On Friday 5 September 2025, the Women and Infants Research Foundation (WIRF) welcomed more than 150 health professionals, researchers, academics, consumers and supporters to its annual WIRF Scientific Dialogue: From Eminence to Evidence – The importance of generating and using robust data to ensure the health of women, mothers and babies.
Chaired by WIRF’s Chief Scientist, Professor Matt Kemp, the Dialogue once again brought together leading voices from across the research, medical and community sectors to explore the future of evidence-based care in women’s, maternal, newborn, and family health.
The event opened with a community and consumer panel discussion: From Insight to Impact: Elevating Community Perspectives. Facilitated by Mrs Joanne Beedie and Dr Mathias Epee-Bekima, with guest panellists Mr Kabe Redfern, Ms Deb Portughes and Ms Cassie Silver, the discussion highlighted the importance of embedding consumer insight into research to ensure real-world impact.
Two internationally recognised leaders in maternity and infant health delivered this year’s keynote addresses:
Professor Brett Manley – Neonatologist, Professor, and Director of Newborn Research at the Mercy Hospital for Women and The University of Melbourne – presented Puggles and Premmies: The PLATIPUS perinatal adaptive platform trial.
Professor Manley outlined the challenges of traditional perinatal clinical research and introduced the innovative PLATIPUS adaptive platform trial – a world-first initiative he is co-leading that will soon begin recruiting to both pregnancy and neonatal domains.
Prior to delivering his keynote at the WIRF Scientific Dialogue, Professor Manley joined Nadia Mitsopoulos on ABC Radio Perth – WA Mornings to talk about the urgent challenge of preterm birth and the need to innovate in the way research is done. Listen to the ABC Radio interview here.
Professor Ben Mol – Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Monash University – presented Scientific Integrity of Randomised Trials: Now we have the data, but are they true?
Professor Mol drew attention to the growing issue of flawed or untrustworthy data in clinical trials – potentially affecting up to 40% of published research – and explored strategies to detect, prevent and overcome such challenges, drawing from his own experience in evidence synthesis and trial integrity.
Outstanding emerging and senior WA researchers, including Dr Kate Buchanan, Dr Erin Fee, Dr Bradley MacDonald, Dr Vincent Mancini, Dr Brennen Mills and Professor Mary Steen, presented new and thought-provoking findings across multiple disciplines.
Their presentations explored advances in perinatal mental health and wellbeing, the role of midwife-led, woman-centred conversations in post-birth care, and new approaches to refining antenatal steroid therapy. They also examined the key enablers needed for successful rare disease clinical trials in Western Australia, and showcased how immersive and digital simulation technologies are reshaping education and practice in women’s and newborn health.
For the first time, the Dialogue hosted a student and early career researcher competition, offering a unique platform for emerging researchers to showcase their work.
Three abstracts were selected for oral presentation, with the $1,000 prize awarded to Xuehua Jin from The University of Western Australia (pictured above right) for her presentation on Reassessing low milk supply and risk factors in breastfeeding women using a data-driven approach.
All WIRF Scientific Dialogue presentations are available to watch on our YouTube channel here.
A major highlight of the event was the announcement of the 2025 WIRF Research Acceleration Awards and the Tony McCartney Gynaecologic Oncology Special Grants, supporting world-class projects that address critical challenges in women’s, maternal, newborn, and family health. Read more about the awardees here.
Professor Kemp also announced that in 2026, WIRF will award $500,000 in research grants to advance local research into the health of women, babies and families, made possible through the generous support of the Stan Perron Charitable Foundation and the Bass Family Foundation.
WIRF extends its sincere thanks to all speakers, delegates, exhibitors and supporters who made the 2025 Scientific Dialogue a success.
Special acknowledgment goes to our sponsors, whose generous contributions enable this premier scientific event:
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