The Rodney Baxter Prize, awarded every three years, aims to recognise an outstanding and internationally significant contribution to the area of Mathematical Physics primarily carried out in Australia or NewZealand. The Fellowship is funded by a gift from Emeritus Professor Rodney Baxter.

Rodney Baxter has been one of the world’s leading figures in the field of statistical mechanics and mathematical physics in the past 50 odd years. Among his many honours are the 1987 Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics, the 2006 Lars Onsager Prize, the 2013 Royal Medal and the 2021 Henri Poincaré Prize.

Nominations are now open for the Rodney Baxter Prize in Mathematical Physics.

The inaugural prize will be presented to the recipient at the Tenth Annual Meeting of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Mathematical Physics (ANZAMP), to be hosted by the School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Melbourne, the School of Mathematics, Monash University, and the Department of Mathematics, Swinburne University, 8–10 February 2023 in Hobart, Tasmania.

Announcement: inaugural prize won by A/Prof David Ridout.
The citation for David’s award is: “For groundbreaking contributions to mathematical physics, in particular (logarithmic) Conformal Field Theories and the corresponding Vertex Operator Algebras, his inspirational role in supervising students and postdocs and his service to the mathematical physics community.”

Nominations, including a nomination form, are to be sent directly to the ANZAMP Secretary via email: anzamp-secretary@austms.org.au and must be received no later than Friday 26 August 2022.

For full details of the prize, including eligibility criteria and nomination requirements, please see the Rules of the Rodney Baxter Prize for Mathematical Physics below.

Rules of the Rodney Baxter Prize for Mathematical Physics 

  1. There will be a prize known as “The Rodney Baxter Prize for Mathematical Physics”, herein referred to as “The Prize”.
  2. The purpose of The Prize shall be to recognise an outstanding and internationally significant contribution to the area of Mathematical Physics primarily carried out in Australia or New Zealand. The award should be to an individual, but if it is made for joint work by several authors, then the award could be made jointly to those authors, or some subset of them.
  3. The recipient(s) of The Prize will be working or residing in Australia or New Zealand at the time The Prize is awarded, or will have left Australia or New Zealand as a place of work less than 4 years before The Prize is awarded.
  4. The Prize will be awarded every three years (subject to Article (13) below). The award ceremony will take place at the meeting of The Australian and New Zealand Association for Mathematical Physics (ANZAMP), or a reputable conference in Australia or New Zealand devoting a significant part of its program to Mathematical Physics.
  5. The prize cannot be awarded to the same person on more than one occasion.
  6. The Executive of ANZAMP shall announce a call for nominations at least nine months in advance of the awarding of the prize (except in the case of the inaugural prize). A due date for nominations to be received shall be included in this announcement.
  7. The recipient of The Prize will have been conferred a PhD (or equivalent):
    (a) no more than 20 years before The Prize is awarded, or
    (b) with allowable periods of career interruption that would be commensurate with part(7)(a).
    The term commensurate allows for part-time employment of equivalent duration to be considered; career interruptions should include, for example, those accepted by major Australian fellowship schemes.  
    The final decision on allowable periods due to career interruption will be made by The Prize Selection Committee (see Article (10) below). In the case that a candidate for The Prize has not received a doctoral degree, the Selection Committee will make their best determination of a date analogous to that of a PhD conferral.  
    Nomination of a candidate for The Prize who has had a career interruption should include a statement to this effect, including a quantification of the total number of years of interruption. 
  8. All eligible nominees for The Prize will receive consideration without regard to ethnic background, race, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, age, indigenous status or citizenship status.
  9. Nominations for The Prize should include:
    (a) a nomination form to be completed by the nominator or nominee; 
    (b) an extended citation, not more than two pages in length, arguing the case for awarding The Prize to the nominee; 
    (c) a list of publications of the nominee, with the most significant marked by an asterisk; 
    (d) a curriculum vitae of the nominee’s professional career, highlighting any achievements which add support to the nominations; and 
    (e) the names of three suitable referees, along with a brief statement as to their appropriateness. 
  10. The Prize Selection Committee shall comprise five people, including one representative of the ANZAMP Executive, one Chair of The Prize Selection committee, and three others. Every effort should be made to appoint members of The Prize Selection Committee that fairly represents and reflects the diversity of membership of the Mathematical Physics community in Australia and New Zealand.
    (a) The Chair of The Prize Selection Committee will be appointed by the ANZAMP Executive. 
    (b) The remaining three positions will be appointed by the Chair of The Prize Selection Committee in consultation with the ANZAMP Executive. These three positions should not be filled by members of the ANZAMP Executive. 
    (c) Members of the ANZAMP Executive may not take on the role of Chair of The Prize Selection Committee. 
    (d) The process of forming The Prize Selection Committee should be distinct for each Prize awarded. 
  11. The Prize Selection Committee will consult with appropriate referees.
  12. Members of The Prize Selection Committee, officers of the ANZAMP Executive, and their families and relatives shall be ineligible to receive The Prize. 
  13. If The Prize Selection Committee considers no worthy recipient has been proposed, then The Prize should be deferred to the following year. 
  14. The Prize itself shall consist of three elements:
    (a) a hand-written or printed testimonial on stout paper indicating the recipient’s name, a citation and date of presentation;
    (b) appropriate funds for necessary expenses for the recipient to travel to and attend the meeting at which The Prize is being awarded;
    (c) a monetary prize, the value of which will be announced for each Prize as part of the call for nominations. It should be reviewed by the Council of the Australian Mathematical Society every three years and should not be less than 5% of the total funds available. It is hoped that the value will thereby increase each time, at least in line with the consumer price index. The first prize awarded should not be less than $5000. 
  15. Any amendments to these rules must be approved by the Council of The Australian Mathematical Society. 

[Approved by Council 20 May 2022]