67th Meeting of Nobel Laureates in Lindau dedicated to chemistry

Australian delegation to the 67th Nobel Laureates Meeting 25 June – 30 June 2017.

The inspiring Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings, held annually in Germany since 1951, introduce Nobel Prize winners in chemistry, physiology, medicine and physics to younger generations of scientists. From 2004 the Academy has supported an annual delegation of young Australian researchers, accompanied by a member of the Academy's Council. Since 2013, the Science and Industry Endowment Fund (SIEF) has provided SIEF-AAS Fellowships for up to 10 Australian-based early career scientists in specialist discipline years, and up to 15 in multidisciplinary years.

The 67th meeting of Nobel Laureates from 25 June to 30 June in the German city of Lindau focused on chemistry. The meeting was attended by 28 Nobel Laureates, as well as 420 young researchers who have been selected on a competitive basis from nearly 80 countries.

The young researchers participated in the week-long program that makes up the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings. These meetings give young researchers the opportunity to interact with their scientific heroes, exchange ideas, gain exposure to areas in their chosen disciplines and establish new contacts and networks with their peers. This year, Professor Maria Forsyth led a delegation of 9 outstanding young Australian scientists, all in the field of chemistry. The 2017 delegation of young scientists is:

• Michael Taylor—University of Queensland
• Siddulu Naidu Talapaneni—University of South Australia
• Vini Gautam—Australian National University
• Andrew Giltrap—University of Sydney
• Haihui Joy Jiang—University of Sydney
• Matthew Norris—Leibniz University Hannover (previously Flinders University)
• Jessica Pandohee—Edith Cowan University
• Joseph Richardson—University of Melbourne
• Andrew White—University of Queensland

During the meeting Vini Gautam had the opportunity to present her research, and Siddulu Naidu Talapaneni joined Nobel Laureates and others on stage for a panel discussion about game changing science (above). In addition, 4 of the delegates were selected by RiAus, Australia’s Science Channel, to be correspondents and report back on their experiences at the meeting. 

After the conclusion of the meeting, Professor Forsyth accompanied all 9 of the young scientists on a once in a lifetime study tour through Ulm, Stuttgart and Erlangen. This study tour is designed to expose the students to world class chemistry research and equipment, and is supported by the SIEF.

During the study tour they had the opportunity to visit many institutions, including but not limited to HIU Helmholtz- Institute for Electrochemical Energy Storage, Max Planck Institute and Hydrogenious Technologies, a start-up company that evolved from local research.

Further information

Email: lindau@science.org.au
Phone: +61 (0)2 6201 9484

This scheme is funded by the Science and industry Endowment Fund.

Important note regarding diversity of the Australian Lindau delegation
The Australian Academy of Science strives for gender equity in science and considers both scientific excellence and a range of diversity issues including gender balance in the selection of the SIEF-AAS Fellows. However, the final selection of attendees is at the discretion of the Lindau Nobel Laureates Meetings committee. To learn more about the Academy’s efforts to address gender equity in the STEMM sector, please visit The SAGE initiative. It should be noted that the Academy has an Equity and Diversity Reference Group.