NSSN Co-Director wins Eureka Prize for Outstanding Science in Safeguarding Australia

From right to left: Professor Benjamin Eggleton, Dr Alvaro Casas Bedoya, Dr Moritz Merklein, Dr Eric Mägi.

NSSN Co-Director Professor Benjamin Eggleton and his team at the University of Sydney Nano Institute, and Professor Stephen Madden from The Australian National University, have been awarded the 2020 Defence Science and Technology Eureka Prize for Outstanding Science in Safeguarding Australia. 

The Eureka Prizes, often referred to as Australia’s science Oscars, honour excellence in research and innovation, leadership, science engagement, and school science. This year’s award ceremony took place online on 24 November 2020.

By harnessing the delicate interaction between light and sound, Professor Ben Eggleton and his team have produced a microchip that provides a unique advantage for defence platforms.

"This is great recognition of more than a decade of research with a great team,” said Professor Eggleton. 

“We have taken a breakthrough discovery and translated it into advanced prototypes that have been tested in end-user laboratories in Australia and North America. 

“These will soon become sovereign capability for defence," said Professor Ben Eggleton.

With prototypes already developed in Australia and internationally, this compact technology heralds a new era in microwave signal processing and represents real gains in performance, efficiency and cost.

The team includes Professor Benjamin Eggleton, Dr Eric Mägi, Dr Moritz Merklein, Dr Alvaro Casas Bedoya and Dr Yang Liu from the University of Sydney and Professor Stephen Madden from ANU.

A complete list of all 2020 Prize winners is available here.

Media: Shahrzad Abbasi - 0466 548 145