Professor Ian Smith joined QCIF Board of Directors in 2020. Ian completed his first degree in Newcastle upon Tyne England and moved to Australia in 1984 to complete his PhD at Prince Henrys Institute Melbourne and Monash University. In 1991 Ian moved to the Baker Heart Research Institute and was Associate Director until his move to Monash University in 2004. At the end of 2020 Ian retired from his role as Vice-Provost (Research & Research Infrastructure) at Monash University, though still holds an Emeritus Professorial appointment with the university. As Vice-Provost (Research & Research Infrastructure), Ian had responsibility for the oversight and management of the universities research alliances and research infrastructure as well as developing and implementing strategies to meet future university infrastructure needs in these areas.

Ian has a background in both industry and research. He is a leader in his field of medical research, which has resulted in over 260 publications and many patents. Ian still receives regular invitations to speak at international meetings and his research has had a direct impact on human health and led to changes in clinical practice. Ian also co-founded a proteomics-based, publicly listed, biotechnology company, which he helped build to IPO and eventual trade sale. Ian continues to collaborate and consult widely with the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. Ian is a board director and chair of a number of national and international senior government and nongovernment advisory and governing boards many with a strong industry focus.

Ian's unique background in business and research drives his passion to get entrepreneurs and industry collaborating and using university research capabilities to innovate. Ian has always had a focus on building linkages to industry and encouraging large companies and SMEs to use the university's research capabilities and tools to innovate, capture new opportunities and solve problems. He believes that Australia lags behind many countries in utilising this enormous asset and is passionate about finding ways to make the collaborative process as efficient and effective as possible for industry, sharing outcomes and success stories to build awareness.

Linda O’Brien is a highly experienced senior executive, Board director and consultant who has successfully delivered operational, transformational and strategic initiatives within the academic and community sectors.

With a background in education, research, information management, technology, leadership, management and governance, Linda brings a unique breadth and depth of experience to her roles.

Her passion is to unlock the power of data to create public value, in research and education and across government and the community sectors, driving innovation, productivity improvements and improved policy outcomes.

Sharon is an accomplished leader with over 25 years of experience across a range of industry sectors including information technology, energy, local government, education and not for profit.

Having held executive roles in large and complex organisations in areas of finance, governance, investment and portfolio management, she currently oversees strategic initiatives, operational management and innovation for the business.  

She brings a passion for planning and aligning business strategy with projects, priorities, and people, driving change and achieving organisational transformation and improvement outcomes.    Sharon has a proven track record of delivering results for stakeholders through her strong engagement and interpersonal skills.
With her diverse background of strategy, finance, governance, risk and technology experience Sharon brings unique perspectives, insights and value at both strategic and operational levels. 

Sharon is a collaborative leader who drives positive culture, she motivates and builds dynamic high performing teams based on trust and mutual respect.  Several of her teams’ initiatives around new ways of working and data driven decision making have received independent industry recognition.

Rowan Salt is the University of Queensland’s Chief Information Officer, responsible for technology across UQ. 

Before joining UQ in 2018, Rowan was Head of Airline Technology at Virgin Australia, and Executive Director, eHealth for Queensland Health. Prior to this Rowan held a number of senior leadership roles in the resources, healthcare and higher education sectors. 

Rowan holds a Bachelor of Applied Science from Curtin University, a Master of Business from RMIT University, an MBA from The University of Queensland, and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Professor Stephen Blanksby holds a PhD in chemistry (1999, U. Adelaide) and has postdoctoral research experience in Europe and the USA.

He held a teaching and research position at the U. Wollongong (2002-2013) before becoming Professor of Chemistry at Queensland University of Technology (2014-present) where he has served as Director of the Central Analytical Research Facility and Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research Infrastructure).

Stephen’s research is focussed on advances in mass spectrometry to empower molecular discovery in chemistry and biology with a particular focus on overcoming the challenges in structural lipidomics. He has published 200 peer-reviewed articles, serves as an Associate Editor of the International Journal of Mass Spectrometry and is currently vice-president of the International Mass Spectrometry Foundation. As PVC(RI), Stephen is responsible for QUT’s diverse research infrastructure facilities ranging from analytical and measurement science to research engineering, biorefining and digital research capacity.

Stephen is a member of the Queensland Major Research Infrastructure Alliance which partners Queensland’s universities and research institutes with government to deliver major infrastructure capacity to researchers across the state.

Neal is the Pro Vice Chancellor (Sciences) and Professor of Soil and Environmental Science at Griffith University.

Neal has a passion for agriculture and the environment and has used his role as a teacher and research leader to bring others into this highly rewarding field. He believes that agricultural and environmental scientists must go further than identifying where human activity is harming the environment, they must also deliver workable solutions to the problems they identify. While his research spans a range of agricultural issues, he considers himself primarily a soil chemist, and sees soil science as a central discipline in the solution of a broad range of problems. Neal’s main research interests are plant mineral nutrition, bio-toxicity of trace metals, and the development of sustainable but highly productive tropical farming systems.
 
Following his PhD at the University of Queensland, Neal worked at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Cameroon, and then as an academic at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in the UK, before returning to Australia to take a position at the University of Queensland. Neal was Dean of Agriculture in The University of Queensland from 2011 to 2022. He moved to the role of Pro Vice Chancellor (Sciences) at Griffith University in 2022.
 
Neal has undertaken many leadership roles in his discipline area of soil science and in agriculture more generally. He is a Past President of the Australian Society of Soil Science, Past Vice-President of the International Union of Soil Science, and Past President of the Australian Council of Deans of Agriculture. He currently serves on the New South Wales Planning Commission as Deputy Chair of the Commission, and Chair of the Mining and Petroleum Gateway Panel.  Neal’s contribution to Agriculture and Education was recognised in 2024 with the award of and Order of Australia.

Ian Atkinson is the Director of AI at James Cook University and has held several key positions, including A/Dean Research and A/Dean Graduate Research, and was Director of the JCU eResearch Centre from 2008-2024.

His research focuses on advanced ICT and HPC technologies, with significant contributions to regional innovation and was a pioneer in the field of environmental IOT. Ian has actively promoted an innovation/start-up culture in regional Queensland and has secured >$15M funding.

Brad Carter is a Professor of Physics at the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ), and Director of its Centre for Astrophysics within its Institute for Advanced Engineering and Space Sciences.

He is also Discipline Team Leader for the Physics & Astronomy teaching discipline. At UniSQ he has led the development of its astronomical and space sciences research program, and for some years led the development of Mt Kent Observatory into a facility whose observations now support international collaborations and which receives funding from the NASA-NSF EXPLORE program and the DLR. As the recipient of a Fulbright scholarship he travelled to the USA in 2022 for a project entitled Advancing Bilateral Cooperation in Space using Astronomy.

In January 2024 he was appointed to the role of Dean (Research Infrastructure) to deliver strategic leadership and management of research facilities across UniSQ..

Roy was appointed Chief Information Officer in October 2019 at Central Queensland University and now is the Chief Digital Officer, Digital Services. Roy is a driver of change and innovation in the higher education digital technology sector with more than 30 years’ experience in delivering real business and technical solutions in the areas of learning, teaching and research. Providing project oversight and leadership for ICT, Library and eResearch initiatives; Roy consistently advocates and leads high-performing teams to deliver innovative, effective and beneficial solutions including: resilient ICT capabilities based on hybrid cloud collaborative technologies high-speed network and infrastructure capabilities that are supported by strong vendor service engagements innovation in teaching spaces technology service delivery excellence video and online digital delivery of education to enable institutional business models to evolve and adapt.

Professor Ross Young was appointed to the University of the Sunshine Coast in August 2021 as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation).

Prior to joining UniSC, Professor Young has held a number of executive academic roles positions in clinical and academic health, as well as in medical research. This includes Chair of Trauma Rehabilitation at the Jamieson Trauma Institute, Metro North Health; Executive Dean, Faculty of Health and Executive Director of the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation at Queensland University of Technology (QUT).

He is a clinical psychologist committed to social justice and maximising health outcomes for all people, particularly the most vulnerable in our communities and to the use of novel digital and technological solutions to important health and societal challenges.

Commercial collaboration and patent activity have included licensing gene chip technology and Professor Young also has Board representation in the academic, community and health sectors. He has contributed to health leadership development through mentoring and strategy development in large health and research organisations.