The Frontiers Planet Prize, a global initiative of the Frontiers Research Foundation in Switzerland, has announced Associate Professor Arunima Malik as one of its three 2025 International Champions, awarding her US$1 million (A$1.54 million) to advance her and her research team’s pioneering work in sustainability science.
By providing innovative, scalable solutions to help keep humanity within planetary sustainability boundaries, Associate Professor Malik received the award for, ‘Polarising and equalising trends in international trade and Sustainable Development Goals’, published in Nature Sustainability.
That paper represents years of work by Associate Professor Malik and colleagues at the University of Sydney Centre for Integrated Sustainability Analysis. The centre, established by Professor Manfred Lenzen, has pioneered big-data modelling techniques to quantify sustainability impacts. The work has been used to measure pathways of modern slavery, inequality in international trade and carbon footprints in multiple industries, including tourism.
Associate Professor Malik holds a joint position with the Faculty of Science and the Business School. She said: “We live in an increasingly interconnected world driven by complex supply chain networks, where consumer demand in one region influences production in another.
“These interconnections present opportunities to improve standards of living, skill development and employment generation, but also generate adverse impacts in the form of resource depletion, pollution, habitat loss and inequality.
“International trade can amplify these effects by placing pressure on vulnerable nations, leading to spillover effects that hinder countries’ ability to progress toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals,” she said.
The President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sydney, Professor Mark Scott, said he was delighted by the award, believed to be the largest individual monetary prize received by an academic at the University.
“At the University of Sydney we’ve been aware of the excellent work that Associate Professor Malik and her colleagues have been undertaking. It’s wonderful that a prestigious panel of international peers has now given it due recognition,” he said.
“The work the University is doing on sustainability around our collective benchmarks set by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals is something we are proud of. Associate Professor Malik is a true global leader in this field and her prize is richly deserved.”
“The work the University is doing on sustainability around our collective benchmarks set by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals is something we are proud of. “
-Professor Mark Scott, President and Vice-Chancellor
Associate Professor Malik work focuses on understanding how consumption in one country affects the environment and society of its trading partners, with the goal of informing national and trade policies to mitigate negative impacts and address climate-related issues.
Associate Professor Malik was selected by the Australian Academy of Science as one of Australia’s top-three entries this year and was in April named as the Australian Champion by the Frontiers Planet Prize. The prize money needs to be spent on research and will serve as a grant for advancing sustainability research and translation.
She said: “It’s an honour and a privilege to receive this recognition and support from the Frontiers Planet Prize. Overall, the prize provides inspiration that drives sustainable solutions for planetary health. This is vital as we search for innovation and action in the face of global environmental challenges.
“The US$1 million award will significantly accelerate our ability to expand our research and further highlight the positive and negative impacts of global trade around the world.
“With these resources, we can advance research with policy-relevant insights, and develop tools to inform sustainable solutions, especially in contexts where climate vulnerability and economic inequality intersect.
“The award is a testament to the successful interdisciplinary collaboration across multiple institutions and reflects the commitment of all authors in realising this important research.
“I take this opportunity to thank the research team, Professor Manfred Lenzen, Dr Mengyu Li, Camille Mora, Dr Sarah Carter, Dr Stefan Giljum, Dr Stephan Lutter and Professor Jorge Gomez-Paredes for their valuable contributions.”
Associate Professor Arunima Malik said the award will significantly accelerate her team’s ability to expand our research and further highlight the positive and negative impacts of global trade around the world. Photo: Fiona Wolf/University of Sydney
This year’s three International Champions were revealed at the Frontiers Planet Prize Award Ceremony, hosted by the Villars Institute as part of the 2025 Villars Symposium in Villars-sur-Ollon, Switzerland. The three International Champions were selected from a group of 19 National Champions chosen by an independent Jury of 100, a group of renowned sustainability and planetary health experts chaired by Professor Johan Rockström.
The two other International Champions were Professor Zahra Kalantari from KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden, and Dr Zia Mehrabi from the University of Colorado Boulder, USA.
About the Frontiers Planet Prize
The Frontiers Planet Prize is a global competition for scientists and research institutions to propose solutions to help the planet remain within the safe operating space of any one or more of the nine planetary boundaries. It was created by the Frontiers Research Foundation on Earth Day 2022 to mobilise the global scientific community, make it complete at the highest level of excellence, and contribute to the acceleration of concrete solutions to the challenges defined by the planetary boundaries. To date, it has drawn together hundreds of scientists, 23 national academies of science, and more than 600 leading universities and research institutions to compete for three prizes of US$1m each adjudicated by a Jury of 100 leading sustainability scientists.
Main photo: Associate Professor Arunima Malik (centre) in Switzerland receives the Frontiers Planet Prize from Professor Jean-Claude Burgelman, Director, Frontiers Planet Prize (left); and Professor Dr Johan Rockström, Chair of the Jury 100, Frontiers Planet Prize, and Director, Potsdam Institute of Climate Impact Research. Photo by Oliver O’Hanlon.
