Since a career-shifting moment in Antarctica, Professor Tony Haymet has championed how scientists and engineers can work together to solve Australia’s climate crisis.
In early 1992, Professor Tony Haymet was conducting research at McMurdo Station, a US government facility in Antarctica, when a colossal storm hit.
“The station had a fantastic library, so I rode out the storm in there,” Australia’s Chief Scientist told create.
At the time, Haymet – a chemist by training – was part of a team researching the glycoproteins that Antarctic fish produce to stop their blood freezing.
But in the library, he discovered a wealth of information about another topic: climate change.
“Even then, the news was pretty grim. I had a chance to delve into detailed papers about spectroscopy data and other measurements, and to gain an understanding of how climate change was affecting the oceans and the world.”
Haymet’s time at McMurdo proved pivotal. He moved away from chemistry and into oceanography, becoming CSIRO’s chief of marine research in 2002.
Mixing with other researchers at McMurdo also sharpened Haymet’s interest in the ways different disciplines and sectors can interact.
In 2010, he co-founded MRV Systems, a company that employs engineers to work with universities and institutes to develop ocean robots.
The submersibles take measurements across the world’s oceans, sharing the data with scientists via a common server located at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California.
In 2025, Haymet was appointed Australia’s Chief Scientist, tasked with providing independent, authoritative advice to government to inform decision-making and policy directions.
From the outset, he advocated for increased collaboration between industry and the research sectors, and between science and engineering.
“During my time at the CSIRO, and today as well, I’ve so often seen engineers and scientists collaborating seamlessly,” he said. “Given the challenges we face, that collaboration is more important than ever.”
He points out that modern fields such as AI rely on a multiplicity of traditional disciplines – computer science, electrical engineering, physics – to innovate.
“Laser technology, quantum computing – all these things are at the intersection of science and engineering.”
To draw attention to the links between the two fields, Haymet takes a keen interest in cross-disciplinary research projects around Australia, such as the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope observatory in Western Australia.
“We think of astronomy as science, but most of the challenges at the SKA observatory require engineering; for example, doing enough signal processing onsite so we’re not burdened by moving masses of data across the desert.”
Cross-collaboration
As Australia’s Chief Scientist, Haymet also supports efforts to revitalise Australian manufacturing.
“Like many countries, we’ve made a few mistakes over the past 25 years, but politicians seem to agree now that we should be making more things in Australia,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity for engineers; to actually make things here, we need their expertise.”
Haymet believes one of Australian engineering’s biggest strengths is the diversity of the cohort.
“It’s important to emphasise that about 60 per cent of our engineers were born outside Australia. We have a wealth of talent and perspectives ready to be tapped.”
But that statistic also underscores the deficit of home-grown talent that currently exists. Haymet said an Australian-made future will require more engineers, and the way to develop them is to begin early.
“Everything we do in science and engineering has its basis in mathematics, whether it’s chemistry, physics or AI. Our deans of science and engineering have a common challenge: to encourage more high school students to stay in mathematics courses longer.”
At the tertiary level, Haymet believes greater collaboration between faculties, rather than re-designing or blending degrees, is the best way to prepare engineers for the workforce.
“Australia needs people with deep expertise, as well as people who can work broadly across science and engineering,” he said.
“The solution is not likely to be found by restructuring faculties in universities, but in embedding the practice of collaboration between scientists and engineers throughout their degrees.”
Ongoing learning should be encouraged, too.
“Micro-credentials can be part of that: bite-sized qualifications that certify specific skills that can be acquired through short, focused courses.”
Also critical for Australia’s engineering future is an investment ecosystem that rewards innovation.
“We need to foster an investment community with a greater appetite for risk. Not every project is going to work out. We need to do a better job of attracting investors that are big enough to take those risks.”
Despite the gravity of the challenges within his purview, such as climate change, Haymet said he hasn’t lost his zeal for work.
“I may be an incurable optimist, but I’m excited about the future.”
It’s a future that Haymet believes has engineering at its heart.
“In the coming decade, engineers will help Australia address its greatest challenges, including the energy transition, the decarbonisation of heavy industry, and the advanced processing of critical minerals.
“Their work will also underpin our water security, digital networks and the wide-ranging infrastructure needed for our growing cities. Their contribution is vital.”
Engineers Australia is sponsoring the Science Meets Parliament event next week, designed to foster meaningful connections between the STEM sector and policymakers.
