Australia Day honour for UQ Vice-Chancellor

University of Queensland Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Peter Høj has been named a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) for eminent service to higher education and research. His award is one of several conferred on UQ academics and alumni in today's Australia Day honours. Born and raised in Denmark, Professor Høj has tirelessly promoted closer research ties between academics, government and industry since settling in Australia more than 30 years ago. "I am incredibly thankful for this honour, and humbled to be joining such illustrious company who have made a tremendous contribution to lives in Australia and overseas," Professor Høj said. "I'm passionate about education, the commercialisation of research and the development of policies that will make a positive difference, but of course this can't be achieved by an individual working in isolation. "There are outstanding teams throughout the UQ community working to produce evidence-based research to respond to the many challenges facing our world today. "I am also incredibly proud to have seen 100,000 students graduate from UQ and previously from the University of South Australia under my tenure as Vice-Chancellor." UQ Chancellor Mr Peter Varghese AO congratulated Professor Høj on the award.