Two University of Queensland Faculty of Business, Economics and Law (BEL) professors have been elected as Fellows of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) in recognition of their contributions to Australian society.
UQ Business School marketing expert Professor Janet McColl-Kennedy and UQ Law School intellectual property and food security researcher Professor Brad Sherman are among 34 new fellows elected by ASSA.
Academy President Professor Richard Holden said the new fellows represented the best and brightest minds around the country.
“They are at the forefront of social science research and public policy,’ Professor Holden said.
"In troubled times and in boom times, Fellows are called on by Australia’s leaders to advise on government policy and apply themselves to the most challenging problems facing society.
“Their work helps all of us to better understand what it is to be human and to participate in our society and shape its institutions.”
Professor Janet McColl-Kennedy
Professor McColl-Kennedy is the Director of Research at UQ Business School and the founding co-lead of the School’s Service Innovation Alliance Research Hub.
She’s also an Honorary Visiting Professor and Fellow at the Cambridge Service Alliance – Institute for Manufacturing in the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge, UK, and a Distinguished Fellow of the Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy (ANZMAC).
With more than 170 publications to her name, Professor McColl-Kennedy is not only a leading senior marketing academic in Australia but also internationally recognised as a leading researcher in service science.
Her research interests focus on customer experience management and measurement, the role of digital technology, customer insights and choice preferences, and customer value co-creation. She has particular expertise in healthcare services.
Professor Brad Sherman
Professor Sherman applies his legal expertise to projects that use intellectual property law to improve agricultural productivity and food security.
Within this context, Professor Sherman is currently investigating the challenges that information-based inventions pose for contemporary legal and regulatory arrangements. He’s also looking at the role intellectual property law played in the formation of modern industrialised agriculture from 1870 to 1930.
Professor Sherman was awarded a prestigious Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship in 2015 to spearhead the project “Harnessing Intellectual Property to Build Food Security”.
He’s also a Chief Investigator for two ARC Centres of Excellence: Plant Success in Nature and Agriculture, based at UQ, and Synthetic Biology, administered through Macquarie University.
The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia comprises the nation’s leading researchers and practitioners, elected by their peers for their distinguished contribution to one or more fields of social science research or practice in Australia.
Other notable 2022 ASSA Fellows include UQ Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Engagement) Professor Bronwyn Fredericks.
Contact: BEL Communications, communications@bel.uq.edu.au
