The Australian Academy of Science is celebrating a generous donation from Professor Brian Anderson AC FAA FTSE FRS and Dianne Anderson AM, who have established the Brian Anderson Medal for Information and Communications Technology (ICT).
This new award will honour the outstanding achievements of early-career researchers who are engaged in high-quality ICT research, underscoring the importance of fostering emerging talent in this rapidly evolving field.
These researchers play a vital role in shaping the future of a major recently emerged disciplinary cluster and this award will provide recipients with valuable recognition, networking opportunities and support to further their research goals and career aspirations.
As ICT becomes increasingly central to economic growth and social development, research in this area, starting with the scientific underpinnings, is more important than ever. ICT breakthroughs—whether in areas such as artificial intelligence, data processing, quantum encryption, networked system operation or cybersecurity—are vital to the operation of industries worldwide, from healthcare to finance and beyond.
The medal will shine a spotlight on researchers who contribute to such advancements, emphasising the value of ICT solutions that serve communities and bolster industry resilience or Australia’s security.
“It’s no exaggeration to say that the ICT Revolution is as big as the Industrial Revolution—in terms of the underlying scientific activity as well as the role the associated technologies play in today’s economy,” Professor Brian Anderson said.
Professor Anderson said it was their intention that the research recognised may encompass theoretical, experimental, or applied aspects of ICT—with ICT deemed to include all aspects of computer science, and most aspects of ‘light current’ electrical engineering, including but not limited to information theory, cyber-physical systems, robotics, signal processing, control systems and networks, as well as communications.
“Application of the science underpinning ICT to various applications domains can be considered,” he said.
“Examples might include applying machine learning to medical diagnosis, detection of disinformation in social media, peak hour traffic control, drone formation management, or applying the many techniques of control systems in power system control, epidemic control, or control of social networks.”
The establishment of this medal marks a step towards recognising ICT talent whilst reinforcing a field that is integral to the future of Australian science.
The Brian Anderson Medal highlights the importance of nurturing and supporting emerging talent in ICT and promises more than accolade; it is structured to offer networking opportunities for awardees, empowering recipients to further their research impact and build connections within the ICT community.
Professor Brian Anderson is a distinguished researcher and former President of the Australian Academy of Science.
Most of his professional life has been linked in some way to ICT, including, but not limited to, his personal research, and he has consistently promoted the need for a continuous pipeline of skilled researchers dedicated to pushing the boundaries of technology.
Professor Anderson’s research is distinguished principally for his contributions to control and systems theory, while he has also worked substantially in signal processing and telecommunications. Applications work has involved aircraft control, water supply systems, economic modelling, and networked aspects of drone operation. He served as President of the Australian Academy of Science from 1998 to 2002.
He was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2016.
Since her teenage years, Dianne Anderson has been a significant supporter of many charitable initiatives, of many organisations promoting music in the Canberra community, and of several outstanding musicians seeking to launch an international career.
She was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2018 for this significant service to the community. Her support of the new medal reflects her enthusiasm for backing outstanding young individuals.
“As an avid user, but not researcher, in ICT, I recognise it is a force for good in the world, and the many researchers I have met over the years have impressed me as highly dedicated and ethical individuals,” Dianne Anderson said.
“I can see that the most exceptional of these individuals deserve recognition by a body such as the Academy. Given the role the Academy has played in my husband Brian’s life, the proposal to establish the new medal drew from me an immediate and highly enthusiastic response.”
Nominations for the inaugural round will open mid-February 2025 and close 1 May 2025.
Eligibility guidelines and how to nominate can be found on the award webpage.
Academy: Can you share more on what inspired you to establish the Brian Anderson Medal for ICT?
Brian: I have had a very fortunate life and am motivated to give something back to the Australian community, especially that part of it I have been close to.
My principal career activity has been as a researcher, and from the start of my training, I was imbued with the idea that one should strive for excellence. I learnt in my graduate studies at Stanford University that the three most important aims of a research university were excellence, excellence and excellence.
That was also my lived experience in the Institute of Advanced Studies at the Australian National University where I spent a major part of my career. The Australian Academy of Science stands out for me today as one of the key bodies in Australia whose DNA is built around excellence, and so it seemed a natural vehicle to fulfill the ambition of giving something back in a way that celebrates excellence in research.
At the same time, it was important for me that Dianne, a life partner who has given me unstinting support, should be emotionally and practically involved in this endeavour.
Dianne: I totally support the establishment of the Brian Anderson Medal at the Australian Academy of Science. I have been the wife of an incredible researcher for over half a century, and I have supported and partnered Brian in his involvement with the Academy, especially when he was President.
It will be wonderful for the Academy to now offer a prize for a young researcher in the ICT area, hitherto unrepresented as a discipline among the awards of the Academy.
Academy: Brian, could you share your perspective on the importance of ICT and the rapid evolution of this field? You previously mentioned that one of your papers from 1982 has seen a significant increase in citations over the past two years. What factors do you think are driving this renewed interest and relevance in your work?
Brian: Is ICT important? To say no, I think you would have to be either exceptionally brave, or exceptionally foolish, or both.
But it was not always so, especially in Australia. It was only 25 years or so ago that Australians were essentially passive consumers of ICT products. Major projects by companies and governments to introduce ICT systems failed in many cases, at great cost, often because of lack of expertise.
At that time, the Australian Research Council was funding more postdoctoral awards in archaeology and anthropology than in ICT, and normalised international citation comparisons across countries and disciplines showed that Australian-sourced research papers in ICT were valued internationally far less than Australian-sourced papers from almost every other discipline.
International patent comparisons also told a dismal story. Of course, the ICT field in Australia has progressed hugely since then. E-mail is no longer just a tool for university researchers. Phone calls around the world no longer cost an arm and a leg.
Most industries involving many consumers, e.g. banking, insurance, or retail utility supply, deliver services that reflect some substantial savings due to ICT. All manner of scanning devices assists in managing health problems, and robot-aided surgery is commonplace.
Cars are much safer, due to the incorporation of so many sensors to assist the driver. And while the tax code has become more complicated, the process of filling out and submitting tax returns is much simpler.
These evolutions have arisen in part through the usual workings of the economy in a liberal democracy, while at the same time recognition by the Federal Government 25 years ago of the parlous state of university ICT research activity secured interventions which started to improve matters.
The result is that ICT expertise is now far more widespread, and there are pockets of excellence in both the commercial world and universities.
Now you ask about a particular paper: the paper itself was published in 1982, and its original intention was to provide a tool for solving some signal processing problems where noisy data was recorded and subsequently processed in order to extract a best estimate of the intelligent content of the data, i.e. to eliminate as much as possible the noise.
The technical details are not important, but I will mention that the paper presented a procedure to obtain a reverse-time model of what is called a diffusion process (the term being familiar at least to physicists).
The paper received about two citations per year up to 2022, so about 80 citations over 40 years. In that year, the citation numbers started to skyrocket, and they have increased by a factor of 10. Over about 10 months in 2024, there have been over 400 citations.
The reason is that the idea of the paper proved useful to a subset of the AI community, people who seek techniques to generate images from textual descriptions—a bear dancing on the moon, Vladimir Putin on a surfboard, and so on. Programs that do this sort of thing are a very recent development.
Those developing the programs somehow picked up my old publication as providing a framework underpinning the various approaches being developed to handle the image generation problem.
Is there then a lesson to be learnt? I doubt it. But the incident does remind us of the possibility that research addressing one problem may ultimately prove useful for some other problem.
It also illustrates that judgments about a paper based on citations may be fragile judgments.
For 40 years, the paper would not have appeared on any list of my major work. But now it is entering the range of my most highly cited papers. Yet the quality of the paper of course is invariant through the process.
Academy: Dianne, could you tell us more about what inspires your commitment to philanthropy, particularly in supporting young talent? You recently supported Polish concert pianist Lucas Krupinski to travel to Australia to perform. What motivates you to invest in young talent and researchers?
Dianne: I should first explain a little about my life and how I became involved in charity work and philanthropy.
I grew up in Newcastle. My father, Murree Allen, went to Fort Street High School in Sydney and topped the State in NSW when he did the Leaving Certificate. He went on to study medicine and obtained his heart specialist degree during the Second World War, but he died in 1956 of a heart attack when he was 45 years of age.
After my father died, my mother supported our family of four children, working with the Methodist Home Nursing Service and managing some properties my father had purchased when alive, which I often looked after her when I was older. My three brothers and I all had organ scholarships at Christ Church Cathedral Newcastle.
Brian had returned from the US after finishing his PhD at Stanford University and worked in Silicon Valley. He had taken up a position as full Professor and Head of the Engineering Department at Newcastle University at a very young age. We met in Newcastle while I was still a student at Newcastle Teacher’s College and we had a whirlwind romance before marrying after five months. Maybe I saw something of my father in Brian who had come second in NSW when he did the Leaving Certificate ...
I graduated with a diploma in music education, majoring in organ. When we married it was accepted, and financially possible, for women not to work. I had an interest in starting and raising a family, so over the years we had three daughters. I continued being both a church and relief organist and became a band and choir director at several ACT Government schools. I have always enjoyed hosting and organising regular dinner parties for friends, academics and students, house renovation, home decoration, gardening (which led to our garden in Canberra being included in Australia’s Open Garden Scheme).
Certainly, I am not an academic and believe that I had ‘creative intelligence’ from my father which in some way complemented Brian. We have been a good team and enjoyed bringing up our three daughters, who have all had interesting lives and who are creative in their own right. They are now based in the US, Malaysia and France with their families and we have a total of 10 grandchildren whom we enjoy keeping in contact with, especially when we travel or when they visit.
When we were first married Brian actually had the idea that he may not be able to do any research past the age of 36 (!) so he became exceptionally focused on his research and working with colleagues both in Australia and overseas from a young age. I therefore became more involved in charity work over the years, supporting especially musicians and organisations helping young people.
The most fulfilling has been supporting, for 23 years, the Indian family of a rickshaw driver whom I met in Varanassi.
This included covering the family’s needs and education costs for the children up until today. Charities and organisations included the Newcastle Youth Service, the Australian National Eisteddfod’s Choirs and Piano Divisions, Wesley Music Centre, The Smith Family’s ‘Learning for Life Program’, Canberra RSPCA, Canberra Symphony Orchestra and the Canberra International Music Festival as well as many pianists and individuals.
Friendships made through these organisations have added another dimension to my life and in recent years this work has become more philanthropic.
I have been the wife of an incredible researcher for over half a century, and I have partnered Brian in his involvement with the Australian Academy of Science, especially when he was President.
I totally support the establishment of the Brian Anderson Medal and Annual Prize at the Academy and am excited that with our sponsorship, the Academy is now able offer a prize for a young researcher in the ICT area, hitherto unrepresented as a discipline among the awards of the Academy.
© 2024 Australian Academy of Science
