40 Vital Engineering Thought Leaders in Queensland

Last updated: June 2026

Introduction

As of June 2026, Queensland is home to one of the most consequential engineering ecosystems in Australia, and the people shaping it are doing so at a scale that few outside the profession fully appreciate. Whether you want to understand who is leading the conversation on Queensland's infrastructure future, who is driving the research that underpins the state's energy transition, or who is building the firms that will deliver the 2032 Olympic Games pipeline, the voices on this list are the ones worth following.

The 40 people compiled here were selected on the basis of substantive and documented contribution to engineering practice, research, or professional leadership in Queensland; active public engagement in 2025 or 2026; and a deliberate effort to include voices across every major engineering discipline, from civil and structural to energy, robotics, water, chemical, and digital engineering. The list spans Brisbane's major infrastructure agencies, Queensland's three leading engineering universities, peak professional bodies, national energy utilities, and regional engineering firms from Cairns to Toowoomba.

Engineers Australia has publicly described the engineering skills shortage as a national economic issue. Queensland's infrastructure budget for 2025-26 reached a record $116.8 billion, and the state faces a projected shortfall of approximately 18,200 construction workers over the next eight years, with that forecast figure potentially peaking at around 50,000 in 2026-27. The people on this list are working at the intersection of those pressures, building capability, advocating for the profession, delivering infrastructure, and shaping the next generation of Queensland engineers.

The list deliberately moved past the most prominent national names to surface practitioners, researchers, regulators, and industry leaders doing the most consequential thinking and work in this specific state. Each person brings a perspective grounded in the realities of Queensland, with its unique mix of large-scale resource projects, a booming southeast Queensland construction market, significant energy transition challenges, and the looming 2032 Olympics program.

If your organisation is navigating the leadership, communication, and team dynamics challenges that come with growing engineering firms, large infrastructure programs, or high-pressure project delivery environments, Jonno White works with engineering firms, project teams, and leadership groups across Australia. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

Why Engineering Leadership Matters in Queensland

Queensland's engineering sector is operating under conditions that have no precedent in the state's history. The simultaneous pressures of a $116.8 billion infrastructure budget, a record pipeline of energy transition investments, the countdown to the 2032 Brisbane Olympics, and a structural workforce shortage are arriving not sequentially but together. As of June 2026, the quality of engineering leadership in this state has become an economic variable, not merely a professional aspiration.

The Board of Professional Engineers of Queensland (BPEQ) maintains registration for more than 23,000 Registered Professional Engineers of Queensland (RPEQ), a legally required credential that makes Queensland the only state in Australia with a statutory engineering registration system. The leaders who govern and administer that system are among the most consequential figures in Queensland engineering. Their decisions about professional standards and accountability directly shape how engineering authority is exercised on every major project the state delivers.

At the same time, Queensland's universities are producing research that positions the state at the frontier of robotics, materials engineering, renewable energy, and resilient infrastructure design. The QUT Centre for Robotics is rated as the top robotics research institution in Australia. Griffith University's disaster and resilience research facility has been used by Queensland government agencies during actual natural disasters. These are not abstract academic exercises. They are Queensland-rooted engineering innovations with direct practical consequence.

WT Partnership's analysis of Queensland's construction pipeline, released in early 2026, forecast construction labour shortfalls rising from 27,200 in 2026-27 to approximately 46,000 in 2028-29, figures driven by the confluence of Olympic infrastructure, energy transition projects, and transport programs. Leadership that can attract, develop, and retain engineering capability in this environment is not a nice-to-have. It is the difference between projects being delivered and projects being delayed.

Jonno White works with engineering firms, infrastructure organisations, and project teams across Australia on leadership development, Working Genius facilitation, and executive team alignment. His book Step Up or Step Out (10,000+ copies sold globally) addresses the conversation and accountability frameworks that high-performing engineering teams need. Email jonno@consultclarity.org to discuss how he can support your organisation.

How This List Was Compiled

Every person on this list was selected on three criteria: substantive and documented contribution to engineering practice, research, regulation, or professional leadership in Queensland, supported by published work, institutional affiliation, a recognised credential, or a substantial body of public commentary; active engagement in public discourse in 2025 or 2026; and disciplinary and geographic breadth, with a deliberate effort to include voices across civil, structural, energy, water, chemical, environmental, robotics, aerospace, and digital engineering, across Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Cairns, and Toowoomba. The list moved past the most prominent national names to surface voices doing consequential work in this specific state.

Category One: Professional Bodies and Regulatory Leadership

Queensland's peak engineering bodies set the professional standards, advocate for the profession, and govern the RPEQ registration system that is unique in Australia. The leaders of these organisations are the most consistently public voices in Queensland engineering and are directly shaping the conditions under which the state's more than 23,000 registered engineers practise.

The Board of Professional Engineers of Queensland is Australia's oldest and most comprehensive engineering regulator. Engineers Australia's Queensland Division represents thousands of local members and feeds directly into national engineering policy. The Queensland Major Contractors Association is the central voice for the state's leading construction contractors and a key interlocutor in how Queensland's infrastructure pipeline is planned, delivered, and evaluated.

1. Dr Raj Aseervatham FIEAust CPEng EngExec

Civil and water infrastructure engineering is the foundation of Dr Raj Aseervatham's career, which began in local and state government before spanning work in two ASX 50 mining companies, consulting and assurance firms, and national professional leadership. He graduated from the University of Queensland and has built a career combining deep technical practice with ESG risk strategy and, since January 2024, governance of Australia's peak engineering body as National President and Board Chair of Engineers Australia.

In 2025 and 2026, Aseervatham has been one of the most consistent public voices in Australia on the engineering workforce challenge, describing declining maths enrolments as not merely an education issue but a productivity and infrastructure delivery issue requiring coordinated national action. He delivered keynotes at the Illuminate 2025 Conference and the 2025 CEDA State of the Nation, always bringing a Queensland-trained engineer's perspective to national conversations about the profession's future.

2. Andrew Reid

Andrew Reid is the President of Engineers Australia's Queensland Division and a Principal at HAALD Engineering in Brisbane, combining elected professional leadership with active engineering practice. His 2025 committee focused on three priorities: affordable, reliable, and sustainable power for Queensland; building a robust and inclusive workforce; and ensuring early engineering involvement in Queensland's infrastructure planning, including the 2032 Olympic Games program.

His consistent advocacy for the establishment of a Chief Engineer for Queensland reflects a view that the state's infrastructure pipeline requires dedicated professional engineering leadership at the highest level of government. His representation of Queensland members at Engineers Australia's national board, including on registration pathways, AI governance, and the role of engineering in Queensland's economic transformation, reflects the breadth of concerns his division membership brings to him.

3. Darren Beattie

Darren Beattie is the General Manager of Engineers Australia's Queensland Division and one of the most active engineering advocates in the state, leading the division's engagement with government on engineering priorities, overseeing professional development and awards programs, and presenting regularly at events connecting Queensland's engineering profession with policy and industry. His published advocacy on circular economy engineering, RPEQ compliance in local government, and Queensland's 2032 Games infrastructure review reflects a clear public position on the profession's role in the state's future.

His regular presence at engineering events across Queensland, from Brisbane to Bundaberg, and his direct engagement with universities, councils, and engineering firms make him one of the most accessible faces of professional engineering advocacy in the state.

4. Suzanne Burow FIEAust CPEng NER RPEQ

Suzanne Burow chairs the Board of Professional Engineers of Queensland, Australia's oldest engineering regulator, having served on the board since 2019, as Deputy Chairperson from 2022, and as Chairperson from May 2024. A chartered and registered civil engineer with considerable experience as a water resources practitioner across multiple sectors, she is also a Director on the Gladstone Area Water Board in Central Queensland.

Her regular public communications on RPEQ renewal obligations, professional conduct, and the structural role of Queensland's engineering registration system reflect governance leadership that combines technical credibility with institutional authority. Her previous service as President of the Engineers Australia Queensland Division provides a dual peak body perspective that is unusual and valuable.

5. Timea Steptoe

Timea Steptoe joined the Board of Professional Engineers of Queensland as Registrar in July 2022, bringing more than 20 years of Queensland Government experience in policy development, operational management, and organisational change management. As Registrar, she administers the RPEQ system for more than 23,000 registered engineers, handles registrations and renewals, manages complaints, and represents the board at industry and university events across Queensland.

Her personal presentations at GHD, QUT, universities in Bundaberg, and regional Queensland engineering events, typically attracting hundreds of engineers per session, make her one of the most operationally active figures in Queensland's engineering regulatory system. Her communications on the 2025 RPEQ renewal period and her engagement with local government and major engineering firms reflect a Registrar who treats public engineering education as a core part of the role.

6. Andrew Chapman

Andrew Chapman is the Chief Executive Officer of the Queensland Major Contractors Association and brings more than 20 years of engineering and construction experience to the role, including previous service as Engineers Australia Queensland Division President. His civil engineering background, combined with experience at major contractors and consulting firms, gives him a practitioner's credibility in an industry advocacy role.

His public commentary to ABC Brisbane on the 2032 Games infrastructure venue review, his engagement with government on defence infrastructure procurement, and his articulation of the productivity and workforce challenges facing Queensland's construction sector reflect a CEO willing to take public positions on contested issues. His leadership of QMCA, which accounts for approximately 70-80% of construction and civil engineering work in the state, gives those positions real industry weight.

Category Two: Energy and Utilities Engineering

Queensland's electricity grid is navigating the most consequential engineering transformation in its history. The state's high penetration of rooftop solar, the phase-out of coal generation, the need to build new renewable energy zones and transmission connections, and the management of system stability through the transition are all creating engineering challenges of a scale and novelty that the Australian energy sector has not faced before. The people in this category are leading that transformation from the inside.

Queensland is also home to significant gas pipeline infrastructure managed by APA Group, and a transmission network that historically underpinned the reliability of the National Electricity Market. The shift to a low-carbon energy future is creating new leadership conversations across all of those infrastructure streams.

7. Paul Simshauser AM FTSE

Paul Simshauser is the Chief Executive Officer of Iberdrola Australia, appointed in early 2026 following five years as CEO of Powerlink Queensland, and is simultaneously a Professor of Economics at Griffith University's Centre for Applied Energy Economics and Policy Research. He is a Member of the Order of Australia, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, and has been described as a trusted adviser to both the Australian and Queensland governments on energy transition questions.

His September 2025 keynote at the IEEE PES AUPEC conference in Brisbane addressed the grid stability and investment challenges of Queensland's coal phase-out with the directness of someone who had led the state's transmission network. His move to Iberdrola Australia, one of the world's largest renewable energy developers, positions him as one of the most consequential figures in Australia's renewable energy development pipeline. His publishing record in peer-reviewed energy journals and his ability to navigate the commercial, technical, and political dimensions of energy transition simultaneously set him apart in the Queensland energy sector.

8. Suzanne Shipp CPEng RPEQ EngExec

Suzanne Shipp joined Energy Queensland's Executive Leadership Team in September 2025 as Chief Engineer, overseeing engineering and asset management across the Ergon Energy and Energex operational streams and taking responsibility for the safe, reliable, and efficient operation of Queensland's electricity distribution networks serving millions of customers. Her career began as a military apprentice and has since included senior operational and engineering roles spanning energy transmission across Australia's critical infrastructure.

She holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical and Electronics Engineering (First Class Honours) and an MBA, and is a Chartered Professional Engineer, RPEQ, and Engineering Executive. She received the Women in Industry Excellence in Energy Award in 2025 and appeared as a panellist on retail energy transformation at Australian Energy Week 2026, addressing the engineering dimensions of Queensland's rooftop solar challenge and how distribution networks can be redesigned to enable customer participation in the energy system.

9. Jason Hall RPEQ

Jason Hall is the General Manager Grid Technology at Energy Queensland, where he has built one of the most comprehensive careers in Queensland's electricity distribution engineering, spanning more than 30 years and roles in generation, transmission, and distribution. He is responsible for protection, telecommunications, and control systems for the Ergon Energy and Energex networks, including the introduction of new technologies to transition toward an intelligent grid.

He holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical and Computer) Honours from QUT and is a Registered Professional Engineer of Queensland, Energy Queensland's representative to CIGRE Australia, an Asset Management Committee Member for Energy Networks Australia, and Deputy Chair of the Australian Power Institute Board. His September 2025 keynote at the IEEE PES AUPEC conference in Brisbane on energy transition engineering challenges placed him alongside Paul Simshauser as one of Queensland's most publicly active energy engineering voices in the period before Simshauser moved to Iberdrola.

10. Allyson Woodford

Allyson Woodford is the General Manager of Engineering and Technical Solutions at APA Group, one of Australia's largest energy infrastructure businesses, where she leads technical authority and strategic engineering across the company's operations from Brisbane. A chemical engineer by training with a University of Queensland Bachelor's degree and additional qualifications in organisational leadership from Cambridge and executive education at INSEAD, she has served as Chair of the IChemE Australian Board and as a Trustee of the international IChemE body.

Her active LinkedIn commentary on energy markets, the energy transition, and engineering workforce issues connects APA's Queensland engineering operations to the broader national energy conversation. Her Co-chairing of two international conferences in chemical engineering and process safety, including Hazards Australasia on the Gold Coast, reflects the international professional engagement that sits behind her Queensland-based industry leadership.

11. Dr Maureen Hassall PhD CPEng RPEQ

Maureen Hassall is the Deputy Chairperson and Academic Representative on the Board of Professional Engineers of Queensland and an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and Director of UQ R!SK at the University of Queensland in Brisbane. She holds a PhD in Cognitive Systems Engineering and has published extensively on systems thinking, human factors, and evidence-based approaches to risk management in engineering practice.

Her work bridges the academic and regulatory dimensions of engineering in a way that is genuinely unusual: her research directly informs how Queensland engineers think about the human and systems dimensions of engineering risk, while her BPEQ role shapes the professional standards framework within which those engineers operate. Her presence on the BPEQ board provides technical and academic depth to a regulatory function that directly affects every engineer practising in Queensland.

12. Colin Sheldon CPEng RPEQ

Colin Sheldon joined the Board of Professional Engineers of Queensland in 2025 as the Elected Representative and is a Consulting Manager at Aurecon in Brisbane, with more than 13 years of experience across rail, resources, utilities, heavy industry manufacturing, and defence. A chartered and registered mechanical engineer, he chairs the Mechanical College Board within Engineers Australia, is a National Congress delegate, and serves on the Standards Australia Board Committee and NATA's Inspection Accreditation Advisory Committee.

His election to BPEQ as an active practitioner representative brings an industry perspective to the board's regulatory work that complements the academic and institutional perspectives of other board members. His breadth of experience across critical infrastructure and his committee leadership positions make him one of Queensland's most active mid-career engineering professionals in the governance and standards space.

13. Patrick Brady

Patrick Brady is the Founder and Chair of Premise, one of Queensland's most respected civil engineering firms, and was appointed Chair of the Energy Queensland Board in August 2025, bringing a distinguished career in civil engineering to governance of Australia's largest government-owned energy business. His career has spanned major projects across metropolitan and regional Queensland in urban development, public infrastructure, agriculture, and mining.

His Premise LinkedIn posts in 2025 and 2026 focus on the firm's involvement in Inland Rail, Olympic infrastructure, and large-scale residential and urban developments, reflecting a firm actively engaged with Queensland's most significant infrastructure programs. His dual role as engineering firm founder and energy utility board chair gives him a perspective on Queensland's infrastructure and energy landscape that spans delivery practice and strategic governance.

Category Three: Civil, Infrastructure and Transport Engineering

Queensland's civil and transport engineering sector is operating at unprecedented scale. The 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games pipeline, Cross River Rail, Brisbane Metro, the Bruce Highway upgrade program, and a record state budget allocation for transport infrastructure are all running concurrently. The leaders in this category are at the centre of that delivery challenge.

Queensland's Department of Transport and Main Roads manages the largest state transport department budget in Australia, at approximately $12 billion annually, and oversees assets valued at more than $106 billion. Engineering leadership at that scale requires integrating technical expertise with financial management, community engagement, and political interface in a way that few engineering contexts in Australia demand.

14. Ben Schnitzerling FIEAust

Ben Schnitzerling is the Co-founder and Director of Red Fox Advisory, a Brisbane engineering consultancy he founded with Anthony Schmidt in 2019 that has grown to more than 40 engineers and specialists across Queensland and Western Australia. Before founding Red Fox, he was Regional Director at Arup's Transport and Resources Sector, with direct operational control of more than 1,100 staff and annual revenue exceeding $270 million.

In March 2025, Schnitzerling published commentary in Engineers Australia's create magazine arguing that Australia needs to recover its risk appetite in infrastructure design, describing context-sensitive and scalable design as both sustainable and responsible infrastructure planning. His mentoring of young engineers through Young Engineers Australia Queensland and his recognition with a Highly Commended award at the QMCA Awards 2026 for the Birtinya Cable Stay Pedestrian Bridge project reflect a practitioner who contributes to both the profession and the built environment beyond commercial delivery.

15. Jakki Thompson

Jakki Thompson won the Queensland Professional Engineer of the Year award at the 2025 Engineers Australia Excellence Awards in Brisbane, recognised for her leadership in major infrastructure projects including Brisbane Metro and Cross River Rail. Her career spans design, procurement, and construction for PPP, Design and Construct, and Alliance projects, and she brings a particular skill in resolving complex design and constructability challenges while building collaborative environments that deliver value engineering and efficient project outcomes.

Her more than 21 years in infrastructure delivery across Brisbane includes significant programme leadership roles on projects that have fundamentally changed how Brisbane moves. The scale and complexity of those projects, combined with her recognition as Queensland's professional engineer of the year, make her one of the most accomplished infrastructure delivery leaders the state has produced.

16. Natasha Roy GAICD

Natasha Roy is the General Manager of Queensland at John Holland, one of Australia's largest construction firms, where she has built a career spanning almost 30 years of delivering major infrastructure projects across Queensland. She oversees large-scale projects while using her platform to advocate for gender equity and equality in the construction industry, and has co-chaired the Celebrate Women Network at John Holland.

Her implementation of industry-first initiatives offering immersive training and support for junior female staff has produced measurable improvements in retention and representation. She is a regular speaker at industry events on both infrastructure delivery and inclusion, representing a model of senior engineering leadership that integrates technical excellence with sustained workforce culture work.

17. Dr Miranda Blogg

Dr Miranda Blogg is the Director of Safer Roads at the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads, where she oversees targeted road safety program development and delivery in partnership with state and local jurisdictions, bringing more than 25 years of experience as a civil engineer in both private and public sectors. She received the ITS Australia Woman of the Year award in 2025 and spoke at the Transport Conference hosted by Engineers Australia in 2026.

Her work demonstrates that the most impactful infrastructure outcomes come from sustained, evidence-based program delivery rather than one-off capital investment. Her integration of intelligent transport system thinking with traditional road safety engineering, and her data-driven approach to road safety program design, positions her as one of the most technically sophisticated road safety engineers working in Queensland government.

18. Sally Stannard

Sally Stannard has served as Acting Director-General of Queensland's Department of Transport and Main Roads, leading Australia's largest state transport department by budget, with approximately $12 billion in annual expenditure including $4.2 billion in capital investment and managed assets exceeding $106 billion. Her operational leadership spans Queensland's road, rail, maritime, and transport infrastructure programs during one of the most significant investment periods in the state's history.

The scale of TMR's asset portfolio under her leadership is a measure of the operational complexity involved. Leading a department of this size requires integrating technical engineering expertise with financial management, community engagement, political interface, and workforce development at a level that few public sector engineering leadership roles in Australia match.

19. Jack Shelley

Jack Shelley is the State Director for Queensland at WT Partnership and has become one of the most publicly active voices on the quantitative challenges of Queensland's construction pipeline in 2025 and 2026. WT's analysis under his leadership forecast a rolling three-year average construction workforce shortfall rising from 27,200 in 2026-27 to approximately 46,000 in 2028-29, figures that have been widely cited in government and industry discussions about delivery risk for the 2032 Olympics program.

His published commentary in Roads and Infrastructure magazine, Build Australia, and Brisbane Development on the procurement, productivity, and workforce challenges of Queensland's infrastructure pipeline represents a distinctive analytical contribution to a public conversation often dominated by project announcements rather than delivery realities. His participation in the 2032 Games infrastructure review process and ongoing advisory work with Queensland's major infrastructure agencies has positioned him as a trusted practitioner voice on project economics.

20. Mary-Caroline Van Passen CPEng RPEQ

Mary-Caroline Van Passen is a Chartered Civil Engineer and Registered Professional Engineer of Queensland who joined the Engineers Australia Queensland Division Committee in 2025, where she contributes to the governance and strategic direction of the profession across the state. With more than 20 years of experience in design development, design management, and project management for civil infrastructure projects, she is a consistent advocate for engineering as a career and for the profession's role in the 2032 Olympics delivery.

Her involvement as an office bearer in Engineers Australia's Queensland Division and her active participation in governance discussions at the national board level reflect a practitioner who invests in the profession beyond her project delivery role.

21. Warren Crowther

Warren Crowther is the General Manager of JF Hull Holdings, a Brisbane-based structures contractor, with a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) from UQ, an MBA from USQ, and RPEQ registration. His 25 years of civil construction experience includes project leadership on major Queensland and national projects including the Ipswich Motorway, CoalConnect Alliance Northern Missing Link Rail, Gateway WA, and Gateway Upgrade North.

He serves on the QMCA Board, where he brings a structures contractor's perspective to the peak body representing Queensland's major construction companies. His combination of technical depth, commercial leadership, and industry governance involvement reflects the kind of complete civil engineering career that is central to Queensland's built environment.

Category Four: University Research and Academic Leaders

Queensland's engineering universities are producing research that is reshaping infrastructure design, energy systems, and the capabilities of robots and materials. The people in this category are building the evidence base that Queensland's engineering practice will draw from for decades, and they are training the engineers who will deliver the state's infrastructure in the generation after the 2032 Games.

The QUT Centre for Robotics is the top-rated robotics research institution in Australia. The University of Queensland's School of Chemical Engineering is producing internationally significant work on perovskite solar cells, sustainable polymers, and hydrogen production pathways. Griffith University's disaster and resilience research is being used by Queensland government agencies in real emergency management contexts.

22. Professor Cheryl Desha FIEAust CPEng

Cheryl Desha is a Professor in the School of Engineering and Built Environment at Griffith University, Director of the N79 Disaster and Resilience Management Facility, Theme Leader for the Cities Research Institute's Digital Earth and Resilient Infrastructure agenda, and Director of Science and Innovation at Natural Hazards Research Australia. She has been awarded the Engineers Australia Queensland Professional Engineer of the Year and the Queensland Government's Individual Champion of Change Award, and is a Fellow of Engineers Australia with more than 5,000 academic citations.

Her keynote at Engineers Australia's Climate Smart Engineering Conference 2025 in Adelaide presented research on how studying how ecosystems adapt to stress and recover from disturbance can uncover design principles for infrastructure and urban planning. Her N79 building at Griffith University has housed Queensland government disaster management agencies during actual natural disaster events, a real-world validation of her research focus that few academic engineers can claim.

23. Professor Jonathan Roberts

Jonathan Roberts is a Professor in Robotics at QUT's School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics, Director of the Australian Cobotics Centre, and Technical Director of the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Hub (ARM Hub), combining research leadership with technology commercialisation and public engagement across field robotics, medical robotics, and collaborative robotics. He joined QUT in 2014 following a career at CSIRO that included robotics applications on 3,500-tonne mining draglines and autonomous underground explosive loading vehicles.

He has more than 5,575 academic citations, is one of Australia's most prolific communicators on robotics through The Conversation, and co-invented the UAV Challenge Outback Rescue, an international flying robot competition held in regional Queensland. His leadership of the Australian Cobotics Centre is directly aimed at helping Australian manufacturers adopt collaborative robotics, with relevance to Queensland's advanced manufacturing sector.

24. Professor Matthew Dunbabin

Matthew Dunbabin is a Professor in Environmental Robotics at QUT and a Chief Investigator at both the ARC Centre of Excellence in Robotic Vision and the ARM Hub, with more than 20 years of experience spanning mining, construction, agriculture, defence, and marine robotics. He received the Google Impact Challenge People's Choice Award and an Engineers Australia Excellence Award for his coral reef restoration robotics work, which involved autonomous surface vessels delivering millions of coral larvae onto damaged sections of reef in hours.

With more than 7,010 academic citations and active LinkedIn engagement on ocean conservation and robotics, he is among the most productive and publicly visible environmental engineering researchers working from Queensland. His work at the intersection of robotics and marine conservation is directly relevant to Queensland's Great Barrier Reef, one of the state's most significant natural assets.

25. Associate Professor Yateendra Mishra

Yateendra Mishra is an Associate Professor in Power Engineering at QUT's School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics and an Advanced Queensland Fellow, with more than 7,888 academic citations and research focused on smart grid technologies, renewable energy integration, demand response, and electricity markets. His Advanced Queensland Fellowship directly addressed the technical challenges of maximising renewable energy penetration in Queensland's distribution networks through smart inverter deployment.

He received his PhD from the University of Queensland in 2009 and worked as a Transmission Planning Engineer at the Midwest Independent System Operator in the United States before joining QUT. His attendance at Engineers Australia's Queensland eDinner in August 2025 and his ongoing industry engagement through seminars with Powerlink engineers reflect a researcher who actively bridges the academic-industry divide in Queensland's energy sector.

26. Professor Hongxia Wang FTSE

Hongxia Wang is a Professor at QUT's School of Chemical Engineering and Robotics, an ARC Australian Laureate Fellow, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (elected 2025), with more than 14,372 academic citations from research on perovskite solar cells, energy storage, and organic photovoltaics. Her patented carbon electrode technology has underpinned commercial Australian manufacturing of perovskite solar cells.

ATSE describes her as a globally learned scholar and thought leader in advanced materials and manufacturing processes for emerging solar cell technologies. Her participation in Australian Manufacturing Week 2026 in Brisbane and her ARC Laureate Fellowship, which funds research on improving the durability of next-generation perovskite-based solar cells, confirm active engagement with the manufacturing and energy sectors that her research directly serves.

27. Dr Elsa Antunes

Elsa Antunes is a Senior Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at James Cook University in Cairns and Director of the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing HUB at JCU, whose research develops new materials and manufacturing techniques for biomedical implants, aerospace, and catalysis applications. She received the 2023 Women in Industry Award for Excellence in Engineering, has attracted more than $2 million in competitive research funding as Chief Investigator, and founded AWESOME in 2023 to support young female students in engineering at JCU.

Her presence in Cairns, at one of Queensland's regional universities, is a deliberate acknowledgement of the engineering research and education work being done outside Brisbane. Her AWESOME initiative addresses both the geographic and gender diversity dimensions of Queensland's engineering workforce challenge in a regional context where visibility of engineering role models matters particularly.

Category Five: Innovation, Technology and Applied Research

Engineering innovation in Queensland is increasingly visible in the gap between what laboratory research produces and what industry actually adopts. The people in this category are working to close that gap, whether through technology commercialisation, systems engineering, or applied research that starts from industry problems rather than academic questions.

This category spans robotics and advanced manufacturing, innovation academy leadership at Queensland's major universities, materials engineering for sustainable applications, and the quantum-adjacent sensing and medical robotics research positioning Queensland's universities at the frontier of next-generation engineering capability.

28. Professor Tim Kastelle

Tim Kastelle is the Professor and Director of the Andrew N. Liveris Academy for Innovation and Leadership at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, where he leads UQ's innovation academy and works to connect research outputs to commercialisation and industry partnership pathways. His work addresses one of the most persistent challenges in Queensland's engineering ecosystem: how technical knowledge produced in universities becomes economic and social value outside them.

His active LinkedIn commentary on the relationship between academic research, industry collaboration, and innovation impact addresses a question that sits at the centre of Queensland's engineering knowledge economy. His late-career authorship of a book on innovation, which he has described as having changed his perspective on what research impact means, reflects a genuine practitioner's evolution from pure academic to innovation system builder.

29. Associate Professor Ajay Kumar Pandey

Ajay Kumar Pandey is an Associate Professor at QUT's School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics in Brisbane and Principal Investigator of the Intelligent Bionics and Soft Robotics Lab, with more than 4,067 academic citations and research spanning quantum sensing, neuroengineering, medical robotics, integrated photonics, and organic photovoltaics. He has held a QUT Vice-Chancellor's Senior Research Fellowship in Medical Robotics and an ARENA Fellowship in next-generation photovoltaic technology.

His research group publishes on soft robotics, organic photodetectors, and medical device applications, addressing engineering challenges at the frontier of what physical materials and autonomous systems can do. His participation in the QUT Centre for Robotics community and his attendance at Quantum Australia 2026 position him as an engaged member of Queensland's most productive engineering research cluster.

30. Professor Cori Stewart ATSE

Cori Stewart is the Founder and CEO of the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Hub (ARM Hub) in Brisbane, Australia's leading AI, robotics, and Industry 5.0 innovation centre, elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering in 2025 and named a Superstar of STEM in both 2023 and 2024. She is a Board member of the Australian Government's Industry Innovation Science Australia Board and of the Queensland Manufacturing Institute.

Her December 2025 launch of Propel-AIR 2.0, connecting Australian robotics innovators with MassRobotics in Boston, and her July 2025 keynote at Industrial Transformation Australia on the national mission for industrial transformation reflect a leader who has built Brisbane's robotics ecosystem into a nationally and internationally recognised innovation hub. ARM Hub is one of four Australian government-backed AI Adopt Centres, and its work on AI-as-a-service for Australian manufacturing businesses has direct relevance to Queensland's manufacturing competitiveness.

31. Professor Bronwyn Laycock

Bronwyn Laycock is a Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, whose research focuses on sustainable materials, biodegradable polymers, biopolymers for circular economy applications, and the environmental behaviour of plastics. She is a contributor to The Conversation on manufacturing and materials sustainability, and her research group publishes regularly in leading international journals on polymer biodegradation, agrichemical release systems, and sustainable polymer films.

Her presentation at TropAg 2025 in Brisbane on controlled-release technology for methane mitigation in grazing beef cattle reflects the applied agricultural dimension of her materials research in a Queensland context, and her publication record in 2025 and 2026 confirms active research productivity directly relevant to Queensland's agriculture and manufacturing sectors.

32. Associate Professor Simon Smart

Simon Smart is an Associate Professor at UQ's School of Chemical Engineering in Brisbane and Senior Research Fellow at the UQ Dow Centre for Sustainable Engineering Innovation, with more than 8,456 academic citations and research spanning hydrogen production, membrane technology, and net zero pathway analysis. He is a contributor to The Conversation and was a named researcher on Net Zero Australia's 2023 and 2025 topical reports on Australia's pathways to net zero.

His 2025 publication in Nature Sustainability on risks to natural capital in net-zero transitions, and his 2026 publication in Sustainable Energy and Fuels on low-carbon liquid fuels, reflect active research engagement with the engineering dimensions of Queensland's energy transition. His work on sustainable hydrogen production from Australian coal feedstocks has direct relevance to Queensland's critical minerals and resources sector as it navigates the low-carbon transition.

Category Six: Construction, Project Delivery and Professional Advocacy

Infrastructure is ultimately built by people who do the work and lead the teams that do the work. The people in this category are at that coalface of Queensland engineering, delivering projects, advocating for underrepresented groups in the profession, and building the grassroots professional community that sustains engineering culture across the state.

They span aerospace engineering in Brisbane, mechanical and building services engineering in Far North Queensland, construction design governance on Queensland's most ambitious projects, water infrastructure asset management, and the mentoring and advocacy work that is essential for the long-term health of the profession's workforce pipeline.

33. Sandra Nilsen FIEAust

Sandra Nilsen is the General Manager of Design and Engineering at BESIX Watpac, where she leads design and engineering solutions for both new opportunities and active major projects. She brings more than 27 years of construction and design experience across numerous markets, and is a Fellow of Engineers Australia and a Board member of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.

Her role at BESIX Watpac, whose joint venture with WSP Australia won the Queensland Project of the Year award at the 2025 Engineers Australia Excellence Awards for the Kangaroo Point Bridge, places her at the centre of one of Queensland's most celebrated recent engineering achievements. That bridge, 460 metres long and one of the world's longest asymmetric cable-stayed active transport structures, demonstrates the level of engineering innovation and delivery capability that BESIX Watpac's design and engineering leadership is producing in Queensland.

34. Taryn Stark

Taryn Stark is the Program Chief Engineer for the Wakulda program at Boeing Defence Australia in Brisbane, where she leads strategic initiatives in aerospace engineering and is responsible for innovation and technical excellence across a significant national defence project. She has been with Boeing for more than seven years, with previous roles as Senior Software Engineer and Tech Lead at PhantomWorks.

Her participation in the Women in Engineering Summit 2025 reflects a commitment to sharing her experience of navigating a career at the intersection of software engineering and aerospace project management. Her role at Boeing Defence Australia, which employs thousands of engineers across Queensland and is one of the state's most significant defence engineering operations, reflects the breadth of the sector beyond the civil infrastructure work that dominates most public commentary.

35. Stephanie Taylor

Stephanie Taylor is a software engineer and the Founder of Girl Code Australia, an initiative she created to inspire females to pursue careers in technology and engineering. She served as Chair of Young Engineers Australia Queensland before joining the Engineers Australia Queensland Division Committee in 2025. With more than five years of industry experience spanning digital initiatives, software solutions, and digital transformation, she brings a technology engineer's perspective to professional leadership.

Girl Code Australia is a direct investment in the long-term pipeline of women entering engineering in Queensland. Her combination of industry practice, professional governance through the EA Queensland Committee, and grassroots advocacy through Girl Code Australia represents the kind of multi-level contribution to the engineering profession that has genuine long-term impact.

36. Sonia Holzheimer FIEAust RPEQ

Sonia Holzheimer is the Co-founder and Director of SEQUAL Consulting Group, a Cairns-based mechanical and electrical building services engineering consultancy she co-founded in December 2014 that has since delivered projects across Far North Queensland. A Fellow of Engineers Australia and Registered Professional Engineer of Queensland, she chairs the Queensland Mechanical College Committee and the Women of AIRAH, and serves on local and national committees.

She speaks regularly at Cairns schools and RTOs about engineering careers and participated as an industry expert in the STEM Changemakers program. Her co-founding of a specialist engineering consultancy in regional Queensland, combined with sustained professional volunteering and advocacy, makes her one of the clearest examples of what active engineering citizenship looks like in a regional Queensland context.

37. Laurie Bowman

Laurie Bowman is the Asia-Oceania Leader for the INCOSE Risk Management Working Group and a member of the Engineers Australia Queensland Division Committee in 2025, specialising in governance, strategy, and analysis of risks, costs, and benefits across complex mega-projects, programs, and portfolios. He has served as Regional Director for Asia-Oceania at AACE International and as Chair of the Australian Cost Engineering Society in NSW and QLD.

His international systems engineering standards work through INCOSE and his presence on the EA Queensland Division Committee reflect a practitioner whose cost engineering and risk management perspective is relevant to Queensland's current challenge of managing multiple overlapping major projects with shared resource constraints. His Standards Australia committee representation and national congress delegate role give him direct influence on the professional standards that govern Queensland engineering practice.

38. Johanna Austin

Johanna Austin is the Head of Engineering at AIM in Brisbane and brings a background spanning aerospace engineering and aviation technology leadership, with previous roles as Head of Engineering and Production Systems Engineering Lead at Swoop Aero. She has been an Advisory Board member for digital and AI transformation at a major food and beverage organisation, and her career reflects the growing intersection between engineering leadership and digital transformation in the aviation and aerospace sectors.

Her participation in the Women in Engineering Summit 2025 on panels addressing the future of leadership in engineering and increasingly complex project expectations reflects a practitioner engaging publicly with the structural questions facing the engineering profession as it navigates technological change and workforce transformation.

39. Ella Hingston

Ella Hingston is the Group Leader Asset Strategies QLD at Stantec in Brisbane, a civil engineer with eight years of experience on major South East Queensland water infrastructure projects and a committee member of the Australian Water Association Queensland Branch. She presented at OzWater 2025 on asset management and evidence-based infrastructure planning for water and sewerage infrastructure, and participated in the 2026 Engineers Australia and Asset Management Council Brisbane technical event on navigating asset management careers and connections.

Her particular focus on connecting Queensland's water utility sector to best practice in asset management and infrastructure planning addresses a direct need in a state where South East Queensland's water utilities collectively manage assets serving millions of people. Her active LinkedIn presence and conference participation make her one of the Queensland water sector's most publicly engaged emerging engineering leaders.

40. Joel Kennaway

Joel Kennaway is a Senior Project Engineer at Seqwater, Queensland's bulk water supply authority responsible for safe, secure, and cost-effective water to more than 3.2 million people across South East Queensland, and a civil engineer specialising in dams and water infrastructure. He previously served on the Young Engineers Australia Queensland committee, contributing to mentoring and professional development programs for early-career engineers across the state.

His LinkedIn engagement in 2026, including participation in Infrastructure Association of Queensland events and commentary on water infrastructure planning, reflects continued active involvement in the Queensland engineering community beyond his Seqwater project delivery role. His presence at one of Queensland's most significant water engineering organisations, combined with his sustained professional community involvement, positions him as a genuine voice for the next generation of Queensland engineering practitioners.

Notable Voices We Almost Included

Several figures were considered for this list and came close to inclusion. Engineers like Dr Andrew Harris, who co-founded a multidisciplinary Brisbane engineering firm and was recognised at the 2025 Engineers Australia Excellence Awards as a structural engineering and academic leader, represented voices who carry strong Queensland engineering credentials. Several researchers at Queensland's universities in disciplines including biomedical engineering, environmental engineering, and aerospace systems were identified during research but had not yet built the public engagement profile this list required. Several early-career engineers doing genuinely remarkable work in Queensland's water, mining, and energy sectors were identified through Young Engineers Australia Queensland channels but are at the beginning of their public thought leadership journeys. The Queensland engineering landscape is richer than a list of 40 can fully capture.

Common Mistakes Leaders Make When Engaging with Engineering Thought Leadership in Queensland

The most common mistake that organisations make in engaging with Queensland's engineering thought leadership conversation is treating it as a single conversation. Queensland engineering spans civil infrastructure, energy systems, robotics, environmental engineering, chemical and materials engineering, defence and aerospace, and water management, and the voices leading each of those conversations have limited overlap. Useful engagement requires identifying which specific discipline is relevant to your organisation's challenges and seeking out the voices who are most credible within it.

A second common mistake is focusing exclusively on Brisbane. Queensland's engineering thought leadership is concentrated in the southeast, and that is a genuine reflection of where most engineering firms, universities, and government agencies are headquartered. But voices like Sonia Holzheimer in Cairns and Elsa Antunes at James Cook University are doing engineering work and advocacy that is directly shaped by the realities of regional and remote Queensland, realities that Brisbane-centric perspectives often miss. The infrastructure challenges of Far North Queensland, from flood resilience to standalone power systems, are genuinely different from those in SEQ.

A third mistake is conflating thought leadership with technical expertise. Many of the most influential engineering voices in Queensland, including those leading professional bodies, infrastructure agencies, and innovation hubs, are influential precisely because they can translate technical engineering realities into policy, economic, and community terms. Paul Simshauser's power as an energy engineering voice comes from his combination of academic rigour, executive operational experience, and policy engagement, not from his technical depth alone.

The fourth mistake is treating the professional body ecosystem as purely administrative. Engineers Australia, BPEQ, and the QMCA are not primarily bureaucratic organisations. They are the institutional architecture that shapes what it means to be a professional engineer in Queensland, how disputes get resolved, how standards are set, and how the profession advocates for itself to government. The people running those institutions, including Suzanne Burow, Timea Steptoe, Andrew Reid, and Andrew Chapman, are consequential figures in Queensland engineering precisely because those institutions are consequential.

Organisations that build engineering teams strong enough to execute on complex projects need more than technical expertise. They need leaders who can have difficult conversations, build aligned teams, make clear decisions under pressure, and hold people accountable without destroying the relationships that make delivery possible. Book Jonno White, author of Step Up or Step Out (10,000+ copies sold globally) and Certified Working Genius Facilitator, to facilitate your next leadership team session, offsite, or keynote. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

Implementation Guide: How to Engage with Queensland Engineering Thought Leadership

Engaging with the Queensland engineering thought leadership conversation is most effective when it is specific, sustained, and two-directional. The following approach will serve most organisations well.

Start by identifying the two or three categories on this list that are most directly relevant to your sector and role. If you are in the energy utility sector, the energy and utilities category offers the most immediately relevant strategic and technical perspectives. If you are leading an engineering firm delivering civil infrastructure, the civil and infrastructure category, combined with the professional bodies category, gives you the most useful frames for understanding how the profession is evolving. If you are in research or a university engineering school, the academic and research category plus the innovation and technology category will be your most directly aligned starting points.

Then follow those people on LinkedIn and engage with their content substantively. Many of the engineers on this list, including Ben Schnitzerling, Tim Kastelle, Simon Smart, Ella Hingston, and Yateendra Mishra, are active LinkedIn contributors who post original thinking about the challenges they are working on. Commenting on their posts with a specific insight, asking a genuine question, or sharing their work with your own network builds the kind of professional relationship that this community values.

The Queensland engineering community is smaller and more connected than it might appear from the outside. The same people who lead the BPEQ board, run major construction firms, and teach at QUT and UQ are often at the same Engineers Australia events, the same QMCA dinners, and the same water industry conferences. Attending those events, whether the Engineers Australia Queensland end-of-year celebration, OzWater, the QMCA annual awards, or the IAQ boardroom breakfast series, puts you in a room with many of the voices on this list and creates the face-to-face connection that LinkedIn engagement can build toward.

One of the most important things organisations can do with this thought leadership is bring it into internal conversations. When your engineering team is discussing how to approach a complex project challenge, having a point of reference to a relevant published insight from Cheryl Desha on resilience thinking, Simon Smart on net zero engineering pathways, or Jack Shelley on workforce planning for Queensland's pipeline is genuinely useful. Thought leadership is most valuable when it is applied to real decisions, not just consumed passively.

If you are working through the leadership, communication, and team dynamics challenges that come with large infrastructure programs and engineering firm growth, engage Jonno White to facilitate a Working Genius session, leadership team offsite, or keynote for your organisation. Many Queensland engineering firms find that the conversations about how their team works together are as important as the conversations about the engineering they are delivering. International travel costs far less than most organisations expect. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who are the most influential engineering thought leaders in Queensland?

The most consistently influential voices in Queensland engineering in 2026 operate across several distinct domains. At the professional and regulatory level, Suzanne Burow, Timea Steptoe, and Andrew Reid are among the most consequential voices in how the profession is governed. In the energy and infrastructure sector, Paul Simshauser, Suzanne Shipp, and Jason Hall are leading the conversations that matter most. At the research level, Cheryl Desha, Jonathan Roberts, and Hongxia Wang are producing work shaping both Queensland's practice and its national reputation. The most relevant answer depends on which aspect of engineering leadership your organisation is navigating.

What is the RPEQ system and why does it matter for engineering in Queensland?

Queensland's Registered Professional Engineer of Queensland (RPEQ) system is unique in Australia: it is the only state with a legislated requirement for engineers to be registered to practise. Under the Professional Engineers Act 2002, anyone carrying out a professional engineering service in or for Queensland must be registered as an RPEQ or directly supervised by one. BPEQ currently maintains more than 23,000 registered engineers. The system protects the public by ensuring engineers meet documented competency standards and are subject to professional conduct obligations, and it shapes how engineering authority and accountability are exercised on every significant project in the state.

How is the Brisbane 2032 Olympics pipeline affecting Queensland engineering?

The Brisbane 2032 pipeline represents the largest infrastructure investment in Queensland's history. WT Partnership's 2026 analysis forecast construction labour shortfalls rising from approximately 27,200 in 2026-27 to around 46,000 in 2028-29 if all forecast projects are funded and productivity remains at current levels. These pressures are already being felt in project sequencing, procurement timelines, and workforce development conversations across Queensland's engineering sector, as documented by Jack Shelley, Andrew Chapman, and the broader QMCA membership.

How is Queensland's energy transition affecting engineering leadership in the state?

Queensland's energy transition is perhaps the most technically demanding engineering challenge the state has faced. The grid management challenges of high rooftop solar penetration, the retirement of coal generation, the construction of new transmission infrastructure for renewable energy zones, and the development of pumped hydro projects like Borumba Dam are all creating new engineering leadership conversations. Paul Simshauser, Suzanne Shipp, Jason Hall, and Allyson Woodford are among the voices most actively navigating those challenges in 2025 and 2026.

Can I engage an external facilitator to help my engineering team with leadership and communication challenges?

Jonno White is a Certified Working Genius Facilitator, leadership consultant, and author of Step Up or Step Out (10,000+ copies sold globally) who works with engineering firms, infrastructure organisations, and project teams across Australia. His facilitation work covers leadership culture, team dynamics, difficult conversations, and high-performance team building for engineering and construction contexts. International travel is often far more affordable than organisations expect. Email jonno@consultclarity.org to start a conversation.

What is the best way to build a professional relationship with engineering thought leaders in Queensland?

The most effective approach is to engage with their published work substantively, attend the industry events where they are active (Engineers Australia Queensland events, OzWater, QMCA forums, infrastructure conferences), and bring genuine questions or insights to those conversations rather than generic networking approaches. Many of the engineers on this list are active on LinkedIn and respond to thoughtful engagement on their posts. The Queensland engineering community is more connected than it might appear, and consistent, substantive engagement over time builds the kind of professional relationship that this community values.

Final Thoughts

The 40 voices on this list represent a cross-section of Queensland's engineering community that is more diverse, more creative, and more consequential than casual observers of the profession might expect. These are people working across civil infrastructure, energy transition, robotics, materials science, regulatory governance, and professional advocacy, doing so from Brisbane, Cairns, Toowoomba, and the Gold Coast, and doing it at a moment when the stakes for getting engineering leadership right in Queensland have never been higher.

The 2032 Brisbane Olympics pipeline, the energy transition, the workforce shortage, the RPEQ system's ongoing evolution, and the research emerging from Queensland's universities are not abstract challenges. They are the daily realities of every engineer on this list, and the choices they make, the research they publish, the standards they set, and the young engineers they mentor will shape what Queensland's built environment and energy system looks like for the next generation.

If your organisation is navigating the leadership dimension of those challenges, whether building leadership culture in engineering firms, developing executive teams in infrastructure organisations, or facilitating strategic alignment in project delivery environments, Jonno White works with organisations across Australia and globally. He is the author of Step Up or Step Out.

Get your copy: Step Up or Step Out on Amazon. Organisations consistently find that international travel is far more affordable than expected. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

About the Author

Jonno White is a Certified Working Genius Facilitator, author of Step Up or Step Out, and leadership consultant who has worked with schools, corporates, and nonprofits around the world. His book Step Up or Step Out has sold over 10,000 copies globally, and his podcast The Leadership Conversations has featured 230+ episodes reaching listeners in 150+ countries. Jonno founded The 7 Questions Movement with 6,000+ participating leaders and achieved a 93.75% satisfaction rating for his Working Genius masterclass at the ASBA 2025 National Conference. Based in Brisbane, Australia, Jonno works globally and regularly travels for speaking and facilitation engagements. Organisations consistently find that international travel is far more affordable than expected.

To book Jonno for your next keynote, workshop, or facilitation session, email jonno@consultclarity.org.

Sources

Engineers Australia. (2025-2026). Queensland Division news and media. engineersaustralia.org.au. Queensland Audit Office. (2025). Major projects 2025. qao.qld.gov.au. Board of Professional Engineers of Queensland. (2025-2026). News, events, and publications. bpeq.qld.gov.au. WT Partnership. (2026). From vision to legacy: a game plan for Brisbane 2032 and beyond (reported in Build Australia and Roads and Infrastructure Magazine, February 2026). Iberdrola Australia. (2026). Paul Simshauser CEO appointment. iberdrola.com.au. Energy Queensland. (2025-2026). About us: leadership team and news. energyq.com.au. Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering. (2025). ATSE Fellows directory. atse.org.au. Engineers Australia Excellence Awards. (2025). Showcase booklet and Queensland division announcement. engineersaustralia.org.au.

Next Read

If you found this list useful, the Consult Clarity guide to engineering and infrastructure thought leaders across Australia and New Zealand profiles 50 voices from the broader ANZ sector, including Queensland voices alongside those shaping the profession nationally and in New Zealand. Another relevant read is the guide to the 25 best Brisbane leaders to follow on LinkedIn, which spans engineering, technology, government, and business across Queensland's most active professional community.

Keep reading: consultclarity.org/post/thought-leaders-engineering-infrastructure-australia-new-zealand