It's an honour to be a Fellow

Research

University of Adelaide professors have been awarded two out of the 14 highly sought after Australian Research Council (ARC) Federation Fellowships in the 2008 round of awards.

ARC Federation Fellowships will go to Professor Tanya Monro, Chair of Photonics in the School of Chemistry and Physics, and Professor Michael Eastwood, Australian Professorial Fellow in the School of Mathematical Sciences.

Professor Monro is one of the world's leaders in optical fibre technology. She is developing a new platform for exploring and controlling interactions between light and matter using new classes of optical fibres. This will lead to innovative applications in medical research, defence and environmental science, and will help the University of Adelaide develop one of the best laboratory facilities in optical fibre research in the world.

"I am overwhelmed by the honour and opportunity that this Fellowship presents," Professor Monro said.

"As well as recognition of the work my team and I are already doing, this will provide a vehicle for embarking on a whole new area of research, and not just blue-sky research but research leading to real applications with major technological and commercial benefits for Australia."

Professor Monro is Director of the University's Centre of Expertise in Photonics within the School of Chemistry and Physics. Her work has already received support from both State and Federal governments, as well as the Defence Science & Technology Organisation.

She is a member of the South Australian Premier's Science & Research Council, a founding steering member of the Royal Institution of Australia, and Chair of the University of Adelaide Defence Committee. In 2007, she was awarded the Women in Physics Lecture by the Australian Institute of Physics and, in 2006, a Bright Spark Award for Australia's Top 10 Scientific Minds under 45 by Cosmos Magazine.

In 2000, she received a Royal Society University Research Fellowship at the Optoelectronics Research Centre at the University of Southampton in the UK. She came to the University of Adelaide in early 2005 as the inaugural Chair of Photonics.

Professor Eastwood is one of Australia's most eminent mathematicians and among the world's foremost experts in his field - conformal differential geometry.

His new research aims to establish novel links between neighbouring fields of mathematics, focusing on the interaction between geometry, differential equations and symmetry in conformal differential geometry. Advances in this field will provide essential tools in fundamental science.

Differential geometry is a branch of mathematics studying shape by using calculus (involving rates of change) and differential equations. Conformal geometry allows distortion in distance while preserving angles.

"Naturally, I'm thrilled by this award," Professor Eastwood said. "I was also pleased to see Senator Kim Carr's comment about the need to develop greater capacity in the physical sciences and mathematics for Australia to be globally competitive." Physical sciences and mathematics were strongly represented in this year's group of Federation Fellows.

Professor Eastwood has been awarded several ARC Fellowships, including three Senior Research Fellowships and one Australian Professorial Fellowship.

In 1992 he was awarded the Australian Mathematical Society Medal for distinguished research in the mathematical sciences and in 2005 he was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.

Professor Eastwood obtained his PhD in mathematics at Princeton University in the US and then worked as a Research Fellow at the Mathematical Institute of University of Oxford before joining the University of Adelaide in 1985. His Federation Fellowship will be administered by the Australian National University.

Story by Robyn Mills