proposed likely to be sustainable in the future? E.g. system change, imbedding of change versus dependent on a single person or a few people. Score more highly for a project that will lead to imbedded changes.
Spread Is the project potentially applicable to other groups? Either as education or as a project which could be relevant to other groups for their own QI projects.
Equity and Ethical considerations Does the project meet ethical standards? Are there any groups where health equity challenges may be over come?

How to Apply

DEADLINE FOR ALL APPLICATIONS:  27 August 2025 (midnight AWST).  No late applications will be accepted.

PAST WINNERS

2024 Grant Winners

SPANZA would like to congratulate 2 winners for 2024, for the projects entitled:

  • Development of high-fidelity 3D printed tracheae for infant CICO rescue and shared airway training.
    Dr James Broadbent, Dr Jeremy Young, Dr Richard Collins
    Recieved A$20,000
  • Wearable technology for the measurement of post-operative outcomes in children undergoing Ear, Nose and Throat surgery.
    A/Prof Paul-Lee Archer,  Dr Karin Plummer, Prof Stewart Trost, Prof Britta von Ungern-Sternberg
    Recieved A$20,000

2023 Grant Winners

SPANZA would like to congratulate 3 winners for 2023, for the projects entitled:

  • Developing a consumer priority list for research and clinical care in paediatric perioperative medicine in conjunction with Australian children and youth consumers
    Prof Britta Regli-von Ungern-Sternberg, A/Prof Susan Humphreys, Dr Fiona Taverner, Jane Smitheringal
    Received A$18,728
  • Australian children and youth prescribed opioids prior to referral to tertiary pain services – description and changes over 5 years (UNderstanding Opioids – UNOpioid)
    Dr Susie Lord, Priscilla Viana Da Silva, Dr Dinberu Shebeshi, Amy Wethered, Dr Krista Monkhouse
    Received A$15,000
  • Anaemia in Cardiac Surgery at The Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne
    Dr Paul Davies, Prof Paul Monagle, Dr Bryn Jones, Dr Ben Davies
    Received A$6,272

2022 Grant Winners

SPANZA would like to congratulate 2 winners for 2022, for the projects entitled:

  • Baby CHiX: Caudal, High flow oxygen and DeXmedetomidine sedation for inguinal hernia surgery in neonates and infants. 
    Dr Fiona Tavener, Dr Laura Burgoyne, A/Prof Britta Regli Von Ungern Sternberg, A/Prof Andrew Davidson, A/Prof Scott Morris, Dr Susan Humphreys
    Received A$20,000
  • Evaluation of physical compatibility and stability of selected intravenous drug combinations when administered via Y-type connectors.
    Dr Nicole Wylie, Dr Alka Garg, A/Prof Sanjay Garg, Dr May Song, A/Prof Souha Youssef
    Received A$10,000

2021 Grant Winners

SPANZA would like to congratulate 2 winners for 2021, for the projects entitled:

  • Neurocognitive trajectory in adolescents recovering from major spinal surgery for idiopathic scoliosis (NEUROTRAJECT)
    Dr Suze Bruins, A/Prof Christopher Brasher, A/Prof Aaron Buckland, Dr Louise Margaret Crowe, Prof Andrew Davidson, A/Prof Liz Evered, Prof Robert Sanders, A/Prof Justin Skowno, Prof Laszlo Vutskits
    Fully funded, A$9000.00
  • Physician versus viscoelastic assay-guided transfusion strategy for massive haemorrhage in elective cranial vault surgery 
    Dr Stuart Blain, Dr Shannon Morrison, A/Prof Susan Humphreys, Dr John Roy
    Partially funded, A$31 000.00 ($40 000 requested)

2020 Grant Winners

SPANZA would like to congratulate 2 winners for 2020, for the projects entitled:

  • Development of a Paediatric Quality of Recovery Score (pedsQoR)
    Paul Lee Archer, Queensland Children’s Health, Brisbane
    Received A$25,000
  • Core Outcomes in Children Undergoing Anaesthesia and Surgery: An International Stakeholder Engagement Study
    Elsa Taylor, Starship Children’s Hospital, Auckland NZ
    Received A$15,000

2019 Grant Winner

SPANZA would like to congratulate 2 winners for 2019, who both receive $10,000 each for the projects entitled:

  • Towards optimal anaesthesia in the neonate: Characterising cortical evoked responses in neonates and defining an objective measure of anaesthetic effect.
    Dr Bae (Sebastian) Corlette, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute
  • Sevoflurane Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics during Anaesthesia
    Dr. Ben van der Griend, Christchurch Public Hospital

2018 Grant Winner

The winner of the 2018 grant was the project entitled:

2017 Grant Winner

There were 2 winners of the 2017 grant, both award $10,000 each for the projects titled:

  • Blood glucose and ketone levels on fasting children between 6-12 months for elective surgery
    Abigail Wong, Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital, Queensland
  • Enhancing Management of Perioperative High risk patients through Assessment of oxygen Saturation and Sleep quality (EMPHASIS)
    David Sommerfield, Princess Margaret Hospital, Perth

2016 Grant Winner

The winner of the 2016 grant was the project entitled:

2015 Grant Winner

The winner of the 2015 grant was the project entitled:

2014 Grant Winner

The winner of the 2014 grant was the project entitled:

2013 Grant Winner

The winner of the 2013 Grant, of $10,000 was the project entitled:

2012 Grant Winner

The winner of the $10,000 research grant was awarded for the following submission:

  • Pain at home following shortstay surgery in children
    Dr George Chalkiadis, Royal Children’s Hospital, Victoria

2011 Grant Winner

The winner of the $10,000 research grant was awarded for the following submission:

  • Safer anaesthesia for children with asthma: can exhaled NO levels predict children at risk for respiratory complications?
    Prof Britta von Ungern-Sternberg and Mary Hegarty, Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, Western Australia

2010 Grant Winner

The winner of the $10,000 research grant was awarded for the following submission:

  • Transition to Propofol Anaesthesia for the Final Three Minutes as a Strategy to Reduce Sevoflurance Emergence Delirium: A Randomised Controlled Trial

Dr David Costi, Women’s and Children’s Hospital, North Adelaide

2009 Grant Winner

Once again in 2009 the quality of the submissions was extremely high, and a decision could not be made between 2 applications, and therefore the grant was split into 2 x $5,000 grants, between the following 2 submissions:

  • Does gabapentin reduce itch in children with acute severe burns? – Aprospective randomised double blinded controlled study
    Dr Andrew Weatherall BMed, Children’s Hospital at Westmead
  • The pharmacokinetics of oral ketamine in children with significant burns:Determining the optimal oral dosing for ketamine in children withsignificant burn injury.
    Dr. Katharine Brunette, Red Cross War Memorial Hospital, Cape Town

2008 Grant Winner 

This year, for the first time, SPANZA have made available a research grant of $10,000.

The quality of the submissions were extremely high, and a decision could not be made between 2 applications, and therefore the grant was split into 2 x $5,000 grants, between the following 2 submissions:

  • Pediatric Emergency Transtracheal Ventilation
    Dr Paul Baker, Starship Childrens Health, New Zealand
  • Effects of Repeated Exposure to Nitrous Oxide in Children – A Prospective Cohort Study
    Dr Jonathan de Lima, Children’s Hospital at Westmead

Research