ASSALaureateFellows2019 4

We’re thrilled to announce that four Fellows of the Academy are recipients of the 2019 Australian Laureate Fellowships – the Australian Research Council’s most prestigious awards for Australian researchers.

The four Academy Fellows, Professors Kaarin Anstey, Lynette Russell, Quentin Grafton and newly elected Fellow Professor Sara Dolnicar will be conducting research across health, history and environmental economics to build a stronger and more sustainable Australia.

Professor Kaarin Anstey, from The University of New South Wales, will undertake research on ageing and the impacts technology, lifestyle and experience have on cognitive resilience and cognitive function. With an ageing population, her research aims to inform strategies to ensure that Australians age well and productively.

Monash University’s Professor Lynette Russell AM has recieved the 2019 ARC Kathleen Fitzpatrick Australian Laureate Fellowship and will examine one thousand years of dynamic encounters between Australia’s Indigenous peoples and voyagers from the sea. Her research will develop a massive open, interactive and translated database detailing Australia’s role in global exploration, and enduring international collaborations.

Professor Quentin Grafton, from The Australian National University is using his Laureate Fellowship to improve our understanding of the relationship Indigenous Australians have with water and to develop a Water Justice Hub that boosts knowledge of integrated water valuation. This project aims to provide, the otherwise missing, socio-cultural-environmental values of First Nation Peoples, in efforts to support resilience and evidence-based decision making.

Professor Sara Dolnicar will develop and validate a new  approach to predicting and enabling pro-environmental behaviour in pleasure-focused settings like tourism. The outcome and benefits will be in effective, evidenced-based social interventions that reduce the huge environmental burden of tourism and other pleasure-focused industries. Such interventions are urgently needed to manage the impacts arising from the extraordinary growth in sectors critical to the Australian economy.