Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the winner of the IJERPH 2021 Young Investigator Award, Dr. Grace Vincent. 

Dr. Grace Vincent is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences, Appleton Institute, Central Queensland University, Rockhampton, Australia. 

As a Research Fellow at Central Queensland University’s Appleton Institute, Dr. Vincent investigates ways in which to improve sleep in our communities. She particularly focuses on workers in high-risk industries, many of whom are shift workers—firefighters, doctors, nurses, miners, etc. Her research directly informs workplace policies, with the goal of creating a healthier and safer shiftwork workforce. 

Dr. Vincent was awarded her Ph.D. from Deakin University (2016) and completed a Bachelor of Science (Honours) at Auckland University (2011). She has over 60 publications and more than USD 1 million in research funding. She is a South Australian Tall Poppy (2020), winner of the National 5-Minute Research Pitch Competition (2018), and received the Central Queensland University Vice Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Early Career Research (2019).

She also has many other research interests, and has collaborated on projects with researchers from a wide range of disciplines, including exercise and sports science, human factors, psychology, nutrition, physical activity, physiotherapy, speech pathology, podiatry, health economics and allied health. 

As the awardee, Dr. Grace Vincent will receive an honorarium of CHF 2000, an offer to publish a paper, free of charge, in IJERPH before the end of March 2023,  following peer review, and an engraved plaque. 

We would like to thank all the nominators from various fields of study for their participation, as well as all the award committee members for their evaluation of the many excellent nominations. 

Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Paul B. Tchounwou
On behalf of the IJERPH 2022 Young Investigator Evaluation Committee