The Research Excellence and Inclusion Prizes are more than just awards. They offer researchers with excellent research trajectories the ability to build momentum and progress in their careers, through research funding, teaching relief, access to a tailored research development program, and 1:1 academic mentoring.

About the Prizes 

The Research Excellence and Inclusion Prizes are open to all eligible University of Sydney researchers and comprise three categories:

• Brown Prize: to support researchers whose careers have been disrupted by undertaking primary caring duties.  

• Thompson Prize: to promote and enhance the career of outstanding women academics seeking promotion to levels D or E

• Laffan Prize: to enhance the career development of staff living with a disability that has impacted their research productivity. 

The Laffan Prizes are named in memory of Mr Matt Laffan, a well-known lawyer and disability activist who passed away in 2009. The Prizes pay tribute to him and aim to empower others with disabilities to pursue their careers to their fullest potential. 

A focus on the Laffan Prize 

To explore the Laffan Prize further and look into how exactly the prize has benefited researchers, I spoke with previous Laffan recipient, Associate Professor Anna Boucher, about the impact her 2015 Prize had on her and her career. 

Associate Professor Boucher is an academic in the School of Social and Political Sciences in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. She is a global migration expert, and her current research examines trauma experienced by migrant workers and trauma in public policy. She is also currently reviewing the coercive control laws of NSW with the team from the University of Sydney Law School. 

At the time Associate Professor Boucher received the Prize she had just returned from parental leave while dealing with a physical disability. For Associate Professor Boucher, the research funding and reduced teaching load enabled by the Prize provided her with the momentum to “to continue [her] career during a very stressful period.”  

Benefits and impacts of the Prize

Not only did the Laffan Prize allow Associate Professor Boucher to continue her career while juggling being a new mother, but it also enabled her to shift her research into new directions that she would not have had time or bandwidth for without the support of the Prize. “[The Laffan Prize] was instrumental… in shifting my career”, Associate Professor Boucher notes. Until that point, her research continued work from her PhD, but the Prize enabled her to scale up and diversify her research that led to her successful ARC DECRA. 

Laffan Prize recipients are offered a training and development program, which includes a mentor to work with them over the course of their award, as well as workshops that cover topics such as communicating with impact or how to lead others effectively.  This guidance is often part of what makes the Prize so transformative for participants.  

Associate Professor Boucher found the mentoring and connections built with the other Prize recipients was instrumental to her success. She valued being part of a group that included academics from a range of faculties and disciplines and academic levels. 

One lesson she remembers from the mentoring scheme is to over-invest in support, whether in a home or work situation – an example she shared being “if you think you need three hours of babysitting, you probably need four.” Associate Professor Boucher summarises this as thinking about “how can I simplify my life” which she reflects really is applicable to any person in any sector who is busy and has a combination of responsibilities. “If I’m thinking about a project or situation, I go, ‘we have to over-invest in support here,’” she says.

The Laffan Prize also motivated Associate Professor Boucher to become more involved in disability advocacy. She has since joined the Disability Leadership Institute (DLI) and has recently been sponsored by the university to attend a leadership program with the DLI. She also is a mentor with the Disability at Work Network (DAWN) mentoring program, a University of Sydney network for staff who have disabilities, work in disability support roles, careers, and disability researchers, which she has done since the program started. Through these avenues she feels she can give back and “be grateful for the opportunities I got through the Laffan.”

Why consider the Research Excellence and Inclusion Prizes? 

When asked why researchers should consider applying for the Research Excellence and Inclusion Prizes, Associate Professor Boucher had a few key reasons. In addition to the peer and external mentoring, she said that the program was able to put her “on an equal footing with someone who hadn't had those kinds of disabilities” so acted as a kind of workplace adjustment that allowed her more time to focus on current projects as well as start to explore new ones. Some of the projects Associate Professor Boucher began during the Prize only wrapped up last year, showing the potential longevity of the prizes impact beyond the year. 

Overall, receiving the Laffan prize has significantly helped support Associate Professor Boucher's career and the mentoring and funding she received through the prize is irreplaceable.