Current Award Winners

Associate Professor Simon Hinkley leads the Natural Products Group at The Ferrier Research Institute, Victoria University of Wellington. He holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Otago completed under the supervision of Dr Rex Weavers and Prof. Nigel Perry, and undertook Postdoctoral Research with the late Prof. Bruce Jarvis at the University of Maryland, USA. On returning to New Zealand, he joined a drug manufacturing biotech IRL-BioPharm, a company that had a pivotal role producing the highly potent cytotoxic component of the now internationally accessible breast cancer therapy Kadcyla®.

Dr Hinkley joined the Carbohydrate Chemistry Group led by Prof. Richard Furneaux at Industrial Research Limited in 2008 and this team in 2014 merged with Victoria University of Wellington forming The Ferrier Research Institute. Dr Hinkley has always had research interests with direct real-world applications ranging from developing renewable coating technologies, first-in-class regenerative medicine technologies that are currently progressing through clinical trials, through to whether the peculiar diet of the Kakapo assists in its fecundity.

As the Director of a taught-master Master of Drug Discovery and Development programme, which has been running for 10 years, Dr Hinkley is mentoring the next generation and connecting academic training to industrial and regulatory requirements. In addition, he has made a sustained contribution to the wider chemistry community in Aotearoa New Zealand as an advisor and reviewer on a number of boards and panels.