Stephen Craig Hill AM FRSN
A long-standing member of Council of the Royal Societies of Australia (RSA) and a former Councilor of the Royal Society of NSW (RSNSW), Emeritus Professor Stephen Craig Hill AM FRSN has died suddenly at the age of 82. Stephen joined the latter Society in 2015 and shortly thereafter was elected a Councillor of the RSA representing RSNSW. He brought his enormously diverse international experience and knowledge to both organisations. In 2024 he was elected to represent the Royal Society of Tasmania on the RSA Council. In recent times Stephen made major contributions to the RSA’s Pre-conditions of Well-being project.
Stephen graduated with First Class Honours in Physical Chemistry from the University of Sydney in 1964 and then taught chemistry at Sydney and Melbourne Universities. After qualifying in Australia’s first MBA program in 1965 with a thesis in economics, he was subsequently awarded Australia’s first PhD in Business Administration, completed in 1967 at the University of Melbourne.
After being awarded a Fulbright Foundation, Ford Foundation and Nuffield Fellowship, Stephen took up a Senior Lectureship in sociology at UNSW and then became Australia’s youngest full Professor at the age of 30 as Foundation Professor of Sociology at the University of Wollongong in 1974.
Stephen was Principal Director and Ambassador for South-east Asia with UNESCO from 1995 to early 2006. Based in Indonesia and Paris, he served as the UN’s Regional Director for Science for Asia and the Pacific. He was responsible for major UN science, education, media freedom, culture, world heritage and peace initiatives and reforms in the region. He co-chaired Australia’s UNESCO Science Network, and was involved in the founding of APEC where he chaired the APEC Human Resources and Technical Education Network and Programs. Additionally, he was central to the establishment of Australia’s science relations with China, Indonesia, Korea and Malaysia.
Following retirement from UNESCO, Stephen was appointed Honorary Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Wollongong in January 2006 and subsequently created an Emeritus Professor at that university in 2008.
Stephen published extensively across diverse fields, including global economics, social dynamics, and the values driving social change, and has been translated into six languages. His bibliography includes over 20 books, many of which explore his own real-life adventures, as well as several hundred research papers.
Stephen was honoured with several awards from Australia, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines for his contributions to Australia and the Asian region – including Member of the Order of Australia (1996) and Australia’s Centenary Medal (2000). He was elected Fellow of several international Academies and Societies, including the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, the World Innovation Foundation, and the Royal Society of NSW.
Stephen’s passions for community empowerment and human rights initiatives were a driving force in his life. He was indeed a veritable polymath with skills and influence spanning chemistry, economics and social science at a global level.
He will be sadly missed by all.