Nominations for the 2012 Prime Minister’s Science prize are now open and will close at 5pm AEST on 27 April 2012. For more information on eligibility criteria and selection information, click here.
The Prime Minister’s Science Prizes were announced at a formal dinner on Wednesday 12 October 2011.
Click here to view the joint press release from the Prime Minister and Innovation Minister
Click here to view the Innovation Minister’s speech
Click here for citations
Click here for the photo gallery and links to downloadable HD videos.
The Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science were presented by the Prime Minister and the Innovation Minister at the Prize Dinner in the Great Hall of Parliament House on Wednesday 17 November. The MC for the evening was the ABC’s Bernie Hobbs.
Congratulations to Amanda Barnard, winner of the 2010 Eureka Prize for Scientific Research for her work on predicting properties of nanoparticles in sunscreens. Read the full article →
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John O’SullivanNearly a billion people use John O’Sullivan’s invention every day. When you use a WiFi network—at home, in the office or at the airport—you are using patented technology born of the work of John and his CSIRO colleagues. Read the full article →
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Michael CowleyWhy do we get fat? What’s the link between obesity, diabetes and hypertension? Can we break the link? These are critical questions for Australia’s long-term health, and Michael Cowley may have the answers. Read the full article →
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Amanda BarnardEvery new technology brings opportunities and threats. Nanotechnology is no exception. It has the potential to create new materials that will dramatically improve drug delivery, medical diagnostics, clean and efficient energy, computing and more. But nanoparticles—materials made small, just a few millionths of a millimetre in size—could also have significant health and environmental impacts. Read the full article →
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Len AltmanGeoscience is at the heart of some of humanity’s biggest challenges in the 21st Century: access to water; alternative energy sources like geothermal and hydro; and adapting to climate change. “So why,” asks Len Altman, “Are students in our schools more likely to learn about the moons of Jupiter or the rings of Saturn than about the planet Earth and its history?” Read the full article →
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Allan WhittomeBadgingarra Primary School is perched on a hill three hours north of Perth, looking out across fields of canola and wheat. The approach to the school is lined with sculptures of native animals and a model of the Solar System made in limestone, set amongst native plants. In the classroom the students are fine-tuning model racing cars they’ve designed and manufactured online. All this is due to the work of Allan Whittome. Read the full article →
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Follow this link to Ian Frazer’s acceptance speech: http://www.uq.edu.au/news/?article=16238
A hero of women and scienceIan Frazer has created four vaccines to fight cervical cancer. Two of them-Gardasil and Cervarix-are now on the market. Both prevent infection with the virus responsible for most cervical cancers. The other two vaccines are in clinical trials and are designed to treat women who have already been infected.
And Ian isn’t finished-he’s already working on the next generation of cervical cancer vaccines. But his greatest challenge is to get the vaccines to where they can do most good, in developing countries where screening programs are not widely available and 200,000 women die every year from cervical cancer.
Only then will his battle against cervical cancer be complete.
When quality control fails in our immune systemNature paper, child, Nature paper, child, Nature paper… Carola Vinuesa has had a busy few years. Her research has revealed key steps in how our immune system produces high quality, long lasting antibodies to fight disease.
And she has discovered what happens when things go wrong: that a single letter change in the genetic code is enough to create poor quality antibodies and trigger autoimmune diseases like lupus, juvenile diabetes and certain cancers.
This 39-year-old researcher’s work at the John Curtin School of Medical Research at the Australian National University is opening up new targets for drug discovery to fight autoimmune disease.
Holey fibres shine the light on safetyOptical fibres are the backbone of the internet, carrying vast amounts of data across cities, countries and oceans. Without them global communication would be more expensive and much slower.
Tanya Monro’s research has contributed to their performance. But she thinks that optical fibres can do much, much more for humanity. She’s dreaming of aircraft that know when they’re getting metal fatigue; water plants that react within seconds of cryptosporidium entering the water supply; tractors that know how much fertiliser every metre of the field needs; and wearable sensors that detect certain proteins or viruses.
Engaging techniques to cultivate scientific curiosityHe wanted to be a funeral director, but he wasn’t old enough. So, to fill in time, Clay Reid went to teacher college, and fell into a career he has made his own.
After twenty years of secondary science teaching, he is highly respected as an inspirational teacher and leader, both in his rural community and in the wider science teaching community.
Clay has been teaching at Clare High School in rural South Australia for the past eight years, and due to his efforts the popularity of science has increased dramatically over that time, as has the school’s overall academic results in science.
What’s special about his teaching? He says, “It’s about engagement, getting kids to turn up to class and expect the unexpected. And it’s about giving every student the opportunity to enjoy science whether they are planning to leave school at year 10 or go on to university.”
For his enthusiasm and dedication to secondary science teaching, Clay Reid receives the Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Secondary Schools.
Bronwyn MartBronwyn Mart believes that science should have a central role in the primary school curriculum.
“Children are born curious about the world around them. We need to nurture and harness that curiosity from the early years of school. That’s why science matters in primary school. Taught well, it engages students and can act as a vehicle for literacy, numeracy and critical thinking,” she says. “Primary science lays the foundations for scientifically literate children who are able to grow into secondary school science and are more likely to make career choices that embrace science.”
Peter Waterhouse and Ming-Bo Wang
The human genome project found we have around 32,000 genes—only a few more than other animals, insects and most plants. Knowing how those genes are turned on and off is a key to understanding how a few thousand genes interact to create a human, a fly or a wheat plant.
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Elizabeth (Beth) FultonWe live on an island. And we’re placing increasing pressure on the oceans around us — relying on them for recreation, tourism, oil and gas, and food. In total, the marine environment contributes $70 billion and 2 million jobs annually to the Australian economy.
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Mark CassidyMark Cassidy is battling immutable forces of nature – storms, ocean currents and earthquakes – that threaten to topple the giant oil and gas platforms off the North West coast of Australia.
From his geophysics laboratory at the University of Western Australia, he models the way the feet of these giant platforms push into the mud on the ocean floor. And his models work. His advice is sought by the designers and builders of the platforms and his modelling has led to changes to international safety guidelines. The 33 year-old civil engineer is also one of Australia’s youngest professors. Read the full article →
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Francesca CalatiParticipation in chemistry at St Helena Secondary College has tripled in the last few years. The secret? An innovative combination of practical chemistry and nanotechnology introduced into the classroom by Francesca Calati.
Francesca is the programme manager of Accelerated Curricula and Nanotechnology at St Helena, a government school in the Melbourne suburb of Eltham North. She realised that many of the school’s students didn’t ‘get’ chemistry. So she developed a practical chemistry course that engages the students and makes chemistry more relevant to them. Then, recognising the increasing importance of nanotechnology as a new enabling science, she developed a comprehensive programme in nanotechnology that bridges science and art. Read the full article →
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Cheryl CapraCheryl Capra couldn’t pursue her passion for physics and astronomy as a career. Instead she turned to science teaching and, over a 40 year career, has taught at primary and secondary level and been involved in curriculum development.
But it’s in primary teaching at Albany Hills State School in Brisbane that she’s made her greatest impact. “Our students’ science studies extend from their classrooms and beyond this campus to our entire planet, even to the orbiting International Space Station and the cold, dark, unimaginable distances of the cosmos,” she says. Read the full article →
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Mandyam Veerambudi SrinivasanAn automatic landing system for an aircraft is expensive and complex. And it is just one of many systems that would be required to make a truly robotic aircraft.
But a bee can take off, find targets, fly through tunnels, navigate home, and land without any of that complexity. It uses a minute brain of about a million nerve cells, which is the size of a sesame seed and weighs just a tenth of a milligram.
Mandyam Srinivasan – known to all as Srini – has dedicated his research career to understanding just how bees work. Read the full article →
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James WhisstockIf proteins are the molecular building blocks of our bodies, then proteases are the demolition team – cutting up used proteins and breaking down damaged cells.
But who is in charge of the demolition team? In many cases it’s a group of molecules collectively known as serpins. When they don’t do their job properly, devastating diseases such as liver cirrhosis, thrombosis, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease can result.
James Whisstock is a serpins guru. He and his team are using x-ray crystallography, synchrotron light and other tools to piece together how serpins do their job – and what happens when they don’t. Along the way he is finding new opportunities for drug discovery. Read the full article →
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