Marles and Woodward medal 2024 winners announced

The Marles Medal is awarded each year in recognition of significant research impact.
The Marles Medal is awarded each year in recognition of significant research impact.

The University of Melbourne’s prestigious Marles and Woodward medals have been awarded to five outstanding researchers from the humanities, social sciences and medical disciplines.

The Marles Medal is awarded each year in recognition of significant research impact. The award was established in 2020 and is named in honour of Ms Fay Marles AM, an alumna and first female Chancellor of the University of Melbourne.

The Marles medals for 2024 are awarded to:

  • Associate Professor Alysia Blackham, Melbourne Law School, for her significant impact and outstanding contribution to our understanding of equality law. Her advocacy and research have been critical in shaping the development and drafting of the Gender Equality Act 2020 (Vic) and has proved highly influential in shaping legislation to increase its effectiveness and capacity to achieve positive social change.
  • Associate Professor Michelle Jongenelis, Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine Dentistry and Health Science, for her tobacco control work which has had a significant impact on public health policy and practice. Her work exploring the challenges associated with e-cigarettes in Australia has been a critical part of policy discussions and formed the evidence-base that led to recent vaping reforms.

The Woodward medals are awarded each year for research that has made a significant contribution to knowledge in a field of science and technology, or humanities and social sciences. The awards were established by former University Chancellor Sir Edward Woodward and Lady Woodward.

The Woodward medals for 2024 are awarded to:

  • Dr Marika Sosnowski, Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, Melbourne Law School for her peacebuilding efforts framed around depth of research, ethical care, and academic rigour, exemplified by her book and associated work, Redefining Ceasefires: Wartime Order and State building in Syria (Cambridge University Press 2023).
  • Dr Oanh Nguyen and Dr Louise Rowntree, School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, for their world-leading work on human T cell responses to respiratory viral pathogens. Their expertise and the impact of their work is exemplified by the three significant publications highlighted in their application, which have provided much of the global academic understanding of T cell function during COVID-19.