Fellows in the news

Brian Schmidt caused a media stir in June with a surprise announcement that he is stepping up as the Australian National University’s new Vice-Chancellor in 2016

The soon-to-be ANU VC also featured in a special episode of ABC’s Landline for his wine-growing efforts in the Canberra region

In a big year for the Great Barrier Reef, a number of Academy Fellows will now sit on a senior taskforce to provide scientific advice to state and federal governments on the health of the reef.

Terry Hughes and Ove Hoegh-Guldberg were also on hand to comment to media on UNESCO’s decision against declaring the Great Barrier Reef 'in danger'. They appeared on ABC radio’s The World Today and Business Insider.

New Fellow Edward Holmes talked to The Australian in June about the supercomputer ‘Artemis’ which is helping him unlock the secrets of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, among other things.

Ian Frazer made headlines when he won the prestigious European Inventor Award for his Gardasil vaccine

For politicians still unsure about human influence on climate change, Ove Hoegh-Guldberg was one of 13 scientists to offer their expertise and provide a briefing on climate change.

Matthew Colless talked with ABC about how the Giant Magellan Telescope is one step closer to being built.

Two Fellows were recognised in this year’s Queen’s Birthday honours: Stephen Simpson was appointed a Companion (AC) of the Order of Australia for his pioneering work in obesity and Marelyn Wintour-Coghlan was appointed Officer (AO) of the Order of Australia for her work in medical science.

Simpson also featured on ABC’s Lateline discussing the medical value of faecal transplants.

The Academy’s Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE) pilot piqued some media attention with SAGE steering committee member Nalini Joshi publishing an opinion piece with The Australian on how the program hopes to smash barriers to women’s academic advancement.

Alan Cowman has made headlines recently with his team’s significant efforts towards developing new drugs for malaria.

Bionic ear inventor Graeme Clark is ‘excited’ about a new project that could help with treatment of paraplegia and epilepsy, and improve bionics.

New Fellow Bill Laurance was part of a team that came up with an innovative new method to tell black leopards apart in the wild.

Jenny Graves wrote a fascinating piece on the role of genes in the differences between men and women.