Committees

Professor Peter Lay

Chair

The University of Sydney

• BSc, Melbourne, 1977
• PhD, ANU, 1981
• CSIRO (International) Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University, 1981-1983
• CSIRO (International) Postdoctoral Fellow, CSIRO Division of Applied Organic Chemistry, 1983-1984
• Queen Elizabeth II Fellow, Deakin University, 1984-1985
• Visiting Fellow, ANU, 1983-1985
• University of Sydney; Lecturer, 1985-1988; Senior Lecturer, 1989-1993; Reader, 1994-1996, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry, 1997 -
• Visiting Professor, University of Berne, 1991
• Associate Head of School (Research), 1997-2001
• Distinguished Visiting Professor at the National University at Rosario (UNR), Argentina, 1999
• Associate Director (Bio-Metals), Centre for Heavy Metals Research, 2000-2008
• Head of School, 2001-2002
• ARC Australian Professorial Fellow, 2002-2007
• Academic Director, Foundation for Inorganic Chemistry at The University of Sydney, 2005-
• ARC Australian Professorial Fellow, 2009-2013
• Leader of the Biology and Genetics Stream, Breast Cancer Special Interest Group, Sydney Cancer Network, 2013-
• Director, Vibrational Spectroscopy Core Facility of the University of Sydney, March 3, 2014 to 2017
• ARC Australian Laureate Fellowships – Selection Advisory Committee, 2014, 2016, 2017
• Academic Director, Sydney Analytical, 2018

Associate Professor Geoffrey Waterhouse

The University of Auckland

Geoffrey Waterhouse is a materials scientist and expert in the application of nanotechnology in catalysis, environmental sensing and therapeutics. He is an international leader in the design of nanocatalysts for the energy sector, especially low-cost nanocatalysts that can replace precious metal catalysts in devices such as water electrolyzers, fuel cells and rechargeable batteries. Using synchrotron-based X-ray absorption techniques, he has greatly improved mechanistic understanding of nanocatalysts in reactions such as water splitting, oxygen electrocatalysis and carbon dioxide reduction. Geoffrey is a key researcher/leader in many New Zealand Government-funded programmes linked to the emerging Green Hydrogen Economy, and one of New Zealand’s most cited (Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher) and productive scientists (343 articles, h-index 75). His innovative research has received numerous accolades, including a 2021 James Cook Research Fellowship.

Dr Richard Garrett

Finance Chair

ANSTO

Dr Richard Garrett played an instrumental role in the development of Australia’s synchrotron programs, from the early days of the construction of the Australian National Beamline Facility in Japan, to the establishment of the Australian Synchrotron Research Program, culminating in the construction and operation of the Australian Synchrotron. He regularly travels across Australia and overseas to represent ANSTO in projects involving synchrotron science, and other strategic projects such as the development of fusion energy at ITER, Particle Therapy, and the search for dark matter. Dr Garrett has worked at ANSTO for over 25 years and has a PhD in physics He was recognised with the Award for Sustained Contribution to ANSTO in the 2016 National Science and technology awards. For 12 years he was Scientific Manager, and subsequently the Facility Director, of the Australian Synchrotron Research Program

Professor Brendan Kennedy

Co-Chair

The University of Sydney

Profesor Brendan Kennedy is Professor of Chemistry at the University of Sydney where his major research interests are in structure property relationships in metal oxides, with a particular interest in structural and magnetic phase transitions. He received his PhD in inorganic chemistry from Monash University and following post-doctoral positions at Oxford University and the Australian National University moved to the University of Sydney to establish a solid state chemistry laboratory. His research makes extensive use of synchrotron and neutron powder diffraction and spectroscopy. He has published over 350 papers and his work has been recognised with numerous awards, including an Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering Gold Medal. He was chair of the 2005 International Conference on Neutron Scattering held in Sydney and is a member of the local organising committee for the International Union of Crystallography Congress in 2023. He is a past-president of the Society of crystallographers in Australia and New Zealand, and of the Australian Neutron Beam Users group. He is currently a Member of the IUCr Commission for Powder Diffraction and President of the Asia-Oceania Neutron Scattering Association.

Professor Hugh Harris

University of Adelaide

Hugh Harris is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Adelaide, Australia. His research interest is in the broad field of metals and metalloids in biology with a focus on human diseases and their treatment. X-ray absorption spectroscopy and X-ray fluorescence imaging are key research tools in this area as they are able to provide information on intact tissue samples. His research has been recognised by the receipt of a number of awards including the SSRL WE Spicer young investigator award and an Australian Research Council QEII fellowship. Hugh has previously served on the local organising committees for the 39th ICCC in Adelaide and the 12th International Conference on X-ray Microscopy in Melbourne in 2014.

Professor Christopher Chantler

The University of Melbourne

Professor Christopher Chantler is Professor of Physics at the University of Melbourne where his major research interests include highaccuracy XAS in transmission and fluorescence, XERT and Hybrid techniques at synchrotrons, atomic and condensed matter theory and experiment. He received his D Phil from Oxford in High-accuracy X-ray tests of Quantum Electrodynamics and following fellowships at Oxford and the National Institute for Standards and Technology, Maryland, USA. He returned to Australia and the University of Melbourne some 23 years ago. His research makes extensive use of synchrotron, X-ray and IR beamlines and in particular XAS. He has published over 170 papers and his work has been recognised with numerous awards including the international JARI Enterprise award, and the David Syme Prize. He is a Fellow of the AIP and APS. He has chaired, co-chaired or been the scientific or proceedings chair on many conferences. He is Chair of the International Union of Crystallography Commission on XAS, is a member of the Society of Crystallographers in Australia and New Zealand, President of the International Radiation Physics Society, a member of the IUCr Commissions on International Tables, Editor-in-Chief of Radiation Physics and Chemistry, and Editor of the new coming International Tables for Crystallography, Volume I on X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy.

Dr Peter Southon

The University of Sydney

I am an experienced scientist, laboratory manager and project administrator, with well-developed communication, organisational and technical skills. My scientific background is materials chemistry, particularly in the characterisation of coordination frameworks and MOFs, and gas adsorption and separation.

Dr Bernt Johannessen

Australian Synchrotron

Bernt did his undergraduate studies at the University of Auckland and a PhD at the Australian National University. He did his first synchrotron experiment in 2002, and has been actively involved in a range of synchrotron research and technique development since. He has been a beamline scientist since 2007, first overseas (Photon Factory, Japan), and then at the Australian Synchrotron XAS beamline (since 2009). Areas of scientific interests include energy storage and catalysis.

Dr Lars Thomsen

Australian Synchrotron

Dr Lars Thomsen is a senior scientist at the Soft X-Ray (SXR) beamline at the Australian Synchrotron. He uses Near Edge X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy to investigate the structure and molecular order within organic electronic thin films in order to relate this to device performance. He has a particular interest in developing how NEXAFS is collected at the SXR beamline to enhance the user experience.

Professor Trevor Hambley

The University of Sydney

Professor Trevor Hambley is Professor of Chemistry at the University of Sydney’s School of Chemistry. He has studied and worked at the Universities of Western Australia (BSc Hons(I)) and Adelaide (PhD), ANU, The University of Sydney, Emory University and Birkbeck College, University of London. His research interests are in the area of medicinal inorganic chemistry with an emphasis on platinum anticancer drugs, hypoxia selective cobalt complexes, and metal based anti-inflammatory compounds. He has published 3 books, 13 reviews, and more than 400 refereed journal papers, including four recent reviews of the relationship between the structure of Pt anticancer agents and their toxicity and anticancer activity and on the modelling of Pt/DNA interactions. Professor Hambley was the recipient of the Edgeworth David Medal for contributions to Science by an Australian under the age of 35 and has received the “Supervisor of the Year” award at the University of Sydney in 1997 and an Excellence in Teaching Award for Postgraduate Supervision in 1998.

Professor Michael Stockenhuber

The University of Melbourne

Professor Stockenhuber has published more than 90 peer reviewed papers and holds 4 patents. He has a H index of 17 and has been cited more than 1100 times. He has been hon. secretary of the British Zeolite Association and has been secretary and is now president of the Australian Catalysis Society. He has established and is head of the catalysis and process research laboratory at the University of Newcastle. From 2013 to 2016 he has been Assistant Dean, Research Training in the Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment Michael Stockenhuber was awarded his diploma (Dipl.Ing.) in “Chemical Technology” in 1990 at the Technical University of Vienna. He continued his studies for a PhD at the Institute of Physical Chemistry (Prof. Johannes Lercher) which he was awarded with distinction in 1994 (Dr.Techn.) He then did a brief study postdoc at the University of Twente. He joined Nottingham Trent University in 1995 as postdoctoral researcher and was later appointed lecturer (1998) and promoted to Reader in 2007. In 2008 he was appointed senior lecturer in Chemical Engineering at University of Newcastle. In 2012 he was promoted to Associate Professor. Prof Stockenhuber received funding from highly prestigious projects with BP, EADS (Airbus), BHP, AEL and setup collaborations with a number of research groups all over the world. That is evident not only through the high impact of his papers but also the number of institutions seeking collaboration with him.

Dr Chris Glover

Australian Synchrotron

Dr Chris Glover was first introduced to Synchrotron Radiation in 1996. His PhD studies involved significant use of EXAFS to characterise atomic scale structures in disordered semiconductor systems. He has been a beamline scientist at MAXLab, Sweden being responsible for a beamline performing Photoemission, Soft X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy and Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering on surfaces, liquids and bulk materials. He was inaugurator and co-chair of the 2 week First Australian Synchrotron Radiation Summer School (Canberra, 2004), attended by 100 students and early career researchers. His main research interests are the study of the electronic and geometric structures of functional material systems (eg semiconductor and nanocrystals systems). Qualifications: BSc Hons 1 (Newcastle), PhD (Australian National University)

Associate Professor Andrew Berry

Australian National University

Structural Chemistry And Spectroscopy

Inorganic Geochemistry

Planetary Science (Excl. Extraterrestrial Geology)

Igneous And Metamorphic Petrology

Mineralogy And Crystallography Geochemistry

Dr Rosalie Hocking

Program Chair

Swinburne University of Technology

Dr Rosalie Hocking is a chemist who leads a program studying small molecule transformations at Swinburne University of Technology. She is particularly fascinated with the chemical reactions of carbon dioxide, nitrogen and water as they key for the development of a carbon neutral economy. Her work uses a variety of analytical and chemical methodologies with X-ray spectroscopies playing a key role. She has been on the organizing committees for a number of synchrotron related meeting based in Australia including the new synchrotron users meetings 2008- 2010, and the Australian synchrotron users meeting 2014-2016 (meeting chair 2015), she is currently a member of the program advisory committees for both the XAS beam line and for the new MEX beamline (due to open 2021) at the Australian synchrotron. Rosalie completed her PhD in physical and inorganic chemistry from the University Sydney in 2004. She has since held positions Stanford University/Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, CSIRO, Monash University and James Cook University.

Dr Mark Hackett

Curtin University

Dr Mark Hackett completed his B.Sc. (Hons) in 2006 within the department of chemistry at Curtin University (Perth, Australia) and completed his Ph.D. in 2011 within the department of chemistry at The University of Sydney (Sydney, Australia). Since 2011 Dr. Hackett has worked as a postdoctoral fellow with the synchrotron medical imaging of stroke team at the University of Saskatchewan, as both a Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation (SHRF) and a Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) postdoctoral fellow. He is also a CIHR-THRUST fellow. Dr. Hackett’s research interests focus on the development of synchrotron spectroscopic imaging modalities for direct biochemical imaging, and integration of these techniques into the field of neuroscience. Specifically, Dr. Hackett utilizes Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray fluorescence imaging (XFI), and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) to image direct biochemical markers of oxidative stress and altered metabolism in the brain.

Dr Porun Liu

Griffith University

Dr Porun Liu received his Ph.D. in Chemical Science in 2011 from Griffith University. He subsequently worked as a research fellow in Centre for Catalysis and Clean Energy (CCCE). He was awarded a Griffith University Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in 2015 and an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award in 2017. He is currently an Associate Professor at School of Environment and Science, focusing on synthesis, in situ characterizations and electrocatalytic applications of nanostructured catalysts in energy conversion and storage devices.

Dr Claire Weekley

The University of Melbourne

Dr Claire Weekley is a research fellow at The University of Melbourne with research interests in metals in biology and structural biology. She has used X-ray absorption spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence imaging and macromolecular crystallography beamlines at the Australian Synchrotron and internationally to reveal the chemical fates of metals and metallodrugs in cells, tissues and proteins.

Dr Weekley earned a PhD in chemistry at the University of Adelaide, and was awarded the 2013 Australian Synchrotron Stephen Wilkins Medal for her thesis. She has been a member of the Australian Synchrotron XAS Program Advisory Committee since 2018 and is currently serving as chair of the committee.

Krystina Lamb

ANSTO

Krystina Lamb is a leader in renewable and hydrogen energy technology research, currently working at the world class Australian Synchrotron as a Beamline Scientist constructing two new instruments; the Medium Energy X-ray (MEX 1 & 2) spectroscopy instruments.

Krystina graduated with a PhD in physical chemistry from the University of the Sunshine Coast in 2016 and has worked in hydrogen and renewable energy technology for the past 5 years. She was USC 2020 Rising Star of the year, was awarded a grant for hydrogen research from Griffith University in 2019.

Dr Jessica Hamilton

Monash University

Dr Jessica Hamilton is a beamline scientist at the Australian Synchrotron’s X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS) beamline. She completed her PhD in 2018 at Monash University in environmental geochemistry and mineralogy. Her research focuses on utilisation of mine waste for carbon sequestration, trace metal recovery, and soil formation. Jessica is also the president of the Australian X-ray Analytical Association (AXAA).