Olympia first season runner-up named most influential person in Australia

In the list of 250 most influential researchers in Australia in each field just announced, there are 6 Vietnamese names, including Associate Professor Vinh Nguyen, runner-up of the first season of Olympia competition.

From left to right: Associate Professor Vinh Nguyen, Associate Professor Sara Quach and Associate Professor Thuc Duy Le

PHOTO: SCREENSHOT

The Research magazine , launched on November 18, is an annual publication of The Australian , honoring Australia’s most influential researchers in 250 fields, divided into 8 different major groups. In particular, the fields in which Vietnamese experts are honored belong to 4 groups: business, economics and management; chemistry and materials science; engineering and computer science; life sciences and earth sciences.

Specifically, Mr. Dinh Phan , Associate Professor of Finance at La Trobe Business School, La Trobe University, is the most influential in the field of international business research. According to La Trobe University, he has published more than 45 articles in prestigious international journals, reviewed, ranked A*, A or Q1. His works have received more than 5,000 citations, with an h-index of 29 and an i10-index of 41.

Sara Quach , Associate Professor in the School of Marketing at Griffith University, is one of the most influential researchers in the field of marketing. She has published more than 80 scientific articles in many A and A*-ranked journals and has received many awards in Australia and internationally, according to Griffith University. The Associate Professor has also led and participated in many international research projects, raising more than 4 million Australian dollars from funding sources.

Mr. Vinh Nguyen , associate professor at the School of Chemistry, University of New South Wales, is the most influential in the field of organic chemistry research. He is a familiar face to Vietnamese audiences as the runner-up of the first season of Olympia and the actor who played Nam in the movie Before the Sky . In response to Thanh Nien in 2023, he once said: "My greatest achievement is training people."

Thuc Duy Le , Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of South Australia, was honored in the field of bioinformatics and computational biology. Bioinformatics is an interdisciplinary field that combines knowledge from computer science, mathematics and statistics to solve biological problems, and his work includes developing Causal AI methods to explore gene regulatory networks (GRNs), identify cancer-causing agents...

Kiet Tieu , a senior professor in the School of Mechanical, Materials, Mechatronics and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Wollongong, is most influential in the field of mechanical engineering research. He earned his bachelor’s and doctorate degrees from the University of Western Australia in 1969 and 1974, respectively, and has been at the University of Wollongong since 1982. According to the nonprofit organization ORCID, he has published more than 570 research papers throughout his career.

The last Vietnamese expert on this year's list is Mr. Minh Bui , associate professor at the School of Computer Science at the Australian National University, honored in the field of evolutionary biology. He earned a bachelor's degree from Hanoi National University and then earned a master's and doctorate in Germany and Austria. He leads the team that developed IQ-TREE, the software used to identify new strains of the coronavirus that caused the Covid-19 pandemic, and research the origin of life on Earth billions of years ago...

In congratulating the researchers, Australian Education Minister Jason Clare said their scientific work is contributing to the common knowledge base and changing the lives of people. Mr. Clare also recalled that Australia has just had a professor awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, bringing the total number of Australian researchers who have won the Nobel Prize to 12.

“Australia’s success in producing Nobel-calibre research is also clear evidence that long-term investment in curiosity-driven research can lead to global impact and scientific breakthroughs,” Mr Clare said, adding that the Australian Government is investing $2.2 billion over 10 years to support researchers to commercialise their research.

This is the eighth year that Research magazine has published a list of the most influential researchers in the land of kangaroos, attracting more and more public attention in and outside Australia. In addition to honoring researchers, the magazine also honors the most influential universities and research institutes in 250 fields.

Methods for finding the most influential researchers

To determine the top 250 researchers, The Australian said it assessed all researchers based on an “impact score.” This score is the sum of the number of citations to papers published by that researcher in the top 20 journals in each particular field over the past five years. The researcher with the highest score is considered the most influential in that field.

“This approach ensures that only recent, high-quality work is considered,” The Australian stressed, adding that the data used for the assessment was taken from publicly available information on Google Scholar.

Thanhnien.vn

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/a-quan-cuoc-thi-olympia-mua-dau-tien-duoc-vinh-danh-co-anh-huong-nhat-nuoc-uc-185251126140443034.htm