2026 awards and funding opportunities

The Australian Academy of Science offers two types of opportunities for scientists.

Our honorific awards recognise outstanding contributions to the advancement of science across the career spectrum.

Our funding opportunities support scientists to undertake research projects as well as travel and lectures at a national and international level.

This page lists the 2026 honorific awards and funding opportunities that are now open.

The information below is also available as a downloadable PDF (354 KB).

New for 2026

Nominations are now open for the inaugural Brian Anderson Medal, the latest addition to the Academy’s suite of honorific awards. The award recognises outstanding contributions by early-career researchers to research in information and communications technology (ICT). It honours the contributions to science by Professor Brian Anderson AC FAA FTSE FRS.

2026 Academy honorific awards

Nominations for the Academy’s prestigious honorific awards for scientific excellence close 1 May 2025.

Read our how to nominate guide.

Premier awards

Premier and career awards recognise achievement over the whole career.

• Macfarlane Burnet Medal and Lecture (biological sciences)
• Ruby Payne-Scott Medal (any branch of the physical and biological sciences)

Career awards

• David Craig Medal and Lecture (chemistry)
• Haddon Forrester King Medal, sponsored by Rio Tinto (mineral exploration)
• Ian Wark Medal and Lecture (applied sciences)
• Mawson Medal and Lecture (Earth sciences)
• Suzanne Cory Medal (biomedical sciences)

Mid-career awards

• Gustav Nossal Medal (global health)
• Nancy Millis Medal (any branch of the physical and biological sciences)

Early-career awards

• Anton Hales Medal (Earth sciences)
• *new* Brian Anderson Medal (information and communications technology)
• Christopher Heyde Medal (probability theory and statistical methodology and their applications)
• Dorothy Hill Medal (Earth sciences)
• Fenner Medal (biology, excluding biomedical sciences)
• Frederick White Medal (applied sciences)
• Gottschalk Medal (biomedical sciences)
• John Booker Medal (engineering sciences)
• Le Fèvre Medal (chemistry)
• Pawsey Medal (physics)
• Ruth Stephens Gani Medal (human genetics)

2026 Academy funding opportunities

Applications close 1 June 2025.

Research awards

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Scientist Award 
• Margaret Middleton Fund for Endangered Australian Native Vertebrate Animals
• Max Day Environmental Science Fellowship Award
• Thomas Davies Research Fund for Marine, Soil and Plant Biology

Travelling fellowships

• Graeme Caughley Travelling Fellowship for ecologists resident in Australia or New Zealand to travel to overseas scientific centres
• Rudi Lemberg Travelling Fellowship for Australians or overseas scientists in the biological sciences to visit Australian scientific centres and to deliver lectures
• Selby Fellowship for overseas scientists to visit Australian scientific centres

Conference funding

• Boden Research Conference in the Biological Sciences
• Elizabeth and Frederick White Research Conference in the Physical Sciences
• Fenner Conference on the Environment

More about our awards and funding opportunities

• See all our awards and funding opportunities
• See our previous honorific awardees