2024 Ann Moyal Lecture

On 12 August 2024, UNSW SMaRT Centre Director Prof Veena will present a keynote speech at the 2024 Ann Moyal Lecture, hosted by the National Library of Australia.

The Library says: "The annual Ann Moyal Lecture is given by a distinguished speaker on a contemporary question that draws on such fields of knowledge as science, environment, ecology, history, anthropology, art, and technological change. "

Veena will share her vision for a sustainable future, highlight the importance of creating a circular economy and how using waste as a resource - including various UNSW SMaRT Centre innovations - must be at the centre of our manufacturing future and innovative decarbonisation efforts.

Event info and registration

Event hosts say:

A reception with complimentary drinks and canapes will take place in the National Library Foyer following the event.

Entry is free to this event but bookings are essential.

For those who cannot make it to Canberra, the talk will be available to view live online via the Library's Facebook and YouTube pages. You do not need to book a ticket to watch the event online.

The Ann Moyal Lecture has been established with a generous bequest from the late Dr Moyal and her estate.

About Scientia Professor Veena Sahajwalla

Professor Veena Sahajwalla is an internationally recognised materials scientist, engineer, and inventor revolutionising recycling science. She is renowned for pioneering the high temperature transformation of waste in the production of a new generation of ‘green materials’ at the UNSW Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (SMaRT) Centre, where she is Founding Director.

Professor Sahajwalla is the inventor of polymer injection technology, known as green steel, an eco-friendly process for using recycled tyres in steel production. In 2018, she launched the world's first e-waste MICROfactorie™ and in 2019 she launched her plastics and Green Ceramics MICROfactories™, a recycling technology breakthrough. Professor Sahajwalla is the director of the ARC Industrial Transformation Research Hub for ‘microrecycling’, a leading national research centre that works in collaboration with industry to ensure new recycling science is translated into real world environmental and economic benefits. She has also been appointed hub leader of the national NESP Sustainable Communities and Waste Hub.

In 2021, Professor Sahajwalla featured in the ABC’s Australian Story and she was named the 2022 NSW Australian of the Year in recognition of her work. She was named the 2022 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes winner for the Celestino Eureka Prize for Promoting Understanding of Science and was also awarded the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE) Clunies Ross Innovation Award. In 2023, Professor Sahajwalla was awarded the Engineering Australia Chemical College Chemical Engineer Achievement Award and the Good Design 2023 Women in Design Award. 

About the Ann Moyal Lecture

The Ann Moyal Lecture is given by a distinguished speaker on a contemporary question that draws on such fields of knowledge as science, environment, ecology, history, anthropology, art, and technological change.   

Dr Ann Moyal AM FAHA (1926–2019) was a Petherick reader, a Harold White Fellow and an established historian of science and technology. As a champion of independence in research and scholarly pursuits, she established the Independent Scholars Association of Australia in 1995 during the ‘Against the Grain’ conference, held at the Library. 

Learn more about the Ann Moyal lecture and previous speakers.