Joyce Ackroyd was a significant scholar of Japanese whose studies centred on the work of Arai Hakuseki (1657-1725). Ackroyd studied at the University of Sydney and later gained a PhD from the University of Cambridge. In 1951, she was the first person to receive the Saionji Memorial Scholarship for study in Japan (Harold Stewart would receive this scholarship eight years later). In 1965, Professor Ackroyd moved from Canberra to Brisbane to head the University of Queensland's Department of Japanese. She was a strong advocate for teaching Japanese in schools. Professor Ackroyd received an OBE and was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities in 1983. (Source: obituary.)