The American Australian Association is delighted to announce the selection and award of the following scholarship recipients. Meet our scholars and find out more about their career aspirations below.
Phoebe Duncombe is a biomechanics researcher specialising in medical imaging, computational modelling, and scoliosis. Her research has pioneered MRI-based approaches for three-dimensional reconstruction of spinal muscles, enabling the assessment of muscle-generated forces to provide new insights into the role of muscle in the development of scoliosis. Along with first-author publications in leading journals (Spine and Journal of Biomechanics), her work has received recognition through awards and nominations by the Spine Society of Australia and the International Society of Biomechanics. Phoebe is undertaking postdoctoral research at the University of North Carolina supported by the American Australian Association. By developing patient-specific musculoskeletal spine models that integrate imaging with biomechanical data, Phoebe is investigating the influence of muscle-generated forces on spinal growth and deformity progression. In collaboration with Australian researcher colleagues, this work will advance understanding of the mechanisms underlying adolescent idiopathic scoliosis to inform personalised, non-invasive assessment and treatment, thereby improving outcomes for adolescents with this debilitating condition.
Chiara Cementon is about to start her PhD in mechanical engineering at the University of Washington where she will work in the Programmable Matter Lab, a lab focused on working on fabrication tools for future industry needs. She completed her bachelor’s at the Australian National University in chemistry and physics before joining the product development team at Synergetics Consulting Engineers in Melbourne, Australia. And, just recently, she completed a master’s in mechanical engineering at Stanford University where she specialised in design methodology. Motivated by the manufacturing constraints experienced in industry, and supported by her chemistry and design backgrounds, she plans to research future technological opportunities for low-volume fabrication. Low-volume challenges are encountered in remote areas, hospitals and small businesses where traditional mass-manufacturing is out of reach and not feasible for customised designs. Chiara’s research will focus on producing mechanically reliable parts using extrusion-based 3-D printing by adding closed-loop sensor feedback.
Ava Kalinauskas is a Senior Research Associate at the United States Studies Centre (USSC) at the University of Sydney specialising in US politics, democratic governance, and public opinion. She is also an Emerging Associate with the Australian National University’s National Security College. At the USSC, Ava co‑leads comparative public opinion polling and the National Engagement on the Future of the Alliance, an Australia‑wide study examining the social foundations of Australia-US relations. She also co-leads the Women in the Alliance initiative, supporting the next generation of women advancing bilateral cooperation. Ava’s analysis has been published across media outlets including The Australian Financial Review, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, SBS and the ABC. She represented Australia at the 2025 Youth G20 Summit held in South Africa. A Master’s in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School will deepen Ava’s analytical training and embed this work within US policy networks at the intersection of government, academia, and public opinion.
Yasmin Zaman is completing her PhD in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, Davis. Her research focuses on how haptic feedback-assisted robotic teleoperation affects learning and skill retention, which can support astronauts during spaceflight operations. During her MSc in Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University, Yasmin researched cardiovascular and ocular changes during short-term simulated microgravity. Prior to her Masters, she was a Space Technology Officer in the Human Spaceflight & Access to Space team at the Australian Space Agency. Yasmin received her BE (Hons) in Aerospace Engineering and her BSc in Neuroscience from the University of New South Wales. Yasmin is unapologetically passionate about human performance in space and extreme environments and aspires to become an astronaut.
Originally from Melbourne, Yani graduated from Monash University with a degree in astrophysics and is now a PhD candidate at the Australian National University’s Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics. His research now focuses on stellar spectroscopy, exoplanets, planetary habitability, and the emergence of life. He was awarded the 2025 NSW Space Research Network scholarship through APR.Intern and began a six‑month visiting research placement at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Astrobiology & Exoplanetary Atmospheres. Supported by the American Australian Association, Yani will extend his JPL placement to contribute to NASA’s upcoming flagship telescope mission, the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), which seeks to find life beyond Earth for the first time. His work will guide the mission in identifying which planets to target and what signals telescopes will need to observe. His long‑term goal is to build a durable Australian–U.S. astrobiology partnership grounded in shared expertise, student pipelines, and joint collaborations.
Filip is a PhD candidate in Neuroscience at UNSW, where he previously completed his undergraduate studies in Psychology with Honours (Class I). His research seeks to understand how the brain processes and stores memories of traumatic experiences, with implications for the treatment of fear and anxiety conditions. He has received competitive funding from the Australian Government to pursue this research, and he has been recognised as an emerging neuroscientist with awards in excellence from the Australian Learning Group and UNSW Science. Supported by the American Australian Association, his intensive research visit to the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology (University of Illinois) will identify the properties of brain chemicals involved in processing fear and anxiety. This knowledge will help address the unmet need to develop more effective treatments for these conditions in Australian and American communities.
When asked why he wanted to study overseas and pursue Alzheimer’s disease research, Bill’s answer never wavered: to make an impact and bring relief to patients and their families. This driving motivation led Bill to obtain an international education in the United States and commit himself to advancing therapies for Alzheimer’s disease. As the American Australian Association’s 2026 Bain Capital Graduate Education Scholarship recipient, Bill continues his studies in molecular pharmacology and neuroscience as a Ph.D. candidate at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. Previously supported by the 2024 Fulbright scholarship and 2025 Quad fellowship, the Graduate Education Scholarship accelerates Bill’s project validating cholesterol processing enzymes localized in the brain as therapeutic targets for reducing Alzheimer’s disease. By researching how these proteins contribute to Alzheimer’s disease, Bill hopes to pave the way for new effective therapies that benefit patients.
Sophie is a national security professional with experience across strategic policy and venture capital. Sophie’s work spans AU-US and allied defence industrial base integration and innovation, AUKUS Pillar II, and AI applications. Sophie has published for the US Studies Centre (USSC), the Lowy Institute’s Interpreter, The Strategist, Taiwan’s Prospect Foundation (among others), and her work has been supported by the US Naval War College. Outside of think tanks, Sophie has also worked at Australia’s largest national resilience-focused venture capital fund, Salus Ventures. Sophie is a General Sir John Monash Foundation scholar and a graduate student in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University. She is also a Research Assistant at the Center for Security and Emerging Technology and a Non-Resident Fellow at the USSC. Sophie’s project will involve producing the first-ever Australian iteration of Silicon Valley Defense Group’s “Nat Sec 100” report.
Shonae Hobson is a Southern Kaantju, Umpila and Kuuku Ya’u woman from Coen, Cape York Peninsula, and an independent curator and writer specialising in First Nations contemporary art, fashion and design. She has held curatorial positions at the National Gallery of Victoria and Bendigo Art Gallery, where she curated Piinpi: Contemporary Indigenous Fashion (2020–21), the first major survey exhibition dedicated to Indigenous Australian fashion. Her writing has appeared in leading arts and fashion publications, and she currently serves as a Board Member on the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair Foundation. Hobson will undertake a Master in Art Business at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, New York. Through the program, Hobson will strengthen her knowledge of international art markets, foster cross-cultural engagements and collaborations between Indigenous Australian artists and global arts communities, and contribute to growth of a culturally grounded and internationally recognised Indigenous Australian art sector.
Thisanka Siripala is an Australian-Sri Lankan international news journalist with an interest in Asia and shifting dynamics in the Asia Pacific. She is fluent in Japanese and has a background in producing audio and video news for international media outlets in the U.S, Australia, Japan, and the UK. Her portfolio of published reporting ranges from fintech, digital assets, economic indicators, to cultural and social issues affecting Japan and East Asia. She is passionate about combining data science and computation into modern jourfor nalism. Thisanka is a graduate from the University of Melbourne (Honours) and a Japanese government MEXT scholar which allowed her to study a graduate degree in economics at Keio University in Tokyo in 2019. In mid-2026, she will begin pursuing a master’s degree in data journalism at Columbia University in New York City.
Victoria Lonergan is an Australian filmmaker and experienced media professional, having produced compelling stories from red carpets and bustling streets to the corners of your favourite humble restaurants across Sydney and Melbourne. She’s worked for brands including Time Out and UNSW, and has received creative mentorship from Canon (Australia), Jubilee Media (USA) and Melbourne Women’s Film Festival. As an AAA Onbass Fellowship recipient, Victoria will be completing her MFA in Producing at the American Film Institute Conservatory in Los Angeles. Victoria completed her Bachelor of Arts (Dalyell Scholar) in Media Communications and Film Studies at The University of Sydney. She also undertook postgraduate studies in law at the University of Melbourne and is passionate about advocating for youth and women’s rights. This informs her approach as a producer, and she endeavours to forefront their stories on screen and lead sustainable working environments that uplift their voices in today’s film industry.
Helena Tan is an Australian artist working with sculpture and assemblage. Her practice explores the colonial mechanisms of genericness and abstraction through a hyper-specificity of form, examining the logic and conditions that shape contemporary objects, image and signifiers. Recent exhibitions include Animal House Fine Arts, Melbourne (AU); Ashley Berlin (DE); Beau Travail, Stockholm (SE); Kulturhuset Stadsteatern, Stockholm (SE); Pina Vienna/Salzburger Kunstverein (AT); Stedelijk Museum of Amsterdam (NL); bologna.cc, Amsterdam (NL); and with Art in General, New York City (US). She was a participant at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and is a recipient of the American Australian Association – American Friends of the National Gallery of Australia AusArt Fellowship, which will support her MFA studies in Sculpture at the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College and ongoing research and studio practice in New York.
Liana Shewey (Mvskoke) is a cultural producer, educator, archivist, and co-founder of Relative Arts, an Indigenous-led arts and community space in New York City. Her work centers relationship-building, storytelling, and the creation of platforms that support Indigenous artists, designers, and cultural practitioners on their own terms. Through initiatives including Indigenous New York Fashion Week, she brings together contemporary Indigenous art, fashion, performance, and public dialogue, creating opportunities for exchange across communities, disciplines, and geographies. She is also the creator of The NDNs in the Shoebox, an ongoing matrilineal family archive project that explores memory, kinship, and Indigenous photographic histories. Supported by the American Australian Association Indigenous Arts Grant, Shewey will undertake a reciprocal cultural exchange between Queensland, Australia and Lenapehoking (New York) in collaboration with Quandamooka artist and designer Delvene Cockatoo-Collins. Through time on Country, public programming, community engagement, and participation in both the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair and Indigenous New York Fashion Week, the project will strengthen relationships between Indigenous creatives in Australia and the United States while exploring new models for Indigenous-led international collaboration and exchange.
Brad Cox is an Australian country singer-songwriter based in Far North Queensland. The 2018 Toyota Star Maker champion and two-time 2024 CMAA Award winner — Male Artist of the Year and Contemporary Country Album of the Year — he has released four studio albums, achieved multiple number ones on the ARIA Country Chart, and reached #7 on the ARIA Albums Chart with Acres in 2023. Signed to Warner Music Australia with US representation by Ground Control Touring, Brad has accumulated over 40 million global streams and is undertaking a US career development project supported by the AAA-APRA AMCOS Global Professional Development Award. The project centres on a performance at CMA Fest 2026 on the Good Molecules Reverb Stage in Nashville, and an intensive week of co-writing sessions with heavy-hitting Nashville songwriters curated through Sony ATV Nashville — building the industry relationships and creative repertoire essential for a sustainable US career.
Professor Lynne Allen is currently Dean ad interim of the College of Fine Arts and joined Boston University in 2006 as Director of the School of Visual Arts. Previously she was Professor of Art at Rutgers University, NJ, and Director of the Brodsky Center (2000-2006). From 1983-87 she was Master Printer and Educational Director at Tamarind Institute, Albuquerque, NM, training Master Printers. Allen exhibits nationally and internationally, and has been awarded many residencies and fellowships, including a 2025 Guggenheim Fellowship, two Fulbright Scholarships, U.S.S.R (1990) and Jordan (2004-05), and residencies at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts: Caversham Press in South Africa; and Lottozero, Italy, among others. Her work is in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art Library, the New York Public Library, New York; the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, among others.
James Birch is an Australian violinist from Sydney and a Bachelor of Music student at The Juilliard School, where he studies with Itzhak Perlman and Catherine Cho as a Kovner Fellow. Previously a Kohl Scholar at the Colburn School under Robert Lipsett, he has also studied with David Takeno and Evgeny Sorkin.
James has performed as a soloist with the Juilliard Orchestra, SoCal Phil, Valley Symphony Orchestra, MUSE/IQUE, and the Los Angeles Virtuosi Orchestra, and has appeared in recital throughout Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. His achievements include winning the Juilliard Concerto Competition, receiving Career Grant Awards from Salon de Virtuosi, and winning the International Busan Maru Chamber Music Competition with the Willow Quartet. Funding will support his participation in international music festivals, competitions, and masterclasses, enabling advanced artistic development, major performance opportunities, international engagement, and professional projects that further establish his career as a concert violinist.
Harley Coleman is a Sydney-based guitarist, composer and improviser. A musician of many worlds, he has performed across Australia at venues and festivals including MONA FOMA (Hobart), JazzLab (Melbourne), and SIMA’s JAZZNOW program. Harley is a sought-after collaborator within Sydney’s jazz and improvised music community. Alongside performances for Belvoir Theatre’s King Lear and national touring with Luminescence Chamber Singers premiering Andy Ford’s Red Dirt Hymns, he has contributed to albums with Tessie Overmyer “Tidelines” and Sabine Tapia “Where are you Going?”. Harley has a slew of his own projects including his Trio, “Very Fast Band”, and a regular presence at The Temperance Society in Summer Hill, where he performs Saturday weekly with rotating ensembles of Sydney-based musicians. He has worked with legends of the Australian jazz scene including Jonathan Zwartz, Cameron Undy, Andrea Keller, Sam Anning, Ben Vanderwal, Steve Barry, and Carl Dewhurst. He will use his Association award to undertake the California Institute of the Arts Masters of Jazz program.
Alexander Grace is an emerging, contemporary jazz trombonist/composer from regional New South Wales. He graduated with the ‘Dean’s List of Excellence’ award, from the Sydney Conservatorium in 2024. He is currently an active contributor to the Sydney jazz and improvised music scenes, and has performed alongside Australian jazz heavyweights Warwick Alder, Aaron Blakey, Cameron Undy, and Geoff Bull. He collaborates with and composes for artists from various disciplines and genres including electronic, avant-garde, and Brazilian music. In 2025 he was selected as one of six finalists in the National Jazz Awards.
In August of 2026, Alexander will commence a Master of Music degree at the Manhattan School of Music to further develop as a contemporary jazz musician, studying with internationally recognized trombonist Ryan Keberle. Alexander aims to bring new perspectives of the trombone back to Australia and represent Australian contemporary jazz on a global stage.
Ellen Miller studied architecture in Western Australia – on Whadjuk Noongar land – developing an approach to spaces as collective archives, living memories, and storytelling mediums. Her practice expands traditional architecture into multi-media realms to interrogate contemporary socio-spatial upheavals. She has exhibited at the Cullity Gallery, and had work published in the UWA School of Design catalogue. Her upcoming studies in Fiction and Entertainment intersects architecture with film. Informed by the intersections of design, performance, history, sustainability, and narrative that underpin First Nation Australians relationship to place, in the creation of speculative urban-scapes that are ecologically and emotionally attuned. The project poses questions about how we inhabit land – and the future of that habitation as climate deterioration accelerates. Environmental crises are also cultural and historical crises, this work aims to highlight how interconnected the physical realm is to our internal realm, and how powerfully it shapes our relationships and rituals.
Yutaro Okuda (he/him) is a contemporary jazz guitarist, composer and 2026 APRA AMCOS Professional Development Awards finalist in the Jazz/Improvised Music category, primarily working on Gadigal Land of the Eora Nation (Sydney, Australia). Okuda has released two albums of original compositions, Marigold (2023, 4-star review in DINGO Australian Jazz Journal Issue #07) and Rafflesia (2021), and has been featured on several ABC Jazz recordings, including Des Canning’s Voices Heard and Unheard, Jenna Cave’s Grief, Hope, Love, and Judy Bailey’s Jazz Connection. Currently performing with a wide intersection of artists, recent highlights include collaborations with independent dancer Reina Takeuchi, premiere of SIMA Artistic Director Novak Manojlovic’s Ceremony, Carla Dobbie for Solid Sounds (Sweden/Australia), Luke Andresen’s Data Entry Special Trio (Naarm/Melbourne), Briana Cowlishaw’s Fetherstone, Sam Gill’s Scattered, Ellen Mara Band, Jack Stoneham’s Poltophagy, Gavin Ahearn’s Meme Wars, David Reglar’s Rogues, Arcing Wires and Divergence Jazz Orchestra.
Ruth Gebreyesus is a culture writer and curator whose work explores power and its production, distribution, and concentration. From 2020 to 2024, she served as a curator of Black Life, a multidisciplinary art, film and public education series at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. Her writing has most recently appeared in CURA, the Black Embodiment Studio, Revisions, Mold, Momus, Art+Practice, Deem Journal, and SEEN. She is a 2025 Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writer Grantee for short form writing and a 2026 Whistle Space Summer Institute resident. As the 2026 Beverley Arts Writer grantee, she plans to research the use of natural materials, including clay and natural pigments, by artists in Australia. These materials, predating the nation’s borders, point to a continuous land-tending and foraging practices and deepen her work on exploring the elasticity and challenging the severity of nation-state projects.
Beth Darnall is a clinical pain psychologist-scientist who is dedicated to developing scalable and effective interventions for chronic pain relief whilst safely reducing prescription opioids. Beth is a Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine, directing the Stanford Pain Relief Innovations Lab. She created Empowered Relief, a 1-session pain relief skills intervention, to fill a pressing national need for accessible and effective non-pharmacologic treatment for chronic, acute, and post-surgical pain. Empowered Relief has been widely adopted throughout the U.S. and internationally (30 countries, 8 languages) across the continuum of care. Beth shall use this month-long fellowship to collaborate with St Vincent clinicians and researchers to meet their needs regarding local, scalable, and digital pain relief innovations, gaining insights into behavioral pain management and providing consultation where relevant.
Sean Mackey is the Redlich Professor and Chief of the Division of Pain Medicine at Stanford University, where he leads the Stanford Pain Management Center, one of the nation’s premier programs for comprehensive, multidisciplinary pain care. A physician-scientist, Dr. Mackey leads research at the intersection of pain, neuroscience, and technology, with a focus on developing innovative approaches to assess and treat chronic pain. Sean’s 20+ years of NIH funded work spans from real-world data science to biomarker discovery, leveraging AI and learning health systems to optimize patient care. His research in Australia is a critical step toward advancing the assessment and treatment of pain, and at St Vincents he will gain access to unique expertise, datasets, collaborations, and methodologies that will significantly augment U.S. provision. The overarching goal of this work is to strengthen a bilateral, clinically actionable measurement and evidence pipeline for chronic pain – one that can detect meaningful change, identify patient subgroups most likely to benefit from specific interventions, and translate insights into scalable clinical practice.
Maura Dacey is the Nurse Director of Research Nursing at Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts, responsible for patient care and practice issues to optimize patient outcomes. She is directly involved in supervising the Clinical Trial Nurses, who are responsible for evaluating the nursing feasibility of all interventional clinical trials submitted to Dana Farber. In addition, Maura oversees 11 of the 20 disease centers for Clinical Research Nursing including the Immune Effector Cell and Bone Marrow Transplant teams along with other heme and solid tumor malignancies. Maura is an active member of the Dana Farber Internal Review Board and assesses the yearly continuing reviews of clinical trials. Maura collaborates on workflows and initiatives that are being developed throughout the Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center Consortium.
Dr. Leonarczyk is a Nurse Scientist whose focus is improving patient outcomes through evidence-based practice (EBP) and research. She is currently the Associate Director of the Evidence and Innovation Lab within the Phyllis F. Cantor Center for Research in Nursing and Patient Care Services at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts. Her clinical background in inpatient, outpatient, and palliative care oncology directly informed her early research in genomics and cancer prevention. She received funding for studies to help better understand decision making for carriers of BRCA1/2 pathogenic variants and the development and testing of a decision aid for this population. In her current role, she has served as the PI or Co-Investigator for over 45 interdisciplinary research, EBP and quality improvement (QI) projects to address novel clinical questions that arise as priorities for oncology patient care. She is the current workstream lead at Dana-Farber for Cancer Symptom Management Pathways, guiding the design, testing, and implementation of algorithms for interdisciplinary application of state-of-the-art evidence in symptom management into practice.
Dr Christian Said is an Interventional and Academic cardiologist with a clinical and research focus on cardiogenic shock, temporary mechanical circulatory support, and complex coronary artery disease. He completed his Physician’s training and an Interventional Cardiology Fellowship at St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney, where he developed an interest in cardiac mechanics during acute myocardial infarction and the role of temporary mechanical circulatory support. He is now completing a collaborative, translational PhD through the University of New South Wales and the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute and is a Fellow of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand. Dr Said will commence a Complex and High-Risk Interventional Cardiology Fellowship at The Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, where he will receive high-volume training in complex cardiac interventions, advanced device technologies, and cardiogenic shock. He aims to return to Australia to apply his clinical and research skills to the care of critically ill cardiac patients while expanding international collaborations.
AMERICAN AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATION SCHOLARSHIPS ARE PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY
