Professor Michael Archer

Michael Archer is a distinguished biologist and palaeobiologist. Born in Sydney, he moved to the United States and trained as an undergraduate in geology and biology at Princeton University and gained consecutive Fulbright Scholarships for palaeontological research at the Western Australian Museum from 1967 to 1969. He completed a PhD in Zoology at the University of Western Australia in 1976.

A vertebrate palaeontologist and mammalogist, he was Curator of Mammals at the Queensland Museum from 1972 to 1978 and then moved to the University of NSW, where he was appointed Professor of Biological Science in 1989. He became Director of the Australian Museum in Sydney in 1999 until he returned to the University of NSW in 2004 as Dean of the Faculty of Science. He has recently returned to a position of Professor in the Faculty.

He has authored several major works which reflect his scientific achievements. These include Fossil Mammals of Australia and New Guinea, Riversleigh and Predators with Pouches. His interest in social developments is seen from his involvement with the Children's Creative Workshop Advisory Board, the TAFE Advisory Board, the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Advisory Board, and as trustee of the Australian Geographical Society.

In 1990 Professor Archer won the inaugural Eureka Prize for the Promotion of Science. He is a Fellow of the Royal Zoological Society and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and was honoured as a Member of the Order Australia in 2008.

Professor Gavin Brown

Gavin Brown represents the science of mathematics. He is currently Inaugural Director of the Royal Institution of Australia having stepped down as Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Sydney in 2008 after 12 years in that role. His academic career began at the University of Liverpool, where he became a senior lecturer in mathematics. He accepted the Chair of Pure Mathematics at the University of New South Wales in 1975 when he and his family emigrated to Australia.

At the University of New South Wales, he held a number of academic administrative posts, including Head of the School of Mathematics, and Dean of the Faculty of Science. In 1992, he became the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the University of Adelaide and later, in 1994, he became Vice-Chancellor.

He has authored more than a hundred research papers and remains on the editorial board of several international journals. His research areas have been broad, including measure theory and algebraic geometry. He holds a Master of Arts degree (1st Class Honours and the Duncan Medal) from the University of St Andrews and a PhD from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Professor Brown's contributions to education and mathematics have been recognised worldwide. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and Corresponding Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In 2001 he was awarded the Centenary Medal for service to Australian society and university administration and mathematics.

In 2006 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for service to tertiary education in Australia and internationally as an advocate for excellence and through the establishment of strategic links with overseas institutions, and to mathematical research. Professor Brown has also received the Royal Society of New South Wales Medal.

Professor Robert Clark

Robert Graham Clark has been Chief Scientist at the Australian Defence Science and Technology Organization since 2008 and is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and an Australian Research Commission Federation Fellow.

As a Royal Australian Navy cadet, Clark simultaneously undertook a science degree at the Royal Australian Naval College, Jarvis Bay. His lowest grade was a High Distinction in his Honours year even though he was undertaking his naval service in the South Pacific at the same time. His thesis was published with Sir Ernest Titterton of the Australian National University as co-author in the prestigious journal Physical Review. A Master's degree from Oxford University and a joint Doctor of Philosophy from the Universities of New South Wales and Oxford led him to become a Fellow of Queen's College, Oxford. He was involved in the discovery of the Wigner crystal and the broken von-Klitzing-effect. This work was the starting point of a long list of most prestigious publications.

He was appointed Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of New South Wales in 1989 and was permitted to bring his one million pound's worth of equipment to Sydney with him. He was appointed Director of the Center of Excellence for Quantum Computer Technology in 1994 and was elected Scientia Professor at that university in 2006. He has attracted more than $82million of research funding. Professor Clark has been honoured with the Boas Medal of the Australian Institute of Physics, the Australian Defence Medal, the Centenary Medal, and has delivered the Mott Lecture at the Institute of Physics in London.

Professor David Craig

David Parker Craig is a worthy representative of the discipline of Chemistry. His distinguished career began with his appointment as Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Sydney in 1952. In 1956 he was appointed Professor of Theoretical Chemistry at University College London. He returned to Australia in 1967 to begin his long association with the Australian National University. In that year he was appointed Professor of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, in which role he continued until 1984. During this time he was Dean of the Research School of Chemistry twice, from 1970-1973 and from 1977-1981. He was an Executive Member of CSIRO from 1980 to 1985, when he was given the title of Emeritus Professor by the Australian National University.

David Craig's research work was in several fields but was especially pioneering in the then new and very difficult field of excitons in molecular crystals. He also did major work in the field of molecular quantum electrodynamics.

In 1985 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia. He is Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chemistry (London), a Fellow of the Royal Society, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, serving as President from 1990 to 1994. He was awarded Doctor of Science (honoris causa) from the University of Sydney and Honorary Doctor of Chemistry from the University of Bologna.

Professor Jak Kelly

Jak Kelly has been appointed as an Inaugural Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales for his work of international stature in Applied Physics and for his contributions to science generally and to the Royal Society of New South Wales in particular. He has a Doctor of Science from the University of NSW, is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Physics and a Fellow of the Institute of Physics in the UK.

After graduating with a Bachelor of Science from the University of Sydney, Professor Kelly joined CSIRO and later obtained a PhD from the University of Reading in the UK where he solved the problem of measuring the surface tension of molten tungsten and other refractory metals. Following a senior scientific position at the Harwell Atomic Energy Establishment in the UK, he joined the University of New South Wales and established an internationally renowned research centre on ion implantation and material defects. His research included basic discoveries in thermoluminescent dating and the development of new systems of ion beam optics and laser and plasma physics. He jointly invented the world's most efficient solar collector surface, which is now being produced by the million in China.

This work has been published in some 150 refereed papers and several patents. Professor Kelly was Head of Physics and the Chairman of the Faculty of Science at the University of New South Wales. As President, and for many years Vice-President, he has contributed much to the progress of the Royal Society of New South Wales, where he now serves as the Editor of its Journal.

Professor Richard Stanton

Richard Limon Stanton is a distinguished geologist. He was Professor of Geology at the University of New England, Armidale from 1975 to 1986 and subsequently Emeritus Professor. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.

Awarded an MSc and PhD from the University of Sydney, Richard Stanton's subsequent achievements focused on mineral exploration. He recognised the role of volcanism and sedimentation in the formation of new ore deposits, and the physics and chemistry involved in the concentration of copper, zinc and lead in volcanic lavas. This is documented in his numerous publications and books, including Ore Petrology, The Precursor Principle, and Ore Elements in Arc Lavas.

Professor Stanton was Royal Society and Nuffield Foundation Bursar at Imperial College London and the University of Durham in 1964 and won a Fulbright Award in 1966. He won the Goldfields Gold Medal of the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (London) in 1976 and the William Smith Medal of the Geological Society (London) in 1987. He became Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (London) in 1984 and was Vice-President of the Australian Academy of Science from 1989 to 1990. He was elected Honorary Fellow of the Geological Society of America in 1991, and was awarded the Brownie Medal of the Geological Society of Australia in 1990, the Penrose Medal of the Society of Economic Geologists in 1993, and the Haddon Forrester King Medal of the Australian Academy of Science in 1998.

He has received several awards from the Royal Society of New South Wales, including the Olle Prize in 1972, the Society's Medal in 1973, and the Clarke Medal in 1998, and he presented the Clarke Memorial Lecture in 1985. He was instrumental in the successful operation of the New England Branch of the Society. He was honoured for his achievements by becoming an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1996.

Professor Bruce Warren

Bruce Albert Warren is a distinguished pathologist who has reached the highest levels of medical research through academic achievement, university management and publication activity.

Following his medical training at the University of Sydney, he obtained a Master of Arts, Doctor of Philosophy and Doctor of Science at the University of Oxford. Following further research and teaching in Canada, Warren began a long and distinguished career as Professor and Head of Department of Pathology at the Prince Henry/Prince of Wales Hospital of the University of New South Wales in 1980, where he remained until his retirement in 1997.

During his career Professor Warren published eighty-one papers, mainly concerned with tumour biology and thrombosis. He is also the author of many textbooks about basic histology and atheroembolisms and he was the editor of the Journal of the Royal College of Pathologists in Australasia from 1988 to 1995.

He is Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management, a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists and a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia. He is Life Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society, a Life Member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and was Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the New South Wales Division of the National Heart Foundation from 1983 to 1996. He received the Australian Defence Medal in 2006,

Professor Warren served the Royal Society of New South Wales as President from 1981 to 1982 and as a Council Member from 1980 to 1981.