The Hunter professor of nutrition and dietetics met a range of criteria against international performance benchmarks to earn the title, and in the process, discovered she was the most-published and the most-cited dietitian in the world.

"From right here in Newcastle," she said. "I am really honoured to be able to give back to the community, to my profession and to my colleagues. If you focus on what questions are you trying to ask, how you ask it, how you help other people learn from your experience, and focus on good science, every now and then you step back and go, wow, this is quite a body of work."

Laureate Professor Collins thanked her colleagues and support network in Newcastle. She said this latest achievement had empowered her to try even harder to help pave the way for her fellow researchers and academics, particularly women.

"I didn't come from a family where people had been to university before - and there were five girls before there were any boys," she said.

"At that time it was unusual for women to be allowed to go to university or finish school. To be a first-in-family and female, I really do hope it lights the way for others.

"Hopefully they'll tread that path, and people behind them will tread that path, and after that it will be a smooth highway in years to come."

Laureate Professor Collins said resilience was an important skill in research because there was "simply not enough money to go around".

"Success rates are down around that 10-12 per cent mark, but that's the nature of the beast in Australia," she said.

"We get criticised when there is very prevalent, diet-related disease, but we don't spend any money on it - it's a catch-22. But we are out here trying to make a difference for the benefit of the community."

The title of Laureate Professor was also awarded to Ravi Naidu, and researcher Roger Smith was named a "Distinguished Laureate Professor" at the university.