Getting to know  Branch Committee Members
 
June 2021

Roger Read 
NSW Branch Committee Member/Past Branch President

Roger was born and raised in Sydney.  However he joined the RACI in 1980 as a newly appointed Senior Tutor at Melbourne Uni after returning to Australia from a series of formative overseas postdoctoral positions in London and Auckland.  This move began a rewarding lifelong association with the Institute that started immediately with his involvement in the organisation of an Organic Chemistry Division conference in Melbourne AND the recruitment into the RACI of final year undergraduate chemistry students; at the time, "an unofficial, departmental requirement for students to graduate"!  The RACI then provided a lifeline to the public chemistry world following a stimulating, but sideways career move for a little over 2 years into the Energetic Materials Division of the DSTO (Defence Science and Technology Organisation), Maribyrnong, VIC.  Roger attributes the professional RACI networks he established and maintained in these early years as a major factor in his eventual, successful career appointment as an academic in Chemistry at the University of New South Wales.

Instilled with a strong sense of fulfillment and wanting to give back to the RACI establishment, he has enjoyed participation in National, Divisional, Branch and specialist Group activities and served in various capacities on committees at each of these organisational levels, including as Divisional representative during the transition of the Institute to its present Incorporated status in 2000.  His standing and contributions have been acknowledged, gratefully, through his election as a Fellow of the RACI, and one time National Representative on the Board, the award of an RACI Citation, and presentation of the RACI NSW Branch President's Award.

Roger continues to enjoy his participation, albeit in a less formal way, as a Past Branch President, on the NSW Branch Committee, but now shares his time with other professional and social bodies, his love of travel, home projects and gardening, and efforts to exercise on the tennis court.

Tania Notaras

NSW Branch Committee Member/Past Branch President

I have been a member of the RACI for 29 years; however, I only became seriously active in 2015 when I was elected as NSW Branch President-Elect and an Ordinary Board Member. There's nothing like diving straight into it and getting involved at all levels.

I continue my involvement in the RACI these days as NSW Branch Immediate Past President and on the National Finance and Risk Committee.

I attended a RACI consultants group seminar in 2004 about finances in laboratories.  Attending this seminar was a turning point in my career as I connected with the accountant who later helped me establish Envirolab. Envirolab Group now trades in Australia and New Zealand under Envirolab Services, MPL Laboratories and LABTEC.

My career started as a Sandwich Degree Trainee Chemist in 1987 at the former ICI petrochemical manufacturing facility in Botany, NSW.  The main plants that I worked in are identified as Olefines, Alkatuff, Alkathene, and Site Utilities.

In 1987, I briefly met John in the control room of the Olefines plant, where he was working as a Plant Operator.  I didn't see him again until I returned to ICI in 1989 as a Marine Surveyor with Caleb Brett, and he was an Engineering Auditor.  It was an instant attraction and we married the following year. (By the way, I still wish that perms were in fashion.)

When I finished uni in 1988, my second science job was as an Analytical Development Chemist at Fisons Pharmaceuticals in Thornleigh, NSW.  I then moved on to Inchcape Testing Services – Caleb Brett as a Chemist and Marine Surveyor.  I was the first female Marine Surveyor in Australia. This was a wonderful job, but it wasn't easy to cope with a child due to the unpredictable working schedule.

In 1994, I changed industries for the last time.  For the last 27 years, I have focussed on environmental testing.

Outside of work and the RACI, I like to spend time with my extended family and dogs.  We love to travel together, and we spend a lot of time in Yamba NSW or sailing on our catamaran.  In 2019, we sailed to the Wessel Islands, Northern Territory.  This year we are sailing to Forbes Island, Far North QLD and island hopping along the way.  I can highly recommend going to the Lizard Island Research Station (LIRS).

     About LIRS

    The Australian Museum owns and operates Lizard Island Research Station to facilitate coral reef research and education on the Great Barrier Reef.

    LIRS was established in 1973.  It currently hosts about 100 research projects each year conducted by more than 300 people.  More than 100 scientific publications are produced each year from research at LIRS.  
    See website fore further details: https://australian.museum/get-involved/amri/lirs/about-lirs/