Awards and Prizes

Celebrating the achievements of UWA's finest researchers

Nobel Prize

The Nobel PrizeThe Nobel Prize is a highly prestigious international award that recognizes outstanding contributions for humanity.

Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology

Professor Barry Marshall and Emeritus Professor Robin Warren

2005 - Professor Barry Marshall and Emeritus Professor Robin Warren

Professor Barry J Marshall with Professor Robin Warren showed that Helicobacter pylori is the main cause of stomach and duodenal ulcers. This discovery was the first step in developing more effective treatments for ulcers and in understanding the causative link between H. pylori and stomach cancer.

Thanks to the pioneering discovery by Professor Marshall and Dr Warren, peptic ulcer disease is no longer a chronic, frequently disabling condition, but a disease that can be cured by a short regimen of antibiotics and acid secretion inhibitors.

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Fields Medal

The Fields MedalThe Fields Medal is awarded to recognize outstanding mathematical achievement for existing work and for the promise of future achievement.

2018 - Professor Akshay Venkatesh

Professor Akshay Venkatesh

For his synthesis of analytic number theory, homogeneous dynamics, topology, and representation theory, which has resolved long-standing problems in areas such as the equidistribution of arithmetic objects.

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Highly Cited Researchers

Clarivate Analytics

Highly Cited Researchers are identified by Clarivate and are defined as the preeminent individual researchers, in each of 21 subject categories, who have demonstrated great influence in their field as measured by citations to their work.

2022

2021

ARC Laureate Fellows

The Australian Research Council’s Laureate Fellowships

The Australian Research Council’s Laureate Fellowships scheme aims to attract and retain outstanding researchers and research leaders of international repute.

The scheme, and the Federation Fellowships scheme, which it replaced in 2009, is also intended to:

  • build and strengthen world-class research capability in Australia
  • provide an excellent research training environment and exemplary mentorship to nurture early-career researchers
  • expand Australia's knowledge base
  • forge strong links between researchers, industry and the international research community
  • support research that will result in economic, environmental, social and cultural benefits for Australia.

ARC Laureate fellows

  • Prof Harvey Millar2020 - Prof Harvey Millar
    School of Molecular Sciences
  • Prof Enrico Valdinoci2019 - Prof Enrico Valdinoci
    Mathematics and Statistics
  • Professor Colin MacLeod2017 - Prof Colin MacLeod
    School of Psychological Science
  • Prof Sharon Parker2016 - Prof Sharon Parker
    (Kathleen Fitzpatrick Award)
    Management and Organisations, Business School
  • Prof Ian Small2014 - Prof Ian Small
    ARC Centre of Excellence Plant Energy Biology
  • Prof Mark Cassidy2013 - Prof Mark Cassidy
    Centre for Offshore Foundation Systems
  • Prof Malcolm McCulloch2012 - Prof Malcolm McCulloch
    School of Earth and Environment
  • Prof Mike Tobar2009 - Prof Mike Tobar
    School of Physics
  • Prof Richard Hobbs2009 - Prof Richard Hobbs
    School of Plant Biology
  • Prof Cheryl Praeger2007 - Prof Cheryl Praeger
    Centre for the Mathematics of Symmetry and Computation
  • Prof David Pannell2007 - Prof David Pannell
    Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy (CEEP)
  • Prof Mark Randolph2005 - Prof Mark Randolph
    Centre for Offshore Foundation Systems
  • Prof Leigh Simmons2004 - Prof Leigh Simmons
    Centre for Evolutionary Biology
  • Prof Steven Smith2004 - Prof Steven Smith
    ARC Centre of Excellence Plant Energy Biology

WA Fellowships

WA Fellowship

The Western Australian Fellowship Program is managed by the Western Australian government Office of Science. This science funding program attracts internationally prominent researchers from interstate or overseas to Western Australia.

Fellows build and lead world-class research teams in the State and contribute to the development of the State’s science capability and capacity. The Fellows have delivered a range of economic, environmental and social benefits for the State.

UWA's Current Fellows

There are currently two Fellows undertaking Western Australian Fellowships, one at UWA:

Professor Mark Jessell

2014 Inductee - Professor Mark Jessell

Centre for Exploration Targeting (CET)

Professor Mark Jessell, a structural geophysicist, commenced his Fellowship in October 2013. He is advancing 3D modelling of Western Australia’s geology, enabling more efficient mineral exploration.

Professor Jessell relocated from France to take up a position at The University of Western Australia’s Centre for Exploration Targeting.

Recent UWA Fellows

In addition to the current Fellows, nine Fellowships have been supported since the establishment of the Program in October 2003, six of them at UWA:

  • Professor Andrew WhiteleyProfessor Andrew Whiteley
    School of Earth and Environment
  • Professor Shaun Collin Professor Shaun Collin
    Sensory Systems of Vertebrates
  • Professor Malcolm McCulloch Professor Malcolm McCulloch
    Coral Reefs
  • Professor Peter Quinn Professor Peter Quinn
    Radio Astronomy
  • Professor Klaus Regenaur-Lieb Professor Klaus Regenaur-Lieb
    Geology
  • Professor Ian Small Professor Ian Small
    Plant Molecular Biology
  • Professor Lister Staveley-Smith Professor Lister Staveley-Smith
    Radio Astronomy

Prime Minister's Prize for Science

Prime Minister's Prize for Science

The Prime Minister's Prizes for Science are the nation's finest awards for excellence in science and science teaching. The five prizes awarded annually are the:

  • Prime Minister's Prize for Science
  • Frank Fenner Prize for Life Scientist of the Year
  • Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year
  • Prime Minister's Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Primary Schools
  • Prime Minister's Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Secondary Schools.

Prize Winners

Emeritus Professor David Blair

2020 Prime Minister's Prize for Science

Emeritus Professor David Blair

Emeritus Professor David Blair is a pioneer in gravitational wave research in Australia. Working on methods for their detection for more than 40 years, Professor Blair also founded the Australian International Gravitational Research Centre. This centre became a Western Australian node of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery, OzGrav.


  • Professor Cheryl Praeger2019 Prime Minister's Prize for Science
    Senior Honorary Research Fellow
    Centre for the Mathematics of Symmetry and Computation
  • Professor Ryan Lister2014 Frank Fenner Prize for Life Scientist of the Year
    Professor Ryan Lister - Future Fellow
    ARC Centre of Excellence Plant Energy Biology
  • Professor Mark Cassidy2013 Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year
    Professor Mark Cassidy - Director
    Centre for Offshore Foundation Systems
  • Professor Eric May2012 Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year
    Professor Eric May - Chevron Chair in Gas Process Engineering
    UWA Centre for Energy
  • Professor A. Harvey Millar2005 Science Minister's Prize for Life Scientist of the Year
    Professor A. Harvey Millar - Centre Director
    ARC Centre of Excellence Plant Energy Biology

Fulbright Alumni

Fulbright logo

The Fulbright Program has more than 370,000 alumni from over 160 countries worldwide.

Fulbright alumni include 33 current or former heads of state or government, 54 Nobel Laureates, 82 Pulitzer Prize winners, 29 MacArthur Foundation Fellows, 16 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients, and thousands of leaders across the private, public and non-profit sectors.

Five thousand of those alumni belong to the Australian-American program and received their Fulbright awards from the 1950s on.

There are over 100 Fulbright alumni from The University of Western Australia and more than 60 with UWA as the primary host institute.

Fulbright alumni with:

Full Name Award Year Home Institute Primary Host Institute
James Dingley2021UWAJohns Hopkins University
Anastazja Gorecki2021UWAJohns Hopkins University
Jamie Maraj2021UWAJohns Hopkins University
Martin Ebert 2020UWAUniversity of Wisconsin (Madison)
Paul Branson2020UWAPacific Marine Energy Centre (PMEC), Oregon State University
Arman Siahvashi2020UWAU.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Colorado School of Mines (CSM)
Francesca Cary2020UWAUniversity of Hawaii, Manoa
Liam Tay Kearney 2020UWAColumbia University
Michael Lukin2020UWAYale University
Isaac Ward 2020UWAUniversity of Southern California
Holly Ransom2019UWAHarvard University
Taryn Foster2019UWACalifornia Academy of Sciences
Joshua Dunne2019UWAGeorgetown University
Joshua Mylne2017UWAUniversity of Minnesota
Jessica Kretzmann2017UWAUniversity of Massachusetts, Amherst
Hannah Etchells2017UWAUniversity of California Berkeley
Simon Jankowski2017UWAUnited States Geological Survey, California Water Science Center
Craig McCormack2016UWAUniversity of Houston
Ursula Salmon2016UWAStanford University
Shraddha Kashyap2016UWANYU/Bellevue Program for Survivors of Torture
Matthew Crowley2015UWAFederal Trade Commission in DC and NY
Briony Swire-Thompson2015UWAMassachusetts Institute of Technology
Zdenko Rengel2014UWAKansas State University
Joanna Vincent2014UWAYale University
Jean-Paul Hobbs2014UWA, James Cook UniversityUniversity of Hawaii -  Manoa
Roxanne Moore2013UWANew York University
Tiago Tomaz2013UWAUniversity of Illinois
Stephen McAnearney2011UWAColumbia University
Anna Rakoczy2011UWAStanford University
Hugo Leith2009UWAYale University
Alexander Wyatt2009UWAUniversity of California, San Diego
Julie Owen2007UWAArizona State University
Karel Hartlieb2007UWAClarksonUniversity
Andrew Nicol2007UWAHarvard University
Billie Giles-Corti2007UWAStanford University
Martin Soh2005UWAUniversity of Minnesota
Andrea Ang2004UWAHarvard University
Jonathan Paget1997UWAEastman School of Music
Matthew Hollingworth1997UWAMassachusetts Institute of Technology
Giacinta Parish1996UWAUniversity of California - Santa Barbara
Amanda Bower1995UWAColumbia University
Louise Egerton-Warburton1994UWAUniversity of California - Riverside
Rowan Davies1993UWACarnegie Mellon University
Dhammika Dharmapala1993UWAUniversity of California - Berkeley
Andrew Johnston1992UWAUniversity of Minnesota
Patrick O'Brien1991UWAUniversity of California - Berkeley
Neil Levi1990UWAColumbia University
Robert Lindner1990UWAUniversity of California - Davis
Gilbert Chiang1989UWAMassachusetts Institute of Technology
Kelvin Willoughby1988UWAUniversity of California - Berkeley
Robert Wilson1987UWACornell University
David Clarke1987UWAPrinceton University
Stephen Anderson1987UWAUniversity of California - Berkeley
Louis Moses1985UWAStanford University
David Beard1983UWAUniversity of Arizona
William Macklin1982UWAUniversity of Washington
Richard Higgott1981UWAHarvard University
Ian Birch1978UWAHarvard University
Peter Kenyon1977UWAUniversity of Virginia
Gordon Reid1977UWA
Colin White1976UWAUniversity of Wisconsin - Madison
Johannes Wajon1975UWAHarvard University
Christopher Adam1974UWAHarvard University
John Melville-Jones1974UWAPrinceton University
Bruce Wright1974UWAVarious Institutions
Neil R Lynch1973UWAChidrens Asthma Research & Hospital
George Winterton1973UWAColumbia University
Darrell Turkington1973UWAUniversity of California - San Diego
Bryan Burke1971UWAUniversity of California - Los Angeles
David Andrich1971UWAUniversity of Chicago
Neville Hoffman1971UWAVarious Institutions
Geoffrey Soutar1970UWACornell University
Terrence Nicholas1970UWAUniversity of California - Santa Barbara
Evan Morgan1969UWAColumbia University
Anastasios (Ray) Petridis1969UWADuke University
Byron Kakulas1969UWAHarvard University
Leslie Little1969UWAUniversity of Wisconsin - Madison
Brian Figgis1968UWAUniversity of Arizona
George Osborne1968UWAUniversity of Southern California
Wayne Millen1967UWAUniversity of California - Los Angeles
Donald Watts1967UWAUniversity of Southern California
Trevor Redgrave1967UWA
Noel Cant1966UWACarnegie Mellon University
Allan Fels AO1966UWADuke University
D K Foot1966UWAHarvard University
Hugh Collins1966UWAHarvard University
John Mahony1966UWAHarvard University
Neville Fowkes1965UWAHarvard University
Alan Parker1965UWAUniversity of California - Los Angeles
Charles Kuiper1965UWAUniversity of Chicago
Barry Wilson1964UWAHarvard University
Mervyn Austin1964UWAIowa State University
John Wager1964UWAPurdue University
Wilfred Simmonds1964UWARockefeller University
H D Evans1963UWAHarvard University
Imre Kaldor1963UWAUniversity of California - Berkeley
Neville Stanley1963UWAUniversity of Notre Dame
Aubrey Yates1963UWAUniversity of Wisconsin - Madison
Judge Bevan1962UWAArizona State University
Vincent Di Lollo1962UWAIndiana University
Basil Balme1962UWANew York University
Neil Rickert1962UWAYale University
Harris Levey1961UWAHarvard University
K J Carter1961UWAYale University
Laurie Mashford MBBS MSc FRACP1960UWAHarvard University
John Bloomfield1960UWAUniversity of Oregon
Douglas White1959UWAStanford University
R L Taylor1959UWAUniversity of Minnesota
Albert Blakers1958UWADartmouth College
Andrew Cole1958UWAMassachusetts Institute of Technology
Murray Littlejohn1958UWAUniversity of Texas - Austin
Arnold Cook1957UWAHarvard University
Henry Morris1957UWAUniversity of Southern California
Raymond Storer1956UWABrown University
William Compston1956UWACalifornia Institute of Technology
Peter Fisher1956UWAPurdue University
Brian Grieve1955UWACalifornia Institute of Technology
John Ferres1955UWALouisiana State University
Brian Bolto1955UWAPurdue University
Daryll Wheeler1955UWASan Francisco State University
Horace (Harry) Waring1955UWA
Allan Wilson1954UWAIndiana University
Eion McRae1953UWAFlorida State University
Joseph Miller1953UWAUniversity of California - Berkeley
Rhodes Fairbridge1953UWAUniversity of Illinois
Arthur McLean1952UWAUniversity of Chicago
William Edwards1952UWA
John Swan1951UWAUniversity of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
Peter Dunlop1951UWAUniversity of Wisconsin - Madison
Jack Loneragan1950UWAUniversity of California - Berkeley
Albert Main CBE FAA BSc (Hons) PhD1950UWAUniversity of Chicago

Fulbright alumni with UWA as the home institute.

Full Name Award Year Home Institute Primary Host Institute
Cristin Millett - Senior Scholars2020The Pennsylvania State UniversityUWA
Dr Gary Reger - Senior Scholars2020Trinity CollegeUWA
Wendy Nicole Nembhard2015University of ArkansasUWA
Scott Stephens2013University of California - BerkeleyUWA
Mike Joyner2010Mayo ClinicUWA
Jessica Boynton2006Eastern Michigan UniversityUWA
Per Henningsgaard2005OtherUWA
Surya Singh2005Stanford UniversityUWA
Michael Zalich2003Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State UniversityUWA
Cara Weisbrod2001South Dakota State UniversityUWA
Jordan Furnans2001University of Texas - AustinUWA
David Lilja2000University of MinnesotaUWA
Hasker Davis1999University of ColoradoUWA
Rebecca German1997University of CincinnatiUWA
Stuart Marsh1996University of ArizonaUWA
Rodney Eichenberger1995Florida State UniversityUWA
Nancy Heger1993University of Texas - AustinUWA
Beth Watzke1990University of PittsburghUWA
Eric Pianka1990University of Texas - AustinUWA
Sheila Fitzpatrick1989University of Texas - AustinUWA
Williamson Chang1987University of Hawaii -  ManoaUWA
Gordon Rausser1986University of California - BerkeleyUWA
Thomas Buckley1986University of TulsaUWA
Emilia Martinez-Brawley1985Pennsylvania State UniversityUWA
Arthur Kaufman1984University of New MexicoUWA
George Crumb1984University of PennsylvaniaUWA
Raymond Mohl1983Florida Atlantic UniversityUWA
Eunice Askov1983Pennsylvania State UniversityUWA
John Hallowell1982Duke UniversityUWA
John Connolly1982University of NebraskaUWA
James Adair1981University of FloridaUWA
Lawrence Speck1978University of Texas - AustinUWA
F Hodge O'Neal1975Duke UniversityUWA
William Thomas1974California State UniversityUWA
Lee Sackett1972UWA
R Royall1971Johns Hopkins UniversityUWA
W R Dawson1969Michigan State UniversityUWA
W D Kemper1968Colorado State UniversityUWA
Harold Geering1968Cornell UniversityUWA
A L Pope1967University of Wisconsin - MadisonUWA
LeRoy Breunig1966Columbia UniversityUWA
William Weir1965University of California - DavisUWA
Jerry Anway1965University of Nebraska - OmahaUWA
George Carrier1964Harvard UniversityUWA
John McCaffrey1964Stanford UniversityUWA
Allen Spitzer1963Saint Louis UniversityUWA
Arthur Steinbrenner1963University of ArizonaUWA
R Cassady1963University of California - Los AngelesUWA
Carl Allendoerfer1963University of WashingtonUWA
H H Genoways1963UWA
J A Kirsch1962UWA
Arthur Harry Nash1961University of MichiganUWA
Arnold Kluge1961University of Southern CaliforniaUWA
Alfred Putnam1960University of ChicagoUWA
Martin Wright1960University of KansasUWA
Wayne Packer1959Stanford UniversityUWA
W S Stewart1959UWA
E H Herrick1957UWA
Martin Black1956Duke UniversityUWA
Willard Pedrick1956Northwestern UniversityUWA
Graham Bell1955Louisiana State UniversityUWA
Harold Olmo1955University of California - DavisUWA
Dean McHenry1954University of California - Los AngelesUWA
Ernest Lundelius Jr1954University of ChicagoUWA
George Bartholomew1953University of California - Los AngelesUWA
H Arlin Turner1952Louisiana State UniversityUWA
Martin Carroll1952University of IowaUWA
Harriet Creighton1952Wellesley CollegeUWA
John Spotts1951UWA

Fulbright alumni with UWA as the host institute.

WA Science Hall of Fame

The Western Australian Science Hall of Fame

The Western Australian Science Hall of Fame recognizes excellent and sustained scientific achievement in Western Australia.

2020 Inductee

Professor Mark Randolph

Professor Mark Randolph

Mark Randolph has been Professor of Civil Engineering at UWA for over 30 years, becoming one of the most highly cited geotechnical engineers in the world.

Drawn to Perth by the challenges of designing foundations in the calcareous seabed sediments surrounding Australia, he established the world-leading Centre for Offshore Foundation Systems at UWA in 1997 and in parallel was a Co-Founding Director of specialist consultancy Advanced Geomechanics. This symbiotic relationship between academia and industry led to involvement with almost all major developments on the North-West Shelf, as well as many novel design solutions for foundations, anchors and pipelines.

Among many accolades, including WA Scientist of the Year in 2013, Professor Randolph was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 2011.

2019 Inductee

Professor Carol Bower

Professor Carol Bower

Professor Carol Bower is an internationally recognised public health researcher. She has worked predominantly with the Telethon Kids Institute (previously the WA Institute for Child Health Research), of which she was a founding researcher and where she is currently Senior Principal Research Fellow, and Director of the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Research Australia – Centre for Research Excellence.

Throughout her career, Professor Bower led a series of projects which have had a profound impact on the health of children in Western Australia and beyond. In 1980 she established Australia’s first birth defects registry (an internationally recognised model later implemented in other States). She uncovered the link between low dietary folate and neural tube defects (NTD) such as spina bifida, and instigated the world’s first public health campaign to encourage periconceptional folic acid supplementation to prevent NTD. Having led another study demonstrating that health education alone was insufficient, Professor Bower successfully lobbied for national mandatory fortification of flour with folate – a change which has dramatically reduced the incidence of NTDs and saved more than 400 Western Australian children alone from debilitating and deadly birth defects.

Professor Bower has been equally persistent in relation to community outreach, actively forging partnerships with consumers, government, justice and health professionals to facilitate, communicate and translate paradigm-shifting research on alcohol-related harm. This includes her supervision of the recent Banksia Hill Project – the first study in Australia to assess and diagnose young people in a youth custodial setting for FASD. Professor Bower’s dedication to community service is reflected in multiple awards in recognition of her good practice and initiatives relating to consumer and community participation in research.

As a long-serving member of multiple paediatric research committees, Professor Bower continues her contribution to science and the wider community by advancing and sharing research on child health and development.

2018 Inductee

Emeritus Professor John Pate

Emeritus Professor David Blair

Professor Blair is an experimental physicist renowned for pioneering a number of precision measurement techniques used for ultra-sensitive displacement measurements, exceptionally low noise clocks and oscillators, and gravitational wave research.

His career has focused on the direct detection of gravitational waves first predicted by Albert Einstein in 1916 as part of his famous Theory of General Relativity. He led the establishment of the Australian International Gravitational Research Centre at Gingin, part of the School of Physics at the University of Western Australia, and the Australian Consortium for Interferometric Gravitational Astronomy.

Professor Blair’s work at the Research Centre contributed to the international Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) scientific collaboration through developing technology to teach supercomputers to ‘hear’ the special sounds of gravity waves and rapidly detect the signals. He also contributed to the identification and resolution of the issue of ‘parametric instability’ in large US twin detectors at observatories in Louisiana and Washington State, enabling the world’s first direct observations of gravitational waves in 2015. This discovery resulted in a Nobel prize in physics for three leading LIGO American physicists in 2017 and was described as ‘a discovery that shook the world’.

Professor Blair’s research has ensured that Australia, and Western Australia in particular, has a high profile in the international gravitational wave community. He has supervised an impressive 74 postgraduate students since 1987 and his students have gone on to successful careers and senior positions in areas including physics and astronomy.

He also led the planning and development of the Gravity Discovery Centre, a major education and public outreach facility which includes the Gingin Observatory. In 2005, he and Emeritus Professor John De Laeter AO were awarded the Australian Government Eureka Prize for Promoting Understanding in Science in recognition of these science outreach activities.

Professor Blair was the recipient of the Western Australian Scientist of the Year award in 2007, was elected as Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2014, and in May 2018 was elected as Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, an organisation of individuals recognised for their outstanding contributions to science and research.

After retiring as Director of the Australian International Gravitational Research Centre in late 2017, Professor Blair continues to contribute to the physics community as Emeritus Professor at the University of Western Australia and as the Outreach Program Leader at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery. He is currently supervising 10 PhD Students and continues to find ways of communicating Einsteinian physics to the wider community.

2017 Inductee

Emeritus Professor John Pate

Emeritus Professor John Pate

Professor John Pate has greatly influenced plant science, particularly plant ecology and physiology, in Western Australia. His academic career commenced as Assistant Lecturer at Queens University in 1954 followed by increasing senior academic appointments at the University of Sydney, Queens University and The University of Western Australia (UWA). He was head of the botany department at UWA from 1974 to 1986.

The major focus of his work concerned the carbon and nitrogen economies of plants, especially legumes, and contributed to applied research on productivity of pastures and crops. Along the way, techniques were developed for quantifying nitrogen inputs of legumes and thereby permitting assessment of their contributions in agricultural and natural ecosystems.

Professor Pate has contributed significantly to ecological and physiological studies of native flora of Western Australia, particularly on the structural and functional adaptations displayed for combating various forms of environmental stress. Professor Pate has published extensively with over 500 publications including books, monographs, reviews and refereed research articles.

Professor Pate’s scientific career was honoured by election to the Australian Academy of Sciences in 1980 and to the Royal Society, London in 1985. John will be remembered by his many students as a hard taskmaster, relentless in pursuit of excellence and with an Irish sense of humour and fun which lightened many a load.

2015 Inductee

Professor Cheryl Praeger AM FAA

Professor Cheryl Praeger AM FAA

Professor Cheryl Praeger is one of the world's leading mathematicians, best known for her works in group theory, algebraic graph theory and combinatorial designs. Professor Praeger has promoted mathematics through research and professional associations.

Professor Praeger was appointed as a member of the Order of Australia in 1999 for her service to mathematics in Australia. In 2003 she received the Centenary Medal of the Australian government and in 2009 was made the WA Scientist of the Year. She is a recipient of the Moyal Medal, George Szekers Medal and Thomas Ranken Lyle Medal.

In 2014 she was elected an Honorary Member of the London Mathematical Society. In 2015 she was also inducted in the WA Women's Hall of Fame and was awarded the Mehdi Behzad Prize of the Iranian Mathematical Society, for management in mathematics.

2014 Inductee

Emeritus Professor Alan Robson AO CitWA FTSE

Emeritus Professor Alan Robson AO CitWA FTSE

Emeritus Professor Alan Robson AO was elevated into the Western Australian Science Hall of Fame in recognition of his outstanding contribution to scientific research and tertiary education across his career. Emeritus Professor Robson was Vice Chancellor of UWA from 2004 until 2013, and Deputy Vice Chancellor and Provost since 1993.

Professor Robson chaired the Group of Eight and was Deputy Chair of the Council of the National Library and Universities Australia. He was a member of the Western Australian Science Council and the CSIRO board.

In 2003, Professor Robson was made a Member of the Order of Australia, has been awarded a Centenary Medal, is an Officer of the Order of Australia and a Citizen of Western Australia.

2013 Inductee

Professor Lyn Beazley AO FTSE

Professor Lyn Beazley AO FTSE

Professor Lyn Beazley was the Chief Scientist of Western Australia from 2006 until 2013. In this role she has been a tireless national and international ambassador for science and science engagement in Western Australia.

Lyn undertook her undergraduate studies at Oxford University and her doctorate at Edinburgh University. Over a 30 year research career she built up an internationally renowned research team that focused on recovery from brain damage.

Her research also changed clinical practice in the treatment of infants at risk from pre-term delivery. She was awarded an Order of Australia in 2009 for service to medical science and her contribution to the development of science policy in Western Australia.

2012 Inductee

Professor Stephen Hopper AC FLS FTSE

Professor Stephen Hopper AC FLS FTSE

Professor Hopper, the first non-British born Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, returned to take up a new Chair in Biodiversity at The University of Western Australia. Professor Hopper is an internationally acclaimed plant conservation biologist who has made an outstanding contribution to biodiversity preservation.

He names Australia as one of the great places on the planet to pursue biological studies and has collaborated in the naming of more than 300 new species of plants through 40 years of field-based research, mostly in south-western Australia.

He has made significant improvements to a number of the State's conservation programs and infrastructure and, earlier this year, was named a Companion of the Order of Australia for his service as a global science leader.

2010 Inductee

Professor Fiona Stanley AC FAA FASSA

Professor Fiona Stanley AC FAA FASSA

Professor Fiona Stanley is the founding director of the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, is an advocate for the needs of children and their families and promotes the importance of using population data to provide health, social and economic benefits to the community.

Her role in the discovery that a diet rich in folic acid during pregnancy can prevent spina bifida in babies and that cerebral palsy may be caused by factors other than birth trauma alone, such as infections or blood incompatibilities, have improved birth outcomes.

She is also widely recognised for her contributions to Indigenous child and maternal health in Western Australia.

Professor Stanley was named Australian of the Year in 2003, was honoured as a “National Living Treasure” by the National Trust in 2004 and is the UNICEF Australia Ambassador for Early Childhood Development. The new state-of-the-art hospital being constructed at Murdoch is named the Fiona Stanley Hospital in honour of her achievements.

2009 Inductee

Professor Ian Constable AO

Professor Ian Constable AO

Professor Ian Constable AO is recognised as one of the world's leading ophthalmic surgeons.

He is the founder and director of the Lions Eye Institute, now the largest eye research institute in the southern hemisphere and dedicated to the investigation, prevention and cure of blinding eye disease. With Professor Constable at the lead, the Lions Eye Institute has made many ground breaking developments, including the Lions Eye Institute artificial cornea which is granting sight to people around the world.

Professor Constable served on the Premier's Science and Innovation Council and the Western Australia Science and Innovation Council as the Deputy Chair. He is also the foundation director of The University of Western Australia's Centre for Ophthalmology and Visual Science.

2007 Inaugural Inductees

Professor Marshall and Dr Warren

Professor Barry Marshall and Dr Robin Warren

Professor Marshall and Dr Warren were recognised for their dedicated service to research when, in 2005, they were awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology.

They discovered the bacterium Helicobacter pylori as a cause of gastritis and peptic ulcer disease. Thanks to the pioneering discovery by Professor Marshall and Dr Warren, peptic ulcer disease is no longer a chronic, frequently disabling condition, but a disease that can be cured by a short regimen of antibiotics and acid secretion inhibitors.

Premier's Science Awards

The Premier’s Science Awards

The Premier’s Science Awards recognise and celebrate the achievements of the Western Australian science community. Award recipients exemplify the outstanding scientific research and engagement efforts taking place in the State.

The Awards cover all fields of science, including natural, medical, applied and technological science, engineering and mathematics.

The Awards are supported by the Western Australian Government and administered by the Science and Innovation team within the Department. For more information, please see the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation website.

Scientist of the Year Awards

Professor Eric May

2021 - Professor Eric May

Professor Eric May is an internationally recognised leader in the areas of fluid science, thermodynamics, metrology and natural gas engineering. His development and use of measurement technology has produced explanations for long-standing scientific mysteries, revealed unexpected physical phenomena, and helped improve industrial processes. Real-world outcomes of Professor May’s research include reducing the cost and environmental impact of liquefied natural gas (LNG) production, decreasing greenhouse gas emissions from coal mines and optimising air conditioning cycles based on new, environmentally-friendly refrigerants. His work has also helped difficult offshore gas reserves be developed and advanced carbon capture and storage operations. He is now leading the new Future Energy Exports Cooperative Research Centre with major industry partners to help grow Australia’s hydrogen export industry.


  • 2020 Professor Ryan Lister
  • 2017 Professor A. Harvey Millar
  • 2017 Professor Christobel Saunders
  • 2015 Professor Mark Cassidy
  • 2014 Professor Ian Small
  • 2013 Professor Mark Randolph
  • 2012 Professor Peter Quinn
  • 2011 Professor Ricard Hobbs
  • 2010 Professor Michael Tobar
  • 2009 Professor Cheryl Praeger
  • 2008 Professor Jorg Imberger
  • 2007 Professor David Blair
  • 2004 Professor Bruce Robinson
  • 2002 Professor Barry Marshall

Woodside Early Career Scientist of the Year

Associate Professor Edward Litton

2021 - Associate Professor Edward Litton

Associate Professor Edward Litton is an intensive care specialist whose goal is to improve the outcomes for critically ill patients requiring treatment in intensive care. Recently, his contribution to the COVID-19 response includes developing and helping to implement a large international clinical trial that has identified effective treatments for severe COVID-19, leading a study to inform Australian intensive care COVID-19 preparedness, and evaluating, reporting, and feeding back Australian intensive care COVID-19 outcomes. His research findings have been incorporated into international guidelines, informing intensive care policy and practice, and helping to improve outcomes for more than 10,000 Western Australians who require intensive care treatment each year.


Dr Arman Siahvashi

2021 - Dr Arman Siahvashi

Awarded two prestigious Forrest and Fulbright fellowships, Dr Arman Siahvashi is conducting a world-class research and developing cutting-edge technologies to reduce the costs and eliminate the safety hazards associated with clean energy production such as liquid hydrogen. He has developed a multi-award-winning apparatus to accurately measure the freezing temperatures of trace impurities at extreme cryogenic temperatures and high pressures. His research has led to collaborations with scientists at NASA and Jet Propulsion Laboratory on liquid hydrogen as a rocket fuel and also dissolution geology of Saturn’s moon, Titan. His work helps the environment by reducing carbon emissions, while also improving plant operation safety and risk assessments, and driving economic growth and sustainable development.


  • 2020 Dr Chris Brennan-Jones
  • 2018 Dr Melissa O'Donnell
  • 2016 Dr Scott Draper
  • 2015 Dr Hannah Moore
  • 2013 Associate Professor Shazzad Hossain
  • 2012 Associate Professor Ajmal Mian
  • 2011 Professor David White
  • 2010 Professor Eric May
  • 2009 Associate Professor Kevin Pfleger
  • 2008 Ben Corry

Student Scientist of the Year

Mr Tristan Clemons

2013 - Mr Tristan Clemons

Mr Tristan Clemons’ research focuses on applying nanoparticle technology to treat heart disease, breast cancer, colon cancer and central nervous system injuries. His cross disciplinary research has resulted in the filing of an international patent describing nanoparticles for imaging and drug delivery. He is also committed to inspiring students to pursue science careers and is involved in a range of voluntary science engagement activities. He combines his academic work with sporting excellence, representing Australia in hockey.


  • 2012 David Erceg-Hurn
  • 2008 Jacinta Delhaize

Science Ambassador of the Year

Professor Myra Keep

2013 - Professor Myra Keep

Professor Myra Keep has developed a range of geological research, teaching and outreach activities in East Timor through significant collaboration with all levels of government, schools and the local community. She initiated the program and has raised all the required funds for her research and engagement activities. Her outreach activities have included the training of young geologists, students, government officials and industry personnel leading to significant community development.

She has been instrumental in the development of student links between UWA and East Timor. A number of these students have now returned to Timor as trained geologists, having completed degrees in Australia and elsewhere.

Communications

SymbioticA

2008 - SymbioticA

SymbioticA, the UWA Centre of Excellence in Biological Arts, is an internationally recognised art and science collaborative research laboratory dedicated to the artistic research, learning and critique of life sciences.

The first of its kind in the world, the laboratory enables artists to engage in hands-on biology practices and collaborate with scientists in a biological science department. With an emphasis on experiential practice, SymbioticA encourages better understanding and articulation of cultural ideas around scientific knowledge and informed critique of the ethical and cultural issues of life manipulation.

SymbioticA offers a new means of artistic inquiry where artists actively use the tools and technologies of science, not just to comment about them but also to explore their possibilities.

ExxonMobil Student Scientist of the Year

Ms Niamh Troy

2021 - Ms Niamh Troy

PhD candidate

Niamh Troy is a PhD candidate at the Wal-yan Respiratory Research Centre who is conducting research to better understand the immune response to respiratory viral infections in asthma using cutting-edge bioinformatics. Niamh’s work provides critical evidence for how we can use bacterial therapeutics to harness the innate immune system to protect against severe lung infections in infants. This work places Western Australia at the forefront in the global race to identify safe preventative therapies for lower respiratory infections that can be given during infancy. Niamh has an impressive track record of high impact publications, competitive awards and prizes and additionally extends her leadership skills beyond her own research, through collaborations, primary school outreach and communicating her research to the public.


  • 2020 Mr Todd Bond
  • 2019 Ms Jessica Kretzmann
  • 2018 Mr Arman Siahvashi
  • 2017 Mr David Gozzard
  • 2016 Mr Christopher Brennan-Jones

Shell Aboriginal STEM Student of the Year

Mr Todd Bond

2020 - Ms Simone Harrington

Simone’s goal is to become the first Aboriginal Clinical Psychologist to graduate from the University of Western Australia. Her contributions within Psychological Science at her university has increased Indigenous content, culturally safe practices and engagement with Indigenous students.

Simone is the first Aboriginal student to undertake a postgraduate course in Psychology at her university, she obtained first class Honours in Psychology and has consistently achieved high grades. Her PhD research is looking at evidence behind the theory and effectiveness of a new transdiagnostic therapy, the ‘Manage my Emotions’ program, which is being provided free of charge to the community.


  • 2019 Ms Sharynne Hamilton

Chevron Science Engagement Initiative of the Year

Centre for Integrative Bee Research (CIBER) Science Engagement Initiative

2014 - Centre for Integrative Bee Research (CIBER) Science Engagement Initiative

CIBER's Science Engagement Initiative aims to increase community awareness about honeybees. It showcases the links from bees to pollination, food and honey and the industries and people that depend on them.

CIBER uses a variety of strategies to engage audiences, including an academy award nominated documentary, an annual public Honey Festival in the Swan Valley, a permanent honeybee exhibition at Scitech and a dedicated social media page encouraging users to follow ongoing activities.

WA Tall Poppies

The Tall Poppy Campaign

The Tall Poppy Campaign was created in 1998 by the Australian Institute of Policy and Science (AIPS) to recognise and celebrate Australian intellectual and scientific excellence and to encourage younger Australians to follow in the footsteps of our outstanding achievers. It has made significant achievements towards building a more publicly engaged scientific leadership in Australia.

The Western Australian Young Tall Poppy Campaign was launched in May 2010 and has seen nominations and winners from across all the major universities. Ceremonies are held each year in Perth.

2021 Winners

  • Christopher Blyth Christopher Blyth
    Paediatrics
    Associate Professor
  • Joanna Melonek Joanna Melonek
    ARC Centre for Plant Energy Biology
    Research Fellow
  • Alex Tang Alex Tang
    School of Biological Sciences
    Lecturer

2020 Winners

  •  Hayley Christian Hayley Christian
    Telethon Kids Institute
    Senior Research Fellow

2019 Winners

  • Chris Brennan-Jones Chris Brennan-Jones
    Clinical Senior Lecturer
    Paediatrics
  •  Willem (Joost) Lesterhuis Willem (Joost) Lesterhuis
    Cancer Biology
    Senior Research Fellow
  • Asha Bowen Asha Bowen
    Paediatrics
    Clinical Associate Professor

2018 Winners

  • Ben Jackson Ben Jackson
    School of Human Sciences
    Senior Lecturer
  • Luke Davies Luke Davies
    ICRAR
    Research Fellow
  • Verena Schoepf Verena Schoepf
    Oceans Graduate School
    Research Fellow
  • Andrew Guzzomi Andrew Guzzomi
    School of Engineering
    Research Fellow

2017 Winners

  • Monika Murcha Monika Murcha
    ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology
    Future Fellow

2016 Winners

  • Danail Obreschkow Danail Obreschkow
    International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR)
    Senior Research Fellow
  • Ivy WongIvy Wong
    International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR)
    Super Science Fellow
  • Olivier Van AkenOlivier Van Aken
    ARC Centre of Excellence Plant Energy Biology
    Research Fellow
  • Ruth ThorntonRuth Thornton
    School of Paediatrics and Child Health
    BrightSpark Research Fellow

2015 Winners

  • Shelley GormanShelley Gorman
    Telethon Kids Institute
    Adjunct Senior Lecturer
  • Sandra TanzSandra Tanz
    ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology
    Research Fellow
  • Gina TrappGina Trapp
    School of Population Health
    Adjunct Research Fellow

2014 Winners

  • Tristen Clemons
  • Brendan Kennedy
  • Peter Peeling

2013 Winners

  • Jean-Paul Hobbs
  • Graeme Zosky
  • Hannah Moore
  • Louise Naylor
  • Ryan Lister

2012 Winners

  • Alex Hewitt
  • Kevin Pfleger
  • Lea-Ann Stirling Kirkham

2011 Winners

  • Ben Corry
  • Aleksandra Filipovska
  • Monique Robinson
  • Keith Stubbs
  • David White
  • Andrew Whitehouse

Members of the Australian Academies

Being granted fellowship of a learned academy is a measure of prestige that recognizes expertise and research quality. Fellows are elected by peers and work to advance scholarship and public interest in their respective academic areas.

Australian Academy of Law

Australian Academy of Law

Launched on 17 July 2007, the Australian Academy of Law is the fifth learned Academy in Australia and is the culmination of a process begun with the Australian Law Reform Commission’s landmark report


Professor Natalie Skead
2019 Professor Natalie Skead

Dr Skead is the Dean and Head of School of the UWA Law School. She teaches and and researches in Equity and Trusts, Property, Remedies, Proceeds of Crime, and Legal Education.


  • 2014 Prof Erika Techera
  • tbc Prof William Ford
  • tbc Prof Richard Bartlett

Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences

Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences

The Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences purpose is to advance health and medical research in Australia and its translation into benefits for all, by fostering leadership within our sector, providing expert advice to decision makers, and engaging patients and the public.


Professor Pat Dudgeon
2021 Pat Dudgeon

Professor Pat Dudgeon is a Bardi woman from the Kimberley. Since 2009 she has been a researcher in the School of Indigenous Studies at UWA.

Her research is concerned with community engagement, consultation, and responsiveness, and draws upon multi-disciplinary approaches. Her large, national integrated projects map social phenomena and seek to implement transformative methods and practices focused on Indigenous health and wellbeing.

Professor Dudgeon has had outstanding success in attracting Category I competitive research funding to support her work on Indigenous mental health, suicide prevention and community empowerment.


Professor Andrew Whitehouse
2021 Andrew Whitehouse

Professor Andrew Whitehouse is the Angela Wright Bennett Professor of Autism Research at the Telethon Kids Institute and Professor of Autism Research at UWA. He is also Director of CliniKids, Research Strategy Director of the Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism (Autism CRC) and Adjunct Professor at Curtin University and Edith Cowan University. Andrew is the current president of the Australasian Society for Autism Research.

At the Telethon Kids Institute he leads a large team that develops and tests new inteventions to support the development of children on the autism spectrum. Andrew has published over 200 peer-reviewed journal articles and attracted over $60 million in competitive research grants.


  • 2020 Alistair Forrest
  • 2020 Ian Constable
  • 2018 Bruce Robinson
  • 2017 Carol Bower
  • 2017 Karen Simmer
  • 2017 Stephen Zubrick
  • 2016 Graeme Hankey
  • 2016 Christobel Saunders
  • 2015 Donna Cross
  • 2015 Wendy Erber
  • 2015 Peter Klinken
  • 2015 Nigel Laing
  • 2015 Peter Leedman
  • 2015 David Mackey
  • 2015 Barry Marshall
  • 2015 Susan Prescott
  • 2015 Stephen Stick
  • 2015 Fiona Stanley
  • 2015 Steve Webb
  • 2015 Fiona Wood

Australian Academy of the Humanities

Australian Academy of the Humanities

The Australian Academy of the Humanities is the national body for the humanities in Australia, championing the contribution humanities, arts and culture make to national life. Our work aims to ensure ethical, historical and cultural perspectives inform discussions regarding Australia?s future challenges and opportunities.

Fellows

Professor Jo McDonald

2020 Professor Jo McDonald

Jo McDonald is the Director of the Centre for Rock Art Research + Management at UWA. She holds the Rio Tinto Chair in Rock Art Studies.

Jo held an ARC Future Fellowship (2011-2016). Her research project is studied rock art, social and environmental change in two of the great deserts of the world: the Western Desert in Australia and the Great Basin in the USA.

Prior to taking up her role as Director of CRAR+M, Jo was Director of Jo McDonald CHM Pty Ltd, a leading cultural heritage practice based in Sydney. She has more than 35 years’ experience in managing Indigenous archaeology and has been researching rock art throughout this time.


Dr Sarah Collins

2020 Dr Sarah Collins

Dr Sarah Collins is Associate Professor and Chair of Musicology at the UWA Conservatorium of Music. In her research she seeks to understand how the arts (particularly music, literature and film) shaped ways of thinking about political, ethical and economic concepts in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Her interest in exploring the aesthetic aspects of politics and the political aspects of aesthetics comes from witnessing large-scale changes in ideas about individualism and liberal democracy in recent years.

Dr Collins is currently working on a range of projects that circulate on ideas about the arts and internationalism, commemoration, cultural memory, ethics and virtue, democracy and the ‘liberal imagination’. This work will help us understand how political ideas and collective identities are shaped, maintained and disrupted by cultural forms.


Professor Tim Winter

2020 Professor Tim Winter

Tim is a sociologist by training, and his research interests cover a number of heritage related themes: how the concept is shaped epistemologically through certain knowledge practices; and how it figures in issues like nationalism, cultural diplomacy, post-conflict recovery, sustainability, postcolonial identities and urban development. Much of his work focuses on the developing economies of Asia, with projects currently being pursued in Cambodia, Qatar, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.


  • 2018 Prof Jane Balme
  • 2014 Prof Jane Lydon
  • 2013 Prof Yasmin Haskell
  • 2012 E/Prof Philip Mead
  • 2012 Professor Susan Broomhall
  • 2012 Prof Terri-ann White
  • 2008 E/Prof Gareth Griffiths
  • 2007 Prof Krishna Sen
  • 2006 A/Prof John Kinder
  • 2005 Prof Peter Veth
  • 2000 Prof Stewart Candlish
  • 1996 Prof Lorenzo Polizzotto
  • 1995 Prof David Kennedy
  • 1994 E/Prof John Melville-Jones
  • 1993 Mr Jeremy Green
  • 1991 Prof Robert White
  • 1980 E/Prof John Scott
  • 1979 E/Prof David Tunley

Awards

The Academy is the national body for the humanities in Australia, championing the contribution humanities, arts and culture make to national life.

McCredie Musicological Award

The award celebrates the outstanding career of Andrew McCredie AM FAHA (1930–2006) Emeritus Professor of Musicology at the Elder Conservatorium of Music in Adelaide, and Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. He was an eminent musicologist, who greatly influenced the teaching of music in Australian universities and schools.

Dr Sarah Collins
2019 Dr Sarah Collins

Dr Collins is a senior lecturer of Musicology at the University of Western Australia Conservatorium of Music. Her research focuses on the intersection between political, aesthetic and ethical concerns in music literature of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries.


Crawford Medal

The Max Crawford Medal is Australia’s most prestigious award for achievement and promise in the humanities. It is presented to an early career scholar for outstanding achievement in the humanities, whose research and publications make an exceptional contribution to the understanding of their discipline by the general public.

1993 Professor Hilary Fraser FAHA

Australian Academy of The Social Sciences in Australia

Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA)

The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) is an independent, interdisciplinary body of elected Fellows. Fellowship of the Academy of Social Sciences (FASSA) is an honour conferred for scholarly distinction in research or the advancement of social sciences.

The Academy has also made provision for the nomination of Honorary Fellows to the Academy aimed at honoring individuals who are recognized for their exemplary achievements but not necessarily in academia.


Emeritus Professor Lyn Parker
2021 Emeritus Professor Lyn Parker

Lyn Parker is a sociocultural anthropologist and researcher specialising in contemporary Indonesian culture and society, environmental problems and gender issues at the UWA School of Social Sciences. Her main research interests are the anthropology of Indonesia, women and gender relations, education and the environment.

Her interest in Indonesia flourished during her high school years when she enrolled in an Indonesian language class, the first Indonesian class taught in schools in New South Wales. She acknowledges that if Hindu, Urdu or Sanskrit had been offered, her career could have taken a different trajectory, studying and researching in India. Lyn did not foresee that she would combine her love for the Indonesian language with the culture and become an anthropologist, until she had finished her honours year at Australian National University (ANU). Following her tertiary education, Lyn conducted doctoral fieldwork in east Bali in 1980–81, studying the integration of a pre-colonial kingdom into the Indonesian nation-state. This was when she became interested in education and its role in citizen creation.


  • 2020 Prof Matthew Tonts
  • 2019 Prof Rod Tyers
  • 2017 Prof Michael Blakeney
  • 2017 E/Prof Victoria Burbank
  • 2017 Prof Cristina Gibson
  • 2017 Prof Stephen Zubrick
  • 2015 Prof Jakob Madsen
  • 2015 Prof Geoff Soutar
  • 2014 Prof Sharon Parker
  • 2013 Prof Gill Rhodes
  • 2012 Prof David Pannell
  • 2010 Prof Thomas O'Donoghue
  • 2006 Prof Darrell Turkington
  • 2004 E/Prof Izan Izan
  • 2002 Prof David Badcock
  • 2002 Prof Colin MacLeod
  • 2000 E/Prof Laksiri Jayasuriya
  • 1998 Prof Kenneth Clements
  • 1996 Prof Fiona Stanley
  • 1993 E/Prof Norman Etherington
  • 1990 Prof David Andrich
  • 1988 Prof Robert Tonkinson
  • 1976 E/Prof Philip Brown
  • 1967 E/Prof Reg Appleyard

Australian Academy of Science

Australian Academy of Science

The Australian Academy of Science champions, celebrates and supports excellence in Australian science, promotes international scientific engagement, builds public awareness and understanding of science and provides independent, authoritative and influential scientific advice.

Fellows

Three top science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) researchers from The University of Western Australia have been elected as 2020 Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science. They make up the total number of scientists representing WA from 24 Australians elected as Fellows this year.

Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science are among the nation’s most distinguished scientists, elected by their peers for groundbreaking research and contributions that have had substantial impact to advance knowledge.

Three UWA scientists named Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science


Professor Ryan Lister

2020 Professor Ryan Lister

Ryan Lister is a genome biologist who has made major advances in our understanding of the epigenome, the molecular code superimposed upon the genome that can regulate the readout of the underlying genetic information. Through landmark technology development and biological investigations, Ryan’s discoveries have provided major advances in our understanding of the epigenome in plants, animals, human stem cells, development, and the brain. His work is driving advances that will provide benefits to agriculture, human health and medicine. Overall, he has made major scientific contributions through his pioneering scientific research, and his leadership and promotion of Australian science.

Professor Harvey Millar

2020 Professor Harvey Millar

Andrew Millar has discovered key biochemical mechanisms through which plant respiration is adapted to cellular processes and harsh climates. He has identified how damage by lipid, oxygen and nitrogen radicals lower the efficiency of respiration. He has discovered how vitamin production is linked to respiration and how mitochondria signal their metabolic state to change plant defence gene expression. Millar has shown that the mitochondrial proteome response to plant stress involves specific and sequential changes in protein complex assembly, regulation of enzymes and selective chemical damage. His discoveries underpin our understanding of respiratory damage during plant cell ageing and disease.

Professor Robyn Owens

2020 Professor Robyn Owens

Robyn Owens has an exceptional research track record in computational vision science, having developed ground-breaking fundamental theory in feature detection and object recognition, and applying these theories across many disciplines, from biomedical science through to face recognition. Her pioneering work has been acknowledged by award of the prestigious UK Rank Prize in 2010 in Nutrition and Optoelectronics. Owens has an outstanding and sustained track record in research training and research policy development in the Australian Higher Education sector, including several national collaborative research infrastructure capabilities, and in promoting women in science and STEM education.


  • 2018 E/Prof David Blair
  • 2015 Prof Jenefer Blackwell
  • 2015 Prof Ian Small
  • 2013 Prof Hans Lambers
  • 2013 Prof Stephen Powles
  • 2013 Prof Michael Tobar
  • 2009 Prof Leigh Simmons
  • 2006 Prof Lorenzo Faraone
  • 2004 Prof Richard Hobbs
  • 2004 Prof Malcolm McCulloch
  • 2003 E/Prof David Groves
  • 2002 Prof Fiona Stanley
  • 2000 Prof Adrian Baddeley
  • 2000 Prof Mark Randolph
  • 1999 Prof Barry Marshall
  • 1998 Prof James Williams
  • 1996 Prof Cheryl Praeger
  • 1993 Prof Jorg Imberger
  • 1980 E/Prof John Pate

Awards

Central to the purpose of the Academy is the recognition and support of outstanding contributions to the advancement of science.

Honorific Awards

Central to the purpose of the Academy is the recognition and support of outstanding contributions to the advancement of science. The honorific awards were established to recognise distinguished research in three categories: awards of medals and prizes are made to early-career scientists up to 10 years post PhD, mid-career scientists 8 to 15 years post PhD, and the prestigious career awards which are made to scientists for life-long achievement.

Academy Medal

The Academy Medal recognises outstanding contributions to science by means other than through scientific research. It is awarded to a person outside the Fellowship who has, by sustained efforts in the public domain, significantly advanced the cause of science and technology in Australia or who has made a substantial contribution to the Academy.

Career Award

Thomas Ranken Lyle Medal for research in mathematics or physics

Professor Cheryl Elisabeth Praeger AM FAA
2013 Professor Cheryl Elisabeth Praeger AM FAA
Mathematics and Statistics

Professor Cheryl Praeger has transformed our understanding of groups acting on large systems, producing new theories, algorithms and designs that have advanced every field that exploits the symmetry of large systems. Her research has led to significant new directions taken up by mathematicians internationally. Her algorithms have enhanced powerful computer algebra systems which have transformed research and teaching of algebra.


Mawson Medal and Lecture

Prof Peter Cawood
2008 Professor Peter Cawood
Professor of Geology, Tectonics Special Research Centre, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences

Peter Cawood is an international leader in the application of structural geology, tectonic processes and geochronology, and has contributed greatly to our understanding of the development of the continental lithosphere throughout geological time. His research is concerned with the integration of field-based studies of mountain belts and their bounding cratons with the development and application of tectonic models.


Academy Medal

Hon Robert (Bob) Hawke
1990 The Hon Robert (Bob) Hawke
School of Law

UWA awarded Dr Hawke a Bachelor of Laws in 1951 and a Bachelor of Arts in 1955. He served as UWA Guild President in 1952 and the State’s Rhodes Scholar in 1953. Upon his election as Prime Minister, the University also honoured him with an Honorary Doctorate of Letters in 1984.

Premier awards

Ruby Payne-Scott Medal and Lecture

Professor Cheryl Elisabeth Praeger AM FAA
2021 Professor Cheryl Elisabeth Praeger AM FAA
Mathematics and Statistics

Professor Cheryl Praeger’s work on the mathematics of symmetry has been in the vanguard of a mathematical revolution caused by the classification of the finite simple groups, the atoms of symmetry from which all finite groups are built. She has elucidated the internal structure of these simple groups, and driven research on applying their immensely powerful classification to study symmetric structures.

Professor Praeger has developed a theory of quasiprimitive groups which, via her innovative ‘normal quotient method’, established a new paradigm for working with symmetric graphs and exploited the simple group classification.

Professor Praeger demonstrates an extraordinary ability to foster and inspire others, supporting women, advocating for mathematics in schools, and promoting mathematics in emerging economies.

Mid-career awards

Nancy Millis Medal for Women in Science

Professor Jacqueline Batley
2019 Professor Jacqueline Batley
School of Biological Sciences

Professor Batley has made major contributions to our understanding of the genetics and genomics of crops including canola (Brassica napus), a major source of edible oil. Her DNA markers have been critically important in the mapping and sequencing of genomes of canola, related Brassicas such as turnip and cabbage, and other crops including wheat, peas and lentils. In addition, she has developed new ways of looking at how pathogens interact genetically with crop plants. In these ways she has played a key role in pioneering biotechnological methods that are now being exploited by plant breeders worldwide. Examples of some successful commercial applications in canola include improvements in oil quality, reduced shattering of seed pods, and breeding for increased resistance to blackleg fungus infection. Her motivation to improve world food security and rural economies is being rewarded through such applications.


Jacques Miller Medal for experimental biomedicine

Professor Swaminathan Iyer
2018 Killugudi Swaminathan Iyer
School of Molecular Sciences

Professor Swaminathan Iyer in the School of Molecular Sciences at the University of Western Australia, leads an internationally recognised research program in the field of bionanotechnology. His transdisciplinary research program focuses on integrating fundamental concepts of cell and molecular biology with bioengineering to develop innovative nanoformulations that are designed for the treatment of currently untreatable medical emergencies like traumatic brain injuries, cardiovascular diseases, placental disorders in pregnancy and cancers (breast, cervical, colorectal). The nanoformulations developed by Iyer?s research group are able to track the localisation of the drug and pathological process simultaneously during treatment: a single procedure potentially leads to both diagnosis and therapy in one hit. The ultimate goal of his research is to enable an overall increase in quality and length of life for patients, through informed decisions about timing, dosage, drug choice, and treatment strategies for personalised medicine, with improved efficacy and lower off-target toxicity.

Early-career awards

John Booker Medal

Associate Professor Britta Bienen
2020 Asst Professor Britta Bienen
Oceans Graduate School

Associate Professor Britta Bienen’s world-leading research delivers innovative foundation solutions for the complex challenges associated with offshore oil and gas and renewable energy infrastructure. Through the development of practical predictive methods for soil-structure interaction problems, grounded in sound geotechnical science, her internationally recognised expertise translates scientific findings to significant impact in industry.

Her major achievements include developing models that encapsulate foundation response in a way that is compatible with structural engineering and can be integrated into analysis software used by the majority of offshore engineers. This is critical for robust, reliable and cost-effective design of infrastructure one which the global energy supply depends. Her award-winning research on jack-up footing extraction has had marked impact in industry, enhancing safety of personnel and assets. Her contributions to this field are of major significance, have been incorporated in international industry guidelines and are of direct benefit to geotechnical practice in Australia and worldwide.


Le Févre Medal

Asst/Prof Amir Karton
2018 Asst/Prof Amir Karton
School of Molecular Sciences

Associate Professor Amir Karton leads the computational chemistry group at the University of Western Australia. He currently holds a prestigious Australian Research Council Future Fellowship. His research interests are focused on the development of quantum chemical theory for the calculation of highly accurate chemical properties and the application of these procedures to problems of chemical structure, mechanism, and design. Amir?s computational chemistry group is working closely with internationally leading experimental groups in order to tackle challenging chemical problems that span several disciplines, ranging from biochemistry to nano-chemistry. These include the computational design of graphene-based functional materials, elucidating the mechanisms by which enzymes catalyse molecular transformations, and simulations of atmospherically relevant chemical reactions.

Amir obtained his PhD in computational chemistry in 2010 with Prof. Jan Martin at the Weizmann Institute of Science and then continued to a postdoctoral period with Prof. Leo Radom at the University of Sydney. In addition to the Le Fevre Medal, he received the Vice-Chancellor?s Early Career Investigators Award (2016) and the Outstanding Young Investigator Award (2013) from UWA.


Ruth Stephens Gani Medal for distinguished research in human genetics

Winthrop Prof Ryan Lister
2014 Winthrop Prof Ryan Lister
School of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Professor Ryan Lister studies the epigenome, the millions of molecular signposts added to the genome to regulate the activity of the underlying genetic information. His development of key techniques to map the epigenome has enabled major advances in our understanding of its role in gene regulation in both plants and animals. Professor Lister’s investigation into epigenome dynamics during mammalian brain development has provided the first comprehensive maps of epigenome dynamics through mammalian brain development, in both humans and mice. His discoveries provide an essential foundation to understanding the role of the epigenome in mammalian gene regulation and brain development.


Fenner Medal for distinguished research in biology (excluding the biomedical sciences)

Prof A Harvey Millar
2012 Prof A Harvey Millar
ARC Australian Professorial Fellow and Winthrop Professor
ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology
School of Biomedical, Biomolecular and Chemical Science

Professor Harvey Millar’s research focuses on energy production in plants and how the process of respiration is affected by harsh climates. His work has shown how respiration can be protected in plant cells during environmental stress, how production of the antioxidant vitamin C is controlled in plants, and how the complex links between respiration and plant growth can alter plant yields. His discoveries underpin our understanding of respiratory damage in cell ageing and disease, relevant to both plants and animals.


Anton Hales Medal for research in the earth sciences

Prof David White
2010 Prof David White
Centre for Offshore Foundation Systems

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.

Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering

Australian Academy of Science

The Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering is a Fellowship organisation, comprising men and women elected on the basis of their expertise and experience.


Professor Liang Cheng

2020 Professor Liang Cheng

Professor Liang Cheng is a civil engineer whose research has significantly impacted industry practice, to ensure offshore pipelines and cables are designed and constructed with smaller environmental footprints.

He is an international authority on how water, seabeds and human-built structures interact. He has applied his expertise to help industry more effectively design and maintain a range of marine structures.

Professor Cheng has supported oil, gas and renewables companies to build key offshore infrastructure with less damage to the marine ecosystem.

He leads a productive research team on offshore fluid mechanics in Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering at the University of Western Australia.


  • 2019 Professor Melinda Hodkiewicz
  • 2018 Prof Wallace Cowling
  • 2018 Prof Eric May
  • 2018 Prof Phillip Watson
  • 2015 Prof David White
  • 2013 Prof Peter Quinn
  • 2012 Prof Robyn Owens
  • 2010 Prof Alison Ord
  • 2009 E/Prof Mark Bush
  • 2009 Prof Lyn Beazley
  • 2008 Prof Mark Cassidy
  • 2008 Prof Michael Tobar
  • 2006 Prof Bruce Hobbs
  • 2005 Prof Kadambot Siddique
  • 2004 Prof Lorenzo Faraone
  • 2004 Prof Dongke Zhang
  • 2001 Prof Ian Constable
  • 1998 Prof Stephen Powles
  • 1993 Prof Mark Randolph
  • 1992 Prof Antonio Cantoni
  • 1992 Prof Neil Turner
  • 1987 Prof Alan Robson
  • 1985 Prof Jorg Imberger

Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies

Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies

The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies is a world-renowned research, collections and publishing organisation. We promote knowledge and understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, traditions, languages and stories, past and present.


Professor Alan Dench
2005 Professor Alan Dench

Professor Alan Dench was educated at the University of Western Australia and at the Australian National University. His main research interest is the grammatical description and historical reconstruction and comparison of Australian Aboriginal languages, especially those of Western Australia. He has published grammars of three languages of the Pilbara - Panyjima, Martuthunira and Yingkarta - and is writing a description of Nyamal. He has also collected materials in Kurrama and Yinhawangka, and has worked on aspects of Noongar.

He has at different times served as the Head of Linguistics, Head of the School of Humanities, and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts at UWA. He is currently Dean of Graduate Research and Postdoctoral Training at UWA. He is a member of the Executive of the Council of Deans and Directors of Graduate Studies, Australia (DDoGS) and chairs the Go8 Deans of Graduate Studies.


  • 2001 Aspro Violet Bacon
  • 1998 Prof Jane Balme
  • 1998 Aspro Richard Davis
  • 1998 Prof Sandy Toussaint
  • 1992 Prof Jill Milroy
  • 1992 Prof Peter Veth
  • 1990 Dr John Henderson
  • 1978 E/Prof Sandra Bowdler
  • 1965 Prof Robert Tonkinson