Scholarship backs researcher’s work to prevent youth injury in Aboriginal communities
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An early-career scientist partnering with Aboriginal communities to empower youth and improve health outcomes is the 2026 recipient of the Douglas and Lola Douglas Scholarship in Medical Science.
Elina McGuire, a PhD candidate from the University of New South Wales is spearheading research that aims to co-design youth-led injury prevention programs in Aboriginal communities – where injury accounts for the majority of hospitalisations and mortality among young people.
Ms McGuire will combine analysis of data from the ‘Next Generation’ national wellbeing study with listening to the voices of Aboriginal youth and communities. She will travel to Bowraville in New South Wales for yarning with Aboriginal young people, their families, community members and organisations, and Gumbaynggirr Elders.
The project will support genuine community ownership, co-design and implementation of interventions, Ms McGuire says.
“Importantly, it will support capacity building and self-determination for our young people and communities.”
Better adolescent health and wellbeing can change young people’s life trajectories and create future community leaders, Ms McGuire says, with healthy lifestyle choices adopted at this age carried forward into adulthood.
“As a proud Gomeroi Aboriginal woman, I am committed to improving the health and social inequities evident in society and improving outcomes for Aboriginal people.
“I am very grateful to Lola Douglas for her commitment to advancing research into Indigenous health and also thankful to the Australian Academy of Science for their support in providing this opportunity.”
About the scholarship
Administered by the Australian Academy of Science, the Douglas and Lola Douglas Scholarship in Medical Science is made possible through a generous bequest by philanthropist Lola Douglas.
Ms Douglas wished to support young researchers in the medical sciences, and the bequest enables the Academy to help fulfil her vision.
The scholarship provides up to $14,000 over two years to cover the costs of small items of equipment, research materials, travel, or other assistance in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander or primary health care research.
Application is by invitation only. The funding is offered as a ‘top up’ to PhD candidates awarded a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Postgraduate Scholarship.
