UniSA Vice Chancellor honoured in Denmark
In a prestigious international ceremony, University of South
Australia Vice Chancellor and President, Professor Peter Høj, has been
honoured by the University of Copenhagen and personally congratulated by
Queen Margrethe II of Denmark in the capital today, November 20 2008.
Prof Høj was made an Honorary Doctor of Science, in the Faculty of Life
Sciences at the University of Copenhagen in honour of his own research
career in plant biochemistry and his important contribution to building
research communities in Australia and internationally.
The award was recommended by the University's Department of Plant
Biology and Biotechnology from which Prof Høj graduated with a PhD in
1987. The citation was presented by Dean Per Holten-Andersen.
In the citation Prof Høj was described as a "brilliant biochemist, [who]
from the very start of his career ...published papers in top ranking
journals".
A testament to his high achievements in research, it was also noted that
before the age of 40, he had published several patents, 86 refereed
papers and had been cited more than 2500 times. He was also awarded the
Boehringger Mannheim Medal by the Australian Society for Biochemistry
and Molecular Biology in 1992 for his significant contribution to
biochemical research.
His move to Australia saw Prof Høj take on significant roles in both the
academic and research community - as Australia's first Professor of
Viticulture at the University of Adelaide and then CEO of the Australian
Wine Research Institute, where he played a strong role in spearheading
the development of the Australian wine industry in the international
arena.
At just 42, he was appointed one of only four private members of the
Prime Minister's Science, Engineering and Innovation Council, the
youngest member of this group, which was chaired by the then Prime
Minister John Howard.
He was appointed as CEO of the most important research funding body in
Australia, the Australian Research Council in 2004. Prof Høj became Vice
Chancellor of UniSA in 2007.
He is now one of two UniSA staff to have received this high honour from
the University of Copenhagen. UniSA Professor and Research Chair in
Epidemiology, John Lynch was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Medical
Science from the University of Copenhagen in 2007.
The University of Copenhagen (Københavns Universitet) is the oldest and
largest university and research institution in Denmark with more than
37,000 students and 7000 employees. The honorary awards are part of an
annual day of celebrations marking the foundation of the University in
1479.
Professor Høj is one of only six international award recipients
including Honorary Doctor of Law -
Professor Emeritus Frances Raday, Faculty of Law, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem, Israel; Honorary Doctor of Sociology - Professor Emeritus
Thomas J Scheff, Department of Sociology, University of California,
Santa Barbara, USA; Honorary Doctors of Medicine - Professor Anne-Lise
Børresen-Dale, Institute for Cancer Research, Norwegian Radium Hospital,
Norway, Professor C. Ronald Kahn, Joslin Diabetes Center, Boston, USA,
and Professor Jayaprakash Muliyil, Christian Medical College & Hospital,
Vellore, India.
Today the University of Copenhagen is a multi-campus institution,
offering courses in Danish, English and German. The University is a
member of the International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU)
along with the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Yale, UC Berkeley and
ANU and is recognised as the leading university in Scandinavia and one
of Europe's leading research institutions.