2026 HDR Mini Grants
2026 HDR Mini Grants
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The HDR Mini Grants Scheme is now over for 2026.
The HDR Mini Grants Scheme is now over for 2026.
This Scheme provides small, flexible grants to help HDR students build professional development outside their main PhD projects.
This Scheme provides small, flexible grants to help HDR students build professional development outside their main PhD projects.
Read more about our Grant awardees and purpose of the scheme below.
Read more about our Grant awardees and purpose of the scheme below.
2026 HDR Mini Grant Award Winners
2026 HDR Mini Grant Award Winners
Ashutosh Khaswal
University of Technology Sydney
Emi Hughes
Adelaide University
Pedro Victor Sansoldo
Adelaide University
Yumin Li
RMIT University
Ashutosh Khasawl
Ashutosh Khasawl
What is your project about, and how does this scheme help to build your professional development?
What is your project about, and how does this scheme help to build your professional development?
My project brings together Brillouin imaging, mechanical testing and cancer biology to understand how the mechanical properties of 3D breast cancer models change in response to treatment. With support from the COMBS Mini Grant, I will present this work at the 10th International BioBrillouin Conference in Exeter, where I hope to gain new perspectives on optical instrumentation, multimodal imaging and translational biomechanics that can strengthen both my PhD research and my development as an interdisciplinary researcher.
How will this project help COMBS?
How will this project help COMBS?
The conference provides an opportunity to showcase how COMBS can connect optical physics, engineering and biology to address biomedical questions. By representing COMBS within the international BioBrillouin community, I hope to build new research connections, identify opportunities for collaboration and bring back ideas that can contribute to the Centre’s growing expertise in biophotonics and biomedical imaging.
What are you most excited about in receiving the HDR Mini Grant?
What are you most excited about in receiving the HDR Mini Grant?
I’m most excited to represent COMBS not only within the physics community, but also among biologists, cancer researchers and engineers, and to showcase how the Centre’s multidisciplinary approach can contribute to emerging biomedical imaging research. I’m also looking forward to bringing back new ideas, connections and potential collaborations that can benefit both my research and the wider COMBS community.
Emi Hughes
Emi Hughes
What is your project about, and how does this scheme help to build your professional development?
What is your project about, and how does this scheme help to build your professional development?
My PhD project focuses on biological imaging at depth in tissue, and attending the Global BioImaging Biomedical Imaging 2026 course will broaden my understanding of biomedical imaging modalities beyond my primary research field of optical imaging. The course will support my professional development by providing me a broader perspective on how different imaging modalities can complement one another, especially as my research increasingly focuses on optical coherence tomography (OCT), an imaging modality widely used in biomedical imaging.
How will this project help COMBS?
How will this project help COMBS?
The course will strengthen my understanding of how optical imaging fits within biomedical imaging modalities and will support the translational potential of my research. I hope to bring this broader knowledge back to the COMBS community and contribute to conversations about opportunities to translate state-of-the-art microscopy methods into real-world impact.
What are you most excited about in receiving the HDR Mini Grant?
What are you most excited about in receiving the HDR Mini Grant?
I'm most excited to have the opportunity to step outside my immediate research area and engage with people outside my field. As my project moves further into translational biomedical imaging, this course will help me understand how imaging modalities can complement each other and open up new possibilities for the future direction of my research.
Pedro Victor Sansoldo
Pedro Victor Sansoldo
What is your project about, and how does this scheme help to build your professional development?
What is your project about, and how does this scheme help to build your professional development?
We are aiming at fabricating nonlinear optical chips using III-V semiconductor materials, specifically GaP (Gallium Phosphide) and AlGaAs (Aluminium Gallium Arsenide). These are our materials of choice because they simultaneously enable high-efficiency nonlinear optical processes to be realized and have processing capabilities (such as lattice constant and fabrication chemistry) that make them advantageous for the task. The visit here at Institute Foton OHM at INSA Rennes (France) will help us get in contact with researchers with expertise on GaP and think together on the steps we need to fabricate these devices.
How will this project help COMBS?
How will this project help COMBS?
This project with help COMBS by establishing a photonic integrated chip fabrication framework at Adelaide University for the first time. The goal is to manufacture devices capable of generating optical frequency combs with these two materials. Coming to Institute Foton at INSA Rennes (France) means getting in contact and exchanging techniques with leading researchers in the field of integrated optics and semiconductor manufacturing. This in turn will lead to an acceleration of the time needed to mature the fabrication framework at Adelaide and also open the door for collaboration of researches from Rennes with the broader community of COMBS.
What are you most excited about in receiving the HDR Mini Grant?
What are you most excited about in receiving the HDR Mini Grant?
I am most excited about being able to come here, meet and learn with experts from the field of integrated nonlinear optics - a unique experience indeed!
Yumin Li
Yumin Li
What is your project about, and how does this scheme help to build your professional development?
What is your project about, and how does this scheme help to build your professional development?
With support from the COMBS Mini Grant, I will attend the 14th International Conference on Advanced Vibrational Spectroscopy (ICAVS14) in Jeju, Korea, in August 2027, where leading groups will present advances in time-resolved, operando and AI-assisted spectroscopy. Coming from a materials and optoelectronic device background, this will help me move from using spectroscopy mainly as a characterisation tool towards designing quantitative, information-rich optical measurements, broadening my research at the interface of materials, photonics and sensing.
How will this project help COMBS?
How will this project help COMBS?
At ICAVS14, I will look for spectroscopy and sensing methods that could be implemented with COMBS's existing broadband and frequency-comb light sources, bringing a materials and device perspective on which physical changes produce measurable optical signatures. Afterwards, I will share these insights with the COMBS HDR Forum through a presentation on advanced spectroscopy methodologies transferable to COMBS-enabled sensing.
What are you most excited about in receiving the HDR Mini Grant?
What are you most excited about in receiving the HDR Mini Grant?
I'm most excited about learning directly from world leaders in vibrational spectroscopy and bringing back ideas that connect my materials and device research with the outstanding light-source capabilities within COMBS. I'm very grateful to COMBS for supporting this opportunity.
Purpose of the Scheme
Purpose of the Scheme
An HDR candidate's research journey involves essential professional development opportunities, such as attending conferences, completing specialist training workshops, and participating in industry internships. While these activities are crucial for shaping a successful future career, securing reliable funding is necessary to make them a reality. To meet this need, a mini-grant support scheme was proposed by the HDR members during the HDR Connect 2025 event.
The HDR Mini Grant Scheme provides small, flexible grants to help HDR students build skills outside their main PhD projects. In 2026, the program will offer four competitive grants from a total pool of AUD 5,000 to fund activities like industry internships, specialist training, COMBS node visits, and conference travel. Coordinated by the HDR Forum Leadership Committee and evaluated by an external panel, the scheme uses a simple written application process that requires minimal administrative support.
This initiative directly prepares students for future research careers by giving them practical experience in grant writing, budgeting, and project management. In the long run, it benefits COMBS by encouraging students from different research themes to work together, improving teamwork across different university nodes, and building the Centre's reputation for graduating independent, highly skilled researchers.
Funding categories for 2026
Funding categories for 2026
- Conference registration or travel support:
Supports attendance (registration/travel) at domestic or international (e.g., NZ) conferences covering topics outside the applicant's primary research field to encourage cross-disciplinary learning. To ensure strategic alignment, the conference's core themes must relate to the broader COMBS ecosystem. Funding is available for up to two students, with a maximum of AUD 1,500 each.
2. Workshop or training registration
2. Workshop or training registration
This category supports attendance at specialized training workshops for professional development. It can fund up to one student, with a maximum of AUD 1,500.
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