| FACS Newsletter 2/2003 Distinguished Contribution to Economic Advancement
2003 FACS Awardee
Professor Thomas H Spurling
Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia
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Tom Spurling received his BSc and PhD degrees in Physical Chemistry from the University of Western Australia in 1962 and 1966. He was a post-doctoral Fellow at the University of Maryland from 1965-1967 and a Lecturer in Chemistry at the University of Tasmania from 1967-1969. He joined CSIRO in 1969 where he became the Chief of the Division of Chemicals and Polymers in 1989 and the Chief of the Division of Molecular Science in 1997. He led the World Bank funded Management and Systems Strengthening-Lembaga Ilmu Pengetuhan Indonesia (MSS-LIPI) project in Jakarta from 1999-2001 and has been the Professor of Molecular Science and Director of the Industrial Research Institute Swinburne since 2002.
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Tom is a Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Science and Engineering and a Fellow of the Federation of Asian Chemical Societies. He was President of the RACI from 1987-1988 and of the FACS from 1989-1991. In 2000 he was awarded the inaugural CSIRO Award for Business Excellence and in 2003 the Centenary Medal from the Australian Government.
Since 1980 when he was appointed Assistant Chief of the CSIRO Division of Applied Organic Chemistry he has devoted himself to understanding how and ensuring that publicly funded research benefits the economy of the nation whose taxpayers are contributing. This included spending 1985 as the Senior Private Secretary of the then Australian Minister for Resources and Energy.
While Chief of the Divisions of Chemicals and Polymers and Molecular Science he dramatically increased the interaction of the Division with companies both in Australia and other countries. This resulted in considerable economic benefit to Australia through Australian companies launching new products based on CSIRO research, overseas companies launching new products and returning royalties to Australia and the formation of a number of spin-off companies to commercialise the CSIRO research.
Tom Spurling was able to transfer some of these ideas and processes to the major Indonesian publicly funded research institute LIPI while leader of the MSS-LIPI project in Jakarta from 1999-2001. This project was highly commended by the World Bank assessors.
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