Royal Society of NSW News & Events

The electronic ballot for the 2022 Council Elections of the Royal Society of NSW closed at noon on Tuesday, 5 April 2021. There were 222 ballots submitted by 670 eligible voters, representing an overall return of 33.1%. The outcome of the election is as follows. For the election of four (4) Council members There were 840 votes tallied with 12 ...

The Royal Society of NSW, an inclusive learned institution founded on the principles of liberal democracy, encourages discourse and the free exchange of ideas that respect religious, political, and cultural freedoms. The Society condemns the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a brutal assault on such values and on the Ukrainian people. It presents a re...

The Royal Society of NSW warmly welcomes 11 new members to the Society's ranks, effective from 2 March 2022. Fellows Professor Igor Aharonovich Professor Clive Baldock Professor Anthony Cunningham Professor Roy Green Professor Renee Elmina Leon Professor Tuan Van Nguyen Dr James RenwickProfessor Shawn Ross Biographical information about the new Fel...

Society Fellow, Professor Steven Simpson AC FRSN FRS FAA has been awarded one of the Australian Academy of Science's two highest honours — the 2022 Macfarlane Burnet Medal and Lecture — for his research that has led to a groundbreaking approach to nutrition.  Professor Stephen Simpson, from the University of Sydney, has revolutionised the scie...

Council Member and Society Fellow, Professor Kathy Belov AO FRSN, has just been appointed as the interim Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the University of Sydney.  Her term will extend from 2 April until the arrival in July of Professor Emma Johnston AO FRSN FTSE as the substantive replacement for Professor Duncan Ivison FRSN FA...

The Royal Society of NSW warmly welcomes 13 new members to the Society's ranks, effective from 2 February 2022. Fellows Professor Mark Griffith EvansDr Peter KeeganProfessor Charles James LemckertProfessor Deborah LuptonMr David John van NunenProfessor Alistair Gary Beresford PooreMs Judith Maree Rae Biographical information about the new Fellows i...

Announcing a new service for Society members As a means of creating greater collegiality among members of the Society, the Publishing Committee, in conjunction with Halstead Press, has created a mechanism for all members to be made aware of some of the interesting, published works of your Society colleagues on a regular basis. Conversely, this is a...

All online events from the Royal Society of NSW are recorded and made available for subsequent viewing on our YouTube channel, youtube.com/royalsocnsw. In our first event of 2022 (2 February) that was held online, Professor Mark Scott AO FRSN, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Sydney, discussed “Where next for higher education...

The December 2021 issue of the Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of NSW is now available online.  Members of the Society who subscribed to two issues of the hard-copy edition for 2021 will receive their December 2021 copy in the mail in coming weeks once it is printed. Members who did not renew their subscription to the pr...

The Council is the Society’s governing body, and together with its Committees, is responsible for the planning and delivery of the Society’s programs and the initiatives of an ambitious triennial Strategic Plan. Amongst these initiatives are the successful delivery of the Bicentenary celebration during 2021–22, increasing the visibility, reach and ...

Society Fellow, Professor Emma Johnston AO FRSN FTSE, has just been named as the incoming Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the University of Sydney.  She joins the University in July 2022.  Professor Johnston, who is currently the Dean of Science and previously Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) at UNSW (Sydney), is a leading authority in...

The Royal Society of NSW announced its Awards for 2021 at the 1300th Ordinary General Meeting on Wednesday, 2 February 2022.  These prestigious awards, awarded by Australia's oldest learned society, recognise outstanding achievements and excellence in science, engineering, philosophy and the arts. The awards and their recipients...

The Royal Society of NSW warmly welcomes 12 new members to the Society's ranks, effective from 1 December 2021. Fellows Professor Simon HoProfessor Jennifer Louise Martin Professor Robert A. Minasian Associate Professor Alice Elizabeth Motion Professor Louis Michael Rendina Professor Emeritus Graham Edward Town Scientia Professor Toby Walsh Biograp...

The Society is pleased to note the awards in the 2022 Australia Day Honours that have gone to Society Fellows: Members in the Order of Australia to Associate Professor Kristine Barlow-Stewart AM FRSN and  Ms Elizabeth Ann Macgregor AM OBE FRSN. Professor Barlow-Stewart, who is the Director of the Master of Genetic Counselling at the Unive...

The Royal Society of NSW records with great regret the passing of one of its Past Presidents, Dr David F. Branagan AM FRSN, on 9 January 2022 at the age of 91. David Branagan was born in Broken Hill in 1930 and combined his love of geology with his equally strong love of singing and choral music, in which he was heavily involved. He was amongst Aus...

The Royal Society of NSW records with great sadness the passing of one of its valued and eminent Fellows, Emeritus Professor Geoffrey Harcourt AC FRSN FASSA, on 7 December 2021 at the age of 90. Geoff Harcourt was a graduate of Melbourne and Cambridge universities. He taught at Adelaide and Cambridge, which has remembered him as an economist o...

The Royal Society of NSW is delighted to learn of the recognition of one of its Fellows as a new Fellow of the Academy of Technology and Engineering, elected in November 2021.  He is Professor Jason Sharples FRSN FTSE of UNSW (Canberra), a Bundjalung man, who uses predictive mathematical models to prevent catastrophic bushfires. Professor Jaso...

The Royal Society of NSW, together with its Learned Academy partners, is pleased to announce that the recordings from the 2021 Forum, Power and Peril of the Digital Age, are now available on the Society's YouTube channel. This year the Forum was held online over two mornings on 4 and 5 November 2021. The recordings can be accessed directly fro...

Society Fellow and UNSW Sydney Scientia Professor Veena Sahajwalla FRSN FAA FTSE was named as the 2022 NSW Australian of the Year at a ceremony held at Luna Park, Sydney on the evening of 15 November 2021. Professor Sahajwalla is a distinguished waste research engineer who is the founding director of the UNSW Centre for Sustainable Materials Resear...

The Royal Society of NSW is delighted to learn of the recognition of four of its Fellows as new Fellows of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, elected in November 2021.  They are Professor Bernard Balleine FRSN FASSA of UNSW (Sydney), Professor Catherine Coleborne FRSN FASSA of the University of Newcastle, Emeritus Professor Andrew Ja...