Climate change professor wins science prize

Professor Barry Brook
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Tuesday, 13 March 2007

Professor Barry Brook from the University of Adelaide's new Research Institute for Climate Change and Sustainability has been awarded the prestigious Edgeworth David Medal from the Royal Society of New South Wales.

The medal is awarded for distinguished contributions by a scientist under the age of 35 of any discipline, for work in Australia or which assists the advancement of Australian science.

Professor Brook, aged 33, has recently been appointed to the Sir Hubert Wilkins Chair of Climate Change at the University of Adelaide, a position funded by the South Australian Government.

The Royal Society of NSW praised the depth of Professor Brook's work over a relatively short period of time.

He obtained his PhD at Macquarie University in 1999, the major results of which were published in the international science journal Nature. Seven other publications resulted from his postgraduate work. He has since produced more than 75 publications, including two books, in a variety of fields, which include wildlife management, landscape ecology, ecological economics, ecosystem modelling and conservation genetics.

While most of his work has been conducted in Australia, Professor Brook has also held a Fellowship at Kyoto University and has collaborated with the National University of Singapore on biodiversity loss in South-East Asia.

His previous appointments include the Australian Research Council (ARC) Key Centre for Tropical Wildlife Management in Darwin, where he rose to Senior Research Fellow, and in 2006 he received a Personal Chair in the School of Environmental Research at Charles Darwin University.

In 2006 he was the youngest ever recipient of the prestigious Fenner Medal by the Australian Academy of Science for distinguished research in plant and animal science. He has won nine ARC grants since 2001.

Professor Brook's work is "particularly relevant at the present time of climate change and its implications for the changing ecology of the world", the citation for his Edgeworth David Medal says.

"Professor Brook has another valuable attribute for these times. He is a skilled public communicator and has made many contributions to the print and electronic media. We need such scientists, who have the ability and the energy and the patience to persistently argue the case for rational thought and scientific methods over economic dogma and rich lobby groups," the citation says.

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