SAC - Emeritus Professor Mark Wainwright AM FTSE
Chair - Science Advisory Council
Emeritus Professor Wainwright is currently Executive Director, International Engagement, at the University of New South Wales following his retirement from the position of Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of New South Wales which he held for two years from 1 July 2004. Prior to that appointment, Professor Wainwright had been the Acting Vice-Chancellor of the University from mid-April 2004. He was Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and International), from January 2001.
In 2006 he was appointed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Australian Government to the position of Chair of the Australia-China Council for a period of five years. In the same year, he was appointed Chair of the New South Wales General Sir John Monash Awards Panel. In 2007 he was appointed Chair of the National Computational Infrastructure Steering Committee by the Department of Innovation Industry, Science and Research.
He is Chair of INTERSECT, a not-for-profit e-research company, and Chair of The New Horizons Project at Monash University. He is a member of the Queensland University of Technology Council, Chair of the National Institute for the Promotion of ICT in Health, Chair of the UNSW Faculty of Science Advisory Committee and a member of the board of Engineering Aid Australia.
Professor Wainwright holds an Honours Degree in Applied Chemistry and a Master of Applied Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Adelaide, a PhD in Chemical Engineering from McMaster University in Canada and a DSc for his research into skeletal catalysts from the University of South Australia. In 2007 he was awarded a Doctor of Science (honoris causa) by the University of New South Wales.
His academic career at UNSW commenced in 1974 as a lecturer in the School of Chemical Technology in the then Faculty of Applied Science and, in 1989, he was awarded a personal chair for his research in catalytic reaction engineering.
In 1991 he was appointed Dean of Australia's largest Faculty of Engineering, a position he held until the end of 2000. During 1998 and 1999 he was also Pro-Vice-Chance
Professor Wainwright is an Honorary Fellow of Engineers Australia, a Fellow of the Australia Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers and a Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute.
In 2000 he was awarded the Centenary Medal for service to Australian society in research policy and management and engineering education. In 2004, Professor Wainwright was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for his service to chemical engineering as a researcher and academic, and to tertiary education.
