Australian Academy of Science Early-career Awards

Julie Arblaster’s climate research is helping to explain the climate of the Australian region, particularly the ozone hole, El Niño, the monsoon, and Australian rainfall variability.

David Warton is driving data analysis in ecology, making it a more predictive science. His tools are influencing statistics across science and industry.

Christian Turney has pioneered new ways of combining climate models with records of past climate change spanning from hundreds to thousands of years.

Maria Seton has redefined the way we reconstruct the movement of continental plates and contributed to studies on the effect ocean basin changes have had on global long-term sea level and ocean chemistry.

Richard Payne has pioneered peptide chemistry and drug discovery for neglected diseases, advancing a number of lead compounds for the treatment of tuberculosis, malaria and cancer.

Geoff Pryde’s research investigates the fundamental properties of the quantum world and how these can be harnessed for radical advances such as ultra-secure long-range communications.

Katherine Belov has overturned the paradigm that Australian mammals have primitive immune systems. Her work has implications for wildlife disease and future antimicrobials.

Ryan Lister studies the epigenome in both plants and animals.

Kieran Harvey is unravelling the signalling networks that control organ size. His work will provide fertile ground for therapeutic interventions for cancer and degenerative diseases.

Emma Johnston is revealing the causes and consequences of bio-invasion through her work combining traditional laboratory studies with novel field-based experiments in Antarctica, the Great Barrier Reef, and temperate Australian estuaries.

For more information: Australian Academy of Science, www.science.org.au/past-winners/2014-awardees