Tom Calma is first Aboriginal fellow of the Australian Academy of Science

University of Canberra chancellor Tom Calma is the first Aboriginal to be elected a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.

University of Canberra chancellor Tom Calma. Photo: Stuart McEvoy

University of Canberra chancellor Tom Calma has been elected a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, the first Aboriginal person to be honoured in this way.

The academy said Professor Calma was being recognised for championing the improvement of Indigenous peoples’ health, education and justice for over 45 years.

One of 22 new fellows elected to the academy, Professor Calma is a descendant of the Kungarakan and Iwaidja tribal groups, whose traditional lands are southwest of Darwin and on the NT’s Cobourg Peninsula.

Naomi McClure-Griffiths

Other newly elected fellows include:

• Australian National University astronomer Naomi McClure-Griffiths who has discovered how galaxies evolved and worked on the design of some of the world’s most powerful radiotelescopes.

• University of Sydney geneticist Katherine Belov whose research into the immune systems of Australian wildlife has helped solve the mystery of the cancer which is devastating Tasmanian devils.

• Telethon Kids Institute paediatric physician Jonathan Carapetis, whose work has reduced the incidence of rheumatic heart disease in indigenous communities

• Marine biologist and incoming University of Sydney Deputy vice-chancellor (research) Emma Johnston.

• University of Adelaide vice-chancellor and biochemist Peter Hoj.

New fellows of the Australian Academy of Science

ACT

Thomas Calma – chancellor, University of Canberra

Naomi McClure-Griffiths – astronomer, Australian National University

Ute Roessner – plant scientist, Australian National University

Katherine Belov with a Tasmanian devil

NSW

Katherine Belov – biologist, University of Sydney

Marcela Bilek – physicist, University of Sydney

John Cannon – pure mathematician, University of Sydney

Catherine Greenhill – pure mathematician, UNSW Sydney

Michelle Haber – childhood cancer scientist, UNSW Sydney

Emma Johnston – marine ecologist, UNSW Sydney

Albert Zomaya – computer scientist, University of Sydney

Queensland

Stuart Bunn – freshwater ecologist, Griffith University

Janice Lough – climate scientist, Australian Institute of Marine Science

Sarah Medland – statistical geneticist, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute

Huijun Zhao – chemist, Griffith University

Kate Smith-Miles

Victoria

Matthew Bailes – astrophysicist, Swinburne University of Technology

Kate Smith-Miles – applied mathematician, University of Melbourne

South Australia

Peter Hoj – vice-chancellor, University of Adelaide

Timothy Hughes – haematologist, South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute

Peter Langridge – agricultural researcher, University of Adelaide

Craig Simmons – groundwater scientist, Flinders University

Tasmania

Elizabeth Fulton – ecosystem modeller, CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere

Western Australia

Jonathan Carapetis – paediatric physician, Telethon Kids Institute