NICTA's John Parker gets Clunies Ross gong

Dr John Parker, Chief Technology Officer at NICTA, has received a Clunies Ross Award for his work on the bionic ear at an exclusive black tie dinner in Melbourne last night.

Prior to joining NICTA in 2008, John was CTO at Cochlear, which developed and now markets the bionic ear.

According to the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, "the hearing implant technologies developed under the direction of Dr Parker and his team at Cochlear have improved the quality of life of tens of thousands of recipients around the world and generated considerable social and economic benefit to Australia."

Parker joins other luminaries in Australian science, such as Fiona Wood, Ian Frazer and Barry Marshall, who have each received a Clunies Ross Award.

Other recipients this year include Dr John Boldeman of the Institute of Nuclear Science at the University of Sydney and ANSTO; Professor Tim St Pierre, School of Physics, University of WA; Mr Andrew Jessett, CEO of MineWare in Brisbane; and Dr David Skellern, CEO of NICTA and Dr Neil Weste, Director and Founder of NHEW R&D in Sydney.

Also taking home awards were the team that developed wireless LAN technology, which has now become ubiquitous worldwide, including John O’Sullivan from the CSIRO; Graham Daniels from the CSIRO; Terence Percival from NICTA; Diethelm Ostry from the CSIRO; and John Deane (formerly of the CSIRO).