Emma Whitelaw ECR Publication Award
Early Career Researchers are invited to apply for the annual Emma Whitelaw ECR Publication Award.
This award has a value of $1000 and is open to post-doctoral ECRs (less than 7 years post-PhD) and PhD/Masters/Honours students. It is awarded to the best first or senior author peer-reviewed primary research paper (not a review) published in press or in full in the previous year. Two highly commended prizes of $500 each will be awarded for second and third place.
Award Terms and Conditions can be downloaded here.
To enter, please complete the application form below.
The 2025 Emma Whitelaw ECR Publication Award is now closed.
Congratulations to this year’s winners: Shellaina Gordon, Victoria Sugrue, and Dáire Gannon!
The applicant will be the first or senior author of a peer-reviewed primary research paper (not a review) published in press or in full between 1st July 2024 - 30th June 2025. You must be an AEpiA member to apply. The awards will be announced via the AEpiA website and bluesky page with the recipients notified via email.
We would be happy for you to spread the word to anyone else you think may be interested in the Award.
If you have any questions please contact ecr@aepia.org.au
About Emma Whitelaw
Professor Emma Whitelaw has contributed more than 20 years of research to the field of epigenetics. Her research pioneered the study of epigenetic inheritance, establishing that in some cases epigenetic states were inheritable across generations.
Prof Whitelaw also established a valuable and still currently used mouse model for finding epigenetic reprogramming genes. Her work then transitioned to the study of complex gene-environment interactions in human disease, enabling the identification of new disease risk target genes for drug discovery.
In 2008 Prof Whitelaw was awarded a prestigious Australia Fellowship, and in 2010 she was presented with the Australia and New Zealand Society for Cell and Developmental Biology President’s Medal. In 2011 she received the Jubilee Medal from the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology for work on the transgenerational inheritance of epigenetic marks and became a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.
2025 Emma Whitelaw publication award winners
2025 WINNER - SHELLAINA GORDON
For the publication Catalytic Inhibition of KAT6/KAT7 Enhances the Efficacy and Overcomes Primary and Acquired Resistance to Menin Inhibitors in MLL Leukemia published in Cancer Discovery
2025 SECOND PLACE - VICTORIA SUGRUE
For the publication The androgen clock is an epigenetic predictor of long-term male hormone exposure published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
2025 THIRD PLACE - DÁIRE GANNON
For the publication A specific form of cPRC1 containing CBX4 is co-opted to mediate oncogenic gene repression in diffuse midline glioma published in Molecular Cell
PAST WINNERS
2024 WINNER - CHARLES BELL
For the publication Comparative cofactor screens show the influence of transactivation domains and core promoters on the mechanisms of transcription published in Nature Genetics
2024 SECOND PLACE - ALLEGRA ANGELONI
For the publication Extensive DNA methylome rearrangement during early lamprey embryogenesis published in Nature Communications
2024 THIRD PLACE - EVAN HEALY
For the publication Inseparable RNA binding and chromatin modification activities of a nucleosome-interacting surface in EZH2 published in Nature Genetics
2023 WINNER - CHUCK HERRING
For the publication Human prefrontal cortex gene regulatory dynamics from gestation to adulthood at single-cell resolution published in Cell
2023 SECOND PLACE - NATALIA BENETTI
For the publication Maternal SMCHD1 regulates Hox gene expression and patterning in the mouse embryo published in Nature Communications
2023 THIRD PLACE - WING FUK CHAN
For the publication Activation of stably silenced genes by recruitment of a synthetic de-methylating module published in Nature Communications
2022 WINNER - WOO JUN SHIM
For the publication Conserved Epigenetic Regulatory Logic Infers Genes Governing Cell Identity, published in Cell Systems.
2022 HIGHLY COMMENDED - VICTORIA SURGUE
For the publication Castration delays epigenetic aging and feminizes DNA methylation at androgen-regulated loci, published in eLife.
2022 HIGHLY COMMENDED - SITO TORRES-GARCIA
For the publication Epigenetic gene silencing by heterochromatin primes fungal resistance, published in Nature.