Debra Bernhardt

Professor Debra Bernhardt is internationally recognised for her contributions to the development of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics and thermodynamics including far-from-equilibrium fluids and confined fluids. She is a Fellow of Australian Academy of Science and the Royal Australian Chemical Institute and an ARC Australian Laureate Fellow. Professor Bernhardt has held appointments at the University of Basel, Switzerland; the Australian National University; and Griffith University, where she was founding director of the Queensland Micro- and Nanotechnology Centre. Professor Bernhardt's research interests focus on the use of a range of theoretical and computational approaches to develop a fundamental understanding of the behaviour of matter, and application of these approaches to a wide range of problems including transport in nanopores, fluctuation phenomena, design of materials, gas separation, energy storage and conversion. Theoretical and computational molecular science: nonequilibrium systems, fluids and materials. Professor Bernhardt has played a lead role in the development of the statistical mechanics of nonequilibrium fluids including the fluctuation theorems, that lead to many results including the fact that transport coefficients are positive. Predictions from the theories developed have been validated using nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations and experiment and the work has had international impact. For example, her work with the Evans and Sevick groups at the Australian National University resulted in the theoretical development of a fluctuation theorem that could be experimentally verified. This result was verified using computer simulations and experiment, providing the first experimental verification of any fluctuation theorem (Phys Rev Lett, 2002) which has been over 700 times (Scopus) and was listed by the American Institute of Physics as one of 19 notable physics developments in 2002. Since that time fluctuation theorems have become well established area of research and is applied in a wide range of fields.

[2026] Electrocatalytic conversion of benzaldehyde on Cu in alkaline media. Chen, Hongwen, Iyer, Jayendran, Ma, Yue, Chen, Hui, Kim, Sungmin, Searles, Debra J., Haider, M. Ali, Khare, Rachit and Lercher, Johannes A. (2026). Electrocatalytic conversion of benzaldehyde on Cu in alkaline media. Journal of Catalysis, 459 116164, 1-16. doi: 10.1016/j.jcat.2025.116164 [2026] Boosting the adsorption capacity/selectivity of graphene oxide membranes via photocatalytic perforation for water treatment. Guirguis, Albert, Miller, Lachlan, Stoet, Martin, Searles, Debra J., Doeven, Egan, Kong, Lingxue, Wang, Huanting and Henderson, Luke C. (2026). Boosting the adsorption capacity/selectivity of graphene oxide membranes via photocatalytic perforation for water treatment. Materials Today Sustainability, 34