Research Grant Awardees

Speech Pathology Australia, the national peak body for speech pathologists working in Australia, is committed to promoting and funding high quality research into all aspects of speech pathology practice.

On this page is a list of Research Grant awardees.

Year

Awarded to

Grant Category

Project Title
2025 Shaun Ziegenfusz New Researcher Grant Understanding Funding Access, Needs and Service Pathways for Children (0-18 years) with Developmental Language Disorder in Australia
2025 Tracey Graney New Researcher Grant A Community of Care’: Implementing a co-designed support group for people with primary progressive aphasia (PPA) in Tasmania.
2025 Elysha Burgin and Brooke Ryan Practitioner-Researcher Partnership Grant A hybrid implementation-effectiveness pilot study of communication partner training for healthcare workers in a rehabilitation setting.
2025 Rachel Bowen and Marleen Westerveld Practitioner-Researcher Partnership Grant Emergent Literacy Assessment of Autistic Students with Complex Communication Needs: A Professional Learning Package for Speech Pathologists and Teachers
2025 Jenna Bongioletti Nadia Verrall Grant Conversations: Understanding the lived experiences of children and young people who are hard of hearing.
2024 Christie Leigh Grunke  New Researcher   Validity and reliability of the Children’s OroPHaryngeal Dysphagia Screener (COPHS) in paediatric critical care. 
2024 Rebecca Sullivan  New Researcher   Is communication disability an independent risk factor for a hospital fall in patients with stroke? 
2023 Kathleen Pomeroy and Jae-Hyun Kim  Practitioner Researcher Partnership Grant   Experience-based co-design with students with speech, language and communication needs to improve health literacy in speech pathology report writing. 
2023 Emily Jackson  New Researcher  Co-design and pilot evaluation of a classroom-based intervention to support oral language and academic engagement among at-risk high school students attending flexible learning programs 
2023 Jacinta Pennacchia  New Researcher  What does mental health mean to young people with complex communication needs, and how do they share their mental health experiences with the people around them: A qualitative study. 
2023 Nichola Shelton  Nadia Verrall  The connections project: The 'Hows' and 'Whys' of social media use by people with communication disability. 
2023 Helen Smith  Queensland Registration Board Legacy Grant  Addressing long waits in child development services: What do families do while waiting and how does this impact parental self-efficacy? 
 2022  John E. Pierce  New Researcher  Enabling clinical implementation of evidence-based aphasia intervention: M-MAT Tele
 2022  Jenna Bongioletti  New Researcher  Conversation and pragmatic development in preschool children who are deaf or hard of hearing
 2022  Katelyn Melvin  Queensland Registration Board Legacy Grant  Queensland speech pathologists and families together: Co-designing supports for engagement in early intervention services
 2022  Rebecca Armstrong  Queensland Registration Board Legacy Grant  Legal vocabulary knowledge in young people: Benchmarking typical performance on a language screener used within the youth justice setting
 2022  Elise Baker and Georgina Hawling Clinician-Researcher Partnership Grant  Dynamic Early Communication Intervention (DECI): Establishing the feasibility, acceptability, reach, and cost of a new intervention for toddlers referred to speech pathology services
 2022  Valerie Swift, Lyn Dimer, and Lydia Timms Equitable Outcomes Grant  Co-design in speech pathology: Towards a shared understanding of the communication development of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children
2021 Lizz Hill New Researcher Language and mental health among children with dyslexia following transition to secondary school
2021 Jennifer Kefford New Researcher Understanding the nature and prevalence of feeding disorders in young children with food allergies
2021 Ronelle Hewetson Queensland Registration Board Legacy Grant Development of an education resource for healthcare consumers and providers to support relationship maintenance in people with right hemisphere damage
2021 Chelsea Whillans Queensland Registration Board Legacy Grant A systematic review of the use and safety of radiographic contrast media for patients across the lifespan undergoing swallowing evaluation
2021 Marleen Westerveld Nadia Verrall Inferential narrative comprehension in young school-age children on the Autism spectrum
2021 Tia Croft and Belinda Kenny Clinician-Researcher Partnership Videofluoroscopic Swallow Study (VFSS) in the real-world: Exploring factors that lead a speech pathologist to recommend a VFSS in the acute setting
2020 Angela Canning New Researcher Oral feeding safety and aspiration risk in infants and children receiving nasal high flow respiratory support: Prospective cohort study
2020 Sharon Smart, Irene Orkopoulos, and Mary Claessen Clinician-Researcher Partnership Objective measures of tongue structure and function in bottle-fed infants with ankyloglossia (tongue-tie)
2020 Lisa Anemaat Queensland Registration Board Legacy Grant Co-design of the Queensland Aphasia Rehabilitation Centre
2020 Emma Finch Queensland Registration Board Legacy Grant Exploring communication needs following minor stroke
2020 Helen Smith Queensland Registration Board Legacy Grant Using co-design to develop a supportive shared book reading environment within a vulnerable Queensland community centre
2019 Caroline Baker New Researcher Optimising mood and wellbeing with aphasia after stroke: a feasibility study of Prevention Intervention and Support in Mental health (Aphasia PRISM)
2019 Chloe Walton Queensland Registration Board Legacy Grant ‘PhoRTE: Let’s get loud! A feasibility study investigating a low intensity treatment approach for the management of hypophonia in progressive neurological diseases
2019 Rebecca Nund Queensland Registration Board Legacy Grant Food Service Industry Worker’s Perspectives of Dysphagia
2019 Artemi Vella Nadia Verrall ‘Speech production of Australian children with mild hearing loss at 5 years of age: preparing children for school’
2019 Sarah Gravina , Stephanie Fornaro , Shane Erickson, and Kate Bridgeman - La Trobe University Clinician-Researcher Partnership Outcomes from the implementation of a state-wide telepractice delivered Lidcombe Program service for primary school aged children who stutter
2018 Dr Stacie Attrill New Researcher Being a culturally and linguistically diverse speech pathologist in Australia: exploring practice experiences and perspectives
2018 Emily Armstrong New Researcher Exploring and facilitating effective intercultural communication in early childhood assessment contexts: Working together for understanding of Yolŋu children’s strengths and needs
2018 Dr Thuy Frakking Queensland Registration Board Legacy Grant Application of pulse rate on paediatric videofluoroscopic swallow studies
2018 Dr Tanya Rose Queensland Registration Board Legacy Grant Development of a standardised tool to capture parents’ use of language facilitation strategies’
2018 Nicole McGill Nadia Verrall Use of a website to facilitate active waiting for speech pathology
2017 Frances Cochrane New Researcher How do Indigenous Liaison Officers support speech pathology services for Indigenous Australian adults with acquired neurogenic communication disorders?
2017 Victoria Sandham New Researcher The Evidence-Based Practices of Australian speech pathologists in providing communication services to children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
2017 Dr Samantha Siyambalapitiya Queensland Registration Board Legacy Grant Management of bi/multilingual aphasia in a hospital and health care setting: what happens in real-world clinical practice?
2017 Marleen Westerveld Queensland Registration Board Legacy Grant Examining the visual attention to print vs. pictures during school book reading in pre-schoolers with autism
2017 Ruth Braden Nadia Verrall Investigating the Definition and Phenotype of Congenital Perisylvian Disorders