Adelaide University brings together alumni from our founding institutions, alongside Adelaide University graduates, to form a diverse alumni cohort of innovative, curious and bold future-makers. Their stories span industries and geographic borders, demonstrating their impact on the world stage.
Our people
Alumni with impact
Distinguished Professor brings science to the stage
Jenny Graves AC FAA is a Distinguished Professor and Vice Chancellor’s Fellow at La Trobe University. Her vast list of achievements, honours and accomplishments as a world-renowned geneticist demonstrates her impact throughout a long scientific career, which began with a Bachelor of Science at University of Adelaide in the ‘60s.
Alongside her career as a researcher and educator, Jenny’s life has always featured music. In 2023, her two passions combined in the creation of Origins – of the Universe, of Life, of Species, of Humanity, an oratorio fusing science with the arts. Origins will reach Adelaide this November, featuring 350 singers and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. After the success of the Melbourne premiere, Jenny is excited to once again sing in Origins, one of her proudest achievements in a lifetime of high-profile successes.
“I’ve had more than my fair share of prizes and medals and honours, and I am always chuffed to receive kind words from society and academy presidents, prime ministers and governor generals,” says Jenny. “But by far the most overwhelming moment of my career was taking a bow at the premiere of Origins at the Melbourne Recital Centre in 2023, and feeling that connection with the audience – savouring the reality of a standing ovation from a full house, and realising that they got it.”
It was during her PhD at University of California Berkley that Jenny first took her love of music more seriously. A fellow student had transposed Westside Story as a tale of star-crossed postgraduate students. Jenny recalls, “I got to sing Maria from Molecular Biology, who falls in love with Tony from Biochemistry, departments (really!) at war.” This experience began the thread of musicality that has continued throughout her life. It also ended up being formative in another quite significant way: “Tony [from Biochemistry] was sung by a tall tenor called John Graves,” says Jenny. “The Director claims full credit for our 60-year marriage.”
After completing her postgraduate studies, Jenny went on to make multiple globally significant discoveries in genetics, publish more than 470 full length publications, and has continued to nurture the next generation of scientists. She has supervised more than 100 Honours students and guided 51 PhD and 3 Masters students to graduation. This teaching role, she says, is another of her career’s proudest achievements. “There’s nothing like cheering on your students when they graduate! Mentoring the young people in my lab is like watching my kids play basketball, and I’m euphoric when they succeed.”
Music has always featured, including in her Genetics II lectures at La Trobe University, writing and singing compositions including “I am the very Model of a Double-stranded Molecule”, "The Mutant’s Lament”, and “Love’s a plasmid" (“All a lot of fun, nothing serious,” says Jenny).
Many scientific colleagues and students throughout her career have also shared her love of music. Since the premiere of Origins in 2023, movements have been played on radio and the video played at festivals and graduations, and several genetics and evolution colleagues have even asked to use some in lectures, especially those from Part III (The Origin of Species).
According to Jenny, creativity is found in science, as much as in art, though the outcome of that creativity looks different in each.
Origins itself evolved from an idea over many years, while Jenny sang masses and requiems in various choirs. “I began to wonder why we are still singing about Adam and Eve when there is so much beautiful science to sing about. Somebody should update Haydn’s “Creation” from science, I thought! Years passed and nobody did, so I began to wonder if I could. I’m still amazed that I could and I did...”
Throughout the process, Jenny was adamant that the science be exactly right – a change to the score was required when a new discovery showed that comb jellies, not ribbon worms, were the first animal on earth!
Both scientists and artists have a hard time retiring, and at 85, Jenny still works part time at La Trobe as well as being part of two long-running research groups she established, including one at Adelaide. She also just finished a novel. “I’m looking for a publisher interested in STEMinist fiction (no kidding, that’s a real genre now). It’s called The Rosalind Franklin Prize (for the best work by a woman published by a man).”
Curtain call at the premiere of Origins, Melbourne 2023
But for the immediate term, all focus is on the Adelaide premiere of Origins. It is a show for singers, scientists and non-scientists alike, exploring not only the scientific origins of our world, but also the impact that humans continue to have upon it. “…humans have made a mess of our lovely little planet – but, uniquely, humans are able to understand how it works and maybe can fix it.”
The drama and beauty of our creation story, as told by distinguished scientist Professor Jenny Graves AC FAA and collaborating poet Leigh Hay, with music by Australian composer Nicholas Buc, will be performed on 8 November 2026 by the Big Sing McLaren Vale.
Alumni Award 2022
Jessica Stenson completed a Bachelor of Physiotherapy at the University of South Australia in 2010.
An enthusiastic participant in many sports, her endurance on the netball or basketball court was her biggest asset and at 21 she decided to focus on distance running. Her early distance running career began with “fun” runs in Adelaide and Sydney, national cross-country championships and half marathons.
In 2012 she debuted at the 42-kilometre distance in the Japan Marathon, setting what was then an Australian marathon debut record and securing a place on the Australian Olympic team for London later that year. She is now a triple Olympian having also competed in Rio (2016) and Paris (2024). Jess has won three Commonwealth Games medals, including gold in Birmingham in 2022, where she was the first woman to claim a medal in three consecutive Commonwealth Games Marathons.
She continues to be supported by the South Australian Sports Institute (SASI) and broke the Australian marathon record (2:21:24) in December 2025.Under the guidance of her long-term coach Adam Didyk, Jess continues to train one to two times per day and enjoys chasing her potential with a team of 30-plus elite athletes.
Outside of running, Jess is a guest speaker, online running coach and mentor, sharing the lessons learned throughout her athletic career to support and encourage others as they tackle life’s challenges.
Along with her husband Dylan and brother Jack, Jess is building a business supplying sports underwear designed specifically for runners. She is also an ambassador for the Little Heroes Foundation and Jodi Lee Foundation.
In 2022 Jess received an Alumni Award from the University of South Australia and was named the Australian Institute of Sport Female Sports Star of the Year, as well as the ABC Adelaide Sport Athlete of the Year (alongside swimmer Madi Wilson). In 2023 and 2026 she was nominated for The Advertiser Foundation Woman of the Year Awards.
In the future Jess, soon-to-be a mother of three, hopes to use her own experience as an athlete and medical professional to help other female athletes find answers to the questions that arise during pregnancy and motherhood. Ultimately, she hopes to empower more people to enjoy the mental and physical benefits of an active lifestyle. While she is not currently practicing as a physiotherapist, this career foundation continues to assist Jess as an athlete and in her roles away from running track.
Distinguished Alumni Award 2019
Dr James Muecke AM graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery from the University of Adelaide in 1988.
James lived and worked as a volunteer doctor in Kenya, worked as an eye surgeon in Jerusalem and received a Fellowship in Ocular Oncology at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London. He returned to Adelaide where he worked in private practice and as a Visiting Consultant and Senior Lecturer at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and Women's and Children's Hospital.
A trip to Myanmar in 2007 to conduct research about childhood blindness became one of the catalysts for James to co-found Sight For All. This not-for-profit organisation which trains and equips eye surgeons to treat patients in their own countries now impacts more than one million people annually across Asia, the Pacific annd Africa.
Retiring from surgery in 2024, James retains the position of Honorary Ambassador for Sight for All, as well as roles with the Metabolic Health Association, Defeat Diabetes, Macular Disease Foundation, MindChamps and Biomorphik.
His work in metabolic health advocacy sees him engaging with a wide range of audiences including attendees at conferences and seminars to the general public and health practitioners.
James continues to raise awareness by presenting to groups ranging from schools to parliamentarians and federal and state politicians, including successive Health Ministers. He meets with health advisory bodies and patient advocacy groups, as well as Deans and education teams from Medical Schools across Australia.
He has submitted evidence to parliamentary inquiries including Diabetes in Australia (national 2023) and School Lunches (SA 2025).
As well as writing multiple opinion pieces for mainstream media, James has appeared in documentaries including Australia’s Health Revolution with Dr Michael Mosley (SBS 2021) and he’ll be featuring in an upcoming documentary for the ABC in late 2026. He has also made multiple television and radio appearances.
Receiving an Order of Australia in 2012, James’ numerous awards include Ernst & Young Social Entrepreneur of the Year (2015). Further to his Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Adelaide in 2019 for his outstanding contribution to ophthalmic health care, James was conferred the Degree of Doctor of the University (honoris causa) in 2021.
James was named Australian of the Year in 2020 and from 2022 to 2024 served as Lieutenant Governor of South Australia. He was awarded Knight Commander of the Royal Order of Monisaraphon by the King of Cambodia in October 2022.
Tirkapena Indigenous Award 2021
Jared Thomas, a Nukunu man from the Southern Flinders Ranges, is a curator, arts administrator, international award-winning author, playwright and change maker.
Jared holds a Bachelor of Arts (1997), Grad Dip Creative Writing (1999), MA (Creative Writing) (2007), PhD (2011).
Jared was previously the Manager of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts and Culture at Arts South Australia. He has also been a lecturer at the University of South Australia, focusing on the politics of Indigenous representation in literature, film and media, as well as the relationship between representation, policy and public conversation.
In 2021 Jared received the Tirkapena Indigenous Award from the University of Adelaide in recognition of his contribution to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community in the field of arts.
He continues to publish award-winning young adult literature and in 2022 was awarded an Australia Council for the Arts grant to develop his novel The Four Quarter Fella, which is scheduled for publication in 2026.
He also co-wrote and directed the documentary film Close to the Bone (2022) which aired on ABC television. Leading Australian children’s theatre company Windmill Productions (who produced Bluey’s Big Play, including at Madisson Square Gardens and the London Concert Hall) have optioned the first three books in his Uncle Xbox junior fiction series with development of the stage play commencing in November 2026.
Jared was named South Australian NAIDOC Person of the Year in 2023 and was appointed to the inaugural First Nations Board of Creative Australia, the Australian Government’s principal arts investment, development and advisory body, the following year.
He became a Churchill Fellow in 2023 having investigated First Nations and marginalised people’s interpretative strategies in permanent gallery displays in Canada, Finland, New Zealand, Norway and the United States.
Austrian theatre company, The Circus of Knowledge based at the Joannes Kepler University in Linz, are developing his stage play No Kangaroos in Austria, a story told between the Southern Flinders Ranges and the Austrian Alps with a focus on climate change, and disconnection and reconnection to the environment and what this means for wellbeing.
He is the sole Aboriginal researcher and a Chief Investigator in the team that received an Australian Research Council grant, to work with Kaurna, Narungga and Nukunu communities to create and digitise knowledges of cultural practices and knowledge related to sea country, to also be applied within exhibitions, commencing with exhibits at the South Australian Maritime Museum.
In 2025 he took a leave of absence from his role of Curator, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Material Culture and Art at the South Australian Museum to commence as Indigenous Collections and Archives Coordinator at the Adelaide University Library.
Jared is a Director of the Nukunu Wapma Thura Aboriginal Corporation which won $4M of federal funding to begin the implementation of the Nukunu Wanypatha Yarta (Good Country) Ranger Program. This work has also been a vehicle for engaging Adelaide University students in aspects of Nukunu life, culture, and knowledge relevant to their studies. He continues to supervise Adelaide University postgraduate students.
Jared continues his work as an Ambassador of the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, including being invited by the Swedish Government in 2025 to engage with Swedish, Norwegian and Finish Sami community members in Norway to discuss supporting their aspirations.
James McWha Rising Star Award 2023
Sarah Boyle holds a Bachelor of Science (Biotechnology) 2010, Bachelor of Science (Honours) 2011 and a PhD in Biological Science 2015 from the University of Adelaide. She was awarded a Dean’s Commendation for Thesis Excellence for her doctoral thesis in Biological Science, which was accepted without changes.
Since graduation in 2015, Sarah has worked at the Centre for Cancer Biology, achieving three consecutive fellowships from the Royal Adelaide Hospital, The Hospital Research Foundation Group, and the highly competitive Australian Research Council. She is currently a Research Fellow at the Centre for Cancer Biology, an alliance between SA Pathology and Adelaide University.
Sarah’s innovative research focuses on the cancer microenvironment, the non-cancerous cells and structures that are within the vicinity of cancer cells. Her research strives to understand how and why cancers grow, so ways can be found to interrupt them.
Inspired by those who supported her, Sarah is now a mentor to other young scientists and continues to gain inspiration from the people she is able to impact through her work. Sarah has been involved in several fundraising campaigns driven by the Australian Breast Cancer Research and The Hospital Research Foundation, most notably the major funding initiatives ‘The Longest Table’ and ‘Together Fight’.
In recognition of her excellence in breast cancer research and her advocacy for breast cancer patients, Sarah received the James McWha Rising Star Award 2023. This was followed by being named in the 2024 Solstice Media 40 Under 40, being a Finalist in The Advertiser/Sunday Mail Woman of the Year Awards 2024 (Innovator category) and receiving a prestigious Australian Institute of Policy and Science South Australian Young Tall Poppy Award in 2025.
Connect with us
Join us at an upcoming alumni event in your location – we regularly run and support networking and professional development events in Adelaide and around the world.
Get in touch with the Alumni Relations team via alumni@adelaide.edu.au.
Join the conversation on LinkedIn.