News & Views item - August 2011

 

17 Australian Laureate Fellowships Awarded for 2011. (August 10, 2011)

The federal Minister for Innovation Industry, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr, in announcing today the recipients of the 17 Australian Laureate Fellowships for 2011  said that  all 17 researchers had distinguished research careers and these fellowships would help them strengthen their research efforts, leading to developments and discoveries that could benefit the lives of all Australians.

 

Below is a summary of the selection report:

 

A total of 141 proposals were submitted to the ARC. Two of the submitted proposals were subsequently withdrawn by the Administering Organisation and, consequently, 139 proposals were considered for funding. Of the 139 proposals considered, 17 proposals are approved for funding. The overall success rate for the Australian Laureate Fellowships scheme for funding commencing in 2011 is 12.2%.

 

Of the 139 proposals considered:

It is noteworthy (and we believe worrisome) that of the 17 fellows, 14 had obtained their doctorates at least 15 years prior to submitting their application and of those, 7 had been awarded their doctorates over 20 years prior to applying for the fellowship (Table 7).

 

Furthermore, only 10 of the 139 considered proposals were submitted by foreign nationals.

 

For details of the laureates' research go to http://www.arc.gov.au/media/major_announce.htm#laureates2011