Bryan Gandevia Prize awarded at the Australian War Memorial

The Australian War Memorial is proud to announce Dr Kristen Alexander as the winner of the Bryan Gandevia Prize for Australian military–medical history, for her PhD thesis “Emotions of Captivity: Australian Airmen Prisoners of Stalag Luft III and their Families”, completed at UNSW Canberra in 2020.

The Gandevia Prize was presented to Dr Alexander on Thursday 24 March by Australian War Memorial Director Matt Anderson who said the Memorial was privileged to be able to support such important research.

“The Memorial’s mission is to promote the deepest possible understanding of Australia’s wartime experience. Dr Alexander’s thesis speaks to the little known experience of Australian airmen as prisoners of war and the lifelong impact their imprisonment had on them, as well as the families that loved and supported them,” Mr Anderson said.

Dr Alexander said she was “thrilled and overwhelmed” to be awarded the prize.

“It is a great honour, the traumatic residue of European captivity, especially among airmen prisoners, has been little recognised. Through the Bryan Gandevia Prize I hope to highlight the wartime, life-long, and intergenerational challenges of captivity,” Dr Alexander said.

The Bryan Gandevia Prize, worth $5,000, is intended to assist scholars in the early stages of their research careers and may be used to facilitate publication of their work or to further their research interests. Dr Kristen Alexander is the fifth recipient of the award.

For further information: https://www.awm.gov.au/research/grants/gandevia_prize

CONTACT Media team on 02 6243 4575, 0409 600 038 or media@awm.gov.au