Science & Technology Australia is pleased to announce the election of new members to its Executive Committee at STA’s Annual General Meeting today.
Silo-busting innovator and industry-engaged research entrepreneur Professor Mark Hutchinson is STA’s new President-elect. He will become President at the end of our next AGM in November 2021.
For seven years, Mark has been Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale Biophotonics at the University of Adelaide. He will be the first South Australian to serve as STA President.
The centre has produced 15 spin-outs and start-ups and has 30 flourishing industry partnerships. Its silo-busting approach encourages engineers, physicists, chemists and biologists to work across disciplines to build new products and techniques using light at the cellular level.
STA’s newly-elected executive members are:
- President-elect – Professor Mark Hutchinson
- Secretary – Jas Chambers
- Policy Committee Chair – Professor Sharath Sriram
- Early Career Representative – Dr Chloe Taylor
STA President Associate Professor Jeremy Brownlie congratulated the newly-elected Executive and said he looked forward to working with them all.
He also thanked outgoing Secretary Associate Professor Darren Saunders and outgoing ECR representative Associate Professor Sumeet Walia for their excellent service to STA.
“We are blessed with a wealth of talented leaders across the STEM sector who want to contribute their energy, ideas and leadership to STA’s success,” he said.
“Mark will be outstanding as our next President, and the refreshed Executive including Sharath, Jas and Chloe reflects the excellence, diversity and breadth of skills in the sector.”
“I thank Darren Saunders for his excellent work as our secretary supporting governance work, and Sumeet Walia for his work for early career researchers and as co-chair of STA’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee.”
STA President-elect Professor Mark Hutchinson said he was honoured to have been entrusted by the STA members to lead the organisation as President from the end of 2021.
“I want to work with the STEM sector to help foster even deeper connections between the research community and those who need our research to transform lives, industries and policy,” he said.
“I see an exciting set of possibilities to identify challenges that Government and industry want to solve – and bringing our best research brains to that task.”
“I want to support our STEM workforce, share entrepreneurial skills, foster diversity and equity, and propel even more Australian science and technology from the bookshelf to the boardroom.”
He looks forward to working closely with current President Jeremy Brownlie and CEO Misha Schubert over the next year as President-elect.
“Jeremy has worked tirelessly to strengthen STA’s visibility as a respected policy and advocacy voice for the science, technology, engineering and mathematics sectors,” he said.
“It will be an honour to work with him over the next year and to succeed him as President in November.”
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