Zygmunt Edward "Ziggy" Switkowski is a Polish Australian business executive and nuclear physicist. His most public role was as the chief executive officer of Australia's largest telecommunications company Telstra from 1999 to 2004. During his tenure, he oversaw the privatisation of the then government-owned corporation through a series of public tranche sales. Later positions were chairman of both NBN Co and Suncorp, a director of Healthscope, Oil Search and Tabcorp and the Chancellor of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.
The Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE) is an independent learned academy that helps Australians understand and use technology to solve complex problems.
Alan Simon Finkel is an Australian neuroscientist, inventor, researcher, entrepreneur, educator, policy advisor, and philanthropist. He was Australia’s Chief Scientist from 2016 to 2020. Prior to his appointment, his career included Chancellor of Monash University, President of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE), and CEO and founder of Axon Instruments, and CTO for the electric car start-up Better Place Australia.
Ralph Owen Slatyer was an Australian ecologist, and the first Chief Scientist of Australia from 1989 to 1992.
Catherine Brighid Livingstone is an Australian businesswoman who has held positions in the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, CSIRO, Macquarie Bank, and Telstra.
Genevieve Bell is the Vice-Chancellor of the Australian National University and an Australian cultural anthropologist. She is best known for her work at the intersection of cultural practice research and technological development, and for being an industry pioneer of the user experience field. Bell was the inaugural director of the Autonomy, Agency and Assurance Innovation Institute (3Ai), which was co-founded by the Australian National University (ANU) and CSIRO’s Data61, and a Distinguished Professor of the ANU College of Engineering, Computing and Cybernetics. From 2021 to December 2023, she was the inaugural Director of the new ANU School of Cybernetics. She also holds the university's Florence Violet McKenzie Chair, and is the first SRI International Engelbart Distinguished Fellow. Bell is also a Senior Fellow and Vice President at Intel. She is widely published, and holds 13 patents.
Alexander Zelinsky is an Australian computer scientist, systems engineer and roboticist. His career spans innovation, science and technology, research and development, commercial start-ups and education. Professor Zelinsky is Vice-chancellor and President of the University of Newcastle joining the university in November 2018. He was the Chief Defence Scientist of Australia from March 2012 until November 2018. As Chief Defence Scientist he led defence science and technology for Australia's Department of Defence.
Thomas Edwin Calma, is an Aboriginal Australian human rights and social justice campaigner, and 2023 senior Australian of the Year. He was the sixth chancellor of the University of Canberra (2014-2023), after two years as deputy chancellor. Calma was the second Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person to hold the position of chancellor of any Australian university.
Catherine Patricia Foley is an Australian physicist. She is the Chief Scientist of Australia since January 2021, before which she had been the chief scientist for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) since August 2018.
Lynda Dent Beazley is a neuroscientist and educator based in Perth, Western Australia. She is currently an Honorary Distinguished Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies at the University of Western Australia, and the Sir Walter Murdoch Distinguished Professor of Science at Murdoch University. Among other awards, she has been named an Officer of the Order of Australia for her contributions to medical science a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering and Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.
Michael Miles Gore was a British-born Australian engineer, physicist, and science explainer, who worked at the Australian National University in Canberra. He was noted for being the founder of Questacon, the first interactive science centre in Australia.
The contributions of women in climate change have received increasing attention in the early 21st century. Feedback from women and the issues faced by women have been described as "imperative" by the United Nations and "critical" by the Population Reference Bureau. A report by the World Health Organization concluded that incorporating gender-based analysis would "provide more effective climate change mitigation and adaptation."
Leanna Read is an Australian biotechnology expert and businessperson. She was the fourth Chief Scientist of South Australia from 2014 to 2018. She was appointed in August 2014 as successor to Don Bursill and is the first woman to hold the position.
Ian Robert Young AO is an Australian academic. He is the Kernot Professor of Engineering at the University of Melbourne. He previously held the senior administrative roles of Vice-Chancellor of Swinburne University of Technology (2003–2011) and Vice-Chancellor of the Australian National University (2011–2016).
Sue Barrell was chief scientist at the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM). In 2013 she was awarded a Fellow of the Academy of Technology and Engineering (FTSE). In 2018, Barrell was elected Vice President of Science and Technology Australia. Amongst other topics, she has worked on international science policy climate monitoring, research and policy, and ocean–earth observations. Barrell was the first female meteorologist to join the senior Executive team of the BoM. She was the first female elected to leadership of a WMO Technical Commission and was one of the early female forecasters.
Catriona Moore is an Australian art historian, art theorist and academic.
Samantha Joy Mostyn, is an Australian businesswoman and advocate serving as the 28th governor-general of Australia since July 2024.
Marlene Kanga is an Australian engineer, entrepreneur, and diversity activist, who was awarded Queens Birthday honours in 2022. She was appointed an officer of the Order of Australia for her substantial service to Engineering, particularly as a global leader and role model to women to professional organisations, and to business.
Anne-Sophie Dielen is a researcher, scientist communicator and policy maker. Her research focuses on generating and regulating sodium/proton antiporters in plant chloroplasts. She is the Founder of The League of Remarkable Women in Science.
