SIEF Ross Metcalf STEM+Business Fellowship Program
In 2019, SIEF received a generous bequest from Mr Ross Metcalf industrial chemist and inventor from Western Australia, who provided guidance to SIEF that the gift would be used to “foster a sustainable future for the country and interesting careers for future generations” while advancing areas of research with a “realistic chance of commercial payback”. The Trustee determined that Mr Metcalf’s bequest with additional support from the CSIRO Gift to SIEF would create the greatest impact through the STEM+Business Fellowship Program.
The funding has provided an additional twelve postdoctoral fellowships called the SIEF Ross Metcalf STEM+Business Fellowships in acknowledgement of Mr Metcalf’s gift to SIEF.
Applications for the SIEF Ross Metcalf STEM+Business Fellowships are closed. Information on the program and case studies of funded projects are at CSIRO’s SIEF Ross Metcalf STEM+Business Fellowships webpage.
The program provides a mechanism for Early Career Researchers (ECRs) to build new skills and relationships with industry. ECRs, research organisations and small and medium sized (SME) Australian businesses will work together to develop innovative commercial solutions that build Australia’s national competitiveness.
The objectives of the SIEF Ross Metcalf STEM+ Business Fellowships are to:
- build deep connection and collaboration between Research Organisations and small and medium sized Australian businesses that allow for knowledge flow between research and industry sectors;
- elevate the significance of STEM disciplines as skills and capabilities central to industrial competitiveness in Australia;
- provide practical experience in industry for Early Career Researchers, thus creating and sustaining a cohort of developing researchers capable of addressing national challenges;
- accelerate the adoption of new ideas and technologies by Australian businesses; and
- fast track solutions to increase the competitiveness of Australian businesses
The SIEF Ross Metcalf STEM+ Business Fellowship program presents a distinctive opportunity for SIEF to support the SIEF Strategic Objectives and align with the Trustee’s intent for closer links with industry, including active involvement by industry players. This Program provides long-term, in-firm placement of R&D capability with the prospect of developing the technical opportunities identified through previous, shorter-term engagements between the research organisation and SME.
The SIEF Ross Metcalf STEM+ Business Fellowships are facilitated by CSIRO’s SMEconnect team on behalf of the SIEF Trustee.
About Ross Metcalf
Ross Metcalf lived and worked in Western Australia where, following studies at UWA, his skills as an industrial chemist were applied with great benefit to the mining industry. Ross was a life-long lover of science, advocate of Australian industrial research and an inventor who sought practical solutions to chemical, mechanical and electrical challenges.