Education
Study offer
Work-Study
Bordeaux Summer Schools
Admissions
How to register
Keep track of your education
Support and success in your studies
Enrich and enhance your experience
Research
Scientific vision
Major Research Programmes (GPRs)
Impulsion Research Networks
Open Science
Ethics in research
Research organisation
Research departments
Boost your research
Innovation and the socio-economic sphere
Science and society
Campus
Discover the campus
Campus life and activities
Daily life
Social and financial aid
Sense of community & social cohesion
Culture
Sports
International
International ambition
International partners
Come to Bordeaux
International students
International PhD students
International lecturers, researchers and staff
Opportunities abroad
Student mobility
Partnerships abroad
About us
Get to know us
Our strategy
Institutional projects
An outreaching, extended university
Our commitments
Societal and environmental transitions
Organisation and operations
Training components
University employment
She/he/they make up the University of Bordeaux
Press corner
Most searched pages
Frequent search terms
Updated on: 22/11/2024
Frances Separovic - Professor Emeritus of chemistry and pioneer in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) for the study of membranes - received the title of Doctor Honoris Causa on the 21st November 2024.
Biophysical chemist Frances Separovic is an exceptional scientist, internationally recognised for her contributions in the field of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and the study of biological membranes. Emeritus Professor and former Head of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Melbourne, she was the first woman to be appointed professor in Australia. Frances Separovic develops solid-state NMR methods to study the interactions between peptide antibiotics and cell membranes, a crucial area, as these natural or synthetic peptides are expected to replace traditional antibiotics, to which many pathogens have developed resistance.
She obtained her PhD from the University of New South Wales, pursued a post-doctorate at the National Institutes of Health in the United States, and joined the University of Melbourne in 1996.
Assistant and Associate Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Melbourne, member of editorial boards and editor-in-chief of scientific journals, President of the World Academy of Biophysics (IUPAB), she has held many prominent positions throughout her career.
Her career is marked by numerous distinctions, including her election to the Australian Academy of Science, where she currently serves as Foreign Secretary. She has also chaired several international scientific societies, including the Biophysical Society (United States) and the Australian Society for Biophysics.
Frances Separovic is a pioneer in promoting women in science. She has led many initiatives for gender equality and women’s leadership in Australia, the United States, and Europe. For her advocacy, she has received prestigious awards such as the "RACI Margaret Sheil Women in Chemistry Leadership Award" and was named Officer of the Order of Australia in 2019 for her commitment to gender equality. She is cited as an example by numerous institutions worldwide and is regularly invited to speak on gender issues in science.
Her connection with the University of Bordeaux began in 1994. Since then, she has collaborated with many researchers in Bordeaux, spent a sabbatical in 2016 at CBMN, and hosted students in her laboratories, further strengthening scientific exchanges between Australia and France.
The DHC for Prof. Frances Separovic was proposed by Sophie Lecomte, Director of the Institute of Chemistry & Biology of Membranes & Nano-objects (CBMN - University of Bordeaux, CNRS, Bordeaux INP) and Erick Dufourc, Emeritus Research Director (CNRS).
