50 Influential Leaders in Mechanical Engineering in Australia and New Zealand

Last updated: June 2026

Introduction

As of June 2026, mechanical engineering in Australia and New Zealand is producing some of the most consequential work of the decade. Researchers and practitioners from across the region are building reusable hydrogen-powered scramjet aircraft capable of Mach 12, developing rehabilitation robots that have restored movement to stroke survivors in physiotherapy clinics worldwide, inventing microfactories that recover valuable materials from electronic waste, designing the autonomous systems that will guide vehicles and drones without GPS, and 3D printing titanium aerospace components that have received international airworthiness certification. This list captures 50 of the people doing that work and shaping how mechanical engineering is practised, taught, regulated, and communicated across both countries.

Each leader here was selected for a documented, fact-checked contribution to mechanical engineering in Australia and New Zealand, from published research and recognised professional credentials to senior practitioner roles and sustained impact in the field. Every role and organisation listed was verified through a primary source dated within the last twelve months.

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Why Mechanical Engineering Leadership Matters in 2026

Mechanical engineering is the broadest of engineering's major disciplines and sits at the centre of Australia's and New Zealand's most pressing national challenges. The energy transition requires mechanical engineers who can design and build the equipment for renewable generation, advanced manufacturing, and storage systems. Australia's AUKUS commitment is driving sovereign capability requirements in aerospace, naval, and manufacturing engineering that did not exist five years ago. The National Reconstruction Fund is directing investment into advanced manufacturing, with mechanical engineering skills at the centre of that agenda.

Engineers Australia represents more than 140,000 engineers across all disciplines, with mechanical engineers making up approximately 18 per cent of its membership. Engineering New Zealand serves 23,000 members in Aotearoa. Both countries also face a widening pipeline challenge. New Zealand's engineering profession is producing approximately 2,000 engineering graduates per year against an estimated annual need for 2,500.

How This List Was Compiled

Every person on this list was selected for a documented, fact-checked contribution to mechanical engineering in Australia and New Zealand. Contributions include published research with national or international recognition, senior practitioner roles with substantive engineering outcomes, peak body leadership and professional governance, engineering innovation with commercial or societal impact, and sustained commitment to developing the next generation of engineers. This list covers mechanical engineering in its broadest sense, encompassing robotics and autonomous systems, additive manufacturing and advanced materials, aerospace and hypersonics, microfluidics and MEMS, rehabilitation and biomedical engineering, asset management, building services, engineering safety, and engineering education.

Leading the Profession: Peak Body and Governance Leaders

These seven mechanical engineers hold roles that shape how the profession is governed, resourced, and represented across Australia and New Zealand.

1. Katherine Richards AM CSC

Chief Engineer, Engineers Australia

Katherine Richards holds First Class Honours in Mechanical Engineering from the Australian Defence Force Academy and spent more than 36 years as a mechanical engineer in the Royal Australian Navy, rising to the rank of Rear Admiral. During her naval career she served as Head Navy Engineering, Defence Seaworthiness Regulator, and led the design of Australia's independent statutory regulator for the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine program. She retired from active service in December 2024 and commenced as Chief Engineer at Engineers Australia in May 2025, where she advocates for the engineering profession nationally and internationally. She is also a Board Member of Australia's Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation. Her combination of 36 years of front-line mechanical engineering leadership and her current national advocacy role makes her one of the most substantive voices on what engineering can offer Australia.

2. Richard Templer

Chief Executive, Engineering New Zealand, Wellington

Richard Templer holds a PhD in mechanical engineering from the University of Auckland and has led Engineering New Zealand, Aotearoa's professional body for engineers, since November 2020. Before taking the chief executive role he served as Chief Executive of Manawatu District Council and built his earlier career at Callaghan Innovation, the Ministry of Science and Innovation, and Fisher and Paykel Healthcare, where he worked as a research engineer. He grew up on a Waikato dairy farm and developed robotics for the New Zealand meat industry during his doctoral and early career. Templer has led Engineering New Zealand through the challenges of engineering workforce supply, the profession's engagement with Maori communities, and the role engineers must play in addressing New Zealand's infrastructure resilience and climate adaptation needs.

3. Jan Evans-Freeman

President, Engineering New Zealand; Pro Vice-Chancellor Sustainability, University of Canterbury

Jan Evans-Freeman became President of Engineering New Zealand in March 2024, bringing a career spanning electronic materials engineering research, academic leadership at the University of Canterbury, and professional governance to the role. She holds a PhD from the University of Manchester and has been at Canterbury since 2009, serving as Pro Vice-Chancellor of the College of Engineering and later Pro Vice-Chancellor Sustainability. She has published more than 100 research papers. As Engineering New Zealand's President, she leads the governing board of the profession's peak body in Aotearoa at a moment when the organisation is navigating engineering workforce supply and engineering's role in addressing New Zealand's climate and infrastructure challenges.

4. Colin Sheldon

Consulting Manager, Aurecon, Brisbane; Chair, Engineers Australia Mechanical College Board

Colin Sheldon chairs the Mechanical College Board within Engineers Australia, the governance body representing Australia's mechanical engineering professional community at the peak body level. In his day-to-day role he is a Consulting Manager at Aurecon in Brisbane with more than 13 years of experience across rail, resources, utilities, heavy industry, manufacturing, and defence. He is a chartered and registered mechanical engineer and was elected to the Board of Professional Engineers of Queensland in 2025 as the Elected Representative. He also serves as a National Congress delegate for Engineers Australia and on the Standards Australia Board Committee and NATA's Inspection Accreditation Advisory Committee.

5. Jane MacMaster

Global Engineering Integrity Director, Babcock International Group; former inaugural Chief Engineer, Engineers Australia

Jane MacMaster was Engineers Australia's inaugural Chief Engineer from 2020 to 2024. A mechanical, aerospace, and systems design engineer with a First Class Honours degree from the University of Sydney, she spent 14 years in senior systems and design engineering roles at BAE Systems Australia, including work on a supersonic ship self-defence system project for NATO. She is now Global Engineering Integrity Director at Babcock International Group, leading engineering governance and assurance across nuclear, marine, land, aviation, and mission systems operations in the United Kingdom, Australasia, Canada, South Africa, and France. A Fellow of ATSE, she was one of the most publicly recognised engineering voices in Australia during her tenure as inaugural Chief Engineer.

6. Sonia Holzheimer

Co-Founder and Director, SEQUAL Consulting Group, Cairns

Sonia Holzheimer co-founded SEQUAL Consulting Group, a Cairns-based mechanical and electrical building services engineering consultancy, in December 2014, following 15 years of experience in Far North Queensland's construction sector. A Fellow of Engineers Australia and Registered Professional Engineer of Queensland, she chairs both the Queensland Mechanical College Committee within Engineers Australia and the Women of AIRAH. SEQUAL has delivered mechanical building services engineering projects at James Cook University, Cairns Regional Council, and Cairns Hospital with construction values reaching 130 million dollars. She spoke at the 2025 Women in Engineering Summit.

7. David Eager

Professor of Risk Management and Injury Prevention, University of Technology Sydney

David Eager holds a PhD in engineering from UNSW and has spent more than 27 years as an academic at UTS, where his mechanical engineering background evolved into a career dedicated to saving lives through injury prevention engineering. He is Professor of Risk Management and Injury Prevention in the School of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, a Fellow of Engineers Australia, a Chartered Professional Engineer, and a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He has chaired Australian Standards committees on children's playground equipment, trampoline park facilities, amusement rides, and play surfacing for more than 28 years. He received the 2024 AGM Michell Medal from the Engineers Australia Mechanical College Board and the 2020 Standards Australia National Meritorious Contribution Award.

Machines That Think and Move: Robotics, Control and Autonomous Systems

These eight leaders are defining Australia's and New Zealand's position as a world-class region for robotics, autonomous systems, and control engineering research.

8. Robert Mahony

Professor, Research School of Engineering, Australian National University; ATSE Fellow 2025

Robert Mahony is one of the world's most cited researchers in control engineering and aerial robotics. He developed the original control architectures for quadrotor vehicles that became industry standard in the early development of drones, and the Mahony filter for attitude estimation now underpins the modern multibillion-dollar commercial drone industry. He is a Professor in the Research School of Engineering at ANU, a Fellow of ATSE (elected 2025), a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, and a Fellow of IEEE. His ongoing research advances inertial navigation beyond GPS, applying geometric control theory to aerial robotic systems.

9. Peter Corke

Distinguished Emeritus Professor, QUT Centre for Robotics, Queensland University of Technology

Peter Corke holds a PhD in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering from the University of Melbourne and is one of Australia's most internationally recognised robotics educators and researchers. At QUT, he created widely used open-source robotics and computer vision toolboxes in MATLAB and Python, authored the textbook Robotics, Vision and Control now in its third edition and used in robotics courses on every continent, and launched the QUT Robot Academy online education platform. In 2025, he received the Joseph F. Engelberger Award for Education, the world's most prestigious honour in robotics. QUT has ranked as Australia's number one robotics research institute for seven consecutive years.

10. Michael Milford

Professor and Director, QUT Centre for Robotics; ARC Laureate Fellow, Queensland University of Technology

Michael Milford holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical and Space Engineering from QUT. He is Director of the QUT Centre for Robotics, an ARC Laureate Fellow, a Microsoft Research Faculty Fellow, and a Fellow of ATSE. His research models the neural mechanisms underlying navigation and perception to develop new positioning technologies for autonomous vehicles and robots that can operate without GPS. In 2025 he received the Eureka Prize for Outstanding Mentor of Researchers. He delivered a keynote at ICRA 2026 in Vienna on intrinsic robustness and bridging the simulation-to-real gap in robotics.

11. Ying Tan

Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Melbourne; ATSE Fellow 2025

Ying Tan is Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Melbourne, where she has worked since 2004. Her research in learning control theory produced the ArmMotus upper-limb rehabilitation robot for post-stroke patients, developed in collaboration with clinicians, patients, engineers, and industry partner Fourier Intelligence over more than a decade. The robot was launched commercially in 2021, has received international design awards, and is now used in physiotherapy clinics worldwide. She was elected a Fellow of ATSE in 2025, a Fellow of IEEE, and a Fellow of Engineers Australia, and serves on the ARC College of Experts from 2024 to 2026.

12. Cori Stewart

Founder and CEO, Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Hub (ARM Hub), Brisbane; ATSE Fellow 2025

Cori Stewart founded the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Hub in Brisbane in 2019, building it into one of Australia's most significant centres for AI, robotics, and advanced manufacturing. ARM Hub is one of four Australian government-backed AI Adopt Centres, and under Stewart's leadership it has facilitated AI and robotics adoption for hundreds of small and medium-sized enterprises. She launched Propel-AIR, Australia's first AI and robotics accelerator, in partnership with MassRobotics in Boston, with Propel-AIR 2.0 opening in February 2026. She was elected a Fellow of ATSE in 2025 and named a Superstar of STEM in 2023 and 2024.

13. Nam-Trung Nguyen

Professor and ARC Australian Laureate Fellow, Queensland Micro- and Nanotechnology Centre, Griffith University

Nam-Trung Nguyen is ranked number one in Oceania and 45th in the world in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering by Research.com in 2025. He is a Professor and Director of the Queensland Micro- and Nanotechnology Centre at Griffith University, an ARC Australian Laureate Fellow, a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and a Senior Member of IEEE. His research group develops micro- and nano-fabricated devices for medical diagnostics, lab-on-a-chip applications, and biomedical sensing. He holds three US patents covering microfluidics technologies.

14. Peng Shi

Professor, School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, University of Adelaide; ATSE Fellow 2025

Peng Shi is a Professor in the School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Adelaide, elected a Fellow of ATSE in 2025 for his work at the forefront of systems and control engineering, artificial intelligence, and cybernetics. He served as President of the International Academy of Systems and Cybernetics Sciences, now serves as Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics, and is also a Fellow of Engineers Australia, Fellow of IEEE, and Member of Academia Europaea. His research on intelligent control systems has applications in autonomous vehicle navigation, industrial automation, and medical device control.

15. Pauline Pounds

Professor of Mechatronics, University of Queensland; President, Australian Robotics and Automation Association

Pauline Pounds completed her undergraduate in systems engineering and her PhD in robotics at the Australian National University in 2008, then post-doctoral research at Yale before joining UQ in 2012. She is one of the foundational researchers in aerial manipulation, having done seminal work allowing hovering robots to contact and manipulate objects while in flight. She is a 2013 ARC DECRA Fellow, winner of the 2020 ATSE Batterham Medal for Engineering Excellence, and President of the Australian Robotics and Automation Association. She has co-founded six start-up companies and holds more than 30 patents licensed to industry. She presented a keynote at the International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS) 2025.

Making at the Edge: Additive Manufacturing and Advanced Materials

These seven leaders are redefining what can be manufactured in Australia and New Zealand, from printed titanium jet engines to synthetic materials made entirely from waste.

16. Xinhua Wu

Professor, Department of Materials Engineering; Founder, Monash Centre for Additive Manufacturing (MCAM), Monash University; ATSE Fellow

Xinhua Wu is a world-leading expert in aeroengine and aircraft materials and additive manufacturing and the founder of the Monash Centre for Additive Manufacturing. In 2014, her team produced the world's first full-size 3D-printed jet engine. In 2016, she achieved international aerospace qualification for 3D-printed titanium components for the COMAC C919 civil aircraft. Her processes reduce manufacturing costs by up to 50 per cent and material wastage by up to 90 per cent compared to conventional manufacturing. She has directed the ARC Industrial Transformation Research Hub for High Value Additive Manufacturing since 2014, and holds more than 12 patents across aerospace and manufacturing applications.

17. Milan Brandt

Distinguished Professor, Advanced Manufacturing Precinct and Centre for Additive Manufacturing, RMIT University

Milan Brandt is Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of the RMIT Centre for Additive Manufacturing, where he has led research in laser-based manufacturing technologies for more than 35 years. In 2018, he was named an Engineers Australia Centenary Hero for research that produced Australia's first locally manufactured 3D-printed spinal implant. In 2020 he received the Laser Institute of America's highest award, the Arthur L. Schawlow Award. He published research in 2025 and 2026 on titanium alloy design for powder bed fusion and high-speed laser directed energy deposition.

18. Elsa Antunes

Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Director, Advanced Materials and Manufacturing HUB, James Cook University, Cairns

Elsa Antunes is based at James Cook University in Cairns, where she leads research in advanced ceramics, 3D-printed smart materials, and aerospace-grade biomedical applications. Before moving to Australia she spent more than ten years in industry in Portugal and contributed to four international patents for nanomaterials. At JCU she has attracted more than two million dollars in competitive research funding as Chief Investigator, received the Women in Industry Award for Excellence in Engineering in 2023, and founded AWESOME in 2023 to support young female engineering students.

19. Melinda Hodkiewicz

Professor, School of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering, University of Western Australia; ATSE Fellow

Melinda Hodkiewicz works at the intersection of mechanical engineering, data science, and industrial maintenance, developing Technical Language Processing, which adapts natural language processing and large language models to unstructured technical engineering texts. She was the BHP Fellow for Engineering for Remote Operations at UWA from 2015 to 2022, and in December 2025 became the first Australian elected Fellow of the Prognostics and Health Management Society. She was a visiting fellow at the Alan Turing Institute in the UK in 2018 and at NIST in the United States in 2019.

20. Madhu Bhaskaran

Distinguished Professor, Functional Materials and Microsystems, RMIT University; ATSE Fellow

Madhu Bhaskaran co-leads the Functional Materials and Microsystems Research Group at RMIT, with research focused on electronic skin and wearable sensors that mimic the mechanical and sensing properties of biological skin. She received the 2018 ATSE Batterham Medal, the 2017 Australian Museum Eureka Prize for Outstanding Early Career Researcher, and a 2016 MIT Technology Review recognition as one of the Top 10 Technology Innovators under 35 in Asia. In 2025 she was named a Superstar of STEM. She co-leads Women in STEMM Australia.

21. Veena Sahajwalla

Scientia Professor and Founding Director, UNSW SMaRT Centre; ARC Laureate Fellow; ATSE Fellow

Veena Sahajwalla is renowned for inventing Green Steel Polymer Injection Technology, which transforms waste rubber tyres into a raw material input for electric arc furnace steelmaking, and for launching the world's first e-waste microfactory in 2018. She is Scientia Professor of Materials Science at UNSW, Founding Director of the Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology, an ARC Laureate Fellow, a Fellow of ATSE, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. She was named NSW Australian of the Year in 2022. In January 2026, she served as the Australia Day Ambassador for Narrabri Shire Council, and her research group published more than 15 peer-reviewed papers in 2025.

22. Yansong Shen

Professor, School of Materials Science and Engineering, UNSW Sydney; ATSE Fellow 2025

Yansong Shen was elected a Fellow of ATSE in 2025 for pioneering research in computational reacting flows and process metallurgy that has reshaped how the global steel industry approaches decarbonisation. His advances in blast furnace modelling have been adopted at Rio Tinto, Baowu, and BlueScope, directly supporting Australia's iron ore export relevance in a decarbonising world. He has specialised in low-cost green ironmaking for more than 25 years.

Beyond the Atmosphere: Aerospace, Hypersonics and Space Engineering

These seven leaders are defining Australia's and New Zealand's emerging strengths in aerospace, hypersonic propulsion, and space systems engineering.

23. Katherine Bennell-Pegg

Astronaut and Space Systems Engineer, Australian Space Agency; 2026 Australian of the Year; ATSE Fellow 2025

Katherine Bennell-Pegg made history in April 2024 as the first person to qualify as a professional astronaut under the Australian flag, completing ESA's Basic Astronaut Training at the European Astronaut Centre in Germany after being selected from more than 22,500 applicants. She was named the 2026 Australian of the Year. Trained as an aeronautical and space systems engineer, she graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Sydney's School of Aeronautical, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering and subsequently completed Masters degrees in astronautics and space engineering in Europe. She spent five years at Airbus in Germany as a mission systems engineer and thermal architect on programs including the LISA Pathfinder mission.

24. Sarah McSwiney

Head of Engineering, Jetstar Airways; ATSE Fellow 2025

Sarah McSwiney is Head of Engineering at Jetstar Airways, the first woman to hold this position at any major Australian airline. Before joining Jetstar, she spent more than a decade at Boeing in Melbourne, overseeing the design of critical composite components for the Dreamliner 787 and contributing to the largest aerospace manufacturing export program in Australia. She was elected a Fellow of ATSE in 2025 and is recognised for her GreenSkies initiative at Aviation/Aerospace Australia, which addresses gender imbalance in the aerospace sector. A graduate of RMIT University in Aerospace Engineering, she holds an Executive MBA from Monash University.

25. Michael Smart

Co-Founder, Chief Technology Officer and Head of Engineering, Hypersonix Launch Systems, Brisbane

Michael Smart is one of the world's foremost experts in scramjet technology and co-founded Hypersonix Launch Systems in Brisbane in 2019. He spent a decade as a research scientist at NASA's Langley Research Center, then served as Professor and Chair of Hypersonic Propulsion at the University of Queensland. In 2023, Hypersonix was selected by the United States Defense Innovation Unit for the HyCAT hypersonic testing program. In 2025, Hypersonix raised 46 million Australian dollars in a Series A funding round. The company's SPARTAN scramjet engine is entirely 3D-printed, hydrogen-fuelled, has no moving parts, and is designed to reach Mach 12.

26. Rosalind Archer

Head of School, School of Engineering and Built Environment, Griffith University; former President, Engineering New Zealand

Rosalind Archer served as President of Engineering New Zealand from 2021 to 2022, having spent nearly 20 years at the University of Auckland, where she became the first woman to head the Faculty of Engineering's Department of Engineering Science. She completed her PhD at Stanford University and held the Mercury/Mighty River Power Chair in Geothermal Reservoir Engineering. She is the first New Zealand-based engineer to be named a Distinguished Member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers. In 2022 she moved to Griffith University as Head of the School of Engineering and Built Environment.

27. Guglielmo Aglietti

Professor of Space Engineering and Director, Space Institute, University of Auckland

Guglielmo Aglietti leads the Space Institute at the University of Auckland and holds a professorship in space engineering within the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering. His research focuses on spacecraft structural dynamics, vibration control, and the mechanical systems design of satellites and space platforms. His group published research in the Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets in March 2026 on deployable space baffle structures, and presented at the Asia Pacific Vibration Conference in November 2025.

28. Priyanka Dhopade

Senior Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering, University of Auckland; PM's Chief Science Advisor Fellow

Priyanka Dhopade is a Senior Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Auckland, specialising in aerospace thermofluids and the environmental impact of space infrastructure. She completed her PhD in Aerospace Engineering at UNSW Canberra, held a senior research position at the Oxford Thermofluids Institute designing jet engine cooling systems with Rolls-Royce, and was named one of the Top 50 Women in Engineering in 2017. She leads the Sustainable Space Initiative and served as a Fellow of New Zealand's Prime Minister's Chief Science Advisor.

29. Robin Batterham

Professorial Fellow and Kernot Professor of Engineering, University of Melbourne; former Chief Scientist of Australia

Robin Batterham served as Chief Scientist of Australia from 1999 to 2005, simultaneously serving as Chief Technologist for Rio Tinto. He is a past President of ATSE from 2007 to 2012, and the ATSE Batterham Medal for Engineering Excellence is named in his honour. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. He was formally recognised at the 2025 Engineers Australia Excellence Awards national gala dinner as one of Australia's most pre-eminent engineers. His trajectory from foundational engineering research to national science leadership is one of the defining examples of Australian engineering's contribution to industrial and environmental challenges.

Building Safer, Smarter and More Inventive Products

These eight leaders apply mechanical engineering principles to improve the safety, design, and performance of products and systems that directly touch people's lives.

30. Keith Alexander

Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Canterbury, New Zealand; Inventor, Springfree Trampoline

Keith Alexander has been a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch since 1996, teaching mechanical engineering design and product innovation. He is the inventor of the Springfree Trampoline, born from his engineering analysis of trampoline injury physics. The Springfree removes the metal springs and hard steel frame, resulting in a product that eliminates approximately 90 per cent of trampoline-related injuries and is sold in more than 25 countries. Before joining Canterbury, he worked for CWF Hamilton, the company that pioneered the jet boat, where he led waterjet development resulting in patented innovations.

31. Philippa Martin

Professor, University of Canterbury; 2025 ENVI Engineering Educator Award Winner

Philippa Martin won the Engineering Educator Award at Engineering New Zealand's 2025 ENVI Awards. The judges praised her sustained impact over more than two decades of teaching at Canterbury, her leadership through the COVID-19 pandemic period, and her exceptional teaching effectiveness. Her signature initiative ENG ME! transformed the first-year engineering experience at Canterbury, with near-complete retention of enrolled female engineering students. She is a Fellow of Engineering New Zealand and received Canterbury's Teaching Medal.

32. Sabina Maharjan

Infrastructure Engineer, New Zealand; 2025 ENVI Early Career Award Winner

Sabina Maharjan won the Early Career Engineer Award at Engineering New Zealand's 2025 ENVI Awards. The judges recognised her for leading major infrastructure projects with technical excellence and empathy, including her contribution to the Puketapu Bridge rebuild following Cyclone Gabrielle, her commitment to knowledge-sharing and mentoring, and her role in shaping national engineering standards.

33. Sarah Ramsay

CEO and Co-Owner, United Machinists, Dunedin, New Zealand; Chair, Advancing Manufacturing Aotearoa

Sarah Ramsay is CEO and co-owner of United Machinists, a Dunedin-based precision CNC and additive manufacturing company that produces critical components for Australasia's aerospace, medical, marine, defence, and cinematography manufacturers. Since joining the business as CEO in early 2019, she has led its transformation from a local industrial job-shop to a globally competitive advanced manufacturer, implementing real-time digital scheduling, automated five-axis machining, robotic inspection, and in-house anodising. She chairs Advancing Manufacturing Aotearoa.

34. Fatematuz Zohora

Acoustic Engineer, WSP Australia; Superstar of STEM 2025

Fatematuz Zohora is an Acoustic Engineer at WSP specialising in environmental noise and vibration assessments for major infrastructure and energy projects across Australia. She holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering, with her doctoral research focused on detecting pipe leakage through acoustic emissions. Before joining WSP, she was a Research Engineer at Queensland University of Technology. She was accepted into the 2025 Superstars of STEM program and serves on the Women in Engineering and Mechanical Engineering committees for Engineers Australia's Newcastle Division. She spoke at the 2025 Women in Engineering Summit.

35. Hua Qian Ang (Vivian)

Senior Lecturer, Department of Mechanical, Manufacturing and Mechatronics Engineering, RMIT University

Hua Qian Ang is a Senior Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at RMIT and founder of EPIC Engineering Comic, a visual storytelling series making authentic engineering knowledge accessible to audiences in over 70 countries. She was named the Emerging Professional Engineer of the Year for Victoria by Engineers Australia's Mechanical College in 2024 and was a national finalist. Her research focuses on light alloys, additive manufacturing, and green metal production. In 2025 she received a CRC-P grant for research on aluminium-silicon alloys from photovoltaic waste. In 2026, she won the Consult Australia Future Leader Program (Team Project) award.

36. Matthew Dunbabin

Professor, QUT Centre for Robotics, Queensland University of Technology

Matthew Dunbabin holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Aerospace Engineering from RMIT and a PhD from QUT, and has spent more than 20 years developing robotics and autonomous systems for environmental monitoring and marine conservation. He built COTSBot and RangerBot, underwater robots designed to detect and control crown-of-thorns starfish on the Great Barrier Reef. His research in autonomous surface vehicles for water quality and greenhouse gas monitoring received the 2016 Google Impact Challenge award and the 2019 Australian Water Association Award. He is Chief Investigator at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Robotic Vision and at ARM Hub.

37. Jacqueline Alderson

Professor of Biomechanics, University of Western Australia; Executive Council, International Society of Biomechanics

Jacqueline Alderson is a Professor of Biomechanics at UWA and Tech Director of the UWA Tech and Policy Lab. She is a current Executive Council member of the International Society of Biomechanics and has supervised more than 24 PhD students to completion. She has 200 publications across biomechanical modelling, sports performance, and injury prevention, and has received more than 8 million dollars in funding from bodies including the International Cricket Council, the Australian Institute of Sport, and the ARC. She established the world's first and largest sports biomechanics motion capture repository. A 2023 Fulbright Scholar, she holds an Adjunct Professor position at Auckland University of Technology.

Biomedical Systems, Education and Broader Practice

These six leaders bridge mechanical engineering with biomedical science, education, and engineering practice across Australia and New Zealand.

38. YuanTong Gu

Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research Career Advancement) and Head of School, Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering, Queensland University of Technology

YuanTong Gu is Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research Career Advancement) and Head of the School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering at QUT, the largest mechanical engineering school in Queensland. He is also Director of the ARC Industrial Transformation Training Centre for Joint Biomechanics, a national research centre dedicated to advancing biomechanical engineering in musculoskeletal health. His research spans computational mechanics, biomedical engineering, nanomaterials, and energy applications.

39. Gordon Wyeth

Dean of Engineering, Macquarie University

Gordon Wyeth is Dean of Engineering at Macquarie University, bringing a career in robotics engineering and academic leadership to one of Australia's growing metropolitan universities. His research background is in robotics and bio-inspired systems, and he was previously at QUT's Centre for Robotics working alongside Peter Corke and Michael Milford on foundational robotics research. His transition to the Dean of Engineering role reflects the broader trajectory of robotics engineering researchers who move from research into institutional leadership that shapes the next generation of engineering graduates.

40. Andrew Hall

Senior Lecturer, Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, University of Auckland

Andrew Hall is a Senior Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Auckland, where his research focuses on acoustics and vibration for building environments, with the goal of creating quieter, healthier, and more affordable homes and workplaces. A 2025 project led by his group developed practical recommendations for acoustic performance in mid-rise residential construction in New Zealand, directly relevant to Aotearoa's housing intensification programme.

41. Kourosh Kalantar-Zadeh

Professor, UNSW Sydney; ATSE Fellow 2025

Kourosh Kalantar-Zadeh was elected a Fellow of ATSE in 2025 as a "cutting-edge engineer," recognised for significant contributions to transformative innovations including transparent conductive glass used in mobile phones, smart electronic windows for aircraft, and globally deployed hazardous gas sensors. He is a multidisciplinary engineer and entrepreneur who works across materials science, chemical engineering, and sensing systems. His sensor technologies have applications in environmental monitoring, industrial safety, and medical diagnostics. He has co-founded companies and is one of the most broadly cited engineering researchers in Australia.

42. Michelle Dickinson

Associate Professor, Faculty of Engineering, University of Auckland; ATSE Fellow; Science Communicator (Nanogirl)

Michelle Dickinson, widely known as Nanogirl, is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Auckland with expertise in materials science and nanomechanics. She is a Fellow of ATSE and one of the most visible science and engineering communicators in New Zealand and Australia, with a career built on making complex engineering concepts accessible to public audiences including children, policy makers, and business leaders. Her research focuses on the mechanical properties and behaviour of materials at the nanoscale.

43. Raj Das

Professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Monash University; ATSE Fellow; FIEAust CPEng NER

Raj Das is a Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Monash University, a Fellow of ATSE, a Fellow of Engineers Australia, and a Chartered Professional Engineer on the National Engineering Register. His research focuses on structural mechanics, computational methods for fracture and failure of advanced composite materials, and additive manufacturing of aerospace structures. He is listed as an active member of the Engineers Australia Mechanical College National Committee. His work on the structural performance of composite and lightweight materials has direct application to aerospace, automotive, and defence engineering.

Practitioners and Emerging Voices

These seven leaders represent the broad practitioner base and emerging voices shaping mechanical engineering across Australia and New Zealand.

44. Alfredo Tilan

Fellow of Engineers Australia (FIEAust CPEng NER); Engineers Australia Mechanical College National Committee

Alfredo Tilan is a Fellow of Engineers Australia (FIEAust), a Chartered Professional Engineer, and is listed on the National Professional Engineers Register. He serves on the Engineers Australia Mechanical College National Committee, contributing to the governance and professional development infrastructure that supports mechanical engineers across Australia. Fellows of Engineers Australia represent the most experienced tier of the professional membership, and committee service at the national college level directly drives the technical standards, professional development programming, and peer recognition systems that sustain the profession.

45. Hamideh Talebi Namakroudbari

Chartered Professional Engineer; Engineers Australia Mechanical College National Committee

Hamideh Talebi Namakroudbari is a Chartered Professional Engineer on the National Professional Engineers Register (MIEAust CPEng NER) and serves on the Engineers Australia Mechanical College National Committee. Her committee contribution to the Mechanical College reflects the active participation of practitioners in setting the professional standards and development agenda for mechanical engineers across Australia.

46. Alex Payne-Billard

Chartered Professional Engineer; Engineers Australia Mechanical College National Committee

Alex Payne-Billard is a Chartered Professional Engineer on the National Professional Engineers Register (MIEAust CPEng NER) and serves on the Engineers Australia Mechanical College National Committee, contributing to the professional governance infrastructure that supports mechanical engineers across Australia. Practitioners who serve on the Mechanical College committee alongside senior academic and industry leaders are doing the often-invisible work of maintaining the professional standards and community that make Australian mechanical engineering credible and cohesive.

47. Alyce Lysaught

Structural Engineer; Engineering New Zealand Board Member; Founder, Maori in Engineering Podcast

Alyce Lysaught (Ngati Ranginui, Ngai Te Rangi, Pakeha) is a structural engineer, an emerging board member of Engineering New Zealand, and founder of the Maori in Engineering podcast, which has increased the visibility of Maori engineers across Aotearoa and inspired more inclusive pathways into the profession. She served as a judge for the 2025 ENVI Awards and contributes to Engineering New Zealand's Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging programmes. Her work directly addresses one of New Zealand engineering's most important long-term challenges: bringing more diverse voices into the engineering community.

48. Kerryn Coker

ATSE Fellow 2025; former Co-Chair, Arup Australasia

Kerryn Coker was elected a Fellow of ATSE in 2025, recognised for technical expertise, visionary leadership, and commitment to sustainability and diversity across the built environment. She spent more than 20 years at Arup, rising to Co-Chair of the Australasia Region, embedding the UN Sustainable Development Goals into business operations across the firm's engineering projects. She received the AFR Women of the Year award in Professional Services in 2024 alongside Arup co-chair Kate West FTSE for their collaborative leadership approach. Her career in facade engineering and engineering business leadership spans the interface between building services mechanical engineering principles and broader engineering practice.

49. Jennifer Culliford

Distinguished Fellow, Engineering New Zealand

Jennifer Culliford was elected a Distinguished Fellow of Engineering New Zealand in 2026, recognised for her exceptional career as a chemical engineer and her enduring, selfless service to the engineering profession over more than five decades. She was among the first three women elected as a Fellow of Engineering New Zealand in the 1990s, breaking barriers and becoming a role model for women in the profession. Her influence is embedded in the laws, standards, and ethical practices that define New Zealand's engineering profession today. Her five decades of service to the profession, spanning chemical and process engineering in industry, and her distinctive contribution to the governance and standards frameworks of New Zealand engineering, make her one of Aotearoa's foundational engineering leadership voices.

50. Michelle Dickinson (Nanogirl) - ALREADY AT #42

50. Kate West

Chief Officer, Business and Markets, APAC, Arup; ATSE Fellow 2025

Kate West was elected a Fellow of ATSE in 2025, recognised as a distinguished engineer, business leader, and changemaker who has led large-scale infrastructure projects across transport, energy, decarbonisation, health, and urban development in Australia and New Zealand. She previously served as Australasia Co-Chair of Arup alongside Kerryn Coker, and was co-winner of the AFR Women of the Year award in Professional Services in 2024. Her current role as Chief Officer, Business and Markets for Arup's Asia Pacific region places her at the intersection of engineering delivery, sustainability strategy, and business leadership across the region. She is an Honorary Fellow of Engineers Australia, a Member of Chief Executive Women, and a regular keynote speaker on city resilience, sustainable infrastructure, and women in leadership.

Common Leadership Mistakes in Mechanical Engineering Organisations

Engineering organisations consistently underinvest in the human dimensions of their work. The most common pattern is mistaking technical authority for team leadership. Senior mechanical engineers are promoted because of their technical capability, then expected to lead teams without the relational and communication skills that team leadership requires. They continue to solve technical problems individually rather than building the capacity of their teams, which creates bottlenecks, frustrates capable junior engineers, and limits the organisation's ability to scale.

A second common pattern is confusing activity with progress. Engineering projects generate extensive documentation, meetings, and reporting cycles. The most effective engineering leaders are relentlessly focused on what actually needs to happen, not on the systems that surround it.

A third pattern is failing to communicate engineering value to non-engineering stakeholders. The most consequential engineering leaders on this list are, without exception, effective communicators. This is a skill that requires deliberate development, and most engineering organisations provide no support for it.

Final Thoughts

Mechanical engineering in Australia and New Zealand is not a profession in crisis. It is a profession in demand, under pressure, and at the centre of the country's most consequential industrial and technical challenges. The 50 people on this list represent the depth and breadth of that work.

What unites them is not a shared specialisation. Some design scramjet engines. Some lead professional bodies. Some invent safer trampolines. Some build robots that restore movement to stroke survivors. Some process electronic waste into new materials. What unites them is that they are doing work that matters, doing it with rigour, and taking responsibility for the next generation of the profession.

For engineering organisations looking to build leadership cultures that match the technical quality of their teams, Jonno White, author of Step Up or Step Out (10,000+ copies sold) and Certified Working Genius Facilitator, works with engineering firms and technical organisations on the communication, team dynamics, and leadership culture challenges that determine whether engineering strategy actually gets executed. Email jonno@consultclarity.org to discuss a leadership workshop or executive team offsite for your organisation.

About Jonno White

Jonno White is the author of Step Up or Step Out (10,000+ copies sold) and a Certified Working Genius Facilitator (The Table Group / Patrick Lencioni). He is the founder of Clarity Group Global and host of The Leadership Conversations podcast (230+ episodes, listeners in 150+ countries). He works globally with schools, corporates, and nonprofits as a keynote speaker, executive team facilitator, and coach.