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campusreview.com.au
Aussie unis keep scaling
international rankings
A focus on research and collaboration is helping local
institutions to close the lead on US universities.
A
ustralian universities are celebrating jumps, big and small,
up an international ranking dominated by the United States
and China.
Released annually by ShanghaiRanking Consultancy, the 2018
Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) presents the top
500 universities based on six indicators, including the number of
articles indexed in the Science Citation Index – Expanded and Social
Sciences Citation Index and the number of highly cited researchers.
Associate Professor Alan Duffy. Photo: Supplied
Galaxies
and glue
This year’s Eureka Prize winners announced.
H
ealing wounds with glue, lighting a path for renewable energy
and taking science to the small screen were among the
award-winning moves recognised at this year’s Eureka Prize.
Presented annually, the Australian Museum’s awards recognise
excellence in the fields of research and innovation, leadership,
science engagement and school science.
The minister for industry, science and technology, Karen
Andrews, said the event brings together some of Australia’s best
scientific minds to celebrate excellence and reward achievement
within the sector.
Close to 1500 universities are listed on the ARWU every year
and in the latest instalment, 23 Australian universities were among
the top 500.
For the eighth year in a row, the University of Melbourne
nabbed the top Australian spot, moving up one place to 38,
while the Universities of Queensland (55) and Sydney (68) also
placed on the podium.
Melbourne’s vice-chancellor Glyn Davis said the university’s
focus on research excellence and quality education had enabled
it to continue its rise on the list – it has climbed six positions in
four years.
“For more than a decade the university has pursued its Growing
Esteem strategy, with the aim of making Melbourne one of the top
40 research universities in the world,” Davis said. “We take pride in
achieving that goal.”
UQ’s vice-chancellor and president Professor Peter Høj said
the fact the ranking is created with the use of objective third-party
data makes his university’s placement “particularly gratifying”.
USYD’s placing reflected a jump of 15 places from last year’s
rank of 83. Vice-chancellor and principal Dr Michael Spence said
the university is investing at an unprecedented level in supporting
academics to conduct “outstanding research”.
“This includes investing in whole-of-university research facilities
and collaborating with some of the world’s best academics at
institutions such as Harvard,” Spence said.
Harvard University took out first place on the ARWU list for
the 16th year running. Stanford University and the University of
Cambridge remained at second and third respectively. ■
“Just as we have our sporting champions, these winners are
champions of science,” Andrews said.
Among the winners for research and innovation was RE100, from
Australian National University. Led by Professor Andrew Blakers,
Dr Matthew Stocks and Bin Lu, the team was awarded the Eureka
Prize for Environmental Research. They discovered 22,000 sites
suitable for cost-effective pumped hydro energy storage.
RE100’s work aimed to show that Australia can transition
smoothly to 100 per cent renewable electricity while retaining
reliability of supply.
Professor Tony Weiss from the University of Sydney got his
trophy for developing an adhesive surgical glue – made from
natural elastic protein – that quickly seals wounds without the need
for common staples.
The glue, called MeTro, sets in 60 seconds once treated with UV
light, and has a built-in degrading enzyme that can be modified to
determine how long the sealant lasts in order to allow adequate
time for the wound to heal.
Weiss said the award was a wonderful recognition of the value of
biomedical innovation in Australia.
Meanwhile, Associate Professor Alan Duffy, from Swinburne
University of Technology and the Royal Institution of Australia, took
home one of the science engagement gongs.
Duffy was awarded the Celestino Eureka Prize for Promoting
Understanding of Science. He has made more than 100
appearances on television, taking audiences through topics like
parallaxes and water on the moon.
To see a full list of the winners, head to australianmuseum.net.au/
2018-eureka-prizes-winners. ■
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