CURIOSITY has been a driving force for more than eight decades for 86-year-old Greg Tegart, who has been named 2016 ACT Senior Australian of the Year.
Professor Tergart’s long career spanned research in metallurgy and minerals and high-level executive and policy work in industry, the CSIRO and the federal government. He led Australia’s participation in climate change assessment through the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and has been a leader in studies linking technology to the future of society.
In recent years he has been a world leader in promoting smart and assistive technologies for aged and community care, and his curiosity continues to forge connections between fields like biotechnology and information technology, and drive improvements that make a real difference in people’s lives.
“I’ve become more of a social scientist as I get older,” he told an interviewer in July.
“I have been looking at how technology impacts on people.
“I was always interested in exploring the opportunities for new areas to look at, and that’s what brought me to this current interest in assistive technology.”
Equality advocate David Morrison was named 2016 ACT Australian of the Year, while social entrepeneur Nipuni Wijewickrema is ACT Young Australian of the Year and newborn care champion Peter Cursley was named Local Hero.
They will now be finalists in the national awards, which will be presented in Canberra on January 25.
