Former Australian of the year and mental health advocate Professor Patrick McGorry and Australia’s Chief Scientist Dr Alan Finkel were among 21 leading scientists to be elected to the Academy in May.
The six women and 15 men have made outstanding contributions to a range of scientific areas including agriculture, advanced communications and cancer research.
Former Academy President Professor Brian Anderson and polymers pioneer Professor David Solomon have been recognised with Australia's highest honour, Companion in the General Division of the Order of Australia, in the 2016 Queen's Birthday Honours list.
Professor Anderson AC FAFA FRS FTSE received the award for eminent services to information and communications technology, to engineering and higher education, as an academic, researcher and author, to professional scientific associations and as a mentor of young scientists.
Professor Martin Green has been part of a team setting a new world record for solar cell efficiency, a result that was almost 44% better than the previous record.
The Academy sends warm congratulations to the following Fellows who celebrated their 90th birthdays this quarter:
(left) Professor Allen Kerr AO FAA FRS, born 21 May 1926; Professor Robert Crompton AM FAA, born 9 June 1926, and Corresponding Member Sir David Attenborough OM CH CVO CBE FAA FRS, born 8 May 19261924 to 2016
Professor Gani was elected to the Academy in 1976. He was internationally recognised for his research in probability and statistics, and for his scientific leadership.
In 1994 Professor Gani informed the Academy that:
The 2015 Theo Murphy High Flyers Think Tank focused on stem cell research in Australia. Sixty early- and mid-career researchers came together in Sydney in July last year to discuss ways to support researchers and clinicians working in the field, how Australia should approach regulation, and what the public expects from stems cells.
The Academy received more than 300 applications from early- and mid-career researchers to attend the 2016 Theo Murphy High Flyers Think Tank: An interdisciplinary approach to living in a risky world. Congratulations to the 60 candidates who have been selected to attend and we look forward to welcoming you in Canberra in July for two-and-a-half days of intense thinking and discussion about all types of risk.
The EMCR Forum is the national voice of Australia’s early- and mid-career researchers. The Executive Committee recently met face to face for their annual meeting and worked together to produce a strategic plan for the next five years.
Over the past few months the Committee met with the CEO of the NHMRC, Professor Anne Kelso, and the CEO of the ARC, Aidan Byrne, to discuss concerns about EMCR success rates in grant rounds. The EMCR Forum has also provided an EMCR perspective into the NHMRC’s Structural Review.
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