Council

The Australian Academy of Science is overseen by a Council of 18 Fellows from across a range of disciplines, elected at the Annual General Meeting to represent the Academy’s interests.
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Professor Samuel Berkovic is a Laureate Professor at the University of Melbourne and Foundation Director of the Epilepsy Research Centre at Austin Health. He is acknowledged as a world leader in the field of neurology, specifically for his contribution to understanding epilepsy. Professor Berkovic and his collaborators discovered the first gene for epilepsy in 1995 and subsequently discovered many more. His research brought genetics to the forefront of epilepsy research. He has coordinated international efforts for epilepsy gene discovery. This knowledge is now applied widely in patient care, in basic studies to understand epilepsy mechanisms and in the development of new therapies. In 2014, Professor Berkovic was Senior Victorian of the Year, became a Companion in the Order of Australia (AC), and along with Professor Ingrid Scheffer AO FAA FAHMS FRS, was awarded the Prime Minister’s Prize for Science. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, and a member of the US National Academy of Medicine. He was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2005 and became the 21st President of the Academy in 2026.
Officer Duty Statement: President PDF ( 242 KB )
Professor Ivan Marusic is a Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research Infrastructure) at the University of Melbourne. His research is in the field of fluid mechanics, with emphasis on turbulent flows. After completing his degrees and postdoctoral training in Australia, he spent nine years in the US, where he was awarded an NSF Career Award and Packard Fellowship in Science and Engineering. He returned to Australia in 2007 as an Australian Research Council (ARC) Federation Fellow and was later awarded an (ARC) Laureate Fellowship (2012–17). He is a recipient of the Stanley Corrsin Award from the American Physical Society and is a Fellow of the Royal Society, American Physical Society, Australasian Fluid Mechanics Society and Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering. Professor Marusic was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2014.
Professor Robert M. Graham received his medical training and doctoral degree from the University of New South Wales, where he is the Des Renford Professor of Medicine. After 17 years in the US, he returned to Australia as the inaugural Executive Director, Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute from 1994 to 2020. He continues there as head of the Molecular Cardiology and Biophysics Division, as well as maintaining an active practice as a consultant physician in cardiorenal diseases. A Foundation Fellow, Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, and Foreign Member, Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, his research is reported in over 290 peer-reviewed papers. He is a Fellow, American Heart Association; Life Member, Heart Foundation of Australia (NSW Division) and Royal Australasian College of Physicians; Fellow, National Heart Foundation of Australia, and Member, American Society for Clinical Investigation. Professor Graham was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2002.
Officer Duty Statement: The Secretaries PDF ( 137 KB )
Professor Steven Chown is Professor of Biological Sciences at Monash University and Director of Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future. His research focuses on biodiversity variation through space and time, and the conservation implications of environmental change, including mitigation strategies. He co-developed the field of macrophysiology, and has been instrumental in unveiling the history, current patterns and future of Antarctic biodiversity. He has worked in Australia, Africa, the Asia–Pacific, the UK, and in the broader Antarctic region where he has over 30 years of field experience. With a strong interest in the science–policy interface, he served the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) as President (2016–2021). He has also represented SCAR at the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings since 2005, providing scientific advice on a broad range of environmental and science policy matters. Professor Chown was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2021.
Officer Duty Statement: Foreign Secretary PDF ( 89 KB )
Professor Margaret Sheil has been Vice-Chancellor of QUT since February 2018 and is also Chair of the Queensland Museum Network, lead Vice Chancellor for Research for Universities Australia and has previously been a member of the Board and Deputy Chair of Universities Australia. She is currently Chair of the Queensland Vice Chancellors Committee (QVCC). Professor Sheil has previously been Provost at the University of Melbourne and Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Research Council, after academic and senior roles at the University of Wollongong. She has been a Director of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, a member of the Advisory Board of the Australian Space Agency, the Cooperative Research Centres Committee and the Prime Ministers Science, Engineering and Innovation Council. Professor Sheil was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2021 and is also a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE), the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) and the Australian and New Zealand Society of Mass Spectrometry (FANZSMS). She holds a Bachelor of Science and a PhD in Physical Chemistry from the University of New South Wales. Professor Sheil has been a member of the Council of the Academy since 2024 and was then elected to the position of Secretary Science Policy for four years, commencing in May 2025.
Officer Duty Statement: Secretary Science Policy PDF ( 223 KB )
Professor Hala Zreiqat AM is Professor of Biomedical Engineering at The University of Sydney and Director of the Australian Research Council Training Centre for Innovative BioEngineering. Professor Zreiqat is a trailblazer in the field of biomaterials and tissue engineering. She is a national leader in advancing collaborative research ventures between academics, clinicians and industry in the field of musculoskeletal disorders and biomaterials research, which has led to four awarded and four provisional patents. As well as her pioneering work in biomaterials development, Professor Zreiqat is committed to improving opportunities for women and young scientists around the world. She is the founder of the IDEAL Society (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Action Leadership) at Harvard University, founder and Chair of the Alliance for Design and Application in Tissue Engineering (ADATE), as well as founder of BIOTech Futures, a science and engineering mentorship program for high school students. Professor Zreiqat was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2021.
Officer Duty Statement: Secretary Education and Public Awareness PDF ( 112 KB )
Professor Barbara F. Nowak is Professor Emeritus at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania and Honorary Professor at RMIT University. She did her PhD at Sydney University in Zoology, researching endosulfan residues in freshwater Australian fish and the effects of these residues on structure of fish organs. Her research interest focuses on various aspects of fish health, such as fish parasitology, fish immunology and fish pathology, including both wild and farmed fish. She is an expert on amoebic gill disease and tuna health. Professor Nowak published more than 300 papers. She is Associate Editor of Journal of Fish Diseases. She has received numerous awards for her research and supervision of PhD students. Prof Nowak was elected Fellow of Australian Society for Parasitology and Honorary Member of European Association of Fish Pathologists. She was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2021.
Officer Duty Statement: Treasurer PDF ( 200 KB )
Professor Steve Simpson is inaugural Academic Director of the Charles Perkins Centre and Professor in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Sydney. After graduating from the University of Queensland, he undertook his PhD at the University of London, then spent 22 years at Oxford before returning to Australia in 2005 as an ARC Federation Fellow, then ARC Laureate Fellow. Professor Simpson and David Raubenheimer developed an integrative modelling framework for nutrition (the Geometric Framework), which has been applied to a wide range of organisms, from slime moulds to humans, and problems, from aquaculture and conservation biology to the dietary causes of human obesity and ageing. He also pioneered understanding of swarming in locusts, with research spanning neurochemical events within the brains of individual locusts to continental-scale mass migration. He is Executive Director of Obesity Australia and has been prominent in the media, including presenting a four-part documentary series for ABC TV, ‘Great Southern Land’. Professor Simpson was awarded the Academy’s Macfarlane Burnet Medal in 2022. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2007.
Professor Naomi McClure-Griffiths is the Chief Scientist of the SKA Observatory (SKAO) and Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow in the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics of the Australian National University (ANU). She held roles at CSIRO's Australia Telescope National Facility as an OCE Science Leader and the Head of National Facility Science before moving to ANU in 2015. Professor McClure-Griffiths' research team studies interstellar gas and magnetic fields of the Milky Way and nearby galaxies. She is co-Principal Investigator on two of the large observational surveys underway with the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP): the Galactic ASKAP survey (GASKAP) and the Polarisation Survey of the Universe's Magnetism (POSSUM). Professor McClure-Griffiths was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2022.
Professor Rob Baxter is a cancer researcher and Professor Emeritus at the University of Sydney. He was Director of the Kolling Institute at Royal North Shore Hospital from 1994 to January 2012. Professor Baxter has led research that has contributed to understanding the regulation of normal tissue and body growth, and the uncontrolled growth of cancer cells. A significant focus of his research is the biochemistry, cell biology, oncology and endocrinology of insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) and their binding proteins (IGFBPs), including understanding their role in a variety of conditions. Via cell culture and animal model studies, major achievements include characterising the protein complexes that carry IGFs in the circulation, and discovering how IGFBPs affect cancer growth and survival, chemotherapy resistance and DNA damage repair by modulating cell signalling pathways. His lab has also led and collaborated on preclinical and discovery studies related to breast and pancreatic cancers. Professor Baxter was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2004.
Professor Christine Beveridge is a world leader on the hormonal control of plant development and shoot architecture, which underpins the yield, productivity and ornamental value of crops, trees and shrubs. Her research focuses on extending our knowledge of plant growth processes – particularly shoot branching – and involves discovery of mechanisms at genetic, molecular and physiological levels. Her discoveries include the finding that bud release occurs only when the plant has an excess of sugars and identification of the growth hormone strigolactone. Professor Beveridge is Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Plant Success in Nature and Agriculture, leading a team combining biological discovery with advanced mathematics to model and predict nature’s mechanisms of adaptation, to improve breeding pipelines and to enhance rates of genetic gain in crop improvement. Professor Beveridge was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2015.
Emeritus Professor Patrick De Deckker is a graduate from Macquarie University with an MSc (Hons) in micropalaeontology, a PhD in zoology from Adelaide University and a DSc from the same institution awarded by the Department of Geology and Geophysics. After working on large Australian salt lakes and their records, he eventually returned to a second appointment at the Australian National University where he commenced working in marine geoscience to examine the Quaternary history of our oceans. This work was achieved in collaboration with a large number of students and postdocs associated with him, and he made sure all these people received training at sea on many of the cruises he led around Australia. Professor De Deckker has also investigated the geochemistry and microbiology of aeolian dust in Australia. He is now Emeritus Professor at the ANU. Originally, he started working on the taxonomy, ecology and shell chemistry of ostracods, a group of microscopic aquatic crustaceans. Professor De Deckker was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2012
Professor Glenda Halliday is a career neuroscientist specialising in neurodegeneration. She has been a Fellow of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) since 1990, appointed Professor of Medicine (2003) then of Neuroscience (2008), then NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow (2010) at the University of NSW, and is now an NHMRC leadership fellow at the University of Sydney until 2025. Professor Halliday started her research in neuroscience by studying the neurochemical dopamine and its systems in a variety of animal species, including humans. Her focus on understanding the brain and its workings in people has distinguished her neuroscience career. Her research has played a major role in shaping the international standards for neuropathological diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases, particularly Lewy body diseases and frontotemporal dementias. Her research has also served as an evidence base for changes in the clinical diagnosis of these patients. Professor Halliday was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2021.
Professor Svetha Venkatesh is an Alfred Deakin Professor and Co-Director of Applied Artificial Intelligence Institute (A2I2) at Deakin University. She is a Fellow of the International Association of Pattern Recognition for contributions to formulation and extraction of semantics in multimedia data, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. In 2017, Professor Venkatesh was appointed an Australian Laureate Fellow, the highest individual award the Australian Research Council can bestow. Professor Venkatesh and her team have tackled a wide range of problems of social significance, including the critical areas of autism, security and aged care. The outcomes have impacted the community and evolved into publications, patents, tools and spin-off companies. This includes three full patents, one start-up company (icetana) and two significant products - TOBY Playpad and Virtual Observer. Professor Venkatesh was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2021.
Professor Ian Wright is Chief Scientist at Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment (Western Sydney University), also Distinguished Professor in Plant Functional Ecology, and a Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre for Plant Success in Nature and Agriculture. His chief research focus is understanding variation in plant functional traits (the physical, chemical and physiological properties of plant organs and tissues), including by applying microeconomic concepts to understand trait evolution (for example the ‘leaf economics spectrum’ and photosynthetic ‘least-cost’ theory). An end goal is understanding how trait variation and concepts can be used for better predicting shifts in vegetation distribution and function under future climates. Professor Wright was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2019.
Professor Joanne Etheridge is an Australian Research Council Georgina Sweet Laureate Fellow in the School of Physics and Astronomy at Monash University, and the Science Director of the Monash Centre for Electron Microscopy which she established. She previously held appointments at the University of Cambridge in the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy and Newnham College, including a Rosalind Franklin Research Fellowship and a Royal Society University Research Fellowship. Professor Etheridge conducts research in the theory and development of new electron scattering methods for determining the atomic and electronic structure of condensed matter. She also applies these methods to the study of structure-property relationships in functional materials with applications including solar cells, batteries and photonics. She has served on the Academy’s Sectional Committee for Physics and Astronomy and National Committees for Crystallography and for Materials Science and Engineering. Professor Etheridge was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2019.
Professor Jennifer Martin is an internationally renowned protein crystallographer. She has made seminal discoveries in bacterial redox biochemistry, including revealing how the DsbA enzyme assembles bacterial ‘weapons’, and validating DsbA as a target for novel antibacterials that are now being developed. Through her role as a founding member of the Science and Gender Equity (SAGE) Steering Committee, Professor Martin helped implement the Athena SWAN pilot to address gender equity in science. She is also a strong public advocate for science with an inspirational and highly effective science communication record, extending now to the work of the Academy’s Council. Professor Martin was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2017.
Professor Jamie Rossjohn is known for his contributions to understanding the molecular basis underpinning aspects of immunity, including T cell mediated responses to peptides, lipids and metabolites. Elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society and an Associate Member of EMBO in 2022, Professor Rossjohn has also championed inclusive scientific outreach. He has implemented programs to support disadvantaged communities, including employing people with disabilities through internships and scholarships, and advancing science accessibility for the blind and low-vision community. Professor Rossjohn is currently a Regional Co-Chair of the Vic branch of the Australian Academy of Science. He has served on multiple sectional committees for both the Academy of Science and the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (AAHMS), exemplifying his expertise and dedication to advancing science and community engagement. Professor Rossjohn was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2014.
Officer Duty Statement: Ordinary Member PDF ( 137 KB )