ANU Research · Nobel Prizes, Discoveries, and Research Strengths
ANU is Australia’s only university created by an Act of Federal Parliament (1946) with an explicit research mandate. Its research intensity — measured by the proportion of staff engaged in research, citations per faculty, and research income per academic — is the highest in Australia.
Nobel Laureates Associated with ANU
Six Nobel laureates have been ANU staff or graduates:
- Brian Schmidt (Physics, 2011): Accelerating expansion of the universe; former ANU Vice-Chancellor
- John Eccles (Medicine, 1963): Synaptic transmission; foundation Professor at John Curtin School
- Howard Florey (Medicine, 1945): Development of penicillin; ANU Chancellor 1965–1968
- Rolf Zinkernagel and Peter Doherty (Medicine, 1996): How the immune system distinguishes virus-infected cells; research conducted at John Curtin School
- John Harsanyi (Economics, 1994): Game theory; ANU graduate
Research Centres of Excellence
ANU hosts 11 Australian Research Council (ARC) Centres of Excellence — more than any other Australian university — spanning gravitational wave discovery, climate extremes, translational photosynthesis, quantum computation, and population ageing research.
What Research Intensity Means for Students
Undergraduates: Access to researchers at the frontier of their fields. Many ANU courses are taught by active researchers who weave current discoveries into teaching.
Honours students: The ANU Honours year involves a substantial research thesis. Students work in active research groups, use real lab facilities, and are supervised by practising researchers — not just teaching faculty.
PhD candidates: Access to some of Australia’s best research infrastructure (NCI supercomputer, heavy-ion accelerator, Mount Stromlo Observatory). ANU PhD graduates have strong placement records in academia and industry research.