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.)
