

Media Release

RESEARCH PRIORITIES SELECTION COMMITTEE MIN 62-02 15/8/02

An Expert Advisory Committee to advise the Federal Government on the selection of national research priorities was announced today by Federal Science Minister Peter McGauran.

"I am delighted to have such an experienced committee on hand to assist me with this task, especially when the committee is so broadly representative of Australia's research community," Mr McGauran said.

"The committee features people with a wide range of skills and expertise, gathered both in Australia and overseas.

"It is a well-balanced committee that will be able to work with the government and the broader community to advise on the national research priorities."

Dr Jim Peacock, Chief of CSIRO Plant Industry and President of the Australian Academy of Science, will chair the 12-member committee that includes the Chief Scientist, Dr Robin Batterham, and leaders from the Australian research and business communities.

"The key role of this committee will be to assess the written submissions for national research priorities and prepare a shortlist of these priorities for the Government's consideration," Mr McGauran said.

The committee includes several members from the Consultative Panel that undertook an extensive public consultation process in June this year.

"Australians have always benefited from advances in science and

innovation and I look forward to the committee's input in advising where we should be focusing our research effort in the future," Mr McGauran said.

"Setting national research priorities is an excellent opportunity to integrate Australia's research effort even more closely with the community's economic, social and environmental aspirations for the future."

Committee members: Dr Jim Peacock (Chair), Dr Robin Batterham, John Boshier, Sharon Brown, Prof Suzanne Cory, Prof Chris Fell, Prof Malcolm Gillies, Prof Terry Hughes, Prof Leon Mann, Prof Sue O'Reilly, Helmut Pekarek and Assoc Prof Michelle Simmons.

Further details are available on the National Research Priorities website www.dest.gov.au/priorities.

Membership of Expert Advisory Committee

Dr Jim Peacock (Chair) - [ACT]

Dr Peacock is Chief of CSIRO Plant Industry and is President of the Australian Academy of Science. He was made a Companion of the Order of Australia in 1994 and is a Fellow of The Royal Society of London, the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and a Foreign Associate of the US Academy of Sciences and the Indian National Science Academy. Dr Peacock has served on the Australian Research Grants Committee, the Prime Minister’s Science Engineering and Innovation Council, ASTEC, and the Recombinant DNA Committee (ASCORD). In 2000, he was joint recipient of the inaugural Prime Minister’s Prize for Science.

Areas of interest: molecular plant science; genomics and gene technology; and modern agriculture.

Dr Robin Batterham -  [VIC]

Dr Batterham is the Chief Scientist of the Commonwealth of Australia and Chief Technologist, Rio Tinto Ltd. He is Executive Officer of the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council and a member of the Australian Research Council, the Cooperative Research Centres Committee, the Coordination Committee on Science and Technology and that of the Commonwealth, States and Territories Advisory Council on Innovation. He holds a range of fellowships including the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, the Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Areas of interest: science, engineering and technology.

Mr John Boshier  - [ACT]

Mr Boshier is the Chief Executive of The Institution of Engineers, Australia. He is a Board member of Engineers Australia Pty Ltd,

Engineering Education Australia and is chairman of the Engineering Foundation. His career has centred on the electricity and energy industries. Mr Boshier was Chief Executive of a major electricity distribution and generation company in New Zealand, director of Ceramic Fuel Cells Ltd Melbourne, and the Centre for Advanced Engineering (Christchurch). He is a Fellow of The Institution of Engineers and holds the degrees of ME and MBA. He is a Harkness Fellow, holding this at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the White House in Washington DC.

Area of interest: electrical engineering.

Ms Sharon Brown  - [WA]

Ms Brown is currently the Strategic Business Manager at Alphawest in WA. She currently holds the title of West Australian Telstra Businesswoman of The Year and is the first female to be elected to the position of Convenor at the Australian Information Industries Association (AIIA). She is a member of the National Museum of Australia Council, chair of the Information Industry Forum Working Group and a member of the Science and Technology Innovation Strategy Management Committee

Areas of interest: information technologyArea of interest: electrical engineering

Professor Suzanne Cory  - [VIC]

Professor Suzanne Cory is Director of The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and Professor of Medical Biology of The University of Melbourne. She graduated in biochemistry from The University of Melbourne, gained her PhD from the University of Cambridge. She has been a research fellow at The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute since 1971. Professor Cory has received numerous honours and awards, most recently the Royal Medal of The Royal Society in London for her distinguished work on the molecular basis of cancer. She is a Fellow of The Royal Society, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, a Foreign Member of the National Academy of Sciences in the US, a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an Associate Foreign Member of the French Academy of Science.

Areas of interest: molecular genetics of haemopoietic neoplasia and apoptosis

Professor Chris Fell  - [NSW]

Professor Fell is President, Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies (FASTS). He was formerly Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research & International) and Dean, Faculty of Engineering, The University of New South Wales. Co-inventor of the technology that led to the Australian international membrane company, Memtec Limited, and founding Chair of the Cooperative Research Centre for Waste Management and Pollution Control. He is a fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and Member of Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation

Council.

Areas of interest: research and development in public and private sector organisations, engineering processes, environmental science and technology.

Professor Malcolm Gillies -  [ACT]

Professor Gillies is currently Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) and the Australian National University. He was previously Pro-Vice Chancellor at the Adelaide University, the President of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and President of the coordinating body of the learned academies, the National Academies Forum.

Areas of interest: humanities and social sciences, twentieth century music, major curriculum reform and research development

Professor Terry Hughes - [QLD]

Professor Hughes is the inaugural Director of the Centre for Coral Reef Biodiversity at James Cook University in Queensland and holds a Personal Chair in the School of Marine Biology & Aquaculture. He received his PHD in Ecology and Evolution from John Hopkins University in 1984, and was an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow in Santa Barbara until 1990 before moving to Australia. He is regarded as one of the world’s leading coral reef ecologists. His research informs governments, the tourism and fishing industries, overseas development and environmental agencies on how to manage and protect coral reef biodiversity. Professor Hughes was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Sciences in 2001, and was awarded an ARC Federation Fellowship in the 2002 round.

Areas of interest: ecology, sustainable management, climate change, and coral reefs.

Professor Leon Mann  - [VIC]

Professor Mann holds the Pratt Family Chair of Leadership and Decision Making, Melbourne Business School, The University of Melbourne. He is President of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences and is involved in the Business/Higher Education Round Table programmes for building collaborative links between universities and industry. Professor Mann was formerly a member of the ARC Advisory Panel for Social Sciences (1988-1991) and held an ARC Senior Research Fellowship (1991-1995).

Areas of interest: longitudinal studies of leadership, team dynamics and innovativeness of project teams in R&D organisations, cross-national studies of managerial decision making, studies of benchmarking in Australian organisations and factors underlying successful collaboration in R&D.

Professor Sue O'Reilly  - [NSW]

Professor O’Reilly currently has a personal chair in Geology, Director of the ARC National Key Centre for Geochemical Evolution and Metallogeny of Continents (GEMOC) and concurrent Professor of Earth

Sciences at Nanjing University. She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, and a Fellow of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Professor O’Reilly is a member of the ARC Physics, Chemistry and Geosciences Expert Advisory Committee 2001-2003; and a member of the Australian Academy Committee for Earth Sciences.

Area of interest: Earth sciences.

Mr Helmut Pekarek -  [VIC]

Mr Pekarek is chairman of the Board and Managing Director, Siemens Ltd, and spokesperson for the Siemens Group in Australia and New Zealand. Formerly he was Executive Director, Siemens Power Generation Group, Erlangen, Germany. Mr Pekarek joined Siemens in 1970, following assignments in research, engineering and electric utility companies in Austria, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States. He is chairman, German-Australian Chamber of Industry and Commerce, member of the Business Council of Australia, and Victorian Councillor of the AI Group.

Areas of interest: electrical engineering, electronics, IT and technology.

Associate Professor Michelle Simmons  - [NSW]

A/Professor Michelle Y. Simmons is currently the Director of the Atomic Fabrication Facility and an ARC Queen Elizabeth II Research Fellow at the University of New South Wales, Sydney. She joined the Centre for Quantum Computer Technology as the Program Manager in Atomic Fabrication and Crystal Growth in 2000 after completing a research position at the University of Cambridge, UK where she was in charge of the design, fabrication and characterisation of ultra-high quality quantum electronic devices. She has over 14 years experience in all aspects of semiconductor crystal growth, device fabrication and electrical characterisation of quantum electronic devices, publishing over 150 refereed research papers in journals such as Nature, Science and Physical Review Letters.

Areas of interest: quantum electronics.

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