CSIRO appointments indicate greater biotech role

The arrival of a group of new appointees on the board of CSIRO could foreshadow a larger role for biotechnology within Australia's premier scientific research organisation.

Two of the three new board members taking up five-year appointments have bioscience backgrounds. They are Prof Suzanne Cory, a molecular biologist who is director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, and Dr Ed Tweddell, who has spent 25 years in the international pharmaceutical industry including serving as FH Faulding and Co's managing director and CEO.

The third new board member, Peter Duncan, is the recently retired chairman of Shell Australia.

CSIRO's nine-person board in recent years has been dominated by financial specialists and academics. That includes board chairman Catherine Livingston, who was a chartered accountant and former CEO of Cochlear Ltd, and outgoing board member Prof Mary O'Kane, vice-chancellor of Adelaide University.

Other departing board members are businessman John Gandel and chartered accountant Norbury Rogers.

CSIRO chief executive and board member Dr Geoff Garrett was trained as a metallurgist.

The presence of two board members with bioscience industry backgrounds gives a new tilt to the top levels of CSIRO.

Their appointment will lead to an as an "injection of fresh ideas and capabilities" according to Federal Science Minister Peter McGauran.