Academic Director, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences Professor Dorrit Jacob joined the ARC as Academic Director, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences in 2026. Professor Jacob is an internationally recognised geochemist whose research spans biomineralisation and Earth mantle processes. She is currently a Professor at the Australian National University (ANU), a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, and served as the first female Director of the Research School of Earth Sciences at ANU from 2020 to 2025. Prior to her appointment in Australia, Professor Jacob was nationally recognised for her work in biomineralisation with the award of Heisenberg Chair in 2012. She was the first female scientist in Rhineland-Palatinate to be receive a DFG-funded Heisenberg Professorship and the first female professor at Johannes-Gutenberg University. In 2013, she relocated from Germany to Australia, taking up an ARC Future Fellowship position at Macquarie University and in 2016 she was promoted to a full Professor. Professor Jacob’s research focuses on isotope geochemistry and its application to understanding Earth systems, including biomineralisation processes, the global carbon cycle, diamond formation in the mantle, and the chemistry of minerals and igneous rocks. Her work integrates studies of both deep Earth environments and biological mineral systems, with a strong publication record particularly in biomineralisation.