The Allied & Scientific Health Office (ASHO) Seed Funding program supports clinician-initiated research or quality improvement (QI) projects that enhance clinical care. Preference is given to applications that demonstrate project outcomes directly related to patient care and build allied and scientific health research capacity in SA Health.

Funding available

The 2025/26 the Seed Funding envelope was $20,000, with a maximum of $10,000 (incl. GST) per single project. The Seed Funding program operates over the financial year, with funds available from 1 July. All funds awarded to successful applications must be expended before the end of the financial year.

Eligibility criteria

The Project Lead must be currently working in clinical practice within SA Health AND research cannot be their primary or sole role. The Project Lead must be classified as either an Allied Health Professional (AHP), Medical Scientist (MeS) or Medical Physicist (MPH) and:

Allied Health Assistants (AHA) and Technical Grade Officers (TGO) may be funded provided they are assisting the Project Lead to complete their research

All members of the research team must provide a brief Research Curriculum Vitae using either the Research CV template — example A (DOCX 33.9KB) or Research CV template — example B (DOCX 40.8KB), outlining their relevant research or quality improvement experience.

Possible options to identify an experienced researcher to provide include:

Seed Funding recipients

Thank you to all applicants and their managers for acknowledging the importance of research in the continuous improvement of patient outcomes and health service delivery. Details of the past five years Seed Funding recipients and their projects, related publications, presentations and more are detailed below.

Applications for the 2025/26 Seed Funding round have now closed. Successful recipients will be announced soon.

Exploring the Impact of Pelvic Pain Conditions and Pelvic Floor Dysfunction in Nulliparous Women (First-Time Mothers) on Labour and Birth Outcomes. 

Recipients: Stacy Larcombe, Jennifer Ayoub, Associate Professor Elizabeth Lynch, Professor Annette Briley, Victoria Toogood

Increasing capacity whilst promoting student learning: feasibility of student-led Physiotherapy group intervention on an acute stroke ward. 

Recipients: Lachlan Siderius, Louise Brumby, Associate Professor Elizabeth Lynch, Maayken van den Berg

Patient experiences of a hospital avoidance service with supported discharge using virtual care for people with low back pain: an alternative to emergency department care. 

Recipients: Joseph Orlando, Maria Zucco, Matthew Beard, Professor Saravana Kumar

An evaluation of a novel gastrostomy feeding App (PEG Ed) with an interactive decision-making tool for patients and their families living with Motor Neurone Disease.

Project Lead: Elizabeth Kapur, Dietitian, Southern Adelaide Local Health Network

  • Presentations:
    • Southern Adelaide Local Health Network (SALHN) Research Week, September 2022 (Best Poster Award recipient)
    • SALHN Allied Health Research Forum, July 2023
    • National Allied Health Conference, August 2024
    • SALHN Research Week, September 2024
    • Flinders University MND Symposium, May 2025
    • National Allied Health Conference, August 2025
    • Pan-Asian Consortium for Treatment and Research in ALS (PACTALS) International Conference, September 2025
  • Further research
    • 2023 SALHN Enquiry Grant recipient, project title: ‘Evaluating a novel feeding app and interactive decision-making tool for patients and their families living with Motor Neurone Disease (MND)’

Suddenly voiceless: how does the loss of voice affect patients with a tracheostomy in the critical care setting?

Project Lead: Natalie Knight, Acute Senior Speech Pathologist, SALHN

  • Presentations: Poster presentations at the 2024 ASHO Research Forum and 2024 SALHN Research Week
  • Further research: Using data from her research conducted under the Seed Funding program, Natalie went on to win a 2024 SALHN Enquiry Grant (funding amount total: $79,766.00) for her study ‘Getting back on track with communication - A pilot study of early support speech pathology for patients who have a tracheostomy.’

Drugs and Delirium in Elective surgical patients: a pilot study

Project Lead: Sally Marotti, Pharmacist, CALHN

Predictors of hospitalisation for low back pain in people presenting to South Australian public emergency departments.

Project Lead: Joseph Orlando, Senior Physiotherapist, CALHN

  • Clinical care pathway: SA Health Urgent Care Hub Digital Back Pain Pathway implemented at Sefton Park and Woodville sites, diverting patients with non-serious low back pain seeking emergency care to a hospital avoidance service.


Paraffin Wax Therapy for Prevention of Chilblains and distal vasospastic injury

Project Lead: Anita Dent, Podiatrist, SALHN

Hospitalised adults with dysphagia and COVID-19: Clinical cohort profiles, outcomes, and Speech Pathology intervention

Project Lead: Christine Davis, Speech Pathologist, CALHN

Continuing professional development requirements of Australian endorsed for scheduled medicines podiatrists - what’s out there and is it accessible, relevant, and meaningful? A cross-sectional survey

Project Lead: Saraid Martin, Podiatrist, SALHN

Children, parents and clinicians as co-innovators in the development of educational technology for families after an acquired brain injury: a co-design study

Project Lead : Kate Dawes, Social Worker, Cental Adelaide Local Health Network (CALHN)

Physiotherapy Adolescent Focus Group for Persistent Pelvic Pain: What do they want?

Project Lead: Rose Green, Physiotherapist, Women's and Children's Health Network (WCHN)

Evaluation of a new clinical care pathway: Crohn’s disease exclusion diet (CDED) plus partial enteral nutrition (PEN) in South Australian children with active Crohn’s Disease

Project Lead: Emma Landorf, Dietitian, WCHN          

Publication: Landorf E, Hammond P, Abu-Assi R, Ellison S, Boyle T, Comerford A, Couper R. Formula modifications to the Crohn's disease exclusion diet do not impact therapy success in paediatric Crohn's disease. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2024 Jun;78(6):1279-1286. doi: 10.1002/jpn3.12215. Epub 2024 Apr 16. PMID: 38623960.

Presentation: ‘Modifications to the Crohn’s disease exclusion diet do not affect therapy success in children with active Crohn’s disease’ at the European Society of Paediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, May 2024, Italy

Establishing guidelines to identify patients suitable for Discharge to Assess in SALHN Acute Care

Project Lead: Lottie O’Reilly, Physiotherapist, Southern Adelaide Local Health Network

Can dietary interventions prevent chemotherapy induced GI symptoms?

Project Lead: Cian Peters, Dietitian, CALHN

Better management of breathlessness in the ICU (BreatheICU)

Project Lead: Leigh Rushworth, Physiotherapist, CALHN

Presentation: Oral presentation at the Australian Physiotherapy Conference, Brisbane 2023

Further research:

  • Funding of a formal research project by the Physiotherapy Research Foundation (PRF), including a refined national survey of ICU clinicians and a larger cohort of patient interviews to try and identify further themes of experiences of breathlessness in ICU. The results of this project have been shared by oral presentation at two conferences - the international dyspnoea Society meeting in Montreal (June 2024) and the Thoracic Society conference in Adelaide (March 2025).
  • PhD: Exploring the impact of life-course events and admission-related trauma on the experience of breathlessness and clinical outcomes for ICU patients.

Enquiries

All enquiries can be sent via email to Health.AlliedHealthSeedFunding@sa.gov.au.