With the announcment of the Regional Collaborations Programme, scientists working on grand challenges in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region will have access to $3.2 million of new funding.

Applicants must be an Australian research organisation or Australian business, and eligible projects must address a shared regional challenge; demonstrate benefit to Australia; include at least 2 non-Australian partners; have evidence of being able to match funding provided with cash contributions of equal value; and feature workshop and mobility components.

The Regional Collaborations Programme is supported by the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, and it is one of four initiatives funded by the National Innovation and Science Agenda’s Global Innovation Strategy.

Scientists working on grand challenges in Australia and the Asia–Pacific region will have access to $3.2 million of new funding to promote international research collaborations.

Organisations and businesses conducting research on issues of mutual interest will be eligible to apply, including but not limited to work on aging populations, biosecurity, disaster resilience, food security, and energy.

The Academy of Science will administer the Regional Collaborations Programme, which was announced today by the Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, the Hon Greg Hunt MP, before his attendance at the G20 Science, Technology and Innovation Ministerial Meeting in China this week.

President of the Australian Academy of Science, Professor Andrew Holmes, said the programme would allow for exciting new developments in vital areas of research.

“Australia shares so many of the challenges and issues facing the Asia–Pacific region,” Professor Holmes said.

“By working collaboratively, research organisations, universities and R&D-intensive businesses can make great strides towards finding innovative solutions to some of the biggest issues facing this part of the world.

“If Australia sets itself apart as a leader in collaborative research, the benefits for our domestic economy, our improved relationship with the Asia-Pacific region, and the resulting contributions to global research will be immense.”

He said the programme had no official funding limit for projects or priority area of research, which allowed applicants to be flexible and visionary in their work.

Eligible projects will address a shared regional challenge; demonstrate benefit to Australia; include at least 2 non-Australian partners; have evidence of being able to match funding provided with cash contributions of equal value; and feature workshop and mobility components.

Applicants must be an Australian research organisation or Australian business.

More information on eligibility and arrangements

The Regional Collaborations Programme is supported by the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science. It is one of four initiatives funded by the National Innovation and Science Agenda’s Global Innovation Strategy.

Contact: Dion Pretorius |  (02) 6201 9452  |  0418281777  |  dion.pretorius@science.org.au

The Academy wishes to congratulate Robyn Williams FAA, who has been presented with the Lifetime of Conservation Award by the Australian Geographic Society.

The Australian Geographic Society said he was being recognised for promoting science and conservation during more than 30 years in broadcast radio. Hosting the ABC’s Science Show, Robyn estimates that during his career he has made 2040 broadcasts, covering 14,280 stories and 7140 interviews with experts.

Robyn has also conducted interviews on ABC programs such as Quantum and Catalyst, narrated the Nature of Australia series and appeared in World Safari with David Attenborough.

The Academy spoke with Robyn about the award and how he has approached the idea of conservation in his work and personal life.

For more information on the Australian Geographic Society’s 2017 Awards, head to their website.

The Australian Academy of Science wishes to congratulate all of the deserving recipients of the 2016 Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science.

Academy Fellow, Professor Richard Shine, was awarded the top honour—the 2016 Prime Minister’s Prize for Science—for his work on reptiles. His research explores reptilian behaviours and their applicability to wider understandings of vertebrate evolution; the roles and importance of reptiles in ecosystems; and discoveries in cane toad biology that have led to new understandings of invasive behaviours and controlling their population.

The 2014 recipient of the Academy’s Le Fèvre Memorial Prize, Professor Richard Payne, was also among those awarded. He received the 2016 Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year.

The 2016 Awardees are:

The Prime Minister’s Prize for Science

• Professor Richard Shine AM FAA, University of Sydney

The Prime Minister’s Prize for Innovation

• Professor Michael Aitken AM, Capital Markets CRC

The Frank Fenner Prize for Life Scientist of the Year

• Associate Professor Kerrie Wilson, University of Queensland

The Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year

• Professor Richard Payne, University of Sydney

The Prime Minister's Prize for New Innovators

• Dr Colin Hall, University of South Australia

The Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Primary Schools

• Mr Gary Tilley, Seaforth Public School, NSW

The Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Secondary Schools

• Miss Suzy Urbaniak, Kent Street Senior High School, WA

Schools Principals (receiving Certificates of Recognition)

• Mr Bernard Cheng, Seaforth Public School NSW
• Ms Kath Ward, Kent Street Senior School WA

Highly Commended – Primary (receiving Highly Commended Certificates)

• Mrs Danielle Spencer, Mitchelton State School, QLD
• Mrs Tameika Munday, Burnie Primary School, TAS

Highly Commended – Secondary (receiving Highly Commended Certificates)

• Mr Brett Mckay, Kirrawee High School, NSW
• Ms Nirupma Kumar, Holroyd High School, NSW
• Mrs Cherine Spirou, Fairvale High School, NSW

The Australian Academy of Science congratulates all those awarded honours this year, as their work is a reflection of the inspiring achievements being accomplished by STEM professionals across Australia. For more information on the awards and recipients, visit the Prime Minister’s Prizes website.

The Executive Committee for the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Alumni Association in Australia has been elected.

Following the Association’s first meeting at the Shine Dome in Canberra, the following members have been elected:

• President, A/Professor Graziella Caprarelli, University of South Australia
• Vice-President, A/Professor Graeme Allinson, RMIT University
• Treasurer, Dr Chunlu Liu, Deakin University
• Secretary, Dr Ruth Eriksen, University of Tasmania
• Ordinary Members:
  • Dr Shokoofeh Shamsi, Charles Sturt University (NSW/ACT)
  • Dr Patricia Vickers-Rich, Monash University (VIC/TAS)
  • Professor Peter Koopman, University of Queensland (QLD/NT)
  • Dr Mandy Walker, CSIRO (SA/WA)

The Chair of the Association’s organising committee, Professor Peter Koopman FAA, said the geographical, gender and discipline diversity amongst the Executive Committee was reflective of the wide variety of alumni who have been part of JSPS programs over the years.

Click here to register to become a member of the JSPS Alumni Association in Australia. 

Members of the scientific community gathered at the Shine Dome in Canberra to celebrate the work of Professor Peter Doherty, marking the 20th anniversary of his Nobel Prize in Medicine.

Professor Doherty has been a leading researcher in the field of immunology for much of his career and was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1996 for his “discoveries concerning the specificity of the cell mediated immune defence”.

At the event today he was joined by some of Australia’s leading scientists, receiving congratulatory messages from Australian Nobel laureates Professor Brian Schmidt and Professor Barry Marshall.

An advocate for immunisation and Patron of the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Professor Doherty also helped to launch the Academy of Science’s booklet The Science of Immunisation: Questions and Answers.

He said he was proud to be a Fellow of the Academy and hoped that Australian science would more prominently feature in discussion within the public domain. 

Minister for Health the Hon Sussan Ley MP has today joined the presidents of the Australian Medical Association and the Australian Academy of Science, Nobel Laureate Professor Peter Doherty and paediatrician Dr Michael Freelander MP to launch The Science of Immunisation: Questions and Answers.

President of the Australian Academy of Science, Professor Andrew Holmes, said 72,000 copies of the revised and updated booklet that was first published in 2011 had been distributed to locations in every State and Territory in response to renewed concerns around immunisation.

“An ungrounded fear of immunising children against disease still exists in parts the community, which can be addressed by better education and understanding,” said Professor Holmes today at Parliament House in Canberra today.

“With this booklet, all of the latest science is presented in a simple and impartial manner,” he said.

Questions answered in The Science of Immunisation: Questions and Answers include:

• What is immunisation?
• What is in a vaccine?
• Who benefits from vaccines?
• Are vaccines safe?
• How are vaccines shown to be safe?
• What does the future hold for vaccination?

“This booklet gives anyone the ability to learn more and provides access to the most up-to-date information from some of Australia’s leading researchers in immunology,” Professor Holmes said.

One of these researchers, Professor Peter Doherty, was presented with the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1996 for his contributions to the science of immunisation. As he marks the 20th anniversary of his Nobel Prize, he has echoed the call for Australians anxious about immunisation to reach out for more information to understand how beneficial immunity is to communities.

“There is cutting edge research in immunisation being done all over the world, which may unlock ways to prevent diseases like the Zika virus, Alzheimer’s disease and much more,” Professor Holmes said.

“With a community that is informed and passionate about immunisation, we can hope to continue the good work generations of scientists like Professor Doherty achieved in the past, eliminating some of the world’s most challenging and damaging diseases.”

The booklet is available online, and hard copies will also be distributed to doctors’ offices, clinics and other locations where immunisations are carried out across the country.

The reprinting and distribution of the booklet is supported by the Department of Health.

Professor Holmes will be available for interview, contact Dion Pretorius on 0418 281 777 to arrange.

Academy Fellow, Professor Michelle Simmons FAA, has been announced as the L’oreal–UNESCO Asia–Pacific Woman in Science for 2017.

The UNSW Australia scientist is recognised for her ‘pioneering contributions to quantum and atomic electronics, constructing atomic transistors en route to quantum computers’. Professor Simmons leads the six-university ARC Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology.

In 2005 Professor Simmons was awarded the Pawsey Medal by the Academy and was elected one of the youngest Fellows of the Academy in 2006. In 2012 she was named NSW Scientist of the Year and in 2014 became a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Science. In 2015, Professor Simmons was awarded the Academy’s Thomas Ranken Lyle Medal and won the Eureka Prize for Leadership in Science.

Professor Simmons joins four other women scientists representing Africa and the Arab States, Europe, Latin America and North America. Each of the awardees will receive €100,000, to be presented in Paris in March 2017.​

The Australian Academy of Science has announced Professor Barry Ninham AO FAA as the recipient of the Matthew Flinders Medal and Lecture—one of Australia’s most prestigious honours for work in the physical sciences.

Professor Ninham is the world’s leading researcher in colloid and surface science, an interdisciplinary science where the physical, chemical and biological sciences meet. Among pioneering contributions to the natural sciences, his best known work is that in the self-assembly of biological molecules and in the theory of molecular forces.

Professor Ninham and his team have developed world first technologies for desalination and to clean recycled water of bacteria, viruses, drugs, and other impurities such as arsenic and nuclear waste. Compared to current technologies the new methods are much simpler and substantially cheaper.

The Matthew Flinders Medal, which was named after one of Australia’s early scientific researchers, is presented every two years to Australia’s most influential and inspiring scientists working in the physical sciences.

Professor Ninham will be presented the with the medal at Science at the Shine Dome in 2017, where he will deliver a lecture to leaders in the Australian scientific community.

The Australian Academy of Science has announced Professor Barry Ninham AO FAA as the recipient of the Matthew Flinders Award and lecture – one of Australia’s most prestigious honours for work in the physical sciences.

Professor Ninham is the world’s leading researcher in colloid and surface science, an interdisciplinary science where the physical, chemical and biological sciences meet. Among pioneering contributions to the natural sciences, his best known work is that in the self-assembly of biological molecules and in the theory of molecular forces.

Professor Ninham and his team have developed world first technologies for desalination and to clean recycled water of bacteria, viruses, drugs, and other impurities such as arsenic and nuclear waste. Compared to current technologies the new methods are much simpler and substantially cheaper.

Professor Ninham and his colleagues have formed RENEWater.  This new venture is working with UNSW and industry to take the technology to the third world, disaster zones and anywhere clean water is difficult to obtain.  It is expected that these technologies will have significant commercial applications.

Professor Andrew Holmes, President of the Australian Academy of Science, says awarding the Medal to Professor Ninham was just a small recognition of the vast impact his work has had in science and research around the globe.

“He has achieved so much in his field, it is hard to measure his impact,” said Professor Holmes.

“Over his career, he has published hundreds of research papers which have profoundly influenced the way scientists approach work in their field.”

“Professor Ninham also founded the Department of Applied Mathematics at the Australian National University in 1970, bringing theoreticians and experimentalists together for the first time in Australia.”

Professor Holmes said the department was one of the most prestigious in the country, having produced more than 100 professors in its esteemed history.

The Matthew Flinders Medal, which was named after one of Australia’s early scientific researchers, is presented every two years to Australia’s most influential and inspiring scientists working in the physical sciences.

Professor Ninham will be presented the Medal at Science at the Shine Dome in 2017, where he will deliver a lecture to leaders in the Australian scientific community.

Professor Ninham joins other recipients such as Professor Frank Fenner AC CMG MBE FAA FRS, Sir Mark Laurence Oliphant AC KBE FAA FRS FTSE, and Professor Joseph Lade Pawsey FAA FRS.

Professor Barry Ninham is available for interview on Wednesday 28 September, please contact Dion Pretorius on 0418281777 to arrange.