Alex Maier has been awarded the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Public Policy and Outreach.

Alex is the driving force behind an innovative outreach activity, the "Concepts in Parasitology" course, offered annually by the Australian Society for Parasitology since 2014. The course offers a fully immersive experience, where sixteen early career researchers from all over the world interact with leaders in the field to "live, think and breathe" parasites for two weeks. The course aims to promote a holistic view of parasitology by bringing together experts from universities, industry and the public sector and integrating lab and field work at the Kioloa campus. It also highlights the very significant research in parasitology at the ANU.

As the inaugural convenor, Alex has worked tirelessly to ensure that the course is successful: he conceived the course concept, has put the course infrastructure in place, and now coordinates the course delivery and contributes to the teaching of the course. The course not only disseminates comprehensive discipline knowledge, offers professional skills training and the opportunity to establish a network amongst parasitologists, but also serves as a catalyst for new research, teaching and outreach initiatives.