The UNSW Nuclear Innovation Centre, launched in February 2024, is playing a key role in promoting growth in the field of nuclear science and engineering.
The UNSW Nuclear Innovation Centre, launched in February 2024, is playing a key role in promoting growth in the field of nuclear science and engineering.
And it was only possible thanks to a $7.5m donation from the Sir William Tyree Foundation, with the generous endowment helping to establish a suite of research scholarships in nuclear engineering.
The Sir William Tyree Foundation is a long-time supporter of teaching and research at UNSW. The foundation’s generous history of support includes philanthropic investments to establish the Tyree Foundation Institute of Health Engineering and scholarships to attract and support young women from low-SES backgrounds or disadvantaged schools in the Greater Western Sydney region to study engineering at UNSW.
The UNSW Nuclear Innovation Centre (UNIC) is a cross-disciplinary, cross-industry hub that will initially bring together academics from UNSW and research partners, including the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), the University of Sydney and the University of Wollongong.
“Our gift to the UNSW Nuclear Innovation Centre builds on a decade of support for nuclear engineering that saw us help to establish Australia’s first Master's in Nuclear Engineering in 2014,” Says Mrs Robyn Fennell, Sir William Tyree Foundation Chair.Â
“Sir William believed Australia must capitalise on nuclear technologies, and I’m sure he’d be proud of our role in progressing nuclear education and research that will develop the technologies and skills for all possible nuclear futures.”
The gift from the Sir William Tyree Foundation is funding a research program, scholarships for Masters and PhDs in nuclear engineering, and will support junior academic positions at the new centre.
UNSW was the first university in Australia to offer a nuclear engineering program in 1954 and now has the largest nuclear engineering program in the country.
Director of the UNIC, Associate Professor Edward Obbard, says his team are intent on advancing Australia's nuclear technology for global impact.
“We are growing a nuclear workforce in Australia grounded in academic excellence, diversity and social inclusion, which in turn are foundations for nuclear safety in all Australia’s nuclear activities. We are connecting our research to industry applications and embedding the results of our research in our education programs, so that they continually evolve,” he explains.
“The UNIC is part of UNSW’s first societal impact framework, which is helping us to focus our efforts for maximum effect and benefit to society.”
The Nuclear Innovation Centre will also be fundamental in supporting the federal government’s AUKUS submarine program, which will require thousands of workers trained in a range of skills in the nuclear field.
And the gift from the Tyree Foundation has ensured the UNIC can move quickly to start that training.
“My heartfelt thanks to Robbie Fennell and Peter Tyree, and the late Sir William Tyree for his vision,” A/Prof Obbard says.
“Their support will enable us to train 40 top-tier nuclear experts for Australia. I don’t think we’d be here today without the Tyree Foundation’s support and involvement with nuclear engineering at UNSW over the past 10 years.”
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