MJ Gething Gender Equity Award

The MJ Gething Gender Equity Award provides grants of up to $5,000 to support early career researchers with significant caring responsibilities to maintain research momentum or build their research profile.

Mary-Jane Gething meets with 2022 recipients of the MJ Gething Gender Equity Award.

Professor Emeritus Mary-Jane H. Gething AO

Mary-Jane Gething is a passionate supporter of and advocate for young female researchers working in the biomedical sciences.

  • About the Award

    The School of Biomedical Sciences announced the MJ Gething Gender Equity Award in February 2019 to support early career researchers to build their profile and maintain research progression while also caring for immediate family members.

    The award will provide grants of up to $5,000 each year and recipients can use the funds to suit their individual needs, for example:

    • Funding for a research assistant to complete an experiment while the researcher is on maternity or paternity leave; or
    • A travel grant for a family member to accompany the researcher with an infant to an interstate or international conference.

    Eligible staff in the School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences must hold a continuing or fixed-term position and be research active.

    Applicants must have completed a PhD degree in their field three to ten years prior to application. This period may be extended for researchers who have had significant career interruption in the past due to caring responsibilities.

    Applications are open to women and men from February to November each year.

    A panel will review each application within two weeks of receipt before providing advice to the applicant within four weeks.

    Apply now

  • Previous recipients of the Award
  • About Professor Emeritus Mary-Jane H. Gething AO

    Mary-Jane Gething is a passionate supporter of and advocate for young female researchers working in the biomedical sciences.

    She was the first female Head of Biochemistry at the University of Melbourne and together with her late husband, Professor Joseph Sambrook, they created the Gething-Sambrook Family Trust which enabled the creation of MJ Gething Gender Equity Award.

    After receiving her B.Sc. (Hons) and PhD degrees in Biochemistry from the University of Melbourne Professor Gething dedicated two decades to research in protein chemistry and molecular biology in the UK and USA. She returned to the University in 1994 as Reader and later Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

    One of her biggest achievements is her work on producing a clone of a protein which breaks down blood clots, known as tissue plasminogen activator, which is saving lives.

    In 2023, Mary-Jane received an Order of Australia for her significant contributions and service to biochemistry and molecular biology, to tertiary education, and to the arts.