Associate Professor Alice Motion is a researcher, science communicator and producer based at The University of Sydney, where they are Deputy Head of School, Chemistry. Alice’s research focuses on open source drug discovery and Science Communication, Outreach, Participation and Education (SCOPE). Finding ways to connect people with science and to make research more accessible is the overarching theme of Alice’s interdisciplinary research group.
Alice is the founder of the Breaking Good project – a citizen science project that aims to empower high school and undergraduate students to be active researchers in projects that will improve human health. In 2016, students working as part of the Breaking Good pilot project recreated the price-hiked medicine Daraprim for just a few dollars, sparking an international conversation about access to medicine and demonstrating the impact that students can have when they are involved in real research.
Originally from the North West of England, Alice completed a PhD at The University of Cambridge, working with colleagues to develop two new chemical reactions.
Alice is recognised as a leading international science communicator. In 2020 Alice was awarded the Eureka Prize for Promoting Public Understanding of Science and became a Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales in 2022. In 2015, Alice was named as one of ABC RN and UNSW's Top 5 Under 40 in recognition of a passion and skill in sharing science stories. Alice was the RACI Nyholm Lecturer for 2017/18 and a finalist in the 2017 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Early Career Award for Public Engagement with Science. Alice is the co-host of the ABC Science podcast, Dear Science, and has been the host of a weekly science slot on FBi Radio's breakfast show since June 2015.
(publications/media prior to 2019 are under the name Alice E Williamson)