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Australia Day honours for NICTA leaders past and present

Announcement posted by Data61 30 Jan 2012

Media Release

30 January 2012

NICTA congratulates former CEO Dr David Skellern and current Research Evaluation Committee

member Professor Mandyam Veerambudi Srinivasan on their inclusion in the prestigious

Australia Day Honours lists.

Dr Skellern was awarded the Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for his distinguished service to

science and engineering as a leading researcher and for the design and development of worldleading

information technology. Dr Skellern also made an outstanding contribution to NICTA

during his five years as CEO and was tireless in his efforts to raise the profile and importance of

ICT to the Australian economy.

“The presence of Dr Skellern and Professor Srinivasan on the Australia Day Honours list is no

surprise – they are both outstanding individuals who have advanced their respective fields of

endeavour in important ways,” said NICTA CEO Hugh Durrant-Wyte. “In his time as CEO, from

2005 until the end of 2010, Dr Skellern built NICTA’s reputation and oversaw impressive research

and commercial breakthroughs. Professor Srinivasan, as a member of our Research and

Evaluation Committee, is helping to ensure that we are always striving to achieve nothing less

than excellence in all of our research.”

“I feel very honoured to be recognised with this high appointment,” said Dr Skellern. “I’ve been

lucky throughout my life to work with many talented and dedicated people. I actually can’t think of

anything I did on my own! So I thank all those amazing people and very much view the award as

recognizing what we achieved together. It is also a welcome and pleasing recognition of the

important role played by science, engineering and information technology in securing the future

prosperity of Australia.”

Professor Srinivasan, was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for service to

visual and sensory neuroscience through the Queensland Brain Institute, as an academic,

researcher and mentor, and to the national and international scientific community.

Professor of Visual and Sensory Neuroscience and Electrical Engineering at the Queensland

Brain Institute, Srinivasan said he was thrilled to be appointed a Member of the Order of

Australia. “I was both surprised and delighted to hear of my appointment! It is always a thrill to be

recognised by one’s peers and the Order of Australia is particularly special due to its national

significance,” he said.

The Order of Australia is the pre-eminent way Australians recognise the achievements and

service of their fellow citizens. The Order operates on the principles of independence and

freedom from political patronage. Nominations to the General Division of the Order of Australia

come directly from the community. In the Australian honours system, appointments to the Order

of Australia confer the highest recognition for outstanding achievement and service. There are

two divisions of the Order of Australia: the Civil or General Division and the Military Division.