Government announces Fellowships for 2005

The Minister of Education, Science and Training, Dr Brendan Nelson has announced a total of 24 Federation Fellowships in Canberra early in June. The Australian Government, through the Australian Research Council, will provide A$40 million for new Fellows over the next five years.

"This significant investment means that we are able to attract some of the world's best research talent to Australia, and offer opportunities for our world-leading researchers to continue their work here," said Dr Nelson.

Established as an initiative of the Australian Government's 2001 innovation action plan, Backing Australia's Ability, the Fellowships are the richest publicly founded awards designed to develop and retain highly skilled researchers within Australia and attract such researchers from overseas.

Up to 25 Fellowships are awarded each year. This year each Fellow will receive an indexed salary of around A$235,000 a year for five years. The ARC also provides an additional 26 per cent for on-costs.

Fifteen Fellowships were awarded to researchers residing in Australia this year, four to expatriate Australians returning to this country, and five to foreign nationals who will bring research talent to Australia.

Recipients' research stretch across many fields, including climate change prediction, plant biology, wildlife management, nanomaterials design, X-ray astronomy, history, law, neuroscience, genomics, tumour growth and wound healing.

"These research projects and their practical applications and outcomes can be expected to deliver long-term benefits to the Australian community," said Dr Nelson.

The Fellowships are available for tenure at Australian higher education institutions and Australian research organisations that are funded primarily for research from State/Territory or Australian Government sources.

Researchers from University of Sydney received the most awards " five of the total 24 " followed by Australian National University, University of New South Wales and Monash University receiving three for each. Other universities and research organisations received the Fellowships including Melbourne University, University of Queensland, Queensland University of Technology, University of Technology Sydney, Macquarie University, University of Western Australia, La Trobe University and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation.