We are excited to welcome the newest member of the EMBL Australia Council, Professor Ian Smith.
Professor Smith joined the Council, replacing the outgoing Professor Brandon Wainwright AM as chairperson, in November 2020.
With a background in both industry and research, Professor Smith says in his new role he is eager to continue to build and further strengthen the relationship between EMBL and Australia and to help ensure the exciting discoveries made in the laboratory have global impact.
“Having worked closely for many years with EMBL researchers and having witnessed EMBL’s cutting-edge research capabilities first-hand, I’m looking forward to helping Australian researchers further utilise the amazing scientific infrastructure and many opportunities afforded by Australia’s associate membership to EMBL,” Professor Smith said.
Professor Smith stepped down from his role as Vice-Provost (Research and Research Infrastructure) at Monash University at the end of last year, an appointment he held since April 2014. In this university-wide leadership role, he was responsible for research strategy, infrastructure and alliances. Recognising these achievements, he has been appointed as an Emeritus Professor at Monash.
Professor Smith is also an accomplished medical researcher and a leader in his field – applying proteomics technologies to study proteases involved in brain and cardiovascular function. His globally recognised research has directly impacted human health, led to changes in clinical practice and resulted in more than 260 publications and many patents.
Over the years, Professor Smith has held office-bearing positions in a number of national and international societies and has had an active involvement in the organisation of numerous national and international scientific meetings. He was a co-founder of a publicly listed, proteomics-based biotechnology company, and continues to collaborate and consult widely with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.
Professor Smith is currently: a non-executive director and board chairman of the Population Health Research Network (PHRN); a non-executive director and chair of the research advisory committee of the National Foundation for Medical Research and Innovation (NFMRI); a non-executive director and chairman of the Victorian Endowment for Science, Knowledge and Innovation (veski) board; and a non-executive director and chair of the Queensland Cyber Infrastructure Foundation (QCIF).
Professor Smith was also chairman of the Euro-BioImaging International External Advisory Board from 2010 to 2020, and was recently invited to join and chair the Scientific Advisory Board of the recently established Euro-BioImaging European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC).
EMBL Australia warmly welcomes Professor Smith to the Council and thanks Professor Wainwright for his many contributions during his time as chairperson.