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President's Message

It has been an interesting and busy time since my last report. Preparing this first report for the year had me reflecting on how quickly a year passes and, with continually improving global communication mechanisms, how busy we are right up to Christmas Eve. I recall simpler times when one had time to put the year's activities in order and reflect on how well, or otherwise, the year had gone before enjoying a relaxing Christmas to New Year break. If my December is any indication of what is now the norm, then those days have well and truly gone.

In late October the Institute's National Council undertook a strategic planning session and in December we began the search for a replacement for our CEO Maruta Roden. Through Maruta's efforts Materials Australia is in good shape and it is an ideal time to develop a new Strategic Plan to capitalise on this positive situation. Arising from the strategic planning are the characteristics we are seeking in the new CEO. At this point in time we have a short list of several very well qualified people who have these characteristics and they will have been interviewed by the time you receive this issue of Materials Australia.

Returning to the Strategic Planning process, we have developed a draft Strategic Plan and a key strategic goal is for Materials Australia to be a respected institute that people want to be part of. One of the key objectives of this plan is to increase the membership of Materials Australia. This involves determining more accurately the make-up of our membership, the stability of the various sectors of our membership, whether we deliver value to the membership and what else we can do to attract new members and broaden our appeal.

Materials Australia is not alone in trying to address the issue of static membership and it is clear this is not going to be an easy task to resolve. However, Institutes play an important role in keeping our profession informed about new technologies, events and resources of relevance to Australian materials developers and users, and in representing the national interests of our members to governments. Institutes also provide a network of formal and informal relationships that help us succeed in our work and also in developing our careers. Thus a short term objective will be to review how Materials Australia is addressing these roles and then implementing changes and adding new services to enhance Materials Australia's value to its members.

One immediate strategic objective is to develop our national materials conference to be more attractive to industry and student participation. This event should be our major networking event. The next conference will be held in 2009 and coming issues of MA will provide detailed information on when, where, and what will be covered. Specialist conferences will continue to be held with six conferences in 2008 including the International Conference on Electronic Materials 2008 to be held in Sydney in late July.

Prof Ian Polmear AO and Prof Greg Tegart AM were recognised at two Institute events for their outstanding service to the materials industry with the presentation of the Institute's highest accolade of Honorary Membership of the Institute. As you will see, their contributions have been extensive and very significant in the impact they have had in the development of materials science and engineering in Australia both academically and in their impact industrially. On behalf of the membership I congratulate Ian and Greg.

Over the last few months of 2007 I had the privilege of leading an application for a Defence Future Capability Technology Centre (DFCTC). Our application was for the establishment of a Defence Materials Technology Centre (DMTC) which addressed the topic of Materials Sciences and was in competition with bids in the areas of Battlespace and Systems Integration and Autonomous Systems. The DFCTC is a new initiative of the Department of Defence and is equivalent of the CRC Programme but the timeline for applications was extremely short.

I was most impressed by the speed with which we developed a competitive bid. To be able to submit a competitive bid required strong and rapid commitment by many industry and university participants along with two CRCs, DSTO and ANSTO, as well as the tireless involvement of a number of key individuals. This commitment was achieved delivering a very competitive bid and it showed what can be achieved over a very short time frame once a clear and attractive vision of the end product is created. Just before Christmas it was announced that our Materials Science bid for the DMTC was the successful bid.

This success is evidence of the importance of materials technology to not only the Australian Defence Force (ADF) but also to Australian industry in ensuring that they remain a competitive supplier to the ADF. Additionally, the spin-off applications of new materials technologies into the civilian sector will add further value to Australia's economic and industrial growth.

Finally, I would like to once again thank Maruta for her dedicated service to Materials Australia and wish her well in the coming years with her new grandchildren. Also, I wish you all a successful and rewarding 2008.

The Institute of Materials Engineering Australasia Ltd, trading as Materials Australia, is also a technical society of Engineers Australia, Suite 205 / 21 Bedford Street, NORTH MELBOURNE VICTORIA AUSTRALIA 3051
Tel 61 3 9326 7266 Fax 61 3 9326 7272
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