Dr Aaron Eger was awarded the Emerging Leadership prize with three other UNSW Sydney experts recognised as finalists.
UNSW Sydney researcher and founder of the Kelp Forest Alliance Dr Aaron Eger won the Emerging Leadership Award at The Australian Financial Review Higher Education Awards for his international work on protecting and restoring kelp forests.
Dr Eger was commended for his work turning fragmented research into global action after building a network of 380 organisations across 25 countries.
He also established the first global restoration and financing targets and enabled large-scale restoration and policy integration, changing how kelp ecosystems are governed, funded and restored worldwide.
Accepting the award, the lecturer in UNSW's School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences implored businesses, artists and government agencies to "get on board to help the kelp".
"Kelp forests are magnificent underwater forests that occur across half of Australia's coastline. Two-thirds of our population lives right next door," Dr Eger said.
"Despite our link to kelp forests and the threats they face, kelp forests are far too often forgotten and neglected in our policy, our spending and our conscious. The Kelp Forest Alliance is a dedicated group of kelp lovers here in Australia, and around the globe, working to fix these issues."
Top honour for marine campaigner
UNSW Vice-President, Societal Impact, Equity & Engagement Professor Verity Firth congratulated Dr Eger on his win.
"Dr Eger's work shows the extraordinary impact of taking research beyond the lab to build the partnerships needed to make real change happen," Prof. Firth said.
"His leadership has helped put kelp forest conservation firmly on the global agenda and created a growing international movement to protect these vital ecosystems. This is wonderful recognition of Aaron's work, and I congratulate him and all of our UNSW finalists."
The other finalists included UNSW's Dr Jake Renzella and Day of AI Australia, which provides a free national AI literacy program for students from years K to 12, in the Community Engagement Category. Professor Michael Kasumovic was also acknowledged for his Game-based Experiential Science Learning in the Teaching and Learning Excellence category and maritime drone business Ocius Technologies for Research Commercialisation.
Dr Eger's latest accolade comes after winning a 2026 NSW Young Tall Poppy Award for his work in ocean conservation and last year's Eureka Prize for Emerging Leader in Science in 2025.
He was the lead author on the first-ever kelp restoration guidebook and the State of World's Kelp report which provided a comprehensive global snapshot of kelp forest conservation.
Dr Egar also created a web platform to track global restoration efforts, and facilitated the creation of the Kelp Forest Challenge , a global mission to protect and restore 4 million hectares of kelp forests by 2040.
He said AFR award would bring further attention to kelp forests and the importance of conserving them.
"This award is really exciting to me as it is another step towards recognising that the economy and the environment are not so separate, indeed, they are reliant on each other, and the economy needs the environment much more than the other way around."
