The annual Ann Moyal Lecture is given by a distinguished speaker on a contemporary question that draws on such fields of knowledge as science, environment, ecology, history, anthropology, art, and technological change.
In 2026, the lecture will be delivered by Professor Georgiana Long AO and address the question ‘When groundbreaking cancer treatments save 50% of patients, what happens to the other half?’
Professor Georgina Long, Joint Australian of the Year 2024 and one of the world’s leading melanoma researchers and medical oncologists, takes us into medicine’s “Third Space” – the territory where conventional solutions fail and new evidence must be created. Drawing on her experience developing experimental drug therapies, Long explores why breakthrough science requires not just brilliant minds, but extraordinary courage.
From the women scientists not credited for their discoveries, to Finland’s fight against misinformation, to the question of who decides what counts as evidence in an age of artificial intelligence and social media – this is a story about the patients who drive her work, the researchers who refuse to give up, and why the most important breakthroughs happen in the places no one else dares to go.
A lecture about cancer research that’s really about something much bigger: how we create truth, who we trust, and why unsolved problems are where the next generation of discoveries begins.
Attend in person
Entry to this event is free but bookings are essential. A reception with complimentary drinks and canapes will take place in the National Library Foyer following the presentation.
Watch online
The presentation will also be available online. Please make a booking and the Library’s Events team will send you a direct link to the livestream event via email. Or you can join anytime through the Library’s YouTube channel.
About Professor Georgina Long AO
Professor Georgina Long AO is Medical Director of Melanoma Institute Australia and Chair of Melanoma Medical Oncology and Translational Research at the University of Sydney. As a Medical Oncologist and active clinician and researcher, she leads extensive clinical trials and translational research programs focused on immuno-oncology and targeted therapies in melanoma, with particular expertise in biomarkers and mechanisms of therapy resistance.
Professor Long was named 2024 Australian of the Year and recognised by the premier journal Nature as one of five international scientists to watch in 2026. She is a Fellow of the American Society for Clinical Oncology (2025), the Australian Academy of Science (2024), and the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (2017). She holds an Officer of the Order of Australia (2020) and has received numerous prestigious awards including the Fulbright U.S. Mission Australia Award for Leadership Excellence (2024), ESMO Women for Oncology Award (2023), and the Ramaciotti Medal for Biomedical Research (2021).
Professor Long holds a BSc (Hons1, University Medal), PhD in Chemistry, and MBBS (Hons), and is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians specialising in medical oncology.
About the Ann Moyal Lecture
The Ann Moyal Lecture has been established with a generous bequest from the late Dr Moyal and her estate.
Dr Ann Moyal AM FAHA (1926–2019) was a Petherick reader, a Harold White Fellow and an established historian of science and technology. As a champion of independence in research and scholarly pursuits, she established the Independent Scholars Association of Australia in 1995 during the ‘Against the Grain’ conference, held at the National Library.
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