UNSW Engineering Prestigious Awards List

SPREE/

Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics

Prof Martin Green

Japan Prize in the category of “Resources, Energy, the Environment, and Social Infrastructure”, in recognition of the more than four decades of research undertaken at UNSW, that developed technologies now ubiquitous in most commercially available solar panels.

SPREE

Professor Thorsten Trupke

IEEE William Cherry Award. The award recognises outstanding contributions to photovoltaic science and technology, by an individual who has devoted part of their professional life to the cause.

CSE 

Scientia Professor Toby Walsh

Toby was recognised by "Who's Who in Australia" in their 2021 edition. Who's Who in Australia is one of Australia's most distinguished and recognised publications celebrating key individuals across a variety of professions and fields.

CSE

Scientia Professor Toby Walsh

Toby was recognised as the Most Influential Scholar Award (Honourable Mention) for outstanding and vibrant contributions to the field of AAAI/JCAI between 2010 and 2020 from AMiner.org.

CSE

Assoc. Prof. Lina Yao

ANZ Women in AI Awards 2021

CHEM

Cyrille Boyer

Highly Cited Researcher in Chemistry

CHEM 

Cyrille Boyer

Invited to be a member of the Advanced Materials Hall of Fame

CSE

Scientia Associate Prof. Lina Yao

Lina won the AI in Cyber Security award at the recent Women in AI Awards 2025.

CSE

Professor Salil Kanhere

Salil and his group’s research on Vein Biometrics was featured in CNN, New Scientists and in Radio interviews on ABC Radio Sydney and Montreal CJAD 800 Radio.

CHEM

E. Prof. Chris Fell

Australia Day Honours and awarded the 2nd highest honour of the awards an AO in the General Division of Order of Australia for his distinguished service to science and engineering

CHEM

Dr Naras Rao

Marie Curie Fellowship

CHEM

Prof. Johannes le Coutre

Fellow of the Royal Society of NSW

CHEM

Prof. Rose Amal

Named one of the 35 highly influential women in Engineering by AcademicInfluence.com: https://www.fairplaytalks.com/2021/06/23/international-women-in-engineering-day-35-highly-influential-women-in-engineering/

BIOMED

Prof Laura Poole-Warren

Royal Society of NSW member 

ELEC

Dr Derrick Wing Kwan Ng

Elevated to IEEE Fellow in recognition of his contributions to resource allocation for wireless communication networks

ELEC

Dr Derrick Wing Kwan Ng

Listed among the world’s Highly Cited Researchers

ELEC

Dr Derrick Wing Kwan Ng

Received best paper awards at the flagship IEEE International Conference on Communications 2021

ELEC

Prof Robert Malaney

Received best paper awards at the flagship IEEE International Conference on Communications 2021

ELEC

Dr Beena Ahmed

ANZ Women in AI Award – Winner, AI in Education category of the Australia/New Zealand Women in AI Awards for 2021

CHEM

Prof. Johannes le Coutre

Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of NSW

Mech

Dr Zoran Vulovic

Dr Zoran Vulovic was awarded a Senior Fellowship by the UK's Advance HE. Advance HE's fellowships are internationally recognised affiliations that reward professionals who meet the UK Professional Standards Framework for teaching and supporting learning in higher education. The Senior Fellowship is a prestigious award conferred to individuals who demonstrate a thorough understanding of effective approaches to teaching and learning support as a key contribution to high quality student learning.

Mech

Prof Shawn Kook

Prof Shawn Kook has been appointed as editor of Applied Thermal Engineering, a prestigious journal with high impact factor of 4.026. He will serve for three years with a potential extension of tenure up to 10 years.

Mech

Professor Jay Kruzic

Professor Jay Kruzic was awarded the prestigious Brimacombe Medal from The Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society (TMS) at the Virtual TMS 2021 conference, "for outstanding contributions to understanding the mechanics and damage tolerance of materials, commitment to professional service and academic leadership, and continued service to TMS".

Mech

Prof Tracie Barber

Prof. Tracie Barber has been elected as Fellows of the Australasian Fluid Mechanics Society (AFMS)*. Tracie is the first woman to be elected as a Fellow of the AFMS. 

Mech

Prof Evatt Hawkes

Prof Evatt Hawkes has been elected as Fellows of the Australian Fluid Mechanics Society (AFMS)

Mech

Associate Professor Bernd Gludovatz

Associate Professor Bernd Gludovatz was awarded the Materialia 2020 - Outstanding Reviewer Award. 

Mech

Dr. David Kellermann

Dr. David Kellermann has received a citation award from the Australian Award for University Teaching "for bringing higher education to the forefront of global technology with a deeply integrated, collaborative, AI-driven and human-centred model preparing students for the modern workplace".

Mech

Dr Teresa Cheng

Dr Teresa Cheng has been awarded Marie Curie Individual Fellowship from the EU’s Horizon 2020.

Mech

Dr David Lyons

David Lyons was made a Fellow of Engineers Australia, complementing his existing Fellow of The Royal Institution of Naval Architects. Fellows are recognised as the leaders of the industry. They are seen as an elite group of engineers who represent the highest standards of technical and professional excellence. 

SPREE

A/Prof. Ned Ekins-Daukes, Scientia Fellow Dr Michael Nielsen and Dr Andreas Pusch

Quantum Wells Enable Record-Efficiency Two-Junction Solar Cell. A/Prof. Ned Ekins-Daukes, Scientia Fellow Dr Michael Nielsen and Dr Andreas Pusch in partnership with Dr Myles Steiner at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) set a new world record for the highest efficiency double junction solar cell attained to date (32.9%).

SPREE

Scientia Associate Professor Xiaojing Hao

Assoc. Prof. Xiaojing Hao Wins Australian Academy of Science 2021 Pawsey Medal. She is amongst 24 of Australia’s leading scientists to receive the 2021 honorific award, having been recognised for her outstanding contributions to science. ACAP researcher and UNSW Scientia Associate Professor, Xiaojing Hao, has added another prestigious award to her collection of recognitions for her work in photovoltaics. Prof. Hao also features in the UNSW researchers lead Australian Academy of Science top honours article, UNSW Newsroom 11 March 2021, 

SPREE

Prof Thorsten Trupke

Prof Thorsten Trupke, winner of the William Cherry Award;  Professor Thorsten Trupke has won the internationally coveted IEEE William Cherry Award. The award recognises outstanding contributions to photovoltaic science and technology. Thorsten has now joined a very prestigious international group of research leaders in the PV field including past UNSW recipients: Prof Martin Green (1990) and Prof. Stuart Wenham (2006). UNSW Newsroom, 22 June 2021. 48th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2021 winner.

SPREE

Yoann Burratti, PhD

Yoann Burratti, has won the Best Student Presentation Award in Area 5, Characterisation Methods for his paper “A Deep Learning Approach for Loss-Analysis form Luminescence Images”. Note: This is the fourth year in a row that SPREE students have won best Student papers at this conference, and each time they have had Ziv Hameiri as supervisor. 48th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2021 winner.

SPREE

Prof. Alison Lennon and her team Ivan Perez Wurfl, Udo Roemer, and Chuqi Yi, including Neeraj Sharm and David Tsai.

Prof. Alison Lennon and her team are the winners of the prestigious 2021 VIP Consortium Innovation Competition for Mini Solar VIP Team: Early Bushfire Detection. The team members are Alison Lennon, Ivan Perez Wurfl, Udo Roemer, and Chuqi Yi, including Neeraj Sharm and David Tsai. Press release, 4 June 2021: VIP Consortium excerpt “This year’s overall winner is the Mini Solar VIP Team from the University of New South Wales in Australia for its work on building small solar energy harvesting devices that can provide a continuous source of power for IoT sensors for early bushfire detection. The team is developing inexpensive, miniature devices which include a solar panel, integrated battery, and communications technology. The devices create a 24/7 communication network that can alert authorities when fires break out”.

SPREE

Prof. Renate Egan

Prof. Renate Egan has been elected as Fellows of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering, UNSW Newsroom. Renate has been recognised for making an exceptional impact on the engineering, science and business of photovoltaics for more than 25 years. She is acknowledged nationally and internationally as a thought leader in her field, and she holds senior leadership positions with companies and international agencies. An innovator, entrepreneur and academic, Prof. Egan is co-founder of a successful Australian start-up, an in-demand speaker and an influential member of expert panels. Additional link: Leading Australian innovators honoured by Academy of Technology and Engineering, Media Release

SPREE

Professors Martin Green, Gavin Conibeer, Thorsten Trupke, Robert Taylor, Jianhua Zhao, Evatt Hawkes, Stuart Wenham and Alistair Sproul

Past and present SPREE-affiliated academics Professors Martin Green, Gavin Conibeer, Thorsten Trupke, Robert Taylor, Jianhua Zhao, Evatt Hawkes, Stuart Wenham and Alistair Sproul have appeared on a global list compiled by Stanford University of the top 2% of scientists worldwide based on their lifetime contribution to their specific fields of research. Professor Green was listed as 10th worldwide in Applied Physics. Based on 2019 impact alone, Professors Anita Ho-Baillie and Xiaojing (Jeana) Hao joined the list as well as Research Fellow, Dr Chang Yan. Professor Green moved to 5th in the world in Applied Physics. Journal published by John P. A. Ioannidis, Stanford.

SPREE

Scientia Associate Professor Xiaojing Hao

Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year

CHEM

Prof Kourosh Kalantar-Zadeh

2020 Robert Boyle Prize for Analytical Science by the Royal Society of Chemistry

CHEM

Dr Sophie Ruopian Fang

2020 JPhys Energy Early Career Award

CVEN

Prof Stuart Khan

Named as one of the NSW Legends of Water for 2020

CVEN

Prof Stuart Khan

Appointed as a member of the National Water Grid Advisory Body

CVEN

Prof Lucy Marshall

Lucy was awarded a medal and named as a fellow of the International Environmental Modelling and Software Society. The award is given for “Exceptional research contributions to environmental modelling and software, and for promoting the aims of the Society.”

CVEN

Visiting Senior Research Fellow Lauren Gardner

Lauren was awarded “The 100 Most Influential People of 2020” by Time. Lauren developed the real-time website, the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) COVID-19 dashboard which has been the go-to resource to track the global pandemic. It went online on 22 January, and by early March, it was accessed more than a billion times per day.

CVEN

Prof Stephen Foster

Stephen was elected as Vice President of the International Federation for Structural Concrete (fib). The fib, (Fédération Internationale du béton), is a not-for-profit international association formed by 45 national member groups and approximately 1000 corporate and individual members. Its mission is to develop at an international level the study of scientific and practical matters capable of advancing the technical, economic, aesthetic and environmental performance of concrete construction. The role of Vice President reflects Stephen’s long-term contribution to community on research and education. This is an extensive (six year) commitment; two years as VP, then two as President and two as Immediate Past President.

CSE

Scientia Professor Toby Walsh

Toby was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for intellectual leadership and significant contributions to automated deduction, constraint programming, and fairness in artificial intelligence in October 2020.

MERE

Emeritus Professor Bruce Hebblewhite

(Professor at time of award)

Bruce Hebblewhite - 2020 Institute Medal from the AusIMM for his exceptional contributions to education, training and research (Australia). Bruce has more than 40 years of international experience in mining and has made a long-standing commitment to the resources sector through his leadership in teaching, training and research.

CSE

Assoc. Prof. Haris Aziz

Haris was names in The Australian’s Research 2020 magazine, profiling the top 250 researchers in the country

CSE

Assoc. Prof. Haris Aziz

The research of Dr. Haris Aziz was featured as the research highlight in the April 2020 issue of Communications of the ACM. Communications of the ACM is the monthly journal of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), world's largest scientific and educational computing society.

BIOMED

Prof Ewa Goldys

NSW Premier's Prize for Science & Engineering, Leadership in Innovation

BIOMED

Prof Ewa Goldys

Fellowship of the Royal Society of New South Wales

CSE

Scientia Professor Toby Walsh

Toby was named 2020 Australian Laureate Fellowship.

BIOMED

A/Prof Guozhen Liu  

Georgina Sweet Award for Women in Quantitative Biomedical Science

CSE

Professor Aaron Quigley

Aaron was the recipient of recognition of excellent service by ACM SIGCHI from the ACM SIGCHI President and interim Vice President for conference for the ACM UIST User Interface Software Technology Conference.

CSE

Professor Salil Kanhere

2020 Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award

CHEM 

Cyrille Boyer

Co-recipient of 2019 NHMRC Marshall and Warren Ideas Grant Award for 2019 Ideas Grant by

NHRMC entitled: Tackling Hospital Acquired Infections with Peptide Mimics

CSE

Alumna Hannah Beder

Won the 2020 Harvey Norman Young Women of the year Award for her work mentoring young women in tech space.

CSE

PhD student Lei Bai supervised by Asso. Prof. Lina Yao

Lei Won 2020 Google PhD Fellowship in Machine Learning and Data Mining.

CHEM

Priyank Kumar

ARC DECRA Award

CHEM

Rona Chandrawati

Australia’s Most Innovative Engineers, Engineers Australia

CHEM

Rona Chandrawati

Derek Hart Memorial Award

CHEM

Rona Chandrawati

Polymer Chemistry Emerging Investigator, Royal Society of Chemistry

CHEM

Cyrille Boyer

Highly Cited Researcher in Chemistry

CHEM

Prof. Liming Dai

Fellow of the US National Academy of Inventors (NAI)

CHEM

Prof. Cordelia Selomulya

Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering

BIOMED

Prof Laura Poole-Warren

Order of Australia medal for significant service to education, and to biomedical engineering

CHEM

Dr Peter Wich

Polymer Chemistry Emerging Investigator

CHEM

Prof. Kourosh Kalantar-Zadeh

Robert Boyle Prize for Analytical Science, Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), UK

CSE

Professor Sri Parameswaran 

Received the 2020 ACM SIGDA Distinguished Service Award for Leadership and Distinguished Service to the EDA Community.

CSE

Professor Salil Kanhere

Professor Salil Kanhere was awarded 2019 Best Editor Award for his valuable contribution to Journal of Pervasive and Mobile Computing as the member of Editorial board.

CHEM

Prof. Da-wei Wang

Young Scientist Award (under 40) by the International Coalition for Energy Storage and Innovation

ELEC

Dr Derrick Wing Kwan Ng

Listed among the world’s Highly Cited Researchers in 2020 by Clarivate Analytics

ELEC

Prof Joe Dong

Listed among the world’s Highly Cited Researchers in 2020 by Clarivate Analytics.

ELEC

Prof John Fletcher

An interdisciplinary UNSW research team including Prof Fletcher has won the People’s Choice Award at the WAITRO Innovation Awards 2020

ELEC

Prof Jinhong Yuan

Named by The Australian newspaper as Australia’s research Field Leader in the area of Computer Networks and Wireless Communication

CHEM

Dr Emma Lovell

EnergyLab Women in Clean Energy Fellowship

ELEC

Dr Inma Tomeo-Reyes

Dr Inmaculada Tomeo-Reyes has been approved as a Senior Fellow of Advance HE. Advance HE (formerly the Higher Education Academy) is a UK-based institution promoting excellence in higher education, and fellowship provides an internationally benchmarked indicator of excellence in professionalism in learning and teaching.

Mech

Prof Shawn Kook

Prof Shawn Kook has been awarded the Bridge Fellowship of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). 

Mech

Dr Muhammad Tariq Nazir

Dr Muhammad Tariq Nazir has been recognised as Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA), Advance HE, UK.

Mech

Associate Prof Robert Taylor

Associate Professor Robert Taylor received the UNSW ARC Postgraduate Council Outstanding Research Supervisor Award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the research environment and higher degree research community at UNSW.

Mech

Prof Nicole Kessissoglou

Highlighted as the top Australian research leader in Acoustics and Sound in the Australian’s 2020 special report on research.

Mech

Associate Prof Robert Taylor

Highlighted as the top Australian research leader in Sustainable Energy in the Australian’s 2020 special report on research.

Mech

Prof Sami Kara

Highlighted as the top Australian research leader in Manufacturing and Machinery in the Australian’s 2020 special report on research.

Mech

Dr Kiho Cho

2020 IADR STAR Network Academy Fellowship Award from International Association for Dental Research (IADR).

Mech

Dr John Page

Received the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award

Mech

Dr John Page

Received the Maquis Who' Who Recognized as Distinguished Humanitarian

SPREE

Scientia Associate Professor Xiaojing Hao

Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year

SPREE

A. Prof. Brett Hallam

A. Prof. Brett Hallam awarded the IEEE Stuart R. Wenham Young Professional Award Winner, 2020. The IEEE Stuart R. Wenham Young Professional Award recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to the science and technology of photovoltaic energy conversion, including work on PV materials, devices, modules, and/or systems. The award recipient must also show significant promise as a leader in the field. An award is given annually at the PVSC. The award was recently renamed in honor of Stuart Wenham, in recognition of his profound contributions to photovoltaics, and in memory of his great scholarship and impact.

SPREE

A. Prof. Brett Hallam

A. Prof. Brett Hallam awarded the IEEE Stuart R. Wenham Young Professional Award Winner, 2020. The IEEE Stuart R. Wenham Young Professional Award recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to the science and technology of photovoltaic energy conversion, including work on PV materials, devices, modules, and/or systems. The award recipient must also show significant promise as a leader in the field. An award is given annually at the PVSC. The award was recently renamed in honor of Stuart Wenham, in recognition of his profound contributions to photovoltaics, and in memory of his great scholarship and impact.

SPREE

Prof. Renate Egan

Prof. Renate Egan has been elected as Fellows of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering, UNSW Newsroom. Renate has been recognised for making an exceptional impact on the engineering, science and business of photovoltaics for more than 25 years. She is acknowledged nationally and internationally as a thought leader in her field, and she holds senior leadership positions with companies and international agencies. An innovator, entrepreneur and academic, Prof. Egan is co-founder of a successful Australian start-up, an in-demand speaker and an influential member of expert panels. Additional link: Leading Australian innovators honoured by Academy of Technology and Engineering, Media Release

SPREE

Professors Martin Green, Gavin Conibeer, Thorsten Trupke, Robert Taylor, Jianhua Zhao, Evatt Hawkes, Stuart Wenham and Alistair Sproul

Past and present SPREE-affiliated academics Professors Martin Green, Gavin Conibeer, Thorsten Trupke, Robert Taylor, Jianhua Zhao, Evatt Hawkes, Stuart Wenham and Alistair Sproul have appeared on a global list compiled by Stanford University of the top 2% of scientists worldwide based on their lifetime contribution to their specific fields of research. Professor Green was listed as 10th worldwide in Applied Physics. Based on 2019 impact alone, Professors Anita Ho-Baillie and Xiaojing (Jeana) Hao joined the list as well as Research Fellow, Dr Chang Yan. Professor Green moved to 5th in the world in Applied Physics. Journal published by John P. A. Ioannidis, Stanford.

SPREE

Dr Udo Römer and Dr Mahesh Suryawanshi

Dr Udo Römer and Dr Mahesh Suryawanshi are the recipients of the Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) 2021 round 1:

Dr Udo Römer for Nervous tissue stimulation using Multi-Junction Silicon Photodiodes. Currently, in order to stimulate different areas in nervous tissue, brain-machine-interfaces (BMIs) usually rely on multi electrode arrays where each electrode is connected to a wire, that connects to other electronics, all of which has to be safely encapsulated, thus increasing the size of the devices and complicating the surgical procedure for implanted devices. This project aims to develop a silicon multi-junction photodiode that can provide a photovoltage high enough to efficiently excite nervous tissue. A BMI based on this approach could be much smaller and could be powered optically via thin fibres, thus in the long run enabling smaller and safer implants for restoring function in disabled people.

Dr Mahesh Suryawanshi for an Emerging Ionic Chalcogenide Perovskites for Solar Energy Conversion. This project aims to develop a library of earth-abundant chalcogenide perovskite nanocrystals (CPNCs) for efficient solar energy conversion applications. The key concept is to design non-toxic and stable CPNCs using a facile solution process for solar-to-electricity and fuel generation. The intended outcomes include a fundamental understanding of the relationships between the synthesis, structure, photophysics, and electrochemistry by advanced modeling and multiscale characterizations and ultimately the solar-to-electricity and fuel generation performances of new material systems. This project will build a national research capacity in an emerging field and put Australia at the forefront of practical solar energy conversion technologies.

BIOMED

Dr Jelena Rnjak-Kovacina 

NSW Early Career Researcher of the Year (Physical Sciences), NSW Premier's Prizes for Science & Engineering (2020)

BIOMED

Dr Jelena Rnjak-Kovacina

Emerging Leader Award, Australasian Society for Biomaterials & Tissue Engineering

CHEM

Cyrille Boyer

Elected as a member of European Academy of Science

CHEM

Cyrille Boyer

Highly Cited Researcher in Chemistry

CHEM

Prof. Yansong Shen

ARC Future Fellowship

CHEM

Dr Peter Wich

IUPAC Periodic Table of Younger Chemists

CHEM

Dr Peter Wich

Soft Matter Emerging Investigator

CHEM

Prof. Kourosh Kalantar-Zadeh

Walter Burfitt Prize from the Royal Society of New South Wales

CHEM

Prof. Kourosh Kalantar-Zadeh

Linkedin Spotlight for Australia

CHEM

Prof. Rose Amal

Named 2019 NSW Scientist of the Year: 'Rose Amal named 2019 NSW Scientist of the Year' 

CHEM

Prof. Da-wei Wang

Highly Cited Researcher Web of Science by Clarivate

ELEC

A/Prof Jayashri Ravishankar

A/Prof Jayashri Ravishankar has been awarded a Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning, as part of the 2019 Australian Awards for University Teaching (AAUT).

ELEC

A/Prof Rukmi Dutta

Nominated by her international colleagues to be the Secretary of the Executive Committee for the Electrical Machines Committee (EMC) of the IEEE Industrial Application Society (IAS).

ELEC

A/Prof Rukmi Dutta

Was presented with the 2019 Outstanding Women in Engineering Volunteer award at the AGM of the IEEE NSW Chapter

Mech

Dr Sangarapilliai Kanapathipillai 

Dr Sangarapilliai Kanapathipillai has been awarded Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy ,in recognition of attainment against the UK Professional Standards Framework for teaching and learning support in higher education.

Mech

Associate Prof Bernd Gludovatz

Bernd received the Acta/Scripta Materialia Outstanding Reviewer Award

Mech

Associate Prof Bernd Gludovatz

Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowship - Structure-property relationships in compositionally complex alloys (FT190100484)

Mech

Dr Armin Wehrfritz

Received a Young Investigator Award at the 12th Asia-Pacific Conference on Combustion for his work on understanding ignition mechanisms in diesel spray combustion.

Mech

Professor Gangadhara Prusty

Professor Gangadhara Prusty accepted the JEC Innovation Award on behalf of the Australian Research Council (ARC) Training Centre for Automated Manufacture of Advanced Composites (AMAC) and program partners the Australian Defence Science and Technology Group (DST) for the submission, “Shape Adaptive Hydrofoil with Fibre-Optic Sensing” at the JEC Asia 2019 held on 14th November in Seoul, South Korea.

Mech

Professor Sami Kara

Professor Sami Kara was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales

Mech

Dr Susann Beier

Dr. Susann Beier was elected as a fellow of the Cardiovascular Society of Australia and New Zealand.

Mech

Associate Prof Ang Liu

Dr. Ang Liu has been recognized as a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in recognition of attainment against the UK Professional Standards Framework for teaching and learning support in Higher Education.

Mech

Emeritus Prof Liangchi Zhang

The International Association of Advanced Materials (IAAM) awarded Professor Liangchi Zhang the prestigious IAAM Medal Award for the year 2019. The award will be presented during the IAAM award ceremony and conference on the 11th June 2019 held in Stockholm.