Join us in celebrating some of the recent awards, achievements and career milestones of Business School staff, students and alumni.
Keep up to date with Business School's achievements on LinkedIn.
2026 awards
University Medal
The Faculty of Business, Economics and Law recognised the following students as being awarded with the 2025 BEL University Medal for their outstanding academic results:
| Program | Student name |
|---|---|
| Bachelor of Advanced Business (Honours) | Roopa Bains |
| Bailey Gunther | |
| Maclean Millar | |
| Bachelor of Advanced Finance and Economics (Honours) | Farah Mohamed Sayed Abdel Aziz Ahmed |
| Rohin Bagga | |
| Lachlan Galbraith | |
| Jayde Keijer | |
| Lev Marienbakh | |
| Hayden McKillop | |
| Arjun Mehrotra | |
| Sanjeev Raju | |
| Kate Rebello | |
| Peter Sophios | |
| Thomas Wick | |
| Bachelor of Laws (Honours) | Sophie James |
| Timothy Rainbird | |
| Minhao Sun | |
| Bachelor of Politics, Philosophy and Economics (Honours) | Daniel Quill |
| Samuel Weir |
2025 awards
UQ Research Culture Awards

UQ Business School's Associate Professor Ya-Yen Sun has received an individual UQ Research Culture Award celebrating outstanding staff contributions to enriching UQ's research environment across disciplines and career stages.
Dr Sun’s pioneering work on tourism emissions has evidenced the rapid rise in tourism-related emissions and significantly advanced tourism decarbonisation. Through key international partnerships with the United Nations World Tourism Organization and European Travel Commission her work has improved emissions measurement and mitigation over the short, medium and long term and provided governments with data-driven tools and strategies to align tourism development with climate goals.
2024 University Medal
The Faculty of Business, Economics and Law recognised the following students as being awarded with the 2024 BEL University Medal for their outstanding academic results:
| Student name | Program |
|---|---|
| Isaak Collie | Bachelor of Advanced Business (Honours) |
| Jessica Pearce | Bachelor of Advanced Business (Honours) |
| Emma Liebenberg | Bachelor of Advanced Business (Honours) |
| Samuel Buckland | Bachelor of Advanced Finance and Economics (Honours) |
| Thomas Collier | Bachelor of Advanced Finance and Economics (Honours) |
| Reilly Hounslow | Bachelor of Advanced Finance and Economics (Honours) |
| Laura Leeson | Bachelor of Advanced Finance and Economics (Honours) |
| Alexander Macgibbon | Bachelor of Advanced Finance and Economics (Honours) |
| Mackenzie Riemann | Bachelor of Advanced Finance and Economics (Honours) |
| Marijn Van der Kooij | Bachelor of Advanced Finance and Economics (Honours) |
| Nadeesh Warusamanna | Bachelor of Advanced Finance and Economics (Honours) |
| Anthony Whitsed | Bachelor of Advanced Finance and Economics (Honours) |
| Terry Chen | Bachelor of Advanced Finance and Economics (Honours) |
| Zili Dong | Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) |
| Mony Therayu Choun Nary | Bachelor of Economics (Honours) |
| Laura Ketter | Bachelor of Economics (Honours) |
| Alexandra Farago | Bachelor of Politics, Philosophy and Economics (Honours) |
| Clancy McMahon | Bachelor of Politics, Philosophy and Economics (Honours) |
| Ruby Ioannou | Bachelor of Laws (Honours) |
| Maya Lamont | Bachelor of Laws (Honours) |
| James Pisko | Bachelor of Laws (Honours) |
| Nicholas Buntain | Bachelor of Laws (Honours) |
Strategic management expert elected as a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA)

UQ Business School’s Professor Paula Jarzabkowski has been made a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) due to her valuable contributions to research in strategic management.
Learn more about UQ's ASSA Fellows.
2024 awards
Teaching awards

Several UQ Business School educators received awards for teaching excellence at The University of Queensland:
Dr Nicolas Pontes, Sharon Twomey and Jaanvi Singh were recognised with awards for Programs that Enhance Learning for their work with Newish Communications.
Associate Professor Christoph Breidbach was awarded Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning.
Associate Professor Frederik von Briel received Commendations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning.
Read more about the Teaching award winners.
Richard Whipp Lifetime Achievement Award, David L. Bradford Outstanding Educator Award

Emeritus Professor Neal Ashkanasy OAM was honoured with the Richard Whipp Lifetime Achievement Award for 2024, and also received the Management & Organizational Behavior Teaching Society David L. Bradford Outstanding Educator Award for 2024.
The Richard Whipp Lifetime Achievement Award acknowledges the course of a career within the management field, where the beneficiary will have enhanced a field of study, founded or effectively led a major national/international academic initiative or provided unusually effective service to a major professional institution and/or the Academy.
The Bradford Award acknowledges outstanding educators who have consistently demonstrated achievement over a lifetime, focusing on teaching and learning excellence.
Joanne Martin Trailblazer Award

UQ Business School’s Professor Paula Jarzabkowski received the Academy of Management’s Joanne Martin Trailblazer Award in recognition of her leadership in the field of organisation and management theory and in developing the Strategy-as-Practice field of research.
Read more about Professor Jarzabkowski's award.
ARC Linkage Project grants - 2023 Round 2

Business School researchers Associate Professor Terrance Fitzsimmons, Dr Ree Jordan, Professor Victor Callan and Dr Yiqiong Li were awarded Australian Research Council Linkage Project grant funding.
Dr Fitzsimmons, Dr Jordan, Professor Callan and their colleague Dr Miriam Yates will conduct research on amplifying the leadership and voices of Indigenous women environmental rangers, while Dr Li will be an investigator on a University of South Australia-led project on cultivating systemic safety to prevent workplace sexual harassment.
The researchers are among 10 UQ research teams that received more than $6.5 million in funding in round 2 of the 2023 ARC Linkage Projects scheme.
2023 University Medal
The Faculty of Business, Economics and Law recognised the following students as being awarded with the 2023 BEL University Medal for their outstanding academic results:
| Student name | Program |
|---|---|
| Samantha Gallagher | Bachelor of Advanced Business (Honours) |
| Kurtis Albert | Bachelor of Advanced Finance and Economics (Honours) |
| Elise Chant | Bachelor of Advanced Finance and Economics (Honours) |
| William Eason | Bachelor of Advanced Finance and Economics (Honours) |
| Sushankar Khandabhattu | Bachelor of Advanced Finance and Economics (Honours) |
| Tian Xiang Li | Bachelor of Advanced Finance and Economics (Honours) |
| Tuan Nguyen | Bachelor of Advanced Finance and Economics (Honours) |
| Matthew Poynting | Bachelor of Advanced Finance and Economics (Honours) |
| Sarah Pyman | Bachelor of Advanced Finance and Economics (Honours) |
| Georgia Snare | Bachelor of Business Management (Honours) |
| Benjamin Snell | Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) |
| Liuyue Yang | Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) |
| Jason Adams | Bachelor of Economics (Honours) |
| Joshua Grice | Bachelor of Economics (Honours) |
| William Garske | Bachelor of Laws (Honours) |
| Matisse Reed | Bachelor of Laws (Honours) |
2024 King's Birthday Honours

Emeritus Professor Ron Weber was among 737 outstanding Australians selected for the 2024 King’s Birthday Honours List. He was named a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to tertiary education, to accounting and information system development and to professional associations.
World Rankings of the 2024 Best Business & Management Scientists

Professor Brent Ritchie (#404 internationally, #14 nationally), Professor Sara Dolnicar (#132 internationally, #8 nationally), Professor Bob McKercher (#178 internationally, #9 nationally), Professor Janet McColl-Kennedy (#463 internationally, #17 nationally) and Professor Paula Jarzabkowski (#596 internationally, #25 nationally) have been recognised for their research and expertise on Research.com's list of the 2024 World's Best Business and Management Scientists.
This is an extraordinary accomplishment that recognises the research achievements of leading experts. Rankings are based on the D-index (Discipline H-index) metric, which analyses citations and publications for an examined discipline throughout the year.
Outstanding teacher receives national recognition

Professor Sabine Matook has been awarded a Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning at the annual Australian Awards for University Teaching.
Professor Matook was recognised her for innovative approach to enhancing student’s employability in Business Information Systems and inspiring them to give back to community organisations.
Read more about our award winning teacher.
Fulbright scholar set to broaden research in US

Dr Dewan Rahman has been awarded a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship. He will travel to the United States to further his research on insider trading and governance.
“My research experience at the University of Michigan will equip me to do more applied research on insider trading. Research in this domain will contribute positively for the Australian capital market development,” Dr Rahman said.
The Fulbright Scholarship Program gives Australian researchers the opportunity to take part in an academic and cultural exchange at a US institution. Dr Rahman was one of 4 UQ researchers awarded a Fulbright Scholarship.
Read more about our Fulbright scholars.
2023 awards
ARC 2024 round 1 Discovery Projects announced
Four Business School researchers received ARC 2024 Discovery Project grants:
- Professor Daniel Nyberg was awarded funding with co-investigator Professor Peter Fleming (Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences) for the project "Business and democracy: power, profit and participation".
- Professor Matthew Hornsey and Professor Tyler Okimoto were awarded funding with co-investigator Dr Kana Imuta (School of Psychology) for the project "Mapping the psychology of accent-based discrimination".
- Associate Professor Min Zhu was awarded funding with co-investigator Professor Denis Leung for the project “Limiting false positives in empirical asset pricing tests”.
Read more about the 39 UQ projects that secured ARC 2024 Discovery Project funding.
Teaching award winners

Our exceptional educators were recognised for their innovation and dedication with awards during the 2023 Teaching and Learning Week.
Dr Cassandra France, Dr Kate Power and Associate Professor Sergeja Slapničar received Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning. James Tarbit and Dr Csilla Demeter received Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning as Tutors.
Teaching and Learning Week is an opportunity for our educators to learn from one another and celebrate creative and innovative teaching and learning practices designed to enhance student learning.
DECRA grant success for UQ Business School researchers

Dr Saphira Rekker and Dr Tapani Rinta-Kahila have secured funding from the ARC Discovery Early Career Research Award scheme. The DECRA scheme provides focused research support for emerging researchers.
Dr Rekker’s project will examine misleading corporate climate pledges to implement a global platform where corporate Paris Compliance information will be shared transparently. Dr Rinta-Kahila will investigate the impact of artificial intelligence on the development and retention of essential skills in workers.
2022 University medal
The Faculty of Business, Economics and Law recognised the following students as being awarded with the 2022 BEL University Medal for their outstanding academic results:
| Student name | Program |
|---|---|
| Lucy Bell | Bachelor of Advanced Business (Honours) |
| Kate Wiseman | Bachelor of Advanced Business (Honours) |
| Avon Ming Yang Ang | Bachelor of Business Management (Honours) |
| Hui Sun | Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) |
| Benjamin Catelan | Bachelor of Advanced Finance and Economics (Honours) |
| Gabrielle Lee | Bachelor of Advanced Finance and Economics (Honours) |
| Chi-Yi Lin | Bachelor of Advanced Finance and Economics (Honours) |
| Sam Lines | Bachelor of Advanced Finance and Economics (Honours) |
| Phoebe Little | Bachelor of Advanced Finance and Economics (Honours) |
| Jacob Montaner | Bachelor of Advanced Finance and Economics (Honours) |
| Dylan Mortimore | Bachelor of Advanced Finance and Economics (Honours) |
| Eamonn Sullivan | Bachelor of Advanced Finance and Economics (Honours) |
| Patrick Elkington | Bachelor of Economics (Honours) |
| Hao Wan | Bachelor of Economics (Honours) |
| Oliver Friendship | Bachelor of Politics, Philosophy and Economics (Honours) |
| Emily Rainbird | Bachelor of Laws (Honours) |
Mid-Career Distinguished Educator Award

Dr Stuart Middleton received the Management and Organization Behavior Teaching Society (MOBTS) Mid-Career Distinguished Educator Award. This achievement recognises Stuart for his innovative teaching, exemplary service leadership and intellectual contributions to the field of management education.
MOBTS brings together a global network of academics, instructors and students dedicated to research excellence.
Universitas 21 Award Winner
Miriam Moeller from International Business was presented a Universitas 21 (U21) Award. The awards are designed to celebrate the achievements of individuals or teams at U21 member institutions whose work has crossed borders and furthered the network’s principles of internationalisation. This award was a recognition of Miriam’s sustained work to support our students to become champions of global mobility, and for her impactful research in this area. The U21 network encompasses 28 Universities globally. UQ is one of only 4 Australian members of the global Universitas 21.
Medical Research Future Fund recipient
Professor Martie-Louise Verreynne was succseeful in receiving a Medical Research Fund Sucess. Professor Verreynne is Chief Investigator on the project, ‘Enhancing utility of neuropsychological evaluation for earlier and effective diagnosis of dementia in Parkinson’s disease’ in the 2022 Dementia, Ageing and Aged Care scheme.
Best Business and Management University in Australia 2023
The 2nd edition of Research.com rankings for top Business and Management universities had the UQ Business School ranked 1 in Australia and 24th in the world for business and management research.
Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning
UQ Business School's Mark Tanner was recognised with a Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning at the #AAUT awards. Mark was recognised for an innovative program that challenges advanced business students to build employability skills. Mark is one of 5 UQ staff to be recognised at the 2023 AAUT Awards.
Association for Information Systems – Technology Vision Award
Associate Professor Sabine Matook won the 2022 Technology Vision Award of the Association of Information Systems (AIS). The VISION Award is given to those who have contributed to the technology vision for the AIS.
2022 awards
Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project 2023 grant
Associate Professor Martin Edwards and Professor Tyler Okimoto received an ARC Discovery Project 2023 grant for their project “Well-being and Productivity in Metricised Employee Performance Systems”. Their work focuses on advancing knowledge around the impact that the increasing use of digitised monitoring, performance measurement and metric systems are having on the workforce.
UQ Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning
Associate Professor Sabine Matook received a University of Queensland Citation for “Innovatively designing sustainable digital WIL partnerships that inspire Business Information Systems students’ learning, enhance job-readiness and enable students to ‘give back’ to community organisations” at the 2022 UQ Awards for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.
Marketing expert elected as a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA)
UQ Business School marketing expert Professor Janet McColl-Kennedy was elected a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA). With more than 170 publications to her name, Janet is not only a leading senior marketing academic in Australia but also internationally recognised as a leading researcher in service science.
UQ Research and Innovation Week award winners
At the 2022 UQ Research and Innovation Awards for Excellence, Dr Felix Septianto received a UQ Foundation Research Excellence Award (FREA) for his project “The Role of Media Coverage in Encouraging Behaviours with Positive Environmental Impact”.
Two days later, at the UQ Research Partnerships and Translation Awards, Dr Cassandra Chapman (research lead) and partner More Strategic received the Innovative Partnerships Award for the project “Understanding donor psychology and improving fundraising effectiveness”.
Other Business School researchers involved with Dr Chapman’s project were Professor Matthew Hornsey, Associate Professor Martin Edwards, Dr Ann Wallin and PhD student Lucas Dixon.
Tourism Panel on Climate Change
Professor Bob McKercher and Dr Ya-Yen Sun are among 32 experts from around the world who joined the independent international organisation, TPCC (Tourism Panel on Climate Change). TPCC is designed to assess and mobilise rapidly evolving knowledge on the complex interactions between tourism and climate change. Bob and Ya-Yen are passionate researchers in the areas of tourism sustainability, nature-based tourism and cultural tourism.
MBA Australasia Graduate Management Awards 2022 finalists
Cameron Turner from School of Business was shortlisted for the Most Inspirational MBA Lecturer Award, and Master of Business Administration (MBA) graduates Tyrone Bean and Will Hetherington for being shortlisted for the Community Impact Award at the Graduate Management Awards (GMAs). The GMAs is hosted by MBA Australia, and provides recognition to outstanding members of the MBA community and shines a spotlight on them, their career and their actions.
2021 University Medal
The Faculty of Business, Economics and Law recognised the following students as being awarded with the 2021 BEL University Medal for their outstanding academic results:
| Student name | Program |
|---|---|
| Golden Youmin Chen | Bachelor of Advanced Finance & Economics (Honours) |
| Elyse Catriona Dwyer | Bachelor of Advanced Finance & Economics (Honours) |
| Patrick Sean Jaffe | Bachelor of Advanced Finance & Economics (Honours) |
| Max O'Donnell | Bachelor of Advanced Finance & Economics (Honours) |
| William Thoman Sommerville | Bachelor of Advanced Finance & Economics (Honours) |
| Matthew Chen | Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) |
| Ann Le | Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) |
| Zhangweiyi Ren | Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) |
| Declan Twohig | Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) |
| Xinrui Yu | Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) |
| Peter Limerick | Bachelor of Economics (Honours) |
| Holly Carolyn Frances Eaglesham | Bachelor of Politics, Philosophy and Economics (Honours) |
| Micheal Boyce | Bachelor of Laws (Honours) |
| Emma Fell | Bachelor of Laws (Honours) |
| Laura Kate Heit | Bachelor of Laws (Honours) |
| Geena Skow | Bachelor of Laws (Honours) |
UQ-led Food and Beverage Accelerator (FaBA) project
The UQ-led Food and Beverage Accelerator (FaBA) project was awarded $50 million of funding under the Australian Government’s Trailblazer Universities Program. This represented the largest single funding allocation that UQ had received for its research. The project is worth $178 million involving 19 partners including 3 research institutions (QUT, USQ and CSIRO) along with the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and our industry partners.
UQ Business School publishes awards from the previous 4 years. This page does not encompass the complete scope of the incredible achievements of our staff.