Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to pay tribute today to Laureate Professor Scott Sloan from the University of Newcastle. Professor Sloan was recently added to the prestigious Royal Society, a fellowship of the world's leading scientific minds that was established in the 1660s. His election sees him join 80 Nobel laureates, among the 1,600 fellows of the society. This scientific academy is amongst the oldest in continuous existence, and eminent minds such as Stephen Hawking, Charles Darwin, Tim Berners-Lee and Albert Einstein have all been members.

Professor Sloan was elected to the society for his work in pioneering new ways for engineers to predict the likelihood of the collapse of structures, such as tunnels, dams and highways. His research assists engineers around the world to design safe and cheap essential infrastructure. Close to my home of Newcastle, his methods were applied in the georemediation of the former aluminium smelter site at Kurri Kurri.

Professor Sloan is also the founding director of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Geotechnical Science and Engineering, based at the University of Newcastle. The centre includes some of the world's leading geotechnical researchers and is focused on developing more cost-efficient designs for essential infrastructure.

To be elected to the Royal Society is just recognition for an outstanding career and base of research. I congratulate Professor Sloan for his tremendous achievement and look forward to his continued development. (Time expired)

See this speech in context