Biography:

Professor Aidan Byrne is CEO of the Australian Research Council. He was appointed in July 2012. Previously the Dean of Science and the Director of the ANU College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Professor Byrne brings with him a wealth of industry knowledge and expertise particularly in the Physical and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering.

Professor Byrne completed a BSc and MSc degrees at the University of Auckland before commencing a PhD degree at
the ANU in 1981. Following the completion of the degree in Department of Nuclear Physics he held positions with the
University of Melbourne and spent over two years in Bonn, Germany as a von Humboldt fellow. He returned to the ANU
in 1989 as a Research Fellow and in 1991 commenced a joint appointment between the Department of Physics, in the Faculty of Science and the Department of Nuclear Physics, Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering.

He was Head of the Department of Physics from 2003 to 2007. His research interests involve the use of gamma-rays as probes to determine the structure of heavy nuclei and as probes in the examination of the atomic level structure of materials (especially semiconductors); he has published over 200 papers.

Presentations:

• ARC, NHMRC, CSIRO: the leaders give their perspective on science communication in 2014