The researchers are conducting studies in areas as diverse as climate change and corporations, echidnas, the knowledge economy, polymers, brain biology and whiplash injury.

Now in their seventh year, the annual awards recognise outstanding performance and leadership potential, and formed part of UQ Research Week (September 19-23).

UQ Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor David Siddle congratulated the winners and commended the diversity of their research.

Professor Siddle said UQ Foundation Research Excellence Awards were among a range of initiatives created by the University to foster and nurture exciting research projects.

"Awards such as these are designed to foster the next generation of quality researchers," he said.

"This year's winners were part of a strongly contested field. The quality and diversity of their research augurs well for the University."

Professor Siddle said the University's research and research-training performance consistently ranked in the top three among Australian universities on widely-accepted measures. UQ researchers competed favourably with the world's best in many areas.

He said as part of its research strategy, the University had invested significant sums in key projects and had been able to attract matching financial support from government and external donors.

This approach has been extremely fruitful, particularly in projects related to bioscience, nanotechnology and neuroscience.

Funding for the winning researchers was provided by the UQ Foundation, UQ's research-only budget and the Vice-Chancellor's Strategic Initiatives Fund.

The 2005 winners are: