Royal Society of NSW News & Events

From time to time, the Society and its Fellows and Members are mentioned, or are published, in the media, or in other sources or outlets. The Society is pleased to inform readers that summaries of such mentions, together with links either to the original sources, or to news items that include links to original sources, are now published on the In t...

The Society is saddened to learn of the death of one of its most eminent Fellows, Major General the Honourable Michael Jeffery AC AO (Mil.) CVO MC FRSN, on 18 December 2020 at the age of 83. Michael Jeffrey was a brave soldier and a statesman at the highest level, rising to serve as Australia’s twenty-fourth Governor-General. Major General Jef...

The year 2020 will forever be remembered as the year of Australian bushfires and floods, COVID 19, lockdowns, “flattening the curve”, Chief Medical Officers and epidemiologists. The whole community has been challenged to find new ways of doing things, and to put up with inconveniences, big and small. For the Royal Society of New South Wales this ha...

The Royal Society of NSW announced its Awards for 2020 at the 1289th Ordinary General Meeting on Wednesday, 9 December 2020.  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 Council of the Royal Society of NSW warmly congratulates one of its Fellows, Payne-Scott Professor Nalini Joshi AO FRSN FAA of the University of Sydney, on being jointly awarded the George Szekeres Medal of the Australian Mathematical Society in 2020. The George Szekeres Medal, which recognises an “outstanding contribution to the mathematical s...

The Council of the Royal Society of NSW warmly congratulates one of its Fellows, Professor Ben Eggleton FRSN FAA FTSE of the University of Sydney, on the awarding of the WH “Beattie” Steel Medal for 2020 from the Australian And New Zealand Optical Society (ANZOS). The “Beattie” Steel Medal is the most prestigious award of the Australian and Ne...

The Council of the Royal Society of NSW warmly congratulates one of its Fellows, Scientia Professor Matthew England FRSN FAA of UNSW Sydney, on the awarding of the Morton Medal from the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (AMOS) for 2020. The Morton Medal recognises leadership in meteorology, oceanography, climate and related f...

The Royal Society of NSW is delighted to learn of the recognition of two of its Fellows, Professor Hala Zreiqat AM FRSN FTSE FAHMS and Adjunct Professor Trevor Danos AM FRSN FTSE, being elected to Fellowships in the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering. They are amongst 25 new Fellows of the Academy in 2020 who are elected by their peer...

The Royal Society of NSW is delighted that two of its Fellows, Professor Ben Eggleton FRSN FAA FTSE and Professor Robert Park FRSN FTSE, both from the University of Sydney, have been awarded Australian Museum Eureka Prizes for 2020.  The Council of the Society warmly congratulate both Professor Eggleton and Professor Park on their achievements...

A new international network of top climate universities universities including the UNSW Sydney, the University of Melbourne, and Monash University, as well as Oxford, Caltech and the Sorbonne amongst many others  is calling for wealthy nations to commit to net zero emissions targets. The International Universities Climate Alliance, announced o...

In the spirit of advancing knowledge and enriching lives, The Royal Society of NSW is pleased to announce the availability of the video recordings from its most recent annual Forum, conducted jointly with the Four Learned Academies. The theme of the 2020 Forum was “After COVID-19: Creating the Best of Times from the Worst of Times”. This year, the ...

The Royal Society of NSW was delighted to learn that one of its Fellows, Dr Cathy Foley AM FRSN FAA FTSE, has just been appointed as the incoming Chief Scientist of Australia from 2021. Dr Foley, a 36-year veteran of CSIRO, comes to the position of Australia's Chief Scientist from the role of Chief Scientist at CSIRO. She has a distinguished record...

The Hunter Branch of the Society has just published an update of the events conducted this year and the work undertaken by its Branch Committee during 2020. The next event organised by the Branch will be the lecture by Professor Tony Capon of Monash University titled “Planetary Health: Safeguarding Health in the Anthropocence Epoch”, postponed from...

The Royal Society of NSW is delighted that one of its Fellows, Professor Thomas Maschmeyer FRSN FAA FTSE from the School of Chemistry, University of Sydney, has been awarded the 2020 Prime Minister's Prize for Innovation. The Council of the Society warmly congratulates Professor Maschmeyer on this achievement, and this recognition of the impact of ...

Four Society Fellows have been recognised at the NSW Premier’s Prizes for Science and Engineering, with Professor Edward Holmes FRSN FAA FRS, of the University of Sydney, being awarded the 2020 NSW Scientist of the Year. In the other awards, Professor Suzanne O’Reilly AM FRSN FAA of Macquarie University received the Prize for Excellence in Mathemat...

A number of Society Fellows are amongst the Finalists of the 2020 Australian Museum Eureka Awards—the country’s most comprehensive national science awards, honouring excellence across the areas of research and innovation, leadership, science engagement, and school science. Presented annually in partnership with some of the nation’s leading scientif...

Events held online since early September 2020 by the Royal Society of NSW are now available on our YouTube channel.  These are the lecture presented at the1286th Ordinary General Meeting by Professor John Rasko AO (Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and Centenary Institute, University of Sydney) on the evening of 2 September, the Southern Highl...

The Council of the Royal Society of NSW is delighted to announce the awarding of a Distinguished Fellowship to Professor Sir Fraser Stoddart FRS DistFRSN FRSE FRSC. The honour Distinguished Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales is a prestigious award, limited to 25 living awardees at any time, that recognises internationally-distinguished ...

Quantum physicist, former Australian of the Year in 2018, and Distinguished Fellow of the Royal Society of NSW, Scientia Professor Michelle Simmons of UNSW Sydney, has been appointed to the Board of CSIRO for a five-year term. Professor Simmons, who is Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology and...

Professor George Willis FRSN FAA, an ARC Laureate Fellow at the University of Newcastle, has joined the Council of the Royal Society of NSW as the representative of the Hunter Branch.  This follows the decision by Emerita Professor Eugenie Lumbers AM FRSN FAA to step down from the Council, although continuing on as Secretary of the Hunter Bran...