National Youth Science Forum National Youth Science ForumClick on any guest speaker to display their biography.
Marnie Blewitt completed her undergraduate studies at The University of Sydney, with a double major of Molecular Biology and Genetics. She continued at the University for her honours and PhD studies, working with Prof Emma Whitelaw on mammalian epigenetics – the control of gene expression. During her PhD, she designed and developed a sensitised mutagenesis screen to find novel epigenetic modifiers in the mouse, a challenging project for which she was awarded the Genetics Society of Australia DG Catcheside prize for the best PhD in Genetics. Marnie moved to Melbourne at the end of 2005 to take up a Peter Doherty Post-doctoral fellowship with Prof Douglas Hilton at The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. Here, she has worked on one of the mouse mutants identified in the mutagenesis screen, identifying a critical role for the mutated protein in X inactivation, and has also studied the role of polycomb group proteins in hematopoietic stem cell function. The work above also earned her the Australian Academy of Science Ruth Stephens Gani medal in 2009, and the L’Oreal Australia Women in Science fellowship 2009. Marnie has now established her own group at The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, working on the molecular mechanisms behind epigenetic control of gene expression and has just welcomed her first child into the world.
Prof Cowley is a physiologist and bioentrepreneur with a strong focus on obesity, diabetes, and metabolic disorders. Research within the Cowley lab has discovered how the brain detects how much fat the body has stored, as well as how much food has been consumed, and what kind of food. He has mapped the pathways that are engaged by signals of energy state. He was able to discover new signals within the body that regulate energy balance and describe how other known energy signals exert their effects on the brain. In early 2008 he moved back to Australia after a 10 year career in the USA.
His lab uses a variety of methods in several model species, including in vivo physiology studies in animals using remote sensing and electrophysiological studies in brain slices and cultured cells. The lab also runs complex in vivo studies on energy balance in monkeys. Research in the lab has evolved into several clinical trials, ranging from Phase2a through to successfully completed large scale Phase 3 trials.
He has published more than 60 papers and chapters, many in the highest profile journals. He is the inventor of 85 patents, and the founder and was Chief Scientific Officer of Orexigen Therapeutics, a publically listed (NASDAQ: OREX) San Diego biotech company that is translating his discoveries into human therapeutics. In 2009 he was awarded the prestigious Science Minister’s Prize for Life Scientist of the Year, and one of the 100 most influential Melbournians (The Age Melbourne Magazine).
He is the Director of the Monash Obesity & Diabetes Institute. He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of The Centre for Obesity Research and Education. Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, and of Gubra ApS, Denmark. He is a non-executive director of Verva Pharmaceuticals, Ltd.
Research within the Cowley lab set out to map the pathways that are engaged by signals of energy state, and how these pathways relay information to the rest of the brain. Research in the lab now focuses on how these signals from the body lose the ability to control our weight once the person is obese. We seek to determine how and why the brain becomes resistant to signals that are meant to convey that the body has sufficient stores of energy, and should start to burn more, and eat less.
We recently discovered how obesity causes the breakdown of this brain system that regulates appetite; we found that leptin resistance prevented the arcuate nucleus from taking part in an important signaling function that regulates appetite and body weight. We found that the melanocortin cells in obese mice behaved as if there was no leptin present, even though levels were 40-times higher than in normal animals. We also highlighted a key gene called SOCS-3 involved in the mechanism of leptin resistance.
Leptin resistance means that the body no longer responds to the hormone’s weight suppressing effects. However, is possible that leptin resistance is a selective resistance involving just some parts of the brain, and specifically associated to acute regulation of feeding. But other neurons responsive to leptin could remain intact. In addition to its effects on appetite, Leptin also increases the activity of the sympathetic nervous system which stimulates energy expenditure in adipose tissue. In obesity chronic activation of this leptin signalling may cause simpathoexcitation. A primary research direction in the lab is in determine if high leptin levels in the blood of obese mammals contributes to pathologically high blood pressure, increased heart rate, and decrease glucose metabolism, leading to diabetes/metabolic syndrome by activating the sympathetic nervous system.
Another area of interest in his research is the fact of the melanocortin neurons are not just involved in the control of energy balance. They can regulate the glucose homeostasis too. It is believed that diabetes results from two simultaneous problems: the improper functioning of pancreatic beta cells and the impairment of insulin’s actions on target tissues, including the liver, fat and muscles. Recently our group in collaboration with researchers from Harvard Medical School, has identified a third abnormality that could play an important role in the development of obesity-induced Type 2 diabetes.
Some subpopulations of neurons in the brain become ‘excited’ by glucose. We discover that some neurons that belong to melanocortin system (POMC neurons) are able to sense increases in glucose and then initiate responses aimed at returning blood-glucose levels to normal. We demonstrate that POMC neurons of diabetic mice lose the capacity to sense changes in brain glucose levels, and we found that an increase in the activity of the mitochondrial uncoupling protein 2 is behind it. This is the first demonstration that glucose-sensing by neurons plays an important role in responding to rising blood glucose levels. This finding could potentially lead to novel treatments for Type 2 diabetes.
A possible explanation for the recent increase in obesity relates to the very rewarding aspects of highly palatable foods, in other words why are sweet or fatty foods more “tasty” than other foods? Furthermore, why do we continue to engage in eating behavior that is obviously bad for us? We wish to determine how the reward based pathways and homeostatic pathways interact, and how reward overrules homeostatic signals of satiety (the feeling that one can always squeeze in one more piece of chocolate cake…). We seek to better understand the structure of the neural pathways by which the reward and homeostatic circuits interact, as well as the mechanism of the interaction.
I spent most of my childhood in Hobart, Tasmania and attended the Friends’ School, a coeducational Quaker school with a strong international focus, although this time was punctuated by spending a year in England and three years in the West Indies with my family as we followed my father’s academic appointments. My tertiary studies were completed at the University of Tasmania where I gained a Science degree majoring in Botany and Zoology, First Class Honours degree and PhD in Zoology. My PhD research concerned the taxonomy, zoogeography and ecology of terrestrial amphipods, which are common crustaceans in Tasmanian forests.
In 1980, after a short stint as an Assistant Curator in the Crustacea Department at the Australian Museum in Sydney, I was appointed as a Research Officer in the Western Australian Department of Fisheries and Wildlife to carry out research into the conservation of the numbat, a small termite-eating marsupial that was close to extinction.
This appointment was the beginning of a very exciting and satisfying career as a research scientist in the Western Australian government’s wildlife conservation agency.
In the early years my work in Western Australia focussed on the conservation of the numbat. I demonstrated that reducing fox numbers by regular distribution of 1080 meat baits resulted in increases in numbat population levels. This was one of two studies that formed the scientific basis of the Western Shield program, Western Australia’s massive and successful fox control and native mammal reintroduction program. Since then, my work has focused on the conservation of a range of threatened marsupials, including the dibbler, red-tailed phascogale, western barred bandicoot, southern brown bandicoot. In 1999 I moved from Perth to Albany to lead the recovery program for the world’s rarest marsupial, Gilbert’s potoroo.
In 1998 I was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to study the use of dogs and satellite technology in wildlife research and management in New Zealand, North America, South Africa and Namibia. I am currently President of the Australian Mammal Society.
Professor Bryan Gaensler is an astronomer and ARC Federation Fellow at The University of Sydney, having previously held positions at MIT, the Smithsonian Institution and Harvard University. His current research is on the origin of magnetism in interstellar space. Gaensler was the 1999 Young Australian of the Year, gave the 2001 Australia Day Address to the nation, and was awarded the 2006 Newton Lacy Pierce Prize by the American Astronomical Society.
Ove is Professor of Marine Studies and Director of the Global Change Institute, at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. He completed his training at the University of Sydney (BSc Hons) and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA, PhD), returning to Australia in 1992 to take an academic position at the University of Sydney. In 2000, he moved to the University of Queensland, where he has took the Chair of Marine Studies and was the inaugural Director of the Centre for Marine Studies. As part of his role as Director of the Centre, he has coordinated an island research station network which includes research stations on Heron Island, Low Isles and North Stradbroke Island. In addition to his role as Director, Ove heads a research laboratory with over 30 researchers and students that focus on how global warming and ocean acidification are affecting and will affect coral reefs now and into the future (lab web site: www.coralreefecosystems.org).
He was recognised in 1999 with the Eureka Prize in 1999 for “ground-breaking research into the physiological basis of coral bleaching”. Ove has published works that include over 160 refereed publications and book chapters, including the first major evidence of the serious threat that climate change poses for coral reefs and other coastal ecosystems. Three of his scientific publications are now the 1st, 4th and 6th most cited works over the past 10 years in the area of “climate change”. Ove is also a regular contributor to the media, with his work featuring on the ABC (Catalyst), BBC (with Sir David Attenborough) and NBC (with Tom Brokaw) in his role as Deputy Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, and as Coordinator for the Australasian Centre for Excellence and Chair of the Bleaching Working Group within the World Bank-Global Environment Facility Coral Reef Targeted Research project. He has contributed to the IPCC (as an author and recently as a member of the scoping group for the 5th Assessment Report) and key reports such as the Garnaut Climate Change Review.
Ove was recently appointed as Director of the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland. This institute is focused on a broad set of issues inherent in ocean systems, urbanisation, climate change, and technology transitions. Hoegh-Guldberg interacts with a wide array of national and international scientific, government, business and public networks that focus on the challenges that climate change poses to the health of the world’s oceans. Ove is currently a member of the Australian Climate Group; the Royal Society (London) Marine Advisory Network; and the Board of Editing Reviewers at Science Magazine, and runs the science blog www.climateshifts.org and tweets at www.twitter.com/OveHG.
Rolf Landua was born 1954 in Wiesbaden, Germany. He studied physics at the University of Mainz and completed his thesis in 1980. In the same year, Rolf Landua went to CERN as visiting scientist from the University of Mainz, to participate in experiments at the LEAR (‘Low Energy Antiproton Ring’) facility. He became CERN fellow in the years 1982-1985. In 1987, he was offered a position as CERN research physicist. His scientific research focused on the study of various aspects of antimatter, in particular antiprotonic atoms, antinucleon-nucleon annihilations, meson spectroscopy and the search for exotic bound states of quarks and gluons.
In 1996, he was one of the proponents of the ‘Antimatter Decelerator’ (AD) at CERN and then co-founder of the ATHENA experiment, of which he became spokesman from 1999-2004. In 2002, the ATHENA experiment reached its goal of producing millions of slow-moving antihydrogen atoms.
Rolf Landua is very active in promoting the public understanding of modern physics, by writing articles in major newspapers and appearing on many TV and radio programmes. He has received the communication prize of the European Physical Society in 2003. He has written a short book for the general public on particle physics, cosmology and the LHC at CERN (“Am Rand der Dimensionen”), which explains in simple terms the challenges and the objectives of the LHC experiments.
Since 2005, Rolf Landua is Head of the Education and Public Outreach Group at CERN. His group organizes international and national physics teacher programmes for about 1,000 teachers per year, with the goal of bringing the excitement of modern physics research into classrooms in an intuitive way. His group is also responsible for the CERN visits programme and all CERN exhibitions.
Peter McDonald is Professor of Demography and Director of the Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute. He is President of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP) for the years 2010-2013. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia and was formerly a Member of the College of Experts of the Australian Research Council. Prior to his present appointment he was head of research at the Australian Institute of Family Studies for a period of 11 years. He has also worked at the Demographic Institute of the University of Indonesia, at the World Fertility Survey, London and the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Throughout his career, he has been actively engaged in the teaching and promotion of demography as a discipline while applying interdisciplinary approaches in his research. He has a PhD degree in Demography from the Australian National University and an Honours degree in Economics Statistics from the University of New South Wales. In 2008, he was appointed as a Member in the Order of Australia.
Dr Amanda Barnard received her PhD (Physics) in 2003 from RMIT University, on the topic of nanocarbon phase stability. After 2 years as a Distinguished Fellow in the Center for Nanoscale Materials at Argonne National Laboratory (USA) she moved to the United Kingdom, where she held the senior research position of Violette & Samuel Glasstone Fellow at the University of Oxford, and an Extraordinary Junior Research Fellowship at The Queen’s College (Oxford). She returned to Australia in 2008 and has been awarded a prestigious QEII Fellowship by the Australian Research Council for 2009. By combining thermodynamic theory and highly accurate supercomputer simulations, her research focuses on relating the size, structure and shape of nanomaterials to reactivity and stability, for the study of environmental impacts and risk assessment. Dr Barnard is a world renowned leader in theoretical and computational nanoscience, and a winner of the 2008 L’Oreal “For Women in Science” award for her work modeling nanoparticles in the environment. Most recently she was RMIT University’s 2008 Alumnus of the Year, and as been selected by The Age newspaper as the Scientist to Watch in 2009.
Born near Liverpool, England, Dr Alastair Birtles completed his Bachelor Degree in Zoology from Oxford University. He immigrated to Australia where he completed his PhD in Marine Biology from the James Cook University.
Alastair has 40 years of experience in Marine Ecology of Tropical Environments. He has taught for over 15 years at the James Cook University in Townsville, and has supervised over 100 honours and postgraduate students from 25 different countries.
When not swimming with Dwarf Minke Whales as part of his research, Alastair continues a commitment to developing sustainable practices in ecotourism, and working with indigenous communities on marine conservation.
Dr Alan Finkel received his Doctorate in Electrical Engineering at Monash University in 1981. It was during his two years of postdoctoral study at The Australian National University that he began to build tools to help speed up his own research. When he noticed that many of his peers were using the tools he had made, he knew he was on to something.
With this new direction Dr Finkel established Axon Instruments, a now leading supplier of electronic instruments and software for use in medical and pharmaceutical research.
Dr Finkel is well known for his philanthropic pursuits and also co-founded the popular science magazine, Cosmos. Currently, he serves as Chancellor at Monash University, a position he has held since 1999.
Dr Alan Finkel looks forward to being one of the first 500 passengers to launch into space on the Virgin Galactic.
An internationally acclaimed scientist, explorer and conservationist, Tim Flannery has published more than 140 peer-reviewed scientific papers. His books include the landmark works span class="italic">The Future Eaters and The Weather Makers, which has been translated into 25 languages. In 2006 it won the NSW Premier’s Literary Prizes, the O2 (German Environmental Prize) and the US Lannan Prize (literary Lifetime Achievement).
In 2001 he received a Centenary of Federation Medal for his services to Australian science, and in 2002 he delivered the Australia Day address. In 2005 he was named Australian Humanist of the Year, and in 2007 honoured as Australian of the Year.
He spent a year teaching at Harvard, and is a founding member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, a director of the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, and the National Geographic Society’s representative in Australasia. He reviews regularly for the New York Review of Books.
In 2007 Tim Flannery co-founded and was appointed Chair of the Copenhagen Climate Council, a coalition of community, business, and political leaders who have come together to confront climate change. He advises various businesses on the climate problem, including Attunga Capital, Deutchebank, and CLSA Asia.
Professor Monro is an ARC Federation Fellow and the Director of the Centre of Expertise in Photonics within the School of Chemistry & Physics at the University of Adelaide. The Centre focuses on developing new classes of micro and nanostructured optical fibres for defence, sensing, nonlinear optics and fibre lasers. She is a member of the South Australian Premier’s Science & Research Council, a founding steering member of the Royal Institution of Australia, and Chair of the University of Adelaide Defence Committee. In 2008, she received the Australian Prime Minister’s Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year, in 2007-2008, she was awarded the ‘Women in Physics Lecture’ by the Australian Institute of Physics and, in 2006, a Bright Spark Award for Australia’s Top 10 Scientific Minds under 45 by Cosmos Magazine. She obtained her PhD in physics in 1998 from the University of Sydney, for which she was awarded the Bragg Gold Medal, and was then awarded an Eleanor Sophia Wood Travelling Fellowship. In 2000, she received a Royal Society University Research Fellowship at the Optoelectronics Research Centre at the University of Southampton in the UK. She came to the University of Adelaide in early 2005 as the inaugural Chair of Photonics. Tanya Monro has published 300 papers in journals and refereed conference proceedings.
As a University of Queensland undergraduate student, Mark “sacrificed” his Australian summer break for a chilling Norwegian winter and an investigation into the engineering behaviour of some of the largest offshore oil and gas platforms in the world. Since that introduction, Mark’s interest in large civil engineering structures has taken his research career from Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, to studying dams at the World Commission on Dams in South Africa, and to positions of research associate, lecturer and now Professor of Civil Engineering at The University of Western Australia (UWA).
Mark is now the Director of UWA’s Centre for Offshore Foundation Systems and is playing a leading role in the recently established $11 million CSIRO Flagship Cluster on “Subsea pipelines for reliable and environmentally safe development of ocean hydrocarbon resources”. His major research contributions are in the development of models applicable to the design of foundations for offshore oil and gas facilities, and he has authored more than 60 international refereed journal articles and conference publications on the topic.
Mark was awarded the Western Australian Premier’s Prize for Early Career Achievement in Science in 2006 and the Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year in the 2007 Prime Ministers Awards for Science.
He is still learning to surf.
At various times in my youth I wanted to be a diary farmer, an air hostess (didn’t everyone!), a nurse, and a wildlife photographer. But when I was about 15 I read King Solomon’s Ring by Konrad Lorenz and decided that studying zoology, ecology and animal behaviour was going to be my thing - it still is.
For me, the two main components of an academic job create the perfect balance. The research part is the self-indulgence, while the teaching part is the giving back. What I enjoy most is taking my students out in the bush to open their eyes to their environment and what makes it special. I am very fortunate to have the support of many of my fellow biologists who help me run an ecology field trip in Myall Lakes National Park each September which is the highlight of my teaching year, and, I’m glad to say, apparently the highlight of university life for a lot of the students as well.
Over the last couple of years I have increasingly become involved in academic-related activities outside the university. One of these is working within the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a UN-sponsored organization that synthesizes climate change-related research to produce reports for governments and policy-makers. My second main "other" activity is being the current Chair of the NSW Scientific Committee, a group of scientists appointed by the NSW Government to assess nominations for threatened species. I sometimes think that this work is akin to throwing oneself bodily off the battlements of the academic ivory tower. I deal with an exciting, and at times frustrating, mixture of people including developers, land managers, journalists, farmers and ministerial minders and have had to come to grips with issues ranging from coal mining to dingo conservation.
Over the past year my work has taken me from Beijing to Vienna, and from the cloud forests of Lord Howe Island to the depths of a wild canyon to marvel at the Wollemi pine. I'm lucky to have a wonderfully supportive partner and children who think that what I do is cool; I can't imagine wanting to do anything else.
Alex attended the NYSF in 1993 and went on to study Engineering at UWA.
In December 2005, Alex was named 2005 WA Young Engineer of the Year Award by Engineers Australia. Alex has achieved technical excellence in her field of Transport Engineering, whilst exhibiting strong leadership skills. “Alexandra Piper is an exceptional young engineer who has a genuine understanding of the wider issues currently facing the engineering community today”, said the judges. Throughout her career Alex has been active within Young Engineers and Engineers Australia. She’s currently working for GHD, an international professional services company providing leadership in management, engineering, the environment, planning and architecture She continues to be a strong voice for the engineering industry as Chair of the Western Australian Cycling Committee and as a member of the Transport Strategic Committee.
Dr Greg Woods‘s undergraduate training was at Monash University and his PhD (Studies on T lymphocyte colonies) was undertaken at the University of Tasmania. Greg’s post doctoral training was in Toronto, Canada where his research utilised cellular and molecular biology approaches to analyse cytotoxic T cell function and multi-drug resistance.
Since returning to the School of Medicine Greg has played significant roles in research and teaching activities at the University of Tasmania. His research group has a national and international research profile through contributions to the field of dendritic cells, specifically in the area of Langerhans cells, cancer and the neonatal development of Langerhans cells. This group was one of the first to indicate that immature dendritic cells induce suppression. This has international importance as it is relevant for the development of tumour vaccines.
Current research interests include the analysis of the effects of ultraviolet light on the skin immune system, the development of the neonatal skin immune system, vitamin D and the immune system, novel therapies for cancer and the immune system of native animals. With the recent discovery of the devil facial tumour disease Greg’s interest has been directed towards the immune system of Tasmanian devils to try to understand why the tumour is not recognized by the immune system.
Deanna D’Alessandro is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Molecular Electronics Group at the University of Sydney. Her research involves understanding and mimicking nature using experimental, theoretical and computational techniques to design more efficient molecular electronics devices, particularly for solar energy conversion.
Deanna hails from Cairns in Far North Queensland and obtained her BSc in chemistry, physics and mathematics at James Cook University in Townsville. She received the University Medal in 2000 and completed her PhD (cum laude) in chemistry in late 2005.
She has co-authored over 20 internationally-reviewed journal publications and has recently been named the 2006 Cornforth Medallist of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute. The medal is awarded for the most outstanding PhD thesis submitted in any branch of chemistry in the previous year and commemorates Australian Sir John Cornforth, the 1975 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry. She was also the winner of Fresh Science 2006 and will take up a British Council study tour of the UK during 2007 where she will present her work at the Royal Institution in London.
Deanna attended the 1996 NYSF as a member of Maxwell and credits the Forum with opening up a world of science to her and inspiring her to pursue a scientific career.
PM Science Prize winner, Ian Frazer, was trained as a renal physician and clinical immunologist in Edinburgh, Scotland before emigrating in 1980 to Melbourne, Australia to pursue studies in viral immunology and autoimmunity at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research with Professor Ian Mackay.
In 1985 he moved north to Brisbane to take up a teaching post with the University of Queensland, and he now holds a personal chair as head of the Centre for Immunology and Cancer Research, a research institute of the University at the Princess Alexandra Hospital.
His current research interests include immunoregulation, and immunotherapeutic vaccines for Papillomavirus associated cancers. Prof Frazer holds research funding from several Australian and USA funding bodies. He is a director of a biotechnology start up company, Coridon, with an interest in optimising and targeting polynucleotide vaccine protein expression.
He won the 2005 CSIRO Eureka Prize for Leadership in Science and was named Australian of the Year in 2006 for his development of the human papillomavirus (?HPV) cervical cancer vaccines.
Prof Frazer has recently been appointed Chair for 2009 of the Australian Cancer Research Foundation's prestigious Medical Research Advisory Committee. He also chairs the medical and scientific advisory committee of the Queensland Cancer Fund, and advises the WHO and the Bill and Melissa Gates Foundation on papillomavirus vaccines.
Dr Frazer teaches immunology to undergraduate and graduate students of the University. He was recently made a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. In March 2007 he was awarded the prestigious Howard Florey Medal for Medical Research and earlier this year was announced as recipient of the Balzan Prize, a major international award recognising his “outstanding scientific achievement and lasting contribution to preventive medicine”.
Professor Penny D Sackett began her appointment as Chief Scientist for Australia in November 2008. Professor Sackett is an accomplished cross-disciplinary scientist with a record of academic excellence on three continents. She is highly respected in the national and international communities of science and technology, both for her research and her proven experience in research management.
A physicist by training and an astronomer by profession, Professor Sackett was most recently Director of the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics and Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories (2002–2007) at The Australian National University. Other previous appointments include the J. Seward Johnson Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton (USA), Program Director at the US National Science Foundation, and Chaired Professor at the University of Groningen (NL).
As Chief Scientist for Australia, Professor Sackett provides high-level independent advice to the Prime Minister and other Ministers on matters relating to science, technology and innovation. She is the Executive Officer to the Prime Minster’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council, leading foresighting activities to identify long-term challenges and opportunities for Australia that can be addressed, in part, through science. Subsequent gap analysis leads to public reports that conclude with whole-of-government recommendations to assist in equipping the nation to meet uncertain and transformational futures. Professor Sackett also holds a number of ex-officio roles including being a member of the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) Advisory Board and the Rural Research and Development Council.
Professor Sackett is an advocate for Australian science internationally and a visible contributor to science diplomacy. She also focuses national thinking on science across the states and territories through the Forum of Australian Chief Scientists. An equally important part of the Chief Scientist’s role is to be a champion of science and research in the community, with a special brief to promote science as a career and help break down the cultural barriers that inhibit collaboration between researchers and industry. Finally, Professor Sackett is a communicator of science to the general public, promoting the understanding of, contribution to and enjoyment of science and evidence-based thinking.
Prof Srinivasan holds an undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from Bangalore University, a Master’s degree in Electronics from the Indian Institute of Science, a PhD in Engineering and Applied Science from Yale University, a DSc in Neuroethology from The Australian National University, and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Zürich.
He is presently Professor of Visual Sciences at The Australian National University’s Research School of Biological Sciences and Director of the University’s Centre for Visual Science. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, of the Royal Society of London, and of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World. He was the recipient of the 2006 Prime Minister’s Prize for Science. Srinivasan’s research focuses on the principles of visual processing in simple natural systems, and on the application of these principles to machine vision and robotics. He has published some 200 research papers in these areas.
Richard Arculus is an igneous petrologist and Professor of Geology in the Research School of Earth Sciences at The Australian National University. He has studied volcanic island arcs and backarc basins since his doctoral studies at the University of Durham (UK) in the early 1970s.
Since moving to the ANU in the mid-1990’s, he has been a participant or led several research voyages with Australia’s National Marine Facility (RV Franklin and RV Southern Surveyor) in waters of Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Tonga.
Josep Canadell is Executive Director of the Global Carbon Project, a program of the International Council of Science to coordinate carbon research around the world. He has authored more than 60 scientific publications on global change and was co-author of the first comprehensive encyclopedia on the topic.
He researched his Doctoral degree in Barcelona, Spain, and worked as a researcher at the Universities of Stanford, Berkeley and San Diego in California for 10 years. He was associated with The Australian National University for 5 years and is currently based at CSIRO in the Division of Marine and Atmospheric Research, Canberra.
Peter Collignon is Director of the Infectious Diseases & Microbiology Unit at The Canberra Hospital, a position he has held since 1987. He graduated with First Class Honours from Sydney University with a combined Medical and Surgical degree.
As a Professor in Medical Faculty at The Australian National University, he is actively involved in teaching as well as being involved in many research projects associated with infections and infection control, both in Australian and International programs. He has published a large number of articles in both Australian and international medical and scientific journals and is considered an authority on infection-related issues, appearing regularly in the media to comment on infection-related issues.
Peter is particularly interested in antibiotic resistance and the development of resistance through the use of antibiotics both in food and animals. He has acted as both the ACT Chief Quarantine Officer and Chief Health Officer, and continues to be an active member of many national committees, including those of the NH&MRC (Communicable Diseases, Infection Control, and meningococcus).
Janette Lindesay is Associate Professor of Climatology in the Fenner School of Environment and Society at The Australian National University, and Deputy Director of the ANU Climate Change Institute.
She teaches undergraduate and postgraduate courses in atmospheric science, greenhouse science and climatology. Her current research interests centre on climatic variability during the last 150 years, characterising the nature and degree of variability and investigating climate impacts. Much of her research has focussed on the El Niño Southern Oscillation phenomenon, and she is interested in applications of Global Climate Models in the study of climatic variability and impacts.
Dr Lindesay’s climate vulnerability research focuses on the climatological aspects of bushfires in Australia, and temperature and rainfall trends and extremes. She also contributes to informing the policy debate on drought.
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