Celebrating 25 years of UQ’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience
Source: https://about.uq.edu.au/leadership-governance/vice-chancellor-and-president/speeches-and-articles-vice-chancellor-and-president/celebrating-25-years-uqs-institute-molecular-bioscience Parent: https://about.uq.edu.au/faculties-institutes/bel/about/contact
Speech delivered by Professor Deborah Terry AC, Vice-Chancellor and President, The University of Queensland at Customs House, Brisbane.
Date: 17 October 2025
Thank you, Kat.
I, too, acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the lands on which we meet this evening and pay my respects and thanks to Elders past, present and emerging.
Good evening and a very warm welcome to this celebration of 25 years of UQ’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience.
Given Kat has already acknowledged many of the important and influential figures joining us here this evening, I’ll refrain from repeating the individual acknowledgements of the many dignitaries in the room.
However, as I look around, I see many people whose hard work and generosity has helped to create and sustain one of Australia’s most successful research institutes.
So, at the outset, I would like to acknowledge the many former and current Members of Parliament here this evening; as well as partners from across government, philanthropy and industry; and former UQ leaders, who have returned for this important celebration.
I would also like to acknowledge:
- Mr Peter Varghese AO, Chancellor, and Mrs Margaret Varghese
- UQ colleagues, friends, supporters, distinguished guests, one and all.
We’re here tonight to celebrate the 25th anniversary of a research institute that has not only transformed UQ; it has also fundamentally reshaped the scientific, industry and innovation landscape here in Queensland.
To me, it feels appropriate that IMB’s official birth date was the 1st of January 2000 – a moment that was filled with a sense of optimism for the future.
But, of course, the notion of establishing a research institute dedicated to molecular bioscience had been in development at UQ for several years by that stage – driven by the vision of three extraordinary individuals.
First among them was Emeritus Professor John Hay AC, who served as UQ’s Vice-Chancellor for 12 years – from 1996 to 2007.
We’re fortunate to have John’s widow, Barbara, here with us this evening. Welcome Barbara, it’s wonderful to see you again.
John arrived at UQ with an unshakeable belief that a great university must also be a great research university.
To appreciate his impact, it’s important to understand that when he started as VC in 1996, our university had 16 faculties, but not a single research institute.
I recently listened to a recorded interview with John, in which he reflected on those early days by saying, and I quote:
“It was an interesting university with a curious structure … My view was that the research performance wasn’t what it ought to be and it was important to identify our strengths and build into the University the notion of research institutes.”[1]
This idea became John Hay’s mission for UQ, starting with the launch of IMB at the dawn of the new millennium.
John’s ambitions for UQ were matched by the extraordinary generosity of the late entrepreneur and philanthropist, Chuck Feeney.
We’re honoured to have Chuck’s widow and philanthropic partner, Helga Feeney, here with us this evening. A very warm welcome to you, Helga.
Chuck Feeney was a man of remarkable conviction.
He built enormous wealth in the first half of his life, as one of the two co-founders of the global duty-free retail business, DFS, and then he devoted the second half of his life to quietly giving it all away, for the benefit of others.
As he famously said: “I had one idea that never changed in my mind – that you should use your wealth to help people.”
Through The Atlantic Philanthropies, he donated a staggering (AUD)$10 billion globally, including more than $100 million to UQ, helping to establish many of our flagship medical research institutes and facilities.[2]
His very first gift, here in Australia, was a donation that he made in 1998, when he committed $10 million to UQ to help build the facilities for IMB.
That donation unlocked matching support from UQ, the Federal Government, and the Queensland Government, enabling the creation of the Queensland Bioscience Precinct at St Lucia, which remains IMB’s headquarters today.
That brings me to the third figure who played a crucial role in the creation of IMB – the then Premier of Queensland, the Honourable Peter Beattie AC.
Welcome, Peter and Heather. We’re delighted that you could both be here this evening.
One of the signature programs of Peter’s government was the ‘Smart State’ initiative – an inspired effort to diversify Queensland’s economy by building knowledge-based industries and creating high-skilled jobs for Queenslanders.
Between 1998 and 2008, the Smart State program invested $3.4 billion across science, research and innovation[3] – with the Queensland Government’s 15 million dollars co-investment in IMB being the very first step on that journey.[4]
So, I think it’s important to acknowledge the leadership of John Hay; the extraordinary generosity of Chuck Feeney; and the vision of Peter Beattie.
Tonight, we recognise their personal commitment to not only establishing IMB, but also making it the template for ongoing investment in our state’s scientific infrastructure, and capabilities as a knowledge-based economy.
But, of course, vision and funding mean little without scientific expertise.
And IMB was built on incredibly strong scientific foundations, through the merging of two pre-existing UQ research centres: the Centre for Molecular and Cellular Biology, led by Professor John Mattick AO, and the Drug Design and Development Centre, led by Professor Peter Andrews AO.
As IMB’s founding co-directors, John and Peter established the Institute’s culture of excellence, collaboration, and translation – a culture that has carried it through a quarter of a century of outstanding achievement.
I’d also like to recognise the leadership of the Directors who followed – Professors Brandon Wainwright AM and Ian Henderson – who have both made significant contributions to advancing IMB’s impact and reputation.
IMB was UQ’s first major research institute, and it set the blueprint for the major institutes that followed, including the Queensland Brain Institute, the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, the UQ Centre for Clinical Research, and the multi-partner Translational Research Institute.
Its creation marked a genuine turning-point for our university, because it was a bold statement about our determination to pursue research at a scale and quality that was capable of transforming society.
But it also carries a broader significance for our state, because IMB was the first of the globally relevant life sciences research institutes based here in Brisbane.
Today, just 25 years later, we have a thriving life sciences and biomedical innovation ecosystem here in the South-East of our state that attracts talent, investment, and partners from across the globe.
To illustrate this point, please do indulge me while I tell you a brief story.
During my time as Vice-Chancellor at Curtin University, I vividly recall a conversation that I had with Professor Alan Duncan, the Director of the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre.
Now, to contextualise this story, I need to take you back to when Malcolm Turnbull was Prime Minister. As many of you will recall, early in his term, he launched an ‘Ideas Boom’ as the centrepiece of his key economic priority, the National Innovation and Science Agenda.
To answer the question as to whether Australia was ready for the ideas boom, Alan and his colleagues developed a composite innovation index – including patents, and other inputs to and outputs from innovation – to identify the nation’s innovation hotspots at a suburb level.[5]
And to their surprise, they found that Brisbane had substantially more of these local innovation hotspots than the larger state capitals of Sydney and Melbourne, and there was a particular concentration of innovation activity adjacent to our St Lucia campus.
Alan was more than a little confused by this discovery. I distinctly recall him saying that he was very familiar with Parkville in Melbourne, and Westmead in Sydney, but he hadn’t heard of the university suburbs in Brisbane. An observation supported by the great difficult that he had in pronouncing Indooroopilly!
He asked me what was going on, and I was delighted to share the story of John Hay, Chuck Feeney, Peter Beattie, and the legacy of brilliant scientists and innovators who were attracted to IMB and UQ’s other world-class research institutes.
At UQ, we’re justifiably proud of IMB’s track-record of translating cutting-edge science into innovations that deliver commercial, social, environmental and health benefits.
Indeed, there are more than 20 spin-out companies that trace their origins to discoveries made by IMB, including several that now have a market cap that’s measured in the hundreds of millions, or even billions of dollars.
The Institute now has globally significant research centres dedicated to superbug solutions; drug discovery; chronic disease; and population genomics.
It also plays an essential role in training the next generation of scientific leaders and innovators – including supervising nearly 600 PhDs scholars since the year 2000.
And IMB-based researchers are regularly awarded prestigious accolades in recognition of their original contributions to scientific discovery.
Over the past decade, two IMB Group Leaders – Professor Peter Visscher and Professor David Craik – have been elected Fellows of the world’s most prestigious scientific academy, The Royal Society.
While Professor Glenn King was awarded the Prime Minister’s Prize for Innovation in 2023, for his work in leading the development of eco-friendly insecticides and therapeutics for treating heart attack and stroke.
Tonight, we celebrate 25 years of scientific excellence and impact. To everyone who has been part of this story, from the founding visionaries to today’s staff, students, partners, and supporters, I say: “thank you”.
On behalf of the University, I congratulate you all on a truly outstanding 25 years, and I look forward to seeing how this Institute continues to inspire discovery and deliver impact in the decades ahead.
On that note, it’s now my great pleasure to introduce the Minister for Science and Innovation to speak on behalf of the State Government. Please join me in welcoming the Honourable Andrew Powell MP.
[1] Queensland Speaks, John Hay, Interview by Peter Spearritt and Chris Salisbury, 29 August 2012.
[2] The Atlantic Philanthropies’ website, Our Story: Investing in a better future for all
[3] Media Statement, Qld Minister for Health, Health Minister unveils new $25.65m Smart State medical research strategy, 3 February 2009
[4] UQ News, Coup for Queensland: $50m plus science project gets Federal and State backing, 10 June 1988
[5] Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, Positioned for an Ideas Boom? Productivity and Innovation in Australia, March 2016