Australia has a rich and vibrant scientific heritage that spans decades of innovation, exploration, and discovery.

From the groundbreaking research of our pioneering scientists to the cutting-edge discoveries of today's researchers, our nation's scientific legacy is a testament to the power of curiosity, dedication, and ingenuity.

The Academy’s Library and Archives hold significant histories of mid-century Australian science collections in the world, with many thousands of rare and unique items.

These intellectual treasures—often hidden behind locked doors—reveal the development of scientific thinking responsible for shaping our modern world.

Through meticulous digitisation of archival materials and recording conversations with Australian scientists, we are preserving history whilst providing future generations with access to critical insights and discoveries.

With support from donors, we have digitised almost 30,000 items now freely accessible and capturing the exciting stories from the history of Australian science, research, and innovation.

We have recorded interviews with nearly 150 researchers and captured the remarkable stories of Australian scientists and their firsthand accounts of breakthroughs, challenges, and the evolution of scientific thought, enriching our understanding of Australia's scientific landscape.

There are still many fascinating and essential stories yet to be told.

Now in our 70th year, we want to bring many more of these stories and our collections to life.

Through preserving Australia's scientific legacy your donation will support:

Digitisation of the archives: to collect, manage and preserve items of scientific importance that hold intrinsic value in Australia’s history.

Recording conversations with Australian scientists: in these interviews, outstanding Australian scientists talk about their early life, development of interest in science, mentors, research work and other aspects of their careers.

This important work will strengthen our collection and help to ensure that our library and archives continues to be a trusted, extensive and distinguished source of scientific history in Australia.

We invite you to read some of our recently digitised material online including the incredible story of rare manuscripts and photographs that tell the story of early Australian Antarctic exploration and ‘Smallpox that was a monster’ through the esteemed work of Professor Frank Fenner AC CMG MBE FAA FRS.

Some of our collections are also made available through Trove, the National Library of Australia’s collection platform.

We hope you will consider a gift to support and preserve Australia’s scientific legacy and help us to bring more of our collections and conversations online, for everyone.

Donate to support the Academy’s work

The confidence and capability of the nation’s primary school teachers to deliver Australia’s science and mathematics curriculum is set to receive a huge boost, thanks to new evidence-based digital educative resources developed by the Australian Academy of Science.

The interactive and free online teaching toolboxes, funded by the Australian Government, were officially launched by Federal Education Minister the Hon. Jason Clare MP at Hughes Primary School in Canberra.

The Academy’s Secretary for Education and Public Awareness, Professor Lyn Beazley, outlined why the new science (Primary Connections) and mathematics (reSolve) resources were needed.

“Today’s teachers work so hard, but they are extremely time–poor, with many competing demands—this can lead to teachers preparing for what their students need to know, rather than designing how students will best learn,” Professor Beazley said.

“Existing resources for primary school teachers aren’t always meeting their needs and can mean that teachers don’t have the opportunity to fully develop their own expertise. This is where the Academy’s new resources are different.”

Research conducted by the Academy to inform the development of the new resources also found current teacher professional learning programs may be disconnected from the reality of the classroom.

“With shifts in the education environment—amplified by the recent pandemic and rapid advancements in technology—we saw an opportunity to rethink our education programs through new delivery mechanisms and models,” Professor Beazley said.

The Academy’s President, Professor Chennupati Jagadish, said the new resources focus on supporting teachers to build their students’ science knowledge and maths proficiency along with boosting the teacher’s own professional learning.

“The Primary Connections and reSolve resources are a reimagining of how professional learning can be delivered to support teachers to build their capability and confidence,” Professor Jagadish said.

“The resources are full of research-based strategies to build teachers’ knowledge for teaching science and mathematics and can be adapted to meet the needs of the range of learners in the classroom,” Professor Jagadish said.

The Australian Academy of Science has begun a national roadshow to demonstrate the new resources to teachers, education departments and organisations, and students studying to enter the profession, starting with the Northern Territory earlier this month.

Find out more about the resources here.

The Academy’s history of developing innovative, education resources reaches back to 1967 with the Web of Life textbook, which was viewed as the most successful curriculum development project of its time in the world.

For the past 20 years, the Academy’s Primary Connections program has been a favourite among primary school educators. Together with the Academy’s reSolve mathematics program, these resources attract over half a million visits and nearly 400,000 downloads annually.

Supported by Emeritus Professor Cheryl Praeger AC FAA and Dr John Henstridge

At the heart of the Academy’s mission is a commitment to advancing Australia as a nation that embraces scientific knowledge and contributes significantly to global scientific endeavours. For many years, the Academy has fostered international collaboration at all levels of research within regional and global science networks.

To support these endeavours, we are very pleased to announce the establishment of the Early Career Scientists International Fund, made possible by a leadership gift from Emeritus Professor Cheryl Praeger AC FAA and Dr John Henstridge.

The primary focus of the program is investing in learning opportunities for graduate students and young researchers from the Asia-Pacific to travel to Australia and to help elevate the voice and profiles of young scientists in the region. Through these engagements, participants will have the chance to enhance research capabilities and foster international collaborative links.

The inaugural recipients will have the unique opportunity to attend Science at the Shine Dome 2024.

This prestigious event will provide them with invaluable experiences, including participation in early career-focused events, engaging with Academy Fellows and networking with other sector professionals.

“We both felt that we had benefited from our educational opportunities and see this as a means of giving back to the science community which had supported our career pathways. We have had many links with mathematicians in Southeast Asia and believe that Australia has an important role in strengthening science across the region,” Cheryl and John said.

Established as part of the Academy’s investment portfolio, the Fund is designed to ensure the longevity and sustainability of their donation to ensure support for early career scientists into the future.

We asked Cheryl and John about the Fund and its mission to other potential donors.

“Science and, for us, especially the mathematical sciences, are important to our society in numerous ways, underpinning all technological advances and helping us respond to global challenges. We have benefited from the training and resources which allowed us to pursue careers in mathematics and statistics, and also both of us have interacted with numerous young scientists internationally, particularly from our region.”

During Cheryl’s term as Academy Foreign Secretary, she saw that discretionary funding directed at supporting young scientists in our region could lead to successful links between those young people and their Australian colleagues, and also between the Academy and other national academies in our region.

“We were pleased to have the opportunity of giving to the Australian Academy of Science, and we were delighted with the Academy’s suggestion that an Early Career Scientists International Fund be established, building on our donation, to provide an effective way of supporting young scientists in our region in an ongoing way. 

“We suggest that other people who feel similarly to us might consider donating to support the mission of the Early Career Scientists International Fund.”

This act of generosity has already gone on to inspire others – including a gift from the President of the Australian Academy of Science, Professor Chennupati Jagadish AC PresAA FREng FTSE, and Dr Vidya Jagadish. Their combined support will help to bolster the Fund, and collectively have greater reach and impact.

The launch of the Early Career Scientists International Fund is an important step towards our commitment to fostering scientific excellence, collaboration and providing opportunities for early career scientists in the Asia-Pacific region.

We thank Cheryl and John, and Jagadish and Vidya for their visionary leadership and generous support.

About Professor Praeger and Dr Henstridge

Professor Cheryl Praeger has established an enviable reputation for her highly original research in the theory of permutation groups, both finite and infinite, in algorithmic group theory, in graph theory, and in other combinatorial theories.

Cheryl was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 1996 and served as Foreign Secretary from 2014 to 2018.

Cheryl has run mentoring programs for women in mathematics and was a long-serving board member of the Australian Mathematics Trust and chair of the Australian Mathematical Olympiad Committee. She has received numerous awards including the Prime Minister’s Prize for Science and was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia in 1999 and a Companion in 2021 for her eminent service to mathematics, and to tertiary education, as a leading academic and researcher, to international organisations, and as a champion of women in STEM careers.

Dr John Henstridge is one of Australia’s most eminent statisticians. In a career spanning 40 years, he has been recognised as a national leader in developing solutions to real world data problems, through modern technology and innovative statistics.

John founded Data Analysis Australia in 1988 and has managed the company’s growth into the largest commercial group of statisticians and mathematicians in Australia. He has held the position of National President with the Statistical Society of Australia (where he was also recognised for his work with young statisticians) and is a Fellow and Chartered Statistician with the Royal Statistical Society in the United Kingdom.

A gift in honour of our family

Cheryl’s father Eric changed his career path at the age of 40 when he studied to be a naturopath and chiropractor and left his job in the Commercial Bank of Australia in country Queensland to begin work with Maurice Blackmore’s Naturopathic Clinic in Brisbane in the CBD. Cheryl was then 14. 

He’d had to leave school when he was aged 14 as his father had died and there was not enough money to allow him to finish school. 

After service during WWII he returned to the bank, as by then he was married, and it was the natural thing to do. But he was never happy in the bank, and becoming a chiropractor was really his calling in life. Maurice Blackmore was his professional mentor. 

While working in the Blackmore clinic, or sometime afterwards when he was in his own practice, the vitamin and mineral remedies (which were developed by Blackmore, and had been available only via individual practitioners) were produced more systematically as Blackmore’s remedies, and Eric became the Secretary of the new Blackmores Naturopathic Organisation Pty Limited. 

The company was successful, and when it became a public company Blackmores Laboratories Limited in 1985, Cheryl’s parents gave their children and grandchildren some shares. Eventually after Cheryl’s parents’ deaths she inherited one third of the shares owned by her parents, and in 2023, Blackmores was bought by a Japanese firm, and family members had to sell all their shares at that time.

Cheryl therefore had a strong loyalty to the Blackmore company and had not contemplated selling her shares, so the sale of the company was quite an unexpected thing for her. And so, the donation to the new Fund honours Cheryl’s father Eric. It also honours Cheryl’s mother Queenie who had been her champion in gaining permission for her to finish school. It had been Queenie’s wish that one of her children should go to “the university”.

Queenie also had to leave school at age 15 because her father had been off work for more than a year with rheumatic fever, and when he was well there were no jobs because of the great depression. So there was no experience within Cheryl’s immediate family of university education, or even finishing high school. 

Eric had thought that commercial skills were what Cheryl should learn, and after 18 months of discussions, with Queenie supporting Cheryl’s wish to study science, she was allowed to go into the academic stream in junior high school, and ultimately to complete her 12 years of schooling. The rest is history!

Written by Emeritus Professor Cheryl Praeger AC FAA and Dr John Henstridge together with the Australian Academy of Science.

Donate to support the Academy’s work

We are pleased to announce Merck has joined the Falling Walls Lab Australia 2024 Partnership Program.

Falling Walls Lab Australia provides a platform for talented researchers, entrepreneurs, and innovators to showcase their groundbreaking ideas and projects to a national and global audience.

Through a series of regional and national events, participants present their innovative concepts to a distinguished panel of experts and compete for a spot in the global Falling Walls Lab Finale in Berlin.

As a global leader in science and technology, Merck brings invaluable support to the Falling Walls Lab Australia Partnership Program helping to foster career-enhancing opportunities for young Australian scientists.

Through this partnership, Merck is helping to drive innovation, advance scientific discovery and empower the next generation of innovators to contribute to solving some of the world’s most pressing challenges.

Josie Downey, Managing Director, Merck Healthcare Australia and New Zealand has welcomed the opportunity to partner with the Australian Academy of Science to build excitement about science and technology.

“At Merck, we know the importance of encouraging the next generation of science leaders. That’s why we are pleased to lend our support to the Falling Walls initiative. Innovation is ultimately driven by people—by joining forces to spark excitement in science and technology here and around the world, we can harness the brightest minds to tackle the greatest challenges in healthcare for a more sustainable tomorrow,” Ms Downey added.

Falling Walls Lab 2023 was a great success, and we were delighted when winner of the Australian Falling Walls Lab, Dr Emma-Anne Karlsen of the University of Queensland, was placed third in the global competition in Berlin.

In 2024, the Australian Falling Walls Lab Finale will take place on Friday 30 August at the Shine Dome in Canberra.

Merck will be joining as Falling Walls Lab partners for the next four years. They join our long-term partners, the German Embassy in Canberra and EURAXESS Australia and New Zealand.

We are grateful to our partners for their valued support to showcase the innovative research of some of Australia’s brightest young minds.

Read more about Falling Walls Lab.

Three Academy Fellows have been recognised for their outstanding contributions to science, innovation and mentorship by being named on the 2024 King’s Birthday Honours List.

Professor John Furness AO FAA FAHMS

Professor Furness receives his AO “for distinguished service to medical research in the field of autonomic neuroscience and neurogastroenterology”.

Elected to the Academy in 1989, Professor Furness is a leading expert on digestive and autonomic nervous system research and is responsible for identifying the intrinsic sensory neurons of the digestive tract.

He introduced a chemical coding hypothesis which led to the identification of the different neuronal types that control the gastrointestinal tract.

He is currently a research scientist at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health and the Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience at the University of Melbourne, where he has been since 1990.

Professor Thomas Maschmeyer AO FAA FTSE

Professor Maschmeyer receives his AO “for distinguished service to science as a researcher, innovator and educator, and business through pioneering commercial technologies”.

Professor Maschmeyer was awarded the Prime Minister’s Prize for Innovation (2020) for translating his fundamental research into two pioneering technologies that address urgent global challenges, including climate change and resource limitations.

He invented a new, efficient way to convert renewable and plastic waste inputs into their constituent chemical materials for reuse, contributing to overcoming the challenge of waste recycling.

Professor Maschmeyer has also reimagined zinc-bromide chemistry to develop a completely new solar energy battery technology, making renewable energy safer and cheaper.

Elected to the Academy in 2011, Professor Maschmeyer cofounded two companies (Licella and Gelion) that continue to develop these technologies, which are now used globally.

He was the recipient of the Academy’s David Craig Medal (2021) and Le Fevre Memorial Prize (2007).

Professor Kate Smith-Miles AO FAA

Professor Smith-Miles receives her AO “for distinguished service to tertiary education, to applied mathematical research, and as a role model and advocate for women in STEM”.

Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research Capability) of the University of Melbourne, Professor Smith-Miles is known for developing the mathematical methodology for stress-testing algorithms, providing a much-needed solution to the long-standing problem of algorithmic trust.

Elected to the Academy in 2022, Professor Smith-Miles has also developed the Instance Space Analysis tool for researchers to explore the strengths and weaknesses of their own algorithms.

She is also actively involved in mentoring and is an advocate for encouraging women to participate in mathematics, having been Chair of the Advisory Board for the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute (AMSI) Choose Maths program from 2016 to 2021. 

Future Earth Australia has been announced as Australia’s new representative on the Belmont Forum, an international body dedicated to funding environmental and sustainability collaborations.

Future Earth Australia co-chair Dr Jemma Purandare said the group’s membership of the Belmont Forum is a long-awaited strategic partnership that will see both organisations work collaboratively to drive progress in sustainability.

“This is an exciting new chapter for Future Earth Australia, and we are excited to be able to bring our members and partners along with us,” Dr Purandare said.

“It also opens the door to new funding opportunities for Australian researchers.”

As a member of the Belmont Forum, Australian researchers gain access to a dynamic international network, fostering transdisciplinary partnerships and amplifying the impact of their work.

The Belmont Forum was established in 2009 as a partnership of funding organisations, international science councils and regional consortia.

Global networks

The Forum uses its global networks to mobilise the funding of transdisciplinary research and accelerate its delivery to remove critical barriers to sustainability.

It has supported the commitment of A$382 million across 177 projects, averaging $13 million per collaborative research action call and $1.26 million per funded project.

Dr Nicole Arbour, the Executive Director of the Belmont Forum, welcomed Future Earth Australia’s membership of the Forum.

“Future Earth Australia will be taking on the responsibility from CSIRO, which has represented the invaluable perspectives and expertise of Australian researchers since the forum’s inception,” Dr Arbour said.

“This relationship transition will enrich our joint efforts towards addressing global environmental challenges.

“We are pleased to be working with Future Earth Australia and the Australian Academy of Science towards the delivery of the Belmont Forum Challenge, so that we can safeguard our planet for generations to come.”

The Belmont Challenge is a funders’ vision for the guiding mission of the Belmont Forum—focused on international transdisciplinary research that provides knowledge for understanding, mitigating and adapting to global environmental change.

About Future Earth Australia

Future Earth Australia is a national platform that connects researchers, governments, industry and society to support sustainability transitions, hosted by the Australian Academy of Science.

Future Earth Australia is currently accepting new members.

Professor H Vincent Poor and Professor Eric Warrant join the likes of Sir David Attenborough, Nobel Laureates Professor Elizabeth Blackburn and Sir Fraser Stoddard as Corresponding Members of the Australian Academy of Science in 2024.

Professor H Vincent Poor FAA (United States)

Professor H Vincent Poor has been recognised for his pioneering research in communication theory, signal processing, and wireless networks. He is currently the Michael Henry Strater University Professor at Princeton, where he is working on several projects to improve our understanding of the relationship between machine learning and wireless networks. Of particular interest to him is the use of wireless platforms for machine learning based on data collected at the edges of wireless networks – work that will contribute to the advancement of the next generation of wireless networks by enabling the use of artificial intelligence throughout such networks, which will in turn stimulate many applications accessible to the billions of users of wireless technology.

“I came of age during the 1960s when the US was developing the technologies to take humans to the moon. This was a time when science and technology were very much at the forefront of public consciousness, and this motivated me and many of my peers to pursue engineering,” Professor Poor said of his motivation to become a scientist.  

“I have had rich collaborations with Australian colleagues at many Australian universities and research organisations, spanning almost 40 years. Needless to say, it is a great honor to be recognised for this work,” Professor Poor said of his election to the Academy.

Professor Eric Warrant FAA (Sweden)

Professor Eric Warrant is a Professor of Zoology, Head of the Lund Vision Group, and Head of the Division of Sensory Biology at Lund University. An Australian by birth currently residing in Sweden, Professor Warrant leads an active research group studying vision and visual navigation in nocturnal and deep-sea animals. Through an interdisciplinary approach, Professor Warrant has shed light on the visual strategies employed by nocturnal creatures, from insects to mammals, to thrive in very dim light conditions.

Professor Warrant credits his upbringing in Gosford, north of Sydney, as the first source of inspiration for him to pursue a career in entomology.

“Ours was the home of clouds of screeching rosellas racing through the dense canopy above and of bell birds, whose incessant soft calls mimic the ringing of tiny bells. But above all it was a world of insects, and I became increasingly fascinated by them,” he recalls.

Professor Warrant says his career in science was ever more enriched by the connections he built with colleagues, peers, and mentors.

“Thinking back to those early years it wasn’t clear to me back then just how much my early teachers, supervisors and mentors did to pave my path forward – and to give me those opportunities that invariably change and enrich a life.”

Professor Warrant is Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University and Adjunct Professor at the University of South Australia.

Corresponding Membership is a special category within the Fellowship, comprising eminent international scientists with strong ties to Australia who have made outstanding contributions to science. There are currently 38 Corresponding Members of the Academy.

Academy announces 2024 Fellows

An expert in spider venoms, a leader in plant science, an authority on star formation and an oncologist who has changed the way melanoma is treated are among 24 researchers elected as Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science. See the Academy's new Fellows for 2024.

An expert in spider venoms, a leader in plant science, an authority on star formation and an oncologist who has changed the way melanoma is treated are among 24 researchers elected as Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science.

President of the Academy Professor Chennupati Jagadish AC said it is a privilege to welcome new Fellows to the Academy each year.

“Despite my election to the Academy some 19 years ago, I still recall the deep satisfaction of being recognised for my contributions to science, and I know that our 24 Fellows are sure to be feeling the same.

“From the depths of Earth’s oceans to the edges of our galaxy, Fellows nominated to the Academy today represent the ground-breaking research happening in Australia.”

Newly elected Fellow Professor Glenn King from the University of Queensland has found spider venom to be an unlikely ally in his research career, demonstrating use of venom compounds as eco-friendly insecticides that are safe for humans and honeybees.

Now, Professor King is looking to use spider venom as a potential drug to treat ischaemic heart disease and stroke—the leading causes of death globally.

“We discovered a peptide in venom of the K’gari funnel-web spider that prevents brain injury after stroke, reduces cardiac damage after a heart attack, and improves the viability of donor hearts procured for transplantation,” Professor King said.

Also elected this year is Professor Roslyn Gleadow from Monash University, recognised as an international leader in plant science for her research on how plants respond to environmental changes. 

“Science has enabled me to make discoveries that help us understand the impact of climate change on food security, gain knowledge, and meet amazing people from around the world,” Professor Gleadow said.

From the depths of Earth’s oceans to the edges of our galaxy, Fellows nominated to the Academy today represent the ground-breaking research happening in Australia.

Professor Mark Krumholz, an astrophysicist from the Australian National University, said that from the time he was a child being a physicist always seemed like the next best thing to being a wizard.

Now, he has been elected to the Academy for his research on the way diffuse gas in our universe collects to form stars and galaxies—which may seem like magic but, according to Professor Krumholz, can be explained by mathematics.

“As soon I grasped the basic concept of using maths to represent reality, I knew I was going to be a scientist,” Professor Krumholz said.

Professor King, Professor Gleadow and Professor Krumholz are elected alongside Professor Georgina Long AO (University of Sydney), 2024 Australian of the Year, whose clinical trials into complex skin cancers with a particular focus on melanoma resulted in Australian Government funding for 10 new melanoma drugs. 

Professor Long said she looks forward to collaborating with colleagues and being a member of an Academy that makes a difference, not only locally in Australia but also internationally.

“In these times where there is an enormous level of data information, shared across multiple platforms, it is important that we put science and the truth at the centre of our work.”

The 24 Fellows have been elected to the Academy for their outstanding contributions to science across the spectrum of research disciplines.

“Nominated by their peers, Fellows of the Academy are recognised as leaders in their fields, having all made exceptional contributions to science throughout their careers,” Professor Jagadish said.

“The Academy brings the expertise of our Fellows together, to build a nation that embraces scientific knowledge, and benefits from it every day.”

2024 Fellows

The Academy’s new Fellows for 2024 are:

• Professor Nerilie Abram FAA, Climate Scientist, Australian National University
• Professor Andrew Blakers FAA FTSE, Engineer, Australian National University
• Professor Rachelle Buchbinder AO FAA FAHMS, Rheumatologist and Clinical Epidemiologist, Monash University
• Professor Kylie Catchpole FAA FTSE, Engineer, Australian National University
• Professor Louisa Degenhardt AO FAA FASSA FAHMS, Psychologist, University of New South Wales
• Professor Calum Drummond AO FAA FTSE, Molecular Scientist, RMIT University
• Emerita Professor Mary Garson AM FAA, Organic Chemist, University of Queensland
• Professor Arthur Georges FAA, Evolutionary Ecologist, University of Canberra
• Professor Roslyn Gleadow FAA, Plant Biologist, Monash University
• Professor Dmitri Golberg FAA, Physicist, Queensland University of Technology
• Professor Michael Kearney FAA, Ecologist, University of Melbourne
• Professor Matthew Kiernan AM FAA FAHMS, Neuroscientist, Neuroscience Research Australia
• Professor Glenn King FAA, Biochemist, University of Queensland
• Professor Mark Krumholz FAA, Physicist, Australian National University
• Emeritus Professor Zheng-Xiang Li FAA, Geoscientist, Curtin University
• Professor Georgina Long AO FAA FAHMS, Medical Oncologist, University of Sydney
• Professor Shahar Mendelson FAA, Mathematician, Australian National University
• Professor Budiman Minasny FAA, Soil Scientist, University of Sydney
• Professor Jose Polo FAA, Biochemist, University of Adelaide
• Professor Hrvoje Tkalčić FAA, Geophysicist, Australian National University
• Professor Gene Tyson FAA, Microbial Ecologist and Bioinformatician, Queensland University of Technology
• Professor Madeleine van Oppen FAA, Ecological Geneticist, Australian Institute of Marine Science
• Professor Lianzhou Wang FAA, Chemical Engineer, University of Queensland
• Professor Willy Zwaenepoel FAA FTSE, Computer Scientist, University of Sydney

The Academy's new Fellows will be formally admitted to the Academy on 9 September 2024 and present their science on 11 September at Science at the Shine Dome.

Find out more about each new Fellow.

More information

Following the 2024 election of our new Fellows, the Fellowship now stands at 616 Fellows.

Celebrating its 70th birthday this year, the Australian Academy of Science was founded in 1954 by Australian Fellows of the Royal Society of London, with the distinguished physicist Sir Mark Oliphant as founding President.

Find out more about criteria for election to the Academy and how to nominate a scientist for Fellowship.

Four Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science are among 90 outstanding scientists to be elected to the Royal Society today, in recognition of their invaluable contributions to science.

Recognised as leaders in their fields, the Academy Fellows elected to the Royal Society are:

• Professor Richard Hartley FAA FRS, from the Australian National University, elected for his scientific contributions to the field of computer vision and image understanding, which has resulted in a new area of research that led to the publication of hundreds of papers by many authors in the past decade
• Professor David Komander FAA FRS, from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI), elected for his leadership in the field of ubiquitylation, a key molecular pathway derailed in inherited Parkinson’s disease
• Professor Douglas MacFarlane FAA FTSE FRS from Monash University, elected for making extensive contributions to the field of materials chemistry, in particular the preparation and physical properties of new ionic materials
• Professor Ivan Marusic FAA FTSE FRS, from the University of Melbourne, elected as an internationally leading figure in the field of fluid mechanics, particularly for his discovery of ‘superstructures’ and uncovering the key role these large-scale motions play in wall turbulence.

In fields spanning all areas of science and technology – from biochemistry to artificial intelligence – Fellows elected to the Royal Society this year are from around the world including Brazil, China, Japan, Mexico and Singapore.

Founded in the mid-17th century, the Royal Society is a Fellowship of many of the world’s most eminent scientists and is the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence.

The pages of our national newspapers are littered with debate about the merits of the Albanese Government’s Future Made in Australia policy. Yet, the one factor that supporters and opponents equally ignore is that no matter your vision for the future, economic power in the 21st century correlates with scientific power.  

Only nations with strong, innovative science sectors that seek out new knowledge and understanding, work with industry, and are supported by government can prosper in the hypercompetitive world we live in.  The question is - does Australia possess the sovereign scientific capability to support our ambitions? 

Does our science and innovation system have the capacity and capability to underpin the energy transition we must make, to enable Australians to develop and adopt rapidly emerging new technologies, to support the health and medical needs of a growing and ageing population? And can it deliver the health and lifestyle advances we have come to expect?

The short answer is, we don’t know. 

The Australian Academy of Science is developing a ten-year plan – Australian Science, Australia’s Future: Science 2035 – that will identify critical gaps in our science capability, structures and policies, that if left unaddressed, will limit our national and global ambitions. 

The plan will equip governments and industry with the evidence they need to address capability gaps, direct resources strategically, and take a whole-of-system approach so Australia can confidently put its best foot forward. 

To date, Australia has prioritised short-term needs over preparing for our nation's changing needs. This means that our science and innovation system more closely resembles a patchwork of bandaids, rather than a finely calibrated system that is interconnected, responsive and resilient to change.  

This approach has delivered us Research and Development (R&D) investment across 14 portfolios and approximately 200 programs that operate largely in isolation. And a big slice of the R&D pie –the R&D Tax Incentive – is poorly targeted. Imagine running a business that doesn’t critically examine the effectiveness of an incentive that absorbs 25% ($3.2 billion and growing) of your operating budget. 

Any rigorous capability analysis must take a system-wide approach to examine policies, resources and structures across schools, universities, VET, science-based institutions, industry and government. That’s why we are convening stakeholders from a range of disciplines and sectors to evaluate system capability. 

If Australia gets this right, a strong science system that engages effectively with industry and government can diversify our economy making it more resistant to shock, add to productivity, provide sovereign capability that generates jobs, and improve our overall well-being.  

If you were rapidly falling behind the rest of the world in terms of R&D investment, as Australia is, you would at least want to be investing in activities that deliver best bang for buck.  

So, how we spend our $12 billion in annual R&D investment matters, but how and where we grow that investment, so we remain globally competitive, able to meet challenges and grasp new opportunities matters even more.

Australian Science, Australia’s Future: Science 2035 will help governments and others take a more targeted and informed approach.

This article was originally published in Innovation Aus.