Boyce Worthley Oration- Dr Carl-Magnus Larsson
Dr Larsson studied chemistry and biology and subsequently completed his PhD in Botany in 1980. He became Associate Professor in Physiological Botany at Stockholm University (Sweden) 1984.
Following a career in science he took up a position with the Swedish Radiation Protection Authority (SSI) in 1993 to work on environmental aspects of nuclear power. Apart from working for the National Chemicals Inspectorate for a year, Dr Larsson continued to work for SSI as Department Head, Deputy Director General and Director General until SSI and the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate merged in 2008. In the new organisation, the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority, Dr Larsson held positions as Head of the Department of Radiation Protection and the Department of Radioactive Materials.
Dr Larsson coordinated the multinational European Commission-supported research projects FASSET and ERICA (both on environmental assessment and protection) between 2000 and 2007 and he has been a member of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development – Nuclear Energy Agency’s Radioactive Waste Management Committee (RWMC) and the chair of the RWMC-Regulators’ Forum. He was the Australian Representative to the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) 2010-2016 and was the Chair of the Committee 2012-2015. Dr Larsson was a member of the Commission on Safety Standards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from 2008 to 2019. He has been a member of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) since 2005 and a member of ICRP’s Main Commission from 2013 to 2021. In 2018, he was elected as the Vice-President of the Eighth Review Meeting of the Convention on Nuclear Safety.
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Dr Adi Paterson
Dr Adi Paterson has a strong public science and senior management background, operational and strategic management expertise, nuclear programs and in the commercialisation of scientific research.
Dr Paterson was the General Manager for Business Development and Operations at the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor Company in South Africa.
From March 2009 to September 2020 Adi had strategic oversight and responsibility for ANSTO’s multi-facetted portfolio of activities.
Dr Paterson has driven a program of positive change and growth. Putting people first, with a focus on diversity and inclusion, underpins the transformation process. This has leveraged outcomes based on the nexus of public science investment and practical innovation with positive impacts on health, industry and the environment.
Dr Paterson’s focus on the importance of diversity and equity, particularly in STEM, led to his appointment in 2016 as a Male Champion of Change for STEM.
Dr Paterson has experience in key policy areas including science and innovation, energy and the nuclear fuel cycle. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE), Engineers Australia (EA), and the Royal Society of New South Wales. The Sydney Division of Engineers Australia recognised him as the 2012 Professional Engineers of the Year.
Dr Paterson holds a BSc (Chemistry) and a PhD (Engineering), both from the University of Cape Town. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Wollongong in 2017.
Dr Gillian Hirth
Dr Gillian Hirth, Chief Radiation Health Scientist and Head, Radiation Health Services (RHS) Branch at ARPANSA was appointed as Deputy Chief Executive Officer of ARPANSA in March 2017.
Dr Hirth completed a PhD in environmental radiochemistry in 1999 and from 2000 to 2003 she was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation. Her research focussed on the transport of uranium decay series in the environment and their transfer to biota.
Dr Hirth worked for the Australian Defence Organisation from 2003 to 2010 in the field of hazardous materials and environmental management, this work included the management of radiation sources and facilities, nuclear materials, occupational exposures and radioactive waste. She has been with ARPANSA since 2010. Initially working in codes and standards development, she then led a project examining radionuclide activity concentration ratios in wildlife inhabiting uranium mining environments and was Director of the Monitoring and Emergency Response Section in RHS Branch from March 2014 to August 2016. In August 2016 she was appointed Head of the RHS Branch.
Dr Hirth is the current Australian Representative to the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) since the 64th session in 2017, and was appointed as Chair of UNSCEAR for the 66th and 67th sessions in 2019, a role extended for 68th session and one that she will hold until the commencement of the 69th session in 2022.
Dr Hirth was appointed as a member of the Commission on Safety Standards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for the 7th term, 2020 to 2023, and was the Australian representative on the IAEA’s Emergency Preparedness and Response Safety Standards Committee for the term 2015-2017. Dr Hirth is member of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) Main Commission for the term 2021-2025 having been a member of ICRP Committee 4 for the term 2017-2021. Dr Hirth is a member of the Board of Council of the International Union of Radioecology.
Professor Tim Senden
Prof Senden, is a graduate of the ANU, completing his BSc (Hons) in Physical Chemistry in 1989 at the Research School of Chemistry, and subsequently his PhD in Atomic Force Microscopy in 1993 in the Research School of Physics and Engineering.
He held positions at the College de France (Paris), Institute Charles Sadron (Strasbourg), and UNSW (ADFA) before returning to ANU’s Department of Applied Mathematics in Research School of Physics and Engineering in 1997. He served as Head of the Department and as Deputy Director (Technology Development). He is the current Director of the Research School of Physics and Engineering.
Tim uses his background in experimental surface science to teach undergraduate chemistry and to investigate surface phenomena at the nanometre scale covering topics including the stretching of single polymer chains, mechanical deformations in biological membranes, ceramics processing and measuring forces on nanoparticles.
Over the past decade he has branched into X-ray micro-Tomography studying porous and granular materials, oil recovery, wood composites, paper and one of his life passions, Palaeontology. He has also been involved in developing novel uses of radioactive nanoparticles to aid medical diagnosis. Over the past decade he has had the opportunity to commercially develop some of his research activities, including a spin-off Lithicon, a Global services company in digital rock analysis.