University of Tasmania, Australia

The prestigious Research Excellence Medal was this year awarded to Professor John Dickey.

Each year the University of Tasmania acknowledges research and teaching excellence, community engagement and exceptional performance by staff at the presentation of the Vice-Chancellor's Awards.

The prestigious Research Excellence Medal was this year awarded to Professor John Dickey (pictured) from the School of Mathematics and Physics.

Prof Dickey's leadership and mentoring has enabled the astrophysics research group to achieve a high ranking of four in both the 2010 and 2012 Excellence in Research for Australia assessment.

Prof Dickey has been successful in attaining ten ARC funding grants amounting to $5.05 million in funds. He was instrumental in the contracting of tracking services for the SpaceX corporation, which is undertaking the first commercial resupply missions to the International Space Station.

Professor Dickey also led UTAS participation in the $44 million NCRIS AuScope funding project, with UTAS receiving $7 million of this funding to construct and operate three 12 metre radio telescopes located at Hobart, Yaragadee in Western Australia and Katherine in the Northern Territory. As a result, UTAS is the only university in the world which operates its own Very Long Baseline Interferometry array and is now a major player in geospatial research in Australia. Recently a further $1.3 million was secured for the ongoing operation of the array.

Prof Dickey was the driving force behind the construction of the new Greenhill Obeservatory at Bisdee Tier, working with the UTAS Foundation to help fund the new facility through public donations.

Since joining UTAS in 2004, he has been a member of science advisory committees for the Australian Telescope National Facility, the Australian Antarctic Division, and the International Square Kilometer Array Consortium.

Full list of award winners:

Citations for an Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning:

• Mr Stephen Allen from the School of Accounting and Corporate Governance
• Dr Jamie Chapman from the School of Medicine
• Dr Aidan Davidson from the School of Geography and Environmental Studies
• Dr Anne-Marie Forbes from the Tasmanian College of the Arts
• Dr Kristyn Harman from the School of Humanities
• Mrs Sandra Holmes from the School of Pharmacy
• Dr Jennifer McMahon from the School of Education
• Dr Timothy Moss from the School of Education
• Ms Kristen Warr from the Tasmanian Institute of Learning and Teaching

Vice-Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence:

• Dr Christopher Chin from the National Centre for Maritime Engineering and Hydrodynamics
• Dr Colin Jones from the School of Management
• Dr Andrew Seen from the School of Chemistry

Vice-Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Research Performance:

• Dr Julianne O'Reilly-Wapstra from the School of Plant Science

Vice-Chancellor's Award for Internationally Recognised Research:

• Professor Christopher Johnson from the School of Zoology

Vice-Chancellor's Awards for Outstanding Community Engagement:

• Ms Diana Carter, Executive officer at the Advancement Office
• Mr John Martinkus, Lecturer in Journalism, Media and Communications from the School of Social Sciences
• Dr Meredith Nash, Lecture in Sociology from the School of Social Sciences
• The Exercise Physiology Clinic Program team – Dr Marie-Louise Bird, Dr James Fell, Dr Cecilia Shing, Dr Greig Watson and Dr Andrew Williams

Vice-Chancellor's Award for Exception Performance by Professional Staff:

• Mr Peter Ball, Industry Development and Extension Leader from the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture
• Robin Green, Workshop Manager at the School of Architecture and Design
• Sustainability Unit team – Ms Kim Beasy, Mr Corey Petereson, Dr Carmen Primo Perez, Mr Kamal Singh, Mr Mark White and Ms Rowena Zwart

Outstanding Contribution by an Honorary Position Holder:

• Emeritus Professor Tom McMeekin