Professor Kim Dovey Affiliation: University of Melbourne Discipline: Built Environment & Design Year elected: 2022 How would you describe your work at a dinner party? I study cities at multiple scales from the sidewalk to the metropolis, but mostly I am interested in urbanity – the intensive, creative and productive buzz of urban life, which is the…
Emeritus Professor Cheryl Dissanayake AM FINSAR FASSAAffiliation: Olga Tennison Autism Research CentreDiscipline: PsychologyYear elected: 2022 What initially drew you to your field of study? A film, seen on daytime TV during a semester or term break while I was a student, that profiled a young autistic child, motivated my interest in autism; this field engaged…
Scientia Professor of Economics Richard Holden Affiliation: UNSW Discipline: Economics Year elected: 2016 What initially drew you to your field of study? I loved that economics provides rigorous tools to help address some of society’s most pressing challenges. How would you describe your work at a dinner party? I work on cognitive economics which is…
Laureate Professor of Education Jenny Gore AM Affiliation: The University of Newcastle Discipline: Education Year elected: 2023 What initially drew you to your field of study? I come from a family where teaching was common, especially among the women. Education was always around me. My deeper interests—how to get better outcomes for teachers and students,…
Professor Michelle Arrow Affiliation: Macquarie University Discipline: History, heritage and archaeology Year elected: 2023 What initially drew you to your field of study? I think I first became interested in history from observing the ways that my grandparents were profoundly shaped by their experiences during the Great Depression: they saved string and bits of brown paper and never…
Professor Rob RavenAffiliation: Sustainability Transitions Lab, Monash UniversityDiscipline: Human geographyYear elected: 2024 What initially drew you to your field of study? When I was a teenager in the 1980s, I was attracted to problem solving and finding solutions by tearing apart broken televisions or developing code on our first personal computer for automated solving of word-searching puzzles. While I no longer…
Professor Quentin Grafton Affiliation: Centre for Water Economics, Environment and Policy, Australian National University Year elected: 2013 How would you describe your work at a dinner party? I guess I would say: “I’m researcher and economist who works in the area of the environment with focus on water and how the environment connects to people…
What initially drew you to your field of study? I’ve long been drawn to the stories Australia doesn’t always tell about itself—histories of colonisation, race relations, and cross-cultural encounters that sit just beneath the surface of national narratives. Like many non-Indigenous Australians, these histories are not abstract, but difficult, powerful and embodied and are threaded though my own family story too. Early…
Professor Adam Possamai Affiliation: Western Sydney University Discipline: Sociology Year elected: 2023 How would you describe your work at a dinner party? As everyone has an opinion about religion, being a believer, ex-believer, atheist, sceptic or someone who grew up with a religion, I always find it challenging to speak about my research. I have found that…
Professor Emerita Joan Beaumont Affiliation: Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, Australian National University Discipline: History, heritage and archaeology Year elected: 1997 How would you describe your work at a dinner party? Historians of the two world wars and Australia’s role in these. What role do the social sciences play in your work? I draw…