Flinders University has achieved outstanding national success in the 2026 Australian Council of Graduate Research (ACGR) Awards for Excellence - receiving two of the five national award categories.
The ACGR awards recognise the graduate research supervision of Professor Udoy Saikia, and the Graduate Research Programs and Support team of Dr Dani Milos and Rhiannon Vince.
"This is a great achievement and underlines the strength and breadth of research excellence that is such a hallmark of Flinders University's ongoing achievements," says Professor Timothy Cavagnaro, Pro Vice Chancellor (Research Training & Capabilities) and Dean of Graduate Research at Flinders University.
"The fact that Flinders has received two national awards from a large number of exceptionally strong applications reflects the quality of outstanding work being undertaken by our researchers and academic leaders."
Professor Saikia, from Flinders' College of Business, Creative Arts, Law and Social Sciences, has won the 2026 Award for Excellence in Graduate Research Supervision.
Professor Saikia - who has previously won Flinders Vice-Chancellor's Award for Excellence in HDR Supervision, and for Excellence in Research Leadership - is a social demographer whose research has centred on populations, human wellbeing and sustainable development.
He was also recently appointed by Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) to lead the Australia Awards PhD capacity-building programme in Papua New Guinea from 2024 to 2026, training 75 emerging researchers.
When asked what are the key ingredients of excellent HDR supervision, he says his answer has never changed: "Empathy, trust and high expectations, which are not soft ideals but structural conditions."
These provide the lens through which Professor Saikia has supervised 28 PhD candidates over more than two decades, including a vast international reach spread of students from PNG, Mongolia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Timor-Leste, Turkey, Ghana, Vanuatu and Australia.
He has also encouraged transdisciplinary, cross-college PhD projects (spanning Science and Engineering, Medicine and Public Health, and Education) as deliberate intellectual partnerships so that diverse expertise is brought to bear on a student's research.
Dr Dani Milos, HDR Education Coordinator and Rhiannon Vince, Senior HDR Support Officer have won the 2026 Award for Excellence in Graduate Research Programs and Support for the HDR Supervisor Development Program.
In recognising the Flinders HDR Development team's outstanding provision of a high-quality environment and engaging experiences for graduate research students, the award recognises their design, delivery and continuous improvement of supervisor education.
The HDR Supervisor Development Program is now an institution-wide, mandatory and evidence-informed framework, which has also received a Flinders Vice-Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching.
It reframes supervision as a core teaching and learning practice rather than an adjunct compliance activity, to build supervisory capability at the University, strengthen reflective practice and ensure that every HDR candidate is supported by informed, accountable supervisors.
When asked what underpins excellent HDR supervision, Dr Milos said: "The most successful supervisory environments are those where supervisors feel supported to reflect on their practice, learn from one another, and continually develop their practice."
This is the second ACGR Excellence Award for Dr Milos, who previously received the ACGR Award for Excellence in Graduate Research Leadership in recognition of her contribution to advancing graduate research education and researcher development across the sector.
The winners have been invited to attend the ACGR National Meeting at the University of Queensland in Brisbane to formally receive their awards - and their associated $3000 grant - at the National Meeting dinner on November 4.
