Cheryl Praeger is Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at the University of Western Australia, and was the inaugural Director of the Centre for the Mathematics of Symmetry and Computation. She is a former Foreign Secretary of the Australian Academy of Science, and actively supports scientists in the Asia-Pacific region, in particular women in STEM, through work with national and international scientific bodies.
Professor Praeger is a pure mathematician. Her research in Algebra and Combinatorics has transformed our understanding of how groups act on large complex systems, through new theories, constructions, algorithms and designs. She was the first pure mathematician to win an Australian Research Council Federation Fellowship, and in 2019 she became the first pure mathematician awarded the Australian Prime Minister’s Prize for Science. In 2021 Professor Praeger was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) for “eminent service to mathematics […] and as a champion of women in STEM careers”.
Her service to Mathematics and Science extends internationally: the Executive of the International Mathematical Union, Vice-President of the International Commission for Mathematical Instruction, Executives of the InterAcademy Partnership, Science, and Association of Academies and Societies for Science in Asia. She actively supports and mentors young scientists, especially women.