Batterham, Robin John (1941 - )

Summary

Robin Batterham was appointed Chief Scientist of the Commonwealth of Australia in May 1999. He was re-appointed to the position in 2002, after the initial tenure expired. He has also been Managing Director of Research and Technology Support, Comalco and Chief Technologists, Rio Tinto Limited since 1999 (December). Batterham is a director of many boards and associations and has lectured widely throughout Australia and overseas. After completing his PhD at Melbourne University, Batterham took up a postdoctoral position with ICI Central Research Laboratories in England. He returned to Australia and was employed as a research scientist by CSIRO (Division of Mineral and Process Engineering. By 1985 he had become Chief of that Division. Three years later he left CSIRO to join CRA, then Rio Tinto in 1995. He was Chief Scientist of Australia from 1999 to 2005.

Details

Chronology

1965

Education - Bachelor of Engineernig (BE), University of Melbourne

1968 - 1970

Career position - CSIRO Postdoctoral Fellow at ICI Central Research Laboratories, UK

1969

Education - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Melbourne

1970 - 1981

Career position - Research Scientist, CSIRO Division of Chemical (later Mineral) Engineering

1973 -

Career position - Fellow, Institute of Instrumentation and Control, Australia

1981 - 1985

Career position - Chief Research Scientist, CSIRO Division of Mineral Engineering

1982 -

Career position - Fellow, Iron and Steel Society of America

1985 - 1988

Career position - Chief of Division, CSIRO Division of Mineral (later Mineral and Processing) Engineering

1988

Award - Fellow, Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (FTSE)

1988 - 1993

Career position - Member of Council, Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering

1988 - 1995

Career position - Vice-President of the Resource & Processing Developments of CRA

1988 - 1995

Career position - Director, CRC for Robust and Adaptive Control Systems

1989 -

Career position - Fellow, Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

1989 - 2010

Career position - President, International Mineral Processing Congress

1992

Award - Esso Award for Excellence in Chemical Engineering

1993

Award - President's Medal, Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

1993 - 1997

Career position - Chairman, G. K. Williams CRC for Extractive Metallurgy

1994 - 1997

Career position - Managing Director of Research and Technology, Rio Tinto of Australia

1995 - 1999

Career position - Managing Director of Research and Technology, Rio Tinto Ltd. (formerly CRA Ltd.)

1996

Award - Kernot Memorial Medal, for distinguished engineering achievement in Australia. Faculty of Engineering, University of Melbourne

1997 - 2000

Career position - Managing Director of Research and Technology, Rio Tinto Ltd

1997 - 2001

Career position - Board member, Australian Mineral Development Laboratories (AMDEL)

1997 - 2006

Career position - Member of the Cooperative Research Centres Main Committee

1998 -

Career event - Fellow (FIChemE), Institute of Chemical Engineers, United Kingdom

1998 - 2009

Career position - Chairman, International Network for Acid Prevention

1999

Career event - Fellow (FIEAust), Institution of Engineers Australia

1999 - 2001

Career position - Director, Australian Mineral Industry Research Association

1999 - 2005

Career position - Chief Scientist of Australia

1999 - 2005

Career position - Member, Prime Minister's Science, Engineering and Innovation Committee

2000

Award - Fellow, Australian Academy of Science (FAA)

2000 - 2009

Career position - Group Chief Scientist, Rio Tinto Ltd

2001

Award - Centenary Medal - for a distinguished career in research and technology, both in the public and private sectors

2001 - 2004

Career position - Director, Mineral Industry Research Organisation, United Kingdom

2002 -

Career position - Corresponding Member, Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences

2003

Award - Chemeca Medal, Australian and New Zealand Federation of Chemical Engineers

2003

Career position - Vice-President, Institution of Chemical Engineers

2004 -

Career position - Foreign Member, Royal Academy of Engineering

2004 -

Career position - Foreign Associate, National Academy of Engineering, U.S.A.

2004

Award - Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) - for service to science, engineering and technology through promoting collaboration, excellence and innovation to enable Australian industry to remain internationally competitive and innovative

2004

Award - Doctor of Laws (LLD), honoris causa, University of Melbourne

2004 - 2005

Career position - President, Institution of Chemical Engineers

2004 - 2006

Career position - Member, Advisory Committee, National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS)

2005 - 2009

Career position - Chairman, International Network for Acid Prevention

2006

Award - Doctor of Science (DSc), honoris causa, University of Sydney

2007 - 2012

Career position - President, Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering

2010 -

Career position - Kernot Professor of Engineering, University of Melbourne

2011

Award - Doctor of Engineering (DEng), honoris causa, University of Queensland

2015

Award - Sir Willis Connolly Memorial Medal, Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

2017

Award - Honorary Bragg Member, Royal Institution of Australia

2020

Award - Honorary Fellow (HonFIEAust), Institution of Engineers Australia

Related entries

Published resources

Books

• Beale, Bob, Engineering a Legacy: Memories of the journey of CSIRO Chemical Engineering (Clayton, Victoria: CSIRO Minerals, 2005), 124 pp. pages 3, 41, 44, 65, 71-89, 92, 94, 97, 99-101, 106 (photograph). Details

Reports

• Institution of Engineers Australia, Engineers Australia Annual Report 2003-4 (2004), 77 pp. 'Chemeca Medal 2003' awarded to Dr. Robin Batterham, Part 2, p.29. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q7352243. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/94994219. Details
• 'Batterham, Robin (1941-)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-642058. Details
• 'Awarded honorary LLD, 2004 [Citation provided]', Honorary degree holders, University of Melbourne, 2023, https://about.unimelb.edu.au/notable-alumni-staff/honorary-degree-holders. Details
• 'Awarded honorary DEng, 2011 [Citation provided]', Honorary awards recipients, University of Queensland, 2023, https://alumni.uq.edu.au/awards/honorary-awards-previous-recipients. Details

Resource Sections

• Ward, C., 'Robin John Batterham', in CSIROpedia, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), 2011, https://csiropedia.csiro.au/Batterham-Robin-John. Details

See also

• Georg, Dietrich, 'Australia's most influential engineers: Top 100 [2009]', Engineers Australia, 81 (6) (2009), 30-64, https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.838744586377406. Details