Anton Hales Medal
Award highlights
- Awarded for outstanding contributions to research in the Earth sciences for researchers up to 10 years post-PhD in the calendar year of nomination.
- Recognises research in the Earth sciences and honours the contributions to the Earth sciences by the late Professor Anton L Hales FAA.
The Anton Hales Medal recognises research in the Earth sciences and honours the contributions to the Earth sciences by the late Professor Anton L Hales FAA. Professor Hales was the founding director of the Research School of Earth Sciences at the Australian National University.
Its purpose is to recognise outstanding contributions to research in the Earth sciences. It will be awarded to researchers up to 10 years post-PhD in the calendar year of nomination, except in the case of significant interruptions to a research career. The award may be made annually and is restricted to candidates who are normally resident in Australia. Relevant research undertaken outside Australia may be considered, provided the researcher has conducted the majority of their research career—defined as periods of employment or study primarily involving research activities or research training—in Australia, and has been resident in Australia for at least the past two years.
This award is open to nominations for candidates from all genders. The Australian Academy of Science encourages nominations of female candidates and of candidates from a broad geographical distribution.
Candidates may be put forward for more than one award. If a proposed candidate is already the recipient of an Academy early-career honorific award, they will not be eligible for nomination for another early-career or mid-career honorific award. A mid-career honorific award recipient will also not be eligible for nomination for another mid-career honorific award. Fellows of the Academy are ineligible to be nominated for early and mid-career awards.
Background on Professor Anton Hales can be found through the related links below and his biographical memoir at Historical Records of Australian Science.
Key dates
Below are the key dates for the nomination process. While we aim to keep to this schedule, some dates may change depending on circumstances.
GUIDELINES
The following guidelines and FAQs provide important information about eligibility, submission requirements, and assessment processes. Please review them carefully before submitting a nomination.
How to nominate a scientist for the Academy’s honorific awards
The following guidelines contain detailed information for nominators.
These guidelines contain information for honorific award nominators.
The following guidelines contain information for honorific award referees.
These guidelines contain information for honorific award referees.
See below for specific relevant conferral dates for the current award round.
This document contains specific PhD conferral dates for early and mid-career honorific awards in the current award round.
Please submit your nominations using the Nominate button found on the top right of this webpage when nominations are open.
Please note the Academy uses a nomination platform that is external to the main Academy site. Nominators will be required to create an account on the platform. Even if you are familiar with the nomination process, please allow extra time to familiarise yourself with the platform.
Early-career, mid-career and career medals
Can I nominate myself?
- No – you must be nominated by someone else. Self-nominations are not accepted.
Can I submit a nomination on behalf of someone else?
- Yes – you can submit a nomination on behalf of someone else if you are not the nominator. An example would be a university grants office or personal/executive assistant completing the online nomination form on behalf of a nominator. Once the form is submitted, the nominator will be sent an email confirming that the nomination has been completed. If a nominee submits a nomination for themselves on behalf of a nominator it will not be considered a self-nomination.
Residency requirements
- Winners of all awards except the Haddon Forrester King Medal should be mainly resident in Australia and/or have a substantive position in Australia at the time of the nomination deadline. Unless explicitly stated in the awarding conditions, the research being put forward for the award should have been undertaken mainly in Australia. Some awards have more specific conditions that the relevant selection committee must apply and nominators are advised to read the conditions associated with each award very carefully.
Honorific career eligibility (more specific details found in the honorific awards nominator guidelines and the honorific award post PhD eligibility guidelines)
- Career eligibility is calculated by calendar year.
- Early career awards are open to researchers up to 10 years post-PhD.*
- Mid-career awards are open to researchers between eight and 15 years post-PhD.*
- Please note that the Awards Committee may consider nominees with post PhD dates outside of these ranges if a career exemption request is being submitted with the nomination, further guidelines on career exemption requests can be found in the nomination guidelines.
- See the post-PhD eligibility guidelines document for relevant conferral dates.
- *Or equivalent first higher degree e.g. D.Phil., D.Psych., D.Sc.
Academy fellowship requirements in award nominations
- Fellows and non-Fellows of the Academy can provide nominations for either Fellows or non-Fellows for all awards.
Women only awards
- The Dorothy Hill, Nancy Millis and Ruby Payne-Scott Medals are for women only. These medals are open to nominees who self-identify as a woman in the award nomination form. The Academy does not require any statement beyond a nominee’s self-identification in the nomination form.
- This practice is consistent with the Sex Discrimination Act 1984, which has recognised the non-binary nature of gender identity since 2013, and gives effect to Australia’s international human rights obligations. The Academy remains committed to the fundamental human rights principles of equality, freedom from discrimination and harassment, and privacy, as well as the prevention of discrimination on the basis of sex and gender identity.
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Dr Yingjie Yang, Macquarie University
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Dr Todd Lane, University of Melbourne
Dr Todd Lane is an atmospheric scientist at the University of Melbourne. Using state-of-the-art computer models he examines processes such as thunderstorms, airflow over mountains, heavy precipitation events, and bushfire weather. He has also conducted extensive research on turbulence near thunderstorms and the hazards they pose to commercial aircraft, and is currently working on improving methods for turbulence avoidance. He is currently supported by an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship.
Professor Craig Simmons, Flinders University
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Professor David White, University of Western Australia
David White has developed models for the behaviour of the weak and mobile seabed sediments on which the pipelines and infrastructure required to develop Australia’s oil and gas resources must be built. He has led the design and deployment of new instruments to characterise the shifting sands and liquefiable muds found offshore Australia, and his design methods for pipelines and foundations have been rapidly adopted by industry.
Associate Professor Jeffrey Walker, University of Melbourne
Jeffrey Walker is an expert on remote sensing of soil moisture and data assimilation. He did the first study for guidelines on the key requirements for remote sensing of soil moisture by satellite – accuracy, repeat time and spatial resolution. Jeffrey has developed airborne passive microwave remote sensing capability in Australia, and is developing the only imaging active–passive simulator world-wide for use in a satellite scheduled for launch in 2012.
