Fisher Leadership places Professor Tanya Monro as Chief Defence Scientist at DST Group

Professor Tanya Monro is the new Chief Defence Scientist at the Defence, Science and Technology (DST) Group, where she will provide high level policy and scientific advice, manage a significant budget and lead some of Australia’s brightest and most innovative scientists, engineers and IT specialists.

Over 20 years as an academic, Tanya has displayed an impressive career trajectory, obtaining prestigious ARC fellowships and attaining a Deputy Vice-Chancellor position in 2014.  In her most recent role at UniSA, Tanya has shaped the University’s research footprint, improving performance and contributing to creating a vibrant and responsive research culture, which has been reflected in a growth in research reputation and significantly increased positioning in the QS and Times Higher Education university rankings.  At UniSA, Tanya also led the Future Industries Institute and the Centre for Cancer Biology, with a combined total of over 400 researchers and over $25 million in research income.  Following seven years at the Optoelectronics Research Centre at the University of Southampton, Tanya returned to Australia as the inaugural Chair of Photonics at the University of Adelaide and Director of the DSTO Centre of Expertise in Photonics.

Tanya sits on a number of boards and committees, and has served on the Commonwealth Science Council, the ATSE Board, the Board of Defence SA, and the Board of the Defence Innovation Partnership.  She has been a science patron of the National Youth Science forum since 2016, serves on the Policy Advisory Group of the Australian Academy of Science and is a CSIRO Board member (2016-21).