Three (3) Papua New Guinean scholars had won the prestigious Allison Sudradjat Prize for 2022 and 2023.
Australia Awards Scholars Cherolyn Polomon, Winnifred Duk and Mary Rose Bagita-Vangana are the PNG recipients.
At the recent award ceremony, Australian High Commission Minister Counsellor Paul Lehmann said: “I’m sure these winners will continue the proud tradition of the 28 Allison Sudradjat Prize winners from PNG who have come before them by making their own lasting contributions to their country’s development and to the #PNGAusPartnership.”
He added that Allison Sudradjat was a passionate advocate for education for development in PNG and Indonesia. It is therefore fitting that the awards granted in Allison’s memory go to three remarkable advocates with similar goals for PNG.
Polomon is a lecturer at the Pacific Adventist University. She intends to use the prize to expand her expertise and help strengthen the PNG Nursing Council regulation and practitioner registration processes.
Duk on the other hand is a tutor and research officer at the University of Goroka.
She intends to construct a facility for her post-doctoral research on culturing, producing and harvesting antibiotic compounds from the Hare’s Foot Inkcap mushroom.