The ATSE President and Her Excellency, the Governor-General in conversation.

It was a privilege to attend a meeting at Government House and spend time with Her Excellency, the Governor-General Sam Mostyn, to discuss the important work of ATSE.

As 2025 is ATSE’s 50th birthday, we talked about the many achievements of the Academy over the past half century, and the depth of expertise among our distinguished Fellowship.

We agreed that technological sciences and engineering are now more important than ever in solving many interconnected issues across the globe.

Our chat then turned to ATSE’s next 50 years and its strategic priorities, namely climate change adaptation and mitigation; research translation and commercialisation; and how ATSE champions multi-variate pathways into and through STEM.

I was particularly proud to talk about ATSE’s STEM in schools program, STELR, and that this highly regarded teaching resource is now in over 1000 Australian schools, equipping students to participate in inquiry learning with engaging, hands-on STEM equipment.

Caring for Country. Caring for people. Caring for the planet.

The Governor-General and I then turned our attention to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, acknowledging their custodianship of one of the oldest knowledge systems on the planet.

ATSE has a deep sense of responsibility and opportunity across technological sciences and engineering. We are working towards a highly integrated model of knowledge that leads to better outcomes for our planet, our country and our communities.

Again, I was immensely proud to highlight another of ATSE’s programs, Elevate, which is addressing inequities in STEM through comprehensive scholarships enabling more diverse women and non-binary people to access tertiary STEM education, professional skills development and STEM leadership opportunities with industry and academia.

I left the Governor-General with the assurance that ATSE will continue in its mission to help Australians understand and use technology to solve complex problems through the lens of  ‘Caring for Country. Caring for people. Caring for the planet.’