Top academics reap State awards

Awards

University of Adelaide staff, affiliates and graduates were among the recent winners of South Australian awards to honour excellence in the arts, science, health and education.

Nobel Laureate and University of Adelaide Professor of Literature John (JM) Coetzee won the Arts Award in this year's South Australian of the Year awards.

Professor Coetzee received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2003 and his novels Life and Times of Michael K and Disgrace have both been awarded the Booker Prize.

He joined the University of Adelaide in 2002 and, since then, has mentored students in the University's Discipline of English and Creative Writing, School of Humanities.

He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University in 2005 and, recently, lent his name to the University's new JM Coetzee Centre for Creative Practice.

The winner of the Health Award in the South Australian of the Year awards is an affiliate of the University of Adelaide. Associate Professor John Greenwood is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Discipline of Surgery, School of Medicine.

Associate Professor Greenwood is Director of the Royal Adelaide Hospital's world-class Burns Unit, and has developed a new burns treatment that will drastically reduce the pain, recovery time and treatment costs for burns patients.

The 2011 South Australian of the Year category awards were presented at a special ceremony at the Adelaide Town Hall last month by the Rt Hon. the Lord Mayor of Adelaide, Stephen Yarwood.

The awards celebrate and profile individuals or organisations that have demonstrated a consistent record of excellence and made a positive impact on the State.

Meanwhile, at the South Australian Science Excellence Awards, University of Adelaide plant scientist Professor Peter Langridge was named SA's 2011 Scientist of the Year.

Professor Langridge, who is CEO of the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics (ACPFG) at the Waite Campus, won the award in recognition of his significant contribution to improving agricultural products in South Australia over a 30-year career.

Peter Langridge first joined the University of Adelaide as a lecturer in agricultural biochemistry in 1984. He became Professor in Plant Science at the University of Adelaide in 1998 and CEO of the ACPFG, which he helped to establish, in 2003.

Professor Langridge pioneered the use of molecular markers in cereal breeding. His research interests are in the area of deploying genetic technologies and new strategies to improve the breeding of cereal crops in the developed and developing world. He has recently chaired a Federal Government committee examining issues of food security.

"Australia is regarded as the world leader in this technology because of his [Professor Langridge's] work and he's an outstanding winner of South Australia's highest award for science," said the Science and Information Economy Minister, the Hon. Tom Kenyon.

The awards recognise and reward excellence in science and acknowledge commitment and skills in raising public awareness of science.

Three other University staff and graduates won in their categories of the Science Excellence awards, namely:

Dr Natasha Rogers (University of Adelaide PhD graduate and Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pittsburgh), who won the award for PhD Research Excellence - Health and Medical Sciences;

Dr Stephen Warren-Smith (ARC Super Science Fellow, Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (IPAS) and School of Chemistry and Physics, University of Adelaide), who won for PhD Research Excellence - Physical Sciences/Mathematics/Engineering; and

Chris Heddles (University of Adelaide Graduate Diploma in Education, and science and maths teacher at the Australian Science and Mathematics School), who was a joint winner for Early Career Stem Educator of the Year - School Teaching.

Story by Ben Osborne