Dr Robin Batterham’s role as president of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) involves setting strategic direction and providing advice to the federal government and the wider community.
The organisation recently made a submission to the Australia 2020 Summit. The submission, among other things, urged students to select science and maths subjects in school. It also suggested methods to improve the delivery of innovation. In the past year, ATSE has contacted academies around the world to discuss ways to speed up the introduction of major new technologies that might address climate change.
In his professional life, Batterham now serves as group chief scientist for Rio Tinto where he is currently looking at how to reduce energy use and environmental impact in mining. “The real challenge is how to get there economically and on reasonable time scales,” he said.
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Chris Champion is president of the International Federation of Municipal Engineering (IFME) which is an organisation with 14 members – UK, Canada, Italy, San Marino, Israel, Netherlands, South Africa, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, New Zealand, and Australia.
Champion is also the national chief executive officer of the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia (IPWEA). At IFME, he is encouraging wider international exchange of skills and experience. The organisation has attracted interest from Scandinavian countries and Sweden is now sponsoring study visits to Australia.
IPWEA is sponsoring a study tour visit to Finland, the US and the UK this year. Denmark and New Zealand are joining IFME and Champion is assisting the Baltic countries to join as well.
IPWEA is leading a national rollout of industry-based tools and guidelines for the sustainable management of infrastructure which is attracting international interest.
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As national president of Australia’s largest veterans’ welfare and ex-service organisation, Major-General Bill Crews is responsible for maintaining relations with governments and external stakeholders, and public representation on behalf of the organisation’s 195,000 members.
He was recently involved with the launch of Operation Life, which is a suicide prevention program, and the At Ease program, which increases awareness of mental health. These programs are part of the organisation’s efforts to improve mental health support to ex-servicemen and veterans.
Crews retired from the military in 1999 and was deputy chief executive of Engineers Australia until 2003.

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As president of the World Federation of Engineering Organisations, Barry Grear guides 15 million members in 90 countries to meet the organisation’s mission of sharing engineering knowledge globally and advising national agencies. While the organisation’s head office is in Paris, he is based at his home in Adelaide.
Grear came from a family of engineering tradespeople and followed his father and two brothers to become an electrical fitter apprentice. He then completed an engineering diploma under a scholarship from the South Australian Railways which he upgraded to a bachelor of technology degree in electrical engineering from University of Adelaide.
He credits his engineering training with giving him the skills to understand a problem, work logically through it and propose a solution. He was the president of Engineers Australia in 1997.

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As the first female president of Engineers Australia, Julie Hammer is proud to represent the interests of its 83,000 members.
Hammer is leading Engineers Australia’s Year of the Engineering Team which is being driven by the Engineering Team Task Force and promoted through the colleges, technical societies and special interest groups. An action plan is being implemented to improve membership value for technologists and associates.
In her engineering career, she was head of the Department of Defence’s communications and IT systems, commanding officer of the electronic warfare squadron and her rank on retirement was air vice-marshal.

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Dennis Sheehan is the national president of the Association of Consulting Engineers Australia (ACEA). The organisation represents over 260 firms across a range of engineering fields with a total of about 41,000 employees
Sheehan continues to be involved with helping members deal with contract conditions which harm them, particularly in government purchasing contracts.
He has helped start several programs which aim to create fairer risk allocation for consulting engineers. One of these is a panel of three private indemnity insurance brokers to assist members in selecting insurance cover for their businesses.
Another is a consultant contracts course that teaches non-lawyers how to review contracts, be aware of contractual elements and what to do when claims are made.

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Peter Taylor is the chief executive officer of Engineers Australia which represents the interests of more than 83,000 professional engineers, associates and students nationally.
According to Taylor, a major challenge in the past year was being able to influence political parties in the run-up to last year’s federal election. He is pleased to see changes which have flowed from that including the establishment of Infrastructure Australia, the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, and encouraging signs in education policy which will hopefully lead to more children pursuing engineering careers.
A recent highlight was Engineers Australia’s granting of free membership after 40 years of belonging to the Institution, which Taylor described as a landmark decision that was well received by members. Considerable media interest surrounded Engineers Australia’s submission to the 2020 Australia Summit. Among other things, the submission covered productivity, innovation, sustainability and water.

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Dario Tomat is the national president of the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers Australia (APESMA) which has 42,000 national members including students and associates.
Following the departure this year of John Vines as CEO of APESMA, Tomat has become more involved in the detail of the organisation’s strategies.
Highlights in the past year include working with national associations to discuss issues affecting young technology-based professionals including transportability of qualifications, globalisation of companies and climate change affecting engineering and science. This culminated in a conference of the professional and managerial sector of Union Network International in Melbourne in March.

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