Biomedical engineer's innovative excellence acknowledged

ADELAIDE, Australia, Feb. 5, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- University of Adelaide Associate Professor Jiawen Li has been awarded a prestigious global award by tech giant Sony and scientific publishing company Nature, for her work in biomedical engineering.

Associate Professor Li, who works at the University's School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering and Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, is the only person in Australia and one of only four women innovators worldwide to be recognised in the inaugural Sony Women in Technology Award with Nature.

After receiving high-calibre applications, the judges' panel decided to extend a special Judges' Commendation recognition to Associate Professor Li, an early-career researcher who is leading the University's multimodal imaging and sensing program.

Associate Professor Li said it was a great honour to accept the award and acknowledged all the people who have supported her endeavours.

"My work involves using cutting-edge engineering techniques to address complex biomedical challenges," said Associate Professor Li.

"In this field, collaboration is key. Through close collaboration with clinicians, biologists, physicists, chemists, and engineers from diverse backgrounds, we can identify critical unmet needs in medicine and develop highly innovative, practical, and deployable solutions."

"Throughout my career, I've been fortunate to have incredible mentors, both women and men, who champion women in STEM. With their guidance and encouragement, I have learnt that I don't have to 'make myself invisible' to fit into a male-dominated environment."

While the number of women enrolling in university STEM courses is increasing, under representation in STEM-qualified jobs has yet to be redressed.

Associate Professor Li's work combines nanoscale 3D printing with optical fibre technology to create a hair-thin endoscope that cardiologists can use to investigate blood vessels to determine a patient's risk for a heart attack. This invention can also be used for prevention and personalised treatments.

Together with her collaborators, Associate Professor Li is also expanding the multimodal technology's features to measure data like site-specific temperature and chemical changes, as well as exploring applications in neurology and IVF.

Professor Anton Middelberg, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), University of Adelaide, congratulated Associate Professor Li on her award.

"Associate Professor Li's world-class research is a shining example of the University of Adelaide's commitment to finding solutions to society's challenges," said Professor Middelberg.

"This award adds to Associate Professor Li's impressive list of achievements and funding which underline the impact of her work.

"Associate Professor Li's efforts to commercialise her innovative research underlines her commitment to seeing it benefit as many people as possible.

"We are proud to have Associate Professor Li as part of our community of researchers here in Adelaide who make history with each new discovery -- accelerating human progress and making our world a better place."

Associate Professor Li joins Dr Kiana Aran, a professor of bioengineering and medicine at UC San Diego; Dr Amanda Randles, a computational scientist biomedical engineer from Duke University and Dr Yating Wan, an Assistant Professor at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, (Saudi Arabia) who also received awards.

We launched this award in March 2024 with the clear aim of supporting more diverse gender representation within the international research community," said Hiroaki Kitano, CTO of Sony Group Corporation and executive sponsor of the program.

"We are very inspired by our honorees, each of them challenging the current state of the art in their fields. We look forward to championing their work, as well as growing the program in the years to come."

Associate Professor Li received her award at a ceremony at the headquarters of Sony in Tokyo, Japan.

More information is available on the Sony Women in Technology Award with Nature website.