James Cook University,
Cairns, Queensland
[check against delivery]
Welcome to the presentation of the Australian Research Council Australian Laureate Fellowships for 2010.
It is always a pleasure to be here at James Cook University, and especially on an occasion like this, when I get to award prestigious fellowships to fifteen of the world’s best researchers.
Research careers
The Australian Laureate Fellowships crown our system of research stipends, which the Government has completely overhauled in the last two years.
We wanted to create viable career paths for outstanding researchers who wanted to do their work in Australia.
To that end:
- we are doubling the number of Australian Postgraduate Awards, and we have increased the award stipend by 10 per cent
- we have created 100 Super Science Fellowships for early-career researchers
- we have created 1,000 Future Fellowships for researchers in mid-career
- and we have replaced the old Federation Fellowships with these new Australian Laureate Fellowships for senior researchers.
The Labor Government’s objective in creating the Australian Laureate Fellowships is to attract and retain outstanding scholars of international reputation.
We want to create bold, dynamic teams around the very best researchers:
- to strengthen our world-class research capability
- to reinforce links between research and industry
- and to train the next generation of world leaders in research.
We believe this is the best way to produce real benefits for Australians and contribute to solving international problems, now and into the future.
The region
We have deliberately set out to internationalise our research effort. It is crucial that we keep Australia internationally competitive, and attracting researchers of international standing is one of the best ways we can do that.
That’s why these fellowships are so important.
The recipients will not only lead us to groundbreaking discoveries during their tenure as fellows.
Their exemplary mentoring skills will also give a younger generation of researchers the foundation they need to go on and achieve great things in the years beyond.
James Cook University serves as a great backdrop for this event – not only because of its tropical beauty, but because it demonstrates so effectively how quality research and researchers can enrich a regional community.
The same goes for the ARC Centre for Excellence in Coral Reef Studies, which the university administers.
Located in Townsville, the centre’s researchers lead the world in understanding and supporting coral reef conservation.
The centre’s work attracts regular attention in international media – and deserves to be much better known here at home.
The centre’s director, Professor Terry Hughes, is here today in his capacity as a member of the ARC Advisory Council, which I established in 2008 to restore independence to the Australian Research Council.
There is no question that the centre and leaders like Professor Hughes have enriched the Townsville community by attracting bright young researchers and established experts from around the world.
It is the same story here at James Cook University’s Cairns campus, which is home to outstanding scholars like Professor William Laurance, an international authority on tropical conservation, and one of this year’s Australian Laureate Fellows.
The fellowship will put Professor Laurance in an even stronger position to attract outstanding research students to Cairns.
It will create new opportunities to showcase the capabilities of this community and this university to the world.
Professor Laurance will speak to us about his research in a moment.
Female and international fellows
The other fourteen Australian Laureate Fellows are equally distinguished, even if they don’t have the advantage of living in far north Queensland.
For example, Professor Hilary Charlesworth from the Australian National University is an international leader in her field, serving as a visiting professor at institutions including the Harvard Law School; the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); and the University of Paris.
Professor Charlesworth will use her fellowship to build Australian capacity in a field of intense international interest and concern – human rights, and in particular the implementation of human rights laws.
Professor Charlesworth will also tell us more about her work in a few moments.
She is one of four female researchers to be awarded Australian Laureate Fellowships in 2010.
The others are Professors Hanna Kokko, Margaret Jolly and Lorraine Mazerolle.
All are incredibly talented researchers, and together they represent the largest cohort of women ever recognised in a round of ARC fellowships at this level.
One aim of the Australian Laureate Fellowships scheme is to attract the world’s best researchers to our shores.
It is therefore a pleasure to welcome scholars like:
- Professor Kokko from Finland
- and Professor Chris Turney from the United Kingdom, who is doing his second tour of duty in Australia.
Before we award the 2010 Australian Laureate Fellows, I would like to make special mention of Professor Margaret Sheil and her team at the ARC.
They have worked incredibly hard to deliver this and the other new fellowship schemes I mentioned at the beginning over the past two years.
Now to the fellows:
- Professor William Laurance, James Cook University
- Professor Mark Westoby, Macquarie University
- Professor Min Gu, Swinburne University
- Professor Hilary Charlesworth, Australian National University
- Professor Amnon Neeman, Australian National University
- Professor Margaret Jolly, Australian National University
- Professor Hanna Kokko, Australian National University
- Professor Paul Mulvaney, University of Melbourne
- Professor Ary Hoffmann, University of Melbourne
- Professor Chris Turney, University of New South Wales
- Professor Matthew England, University of New South Wales
- Professor Mark Bradford, University of New South Wales
- Professor Lorraine Mazerolle, University of Queensland
- Professor Bryan Gaensler, University of Sydney
- Professor Peter Goodyear, University of Sydney
The future
Congratulations to all of you.
It is essential that we go on building Australia’s capacity for invention and discovery:
- as we have by increasing the Commonwealth’s investment in research and innovation by 34 per cent since 2007
- as we will at the new Cairns Institute for tropical education, research and innovation – which I will be receiving an update on later today
- and as we are with these fellowships.
It will be great to see what your work can teach us.
We still have so much to learn.