Synat Keam (left), previous recipient of the Douglas Peter Swift Scholarship, with his supervisor Dr Alistair Cook.
The Douglas Peter Swift PhD top up scholarship is now open for applications from students who are interested in mesothelioma research.
Douglas Peter Swift grew up in Wittenoom and died of mesothelioma at the age of 53. His legacy lives on through the Douglas Peter Swift Scholarship, offered by the Swift family trust, which supports PhD students investigating mesothelioma. The scholarship is worth 27,000 AUD per annum, with a 15,000 AUD cash component and 12,000 AUD in consumables.
Applicants are required to meet a number of criteria. Firstly, prospective awardees must be PhD students with mesothelioma as a dominant theme in their research, under the primary supervision of an NCARD researcher. They can be either full-time or part-time, although part-time students will need to meet additional conditions. Applicants must already hold a living allowance scholarship, and not hold an existing top-up scholarship. Lastly, they must have completed less than two years of full-time equivalent PhD.
The Douglas Peter Swift Scholarship will be conferred based on merit. Applications will be assessed by a panel of independent researchers, who will score each case based on five marking schemas. The scholarship will be awarded to the highest-scoring applicant.
Applications open on 1 February 2023, and close on 15 February 2023. For more information on the scholarship and how to apply, click here.
Previous Awardees
Previous recipients of the scholarship have gone on to continue their careers in research and industry.
Synat Keam (2020-2022)
Synat came to NCARD from Cambodia to study how mesothelioma tumours could become susceptible to immune checkpoint blockade treatment through application of low-dose radiation beforehand. He was supervised by Dr Alistair Cook during his time at NCARD. After receiving his doctorate, Synat joined the MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas in a postdoctorate role.
Shaokang Ma (2016-2019)
Shaokang’s project involved identifying tumour neo-antigens in mesothelioma using mice, and creating cancer vaccines from the identified neo-antigens for use in immunotherapy. He was supervised by Professor Jenette Creaney and Professor Bruce Robinson. After receiving his doctorate, Shaokang returned to Singapore to work in industry. He currently lectures at Republic Polytechnic.
