Innovator and research entrepreneur elected President of Science and Technology Australia

The University of Adelaide's innovative, industry-engaged research entrepreneur Professor Mark Hutchinson is Science Technology Australia’s (STA) new President-elect.

For seven years, Professor Hutchinson has been Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale Biophotonics (CNBP) at the University of Adelaide. He will be the first South Australian to serve as STA President.

CNBP 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. This has attracted additional funding and application of their technology from diverse sources like the USA Air Force Office of Scientific Research, through to
Meat and Livestock Australia.

“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."Professor Mark Hutchinson

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.”

Professor Hutchinson is looking 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,” said Professor Hutchinson.

“It will be an honour to work with him over the next year.”

Professor Hutchinson will join STA’s newly-elected executive members Secretary Jas Chambers, Policy Committee Chair Professor Sharath Sriram and 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.

“Mark will be outstanding as our next President," he said. “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.”

Professor Hutchinson will become President at the end of November 2021.