Nominations for our 2026 honorific awards close on 1 May. Many of our award recipients say how surprised and delighted they are to be selected for an award – nominate a scientist today!
Optics is the art of manipulating light through devices including lenses, gratings and nonlinear crystals. Photonics allows us to use light for many applications. Professor Yuri Kivshar is a pioneer in optics who has described with his team whole new classes of materials and devices by combining the properties of nonlinear and structures patterned on a sub-wavelength scale. He is globally recognised for introducing the field of metaphotonics using artificial materials with novel properties and applications. Professor Kivshar is one of the founders of all-dielectric resonant metaphotonics that derives unique functionalities from electric and magnetic Mie resonances. His work has led to the development of innovative photonic devices, such as chiral nanolasers, employed in a new generation of optical communication systems, biomedical sensing, and defence and security applications. He has trained a remarkable number of students and early-career researchers, with many of them now in leading positions in industry and academia worldwide.
Professor Jane Visvader is an esteemed scientific researcher in the field of breast stem cell biology, having made seminal discoveries that continue to define how the breast develops, how errors in that development lead to breast cancer, and how we might prevent or treat that cancer. Her outstanding contributions encompass fundamental research, translational discoveries, and an inspiring commitment to teaching and mentorship. Professor Visvader’s research leadership has provided a series of important discoveries that underpin our current understanding of breast stem cell biology, including the isolation of mouse breast stem cell, which provided methodologies now used in research laboratories worldwide; defining the sensitivity of breast stem cells to ovarian hormones and their impact on the development of breast cancer; discovery of the cellular origin of BRCA1-associated breast cancer; and validation of a specific cell signalling pathway as a therapeutic target to prevent breast cancer in people carrying a BRCA1 mutation.
Scientific advances invariably depend on the quality and diversity of available techniques and instrumentation and on the ability of researchers to understand the data that are produced. Professor Alison Rodger has spent her career inventing new spectroscopic techniques to advance understanding of the molecular world. She uses polarised light to give data about helical structures and molecular assemblies. She complements the experimental work by developing the theoretical frameworks required to enable use of the data in applications such as characterising the structure of biopharmaceutical products and understanding the basic biology of cell division. Professor Rodger’s most recent invention is that of linearly polarised luminescence where the intensity of polarised light emitted is used to characterise biomolecular assemblies such as DNA-drug complexes. She is passionate about working to ensure equality of opportunity and has benefited from working with a wide range of people from all over the world.
Professor Noel Cressie is a world leader in statistical science for the analysis of spatial and space-time data, especially in environmental science. He has made pioneering, fundamental, ground-breaking, paradigm-shifting and highly influential contributions to theory, methodology and applications. Professor Cressie is a leading exponent of statistical methods in environmental science, especially for large-scale phenomena such as oceanic and atmospheric circulation and climate. By combining physical principles with stochastic models to capture uncertainties, he has developed powerful methodology to investigate causal links in these complex global processes. He has overcome daunting challenges to make the methodology computationally feasible for large and complex datasets. Professor Cressie has played a key role in applications to global CO2 flux, regional climate, sea surface temperature, air pollution, disease mapping, biogeochemical cycles, soil carbon dynamics, movement of glaciers and river pollution. His recent work on climate model uncertainty may ultimately have a substantial impact on science and policy.
Professor Hugh O’Neill is a widely recognised international leader in the field of experimental petrology and geochemistry with applications to the understanding of planetary processes. His research addresses many aspects of the chemical behaviour of minerals and rocks through detailed laboratory studies complemented by thermodynamic modelling. The resulting insights elucidate the diverse processes by which Earth and other planetary bodies were formed and their subsequent chemical evolution. His influential research has provided new insights into the formation of the Moon through the impact with Earth of a Mars-sized body, the segregation and composition of Earth’s iron-rich metallic core, the redox conditions prevailing within Earth’s interior, and the generation of basaltic magmas by partial melting within Earth’s upper mantle.
Professor Steven Chown’s research concerns biodiversity variation through space and time, and the conservation requirements for mitigating the impacts of environmental change. He co-developed the field of macrophysiology – the investigation of large-scale patterns in and processes underlying physiological variation and their ecological implications. He has worked in Australia, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, the UK, and in the Antarctic, where he has over 30 years of field experience. For many years Professor Chown represented the international Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), of which he was also President (2016–21), at the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings, providing scientific advice on a broad range of environmental and science policy matters. He has been National Delegate to SCAR for both Australia and South Africa. He provides a range of advice to international Antarctic programs through advisory committees and boards.
Beyond solving problems, Professor George Willis is a true creator of new mathematics. Through his invention of ‘the scale’ and its function, Professor Willis gave an entirely new insight into the unexpected structure and classification of totally disconnected locally compact groups, a previously intractable area. This novel approach, now known as ‘Willis Theory’, has broad implications for diverse fields of mathematics. Professor Willis’s research extends beyond theoretical elegance, leading to unexpected and pivotal real-world applications related to symmetric infinite networks. By describing how finite patterns might continue indefinitely, his work informs the growth and optimisation of real-world networks like computer systems and global social networks. In a lifetime of achievement, Professor Willis has ensured Australia is at the frontier of knowledge in pure mathematics. His ongoing contributions add to his already remarkable legacy of innovative academic research and dedicated education leadership in pure mathematics at the regional University of Newcastle in Australia.
Professor James Hudson is a rising star of Australian health and medical science who has already made a significant impact in translational medical science, and looks set to continue to do so into the future. Professor Hudson was awarded his PhD in 2011, and most of his research has been conducted in Australia. He is engaged in stem cell and organoid research with a clear translational focus. Professor Hudson sits at the very top of the highest rank of the next generation of Australian medical researchers. Evidence for this assessment is manifold, and includes such things as the quality and impact of his publications, recognition through awards and prizes, invitations to present at leading international meetings, the clear clinical and commercial potential of his discoveries, and his demonstrated capacity for leadership.
Associate Professor Natasha Hurley-Walker has transformed our view of the radio sky. She uses powerful supercomputers to analyse petabytes of data from Western Australian telescopes to explore the universe. Her discoveries include the remains of stellar explosions, insights into the lives of supermassive black holes, and a new kind of repeating radio source unlike anything astronomers have seen before. Associate Professor Hurley-Walker has mapped the southern sky in ‘radio colour’, bringing a new view of the cosmos to the world. Giving public talks and media interviews, and filming for documentaries, she has reached tens of millions across the world, inspiring interest in STEM careers. Her work will help Australian astronomers find the unexpected with the Square Kilometre Array, which will be the world’s largest radio telescope.
Associate Professor Stijn Glorie studies the interplay between the thermal history of Earth’s crust and large-scale tectonic processes that drive plate deformation and mountain building. Associate Professor Glorie employs novel mineral-based geochronometers to unravel the cryptic records of ancient geologic events, including the formation of metalliferous mineral deposits, which in turn can assist mineral exploration efforts. His research has focused on the protracted crustal deformation in Central Asia, and vast areas of central Australia, thereby filling crucial gaps in our knowledge of the geological evolution of our continent. At the University of Adelaide, he is currently leading ground-breaking method development work to determine the age of a vast range of minerals that were previously considered undatable. This revolutionary geochronology work now allows for unlocking of records of Earth’s ancient history at unprecedented rates and scales.
Associate Professor Anita Liebenau is recognised internationally as a leading expert in extremal and probabilistic combinatorics. She has worked on enumeration problems of large discrete structures such as regular graphs, problems in Ramsey theory and combinatorial games played on graphs. Among her many achievements, she developed a breakthrough method for enumerating regular graphs, leading to the first progress since 1989. She has also proved important results on thresholds for games on graphs, and has made major contributions towards resolving the Erdős–Hajnal conjecture.
Dr Linda Armbrecht is a detective who uses fragments of ancient DNA preserved in the seafloor in the polar regions to determine what organisms lived in the oceans in the past. She has pioneered new techniques to minimise contamination and maximise the quantities of ancient DNA fragments that can be recovered from marine sediments. She uses the ancient DNA data to uncover how climate change has impacted Antarctic ecosystems over the last 1 million years. Dr Armbrecht’s work is helping to solve ancient mysteries about the evolution and adaptation of keystone species, such as plankton and krill, in response to past climate change. These species make up the base of the polar food webs and are an indicator of ocean health. This research provides important clues as to how the unique polar ecosystem and food web around the icy southern continent might respond to future climate change.
Associate Professor Katherine Moseby is a conservation biologist who specialises in desert ecology. She researches ecosystem restoration and threatened species reintroductions. She is passionate about conducting research and applying the results to improve conservation outcomes. Her work includes co-founding four conservation research initiatives, and she partners with government, NGOs and industry groups to ensure her research is relevant, timely and has impact.
Research findings are rapidly accumulating across science. This has caused a revolution in data synthesis (meta-analysis) driving evidence-based advancement of fundamental science, applied research and policy. Ecological data is especially challenging to handle because studies are highly variable (such as different species, ecosystems), but synthesis is essential to predict how climate change, invasive species and human activities affect biodiversity. Associate Professor Daniel Noble is spearheading global initiatives to improve biostatistical analyses of ecological and evolutionary studies. He has developed analytical approaches to deal with existing data; methods to estimate missing data; and user-friendly software for data extraction. His new tools are invaluable to biologists but are also used globally by scientists in fields as diverse as psychology and genetics. Associate Professor Noble is also an effective advocate for open and transparent science, reflected in his collaborative approach to research and his altruist service to the scientific community. This includes curating preprint archives, providing free software, and organising conferences and workshops.
Antibiotic resistance is predicted to cause 10 million deaths per year by 2050 – more than all cancers combined. This is because our trusty miracle drugs – antibiotics – no longer work against deadly infectious bacteria. Shockingly, we have next to no new antibiotics in the discovery pipeline and a lack of financial incentives for pharmaceutical companies have left academics to drive development of these life-saving drugs. Associate Professor Amy Cain’s research bridges a key gap between finding promising drug targets in bacteria and developing potent new antibiotics. She is developing and applying new technologies to the most deadly hospital bacteria to build blueprints of how their genes adapt during treatment with existing antibiotics, revealing hidden weaknesses that can be targeted with new drugs. She has also established Australia’s first ‘Galleria Research Facility’, an ethical, high-throughput insect model. She uses this to screen drug effectiveness and toxicity, bringing promising new antibiotics closer to human use.
Associate Professor Shom Goel is an oncologist and scientist at the University of Melbourne and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. Over recent years, his laboratory research has sought to identify and understand treatments that block cancer cell division, with a focus on breast cancer. Through this work, he has made seminal discoveries that have changed the way we think about cancer cell division, cancer immunology, and cancer epigenetics. Importantly, these findings have led Associate Professor Goel to design novel therapeutic approaches for breast cancer and spearhead the translation of his findings into the clinic. The encouraging results from initial trials have triggered him to initiate two global studies that could change breast cancer treatment paradigms within the next 12 months. Importantly, the most recent lab discoveries from the Goel lab have further advanced thinking in this field and are driving the development of yet another generation of novel cancer therapies.
Assessing lifecycle performance is essential for the sustainability and resilience of infrastructure. It facilitates identification and mitigation of risks throughout all project stages, thereby ensuring infrastructure durability against various hazards. Associate Professor Qianbing Zhang has pioneered a systematic modelling platform for assessing infrastructure risks due to environmental changes, enhancing sustainability and resilience. His innovative framework integrates digitalisation, carbon assessment standards, numerical modelling and optimisation techniques to evaluate carbon emissions and establish benchmarks for construction practices. Additionally, he has developed technologies that improve safety and energy efficiency in mining operations. This platform utilises advanced data inputs and digital technologies to monitor infrastructure throughout its lifecycle. This allows managers to access real-time data for informed decision-making, ensuring safety and preventing failures. His platform is employed in significant projects such as Snowy 2.0 and Victoria’s North East Link, demonstrating its effectiveness in practical applications. His contributions are pivotal in advancing infrastructure safety and environmental management standards.
Dr Fengwang Li is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney and a Flagship Program Lead at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Green Electrochemical Transformation of Carbon Dioxide, celebrated for his innovative contributions to sustainable chemistry. His pioneering work in CO2 electrolysis harnesses renewable energy to convert CO2 into ethylene, a key component in plastics, offering a groundbreaking solution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Dr Li’s research is particularly relevant as Australia grapples with the harsh realities of climate change. His discovery not only supports a circular economy by recycling carbon but also contributes to a net-zero emission future. His leadership in this field earned him the 2023 Eureka Prize for Outstanding Early Career Researcher. His work is a testament to the potential of electrochemistry to create valuable products from CO2, transforming the way we address climate change and supporting a sustainable economy and everyday life in Australia.
Contemporary health and medical research studies need statistical innovation to tackle important and increasingly complex questions concerning the causes of ill-health. Professor Margarita Moreno-Betancur’s research creates both new and improved biostatistical methods that enable novel and more accurate analyses of a wide range of data collected from people over time. These analyses can elucidate the complex causal pathways that lead to disease, for example through the interaction of multiple chronic conditions, and inform what types of interventions could prevent or cure ill-health while accounting for real-world data limitations and complexities such as missing data. Her work has powerful global reach beyond the field of biostatistics, via application of these methods in studies that advance knowledge in multiple health areas across many countries. Her methods have enabled the use of existing data resources to inform public policies, treatments and interventions for preventing cancer, cardiovascular disease, mental health disorders and allergy.
Associate Professor Claudia Lagos is an exceptional researcher, internationally recognised for her expertise in galaxy formation and evolution. She has led and contributed to the development of a series of state-of-the-art theoretical tools to study galaxy formation and evolution which are at the forefront of the field. Dr Lagos has made use of her expertise and technical abilities to make groundbreaking contributions to the subject of the role of baryons (gas) in the evolution of galaxies, including its role in the chemical and angular momentum evolution of galaxies and in the promotion and suppression of the formation of stars.
Dr Daria Smirnova develops innovations at the nexus of fundamental physics of topological photonic phases and nanoscale material design towards nanodevices capable of high-speed and low-loss signal processing with light. Her approaches are rooted in engineering topological photonic states and their coupling with matter in judiciously structured materials at subwavelength scales. Such topological channels could serve as superhighways for photons and hybrid quasiparticles in nanophotonic circuits, thus being advantageous for encoding information, next-generation communication networks and quantum state engineering with topology-improved reliability and compactness. Dr Smirnova put forward new methods to probe and generate topological photonic states using radiative properties and optical nonlinearities in patterned photonic materials, in particular ultrathin nanostructured metasurfaces. The designed topological photonics architectures manipulate light-matter waves in an unusual way and prototype functional modules for high-performance computing, data protection, low-threshold nanolasers and lab-on-chip instruments to be integrated into microchips of everyday devices.
Dr Ira Deveson leads a research group using new genomic technologies to improve the diagnosis of genetic disease. His work spans from basic methods development to large-scale genomic analysis of diverse human cohorts. His goals are to develop, adopt, optimise and validate new techniques that may shed new light on the genome, show how these can be used to address unsolved challenges in genomic medicine and facilitate their eventual translation into clinical practice. Dr Deveson’s team has led the adoption of new technologies for long-read DNA sequencing (LRS) in Australia, allowing us to resolve the most complex, repetitive regions of the human genome for the first time, and to reliably identify new classes of genetic variation that are difficult to identify with existing technologies. By generating a more complete snapshot of a patient’s genome, his team is applying LRS to improve our understanding and diagnosis of inherited disease.
Central to the purpose of the Academy is the recognition and support of outstanding contributions to the advancement of science.
Nominations for the 2026 honorific awards are open until 1 May 2025.
Find out more about these and other Academy awards and funding schemes.
Read the Academy’s media release announcing the 2025 honorific awardees.
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