Lachlan Blackhall starts as DVC R at ANU in a fortnight. He moves from heading the university’s Battery Storage and Grid Integration Programme.
Judith Dawes (Macquarie U) becomes editor-in-chief of journal Optics Continuum.
Barney Glover will become the first substantive commissioner of Jobs and Skills Australia. He starts in April, following his departure from Western Sydney U, where he is VC. He follows former Victoria U VC Peter Dawkins who oversaw JSA’s establishment.
Industry and Science Minister Ed Husic announces a 12-member Artificial Intelligence Expert Group to advise on, “on immediate work on transparency, testing and accountability, including options for AI guardrails in high-risk settings.” They are already on the job and have no time to waste, only being in place until June 30 – “the government is considering longer-term arrangements. The 12 experts in place are Bronwyn Fox (CSIRO), AI expert Aurélie Jacquet, Terri Janke (“international authority” on Indigenous cultural and intellectual property), Angus Lang (intellectual property law), Simon Lucy (Uni Adelaide), Jeannie Paterson (Uni Melbourne), Ed Santow (UTS), Nicolas Suzor (QUT), Toby Walsh (CSIRO and UNSW), Kimberlee Weatherall (Uni Sydney), Peta Wyeth (UTS), Bill Simpson Young (Gradient Institute)
Defence Chief Scientist Tanya Monro becomes an international member of the (US) National Academy of Engineering.
The National Science and Technology Council has three new members, Reuben Bolt (Charles Darwin U), Mahananda Dasgupta (ANU) and Mark Hutchinson (Uni Adelaide).
Fiona Pak-Poy is the Commonwealth’s shareholder nominee to the board of Silicon Quantum Computing.
Rebecca Tomkinson is the new chair of the WA Future Health Research and Innovation Fund Advisory Council. Ms Tomkinson is CEO of the state’s Chamber of Minerals and Energy.
Tim Senden (ANU) joins the board of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
Karen Warnes leaves the Australian Government Department of Education to become ACT director of tertiary education.
