BENGALURU, India; January 18, 2020:
Dr Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairperson & Managing Director of Biocon, has been awarded the Order of Australia, Australia’s highest civilian honour, for her significant service to advancing Australia’s bilateral relationship with India, particularly in promoting commercial and educational links.
Dr Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw was appointed an Honorary Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia by Australia’s High Commissioner to India, Her Excellency Ms Harinder Sidhu, at a ceremony at The Leela Palace in Bengaluru on 17 January, 2020. The ceremony was attended by representatives from Indian and Australian business, the diplomatic corps, and family, friends and peers of Ms Mazumdar-Shaw.
Honorary appointments in the Order of Australia are made to foreign nationals who have made an outstanding contribution to Australia or humanity at large. Dr Mazumdar-Shaw is the fourth Indian citizen to be awarded Australia’s highest civilian honour. This follows the conferment of superstar batsman Sachin Tendulkar in 2012, former Attorney General of India, Soli Jehangir Sorabjee in 2006 and Mother Teresa of Kolkata in 1982.
“It is an absolute privilege for me to be conferred the ‘Order of Australia’. I am deeply grateful to the Australian Government for this great honour. I do hope that technology will be the great economic connector in the future as we together build a sustainable world where bush fires and floods, diseases and pollution are no longer life threatening but challenges that we learn to manage and mitigate through responsible behaviour and innovative technologies.” Dr Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said.
Australia’s High Commissioner to India, Her Excellency Ms Harinder Sidhu, said: “The Australian Government has chosen to bestow this honour on Dr Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw for her immense contribution in advancing Australia’s bilateral relationship with India. She is a tireless champion of Australia-India commercial, educational, government and people-to-people links. She is a pioneer, an inventor, a bio pharmacist-par-excellence, a philanthropist, and an international role model for women in STEM. On the basis of her longstanding commitment and support in advancing Australia-India relations, Dr Mazumdar-Shaw is worthy of recognition with an appointment as an honorary Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia.”
Dr Mazumdar-Shaw studied at what is currently Federation University Australia, in Ballarat, Victoria. In 2004, the university awarded her with an honorary Doctorate of Science and this year appointed her its Ambassador, a role in which she promotes Australian education abroad.
Dr Mazumdar-Shaw is also recognised for her sustained and significant contribution to industry academia collaboration between Australia and India. She contributes immensely to promoting women in STEM through the joint research programs developed between Biocon and Deakin University, Australia, as part of her deep and long-standing commitment to gender equality.
In 2016, she was appointed as an Australian Global Alumni Ambassador by the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. She currently serves on the Australia-India Business Council, and is also the first Victorian Government Business Ambassador to South Asia.
She is also the first female Foreign Fellow to be elected as a member of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering in 2018.
About Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw:
Ms Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is a pioneering biotech entrepreneur, a healthcare visionary, and a passionate philanthropist. Her vision is to enable universal access to high quality medical products, particularly to address the global chronic disease burden. She is a pioneer of India’s biotech industry and founder of Biocon, an innovation-led global biotechnology enterprise. Her pioneering efforts in biotechnology have drawn global recognition for both India and Biocon. A thought leader and a global influencer, she has been named among TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world and ranked among the ‘World’s 25 Most Influential People in Biopharma’ by Fierce Biotech.
Ms Mazumdar-Shaw has close personal ties with Australia. She did her Diploma of Malting and Brewing at the Ballarat Institute of Advanced Education (BCAE), Melbourne, Australia. In 2004, the University of Ballarat, currently Federation University Australia, recognized Ms Mazumdar-Shaw’s pre-eminent contribution to the field of biotechnology when she was presented with an Honorary Doctorate. She was also honoured by Federation University, Australia in 2015 with the unveiling of a road named after her at the Mt Helen Campus. She was appointed as Australian Global Alumni Ambassador by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia in 2016 and she is also the Victorian Business Ambassador for the State Govt. of Victoria, Australia. She is also the first female Foreign Fellow to be elected as a member of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering in 2018. In 2019, she was conferred with the Honorary Doctorate by Deakin University, a leading global university based in Victoria, Australia.
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