Sue Barrell

Sue retired from her role as Chief Scientist at the Bureau of Meteorology in 2018, the culmination of a long Bureau career spanning forecasting, research, science/climate/data policy and leadership roles in IT, observations, engineering and science.

Sue made significant contributions to national and international efforts relating to climate science, climate policy, integrated earth observations, data infrastructure and data policy. She represented Australia internationally and led high-level activities at the World Meteorological Organization, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations. Her research credentials include publications in satellite meteorology, cold front dynamics, cloud band climatology and integrated network design.

Among wide-ranging board roles, Sue chaired the Australian Telescope National Facility and served on the Space Industry Innovation Council, the boards of the National Computational Infrastructure and Integrated Marine Observing System, and as Vice-President of Science and Technology Australia (STA). She continues her commitment to science, leadership and gender equity through multiple national and international leadership, board and advisory roles across science, maths, technology and education sectors, including as Chair of Australia’s Marine National Facility Steering Committee, member of University of Technology Sydney Council and the boards of the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute and Australian Research Data Commons.

Sue is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and was an inaugural STA Superstar of STEM in 2017/18. She has a BSc (Hons) in Physics, Graduate Diploma in Meteorology and a PhD in Astronomy.