Sydney’s life sciences leadership in Nature Index
The University of Sydney has moved up to third place in the Nature Index's life sciences ranking of Australian organisations, reflecting strategic investments in hubs such as in the multidisciplinary Charles Perkins Centre.
The Australian Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, which launched this year, has links to the health-focused Charles Perkins Centre, which launched in 2014.
The University of Sydney has jumped 16% in the Nature group’s score of organisations worldwide for life sciences and is ranked a close third in Australia, based on publications in top-tier journals.
The University’s strength in the life sciences and science generally has been recognised through a number of significant awards recently. This week, two out of three L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Australian fellowships went to early career researchers in the Faculty of Veterinary Science. Last week, evolutionary biologist Professor Rick Shine won the Prime Minister’s Prize for Science and the previous week he was named Scientist of the Year at the NSW Premier’s Prizes for Science & Engineering, in which the University of Sydney gained the most awards.
This year’s Nature Index for life sciences ranks the University of Sydney after University of Queensland, with the score virtually equal to the University of Melbourne. For science generally, the University of Sydney has been ranked sixth.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), Professor Duncan Ivison, said the boost in the life sciences ranking was a reflection of the University of Sydney’s focus on both disciplinary excellence and whole-of-university multidisciplinary approaches such as the Charles Perkins Centre (CPC), which launched in mid-2014 to tackle heart disease, diabetes and obesity.
Similar interdisciplinary centres have been set up to focus on the brain and mental health, as well as nanoscience, and are key to the University’s research strategy.
“We think the future of research is in the integration of knowledge and disciplines, and of bringing them together in innovative ways,” Professor Ivison said.