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ACADEMY ELECTS PROFESSOR VICKI SARA
3 May 2001

The President of the Australian Academy of Science, Professor Brian Anderson, has announced the election of Professor Vicki Rubian Sara, as a Fellow of the Academy. Professor Sara was elected by Special Election, a procedure which allows the Academy to elect a very small number of people who have made distinguished contributions to science in ways other than personal research. No more than two Fellows can be elected in this way every three years. In the same period 48 Fellows are elected for their distinguished research performance.

As ARC Chair since 1997 Vicki Sara has been the driving force behind the far reaching reforms of the ARC announced in the White Paper Knowledge and Innovation in December 2000 and in the doubling of its funding announced in the Innovation Action Plan Backing Australia's Ability in January 2001. Professor Sara is a member of the Prime Minister's Science, Engineering and Innovation Council, the CSIRO Board and the Cooperative Research Centres Committee. Professor Sara was appointed Vice-Chair of the OECD's Global Science Forum in 1999.

In announcing the election, the Academy's President, Professor Brian Anderson, said 'Professor Sara has played a unique role in Australian science policy in the past three years with her unfailing advocacy for the importance of science. Her election will be widely acclaimed for her contribution to the reforms and initiatives announced by the Australian Government this year'.