AWARDS &
FELLOWSHIPS

2020 Fulbright Future Postdoctoral Scholar

Xavier was awarded the 2020 Fulbright Future Postdoctoral Scholarship funded by the Kinghorn Foundation, and he will be a scholar in residence at Georgetown University's Kennedy Institute of Ethics from January to July 2021.

2020 Fulbright Future Postdoctoral Scholar

Recent ACU doctoral graduate Dr Xavier Symons has been awarded a Fulbright Future Scholarship to continue his work on healthcare ethics. Dr Symons completed his PhD in 2019 at ACU, supervised by Dr Steve Matthews and Dr Stewart Braun, studying the ethics of healthcare distribution. He is currently a Research Associate in the Institute for Ethics and Society at the University of Notre Dame, where he convenes a bioethics and healthcare ethics research program.

His Fulbright scholarship will take him to the Kennedy Institute for Ethics (KIE) at Georgetown University in Washington DC to complete a research project on the ethics of dementia, focusing in particular on issues identified in the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. Working with leading aged care and disability scholars at the KIE, Xavier aims to critically evaluate the conceptions of autonomy, personhood and personal identity that inform current medical models of dementia. He will draw upon an extensive body of philosophical and social scientific research to explore how

patients with even severe forms of dementia retain communicative and decisional capacity, albeit in a diminished form. He will also offer recommendations for how practice can be adjusted to affirm the dignity and enduring personhood of individuals with advanced dementia. Dr Symons is passionate about aged care reform, having volunteered in nursing homes in Sydney and Melbourne for several years and experienced first-hand the many human and organisational challenges facing aged care providers in Australia.
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2020 ACU Alumni Research and Scholarship Award

Introducing Dr Xavier Symons, a philosopher, bioethicist, and ACU’s 2020 Research or Scholarship Alumni Award winner. This inaugural award recognises a graduate whose research has produced new solutions and advanced knowledge and practice in their field of expertise. ACU alumni are empowered with the knowledge, professional experience and ethical practice needed to excel. They are now a community of 100,000 people making a difference in their communities across the world.
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2020 ABC Top 5 Humanities Program (Shortlisted)

Joe Gelonesi, manager of ABC Religion and Ethics, says there's an urgency to get a grip on the world as we're finding it today and the ABC TOP 5 can help with our understanding. "Our TOP 5 Humanities early-career researchers represent the best and brightest making sense of the world. We'll do our best to equip them with the skills to share more widely their important research and insights" Read More

2018 Annual Pellegrino Young Scholars Essay Prize

During the 2018 Annual Pellegrino Seminar sponsored by the Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics at Georgetown University, the Pellegrino Young Scholars’ Prize is awarded to. the best essays addressing aspects and issues of the philosophy of medicine.The author of the winning essay was invited to present their work in a 45 minute lecture at the annual Pellegrino Seminar. Read More

2018 Archbishop Mannix Travelling Scholarship

The Scholarship was endowed by the Catholics of Victoria in honour of His Grace, the Most Reverend Daniel Mannix, D.D., LL.D., Archbishop of Melbourne, on the occasion of His Grace's sacerdotal diamond jubilee. His Grace presented the endowment as a Travelling Scholarship Fund, awarding an annual payment of up to $50,000 per annum for two years (but may be extended to three years). Read More

2016 Visiting Scholar @ Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics (PCCB)

The Edmund D. Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics (PCCB) at Georgetown University Medical Center was established over two decades ago in order to create a center of excellence, filling a unique need for bioethics that is directly oriented towards clinical medicine and strongly rooted in the Catholic and Jesuit tradition. It complements the activity and interests of the renowned Kennedy Institute of Ethics.
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2015 Lucy Firth Sydney University Postgraduate Scholarship

This scholarship was established in 1997 from the estate of Ms Lucy Firth who was an arts graduate from the University of Sydney. After graduation, she worked as a research assistant in the School of Psychology. The scolarship supports PhD students commencing full-time studies in the School of Psychology, with a benefit valued up to $10,000.
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2014 Lucy Firth Sydney University Postgraduate Scholarship

This scholarship was established in 1997 from the estate of Ms Lucy Firth who was an arts graduate from the University of Sydney. After graduation, she worked as a research assistant in the School of Psychology. The scolarship supports PhD students commencing full-time studies in the School of Psychology, with a benefit valued up to $10,000.
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Contact


For enquiries, email to xavier_symons@hsph.harvard.edu