Creating a Quantum World

This exciting and thought-provoking session on Life in a Quantum World will be led by one of the world's pioneers of science, BESydney Ambassador, award-winning Scientia Professor Michelle Simmons.

Professor Simmons is an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow and Director of the Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology. She has pioneered unique technologies internationally to build electronic devices in silicon at the atomic scale, including the world's smallest transistor, the narrowest conducting wires and the first transistor where a single atom controls its operation. This work opens up the prospect of developing a silicon-based quantum computer: a powerful new form of computing with the potential to transform information processing. 

Professor Simmons is one of a handful of researchers in Australia to have twice received a Federation Fellowship and now a Laureate Fellowship, the Australian Research Council's most prestigious award of this kind. She has won both the Pawsey Medal (2006) and Lyle Medal (2015) from the Australian Academy of Science for outstanding research in physics and was, upon her appointment, one of the youngest fellows of this Academy.  

She was named Scientist of the Year by the New South Wales Government in 2012 and in 2014 became one of only a few Australians inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. As a recent Fellow of ATSE, she was awarded the 2015 CSIRO Eureka Prize for Leadership in Science and in 2016 was awarded the Foresight Institute Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology for her work in 'the new field of atomic-electronics', which she created. 

She is editor in chief of Nature Quantum Information.

Hugh S. Bradlow is president of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering, and chief scientist at Telstra Corporation. In the latter role he acts as a "forward scout" looking at the longer term technology directions and technology disruption that will impact Telstra and its customers.

Prior to becoming chief scientist he was chief technology officer and head of innovation at Telstra, responsible for the introduction of new technologies into Telstra's business. Before joining Telstra in September 1995, Professor Bradlow was professor of Computer Engineering at the University of Wollongong in Australia and professor of Electrical Engineering (Digital Systems) at the University of Cape Town.

Professor Bradlow is a graduate in electrical engineering from the University of Cape Town in 1973 and received the D.Phil. degree for research in experimental nuclear physics from the University of Oxford. He is an Emeritus Professor of the University of Wollongong, a Professorial Fellow of the University of Melbourne, and a recipient of a Centenary Medal from the Commonwealth of Australia.

He is globally recognised as a thought leader in telecommunications and was elected as the joint 2009 Australian Telecommunications Ambassador of the Year, named by Global Telecom Business as one of the most 100 most influential telecommunications executives in the world and Smart Company designated him as one of the 12 most influential people in Australian ICT.

David Whiteing is the group executive, enterprise services, and chief information officer for the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

In this role he leads the technology and operation teams of the Group and is responsible for delivering the Group's strategic pillar of the 'world-leading application of operations and technology.' The Commonwealth Bank is recognised for its technology leadership. It has delivered an industry-leading core banking modernisation program and has a strong focus on the simplification of architecture and standardisation of platforms.

The Group is focused on delivering world-class digital services as well as more agile IT applications, platforms and infrastructure. The Group is continuing to innovate accross its technology portfolio, from payments to internet banking, mobile apps to data analytics as well as enhanced customer services.

Prior to his appointment as group executive in July 2014, David was the executive general manager, architecture and planning for enterprise services. He joined the Group in September 2013. David is a highly experienced business and IT executive with a track record of delivering technology transformation in many industries, including financial services, both in Australia and overseas.

David's background includes both in-house technology leadership as well as consulting roles, giving him deep insights into the challenges facing transformative IT businesses today. Prior to joining the Group, he was vice president of Enterprise Systems at BP in the United Kingdom. He is a former Accenture partner with extensive SAP experience. He is married with two children.

Science journalist and broadcaster Robyn Williams presents RN's The Science Show and Ockham's Razor.

Although he graduated with a Bachelor of Science (honours) in England, Robyn admits to spending as much time acting as studying. Early in his career he made guest appearances in The Goodies, Monty Python's Flying Circus and Doctor Who, and stood in for Tom Jones for four months in his TV series.

He has conducted countless interviews with scientists on ABC TV on programs suich as Quantum and Catalyst, narrated the Nature of Australia series and appeared in World Safari with David Attenborough.

Outside the ABC, Robyn has served in various capacities, including president of the Australian Museum Trust, chairman of the Commission for the Future, and president of the Australian Science Communicators. In 1987, he was proclaimed a National Living Treasure.

In 1993, Robyn was the first journalist elected as a fellow member of the Australian Academy of Science. He was appointed AM in the 1988 Australian Bicentary honours list and in the same eyar received honorary doctorates in science from the University of Sydney and Macquarie and Deakin Universities. The ANU awarded him a doctorate of law, and he is a visiting professor at the University of NSW and an adjunct professor at the University of Queensland.

A Reuters fellowship at Oxford University allowed him time to write his autobiography, And Now for Something Completely Different. He was a visting fellow at Balliol College Oxford in 1995–96.

Robyn has written more than 10 books, the latest being a novel, 2007: a true story waiting to happen.

PROGRAM PRESENTED

• In Conversation
• Ockham's Razor
• Science Extra
• The Science Show