Meet UQ's 2021 Honorary
Award recipients
Each year, The University of Queensland recognises exceptional individuals in our community through Honorary Awards, including Honorary Doctorates and UQ Fellowships.
Each awardee has not only achieved an outstanding level of success within their field, but has fostered meaningful change in the wider community through their leadership, courage and hard work.
Meet our 2021 December Graduations recipients of UQ Honorary Awards.
Honorary Doctorates
Dr Paul Eliadis outside Government House
Dr Paul Eliadis outside Government House
Dr Paul Eliadis AM
Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ’77, Bachelor of Science ‘78, Doctor of Letters honoris causa '21
"Universities are very special institutions that need to be devoted to learning, not just turning people out for jobs. As a society, that is something we must afford."
Across his more than 40-year career in clinical haematology and oncology, Dr Paul Eliadis AM has changed the lives of countless people in the community. But beyond medicine, he has also served the people of Queensland through his commitment to philanthropy and the arts.
In 1988, Dr Eliadis co-founded the Wesley Clinic for Haematology and Oncology, now known as the Icon Cancer Centre Wesley, which has grown to become the largest and most progressive provider of haematology and oncology say services in Australia. He continues to practice today, offering support to families and individuals experiencing malignant disease, and remains involved with medical research exploring new and promising opportunities in cancer care.
Alongside his medical career, Dr Eliadis has continuously shared his passion for the arts, ancient history and the classics with the community. In 2013, he provided a transformative gift to establish the Paul Eliadis Chair in Classics and Ancient History at UQ, revitalising study of the ancient Mediterranean at the University. The Chair is only the third of its kind in Australia, and with Dr Eliadis’ generosity, UQ has emerged as one of Australia’s leaders in the field, offering the most comprehensive classical education in Queensland.
Dr Eliadis has also given generously in time and knowledge at UQ, serving as President of the Friends of Antiquity, Senior Lecturer of Medicine and board member for UQ’s historic Not If, When - the Campaign to Create Change. Outside of UQ, he is an Adjunct Professor in Medicine at Bond University and patron of the Queensland Art Gallery, and has served on the Commissioner’s Council for the Venice Biennale. He has also donated large collections of artworks and culturally significant objects to various public institutions in Queensland.
Dr Eliadis’ outstanding contributions have been recognised in various meaningful ways. In 2015, the Greek Government presented Dr Eliadis with an honoris causa award for his promotion of Hellenism in Australia; in 2019, he received the UQ Alumnus of the Year award; and in 2020, he was named as a Member of the Order of Australia.
The award of Doctor of Letters honoris causa recognises the impact Dr Eliadis has had at the University, in the state and in the country, both through his leading medical career and his commitment to promoting the arts.
Dr Fiona Foley
Doctor of Letters honoris causa '21
"When I see something that doesn't sit well, I always question it."
Dr Fiona Foley is a Badtjala woman and visual artist, curator, academic and writer recognised in Australia and across the world for her contributions to the arts, education and global society.
Her 35-year career has spanned diverse visual media, including painting, photograph, sculpture and film. Her work often features a refusal of institutional and societal silence about colonial histories, as well as the promotion of Badtjala and other Aboriginal ways of knowing, being and doing. Dr Foley attributes much of her work to the influence of her teacher and mother, the late Shirley Foley.
Dr Foley graduated with a Bachelor of Visual Arts from the Sydney College of Arts in 1986 and a PhD from Griffith University in 2017. She exhibits regularly in Australia and internationally and is a frequent keynote speaker at conferences, festivals and symposia across the world. Her artworks are held in major public and private collections both within Australia and abroad, including the British Museum and the National Gallery of Australia. Her public sculptures feature at Parliament House in Canberra, the Museum of Sydney and the State Library of Queensland, where in 2020 she was the inaugural recipient of the Monica Clare Fellowship.
Dr Foley has been a member of the UQ community since her role as an Adjunct Professor from 2011 to 2017, as well as through her solo exhibition, Forbidden, at the UQ Art Museum in 2010 and her curation of the Great Court installation, Courting Blakness, in 2014. In 2020, the University of Queensland Press published her ground-breaking work of Indigenous scholarship, Biting the Clouds, which received the Queensland Premier’s Literary Award for a work of State Significance in 2021.
Dr Foley’s voice – through her art, writing and creative expression – continues to redefine important conversations about race and history in Australia. Her Doctor of Letters honoris causa recognises the immense value of her contributions to society, as well as the University’s gratitude for her leadership in her work.
Dr Fiona Foley
Dr Fiona Foley
The Honourable Justice Andrew Greenwood
Bachelor of Arts ’73, Bachelor of Laws ‘76, Doctor of Laws honoris causa '21
"The elasticity that comes from the rigour of critical thinking and a capacity to address problems from first principles, which characterises intellectual endeavour at The University of Queensland, is what enables graduates of the university to respond to the major challenges of disruption, and particularly digital disruption."
The Honourable Justice Greenwood with a local Indigenous community during judgement in a native title determination. Image: Justice Greenwood
The Honourable Justice Greenwood with a local Indigenous community during judgement in a native title determination. Image: Justice Greenwood
The Honourable Justice Andrew Greenwood is one of the nation’s most outstanding commercial law judges, as well a generous provider of his time and expertise to create opportunities and experiences for the next generation of legal experts.
After graduating from UQ in 1976, Justice Greenwood was admitted to practice in the same year and joined Morris Fletcher and Cross, where he became a partner at just 28 years old. In 1995, he was selected by Federal Treasury to brief each State and Territory Government on transitioning the jurisdictions to the National Competition Policy Reforms recommended in the landmark Hilmer report.
He has continued to lead in the Australian legal field for more than 30 years since, practicing extensively in commercial litigation, intellectual property and competition law in Queensland. This lengthy and distinguished career was recognised in 2005, when he was elevated to the Bench as a Federal Court Judge.
Amongst other roles and panels across his career, Justice Greenwood has served as Queensland Chair of the Trade Practices Committee of the Law Council of Australia, Queensland Chair of the Intellectual Property Committee of the Law Council of Australia, Chairman of Directors of the Queensland Water Cooperation, Deputy Chair of the Queensland Electricity Commission and on the Management Committee of the Brisbane Writers’ Festival. He is currently a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law and was awarded an Doctor of the University honoris causa from Griffith University in 2014.
In the early 2000s, Justice Greenwood was appointed as an Adjunct Professor in Competition Law and Intellectual Property Law at UQ. In the decades since, he has continued to provide his expertise and support in the TC Beirne School of Law, from serving on the Dean’s Advisory Committee to facilitating student usage of the Federal Court facilities for memorial lectures, field trips and mooting competitions.
Justice Greenwood’s Doctor of Laws honoris causa recognises the leading example he has set for the next generation of lawyers, as well as his ongoing support of their education and experiences to ensure they are well-equipped to create positive and meaningful change in society through their careers.
Professor Megan Davis
Bachelor of Arts ‘97, Bachelor of Laws ‘99, Doctor of Laws honoris causa '21
“I loved every minute of being a UQ student, including my time living at Duchesne College. The breadth of subject options was extraordinary, and the critical-thinking skills I gained have served me well for a varied career – from the NRL Commission to sitting on an environment court, and from the Uluru Statement process to the United Nations.”
Professor Megan Davis is a respected lawyer and legal academic, known for her work in the United Nations and in leading national debate on constitutional reform to appropriately incorporate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Professor Davis is a Cobble Cobble Aboriginal Woman from the Barunggam Nation in South-West Queensland. After graduating from UQ in 1999, she helped draft the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples until 2005, and from 2011 to 2016, she served as expert and Chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York. Since 2017, Professor Davis has served as an expert member and Chair of the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples under the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. She is the first Indigenous Australian to be elected to a UN body.
In 2011, Professor Davis was appointed to the Prime Minister’s Expert Panel on the Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the Constitution and the Prime Minister’s Referendum Council in 2015. She played an instrumental role in the community dialogues that led to the Uluru Statement from the Heart, so much so that she was given the honour of being the first person to publicly read Statement aloud at the First Nations Constitutional Convention at Uluru in 2017. Since then, Professor Davis has continued to be an influential advocate and leader in the movement seeking a First Nations Voice to Parliament enshrined in the Constitution. For this advocacy, she received the 2021 Sydney Peace Prize.
Professor Davis is currently Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Director of UNSW’s Indigenous Law Centre, the Balnaves Chair in Constitutional Law and a professor of law at UNSW. Her research focuses on constitutional design, international law, human rights law and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander law. She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law and a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, as well as Commissioner of the Australian Rugby League, Acting Commissioner of the NSW Land and Environment Court and a Member of the NSW Sentencing Council. Alongside her UQ qualifications, Professor Davis holds a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice and a Doctor of Philosophy from the Australian National University.
Professor Davis’ Doctor of Laws honoris causa recognises her exceptional achievements in supporting Indigenous peoples through legal frameworks and advocacy.
Dr Elizabeth Woods OAM
Bachelor of Agricultural Science (Honours) '77, Doctor of Science honoris causa '21
"UQ has featured throughout my career – my first university, my employer and a partner in agricultural research, training and science investment. What exciting opportunities I’ve had to work with passionate people on Queensland’s future and food!"
Dr Elizabeth Woods OAM is a leading figure in agriculture, both in Australia and across the world.
While Dr Woods has held numerous positions, she has spent the majority of her career within the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries Queensland, where she rose through the ranks until her appointment of Director-General in 2016. Across her career in the Department, Dr Woods led development initiatives to deliver an innovative, productive and sustainable agriculture, fisheries and forestry sector.
Dr Woods has held a variety of national and international advisory roles, including in the Grains Research and Development Corporation, the Policy Advisory Council of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, the CSIRO Board, the Gatton College Council and the Rural Adjustment Scheme Advisory Council. She has also led a number of vital agriculture sector initiatives, including as Chair of the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, the National Drought Policy Review in 2004, WorldFish in Penang and the International Rice Research Institute headquartered in the Philippines.
Throughout her career, Dr Woods has continuously advocated for greater cultural diversity and representation in the agriculture sector. She was Queensland’s first female Rhodes Scholar and its first female agricultural extension officer, and served as the Queensland Government Champion for the Northern Peninsula Area Indigenous Community on the Cape York Peninsula from 2015 to 2021. She was awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for Services to Primary Industries in 1991, and in 2020, she was appointed for another term as a Commissioner of International Agricultural Research – an honour only shared by six other individuals.
At UQ, Dr Woods served as a Professor of Agribusiness from 1997 to 2004, as well as the Foundation Director of UQ’s Rural Extension Centre. She holds a DPhil from Oxford University and is a Fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering.
Dr Woods has dedicated her entire career to her field, using her expertise and insights to drive strong leadership and decision-making in the agriculture sector. Her Doctor of Science honoris causa celebrates and recognises this leadership, as well as how her contributions have shaped the sector both domestically and internationally.
Dr Elizabeth Woods OAM
Dr Elizabeth Woods OAM
Hugh Lunn
Doctor of Letters honoris causa
"There's no such thing as an ex-Queenslander. There's only lapsed Queenslanders."
Hugh Lunn
Hugh Lunn
Hugh Lunn is an acclaimed author, biographer and multi-award-winning journalist, as well as one of the finest Australian writers of his generation.
Lunn’s journalism career started with a journalism cadetship at The Courier-Mail, heading to the Daily Mirror in London before becoming a Reuters correspondent covering the Vietnam War. At great personal risk, he witnessed and reported on the 1968 Tet Offensive, a series of coordinated Viet Cong attacks on cities and outposts in South Vietnam. Several Australian journalists – including Lunn’s roommate – were killed.
With courage and commitment, he continued to report for Reuters in volatile situations including the Act of Free Choice in 1969, when Indonesia took over the western half of New Guinea.
Returning to Australia in 1971, Lunn joined The Australian in Queensland, winning three Walkley Awards for feature writing between 1974 and 1979. In 1985, he published a memoir, Vietnam: A Reporter’s War with University of Queensland Press, which was critically praised. It won The Age Book of the Year award and was published twice in New York.
Lunn at the 1974 Walkley Awards Dinner in Brisbane, hosted by Sir William Walkley. Image: Hugh Lunn
Lunn at the 1974 Walkley Awards Dinner in Brisbane, hosted by Sir William Walkley. Image: Hugh Lunn
He also enjoyed great success with his childhood memoir, Over the top with Jim, a humorous and heart-warming evocation of growing up in the suburbs of Brisbane. It became the biggest selling non-fiction book in Australia in 1991 and the highest-selling Australian childhood memoir of all time. It has since been serialised nationally on radio, screened as a documentary and adapted by Lunn into a stage play. UQP Publisher Dr Craig Munro wrote that Lunn's memoir “re-defined the genre. Lunn proved that bestsellers could also be award-winning books of literature.”
Lunn continued writing, with another dozen books following over the ensuing two decades. In recent years, Lunn has continued to experiment with radio and stage, and in 2019, the play he co-wrote with Queenslander, comic actor and composer Gerry Connolly, State of Origin: The Musical!, made its debut in Brisbane.
Across a long and distinguished career, Lunn has received many honours for his work, including an Advance Australia Award in 1994 for his contribution to literature, naming as a Queensland icon in 2009, appointment as a Fellow of the Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2015, and induction into the Australian Media Hall of Fame in 2018.
In recognition of his standing as a well-respected Brisbane writer and journalist, Lunn’s likeness was captured by Rhyl Hinwood in a carved frieze at Wordsmiths Café on the St Lucia campus in 1995. His Doctor of Letters honoris causa celebrates Lunn’s enduring legacy as a strong literary voice in Queensland.
UQ Fellowships
Emeritus Professor Alan Rix
UQ Fellowship '21
"Working with wonderful colleagues at the University of Queensland and teaching such talented students has been a privilege. I am proud to have played a part over my career in the growth and development of this great institution, and its teaching and research achievements."
Emeritus Professor Alan Rix has given more than four decades of exemplary service through his career, both as an eminent scholar of Japanese studies and language education and as a committed leader across senior roles in both academia and management at UQ.
Emeritus Professor Rix has published widely on Japanese affairs and Australia–Japan relations, with his work on Japan’s overseas aid setting the global benchmark in the field. In 1985, he began his 32-year career at UQ as a Professor of Japanese studies; across the following decades, he served in several leadership positions, including Head of the Department of Japanese and Chinese Studies, UQ’s first Pro-Vice-Chancellor (External Affairs), Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University.
In these roles, he played a key part in developing and advancing the University, from establishing new research centres to overseeing the development of a permanent home for the UQ Art Museum. As Pro-Vice-Chancellor from 2004, he was responsible for the UQ campuses at Gatton, Ipswich and Pinjarra Hills, serving as a strong advocate for the expansion and upgrade of teaching and research infrastructure at these campuses. In 2015, he was instrumental in the complex transition process of transferring UQ’s Ipswich campus to the University of Southern Queensland.
Emeritus Professor Rix has been described as a man of great integrity, dignity and humility by those who know him. Never seeking the limelight, he has enriched the community through his outstanding leadership and initiative at the University, but also through his volunteer work and philanthropy. He has served on several boards, including current positions on the Ipswich Arts Foundation Board and the Board of Edmund Rice Education Australia, and is currently an honorary research fellow at the Queensland Museum. Alongside his wife Judy, Emeritus Professor Rix has given generously to UQ across numerous areas, including the UQ Art Museum and Scholarship Endowment Fund. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) and a PhD from the Australian National University.
Emeritus Professor Rix’s UQ Fellowship celebrates his outstanding contributions to both UQ and the wider community, offering his expertise in Japanese studies and actively guiding the success of the University and its staff, students and researchers for decades.
Emeritus Professor Maree Smith AC
Bachelor of Pharmacy (Honours) ‘76, Doctor of Philosophy ‘83, UQ Fellowship '21
"I am very humbled at being honoured with this UQ Fellowship. I thank all of the wonderful staff and research students that I have had the privilege to work with and mentor at UQ over more than three decades."
Emeritus Professor Maree Smith AC
Emeritus Professor Maree Smith AC
Emeritus Professor Maree Smith AC is a leading figure recognised both in Australia and internationally for her work in the pharmacology of pain therapeutics.
Her relationship with UQ began with her undergraduate studies, when she completed a Bachelor of Pharmacy (Honours) and a PhD and postdoctoral training in clinical pharmacology, pain management and pain pharmacology. In 1989, Emeritus Smith joined the School of Pharmacy as a lecturer, rising to the rank of professor in 2004.
Throughout her career, Emeritus Professor Smith has combined her research with a strong sense of responsibility to guide and teach the next generation. For 15 years, she taught in the Drug Discovery stream of the undergraduate pharmacy program, helping develop innovative final-year courses to ensure students are equipped with the skills and learnings to excel in their careers. Across her career, she has successfully supervised (or co-supervised) 32 PhD students, two masters students and more than 50 honours students to completion, as well as helping establish the Quality Systems in Biotechnology Course as part of the Master of Biotechnology program at UQ. She continues to be an advocate for gender equity and correcting gender imbalances, including the small minority of female university professors in Australia.
Emeritus Professor Maree Smith AC
Emeritus Professor Maree Smith AC
In her research career, Emeritus Professor smith has published 179 peer-reviewed papers and seven book chapters. She has a strong track record in translation and impact, recognising – even early in her career – the critical importance of industry collaboration in translating discoveries into the community. She has collaborated with industry partners since the early 1990s, and in 2005, Spinifex Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Novartis in 2015) was formed to commercialise Emeritus Professor Smith’s intellectual property on angiotensin II type 2 receptor antagonists technology for neuropathic pain and chronic inflammatory pain.
Emeritus Professor Smith’s contributions have been recognised through numerous awards across her career, and in 2019, she became a Companion of the Order of Australia. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Technology and Engineering, Fellow of the Academy of Health and Medical Sciences and Honorary Fellow of the Faculty of Pain Medicine, Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists.
Today, she continues to give dedicated service as Director of the Centre for Integrated Preclinical Drug Development in the School of Biomedical Sciences in UQ’s Faculty of Medicine. Her UQ Fellowship recognises her outstanding contributions to her field, as well as her commitment to creating impact with her work.
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