Seedlab Australia has announced a five-year national sponsorship of a new Churchill Fellowship, supporting innovation across Australia’s food and beverage sector from this year.
Delivered in partnership with the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, the Seedlab Australia Churchill Fellowship will back Australians exploring new ideas in food science, sustainability, nutrition and systems innovation.
Focus areas include novel product development, enhanced nutrition, sustainable packaging, waste reduction, advanced processing and social impact initiatives.
The fellowship is open to researchers, industry professionals, innovators and early-stage founders, including those without an established business or commercial product.
Unlike traditional grants, the Churchill model enables recipients to undertake international research and return to share their findings with industry and the broader ecosystem.
For co-founder and CEO Hazel MacTavish-West, the sponsorship reflects a full-circle moment. A 2017 Churchill Fellow, she travelled internationally in 2018, with insights from that experience informing the launch of Seedlab Tasmania in 2021. The program has since expanded nationally, backed by Woolworths Group.
“Receiving a Churchill Fellowship was a game changer for me,” said MacTavish West.
“It created space to think bigger and more strategically, learn from global best practice and bring those insights back home. This new fellowship is about creating that same opportunity for people with ideas that can genuinely improve how we produce products, consume and value food.”
Since its inception, Seedlab Australia has supported more than 600 food, beverage, personal care and home care brands across Australia and New Zealand. Applications for the inaugural fellowship close in April.
