Marles Medal winners announced for 2022

Research excellence at the University has been celebrated by Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles MP and attendees of Tuesday's Marles Medal presentation for 2022.

Professor Robert Crawford of the Melbourne School of Design was awarded the Marles Medal in Humanities and Social Sciences, for his research focused on improving the environmental performance of the built environment.

Professor Crawford’s EPiC Database project is the first of its kind in the world - a freely available database providing comprehensive, transparent, and comparable environmental data for over 280 common Australian construction materials.

Professor Kim Bennell and Professor Rana Hinman from the Melbourne School of Health Sciences, and Professor Jane Hocking from the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health were awarded the Marles Medal in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine.

Professor Bennell and Professor Hinman were recognised for their suite of published studies related to treatments and the use of technology to remotely deliver evidence-based care for knee osteoarthritis.

Professor Hocking was recognised for articles highlighting her contribution to advancing chlamydia treatment and screening policy. Professor Hocking’s work includes landmark trials and a commissioned review that addressed key chlamydia control concerns.

University of Melbourne Vice-Chancellor Duncan Maskell praised the Marles Medal winners and said: “I offer my sincere congratulations to this year’s Marles Medallists. Each recipient has been duly recognised for research excellence that has had a positive impact on the environment and on the community’s health and wellbeing.”

The Marles Medal is awarded each year by a committee of senior University of Melbourne academics to University of Melbourne employees in recognition of the significant impact and demonstrable contribution their original research has made in the preceding ten years.

The Marles Medal was established in 2020 to complement the Woodward Medal for research excellence, and is named in honour of Ms Fay Marles AM, an alumna and first female Chancellor of the University of Melbourne. Ms Marles was also the first Victorian Commissioner for Equal Opportunity and a trailblazer in social welfare and public service.