Sydney’s best engineers were celebrated at Engineers Australia’s 2015 NSW Showcase dinner on Friday 6 November.
“Sydney is fortunate to be home to numerous engineers at the top of their game. 2015 saw an exceptional pool of entrants, with the winners demonstrating the breadth of the engineering profession, through their work in biomedical, defence, sustainability and humanitarian engineering,” said Engineers Australia Sydney General Manager Greg Ewing.
Arup took home the most prestigious award of the night, the NSW Bradfield Award. The judging panel was impressed by Arup’s commitment to innovation, particularly through their international research and education organisation Arup University. Arup as a driver of positive change for the state of NSW and is striving to lead the engineering profession.
Sydney’s Professional Engineer of the Year was awarded to Dr Christopher Roberts HonFIEAust, former CEO of Cochlear. During Christopher’s leadership of Cochlear, over 170,000 people have been given the gift of hearing through their bionic ear’s world–class design, which is durable, comfortable and provides an unrivalled listening experience. Christopher has prioritised research and development at Cochlear, developing a network of over 100 research partners worldwide.
Christine Chen MIEAust was named Sydney’s Young Professional of the Year. Christine works in the Specialty Engineering Group at Thales Australia on projects such as the Hawkei armoured vehicles, to protect Australian soldiers and the general public from electromagnetic interference and radiation. Christine promotes the defence industry to the next generation of engineers through her work as Chair of Young Engineers Australia Sydney and Deputy Chair of the Australian Society for Defence Engineering NSW Chapter.
Sydney’s Student Engineer of the Year went to Heather Malli StudIEAust in recognition of her thesis which assessed carbon sequestration technology to generate an ecologically and economically sustainable carbon neutral mine. The judges applauded her demonstration of the commercial aspects of the project and addressing relevant sustainability issues.
Sydney’s Entrepreneur of the Year was awarded to David Hind FIEAust CPEng(Ret), an outstanding engineer and business leader who chaired Barefoot Power since 2009 after providing angel funding for the organisation in 2006. Barefoot Power provides electricity generators to remote or disadvantaged communities who would not otherwise be able to access electricity, greatly improving the standard of living.
“These recipients have already made a sizeable contribution both Sydney and to broader Australia; I can’t wait to see what they will put their minds to next,” Mr Ewing said.
Photo: Andrew Pettifer, Principal NSW Region Leader at Arup receiving the Bradfield award from Professor Mary O'Kane NSW Chief Scientist & Engineer, NSW Government. The Award was presented acknowledging Arup’s outstanding achievement in Engineering Excellence in NSW.