Aust Academy of Science announces 2023 honorific awardees

The Australian Academy of Science has announced its honorific awards for 2023, in doing so recognising 22 scientists for their outstanding contributions. The awards celebrate the achievements of the country’s leading minds and future superstars, spanning from early-career recipients to those who have made career-long advancements in their fields.

In 2023, Professor Lidia Morawska of the Queensland University of Technology is awarded one of the most prestigious career awards of the Academy: the Matthew Flinders Medal and Lecture. Morawska’s 30 years of pioneering work have advanced the multifaceted study of air pollution, including laying the foundation for the 2021 WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines. In early 2020, she led a group of more than 200 international experts calling for authorities to recognise the importance of airborne transmission in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Professor Jennifer Graves of La Trobe University is awarded the Ruby Payne-Scott Medal and Lecture, another of the most prestigious Academy awards. An international leader in comparative genomics of vertebrates, Graves has shown Australian animals are a powerful source of information for investigating the evolution and mechanisms of sex chromosomes. Studying kangaroos, dragons, devils and more, she has made fundamental discoveries including how the X chromosome is genetically silenced in female mammals, and that the Y chromosome is decaying and could ‘self-destruct’ in a few million years.

Professor David Craik of The University of Queensland (UQ) is awarded the David Craig Medal and Lecture, recognising the significant achievements stemming from his discovery of a family of circular plant peptides. Along with becoming a world leader in defining the structures and functions of these cyclotides, he’s spurring innovations to harness their diverse applications — including developing new classes of drugs and eco-friendly pesticides.

The Suzanne Cory Medal is jointly awarded to UQ’s Professor Catherine Lovelock and Professor Terence Hughes of James Cook University. Their achievements include demonstrating the role of coastal wetlands in mitigating climate change, and pioneering exploration of the resilience of coral reefs to pollution, overfishing and climate stressors, respectively.

Professor Susan Scott of The Australian National University and Professor Nick Wormald of Monash University receive the Thomas Ranken Lyle Medal for outstanding achievements in mathematics and physics. Scott played a leading role in Australia’s participation in the first direct detection of gravitational waves and has made fundamental advances in our understanding of the fabric of space-time in general relativity, while Wormald’s advancements in random graph theory have led to versatile tools used in network optimisation, underground mine design and genetics.

Academy President Professor Chennupati Jagadish said these and all the other recipients have much to be proud of and are making tremendous contributions to science.

“Each year, the depth and breadth of achievements, recognised by these honorific awards, continues to inspire me, as I hope it does other scientists and Australians,” Jagadish said.

“These awardees are working not only to advance their fields, but for the betterment of our communities and the planet — improving our understanding of the world while addressing some of the most pressing challenges facing us.

“I encourage other scientists across Australia to nominate a colleague, especially underrepresented individuals, for a 2024 honorific award.”

Nominations for the Academy’s 2024 honorific awards close on 1 May 2023, while applications for research awards, travelling fellowships and research conference funding close on 1 June. More information on both can be found here.

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