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 New Zealand Optical Society and is presented to a nominee with a strong and sustained record of authority, enterprise, and innovation in the field of optics in Australia or New Zealand. For Professor Eggleton, it recognises his outstanding contribution to the Australian and international optics and photonics communities by leading several major cooperative centres, an exceptional research and development record, and organisational services to the optics community.

Professor Benjamin Eggleton is the Director of the University of Sydney Nano Institute, and currently serves also as co-Director of the NSW Smart Sensing Network (NSSN). He was the founding Director of the Institute of Photonics and Optical Science (IPOS) at the University of Sydney, serving as the as Director from 2009–18, the Director of the two-term Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Ultrahigh-bandwidth Devices for Optical Systems (CUDOS) between 2003–17, and the holder of three consecutive ARC Federation and Laureate Fellowships from 2003–17.