University of Western Australia: Six researchers from UWA named the country’s best

Six researchers from The University of Western Australia have been named as being at the top of their field in The Australian newspaper’s 2023 Research Magazine.

The annual magazine looks at the best researchers and the best research institutions in Australia in 250 fields of research.

The awards are based on the number of citations for papers published in the top 20 journals in each field over the past five years.

Hackett Professor Kadambot Siddique, Director of The UWA Institute of Agriculture, was named the top researcher of Botany in the Life Sciences and Earth Sciences category.

Professor Siddique said he was delighted to be named among the highly respected UWA leaders in their fields.

“This recognition is a credit to UWA’s internationally-renowned strength in agriculture and plant science research,” he said.

Winthrop Professor Danny Green, from UWA’s School of Human Sciences, was named top Physiology researcher in Health and Medical Sciences.

Clinical Associate Professor Dieter Weber, from the UWA Medical School, was awarded top Surgery researcher in Health and Medical Sciences.

Professor Ullrich Ecker, from the School of Psychological Science at UWA, was recognised in the category of Social Sciences for his research in Cognitive Science.

Dr Zohaib Akram, from the UWA Dental School, was named top researcher in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery in the Health and Medical Sciences.

And Senior Honorary Research Fellow from UWA’s School of Molecular Sciences, Dr Dylan Jayatilaka, was nominated as best researcher in the field of Crystallography and Structural Chemistry.

UWA was also named the top research institution for Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Botany, Pest Control and Pesticides.

In a new feature, naming the top five universities and research institutions best equipped (by their research capacity and recent research achievements) to tackle Australia’s top 10 research challenges, UWA came in tops in two challenge areas – indigenous research and healthy ageing.