In 2011, Abram returned to Australia after being awarded a QEII fellowship through the Australian Research Council.[15] In 2014 Abram received a second ARC Discovery Grant to continue her groundbreaking work studying the effects of tropical and Antarctic climate change on Australia's rainfall patterns.[16] Abram was the 2015 recipient of the Dorothy Hill award from the Australian Academy of Science which recognises excellence in Earth Sciences research by a woman under the age of 40.[17]