Professor Lynda (Lyn) Dent Beazley (born 1944) is a
neuroscientist and educator based in
Perth,
Western Australia. She is currently an Honorary Distinguished Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies at the
University of Western Australia, and the Sir Walter Murdoch Distinguished Professor of Science at
Murdoch University.
Among other awards, she has been named an
Officer of the Order of Australia for her contributions to medical science
a Fellow of the
Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering and
Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.
Education
Beazley studied zoology at
Oxford University, before completing a PhD at
Edinburgh University on the development of vision and its recovery after injury.
Career
She set up her research group as an
National Health and Medical Research Council research fellow at the University of Western Australia in 1976, which she held until 1994 when she was appointed professor. Research stemming from a collaboration with Prof. John Newnham led to changes in clinical practice around administration of
corticosteroids to women at risk of
pre-term delivery which prematurely mature fetal lungs, improving respiratory function in pre-term infants.
Beazley was WA's Chief Scientist from 2006 to 2013, advising the State Government on science, innovation, and technology. Her work included setting up a nationwide hotline for
laboratory technicians in schools, working for healthier waterways across the state by establishing Dolphin Watch, and she was successful in securing WA as the host of the low frequency part of the telescope of the
Square Kilometre Array (SKA-low) at the
Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory in Western Australia. She was a Mission Leader for the Australia Israel Chamber of Commerce (WA) mission to Israel in 2008.
Beazley is also known as an educator and education advocate, spanning lecturing at university level, and working to encourage school child engagement in science, and is a Fellow of the Australian College of Educators.
Beazley is a current or former board member of the
Royal Perth Hospital Research Foundation, the Western Australian Art Gallery Foundation, the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network, and the Ear Sciences Institute of Australia. She is a patron of the Reflections Through Reality Foundation, the Western Australian Naturalists' Club, and Vice-Patron of the Western Australia Royal Society. She is a current or former Advisory Board member for Monash Vision Group for Bionic Vision, and the
Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Integrative Brain Function. Beazley is also a member of the Technology and Industry Advisory Council of the Western Australian Government. She was a Trustee of the
Western Australian Museum from 1999 to 2006. She helped establish the Brightwater Lyn Beazley Scholarship for research into acquired brain injury rehabilitation.
Recognition and awards
In 2009, a new species of
sponge discovered in the Perth Canyon off
Rottnest Island was named ''Manihinea lynbeazleyae'' after Beazley.
* 2009 Awarded
Officer of the Order of Australia for her services to medical science
*2009 Fellow of
Australian Academy of Technology & Engineering
* 2011 Western Australian Women's Hall of Fame
* 2012 Governor's Award for Giving
*2013 Inducted into WA Science Hall of Fame
* 2015
WA Australian of the Year
*2015
RiAus Honorary Bragg Membership
* 2014 Paul Harris Fellow of
Rotary International
* 2018 Honorary Doctor of Science ANU
*2019
Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beazley, Lyn
Category:1944 births
Category:Living people
Category:Australian neuroscientists
Category:Australian women neuroscientists
Category:Officers of the Order of Australia
Category:Fellows of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering
Category:Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science
Category:Women neuroscientists