New appointments at the Australian Synchrotron

The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) has announced a series of new appointments at the Australian Synchrotron.

The synchrotron, located in Clayton, Melbourne, is an iconic critical landmark infrastructure serving thousands of Australian and New Zealand academic and industrial users. ANSTO took on operational management from 1 January this year.

The new appointees will help to both ensure continuation of world-class science and innovation for Australia, New Zealand and regional partners, and finalise the integration process between ANSTO and the synchrotron. They are:

• Professor Andrew Peele, who has been appointed interim Director of the synchrotron
• Dr Mike James, who has been appointed interim Head of Science
• Michael Beckett, who has been appointed the General Manager of Operations

“Great people deliver great results, and I’m very pleased to announce Prof Andrew Peele as interim Director of the synchrotron. I have great confidence that Andrew will steer the organisation in the right direction and develop good strategies for the future,” said ANSTO’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr Adi Paterson.

“I also have the pleasure of announcing Dr Mike James as interim Head of Science at the Synchrotron. Mike will help strengthen the links between ANSTO’s neutron scattering community in Sydney and the excellent team of beamline scientists at the synchrotron in Melbourne.

“Michael Beckett, who was working as Synchrotron Integration Manager, will now be the synchrotron’s General Manager of Operations. His role will be to ensure we operate under a set of systems and processes that is a combination of the best of the synchrotron and ANSTO together.”

Dr Paterson said the integration process has been very efficient, with major integration priorities already completed to enable ANSTO to become the official operator. The independent nuclear regulator, ARPANSA, has granted ANSTO a licence to operate the synchrotron.

Finalising the synchrotron’s enterprise agreement will be a focus. ANSTO has been closely involved with the negotiations since late December. The current discussions are said to be making progress.

“Having ANSTO and the synchrotron work together will enable us to build on existing links between the user services and ongoing development of our facilities, particularly X-ray and neutron scattering and accelerator science,” said Prof Peele.

“This will ensure our users can access world-class infrastructure and make great contributions to science and innovation. I am confident the passionate, dedicated staff at the synchrotron will continue to build on our magnificent user research outcomes and achievements.”