The Batterham Medal is an early career award for a graduate engineer who has achieved substantial peer/industry recognition for their work in the past five years. The award consists of a medal and a cash prize of $5000.

The Awardee will have:

• demonstrated excellence, innovation and impact in a field of engineering
• clearly demonstrated a signature contribution to engineering in the five years prior to their nomination
• advanced the standing of the engineering profession.

Guidelines for this Award, and the Referee Report to be submitted with a nomination, are available below.

History of the Batterham Medal

The Batterham Medal was established in 2014 to be presented annually by the Academy as an early career award.

The awardee will be a graduate engineer who has achieved substantial peer/industry recognition for their work in the past five years.  The Academy has formed a Batterham Medal Selection Committee, which includes a nominee of the Deans.

Professor Robin Batterham AO FREng FTSE FAA

Professor Robin Batterham AO FREng FAA FTSE graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1965 with a degree in chemical engineering and received a PhD from the same institution in 1969.

He received a scholarship from the CSIRO to undertake postgraduate studies at the central research laboratories of ICI in Britain. He returned to Australia in 1970 and took up the position of chief scientist of the CSIRO’s Division of Mineral Engineering, and was later promoted to division chief.

In 1999, he was appointed Chief Scientist of Australia, a role which he undertook simultaneously to acting as chief technologist for the multinational mining company Rio Tinto. In May 2005, he stepped down as Chief Scientist and took on a full-time position at Rio Tinto.

He was elected a Fellow of the Academy in 1988 and served as its President from 2007 to 2012. He was named a Fellow of the Institute of Engineers Australia in 1999. He became a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2000. From May 2004 to May 2005, he was President of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, of which he became a Fellow in 1988. He became a Foreign Member of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2004.

After retiring from Rio Tinto in 2009, Professor Batterham joined the Melbourne School of Engineering as Kernot Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering in 2010. He was awarded an AO in 2004.