Tom Spurling

  • AM, BSc(Hons), PhD (UWA), FRACI, FTSE Tom’s appointments include: a CSIRO Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Maryland with research interest in measuring the equilibrium and transport properties of gases and using such measurements to estimate intermolecular forces; Lecturer in Chemistry at the University of Tasmania; as a Research Scientist at the CSIRO Division of Applied Chemistry at Fishermens Bend. At CSIRO he developed interests in the rational design of biologically active molecules, in the use of Monte Carlo methods to calculate the adsorption of gases onto solids and in developing computational methods to study the kinetics of polymerisation reactions. . He worked for CSIRO until 2002 except for a period in 1985 when he took leave to work with Senator Gareth Evans (the Minister for Resources and Energy) as his Senior Private Secretary. At CSIRO he was the Chief of the Divisions of Chemicals and Polymers (1989-1996) and Molecular Science (1996-1998). He went to Indonesia to manage the World Bank funded CSIRO-LIPI Management Systems Strengthening project. LIPI is the CSIRO sister organisation in Indonesia. Since 2002 he has been at Swinburne University of Technology as the Director of Industrial Research Institute Swinburne, Dean of Engineering and Industrial Science and, since 2005, a Professor in the Swinburne Institute for Social Research and now Professor of Innovation Studies in the Faculty of Business and Law. He was the CEO of the CRC for Wood Innovations from 2005 to 2008. He was a member of the CSIRO Board from 2008 to 2015, and a member of the ICRAR Board from 2009 to 2015. He was awarded the 2017 ANZAAS Medal Tom is the author or co-author of over 100 papers on various topics. His publications include the books ‘The Virial Equation of State’ and ‘The Plastic Banknote – from Concept to Reality’. .