Robin Batterham, 63
Australia’s chief scientist and executive officer of the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council
The chief scientist to the federal government, chemical engineer Dr Robin Batterham provides advice on science and innovation. As part of this role he is the executive officer of the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council, and a member of the Australian Research Council and the Cooperative Research Centres Committee, among others.
Batterham also holds an influential position in industry as chief technologist of Rio Tinto. He works nominally two days a week in the former role and three in the latter. In fact this combination has earned him criticism of a conflict of interest, particularly from the Greens, although he has retained the full confidence of the government.
On the international stage Batterham last month took over the presidency of the Institution of Chemical Engineers based in Britain. He is the first Australian to hold that position since Professor Rolf Prince from Sydney University in 1986.
This year he has been appointed an officer of the Order of Australia and elected as a Foreign Fellow of the US National Academy of Engineering. He has produced nearly 200 papers, publications and patents.

Sharon Beder, 47
Professor of the science, technology and society program at the University of Wollongong’s School of Social Sciences
Dr Sharon Beder has been an activist for socially responsible engineering since she graduated with a civil engineering degree from Canterbury University in New Zealand in 1977.
“I am motivated by a quest for social justice and environmental protection,” she said. “As a result I seek to analyse and communicate how political and social power are exercised and the role of engineers in this.”
She has been a member of a number of international panels including UNESCO’s International Expert Group on the Precautionary Principle, Division of Ethics of Science and Technology, in 2004; and the International Review Group on the Responsibilities of Science of the International Council for Science, in 2003-04.
She has written seven books, the most recent being Power Play: The Fight for Control of the World’s Electricity, published last year. This book has also been published in Japanese and Korean.
She was included in the Bulletin magazine’s Smart 100 list in the environmental category last October and won the World Technology Award for Ethics in 2001.

Martin Cole, 57
Member of the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council; entrepreneur
Electronics engineer Dr Martin Cole has been influential in both his career and the development of the engineering profession in Australia. He pioneered a new very early smoke detection system, which he developed from a research project into a commercial product that is now used around the world. When he sold his business in 1995, it had total sales of $200 million and a workforce of 180.
After a few years away from smoke detection, he is now back bringing a new generation of very early smoke detectors to market through his new company Cole Innovation & Design. Some of the biggest challenges on his way to success were “overcoming people’s traditional ideas about smoke detection, getting the product approved as there was no existing standard for the technology and fighting big established companies”, he said.
As for developing the engineering profession, Cole has devoted more than 20 years – through his work with of Engineers Australia, culminating in his presidency in 2000 – to improving the recognition of the significant contribution engineers make to society’s wellbeing.
Since 2000 Cole has been representing Engineers Australia on the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council. He is also deputy chairman of the Australian Square Kilometre Array Consortium, which is working hard at bringing this internationally funded telescope project to Australia.