Dr Kathryn Baragwanath wins 2025 Paul Bourke award

The Faculty of Business and Economics is delighted to announce Dr Kathryn Baragwanath as one of four winners of the prestigious 2025 Paul Bourke Award for Early Career Research.

Dr Kathryn Baragwanath is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Economics, an affiliate with the SoDa Labs at Monash University, and the SPIRES Lab at the Yale School of the Environment. Her research explores the crossroads of environmental economics, political economy, and developmental economics.

Kathryn Baragwanath, 2025 Paul Bourke Award winner smiles at the camera. She has long blonde hair and is wearing a black jacket.

Named in honour of the late Professor Paul Bourke, the former President of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (1993-1997), this award recognises researchers in their early career who have demonstrated outstanding scholarship in the social sciences.

The Academy of the Social Sciences is an independent, non-governmental organisation comprising over 700 leading researchers and professionals, united by a mission to advance research across the social sciences disciplines.

“I’m deeply honoured to receive this award. It’s incredibly encouraging to have my research recognised as I continue to explore these important issues. This recognition also reflects the invaluable collaboration and guidance I’ve received throughout this journey,” said Dr Baragwanath.

She continued, “Moving forward, I am dedicated to ensuring that my work continues to bridge the gap between research and policies that drive meaningful improvements within society."

Before joining the University of Melbourne, Dr Baragwanath was a Harvard Academy Fellow, a Research Fellow at the ACU and a research economist at the Chilean Antitrust Agency, Fiscalía Nacional Económica.

Professor Paul Kofman, Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics, congratulated Dr Baragwanath on the award.

“Congratulations to Kathryn on this well-deserved award. We are thrilled to see her work recognised and look forward to her continued contributions to both the Faculty and the broader research community. Dr Baragwanath's dedication and early achievements points her to a highly promising future in academia,” he said.

Dr Baragwanath won the award alongside fellow University of Melbourne researcher Dr Erin O'Donnell (Melbourne Law School),  as well as Dr Tianze Sun from the University of Queensland and Dr Archie Thomas from the University of Technology Sydney.

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