The Australian Academy of Science has launched an award to recognise research in the natural sciences by outstanding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander PhD students and early- and mid-career scientists.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Scientist Travelling Research Award aims to support the expansion and growth of each scientist’s research networks and international knowledge exchange, through visits to relevant international centres of research.

Australian Academy of Science President, Professor John Shine said he was committed to increasing the Academy’s cultural and gender diversity.

“Two annual awards of $5,500 are available, with additional support provided to attend the Academy's Annual Science at the Shine Dome event,” Professor Shine said.

Aboriginal medical doctor and researcher Professor Alex Brown, Chair in Aboriginal Health at the University of South Australia, also welcomed the award.

“It’s a really good start. I’d be disappointed if that was as far as it went, however it’s something that I’d be happy to continue to strongly encourage (as it’s) an investment in the next generation of Aboriginal scientists,” Professor Brown said. He made the comments at the Academy’s Science at the Shine Dome gala dinner, where the award was officially launched.

“We are out there. There are a lot of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people coming through the ranks. Some of them early in their careers. Some are advanced but unknown and not talked about because they are busy getting on with the job.”

Applications close on Friday 27 July 2018. Successful applicants will be announced in November for projects/travel to be carried out in 2019.

More information about the award.

Academy Fellow and world leader in field robotics Professor Hugh Durrant-Whyte has been appointed the next Chief Scientist and Engineer for New South Wales.

Professor Durrant-Whyte is currently Chief Scientific Adviser for the UK Ministry of Defence. He will start his new role in September.

He is a pioneer in autonomous robotics who is known for his work in delivering automated container terminals at Port Botany, and he has also been involved in developing autonomous solutions for mine sites.

One of his major tasks will be to draw together business, research and government to drive innovation in the New South Wales, while also providing independent advice.

Professor Durrant-Whyte was recently Director of the Centre for Translational Data Science at the University of Sydney, formerly Chair of the NSW Government’s Innovation and Productivity Council, and formerly head of National ICT Australia, now CSIRO’s Data61.

He has won numerous awards for his work including being named the 2010 NSW Scientist of the Year.

Professor Durrant-Whyte was elected a Fellow of the Academy in 2009. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society and of ATSE.

Pioneering biochemist and molecular biologist Professor John Shine AC PresAA has commenced today as President of the Australian Academy of Science.

Professor Shine becomes the 19th President of the Academy. The founding President was Sir Marcus Oliphant AC KBE FAA FRS FTSE, elected in 1954.

“It’s a great honour to be elected as President of a very prestigious organisation,” Professor Shine told ABC Radio National when his Presidency was first announced.

“It’s also a daunting task to help coordinate the Australian scientific effort, to advise government on sensible scientific policies and to be a source for government, policy makers, the community and business of unbiased, clear scientific facts,” Professor Shine said.

“The outcomes from basic research being translated into something of real value for the community are often long time frames, and those times frames are much longer than the political cycle. So often our political leaders require sudden instant answers to big, important questions and these take a long time.

“We need to develop a good consistent dialogue where there is mutual respect between all parties. We need to make sure we communicate science and the developments happening in science to the broader community because our political leaders follow what the broader community is telling them. If we have strong base community support then that will translate into the political response science needs,” Professor Shine said.

Outgoing President, Professor Andrew Holmes AC FRS FTSE FAA welcomed Professor Shine as he handed over the Presidency.

“As with all roles of this nature, I conclude my presidency with some unfinished business. Our work to improve engagement with our political leaders and the Fellowship will never be done,” Professor Holmes said.

About Professor Shine

Professor Shine became world-renowned for a series of discoveries he made between 1975 and 1985 that furthered our understanding of genes. He cloned the first human hormone genes, and in the process developed sophisticated gene cloning techniques that helped transform the world of biotechnology.

In his earlier roles in the US biotechnology industry and as Chairman of CSL for the past six years, Professor Shine has a long-standing commitment to the translation of research discoveries into advances in health care for the social and economic benefit of the community.

Professor Shine was elected to the Academy in 1994. The Academy’s home, previously known as Becker House, was named the Shine Dome in 2000 in recognition of a $1 million donation made by Professor Shine to help restore the building, one of the most iconic and distinctive in Australia.

Professor Shine was also Executive Director of the Garvan Institute of Medical Research from 1990 to 2012. He still runs his own lab at the institute, investigating the gene mutations responsible for inherited kidney disorders. 

Information about the Academy’s past presidents

Delivered 9 am Thursday 24 May 2018, Shine Dome, Canberra

Australian Academy of Science President, Professor Andrew Holmes

Before we begin the proceedings, I would like to acknowledge and pay respect to the traditional owners of the land on which we meet—the Ngunnawal people of the Wiradjuri Nation. It is upon their ancestral lands that the Australian Academy of Science is built.

As we share our own knowledge, teaching, learning, and research practices may we also pay respect to the knowledge embedded forever within the Aboriginal Custodianship of Country.

Fellows of the Academy, distinguished guests, award recipients including our early- and mid-career researchers, family members and ladies and gentlemen: welcome to the Shine Dome and to this 64th annual gathering of the Australian Academy of Science.

I, too, would like to add my personal thanks and acknowledgement to the sponsors mentioned by Anna-Maria who have not just made this event possible, but have allowed it to be more inclusive and to reach more people.

Yesterday we heard and again today we will hear from some of Australia’s most distinguished researchers, some of the best young scientists, mathematicians and teachers working in the STEM sector.

Before we move to the Academy’s Award presentations, on this occasion it is customary for the President to give an account of events over the past year and to raise awareness of topics that are of interest to the scientific community.

Our Foundation Stone

I would like to start by providing a historical context. Sixty years ago, on 2nd May 1958, the then Prime Minister the Rt Hon R G Menzies MP laid the Foundation stone of this remarkable building. During his speech he described the origin of the stone as follows:

“This is like me, it comes from Melbourne and has been planted now here and it is one of the old piers of the Melbourne Observatory, dating back to 1870. …..I read (the history) with immense pleasure” 

Later in the speech Mr Menzies went on to say …

“the boundaries of knowledge to the activities of scientists will have been pushed back to places as yet unseen and unimagined, and in all that in our own country this Academy, established by the finest body of scientists this country has ever had, adding as it will in the future to its own numbers men of corresponding faculty, men and women of corresponding gifts and enthusiasm, is going to make a contribution to the body of scientific knowledge in the world, which won’t be just confined to Canberra, but will extend over the world.”

This spirit of discovery is ongoing, and we can confidently agree with Mr Menzies that sixty years later the scientists of Australia—both women and men alike—have certainly ‘contributed to the scientific knowledge of the world and the boundaries of knowledge have been pushed back to places then unseen and unimagined.’

It is useful to look at the year in retrospect with this background in mind.

Among the great recent scientific discoveries, we must count detection of gravitational waves and the subsequent observation at spectroscopic wavelengths of the collision of two neutron stars—an event that involved an enormous number of scientists all round the world, including Fellows of this Academy and one who was elected as a Fellow this year.

Many other breakthroughs in science and technology have been made by our Fellows. They are able to achieve these discoveries through the opportunities created by government and other sources of research funding.

Funding that is directed by the roadmaps for research laid out by our National Committees for Science.

Science Projects

In the last twelve months we have released 10-year strategic plans that guide science in the areas of:

• Agricultural Sciences;
• Space Science and Technology; and
• Taxonomy and Biosystematics.

The Vision for Space Science and Technology in Australia has already had an impact on policy-making with the establishment of an Australian Space Agency announced in the recent Federal Budget.

Similarly, the Decadal Plan for Astronomy has contributed to the signing of Australia’s Strategic Partnership in the European Southern Observatory.

The Academy’s advocacy efforts are important. Our steadfast commitment to providing the best available evidence base and high quality and independent advice to government has paid off.

This year’s Federal Budget provided support for a significant number of scientific activities which were warmly welcomed by the Academy.

This included:

• a long term National Research Infrastructure pipeline that had been guided by the review led by Chief Scientist Dr Alan Finkel, a Fellow of this Academy and past President of the Academy of Technology and Engineering;
• an initial investment of $26 million in a national space agency, strongly influenced by the abovementioned decadal plan as well as individual input from members of the National Committee (and mentioned by current Health Minister and former Science Minister Greg Hunt as ‘his secret legacy’);
• A 10-year $1.3 billion National Health and Medical Industry Growth Plan that included $500 million in a Genomic Health Futures Mission—a direct response to the informative Australian Council of Learned Academies Horizon Scanning Report on Precision Medicine, so ably led by Professor Bob Williamson FAA.
• $4.5 million in new measures to encourage girls and women to pursue STEM education and careers, including the development of a decadal plan for women in STEM that will see the involvement of Fellows of the Academy.

There were also areas in which the budget fell short—funding for the ARC, CSIRO, university research funding and the Education Investment Fund—the Academy will continue to make the case for investment in these areas.

The Chief Scientist, writing in The Conversation on 9th May, stated “We can’t assume that the broad public support for science will translate into support for specific proposals unless we do the work to explain the benefits, including more jobs and better health. It’s important for politicians to see the outcomes of public investment. They see the dollar figures in the budget papers but they don’t necessarily connect the research breakthroughs they read about in the newspapers years later to the programs that made them possible. It is important to help local members, irrespective of their party, recognise the impact of previously funded programs working for Australians.”

It is also important to acknowledge the efforts of Fellows of the Academy who, through their membership of the Commonwealth Science Council, routinely engage with Cabinet Ministers. In this regard we thank Professors Ian Frazer and Nalini Joshi, Ms Catherine Livingstone, and Professors Tanya Monro and Brian Schmidt.

In looking back over the numerous activities that the Academy has undertaken I’d like to highlight just a few examples from each of the “pillars” listed in the Academy’s Strategic Plan.

Influential Voice

One of the highest priorities of the Academy is to act as an independent and influential voice in matters scientific in Australia. While this has been achieved in a number of ways including numerous submissions to government, reports and many conversations in the so called “corridors of power”, I would like to highlight three notable achievements in the policy and projects area.

Firstly, the bringing together of some 30 organisations under the umbrella of the Australian Brain Alliance who speak with one voice in championing the establishment of an Australian Brain Initiative.  These efforts have been led by the formidable Professor Linda Richards FAA, who has also seen to the formation, in this very theatre, of the Canberra Declaration to establish the International Brain Initiative. We thank Linda and her team for their vision and leadership. 

Secondly, our Academy was also invited by the Royal Society to lead the development of a Consensus Statement on Climate Change agreed and launched by 22 national academies and societies of science from around the Commonwealth, in advance of the recent Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in London, and this was supported by an informative Academy video that has been widely circulated and viewed. 

Finally, Professor Trevor McDougall led a working group that assessed Australia’s climate science capabilities that was delivered to the Department of the Environment and Energy, after the reduction of CSIRO’s effort in the area. The document informed the deliberations of the National Climate Science Advisory Committee and the Academy received an invitation from the Department of Environment and Energy to prepare an International Climate Mapping Report “to provide information about the interactions and dependencies of Australian climate science with the international climate research effort”.

Notwithstanding these wonderful achievements, to my mind the initiative that has enabled us to have the greatest influence has been the production of our Academy science videos delivered through social media to the general community (www.science.org.au/curious). 

Many of you would have had advance viewing of one or two of these videos at Science at the Shine Dome in May last year. By October, the production team was fully geared and able to launch its capability at the Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science Dinner. 

At that time the Academy’s Facebook following was about 9,000. Today more than 300,000 people across the globe follow our Facebook page and every day they sample a slice of science, through videos, photographs and articles. Content is distributed across a range of social media platforms. It brings me immense joy to know that the hard work of Fellows of the Academy can be reached by more people than ever before, and that we are doing our part in inspiring audiences who may have otherwise never been attracted to or interested in science. In the last 8 months the Academy has been able to reach and influence audiences it had never reached before.

Today, literally millions of people have viewed, shared and enjoyed our content. And today, this in-house capability is able to support every aspect of the Academy’s work including communication of scientific discoveries; highlighting the achievements of our Fellows, promotion of our education programs, calls for nominations for awards; campaign and advocacy support, and event support. 

Additional and complementary outreach activities include our growing National Speaker Series and our public lecture series in Canberra. These activities have provided an important engagement opportunity with both members of the public and with Fellows.

Scientific Literacy

Under the pillar of scientific literacy, we have our three major education initiatives, Primary Connections, Science by Doing, and reSolve: Mathematics by Inquiry which are due for renewal this year, and we have combined the oversight of the activities in education under an Education Committee chaired by Professor Ian Chubb. 

Education activities have been overseen by Professor Pauline Ladiges who has done a magnificent job in unifying the themes, in overseeing all the projects and in identifying new sources of funding for various projects. We also acknowledge the service of Professor Denis Goodrum who leads Science by Doing and who has been associated with the Academy education projects from the very start.

The Academy’s longstanding commitment to science and maths education, supported by government and generous donations has enabled us to reach more than 23,500 primary school teachers, and engage two in every three high school teachers. We have developed 38 curriculum resources for primary school and a further 18 for secondary. Our maths modules cover every strand of the mathematics curriculum from foundation to year 10. 

Above all, every independent evaluation of our programs has shown that they work. It is a legacy many have contributed to and that we can all be proud of.  

International Engagement

The Foreign Secretary, Professor Cheryl Praeger, has kept Australia at the forefront of international activities. The International Programs Section of the Academy supports many types of international engagement of Australians in activities abroad. Some of the recent highlights include the Commonwealth Science Conference in Singapore, the Falling Walls meeting in Berlin, and the Nobel Laureates’ meeting in Lindau.

Cheryl has most ably represented the Academy at various InterAcademy Partnership gatherings and at Association of Academies and Societies of Sciences in Asia meetings, while Michael Barber and TJ Higgins served on special IAP working groups, and several of us attended the International Council for Science General Assembly in Taipei. I also attended the STS Forum in Kyoto, the Korean Academy of Science and Technology in Seoul and the Royal Society of Edinburgh where we exchanged a Memorandum of Understanding.

Operational Excellence

The Academy is fortunate to have an outstanding Secretariat under the leadership of the Chief Executive, Ms Anna-Maria Arabia. Through the dedication of the staff there has been strong support for all the programs, including an extensive investment in the Early- and Mid-Career Researcher Forum. Members of this Forum are now represented on most of our national committees and a representative attends Council meetings as an observer. I am delighted that so many EMCRs have been supported to participate in Science at the Shine Dome this year and can engage in networking and training opportunities here.

Excellence in Science

The most evident recognition of excellence in science in Australia is through the Academy’s annual election of its 21 Fellows and 2 Corresponding Members. I congratulate all those newly elected Fellows. It is through the service of the Fellows and the members of the Secretariat that we can implement all the other aspects of our Strategic Plan that I have already described. We strive to elect a diverse range of Fellows and award recipients in the Academy. 

In this regard, we have been guided by an excellent Equity and Diversity Reference Group jointly chaired by Professors Sue O’Reilly and Peter Koopman. In the election of Fellows, we seek to broaden nominations to reflect the diversity of the scientific community in Australia, and our call to DVCs (Research) for suggestions has been fruitful.

Our efforts to elect more women require constant attention. We shall be discussing this again later today at our AGM. Some of the measures we have taken are the development of Champions of Diversity, and reaching out to decision makers in universities, Medical Research Institutes, and Publicly Funded Research Agencies encouraging them to nominate women for Fellowship. 

We have also assisted our Council and Sectional Committee Chairs to recognise unconscious bias. This year, thanks to the University of Sydney, we have made available childcare and carer grants to delegates at this event. We have also launched assertive social media campaigns encouraging women to apply for the Awards the Academy administers. I am pleased to report that this year we have received double the number of applications for the two honorific awards that are specific to women: the Nancy Millis Medal for Women in Science and the Dorothy Hill Medal.

Code of Conduct

About eighteen months ago the Council began developing a Code of Conduct for Fellows, the Secretariat and participants in Academy meetings. It has taken time to establish best practice in this area and consider all the legal implications of such a Code. We expect the Code to be ratified by Fellows of the Academy at today’s AGM and then made available on our website. This is a challenging area for organisations whose members are volunteers. 

I’d like to illustrate this with the example of Professor Sir Anthony Blunt. Who was Anthony Blunt? He was a leading art historian, director of the Courtauld Institute of Art and Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures. He was a Fellow of the British Academy. After being offered immunity in 1964 he confessed to having been a Soviet spy along with Philby, Burgess and Maclean. The British Government agreed to maintain this as an official secret. However, on 15 November 1979 the relatively new Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, revealed Blunt’s treason in the House of Commons. The British Academy faced the dilemma of how to deal with this situation, and the story was related to some of us at a Royal Society Te Apārangi (New Zealand) meeting by the Chief Executives of the British Academy and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. On the one hand Professor Blunt was an eminent art historian who happened to be a traitor, while on the other hand he had not committed an offence against the British Academy. At the eleventh hour the British Academy agreed to accept Blunt’s resignation, although Wikipedia reports that he was dismissed. 

As far as I am aware the Australian Academy of Science has not had the problem of spies, but most definitely we need a Code of Conduct to encourage appropriate behaviour and to deal consistently and fairly with behaviour that falls short of expectations. The Academy’s Code of Conduct is designed to allow this to happen in future situations and we hope it will encourage other STEM organisations to adopt best practice in this challenging area. 

Next, I should like to acknowledge the contribution made by outgoing members of the Executive Committee. I should like to thank the outgoing Foreign Secretary, Professor Cheryl Praeger, and Secretary for Education and Public Awareness, Professor Pauline Ladiges, for their outstanding service on the Executive Committee, and to acknowledge the dedicated Council service of Professors Ian Hume, John Mattick, Sue O’Reilly and Mandyam (Srini) Srinivasan who will step down after the AGM today.

This represents my last Science at the Shine Dome as President of the Academy and I especially look forward to Professor John Shine’s Presidency that will formally commence later today.

Fellowship

The Academy extends its warmest congratulations to the seven Fellows recently elected to The Royal Society—Professors Jill Banfield (Corresponding Member), Frank Caruso, Graeme Jameson, Ingrid Scheffer, Michelle Simmons, Peter Vischer and Geordie Williamson (who was elected FAA this year). We also offer heartfelt congratulations to Professor Ron Ekers who has been elected a Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences.

Unfinished Business

As with all roles of this nature, I conclude my presidency with some unfinished business. We set out with some lofty ambitions. Our work to improve engagement with our political leaders and the Fellowship will never be done and we should always strive to do better.

I had hoped to see the Academy increase its formal links with distinguished Australian academicians abroad, either through expanded Corresponding Membership or some new class of Fellowship.

We had ambitions to establish a public dialogue on Science for the Public Good, but discovered the theme was not sufficiently enticing for the National Press Club. Neither was the issue of Sexual Harassment in Academia. My hope is that alternative platforms for the Academy to show national leadership in both of these areas will become available in the future.

We are well on the way to holding our first joint event with members of the judiciary associated with the Academy of Law on the theme How can you be sure? This is to be held in the late afternoon on Friday 24 August at the Federal Court in Sydney. 

We agreed that we need to do more in the Pacific region, and the early focus will be on Papua-New Guinea.

However, all this is unfinished business. 

What we have achieved is due to the excellence of the members of Council, other engaged Fellows, and the Secretariat.

So, if we return to Mr Menzies we can definitely confirm that “science has an enormous capacity to expand its boundaries” and we can confidently predict that this will continue for the remainder of this century and further.

That brings me to the conclusion of my address.

The Australian Academy of Science has welcomed a commitment of $600,000 from the Australian Government to develop a 10-year roadmap for sustained increases in engagement and participation of girls and women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

The funding commitment was made by Senator Michaelia Cash and Kelly O’Dwyer MP this week at Deakin University.

“The Government is funding the Academy of Science to now put together that decadal plan. And Kelly and I look forward to receiving it by the end of this year,” said Senator Cash.

Academy President, Professor Andrew Holmes, said Australia still has a long way to go as a nation when it comes to achieving equity in opportunities for girls and women to pursue STEM education and careers.

“The barriers to equity in STEM are compounded by the gendered portrayal of science in the media, and a preponderance of male scientists on STEM committees and boards across government, academia and industry,” he said.

“Therefore, we strongly welcome this initiative, along with the $250,000 Women in STEM and Entrepreneurship grant that will enable us to deliver a national ‘#WomenInSTEMOnline' online portal for female STEM professionals,” Professor Holmes said.

“The Academy has a strong track record of delivering long term strategic plans for a range of science disciplines. We look forward to delivering a plan for women and girls in science that will identify and set priorities for the next decade and outline strategies to achieve them.”

The '#WomenInSTEMOnline' project will promote gender equity by improving female participation in STEM conferences and panels, science and technology media, government and industry committees and boards and STEM award nominations and applications.

The online portal will comprise a curated directory of 1000+ industry, academic and professional women in STEM, training and support for women on presentations, media appearances, and award applications, a national Women in STEM symposium and a gender equity toolkit for conference organisers, businesses and agencies.

The Australian Academy of Science will deliver the #WomenInSTEMOnline project in collaboration with the CSIRO, Australian Science Media Centre and Science & Technology Australia.

An Australian scientist who has revealed the hidden world of ants has become the first person from the Northern Territory to be elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.

Dr Alan Andersen, the world’s leading ant community ecologist, is one of 21 scientists* who have been acknowledged today for their outstanding contributions to science. This list also includes mathematician Professor Geordie Williamson, who at age 36, becomes the youngest living Fellow of the Academy and Professor Anne Kelso, who has substantially strengthened Australia’s position in global influenza virus surveillance and pandemic preparedness and is currently leading the National Health and Medical Research Council.

The new Fellows’ pioneering contributions also include: revolutionising the way e-waste is recycled; changing the way we think about carbohydrate foods; research that led to the detection of gravitational waves; and new insights into how the immune system may be harnessed to devise new therapies for cancer and other diseases.

Australian Academy of Science President, Professor Andrew Holmes, congratulated the new Fellows for making significant and lasting impacts in their scientific disciplines.

“These scientists were elected by their Academy peers, following a rigorous evaluation process,” Professor Holmes said.

“From 23 Founding Fellows in 1954, the election this year of our new Fellows brings our total number of living Fellows to 568. They join a prestigious group—six Nobel Prize winners and luminaries including Sir Mark Oliphant, Professor Nancy Millis, Sir Douglas Mawson, Professor Frank Fenner and Sir David Attenborough.”

The new Fellows are:

NORTHERN TERRITORY

• Professor Alan Andersen, Charles Darwin University (ecologist)

AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY

• Professor Anne Kelso, National Health and Medical Research Council (Chief Executive Officer)

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

• Professor Colin Raston, Flinders University (chemist)
• Professor Greg Goodall, Centre for Cancer Biology (medical researcher)

QUEENSLAND

• Professor Kerrie Mengersen, Queensland University of Technology (statistician)
• Professor Bostjan Kobe, University of Queensland (structural biologist)

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

• Emeritus Professor David Blair, University of Western Australia (experimental physicist)
• Professor Kliti Grice, Curtin University (organic geochemist)

VICTORIA

• Professor David Bowtell, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (medical researcher)
• Professor Joseph Trapani, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (medical researcher)
• Professor Peter Cawood, Monash University (geologist)
• Professor Lloyd Hollenberg, University of Melbourne (quantum physicist)
• Professor Rachel Webster, University of Melbourne (astrophysicist)

NEW SOUTH WALES

• Professor Jennie Brand-Miller, University of Sydney (human nutrition researcher)
• Professor Geordie Williamson, University of Sydney (mathematician)
• Professor Christopher Dickman, University of Sydney (ecologist)
• Professor Dacheng Tao, University of Sydney (computer scientist)
• Professor Veena Sahajwalla, UNSW Sydney (materials scientist)
• Professor Richard Bryant, UNSW Sydney (medical scientist)
• Professor Martina Stenzel, UNSW Sydney (polymer chemist)
• Professor Noel Cressie, University of Wollongong (statistician)

Find out more about our new Fellows, including a video on each one

*Professor Jennie Brand-Miller is known as ‘GI Jennie’ for her research on the glycemic index, and Professor Colin Raston received an Ig Nobel prize for creating a way to unboil an egg using his invention, the Vortex Fluidic Device. 

Professor Ruth J. Williams (United States) and Professor Richard Ellis (United Kingdom) have been admitted to the Australian Academy of Science for outstanding scientific contributions to their fields.

Professor Ruth J. Williams is an Australian-born mathematician at the University of California, San Diego. Her work has had a deep and lasting impact on heavy traffic analysis within the field of stochastic networks. This is the mathematical subject that describes real-world systems running at near-maximum capacity, such as the Internet when congested, assembly lines, customer service centres and freeways at rush hour.

In 2016, Professor Williams was awarded the John von Neumann Theory Prize ‘for seminal research contributions over the past several decades, to the theory and applications of stochastic networks/systems and their heavy traffic approximations’.

Professor Richard Ellis is a distinguished astronomer at University College London who has made landmark discoveries over several decades. His main area of research is in observational cosmology, studying the origin and evolution of galaxies, the growth of large scale structure in the universe and the nature and distribution of dark matter.

Australian astronomy has benefited greatly from Professor Ellis’s intellectual leadership and generous support. He conceived the award-winning ‘2 degree Field’ facility on the Anglo-Australian Telescope that produced some of the highest cited papers in cosmology. This instrument continues to advance Australian astronomy 25 years on. His observational campaigns and creative style opened up the distant Universe to direct observation, inspiring three generations of Australian astronomers to follow in his path.

Australian Academy of Science President, Professor Andrew Holmes, congratulated the new Corresponding Members.

“Professors Williams and Ellis join the Academy as Corresponding Members, a special category within the Fellowship, comprising eminent international scientists with strong ties to Australia who have made outstanding contributions to science,” said Professor Holmes. 

The Australian Academy of Science will announce the election of 21 distinguished Australian scientists as New Fellows, to mark the start of Science at the Shine Dome, on 22 May 2018.

Professor Ruth J. Williams (United States) and Professor Richard Ellis (United Kingdom) have been admitted to the Australian Academy of Science for outstanding scientific contributions to their fields.

Professor Ruth J. Williams is an Australian-born mathematician at the University of California, San Diego. Her work has had a deep and lasting impact on heavy traffic analysis within the field of stochastic networks. This is the mathematical subject that describes real-world systems running at near-maximum capacity, such as the Internet when congested, assembly lines, customer service centres and freeways at rush hour.

In 2016, Professor Williams was awarded the John von Neumann Theory Prize ‘for seminal research contributions over the past several decades, to the theory and applications of stochastic networks/systems and their heavy traffic approximations’.

Professor Richard Ellis is a distinguished astronomer at University College London who has made landmark discoveries over several decades. His main area of research is in observational cosmology, studying the origin and evolution of galaxies, the growth of large scale structure in the universe and the nature and distribution of dark matter.

Australian astronomy has benefited greatly from Professor Ellis’s intellectual leadership and generous support. He conceived the award-winning ‘2 degree Field’ facility on the Anglo-Australian Telescope that produced some of the highest cited papers in cosmology. This instrument continues to advance Australian astronomy 25 years on. His observational campaigns and creative style opened up the distant Universe to direct observation, inspiring three generations of Australian astronomers to follow in his path.

Australian Academy of Science President, Professor Andrew Holmes, congratulated the new Corresponding Members.

“Professors Williams and Ellis join the Academy as Corresponding Members, a special category within the Fellowship, comprising eminent international scientists with strong ties to Australia who have made outstanding contributions to science,” said Professor Holmes. 

The Australian Academy of Science will announce the election of 21 distinguished Australian scientists as New Fellows, to mark the start of Science at the Shine Dome, on 22 May 2018.

The Australian Academy of Science welcomes the Research Infrastructure Investment Plan and its response to the Chief Scientist’s National Research Infrastructure Roadmap. 

The Academy also welcomes the $393m budget allocation to national research infrastructure over the five-year period (2017/18 – 2021/22) of which $199m was allocated in the 2017/18 FY [Budget paper 2, page 92], however remains concerned that critical infrastructure investment may still be some years away.

President of the Australian Academy of Science, Professor Andrew Holmes said new investment in national research infrastructure is welcome however we remain concerned about the lack of detail as to when funding will be allocated.

“The Academy notes that many of the priorities for new infrastructure outlined in the Research Infrastructure Roadmap will be addressed through funded scoping studies, and will be incorporated in future (two-yearly) iterations of the Investment Plan along with five-yearly reviews of the Research Infrastructure Roadmap,” Professor Holmes said.

“The Academy looks forward to receiving further detail and certainty.

“Upgrading, expanding and connecting many of Australia’s research facilities remains critical to allow the research community to continue seeking solutions to some of our most pressing challenges in industry, agriculture, health and environment,” Professor Holmes said.

Five Academy Fellows and one Academy Corresponding Member have been elected to the Royal Society of London.

Professor Frank Caruso FAA FRS is a Melbourne Laureate Professor and an NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow at The University of Melbourne. He is Deputy Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Convergent Bio-Nano Science and Technology. He received his PhD in 1994 from The University of Melbourne and thereafter conducted postdoctoral research at CSIRO Division of Chemicals and Polymers. From 1997–2002, he was an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow and group leader at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces. Since 2003, he has been a professor at The University of Melbourne and has held ARC Federation and ARC Australian Laureate Fellowships. He was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2009 and was awarded the CSIRO Eureka Prize for Leadership in Science in 2013. He has published over 400 peer-reviewed papers and was on Thomson Reuters’ 2014 list of World's Most Influential Scientific Minds. He is an Executive Editor of ACS Chemistry of Materials and is on the Editorial Advisory Board of ten other scientific journals.

Professor Graeme Jameson AO FAA FRS FTSE is a Laureate Professor of the University of Newcastle, Australia. His special interest is the mechanics of multiphase systems, especially the interaction of bubbles and particles in suspensions. He has a BSc from the University of New South Wales and a PhD from the University of Cambridge, both in Chemical Engineering. His focus is the froth flotation process for the recovery of valuable minerals from finely-ground ores. His researches led to the introduction of a radical new device, the Jameson Cell, for the recovery of very fine particles, and more recently, a new way of recovering coarse particles. He has won numerous awards, including the Ian Wark Medal of the Australian Academy of Science, the Gaudin Award of the US Society of Metallurgical Engineers, and the Prime Minister’s Science Prize for Innovation. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the US National Academy of Engineering, the Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering. He is an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO).

Professor Ingrid Scheffer AO FAA FRS is an Australian clinician-scientist whose work as a paediatric neurologist and epileptologist has transformed understanding of epilepsy. She has defined many new epilepsy syndromes, and her work led directly to the identification of the first gene for epilepsy in 1995, and many epilepsy genes subsequently. In 2017, she led the first major revision of the classification of the epilepsies in 28 years, the major tool worldwide for the diagnosis and management of people with epilepsy. Her collaborative work has led to a deeper understanding of the biology of seizures and revolutionised scientific approaches to these disorders. Her clinical focus has shed light on the myriad of co-morbidities seen in people with epilepsy, particularly the severe infantile and childhood developmental and epileptic encephalopathies which often carry a poor prognosis. In 2014, she was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia and, in the same year, she won the Australian Prime Minister’s Prize for Science with Samuel Berkovic FRS. In 2012, she was awarded the L’Oreal-UNESCO Women in Science Laureate for the Asia-Pacific region. She is the founding Vice-President of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.

Professor Michelle Simmons FAA FRS FTSE is a UNSW Sydney Laureate Fellow and Director of the Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology. She has pioneered unique technologies to build electronic devices at the atomic scale, pushing the boundaries of global research in classical computing and opening up the prospect of developing a silicon-based quantum computer: a powerful new form of computing with the potential to transform information processing. She has received Federation and Laureate Fellowships, been named NSW Scientist of the Year and awarded the CSIRO Eureka Prize for Science Leadership. Recognised with the Pawsey and Lyle Medals from the Australian Academy of Science she was, upon her appointment, one of the youngest fellows of this Academy. In 2014 she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was awarded the Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology for ‘the creation of the new field of atomic-electronics’ in 2016. Recognised as a pioneer in quantum computing by the American Computer Museum, she is Editor-in-Chief of Nature Quantum Information and was the 2017 L’ORÉAL-UNESCO Asia-Pacific Laureate. She is currently the 2018 Australian of the Year.

Professor Peter Visscher FAA FRS is a quantitative geneticist who studies trait variation in populations. He has developed and applied statistical analysis methods to quantify and dissect the contribution of DNA polymorphisms to variation between individuals, thereby demonstrating the pervasiveness of polygenicity and pleiotropy for quantitative traits and risk of common diseases. His research has applications in medicine, evolutionary biology and agriculture. Peter trained in quantitative genetics at the University of Edinburgh and is currently Professor of Quantitative Genetics at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. He is an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council Senior Principal Research Fellow and was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2010.

Professor Jillian Banfield FAA FRS is an earth scientist who studies the structure, functioning and diversity of microbial communities in natural environments and the human microbiome. Her laboratory and collaborators pioneered the reconstruction of genomes from natural ecosystems and community metaproteomic analyses. Through genomics, her group has provided insights into previously unknown and little known bacterial and archaeal lineages, leading to a new rendition of the Tree of Life. She has conducted extensive research on natural and synthetic nanomaterials, exploring the impacts of particle size on their structure, properties and reactivity. Her lab described the oriented attachment-based mechanism for growth of nanoparticles and its implications for development of defect microstructures. She has also studied microorganism-mineral interactions, including those that lead to production of nanomaterials. Jill is a Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, USA, with appointments in the Earth Science, Ecosystem Science and Materials Science and Engineering departments. She leads the Microbial Research initiative within the Innovative Genomics Institute, is affiliated with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and has a position at the University of Melbourne, Australia. She is a Corresponding Member of the Australian Academy of Science.

The six are among 50 new Fellows from across the Commonwealth of Nations. They attended a ceremony in London to accept their election, alongside South African engineer and inventor, Elon Musk.

The Fellowship of the Royal Society are the most eminent scientists, engineers and technologists from or living and working in the UK and the Commonwealth. Each year up to 52 Fellows and up to 10 Foreign Members are elected from a group of about 700 candidates.