Applications are now open for the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand (TSANZ) and National Asthma Council’s Asthma and Airways Career Development Fellowship.
This funding opportunity is aimed at supporting mid-career investigators in establishing themselves as independent, self-directed researchers in respiratory health. The fellowship is jointly funded by the NAC and TSANZ and is to the value of $60,000 for one year.
This fellowship seeks to foster the development of high-quality research in Australia and New Zealand, and to strengthen leadership within the respiratory research community.
TSANZ is dedicated to improving knowledge and understanding of lung disease, aiming to prevent respiratory illness through research and health promotion, whilst improving health care for people with respiratory illness.
The NAC proudly provides continuing support for the Asthma and Airways Career Development Fellowship. This fellowship strongly aligns with the NAC’s commitment to building capacity and knowledge within the research and clinical community, ultimately driving best practice in asthma care using evidence-based guidelines and collaborative partnerships
Apply now. Applications close Monday 10 November 2025.
https://thoracic.org.au/research-and-awards/tsanz-awards/
Dr Jemma Mayall was awarded the 2025 Asthma and Airways Career Development Fellowship for her research about the increased inflammasome activation in phenotypes of asthma.
Increased inflammasome activation is a common feature of all phenotypes of asthma but is most prominent in non-T2 severe asthma and obesity-associated asthma, which have no effective therapies. Dr Mayall’s team had already developed a remarkable new inflammasome-targeting compound, AR23B, however additional research is required to progress AR23B into an asthma therapy.
The fellowship was used to further this research, aiming to develop AR23B into an appropriate therapy for the improved treatment of all asthma that also protects against viral infections, which are more severe in asthma.
Associate Professor Rachel Peters was the recipient of the 2024 Asthma and Airways Career Development Fellowship. The Fellowship provided key support in developing her research to create an innovative asthma risk prediction tool for children that extends beyond traditional asthma predictors by integrating comprehensive data on food allergies.
Associate Professor Peters highlighted that this will be the first prediction model to integrate food allergy, a key driver of adverse respiratory outcomes.
Given the high prevalence of food allergy in Australia, the development of an asthma prediction model that integrates food allergy is critically important to help identify young children at high risk of developing asthma.
