Faces of CSIRO

Mahesh

Group Leader, Data61, Melbourne

January 2017

“It’s been a busy day, I just got out of a meeting about a technical issue that’s cropped up. We do a lot of work for cities, emergency managers and the insurance industry. At the moment our focus is on assisting coastal cities around Australia with their primary concern being infrastructure planning for the future especially in relation to low lying areas. In fact infrastructure planning for the future is going to be a significant issue around Australia given the uncertainties associated with extreme weather patterns. While working in this area is challenging I think this is one of the best things about being a scientific leader – you can drive strategy and gain an understanding of where things are headed in the next 10-50 years.”

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Stefan | Senior Principal Scientist, Strategy and Foresight, Brisbane

Stefan

Senior Principal Scientist, Strategy and Foresight, Brisbane

"I got back in from Canberra last night at 10 o’clock. I fly a lot—it’s a big part of my job. I’ll be on a flight once a week, sometimes twice. I do a lot of speaking, at conferences, and that’s what I was doing in Canberra. The Department of Social Services are doing a series on innovation..."
Stein | Research Operations Officer, Agriculture and Food, Canberra

Stein

Research Operations Officer, Agriculture and Food, Canberra

"I am one of the last dinosaurs in CSIRO — I've been here since 1983 so I have seen a lot of change. Since I started there’s been a lot of restructuring, which, for me, has meant a lot of adaptation and learning of new skills..."
Eva | Principal Research Scientist, Oceans and Atmosphere, Brisbane

Eva

Principal Research Scientist, Oceans and Atmosphere, Brisbane

“So I do a type of ecosystem modelling, combining maths and marine biology. For example we look at lobsters — doing stock assessments, looking at how many people catch them, and how we can make that sustainable. We also model whole ecosystems and the interactions of different species — so with whales, we see how much krill..."

Marta & Kang

Materials scientists, Manufacturing, Melbourne

Marta: "We started working at CSIRO at the same time…two and a half years ago? Basically we’re working with very tiny crystals, called MOFs. They are extremely porous nanomaterials, which means they can store or soak up many different types of molecules like carbon dioxide or other harmful contaminants..."

Yutao

Senior Research Scientist, Agriculture, Brisbane

“I’ve been doing t'ai chi for about two years, and I just recently started learning how to use the sword. There is some similarity to basic t'ai chi, but much more challenging as you have to do the movements holding the sword a specific way. It’s a lot of fun..."

Nawshad

Research Team Leader, Mining and Metals, Melbourne

"If I’m not bike riding with my son over the weekend, I’m busy in my role as president of a Bangladeshi community school where kids can learn traditional language and dance. There are around 15,000 Bangladeshi people here in Melbourne, many of which are in the suburbs around the Dandenong area..."

Lynne

Research Director, Agriculture and Food, Brisbane

"The focus on bringing people together from different areas is one of CSIRO’s unique strengths. I feel that working in large multidisciplinary teams allows us to answer bigger questions. I lead a program that explores breeding high value food crops, and at the moment..."

Emily

Communication Manager, Mineral Resources, Melbourne

"The last time I did science was when I was 15, so I’m really not science-y at all. But it’s kind of an advantage. I’m a good test for when scientists talk to me, because if I can get what they’re talking about then the general public will. What I love about working in communications is you can work across a lot of different areas, from digital to minerals..."

Katie

Recruitment Consultant, HR, Canberra

“Around the time I was approached to put on this exhibition, I was finding a lot more time to paint. Before that I hadn’t really painted for years…three, at least. I got pretty sick in 2013 and was in hospital on and off for a few months. I stopped painting and lost all interest in my art. I pretty much stopped doing everything. But, at the beginning of this year I joined a fundraising group to support blood cancer research. The group sets a challenge to overcome some hurdle — physical, mental — so I set a challenge to get fitter and climb Mount Kosciuszko, which I did back in May..."