2014 Australian Academy of Science award winners announced

The Australian Academy of Science has announced this year’s winners of its prestigious annual awards for scientific excellence. As Academy President Professor Suzanne Cory explained, “These awards celebrate both career-long contributions by some of Australia’s most distinguished researchers and remarkable discoveries made by younger investigators.”

Honorific awards are presented to career researchers for lifelong achievements and to outstanding early-career researchers under the age of 40. In addition, the academy gives a number of awards for research and travel support.

Academy Medal for contributions to science by means other than the conduct of scientific research

Simon McKeon AO FAICD, Executive Chairman of Macquarie Group’s Melbourne Office

McKeon is a business leader and philanthropist who has made extensive contributions to Australian science and innovation. The 2011 Australian of the Year’s many appointments include Chairman of the CSIRO Board since 2010, Foundation Chairman and now Patron of Multiple Sclerosis Research Australia, Chair of In2Science, and member of the inaugural Bio21 Australia Board.

Career research awards

2014 Macfarlane Burnet Medal and Lecture for research in the biological sciences

Professor Jerry Adams FAA FRS, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research

Professor Adams has made contributions on the genetic basis of neoplasia and the control of cell death. His research has clarified how chromosome translocations promote tumour growth. His discoveries on the Bcl-2 protein family have revealed that the resulting reduction in cell death is a major step in the cancer development and an impediment to its therapy.

David Craig Medal for outstanding contributions to chemical research

Emeritus Professor Curt Wentrup FAA, The University of Queensland

Numerous chemical reactions take place via so-called ‘reactive intermediates’, ie, short-lived molecules that are undetectable under ordinary reaction conditions. Professor Wentrup has pioneered methods to study these reactive intermediates and observe them directly by combining the technique of flash vacuum thermolysis with low-temperature spectroscopy. His work contributes to knowledge on how reactants turn into products.

Mawson Medal and Lecture for outstanding contributions to earth sciences

Dr Gavin C Young, Australian National University

Dr Young is a leader in the field of early fossil vertebrates and palaeontology. His field work in Antarctica resulted in a new biostratigraphy and age determination for much of the central Transantarctic Mountains. His field work and mapping in central Australia resulted in the discovery of the oldest-known vertebrate fossils on the planet and many new sites rich in vertebrates.

Haddon Forrester King Medal and Lecture

Dr Neil Williams PSM, University of Wollongong

Dr Williams’ career across academia, the minerals exploration industry and government epitomises a lifelong commitment to geoscience; particularly to the discovery, evaluation and exploitation of mineral deposits including hydrocarbons. Dr Williams’ leadership of the national geoscience agency from 1995 to 2010 represents a sustained contribution to earth sciences.

Ian William Wark Medal and Lecture

Professor Min Gu FAA, Swinburne University of Technology

As a pioneer in photonics at the nanoscale, Professor Gu has developed green nanophotonic innovations which have significant benefits, including low-energy-consumption big data centres, early cancer detection and environmentally friendly solar cells. He has also developed petabyte data storage technology that allows sustainable growth in digital economies.

Early career awards (for researchers under the age of 40)

Anton Hales Medal for research in earth sciences

Dr Julie Michelle Arblaster, Australian Bureau of Meteorology

Dr Arblaster’s research in the earth sciences focuses on many aspects of the workings of the global climate system and its sensitivity to changes. Her research lies serves to explain many of the causes of climate variability and change. Much of her research pertains directly to the climate of the Australian region.

Christopher Heyde Medal for research in probability theory, statistical methodology and their applications

Associate Professor David Warton, University of New South Wales

Associate Professor Warton has made a series of contributions to data analysis in ecology - new methods for studying size variation, ecological communities and their climatic response, and the spatial distribution of species. His contributions have had influence on statistical practice across several disciplines.

Dorothy Hill Award for female researchers in the Earth sciences including reef science, ocean drilling, marine science and taxonomy in marine systems

Dr Maria Seton, The University of Sydney

Dr Seton’s work on global tectonics has redefined the way that traditional plate reconstructions are achieved, through the development of an innovative workflow that treats plates as dynamically evolving features. She has also been part of studies on the effect ocean basin changes have had on global long-term sea-level and ocean chemistry.

Frederick White Prize

Professor Chris Turney, University of New South Wales

Professor Turney is an earth scientist and research leader in both climate and environmental change, from the tropics to the poles. By pioneering new ways of combining climate models with records of past climate change, he has discovered new links between variability mechanisms in the Australian region and global climate change.

Le Fèvre Memorial Prize for outstanding basic research in chemistry

Associate Professor Richard James Payne, The University of Sydney

Associate Professor Payne has pioneered the development of synthetic methodologies that have enabled access to modified peptides and proteins of considerable complexity. He is also recognised for his contributions to medicinal chemistry where he has discovered lead compounds for the treatment of tuberculosis, malaria and cancer.

Pawsey Medal l: for outstanding research in physics

Professor Geoffrey John Pryde, Griffith University

Professor Pryde’s research investigates the fundamental properties of the quantum world and how these can be harnessed for advances in information technologies, sensing and measurement. He has demonstrated the first quantum measurement scaling at the absolute quantum limit of measurement precision and has realised steps on the path towards optical quantum computing.

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

Professor Katherine Belov, The University of Sydney

Professor Belov’s research provides new understanding of mammalian immune systems, demonstrating that Australian mammals have immune gene complements similar to our own. She discovered that it is low diversity in the major histocompatibility complex that allows the spread of Tasmanian devil facial tumour disease, and has identified novel antimicrobial and venom peptides of potential biomedical relevance.

Gottschalk Medal for outstanding research in the medical sciences

Dr Kieran F Harvey, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre

Dr Harvey was an integral member of the team that discovered the Hippo pathway, a signalling network that controls organ size. He was also the first to show that the Hippo pathway is evolutionarily conserved, and that it is mutated in human cancer. More recently, Dr Harvey’s laboratory discovered that the Hippo pathway controls organ regeneration.

Ruth Stephens Gani Medal for distinguished research in human genetics

Winthrop Professor Ryan Lister, The University of Western Australia

Professor Lister’s development of techniques to map the epigenome has enabled major advances in our understanding of its role in gene regulation in both plants and animals. His investigation into epigenome dynamics during mammalian brain development has provided the first comprehensive maps of the process in both humans and mice.

2014 Research support awards

The following researchers will receive research support under the Margaret Middleton Fund for endangered Australian native vertebrate animals:

• Laurence Berry, Australian National University
• Christopher Henderson, Griffith University
• Stephanie Hing, Murdoch University
• Wendy Neilan, Australian National University

2014 Travelling Fellowships

• Dr Catherine Foley PSM FTSE, CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering, has been awarded the Lloyd Rees Lecture in chemical physics
• Dr Huy The Nguyen, The University of Queensland, has been awarded the AK Head Travelling Scholarship for Mathematical Scientists
• Professor Ullrich Steiner, University of Cambridge, has been awarded the Selby Travelling Fellowship for excellence in science
• Dr Rodney van der Ree, Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, has been awarded the Graeme Caughley Travelling Fellowship in ecological science

Most of the winners will receive their awards at the academy’s annual conference, Science at the Shine Dome, being held in Canberra from 27 to 29 May, where they will be invited to make short presentations of their work.