From the President - Professor Nikki Stanford

Thank you for reading this last edition of the Materials Australia Magazine for 2024

We have all just recovered from running our biggest CAMS ever! The conference was held in Adelaide in the first week of December, and South Australia sure did turn on the heat for the conference! It was a huge success, with a full wrap up at the end of this edition. A big thanks to all of our speakers, session Chairs, Symposium chairs, sponsors, delegates and volunteers.

I had a wonderful time at CAMS,

I don’t often get the opportunity to sit and listen to the amazing things that people are working on in materials science. I particularly enjoyed the plenary by Cathy Inglis. She show cased Australian ceramics manufacturing, and gave a very positive review of the R&D being carried out by the sector to help meet our carbon reduction targets. Its great to see that work being done here in Australia.

Another one of our Plenary speakers, Julie Cairney, spoke about hydrogen embrittlement in steel. This is another timely topic given the importance of hydrogen in our energy transition. The production of engineering materials produces about a quarter of the worlds green house emissions, with steel and concrete production producing about 8% of

B.Eng(Hons) Ph.D. CMatP

the worlds CO2 emissions each. As we begin to transition towards the use of hydrogen as a fuel source, the research showcased at CAMS will become increasingly important. I think you’d agree that theres lots of really positive sustainability projects underway, and materials science is right at the centre of all of it.

So, on that positive note, id like to thank our members for another amazing year, and remind everyone that APICAM is just around the corner in July 2025. I’d like to wish everyone a safe and enjoyable holiday break, and I look forward to seeing you in 2025.

Best Regards

Nikki Stanford

National President

Materials Australia