The Group of Eight

UWA has been ranked as the top research institution in Australia across 4 fields: Crystallography & Structural Chemistry, Botany, Plant Pathology, and Soil Sciences in The Australian's 2025 Research Magazine! A special congratulations to the 8 UWA researchers who have been named leaders in their fields! Hackett Professor Kadambot H.M. Siddique, Emeritus Professor Mark Spackman, Professors Jiake Xu, Dieter Weber, Nanthi Bolan, Thomas Wernberg, Martin Barbetti, and Associate Professor Kristin Gainey. This recognition highlights the ground-breaking impact of their work in creating innovative solutions and delivering meaningful outcomes. An impact score is given to each Australian researcher, university, or research organisation based on the number of citations they receive in the top journals of their field over the past five years. The researcher and institution with the highest score are recognised as leaders in that area of research. Read more: https://uwa.au/0dxk59

We're proud to share that over 100 #UniMelb researchers working on 51 research projects have been awarded $31,744,984 in funding in round one of the Australian Research Council’s (ARC) 2025 Discovery Project! Tap through to read more → unimelb.me/4ePhybp

The publication of The Australian’s Research magazine provides an annual reminder of the enormous value the research sector provides to both our society and the economy. Across 250 fields, the magazine highlights the achievements of researchers, along with universities and research institutes around Australia. The University of Queensland was recognised as being among research institutions with the fastest growing research influence, and it was a pleasure to speak with the magazine’s editor Tim Dodd about our approach. Simply put, it is based on creating the capability, infrastructure, and teams to help address complex challenges in partnership with government and industry. Congratulations to UQ’s 19 individual researchers recognised as leaders in their field, and the teams who have made the university the top research institute in 27 fields. The recognition is very well deserved. Universities Australia, The Group of Eight, Dr Jonas Fooken, Professor Brent W. Ritchie, Professor Timothy McIntyre, Professor Bhesh Bhandari, Professor Anthony Smith, Professor Ove Peters, Associate Professor Benn Sartorius, Associate Professor Martin Batstone, Professor Gregory Scalia AM, Professor Jolanda Jetten, Professor Bryan G. Fry, Professor Daniel Chambers, Dr Anthony Romilio Professor Amin Abbosh, Professor Fred Roosta, Dr Nathan Evans, Associate Professor Alina Morawska, Dr Ruvini Manjula Hettiarachchi, Professor Brian Head, Shannon Willoughby, Isaac J Coonan, Professor Paul Bonnington

The Group of Eight CE Vicki Thomson explained to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights Inquiry into Antisemitism at Australian Universities this morning, that developing a definition of Anti-Semitism that works in the Australian context has been hard, but getting it right is crucial to make sure that this is not just a “tick and flick” exercise. “The easy thing would have been just to develop something, hope for the best and throw it out there… It has to fit within our context and it has to be acceptable to the broader community,” she told the Committee. The Group of Eight has been consulting widely with our experts, Jewish organisations as well as the Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism in the process of developing a definition and is very confident to have a definition finalised soon. Josh Burns Henry Pike MP Kylea Tink David Shoebridge #HigherEducation

The Australian's Research 2025 rankings have been released, and we have retained our position as Australia’s top research institution for the second consecutive year. We were also named the top research institution in the world for rehabilitative therapy, with Nathan Eva and Ben Willem Mol named world leaders in Human Resources and Organisation and Reproductive Health fields respectively. The rankings positioned us as the top research institution in 55 out of 250 fields of research — almost double the fields of the next closest ranked institution — with 32 researchers named the top Australian researcher of their fields. The rankings also highlighted us as a 'fast mover', being one of the universities whose research influence grew more than 5 per cent in the past year. Read more 📖 http://mona.sh/RHgb50UhbC1 #MonashUni

The rise in antisemitism in Australia is part of a broader breakdown in social cohesion which is at an all-time low. That our universities have not been immune to the rise in antisemitism and breakdown in social cohesion should not be surprising – we have half a million people coming and going from our universities each and every day – sadly this phenomenon predates 7 October – but it has been a jolting wakeup call – for all of us. Our universities must be places where people can agree or disagree well, where everyone feels safe and welcome while remaining places where the freedom of speech and academic freedom are realised. But we cannot and must not tolerate antisemitic behaviour. Whilst our universities did have long standing policies and procedures in place to address racism on campus and provide support for students, staff and academics, clearly they weren’t enough during periods of heightened tensions. We have recognised the need to better understand, be better equipped, and take necessary action in both preventing and responding to antisemitism on campus. Our priority has been and will always be the safety and wellbeing of our students and staff. As a collective, the Group of Eight has taken a range of actions to address antisemitism and the breakdown of social cohesion and we will continue to do so. Actions taken by Go8 Universities thus far include: - Development and commitment to clear principles regarding demonstrations on campus; - undertaken revisions to their regulations with regards to prohibiting encampments; - ensured clear communications with University communities regarding expectations of staff and student conduct; - where necessary revised student complaints procedures; - sought to improve dialogue with student groups; - shared best practice; - increased engagement with community stakeholders; - have all worked diligently with the Special Envoy. Read the full Opening Statement to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights – Inquiry into Antisemitism at Australian Universities by The Group of Eight CE Vicki Thomson here: https://lnkd.in/gUD93zMh Julie Hare Daniella White Natasha Bita Caitlin Cassidy John Ross Conor Duffy Noah Y. #HigherEducation

With the loud – and at times brutal – debate raging around international students recently, we released a special episode of our Debate@Go8 podcast series with some Go8 international students, as we wanted to put a human face to the whole debate. You can still catch that excellent episode here https://lnkd.in/g3sd3Kfa, but because we released that episode earlier than we normally would, we wanted to remind you about our previous episode with the director of the Australia-China Relations Institute, University of Technology Sydney, Professor James Laurenceson. We chatted with Professor Laurenceson about the Australia-China relationship with a focus on university-related matters like foreign interference, research collaboration and international students. You can catch that fascinating chat in full, here: https://lnkd.in/gM26En97 Vicki Thomson The Group of Eight Ron Kandelaars Australia China Business Council National Foundation for Australia-China Relations (NFACR) 澳中基金会 International Education Association of Australia (IEAA) Geoff Raby Asia Society Australia

Congratulations to Professor Shaobin Wang, who has been named the world leader in his field of Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis in The Australian 2025 Research magazine 🥇🌏 Prof Wang is joined by Dr Kunsheng Hu, who The Australian named a “Rising Star” in Chemical and Material Sciences, and the following academics, named Australia’s top researchers in their fields 🙌🇦🇺🌟 Professor Peng Shi, Automation & Control Theory Dr Zhiwei Sun, Combustion & Propulsion Professor Paul Jackson, High Energy & Nuclear Physics Dr David Baraglia, Geometry Behrouz Karami, Mechanical Engineering Congratulations to all 👏 Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology

Exciting news! University of Sydney's research excellence has been recognised in The Australian's 2025 Research Magazine! We have ranked as the top research institution in Australia in 21 research fields and 24 researchers have been named as leaders in their respective fields nationally. Notably the University has been named the leading research institution in the world in Physical Education & Sports Medicine. The magazine assigns an impact score to every Australian researcher and university or research organisation in each of the 250 fields of research being considered. This score is equal to the number of citations for papers published (by the individual or the institution) in the top 20 journals of each particular field in the past five years. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gfVSNr5u #USYD #LeadershipForGood

#UQ is among universities with the fastest growing research influence according to The Australian’s Research magazine. Congratulations to 19 UQ researchers who were named leaders of their field in recognition of their valuable contributions to Australian research👏 The University was also recognised as the top research institution in Australia in 27 fields.