IMPACTMAGAZINE OF THE AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING ATSE.ORG.AU NUMBER 211 | 2021 Seeking sustainability No time to waste ATSE Awards 2021 On Thursday 10 June we will announce the winners of our ATSE Awards 2021. These awards celebrate the achievements of Australians at the vanguard of science, technology and engineering. All Award winners will be shared on our website on Thursday 10 June 2021 Clunies Ross Award Innovation Clunies Ross Award Entrepreneurship Clunies Ross Award Knowledge Commercialisation Recognises leaders who have shared their vision and knowledge to apply technology for the benefit of Australia. Batterham Medal for Engineering Excellence An early career award for a graduate engineer who has achieved substantial peer/industry recognition for their work in the past five years. ICM Agrifood Award Acknowledges the outstanding work of two early career scientists or technologists. Ezio Rizzardo Polymer Scholarship Recognises the potential impact of an outstanding PhD candidate in polymer science or engineering. David and Valerie Solomon Award An early-mid career award for a science or technology graduate working in academia/research or industry R&D who demonstrates substantial ability to foster research- industry collaboration and knowledge transfer for the benefit of Australia. atse.org.au 28 Cover photo by Francesco Ungaro / Unsplash PUBLISHER Australian Academy of Technology & Engineering ADDRESS Level 2, 28 National Circuit Forrest ACT 2603 POSTAL ADDRESS PO Box 4776 Kingston ACT 2604 TELEPHONE 26 36 +61 2 6185 3240 +61 3 9864 0900 FEATURES EMAIL [email protected] 6 Towards a waste free future CEO By Susan Pond and Phillip Butler Kylie Walker EDITORS 20 A vaxxing time Benjamin Hickey Interview with John Skerritt Liz Foschia and Gordon Naylor DESIGN Elizabeth Geddes 22 A virtuous circle By Veena Sahajwalla 46 ISSN 1326-8708 (print) 2207-8223 (electronic) 26 When the mattress king met the queen of waste REGULARS PRINT POST By Liz Foschia Publication number 4 From the President’s desk 100007367 28 The perfect storm: How can we feed 5 Welcome from the CEO COPYRIGHT the world without wrecking the planet? © Australian Academy of Technology & Engineering By Tim Reeves 10 New Fellows DOWNLOAD AS A PDF 32 Solar: The next energy revolution 12 Academy submissions atse.org.au By Martin Green 16 Academy news 36 Dugongs, disaster and making The Academy acknowledges the 53 IMNIS — Industry mentoring Traditional Owners of the land a difference on which we meet and work. Interview with Helene Marsh 56 STELR — STEM education We recognise the deep knowledge and practices 42 Troubled waters 58 Fellows’ achievements embedded in the oldest By Stuart Khan continuous culture on the 62 Vale planet – Australia’s history of engineering, technology and 46 Defending scientific values 66 What we’re reading applied science spans more in a “post-truth” age than 60,000 years. We pay our By Trevor Danos respects to Elders past, present and emerging. 48 Space for diversity By Sarah Pearce IMPACT 2021 3 Australian Academy of Technology & Engineering FROM THE PRESIDENT’S DESK What will make Australia sustainable? It is no surprise that sustainability is the most cogent issue for most of ATSE’s Fellows, especially as many of the issues that threaten our planet and our lifestyle, are amenable to technological and engineering solutions. For example: In addition to regulation, there • mitigating and adapting to climate is another topic that we as change (including achieving net zero technologists and engineers need emissions by 2050 or sooner) to address and that’s “social sustainability”. By that I mean all • providing food for Australia and the factors that go into creating a the world socially cohesive society. These are the • managing our scarce water resources very underpinnings of the success of Education is the key to social • stopping the deluge of waste we are Australia: equity, the rule of law, fairness, sustainability. While we have a sound producing by repurposing it for new respect, diversity and inclusion, equal education system, it is severely products opportunity and equal treatment lacking when it comes to developing before the law. STEM career paths for students. • improving our health care system and making it cheaper despite an In my view, technology has I believe the drift we have been ageing population unfortunately led to a steady drift witnessing in inequity is due to the • stopping (or at least slowing) the away from these fundamental values fact that a lack of STEM training is extinction of species – a situation accelerated by the putting many jobs out of reach for COVID pandemic. There is plenty of segments of our population. To ensure • supporting local manufacturing data to show the pandemic has had the sustainability of our economy and • creating flexible and reliable a devastating effect on segments of our society we need to address this with supply chains. the population while hardly impacting some urgency, which is why this is one of others. ATSE’s top three priorities. This issue of Impact will show that technological solutions which can Using US figures (and ours are likely Ultimately, as technologists, if effectively address these problems to be similar) about 42 per cent of the our solutions do not create social are not only possible, they’re likely. population was able to use technology sustainability as well as environmental to work from home and maintain their sustainability, we shall have failed. This However, technology on its own does income. At the same time, that group is a complex challenge without simple not solve problems. Technology must accounted for around two-thirds of solutions. But it is not insuperable. fit into a political and regulatory economic activity . framework that encourages its adoption. The rest of the population was either forced to go into “frontline” workplaces As an example, without regulation (where they were much more exposed there is no financial incentive for to contagion) or were out of work and producers to manage their waste. seeking part-time and piece work, It would probably be cheaper to resulting in the increased spread simply dump it somewhere. of the virus (just consider the workers in our aged care facilities). The same applies to the waste from power generation (and other processes), My point being that our social system Professor Hugh Bradlow namely carbon emissions. Unless you is not set up to ensure equity and this FTSE regulate their removal, human nature is undermines the sustainability of our Hugh Bradlow is the President such that people will not bother. Anyone whole society. It should not have taken of the Australian Academy of who has worked in a regulated industry a pandemic to make us recognise that Technology and Engineering. You can read his reflections such as telecommunications will tell forcing people into multiple part-time on the big issues facing Australia you that regulation is an essential jobs is not a formula for the health of on our website. complement to technology. any of us. 4 IMPACTIMPACT 2021 2021 Australian Academy of Technology & Engineering WELCOME FROM THE CEO Sustainability is a core value of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering. It’s listed proudly on our Values Statement, alongside integrity and transparency, inclusion, collaboration, excellence and independence, and professional pride. “We strive,” says the statement, “to support science and engineering to build and analyse environmental, social and economic renewable energy generators. Our new sustainability through our activities and coding education program, CS in Schools, operations”. And I’m proud to report that is promoting Australia’s digital capability Fellows and the Secretariat are working with its ambitious target to deliver quality, in partnership to ensure the Academy is free computer science education to every threading this value through everything Australian school student. Our successful we do. Industry Mentoring Network in STEM (IMNIS) program is building a thriving collaboration Our three priority issues, as identified culture and creating nation-building Kylie Walker by Fellowship, are mitigating and Chief Executive Officer career pathways for skilled graduates by adapting to climate change, enhancing Kylie Walker is the CEO of connecting STEM PhD students with research collaboration, translation and the Australian Academy of senior industry mentors. Technology and Engineering. commercialisation, and exciting and educating young people in STEM. All three With the opening of our new head office priorities speak to environmental, economic in Canberra, ATSE is applying the principle and social sustainability. of sustainability closer to home, too. Our In our policy work, we’ve produced a major refit was deliberately low-impact: we’re report laying out a pathway for Australia in a retro-fitted office in an older building, to become a waste-free economy while within walking distance to many of our growing jobs and exports. We’ve publicly key partners and Australia’s political disseminated an expert but plain-language leadership, so we’re cutting down on car explainer to how Australia is tracking against and plane travel. its emissions reduction targets. We’re In completing the refit, we left almost all the creating ambitious new net zero targets existing walls, windows and carpets in place, and proposing the technology pathways and sourced our furniture from a closely- to achieving them. located Australian manufacturer to minimise Acknowledging that Australia’s original construction waste and freight miles. And technologists and engineers are custodians we’re proud to feature as a splashback in of the most sustainable society on the our new kitchenette ‘green ceramic’ tiles planet, we’re also incorporating Aboriginal composed of recycled textiles and glass, and Torres Strait Islander perspectives and made in a new NSW microfactory into the policy submissions we make to using technology invented by ATSE Fellow Government inquiries and consultations.