Queen's Birthday Honours for ANU academics
High profile members of the University community have been honoured for their contribution to Australia in the 2014 Queen's Birthday Order of Australia Honours.
Among those honoured are veteran defence and intelligence analyst Professor Des Ball, and fellow strategic analyst Professor Hugh White, as well as environmental historian Professor Tom Griffiths, conservation scientist Professor David Lindenmayer, scientist and Emeritus Professor Barry Ninham and women's health advocate Dr Gwen Gray Jamieson.
All have been appointed Officers in the Order of Australia (AO) for their contribution to Australia.
Also appointed an Officer was philanthropist and ANU supporter Dr Alan Finkel, who is Chancellor of Monash University and a strong supporter of medical research in Australia, including at the John Curtin School of Medical Research.
Professor Michael Levy, from the ANU Medical School, Dr Tim Bonyhady from the Centre for Environmental Law, and Professor Stephen Buckman, Director of the Research School of Physics and Engineering, were appointed Members of the Order of Australia (AM).
Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Young, AO, congratulated those named in the Queen's Birthday Honours, and said the awards were well-deserved recognition for their work.
"I congratulate all members of the ANU community named in the Queen's Birthday Honours," Professor Young said.
"To be recognised in the Order of Australia Awards is a magnificent accolade and great recognition of the contribution they have all made to help improve the lives of Australians and the understanding of Australia and its place in the world.
"I'm also delighted to congratulate Dr Finkel, who is a long-standing supporter of the ANU and medical research in Australia."
The award citations and reactions are listed below:
Professor Des Ball, AO - For distinguished service to international relations as an academic, author and researcher, to Australian Defence policy formulation, and to the security architecture of the Asia-Pacific region.
"I am honoured and privileged to be awarded this AO. I have always regarded myself as a nationalist. Therefore, so much of my work on national defence has been designed to make sure we have the requisite capabilities for Australia's defence. Indeed it is for these very reasons that I have opposed Australia's recent expeditions to countries like Afghanistan and Iraq," Professor Ball said.
"At the same time, I am a little surprised in winning this award. Over the decades of my work, I have also dedicated myself to critiquing Australia's defence and intelligence communities. This has inevitably earned me the enmity of a very influential and powerful element of that establishment. In some ways that makes this award even more rewarding.
"I would add that accepting this award from Peter Cosgrove will give me great pleasure. I have known Peter for a long time and hold him in the highest respect."
Dr Gwen Gray Jamieson, AO - For distinguished service to the community, particularly through better women's health outcomes, advocacy, and the development of public policy.
"It is very pleasing to have my public policy work recognised by this high honour. Just as importantly, the award recognises the important contribution that the non-government sector makes to Australian political discussions and public policy. Without the work of non-government organisations, the views of hundreds of thousands of ordinary Australians would not be heard in policy discussions and Australian democracy would be the poorer," Professor Jamieson said.
Professor Tom Griffiths, AO - For distinguished service to tertiary education, particularly social, cultural and environmental history, and through popular and academic contributions to Australian literature.
"I'm personally thrilled about the honour, and see it as recognition for history's crucial role in Australia's public life and conversation and for its place in our national literature. History is not only a scholarly discipline; it is also an instinctive expression of our humanity - historians therefore find themselves engaging constantly with a lively general audience. Environmental history - the relations between people and nature over time - is a new and important way to make sense of our past and to guide our future, and Australians are doing some of the most original work in this field," Professor Grirffiths said.
Professor David Lindenmayer, AO - For distinguished service to conservation and the environment in the field of landscape ecology, to tertiary education, and to professional organisations.
"I am deeply thrilled. I especially wanted to thank my family for putting up with me over the years and then also my field team and colleagues at ANU who have been wonderful to work with over the best part of 25 years," Professor Lindenmayer said.
Emeritus Professor Barry Ninham, AO - For distinguished service to physical sciences through landmark theoretical and practical advances in colloids and surfaces, and as an academic, educator and mentor.
"I'm delighted. I've been in a very privileged position. I was appointed to start a new department in 1970. The discipline, colloid and surface chemistry, underlies a whole lot of disciplines, from oil exploration to cell biology. It's been a privilege to launch on the voyage of discovery that changes a paradigm," Professor Ninham said.
Professor Hugh White, AO - For distinguished service to international affairs, through strategic defence studies as an analyst, academic and adviser to government, and to public administration.
"The award is a welcome sign that our work here is valued as a useful contribution to Australia. And of course it is a great honour to join the ranks of my colleagues who have been similarly honoured," Professor White said.
Professor Michael Levy, AM - (Professor Levy is also director of health services at ACT jails). For significant service to medicine in the field of public health as a clinician, academic and educator.
"This award is recognition of my efforts, and the efforts of others with whom I've worked for many years, to focus attention on the fact that prisoner populations have serious health concerns - both physical and mental illness. It is recognition of efforts to bring that excluded population group into mainstream health services," Professor Levy said.
Dr Tim Bonyhady, AM - For significant service to education in the field of climate and environmental law, as an academic and researcher, and to the visual arts.
"I feel very fortunate to have the freedom to pursue both environmental law and to explore cultural history at the ANU," Dr Bonyhady said.
Professor Stephen Buckman, AM - For significant service to science in the field of experimental atomic physics as a leading researcher, academic and author.
"It is a great honour and a great surprise. How delightful to get such a prestigious award having spent my career having an enormous amount of fun immersed in science and surrounded by many more talented people, who have all contributed tremendously. It is really a shared honour," Professor Buckman said.
