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Board Members
The board, which meets every six months, comprises individuals of wide experiance in research, technology transfer and business, each representing the interest of a partner. The members are as follows: Professor David Bibby, Professor Simon Brown, Dr Frank Bruhn, Dr Robert Buckley, Professor Paul Callaghan, Professor Don Cleland, Professor Charles Daugherty, Professor Jan Evans-Freeman, Professor Shaun Hendy, Professor Kathryn McGrath, Mr Murray Price, Professor Vernon Squire, Dr Steve Thompson [Chair], Dr Geoff Todd.
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Board Member July 2002 – present
Victoria University of Wellington
David Bibby is Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of the Faculties of Science and Architecture and Design at Victoria University of Wellington. Before joining Victoria University, Professor Bibby was Group Manager Science in the DSIR Chemistry Division (1983 – 1992) and a General Manager at Industrial Research Limited (1992 – 2003).
Professor Bibby has served on government advisory panels and management and advisory boards of various research centres and institutes and is currently a Board member of the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research and Chair of the Board of Victoria Link Ltd.
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Professor Simon Brown, BSc(Hons) Well PhD(Camb)
Ex-officio Board member March 2010 – present
Deputy Director of the MacDiarmid Institute
University of CanterburyProfessor Simon Brown is Deputy Director of the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology at the University of Canterbury. Simon has a B. Sc (Hons) degree from Victoria University of Wellington and a Ph. D. from the University of Cambridge, UK. He has been on the faculty of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Canterbury since 1998, and is currently a Professor in that Department. He was heavily involved in the formation of the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, and is a Principal Investigator and member of the Science Executive.
Simon has published more than 100 refereed papers in a variety of areas of semiconductor and solid state physics. His current research interests focus on properties of devices fabricated from nanoparticles, as well as scanning probe investigations of nanoscale systems. Simon was founder of NZ’s first nanotechnology company, and has an ongoing interest in the wider ethical, social, environmental and health impacts of nanotechnology.
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Dr Frank Bruhn, Dipl. Geol., Dr. rer. nat.
Board Member July 2002 – present
GNS Science
Frank Bruhn is General Manager and Director of GNS Science's National Isotope Centre (NIC), New Zealand's premier source of applied isotope science capability. He is a geochemist by training, specialising in the use of isotopes as tracers in biogeochemical cycles. A graduate from Bochum University (Germany), Dr Bruhn joined GNS Science in 2002 after having worked for the CSIRO in Australia and a radiocarbon dating laboratory in Germany. He is also a Board Member of the Joint Antarctic Research Institute (JARI) between GNS Science and Victoria University of Wellington, GNS Science's Counsellor for the Australian Institute of Nuclear Sciences and Engineering (AINSE), and New Zealand's National Representative in the Regional Cooperative Agreement of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
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Board Member 2004 – present
Industrial Research Limited
Bob Buckley is the manager of the High Temperature Superconducting (HTS) programme at Industrial Research Limited. He joined the Physics and Engineering Laboratory of DSIR in 1981 after graduating in physics from Victoria University of Wellington and completing a Post-doctoral Fellowship at Simon Fraser University. He undertook projects in a wide range of areas including amorphous semiconductors, ionic conductors, zeolites, sea ice, magnetic oxides and high temperature superconductors.
A Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand and a recipient of the Pickering Medal, Dr Buckley is a Board member of HTS-110 Ltd, a spin-off company from Industrial Research Ltd, commercialising HTS magnet technology.
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Professor Paul Callaghan, PCNZM, FRS, FRSNZ
Ex-officio Board Member July 2002 – present
Chair of the International Advisory Board of the MacDiarmid Institute
Victoria University of WellingtonPaul Callaghan is Alan MacDiarmid Professor of Physical Sciences at Victoria University of Wellington and Sir Neil Waters Distinguished Professor at Massey University. His research interests concern the use of magnetic resonance in studying soft matter and porous media. He is also a founding director of Magritek Ltd, a small spin-off company based in Wellington, which sells nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) instruments; he also serves on the Board of another technology start-up, HTS-110. Paul is Past President of the Academy Council of the Royal Society of New Zealand. In 2001 he became the 36 th New Zealander to be made a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. He was awarded the European Ampere Prize in 2004, the New Zealand Rutherford Medal in 2005 and in 2006 was appointed a Principal Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
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Professor Don Cleland, FIPENZ, FASHRAE, FNZIFST, FIRHACE, HonMAIRAH
Board member 2010 – present
Don Cleland is Professor of Process Engineering and Head of the School of Engineering and Advanced Technology, Massey University, Palmerston North. He has been based at Massey University for 25 years. He is currently Vice-President of the Science and Technology Council of the International Institite of Refrigeration (IIR) and is the immediate past-Chair of the NZ National Committee of the IIR. He is a trustee of the NZ Robotics Charitable Trust and a member of the Board of the Manawatu Cricket Association.
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Dr Roger Ridley, BSC (Hons), MSc, PhD (Monash, Australia)
Board member 2011 – present
Roger Ridley is General Manager Strategy and Evaluation and is responsible for leading evidence-based strategy development across IRL. Roger has spent the past 15 years in operational and policy roles in central government including the Treasury and eight years as General Manager in the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology. Roger led work on changes to the science and CRI funding system, obtaining funding for infrastructure initiatives such as the advanced network and high performance computing facilities, and the design of business R&D and technology transfer schemes to incentivise research-based innovation in business. Roger brings to IRL a wealth of experience in working with Ministers, central government agencies and government Budget processes. Prior to working in central government, Roger applied his background in Physics and Applied Mathematics first as a professional meteorologist in MetService, including two summers in Antarctica and then as a research scientist. On completion of his PhD in 1991, Roger became a founding member of NIWA where he specialised in pollution dispersion modelling and developing high-resolution weather prediction models incorporating New Zealand’s mountainous terrain.
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Professor Charles Daugherty, ONZM, PhD (Mont)
Board Member April 2009 – present
Victoria University of Wellington
Charles Daugherty is Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Research) at Victoria University. He has a PhD from the University of Montana and has been at VUW since 1982. He holds a personal chair in Ecology, is an Investigator in the Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution, and is known for his work in conservation of native New Zealand animals. He has convened the Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour panel of the Marsden fund, has been a member of various boards, and is a Trustee of the Karori Sanctuary.
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Professor Jan Evans-Freeman, FInstP
Board Member 2010 – present
Professor Jan Evans-Freeman is the Pro Vice-Chancellor of Engineering at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch. Prior to this she was the Head of Engineering at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK. Before that she ran the Centre for Electronic Materials at Sheffield Hallam, 2004-009, and was an academic member of staff at UMIST in Manchester (UK), 1999-2004.
Professor Evans-Freeman has served on many UK government advisory panels and is currently a member of the UK Engineering and Physical Science Peer Review College. She has carried out international peer review activities for national funding bodies such as the European Union, and the South African and Finland national funding agencies. Between 2003-2008 she was the Chair of the national Ion Beam Facility Steering Group in the UK, successfully taking them through their next large funding bid.
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Professor Shaun Hendy, BSc(Hons) Massey, PhD Alberta
Ex-officio Board member March 2008 – present
Deputy Director of the MacDiarmid Institute
Industrial Research Ltd / Victoria University of WellingtonProfessor Shaun Hendy is Deputy Director of the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology at Victoria University of Wellington and an Industry and Outreach Fellow at Industrial Research Ltd. Shaun has a PhD in physics from the University of Alberta in Canada and has research interests in nanotechnology, complex systems and innovation. He has more than 80 scientific publications in mathematics, physics, chemistry and multi-disciplinary science, and has given more than 30 plenary, keynote and invited talks in New Zealand and overseas. In 2010 Shaun was awarded the New Zealand Association of Scientists Research Medal and a Massey University Distinguished Young Alumni Award.
Shaun writes a blog, "A Measure of Science" as part of Sciblogs.co.nz, a hub for New Zealand’s science bloggers, and has a regular slot on Radio New Zealand Nights as physics correspondent. He currently serves on the Physics, Chemistry and Biochemistry panel for the Marsden Fund and the Physics, Engineering and Mathematics panel for the Rutherford Discovery Fellowships.
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Professor Kathryn McGrath, BSc(Hons), PhD(ANU)
Ex-officio Board member July 2011 – present
Director of the MacDiarmid Institute
Victoria University of WellingtonKate completed her BSc(Hons) degree in Chemistry at the University of Canterbury, before moving to The Australian National University (Department of Applied Mathematics), Canberra, Australia where she obtained her PhD. After finishing her PhD Kate took up a post-doctoral position in Paris at L’Université de Pierre et Marie Curie – Paris VI (Laboratoire de Mineralogie et Cristallographie), with Maurice Kléman. During her second post-doctoral fellowship, Kate worked with Sol Gruner in the Physics Department at Princeton University, Princeton. Kate’s first lecturing position was in the Department of Chemistry, University of Otago, where she stayed for six years, completing a PGDipCom in Finance in her spare time. In January 2004 she moved to Victoria University of Wellington.
Kate received the Easterfield Medal in 2003, awarded jointly by the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry and The Royal Society of Chemistry, UK. The medal is in recognition of significant contribution to research in the chemical sciences by a younger researcher. In 2007 Kate received the Research Medal awarded by the New Zealand Association of Scientists for outstanding fundamental or applied research in the physical, natural or social sciences published by a scientist under the age of 40.
Kate’s research expertise is in the areas of soft matter and biomineralisation. In particular she is interested in the fundamental molecular-level control of 3D pattern formation in liquids and solids as inspired by Nature. In addition to being a Principal Investigator in The MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology she is an Associate Investigator in The Riddet Institute, Food, Innovation, Health.
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Board member September 2010 – present
Murray is a Senior Account Manager for the New Zealand division of EMC Corporation, a global multi-national at the forefront of helping clients on their journey to the Cloud. Murray’s career includes engagement with Universities and Research organisations across New Zealand, including the Ministry of Science and Innovation. Murray has contributed a commercial focus to academia through a number of engagements including the Chair of an academic advisory committee, and mentoring for the ‘entre’ student innovation programme at the University of Canterbury. Murray is a former board member of Citylink.
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Board member January 2010 – present
University of Otago
Vernon Squire is currently Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic & International) at the University of Otago. Prior to taking on this role, he was Pro-Vice-Chancellor Sciences for 6 years, responsible for the management and strategic development of the Division of Sciences at the University. He is an applied mathematician, who continues to engage in research and to supervise a small team interested in wave scattering problems and marine physics in Arctic and Antarctic waters.
Professor Squire has convened government advisory panels, for example MFAT's Environmental Assessment and Review Panel and TEC's PBRF Mathematics, Information Systems & Technology Panel, and is currently a member of the Riddet Institute Governance Board, the WildSouth International Film Festival Charitable Trust and the Board of University of Otago Foundation Studies.
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Board Chair January 2010 – present
Born in 1943 in the UK, Steve Thompson studied agricultural science at Reading University. Following a graduate year in Denmark and a PhD at Reading, he taught there before working at a Max Planck Institute in Bad Kreuznach in 1971/72. He moved to Canada and worked for Agriculture Canada until 1995. He became A/Director of the Animal Research Institute in Ottawa, Director-General of Research, then DG of Agricultural Inspection, then Senior Fellow with the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy. From 1995-97 he was Professor of Sustainable Development at the University of New Brunswick.
He moved to New Zealand in 1997 as CEO of the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology, then CEO of the Royal Society of New Zealand for seven years. He became a Companion of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 2008. Currently (2007- 2011) he is with the British High Commission building UK-NZ research collaborations.
He has an academic background in agriculture, economics and business and extensive experience in science management. He has an Honours degree in Agricultural Science from the UK, a Masters in Economics from Canada and a PhD in Agriculture from the UK. He is also a graduate of Canada's National Defence College and the Queen's University Programme for Public Executives. He has experience in environmental and economic management, policy formulation, conflict resolution and scientific, economic and environmental analysis.
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Board member September 2010 – present
Dr Geoff Todd is currently CEO of Trinity Bioactives Ltd, a biotech services company and aside from Trinity am on the Boards of Im-Able Ltd (medical devices), VicLink Ltd (VUW), and Upper Hutt Health Centre (Primary care). He has worked in the field of commercializing technology since the mid 1980's over a range of organizations, in particular IRL and been a direct participant in 5 new technology based company start ups.