Royal Society of NSW News & Events

The latest composition from Dr David Hush FRSN, “Three Pieces for Solo Flute”, is dedicated to, and has been recorded by, Dr Danielle Eden. Dr Eden has played flute and piccolo with Opera Australia for the past 20 years. “Three Pieces” may be heard on Akiva Recordings. David is known for channelling J S Bach, and each piece has “a special connectio...

The Society is delighted to learn of the awards to the following Society Fellows and Members who appear in the 2023 King's Birthday Honours List. Please note that since the original news item was published, the Society has been notified of additional members who were honoured in the King's Birthday Honours List.  These people are identified in...

The Royal Society of NSW seeks to appoint a Communications Officer to enhance the Society's outreach to its membership and the wider community.  The key aspects of the role are the development of a media and communications strategy, the development and dissemination of communications, and the monitoring and measurement of media and publicity i...

Society Fellow, Distinguished Professor Gordon Wallace AO FRSN FAA FTSE, of the University of Wollongong, has been recently elected to the Royal Irish Academy — Ireland's leading body of experts in the sciences and humanities.   Gordon Wallace is a world-leading researcher and pioneer in materials science and advanced fabri...

Society Fellow, Professor Warwick Anderson FRSN FAHA FASSA FAHMS, has been jointly awarded the Society for Social Studies of Science’s prestigious Bernal Prize for having made ‘distinguished contributions’ to the field of Science and Technology Studies. The Bernal Prize is the Society’s life achievement award, with past recipients including Emily M...

The Royal Society of NSW is delighted to learn of the recognition of one of its Fellows and a previous Society Award winner in the recently announced list of new Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science, elected in May 2023. They are Distinguished Professor Belinda Medlyn FRSN FAA (Ecologist, Western Sydney University), a Fellow of the Society,...

Emeritus Professor John Church AO FAA FTSE FAMS FAGU, the winner of the Society's 2022 James Cook Medal,  has been awarded the Prince Albert I Medal by the International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Oceans (IAPSO), for his outstanding contribution to sea level research and related new insights into climate change. IAPSO re...

Society Fellow Professor Chuan Zhao FRSN FRSC FRACI of UNSW (Sydney) has recently been awarded the R. H. Stokes Medal of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute Electrochemistry Division for distinguished research in electrochemistry. Professor Zhao is the Head of the Nanoelectrochemistry Lab at UNSW (Sydney) and is a former Professorial Futur...

Society Fellow, philanthropist, and patron of the arts, Yves Hernot KNOM FRSN, recently wrote an article titled "Venez célébrer « The Spirit of Australia »: Les 3 Prix d’Art : Archibald, Wynne et Sulman" in the French-English online newspaper, Le Courrier Australien, celebrating the recently announced Archibald, Wynne, and Sulman art prizes.  ...

Most face-to-face events and all online events conducted by the Royal Society of NSW are recorded and made available for subsequent viewing on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/royalsocnsw.  On Wednesday, 5 May, Professor Michael Blumenstein FACS of the University of Technology Sydney, a highly-cited researcher in the field of artificial i...

The Southern Highlands Branch has suffered a heavy loss with the unexpected passing in April 2023 of long-time Committee member Ted Smith (aged 86) who was an inspiration to all who knew him. He used his industrial chemistry background as a springboard in a series of outstanding careers throughout his long life. Problem solving was at the heart of ...

Most face-to-face events and all online events conducted by the Royal Society of NSW are recorded and made available for subsequent viewing on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/royalsocnsw.  On Wednesday, 5 April renowned geophysicist, Professor Dietmar Müller FAA FAGU of the University of Sydney, spoke at the 1312th Ordinary General meeti...

At the Society's 156th Annual General Meeting, held on 5 April 2023, the results of the 2023 Council elections were announced. The election was conducted by electronic ballot over a three-week period from noon on 13 March until noon on 3 April.  Some 222 ballots were submitted by 664 eligible voters, corresponding to a return rate of 33%....

The Australian Research Council has recently announced (24 March) that Society Fellow Professor Steven Weller FRSN of the University of Newcastle has been appointed as the new Executive Director for the Engineering and Information Sciences.  The Executive Directors oversee the grant allocation panels in their discipline portfolio, have operati...

The Royal Society of NSW warmly welcomes 20 new members to the Society's ranks, effective from 15 March 2023. Fellows Emeritus Professor Elizabeth Ashburn Professor Roy Beran Dr Joseph Brophy Professor Conal Condren Professor Marcel Dinger Mr Lionel Etheridge Associate Professor Kalinda Griffiths Professor Anthony Mills Professor Bernard Pailthorpe...

Australia's Chief Scientist, Dr Cathy Foley AO PSM DistFRSN FAA FTSE, has been requested by the Australian Government to lead a national conversation about the revitalisation of Australia’s Science and Research Priorities over coming months. The current list of science priorities dates back to 2015 — a time before gravitational waves had been ...

Professor Matthew England FRSN FAA of the UNSW Sydney and Professor Si Ming Man of the Australian National University have been named as winners in the Academy of Science (AAS) Honorific Awards for 2023.  Professor England, the winner of the RSNSW James Cook Medal in 2019, was awarded the  AAS Jaeger Medal — one of the Academy's career-le...

The Society is saddened by the unexpected death of Past President Dr Ragbir Bhathal, a long-serving member and Councilor of the Society. A member since 1982, Dr Bhathal passed away suddenly on 30 November 2022, aged 86. He was President in 1984 and Honorary Secretary from 1989 to 1991. He was elected a Fellow in 2015 and recently served as Honorary...

It is with heavy heart that the Royal Society of NSW records the sudden death of one of its Fellows, Emeritus Professor Christopher Fell AO FRSN FTSE, at the age of 82 on 8 December 2022. In addition to being Chair of the NCRIS Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF), and a member of the NSW Government Independent Planning Authority, Profes...

Most face-to-face events and all online events conducted by the Royal Society of NSW are recorded and made available for subsequent viewing on our YouTube channel, youtube.com/royalsocnsw. Recordings for three events, held in November and December 2022, are now available on YouTube. On 23 November 2022, Professor Geraint Lewis FRSN FLSW, Professor ...