Distinguished environmental economist Winthrop Professor David Pannell has been elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia.

Professor Pannell, an ARC Federation Fellow in the Faculty of Science at The University of Western Australia, was among 17 scientists and academics from around Australia elected to the academy last month.

Professor Pannell began studying agricultural science at UWA in 1980. He was later persuaded to change career paths after being inspired by the late UWA agricultural economist Henry Schapper, who opened his eyes to the possibilities of economics as a vehicle to help science have an impact in the real world.

The professor’s election was in recognition of his research on the economics of various environmental and natural resource issues.

"I’m an economist, but I started in science and now most of my work is in collaboration with scientists from various disciplines,” Professor Pannell said. "I'm especially pleased that interdisciplinary research was seen as worthy of recognition by the Academy."

The Academy aims to promote excellence in social sciences in Australia and as part of that selects a group of new Fellows each year. Fellows are elected by their peers on the basis of having achieved a very high level of scholarly distinction and for having made a distinguished contribution to one or more disciplines of the social sciences.

Media references

Professor David Pannell (+61 8) 6488 4735
Michael Sinclair-Jones (UWA Public Affairs) (+61 8) 6488 3229 / (+61 4) 00 700 783