Sydney: Indian-origin mathematician Professor Nalini Joshi has been announced as the 2025 NSW Scientist of the Year at the NSW Premier’s Prizes for Science, held at Government House in Sydney. Her recognition marks the first time a mathematician has received the State’s most prestigious scientific honour.
Philip Green, the High Commissioner of Australia to India, announced the news on his X account.
Two other researchers from the University of Sydney were also acknowledged during the ceremony. Professor Anita Ho-Baillie, who holds the John Hooke Chair of Nanoscience, was presented with the NSW Premier’s Prize for Excellence in Mathematics, Earth Sciences, Chemistry, or Physics. Professor Paul Keall from the Faculty of Medicine and Health was named the recipient of the NSW Premier’s Prize for Leadership in Innovation in NSW.
Professor Joshi is an internationally regarded mathematician whose work has reshaped the study of integrable systems. She was the first woman appointed as a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Sydney and now serves as the Chair of Applied Mathematics. Her current research applies mathematical methods to the fast-developing area of quantum cryptography. While emerging quantum computers promise possibilities in medicine, new materials, and complex computational challenges, she warns that these advances also pose a threat to existing cybersecurity systems.
She has stressed publicly that governments, industries, and communities are not yet equipped for the scale of technological change. In her words, “Twenty years ago we didn’t have smartphones. Now we rely on them for almost every part of our lives, from paying for coffee to checking our bank balances. In 20 years, we will be walking around with quantum-enabled devices filled with quantum money. But our industry base has very little knowledge of how to protect us in that future, and Australia has less than a dozen citizens with the expertise needed to help them.”
Professor Joshi’s career includes several landmark achievements. She holds the Payne-Scott Chair of Mathematics and was the first Australian to serve as Vice-President of the International Mathematical Union, a role she held from 2019 to 2022. She is an elected honorary member of the London Mathematical Society, was a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences in 2021 and is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. She became an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2016 for her contribution to mathematics. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Sydney, where she received the University Medal, before earning her doctorate at Princeton University.
