Our people

Meg is an expert in strategy and execution in complex policy and challenging environments. Her extensive international career spans business, government, diplomacy, environmental policy and philanthropy.

She has worked at the forefront of action on climate change – in renewable energy and decarbonising the economy – as COO of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, CEO of Low Carbon Australia Limited, as a Board member of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and of the CRC for Low Carbon Living.

Meg also served as member of the NSW Chief Scientist & Engineer’s Expert Panel advising the NSW Government on innovative decarbonisation technologies to support the achievement of the NSW Net Zero Plan. She sits on the NSW Net Zero Emissions and Clean Economy Board and the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board, is a Trustee of the Nature Conservancy and is the Environment Commissioner with the Greater Cities Commission.

With a PhD in Photovoltaics from UNSW and an MBA from University of London, Oliver was the founder of Epho, one of Australia’s largest providers for commercial and industrial solar solutions, acquired by AGL in 2021. He is now the Managing Director of Bright Dimension, a specialist strategy and management consultancy.

A graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and with 25 years’ clean energy experience in research, technology development and commercialisation, merger and acquisitions, business structuring and start-ups, Oliver is the Chair of the Industry Advisory Committee for the School for Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering at UNSW where he is also an Adjunct Senior Lecturer.

Kara is the Founder and Managing Partner of Tiger Financial Group, a leading financial services firm empowering Australian growth companies into global markets. Kara is also co-Founder & Managing Partner of Jekara Group, a private capital fund accelerating the global energy transition.

With two decades of global finance experience, Kara brings analytical and strategic guidance focused on the cleantech industry. She is a private market investor & advisor and a Board Director of private and public international companies.

With a Bachelor of Civil Engineering from UNSW and a Master of Management from the University of Wollongong, Grant has extensive experience in the Australian energy industry and was Managing Director of Origin Energy Limited from February 2000 until October 2016. Prior to Origin, Grant served as Managing Director of Boral Energy from 1994 to February 2000 and was General Manager AGL Gas Companies.

He is a Fellow of Australian Institute of Company Directors and President of the Business Council of Australia (BCA) and previously served as Chair of the BCA Infrastructure and Sustainability Committee. He is former Director of Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association Limited, Envestra Limited, former Chairman of Energy Supply Association of Australia and former Chairman of Oil Company of Australia. Grant is also a former Chairman of Contact Energy Limited.

Bronwyn commenced as Deputy Vice Chancellor Research and Enterprise at the UNSW in mid-July 2024. Prior to this, she was the Chief Scientist at CSIRO having previously held the position of Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise) at Swinburne University. She is an internationally recognised expert on carbon fibre and composite materials and was the founding Director of Swinburne’s Manufacturing Futures Research Institute as well as Deakin’s Carbon Nexus facility.  

In October 2023, Bronwyn was appointed by The Minister for Science and Industry as Australia’s Expert Adviser to the International Scientific Report on Advanced AI Safety, led by Yoshua Bengio. Professor Fox represents Australia at the Expert Advisory Panel alongside representatives from 30 countries including USA, Japan, Singapore, the EU and the UN. 

Bronwyn is a former Chair of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (Victorian Division), a Fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, a Fellow of Engineers Australia, a Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute and a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Bronwyn was appointed by the federal government to serve as a member of the National Quantum Advisory Committee and was also appointed as Chair of the National Robotics Strategy Advisory Committee.  

Bronwyn is the Honorary President of the German-Australian Chamber of Commerce and serves on the Board of Museums Victoria.  

Dr Katherine Woodthorpe AO is an experienced Chair and non-executive director with over 20 years on the boards of listed companies, government enterprises, research institutions, and for-purpose organisations. She has been a leading figure in Australia’s innovation landscape, driving the translation of research into industry impact across sectors such as healthcare, renewable energy, and climate science. Recognised as one of Australia’s most influential voices in innovation, she has played a key role in bridging industry and academia to drive economic and societal progress.

She has held leadership roles across ASX and NASDAQ-listed companies, public funded research entities, and is currently President and Chair of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering as well as of Cicada Innovations. She also served previously as CEO of AVCAL. She was named in “The List: Australia’s 100 top energy players” in 2023 and 2024.

Scientia Professor Rose Amal AO is a chemical engineer, leader of the Particles and Catalysis Research Group AT UNSW and Co-Director of ARC Training Centre for the Global Hydrogen Economy (GlobH2E). Rose is recognised as a pioneer and leading authority in the fields of fine particle technology, photocatalysis and functional nanomaterials having made significant contributions to these related areas of research over the past 20 years.

She has received numerous prestigious awards and was named as NSW Scientist of the Year in 2019. She has been listed in the Australia’s Top 100 Most Influential Engineers (2012-2015), is a Fellow of Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering, the Australian Academy of Science, the Royal Society NSW, IChemE and an Honorary Fellow of Engineers Australia.

A gifted inventor and a successful engineering entrepreneur, Laureate Professor Behdad Moghtaderi has devoted his career to the development and commercialisation of novel energy and process technologies applicable to a diverse range of industries including power generation, oil and gas, mining and Defence.

The focus of his research is the nexus between energy, water and carbon in a world constrained and dominated by ever evolving new and disruptive technologies. He has developed an international reputation for high quality research and pioneering work in the development of innovative technologies, attracting over $90 million of competitive funding, and has also worked closely with industry, government, and international organisations on topics related to his research informing and influencing policy and practice, specifically on matters related to the impact and adoption of new and disruptive technologies.

Professor Paul Dastoor is internationally acclaimed for his research into the field of organic photovoltaics, developing a completely recyclable printed solar technology. As Director of the Centre for Organic Electronics at the University of Newcastle, his team addresses global issues as diverse as the energy crisis and diabetes.

He is also Node Director for the ANFF Materials Node, which is responsible for delivering advanced fabrication and characterisation facilities to academic and industrial researchers across Australia and overseas. With a substantial number of patents worldwide and success spinning out several companies, including his glucose biosensor technology, which listed on the NASDAQ in 2020, he has a proven track record in research translation and commercialisation.

Professor Veena Sahajwalla is a celebrated materials scientist, engineer and inventor who was named NSW Australian of the Year in 2022, is a judge on ABC TV’s The New Inventors and has appeared on Q+A, The Drum, War on Waste and Australian Story. She is the Founding Director of the Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology at UNSW.

Veena is best known for her work pioneering waste research and turning it into a new generation of green materials and products, including by inventing Polymer Injection Technology, or ‘Green Steel’, and launching MICROfactories™. She leads two national research and industrial transformation hubs, the ARC Microrecycling Research Hub and the National Environmental Science Program Sustainable Communities and Waste Hub.

Professor Renate Egan is Executive Director for the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics, the national centre for photovoltaics research led by UNSW, in partnership with ANU, UQ, CSIRO University of Melbourne and Monash. She is also Deputy Head of School (Engagement) in the School of Solar PV and Renewable Energy Engineering.

Renate joined UNSW in 2014 after a 20-year career in industry where she led manufacturing and technology development in Australia, Germany and China and is a leading authority on manufacturing costing and technology transfer.

Renate is also Co-Founder of Solar Analytics, Australia’s largest independent energy monitoring provider. An innovator, entrepreneur and academic, sheis passionate about using her skills to increase the uptake of solar and accelerate the energy transition.

Professor John Fletcher is Director, UNSW Digital Grid Futures Institute and has made it his personal mission to ensure the huge opportunities presented in the global switch to renewables aren’t missed by local researchers, businesses or future generations. An electrical engineer who specialises in power electronics, electrical machine drives and electric propulsion, John understands the importance of real-world application and commercialisation of knowledge and has recently overseen the production of 25 innovations including software and hardware through the lab. Challenging university tradition, John inspires researchers to think beyond academia and consider how their knowledge can benefit our greater society, while enabling networking across faculties and private industry.