Our Board

Palli Thordarson is a Fellow of the RACI and joined the organisation during his PhD days at the University of Sydney in 1998, he is currently a Professor and the Deputy Head of School of Chemistry at UNSW. 

He has served as a NSW state representative on the board of the RACI Organic Chemistry Division from 2014-2018 and from 2019 treasurer of the RACI Supramolecular Chemistry Group and has been involved in many RACI events, including organising the first supramolecular symposia at a RACI Congress in Adelaide, 2014.

As a Professor and Deputy Head of School of Chemistry at UNSW he is actively involved in the continuous development of our chemistry syllabus and our research program.  He holds a senior role in the ARC Training Centre for the Chemical Industries (ATCI) which involves three Universities, a number of companies and Chemistry Australia (formerly PACIA).

He has also served on the ARC College of Experts 2016-2019 and I has been an Editorial Board Member of the Australian Journal of Chemistry since 2008.

Amanda Ellis is a Professor & Head of School, Chemical and Biomedical Engineering. She graduated with a Ph.D (Applied Chemistry) from the University of Technology, Sydney in 2003.
After two postdocs in the USA, and a NZ government research fellowship she commenced at Flinders University, South Australia as a teaching/research academic in Chemical and Physical Sciences (2006).

During this time she became a full professor (2013), an ARC Future Fellow (2014) and acting Associate Dean of Research for the Faculty of Science and Engineering (2016).

In May 2017 she joined the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Melbourne and was the Head of the Chemical Engineering Department (2019-2022).

She has been an ARC College of Experts for the MCPE panel (2017-2019) and Board member of the Royal Australia Chemical Institute (RACI) (2016-2019), now RACI President-Elect (2022-2024).

She has secured over $30 M in funding from the ARC and non-ARC sources on projects involving surface science and understanding the fundamentals of electronic and molecular interactions at interfaces for applications in DNA/RNA nanotechnology (DNA-polymer hybrids, non-enzymatic synthesis and reconfigurable electronic systems), energy storage (battery anodes) and energy harvesting (wearable devices).

Background

Danielle Skropeta is a Fellow of the RACI and a member for over 25 years, from a chemistry student at the Australian National University to today as an Associate Professor in Chemistry at the University of Wollongong (UOW). She is a passionate advocate for chemistry and driven to improve equity, diversity & inclusion by dismantling structural barriers and supporting others to enter the field from all walks of life. She strives to create a welcoming environment for the next generation of scientists and humbled to has received the Margaret Sheil Leadership Award in 2020 for championing gender equity in the chemical sciences.

• She leads an interdisciplinary research program developing new anti-cancer agents & bioinspired solutions for bacterial infection & wound healing performed in collaboration with long-term industry and community partners, building on a chemistry career that has been forged through industry partnerships.
• She aims to equip students with the chemistry knowledge and skills they need to succeed in diverse careers, with over 16 years of tertiary chemistry teaching including development of new courses and STEM outreach programs and have been awarded Senior Fellow status by the Higher Education Academy, UK.
• She is the Chair-elect of the Medicinal Chemistry & Chemical Biology (MCCB) Division and co-chair of both the combined Organic & Medicinal Chemistry Conference in Wollongong Nov 2022 and the MCCB stream of the National Congress in July 2022, helping to create diverse and gender-balanced conference programs.
• As the 2021 national STEM Ambassador (Science & Technology Australia), she advocates for the chemical sciences connecting with politicians to promote the key role of chemistry in solving national challenges in health and medicine; sustainable energy and food production; and climate change. This builds on earlier roles as the RACI representative at Science Meets Parliament in 2019 and on the Government’s Biodiscovery Industry Panel.
• In 2020, she joined the Homeward Bound leadership program aimed at empowering a globally diverse network of STEMM women aiming for greater influence and impact in decision-making that shapes our plant.

Background

Lidia Matesic is a radiochemist at ANSTO specialising in assisting industry or academic collaborators complete radiochemistry-related projects, including those undertaken by postgraduate students. They work on projects that focus on the development of new radiopharmaceuticals for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases such as neurological disorders and cancer.

• She became a member of RACI in 2007 after completing her Bachelor’s degree. More recently she has contributed to the NSW Branch, as a Committee member (2012-2016) and Treasurer (2016-2020). She is also associated with the Radiochemistry and Medicinal Chemistry/Chemical Biology Divisions.
• Since completing her PhD, she has worked as a radiochemist at ANSTO and is interested in further strengthening research linkages between the government, industry and academic sectors.
• She is passionate about communicating chemistry to a wide audience and have participated in numerous outreach events including being the Nyholm Youth Lecturer, partaking in Careers Panels for University students and attending University Open days on behalf of the RACI. Currently, Lidia also co-administer the NSW Twitter account.

Background

Sarah Cresswell is the Deputy Dean Learning and Teaching for Griffith Sciences at Griffith University and was Program Director of the Forensic Science programs from 2011 to 2018.

• She is a Centenary Fellow of the RACI and a member since 2013 and is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (a member since 1990).
• She is a member of the RACI Queensland Chemical Education Group and served as the Chair from 2015 to 2018.
• She is passionate about championing chemistry to school students and is a CSIRO Scientist in School; a post Sarah has held at two schools since 2013. In addition, she provides outreach activities and on-campus forensic science experience days to Year 9 students through Griffith’s Cutting-Edge Science Programs as well as encouraging schools to participate in the RACI Titration Competition.
• As a teaching focussed academic, she teaches specialist forensic chemistry courses to later years students and first-year chemistry to science students across all science programs at Griffith which allows her to see students throughout their undergraduate programs. She was awarded the 2017 Griffith University Vice Chancellor’s Teacher of the Year Award in 2017 for innovative teaching.
• She supervises Honours and PhD students and work in collaboration with forensic chemistry laboratories across Australia and with colleagues at Griffith.

Background

• Keelie has a BSc and MSc in Chemistry from UNB, Canada. Since arriving in Australia in 2015, she has been using her Chemistry qualifications in the recruitment industry - a Scientist recruiting Scientists. Keelie has been a passionate supporter of the RACI, most recently as the President of the WA Branch before stepping down to join the Board in March 2024. She loves helping Chemists along their career journey, highlighting pathways available to suit the individual.

Board Direction

• As an appointed Director of the Board, she hopes to bring a different viewpoint to help bridge the gap between Academia and Industry. Industry engagement, as well as Careers & Mentoring activities, are areas that Keelie can add value based on her knowledge and experience.

Background

Sarah Chapman is the Head of Department of Science at Townsville State High School and in her twentieth year of teaching, a senior teacher of Chemistry. She commits extensive portions of her own time lifting the profile of STEM education, by working with students, teachers, and the broader community. In a voluntary capacity, she is the Founder of the Townsville STEM Hub (established 2015), and Co-Chair of a national advocacy not-for profit, Women in STEMM Australia (9 years board experience). In 2018, she was selected as one of ten national STEM Ambassadors by Science and Technology Australia and was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute. Sarah was also awarded the Prime Minister’s Secondary Science Teaching Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in 2013.

Board Direction

There are many challenges and barriers that exist for girls to engage in a Chemistry or STEM based profession, these include:

• Only 27% of the Australian STEM workforce are women.
• Only 21% of girls aspire to pursue STEM careers.
• Regional Australian female teenagers lag behind metropolitan-based students in STEM education by 1.5 years.
• Girls from regional Australia are least likely to choose STEM professions compared to low socioeconomic and culturally diverse groups.
• Parental perceptions of STEM form the greatest barrier for girls pursuing STEM careers.
• Sarah's vision is to advise and support RACI board and members to grow connections for girls with local STEM industries, so they can see the impact Chemistry has in their community. Leveraging the platform of RACI to enable girls to engage with role models, to provide a tangible perspective of STEM. Her vision is also to support and grow the teacher network within RACI, in order to support educators of Chemistry nationally, in particular those in regional and remote areas.

Dr Susan Northfield trained as a peptide and medicinal chemist. She completed her PhD in medicinal chemistry from Monash University in 2012, then spent two years in the laboratory of Professor David Craik at The University of Queensland, before returning to Melbourne to join the Drug Design Laboratory in the Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics (now Department of Biochemistry & Pharmacology) in the School of Biomedical Sciences in 2014. In 2017, Dr Northfield took over as Lab Head, supervising a peptide chemistry program focussed on developing multicyclic peptide mimetics. 

Dr Northfield’s research and career opportunities have allowed her to become an internationally recognised researcher in the peptide chemistry field. Susan has spent the last fifteen years working in the fields of medicinal chemistry, chemical biology and structural biology. Across the last five years she has focussed on the development of peptide mimetics of neurotrophins, including BDNF. Peptides made by her lab are mimetics of BDNF loops capable of selectively targeting receptors to replicate BDNF activity, making them useful tools to study receptor function and disease states, including multiple sclerosis.

In 2019, Dr Northfield took on a part-time role managing the ARC Training Centre for Personalised Therapeutics Technologies, while continuing to run her lab. She maintained both roles until March 2022, working with academics, industry and government for the roles. Since April 2022, Dr Northfield has been working full-time as Research Manager in the School of Biomedical Sciences at The University of Melbourne; and holds an honorary fellow position in the Department of Biochemistry & Pharmacology.  

Susan has been an active member of the RACI since 2015, initially as a member of Victoria’s Women in Chemistry (WinC) committee and Peptide Users Group (PUG) committee. She was later secretary (2017) and chair (2018) of WinC and treasurer of PUG (2018-2019). She joined the Victorian Branch Committee in 2017, stepping into the secretary role in 2018, and president-elect in 2019. She navigated the Branch through challenging times as president in 2020 – 2022, and in November 2022 took her experience with the RACI into her new role on the RACI National Board.

Background

John Leeder is the Managing Director of Leeder Analytical,  a private consulting laboratory providing contract research and forensic services to industry and government departments and training services in the area of sample preparation and use of analytical instrumentation,

• John has PhD in analytical chemistry and a MBA. He is a fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) and has been a member for over two decades. He is also a member of the American Chemical Institute (ACI).
• John has worked in the analytical chemistry field for over 25 years. He has worked as an analytical chemist in NATA accredited Government laboratories, private companies and for companies listed on the Australian stock exchange. He has presented to many boards in Australia and also presented expert evidence in a range of courts in both Australia and New Zealand.
• He has been a Technical Assessor in the field of chemical testing under ISO17025 since the late 1990’s and a Lead Auditor under ISO9001. John completed an MBA with his main focus on innovation/strategy and also Corporate Governance.
• For the past twenty years he has been employing Australian Scientist in his analytical chemistry laboratories. John is the managing director and company secretary for Leeder Analytical. My aim would be to help expand the RACI and ensure that the new aspiring chemistry students have a good understanding of the benefits of being an RACI member.