Women dominate Australian Science Awards, taking out 10 of 18 gongs

Women dominate Australian Science Awards, taking out 10 of 18 gongs

Women have dominated the 2020 Australian Academy of Science Awards, with 10 of the 18 prestigious awards being awarded to women, and eight going to men.

It’s a promising sign that the gender gap is beginning to narrow – allbiet slowly – in STEM. It is estimated that women account for just 29.3 per cent of the world’s workforce in science research, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics. 

The award winners’ research and discoveries were varied, from formulating a mathematical description of dark matter, to the genetics behind pancreatic cancer and different treatments and the brain-mapping of dementia.

Understanding dark matter is the ultimate challenge for many astrophysicists including Professor Nicole Bell from the University of Melbourne. The mid-career researcher and theoretical physicist is one of two recipients of the Nancy Millis Medal for Women in Science.

Her research focuses on formulating a mathematical description of dark matter.

“We have incredibly precise theories that describe five per cent of the universe but the rest of it is unknown,” Professor Bell said.

“In some sense the search for dark matter is a needle in a haystack challenge, but we’ve got more experimental tools than ever before to find that needle.”

Early-career researcher Associate Professor Marina Pajic from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and UNSW Sydney is the recipient of the Ruth Stephens Gani Medal.

For the past decade Associate Professor Pajic been trying to understand the genetic complexities of pancreatic cancer. Her work centres on identifying the genomic mechanism behind treatment failure and developing new personalised treatments for the disease.

Her team has shown some tumours are characterised by specific genetic signatures that may respond to agents already being used to fight some other cancers.

President of the Australian Academy of Science, Professor John Shine, says recognising excellence in science is important, as award recipients become “role models for the next generation”. He has called for even more diversity in the next round of applicants in 2021.The Academy is calling for nominations now. Click here for more information

“The Academy continues to seek to increase the diversity of nominees for all our grants and awards and this is reflected in this year’s honorific awardees.”

Two brand new career awards are open in the Academy’s 2021 award round. These awards, the Ruby Payne-Scott Medal and Lecture and the Suzanne Cory Medal, honour two of Australia’s pioneering women scientists.

Here is a list of the female scientist award winners. Click on the links to see a video on their impressive careers:

Career honorifics (for lifelong achievement)

Mid-career honorifics (8–15 years post-PhD)

Early-career honorifics (up to 10 years post-PhD)

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