15 new Australian Laureate Fellows announced

Minister for Education and Training, the Hon. Christopher Pyne MP, today announced 15 outstanding recipients of new Australian Laureate Fellowships, funded through the Australian Research Council (ARC).

The Fellows will receive a total of $42 million over the next five years and will commence research programs exploring fields including: harnessing intellectual property to build food security; translating ‘big data’ to meet challenges in industry, environment and health; and exploring a new ‘Pharming’ industry that uses plants to deliver medicine.

Minister Pyne said Australian Laureate Fellowships are highly sought after and recognised as prestigious in the Australian research sector.

“Competition for Laureate Fellowships was especially high this year, with an increase in applications of almost 30 per cent.

“The research programmes of the 15 Laureate Fellows announced today will deliver outcomes that will benefit our nation, its economy and our people,” Mr Pyne said.

Since 2011 the ARC has also awarded two special female Laureate Fellowships. Recipients of these awards undertake an ambassadorial role to promote women in research, in addition to their research programme.

The 2015 awardees are:

• Professor Leann Tilley—Georgina SweetAustralian Laureate Fellowship—will conduct research on the malaria parasite to deliver new biotechnology and biomedical outcomes that may combat disease in livestock and humans.
• Professor Anne Orford—Kathleen Fitzpatrick Australian Laureate Fellowship—will investigate legal issues involved in decisions about intervention in civil war.

A full list of new Australian Laureate Fellows and their project details is available from the ARC’s Funding Announcements web page.

For more information about the Australian Laureate Fellowships scheme please visit the ARC website.