DR BRENDAN NELSON  Commonwealth Minister for Education, Science and Training



MEDIA RELEASE (embargoed until 10.30am EDST 20  March, 2003)

$34.8 MILLION FOR AUSTRALIAN BRAIN GAIN



20 March, 2003 MIN 309/03

I am pleased to announce 24 outstanding recipients of the Commonwealth  Government’s prestigious 2003 Federation Fellowships for scientific research.

The Fellowships are worth a total of $34.8 million over the next five years but I  have no doubt their value to Australia will far exceed that amount. The 2003  Fellows are rightly regarded as among the best in the world in their chosen fields  which include the study of extreme climate events such as bushfires,  revolutionary clean energy alternatives, brain development and function, disease  detection, new digital media, the precise detection of underground natural  resources, salt tolerant cereal crops, and sustainable management of the Murray-Darling Basin.

In only their second year it is clear the Fellowships are already succeeding in  attracting researchers of international standing to Australia to continue their  groundbreaking work. The 2003 Fellowships mean:

Ã¢ÂÂ¢ four eminent scientists from Cambridge University, UK, will  come to Australia

Ã¢ÂÂ¢ two will come from US universities;

Ã¢ÂÂ¢ one will come from Germany;

Ã¢ÂÂ¢ six Australian international researchers will return to  Australia;

Ã¢ÂÂ¢ two high profile overseas researchers will join Australia’s  research community;

Ã¢ÂÂ¢ several outstanding young Australian researchers will be  retained.

Each Fellow will receive an indexed annual salary of around $230,000 making the  Fellowships the most valuable publicly-funded support offered in Australia. In  addition host institutions will receive 26% of the salary amount as on-costs.

The Federation Fellowships, a vital part of the Government’s $3 billion Backing  Australia’s Ability innovation action plan, are designed to attract and keep  Australia’s leading researchers and encourage international researchers to  Australia.

In enhancing our capacity to undertake world-class research, the Fellowships  bring enormous economic, environmental and social benefits to Australia. The  2003 Federation Fellows will work in a wide range of research areas and some will  put Australia at the frontier of new knowledge areas.

The Fellowships are funded under the Australian Research Council’s National  Competitive Grants Program. Up to 25 Fellowships are available to be awarded  each year of the five-year scheme.

A list of Federation Fellows attached. Website information:  http://www.arc.gov.au/info_users/media.htm

The Federation Fellows will be available for photos on the rooftop at New  Parliament House at 10.30am Thursday 20 March, 2003.

For further information:

Dr Nelson’s Office: Ross Hampton 0419 484 095

Australian Research Council: Genevieve Turville 0422 384 844

Returning Australians

Federation Fellow Current institution

Dr William Ducker Department of Chemistry, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State  University, USA

Professor Andrew  Holmes  University Chemistry Laboratory, University of Cambridge, UK

Professor Amanda  Lynch  Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences,  University of Colorado at Boulder, USA

Dr Anton Middelberg Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Cambridge, UK

Professor Jeffrey Shaw Institute for Visual Media, ZKM, Centre for Art and Media,  Karlsruhe, Germany

Dr Mark Tester Department of Plant Science, University of Cambridge, UK

Overseas researchers attracted to Australia

Federation Fellow Country of citizenship Current institution

Professor Martin  Johnson

United Kingdom Department of Anatomy,

University of Cambridge, UK

Professor Thomas  Maschmeyer  Germany Laboratory for Applied Organic

Chemistry and Catalysis, Delft  University of Technology, The  Netherlands



FEDERATION FELLOWS PIN

In order to commemorate this prestigious Fellowship programme a special lapel  pin has been struck. The pin design features three boomerangs -- a symbolic  depiction of the return of some of the world’s finest thinkers to Australian shores.  Each of the 2003 Federation Fellows will receive one of the 125 limited edition  lapel pins. Past and future recipients will also receive one of the lapel pins.



SELECTION PROCESS

The 24 Federation Fellows were selected by a panel of distinguished researchers.

They provided their nominations to the Board of the Australian Research Council  which endorsed the names and forwarded them to the Minister for Education  Science and Training for ratification.





2003 Federation Fellows

Professor Hans Bachor: Current institution: Australian National University. Host  institution: Australian National University. Project title: Quantum and atom optics.

Professor Perry Bartlett: Current institution: University of Queensland. Host  institution: University of Queensland. Project: Cellular Plasticity in the Brain.

Professor Marcela Bilek: Current institution: University of Sydney. Host  institution: University of Sydney. Project: Creation of functional surfaces for  biodevices and aerospace applications.

Professor Kevin Burrage: Current institution: University of Queensland. Host  institution: University of Queensland. Project: Stochastic Modelling of Genetic  Regulatory Networks.

Dr Calum Drummond: Current institution: Vice-President Research, cap-XX Pty  Ltd. Host institution: CSIRO Molecular Science. Project: Manipulation of Nano-Scale Assembly, Structure and Interaction.

Dr William Ducker: Current institution: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State  University. Host institution: University of Melbourne. Project: Biologically-Inspired  Recognition and Processing in Colloidal Systems.

Dr Roger Francey: Current institution: CSIRO - Atmospheric Research. Host  institution: CSIRO - Atmospheric Research. Project: New methods assisting the  detection and attribution of changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels.

Professor Andrew Holmes: Current institution: University of Cambridge. Host  institution: University of Melbourne. Project: Probing the Interface Between  Polymeric Photonic Materials and Biology.

Professor Martin Johnson: Current institution: University of Cambridge. Host  institution: University of Sydney. Project: Biological basis for healthy start to life

Professor Bruce Kemp: Current institution: St Vincent's Institute of Medical  Research. Host institution: CSIRO Health Sciences and Nutrition. Project: How  organisms coordinate energy supply and demand.

Professor Max Lu: Current institution: University of Queensland. Host  institution: University of Queensland. Project: Molecular Engineered  Nanomaterials for Advanced Fuel Cells.

Professor Barry Luther-Davies: Current institution: Australian National  University. Host institution: Australian National University. Project: Creation of  novel photonic and nanostructured materials by ablation of solids with ultra-fast  lasers.

Professor Amanda Lynch: Current institution: University of Colorado at  Boulder. Host institution: Monash University. Project: Complexity in climate  impact assessment.

Dr Richard Manchester: Current institution: CSIRO - Australian Telescope  National Facility. Host institution: CSIRO - Australian Telescope National Facility.  Project: Precision Pulsar Timing and its Applications.

Professor Thomas Maschmeyer: Current institution: Delft University of  Technology, The Netherlands. Host institution: University of Sydney. Project:  From Nanostructured Functional Materials to Sustainable Processes.

Professor Iain McCalman: Current institution: Australian National University.  Host institution: Australian National University. Project: Spectacle and Multimedia  in Late-Eighteenth-Century Europe

Dr Anton Middelberg: Current institution: University of Cambridge. Host  institution: University of Queensland. Project: Engineering Nanostructured Bio-inspired Products.

Professor Gerard Milburn: Current institution: University of Queensland. Host  institution: University of Queensland. Project: Principles of quantum  nanotechnology.

Professor John Quiggin: Current institution: University of Queensland. Host  institution: University of Queensland. Project: Sustainable reform of the Murray-Darling system.

Professor Marilyn Renfree: Current institution: University of Melbourne. Host  institution: University of Melbourne. Project: Genes to phenotype: Exploiting the  marsupial model.

Professor Peter Robinson: Current institution: University of Sydney. Host  institution: University of Sydney. Project:Physics of Self-Organization: From  Space Plasmas to Brain Dynamics.

Professor Jeffrey Shaw: Current institution: ZKM, Centre for Art and Media,  Karlsruhe, Germany. Host institution: University of New South Wales. Project:  Navigable Cinematic Systems.

Associate Professor Michelle Simmons: Current institution: University of New  South Wales. Host institution: University of New South Wales. Project: Atomic-scale Devices in Silicon - the Ultimate Limit of Microelectronics.

Dr Mark Tester: Current institution: University of Cambridge. Host institution:  University of Adelaide. Project: Salinity tolerance and long-distance transport in  cereals.



