Annual report 2025

In 2025, the Academy spearheaded landmark policy work, stronger international partnerships, new programs to attract global talent to Australia, and a sustained commitment to education and the next generation of scientists.
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The 2025 Annual report highlights a pivotal year marked by major policy leadership, including the landmark Australian science, Australia’s future: Science 2035 assessment of national capability gaps. 

Amid global uncertainty and rising misinformation, the Academy strengthened its role as an independent voice for evidence‑based decision-making, supported early‑career researchers and educators, expanded international collaboration, and engaged broad audiences. 

With more than 600 Fellows and significant volunteer contribution, the Academy continues to shape Australia’s science system, invest in future talent, and advance science for the benefit of all Australians.

In this report:

  • Celebrating excellence in science – our new Fellows and honorific awardees
  • Policy influence and expert advice – ensuring scientific evidence informs decision-making
  • Collaboration, outreach and engagement – enabling strategic international partnerships, preserving Australia's scientific legacy and connecting science with diverse audiences
  • Backing our next generation – world-class education and direct support for emerging researchers
  • Social responsibility – our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and reconciliation
  • A tradition of giving – acknowledging our community of supporters
  • Operational effectiveness

Related

Initiative

Australian Science, Australia's Future

Analysing Australia’s science capability to meet national challenges informed by the forces shaping our economy, the ASAF report identifies the eight science capabilities increasing most in demand over the coming decade.
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Professor

Alpha Yap

FAA

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Professor Alpha Yap has pioneered the discovery of how cells use mechanical forces to communicate with one another in health and disease. He is an international leader in the interdisciplinary field of mechanobiology, responsible for revealing how mechanical forces are used as a fundamental mode of biological communication within tissues. In particular, he discovered how mechanical cell-cell communication underpins epithelial homeostasis in health and disease. His work exemplifies how experimental biology and physical theory can be synergised to create a new science for the future.

Fields of research

31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
  • 3101 BIOCHEMISTRY AND CELL BIOLOGY
    • 310105 Cellular Interactions (incl. Adhesion, Matrix, Cell Wall)
40 ENGINEERING
  • 4003 BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
    • 400307 Mechanobiology

For full list of research codes, please visit the ARC Website .

Expertise type

  • Cell Biology
  • Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition (EMT)
  • Cell Membranes
  • Intracellular Signalling
  • Morphogenesis

Please contact fellowship@science.org.au to request any updates to the data.

Ms

Sally Williams

FAA

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Ms Sally-Ann Williams is a pivotal figure in Australia's science and technology landscape, distinguished by her career in nurturing nascent startup operations, through to building globally competitive, research-driven businesses. Ms Williams has thus been a key architect of Australia's deep tech ecosystem, translating discovery into major economic and social outcomes. As CEO of Cicada Innovations, she enabled companies to raise over $6.1 billion. Her foundational work at Google built its Australian R&D team into a global force. Ms Williams has driven systemic changes nationally through her many advisory and policy formation roles, including chairing the Australian Government's Pathway to Diversity in STEM Review. Through tireless advocacy and hands-on company building, Ms Williams has fundamentally advanced Australia's capacity for science-led innovation.

Expertise type

  • Research Commercialisation
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • High Performance Computing

Please contact fellowship@science.org.au to request any updates to the data.

Professor

Huanting Wang

FAA

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Professor Huanting Wang is a renowned scientist in the fields of membrane science and chemical engineering. His pioneering research has driven major advances in the separation and purification of substances through the design of novel membranes. His work has led to the creation of functional membranes capable of selectively filtering ions for mineral extraction. He has also developed innovative materials and architectures that enhance the energy efficiency and environmental sustainability of separation processes, such as water desalination and purification. His contributions continue to shape the future of advanced membranes and separation technologies for industrial and environmental applications

Fields of research

40 ENGINEERING
  • 4004 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
    • 400409 Separation technologies
  • 4016 MATERIALS ENGINEERING
    • 401602 Composite and Hybrid Materials

For full list of research codes, please visit the ARC Website .

Expertise type

  • Nanomaterials
  • Chemical Engineering
  • Electrolytes
  • Catalysis
  • Electrocatalysis
  • Polymers
  • Energy conversion
  • Materials
  • Clean Energy Transition
  • Separation Science
  • Membranes
  • Chemical manufacturing

Please contact fellowship@science.org.au to request any updates to the data.

Professor

Enrico Valdinoci

FAA

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Professor Enrico Valdinoci is an internationally leading researcher in the field of partial differential equations. He has made groundbreaking contributions both to classical elliptic and parabolic partial differential equations and to nonlocal partial differential equations. He is one of the founders of the field of nonlocal partial differential equations and has played a central role in developing both theory and applications of such equations. He has discovered fundamentally new and unexpected features of nonlocal partial differential equations which do not exist in the classical setting. He led the field in understanding the behaviour of such equations, particularly in instances where both nonlocality and nonlinearity are present – such as nonlocal minimal surfaces and phase coexistence models with long-range particle interactions

Fields of research

49 MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES

For full list of research codes, please visit the ARC Website .

Expertise type

  • Mathematical Analysis
  • Applied Mathematics
  • Mathematics
  • Mathematical Models in Biology and Ecology
  • Mathematical Physics
  • Pure Mathematics

Please contact fellowship@science.org.au to request any updates to the data.

Professor

Tim Schmidt

FAA

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Professor Timothy Schmidt is an eminent physical chemist whose work spans solar energy and astrochemistry. He achieved world-record photochemical upconversion efficiencies and was the first to apply this process to solar cells, advancing prospects for next-generation renewable energy. His research has also transformed understanding of molecules in space, particularly the fundamental C₂ molecule, and illuminated the behaviour of highly reactive species through pioneering gas-phase spectroscopy. These discoveries have reshaped knowledge of molecular structure and reactivity across chemistry and physics. His international impact has been recognised through major honours, including the Coblentz Award (2010) and the Broida Prize (2015).

Fields of research

34 CHEMICAL SCIENCES
  • 3406 PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY (INCL. STRUCTURAL)
    • 340606 Photochemistry
  • 3407 THEORETICAL AND COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY
    • 340704 Theoretical quantum chemistry
40 ENGINEERING
  • 4009 ELECTRONICS, SENSORS AND DIGITAL HARDWARE
    • 400910 Photovoltaic devices (solar cells)
51 PHYSICAL SCIENCES
  • 5101 ASTRONOMICAL SCIENCES
    • 510199 Astronomical sciences not elsewhere classified
  • 5102 ATOMIC, MOLECULAR AND OPTICAL PHYSICS
    • 510201 Atomic and Molecular Physics

For full list of research codes, please visit the ARC Website .

Expertise type

  • Molecular Physics
  • Laser Spectroscopy
  • Quantum Chemistry

Please contact fellowship@science.org.au to request any updates to the data.

Professor

David Raubenheimer

FAA

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Professor David Raubenheimer is a world leader in nutritional ecology. He has combined theory from ecological, evolutionary, physiological and behavioural sciences with nutrition to produce the conceptual foundations for the field. He co-invented nutritional geometry, a modelling framework, for implementing this synthesis and applied it to produce important new insights that have had transformational impacts on several fields, among them gerontology, primatology, ecology and human nutrition. His specific discoveries include new understanding of the relationship between diet and ageing and of the causes of human obesity, a new approach for designing animal feeds, and important contributions to primatology and ecology.

Fields of research

31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
  • 3103 ECOLOGY
    • 310399 Ecology not elsewhere classified

For full list of research codes, please visit the ARC Website .

Expertise type

  • Philosophy of Science
  • Global and public health
  • Nutrition
  • Evolution

Please contact fellowship@science.org.au to request any updates to the data.

Dr

Deborah Rathjen

FAA

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Dr Deborah Rathjen is an accomplished Australian scientist, innovator, and biotechnology leader with more than 40 years of experience translating cutting-edge research into life-changing medical therapies. A named inventor on patents behind globally successful autoimmune drugs like Humira and Remicade, she has led the development of treatments for cancer, Alzheimer’s, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. Dr Rathjen has raised over $130 million for Australian startups and guided the nation’s first homegrown CAR-T therapy into clinical trials. Her leadership extends across key national science bodies and policy, including shaping Australia’s R&D Tax Incentive. As a CEO, board director and advisor, she continues to champion science education, infrastructure, and commercialisation – driving global health impact and strengthening Australia’s role in the international biotechnology landscape.

Fields of research

32 BIOMEDICAL AND CLINICAL SCIENCES
  • 3204 IMMUNOLOGY
    • 320402 Applied immunology (incl. antibody engineering, xenotransplantation and t-cell t
    • 320404 Cellular Immunology
  • 3209 NEUROSCIENCES
  • 3211 ONCOLOGY AND CARCINOGENESIS
    • 321101 Cancer Cell Biology
    • 321104 Cancer Therapy (excl. Chemotherapy and Radiation Therapy)

For full list of research codes, please visit the ARC Website .

Expertise type

  • Autoimmune Disease
  • Rheumatoid arthritis
  • T Cells
  • Anxiety
  • CAR T cell
  • Cancer Therapy
  • Autoimmunity
  • Cancer Immunotherapy

Please contact fellowship@science.org.au to request any updates to the data.

Professor

Nicki Packer

FAA

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Distinguished Professor Nicolle Packer is a world leader in glycomics. Her research career has focused on analysing the complexity of glycans (carbohydrates and sugars). She is a pioneer in enabling, promoting and transforming glycoscience from an unrecognised niche research area into a high-impact international specialty field that has applications across medicine and agriculture. Her research has linked glycomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and bioinformatics to reveal fundamental facts on the importance of glycoconjugates and given new understanding of infection and disease with resultant drug targets. Professor Packer's research has demonstrated that analytical glycoscience has significant and unique relevance across diverse biological functions.

Fields of research

31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
  • 3101 BIOCHEMISTRY AND CELL BIOLOGY
    • 310107 Glycobiology
34 CHEMICAL SCIENCES
  • 3404 MEDICINAL AND BIOMOLECULAR CHEMISTRY
    • 340405 Glycoconjugates

For full list of research codes, please visit the ARC Website .

Expertise type

  • Gut Microbiome
  • Cancer Metastasis
  • Glycoprotein
  • Membrane Proteins
  • Glycobiology
  • Biological Chemistry
  • Cardiovascular Disease
  • Protein Structure-Function Relationships
  • Extracellular Vesicles
  • Carbohydrates
  • Host-microbe interactions
  • Functional Groups
  • Extracellular matrix
  • Analytical Chemistry
  • Glycosciences
  • Databases
  • Biochemistry
  • Brain Structure
  • Glycomics
  • Proteins

Please contact fellowship@science.org.au to request any updates to the data.

Professor

Paul Martin

FAA

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Professor Paul Martin has transformed our understanding of evolution and function of the visual system. His work shows how evolutionarily ancient visual pathways, that were considered vestigial in the brains of humans and monkeys, contribute to diverse and important visual functions such as colour vision and movement perception. These pathways begin in the eye, and project centrally via the lateral geniculate nucleus, a structure that Professor Martin's work revealed to be a much more than a humble relay nucleus.

Fields of research

32 BIOMEDICAL AND CLINICAL SCIENCES
  • 3209 NEUROSCIENCES

For full list of research codes, please visit the ARC Website .

Expertise type

  • Visual ecology
  • Retinal Photoceptors
  • Brain Function
  • Sensory ecology
  • Brain Structure
  • Visual Processing

Please contact fellowship@science.org.au to request any updates to the data.

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