Wi-Fi pioneer Professor David Skellern AO awarded the 2025 Pearcey Medal

The Pearcey Foundation announced the recipients of its prestigious 2025 National Awards at a combined event held tonight, celebrating the 70th anniversary of the School of Computing and Information Systems at the University of Melbourne.

In 1955, CSIRAC, the first Australian digital computer that was designed and championed by Dr Trevor Pearcey, was delivered to the University of Melbourne where it enabled the first sustained digital computing bureau service in the world. That same year the University formed the first department of computer studies in Australia, then known as the Computation Laboratory.

University of Melbourne Professor Uwe Aickelin, Head of the School of Computing and Information Systems, said he was delighted to host the Pearcey Awards at the University's Melbourne Connect innovation precinct, as part of the 70th anniversary celebrations of computing at the University.

"We have enjoyed a long relationship with the Pearcey Foundation, established in memory of Dr Trevor Pearcey," Professor Aickelin said. "Dr Pearcey played a pivotal role in the development of computing at our University, particularly through the design and relocation of Australia's first digital computer, CSIRAC, to our University in 1955.

"Our two organisations are united in our goals to shape Australia's contribution to the ICT sector, to recognise and support excellence, and to equip the next generation of ICT leaders to ensure the computing technologies that shape society are reliable, transparent and aligned with human values." 

The Pearcey Medal, named in Dr Pearcey's honour, is an individual award that recognises a distinguished lifetime of achievement and contribution to the development and growth of the Australian ICT industry and has been awarded annually by the Pearcey Foundation since 1998. All previous 27 Pearcey Medallists can be found at https://www.pearcey.org.au/awards/national/pearcey-medal.

The 2025 Pearcey Medal was awarded to Professor David Skellern AO, a distinguished electronics engineer and computer scientist, credited with a number of important technology innovations, including wireless networking. Prof. Skellern was also inducted into the Pearcey Hall of Fame, and is joined this year by Dr Cathy Foley AO.

"David has had a material impact on our industry. As an outstanding scientist and academic, he led the team that gave the world the first universal Wi-Fi standard chip that is embedded in every computing device we use today, and we don't even notice it!! His contribution as the second CEO of NICTA saw Australian computing and communications research capabilities recognised internationally through great collaborative efforts, such as with organisations like Germany's Fraunhofer Institute," said Pearcey Foundation chair, Wayne Fitzsimmons OAM.

"The Pearcey Medal and Pearcey Hall of Fame are the pinnacle of recognition in Australia's ICT industry, with our medallists and inductees chosen each year by their peers in a nationwide vote. Both of this year's recipients have been both pioneers and leaders in their fields, and it's particularly special this year to recognise the contribution they have made to scientific research and its commercialisation in Australia. It's an honour to elevate David and Cathy to a permanent place in our Hall of Fame," said Mr Fitzsimmons.

The 2025 Pearcey Medallist: Professor David Skellern AO

Professor David Skellern AO is an electronics engineer and computer scientist, credited with leading a number of important technology innovations, including the team at Radiata, consisting of John O'Sullivan, Terence Percival and Neil Weste, who developed the first chip-set implementation of the IEEE 802.11a wireless networking standard. This team is globally acknowledged as revolutionising wireless local area networking (WLAN). Today WLAN communications are pervasive, embedded in all devices that need to communicate with other such devices or systems and installed, for instance, in all mobile phones, laptops and computers.

"It was a truly remarkable invention that derived from the same organisation that delivered Australia's first electronic digital computer, CSIRAC, demonstrating yet again Australia's proven international leadership in ICT," said Mr Fitzsimmons.

Prof. Skellern completed a B.Sc., majoring in pure mathematics, computer science and physics, a B.E. (Hons) in Electrical Engineering, and a PhD for a thesis on A Mapping System for Rotational Synthesis Data, all completed at University of Sydney.

He worked in radio astronomy for 10 years and taught electronics at the University of Sydney and Macquarie University for 16 years before joining Radiata, which he co-founded in 1997. Building on the joint research at Macquarie University and CSIRO, Radiata delivered the world's first chip-set implementation of the 54Mbit/s lEEE 802.11a WLAN standard.

Radiata was sold in 2001 to Cisco Systems, where Prof. Skellern was Director, Technology of the Wireless Networking Business Unit until 2004. He was subsequently appointed to the board of National ICT Australia (NICTA) in 2003 and stepped into the CEO role from 2005 to 2010.

Prof. Skellern was formerly on the board of the Capital Markets CRC Ltd (CMCRC) as a director 2004-2019 and chair 2013-2019, then chair of RoZetta Institute Ltd (formerly CMCRC) 2019-2022 and on the boards of eight other RoZetta group companies. He is currently chair of Quasar Satellite Technologies Pty Ltd, Semiconductor Sector Service Bureau (S3B), Australian Innovation eXchange Pty Ltd (AIX) and The International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), and a director of Trovio Pty Ltd, METS Ignited Limited and digi.cash Pty Ltd.

Amongst numerous awards received during his career, Prof. Skellern was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (A0) in 2012 for distinguished service to science and engineering.

Pearcey National Entrepreneur Award 2025: Sam Kroonenburg

Victorian Entrepreneur Award recipient Sam Kroonenburg, the co-founder and co-CEO of Cuttable, founding partner of Glitch Capital and co-founder and CEO of A Cloud Guru (now part of Pluralsight), was presented with the 2025 Pearcey National Entrepreneur Award. Chosen from this year's State and Territory Pearcey Awardees, the national award gives prominence to one of the 2025 Pearcey recipients for inspiring leadership, scale, impact, innovation and acclaim on the world stage. 

"Sam built a global success from scratch right here in Melbourne that has helped millions of students grow their careers and advance the cloud computing technologies that we all rely on today. What stood out for the Pearcey Foundation in recognising Sam for this year's national award are his continuing efforts and passion for technology and building companies with Cuttable, and in funding new founders and guiding our tech ecosystem with Glitch Capital," said Jordan Green AM, Chair - Victorian Committee, Pearcey Foundation.

Pearcey Hall of Fame Inductee: Dr Cathy Foley AO
Dr Catherine Patricia Foley AO PSM FTSE is a physicist with a storied career in science and research. She was Australia's Chief Scientist from January 2021 to December 2024, and has had a long career at CSIRO, where she was appointed as the agency's Chief Scientist in September 2018.

Dr Foley attended Macquarie University for her undergraduate degrees, initially studying for a Diploma of Education in high school physics before completing a Bachelor of Science majoring in physics. She remained at Macquarie to do a PhD in physics, and spent six months on a scholarship as a research fellow at Oregon State University in the US while writing up her PhD.

Dr Foley's research is in solid-state physics and its applications in superconductivity, combining material science, quantum physics, and research translation. In addition to her research, she has also contributed significantly to the advancement of women in science, and to professional scientific organisations.

Dr Foley and her group at CSIRO performed pioneering work on superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) systems for geomagnetic exploration of minerals. Announcing Foley's appointment as CSIRO's Chief Scientist, the CSIRO stated: "Among her many achievements, her team's breakthrough work in 'SQUID' systems for mineral exploration were commercialised in LANDTEM technology, which has led to mineral discoveries worth more than $6 billion."

Dr Foley was co-patron of Science Meets Parliament 2024 with Professor Brian Schmidt; is patron of Curious Minds - an organisation that empowers girls who are passionate, high performers in STEM to explore their full potential; and is Editor-in-Chief of the Superconductor Science and Technology journal.

Dr Foley's scientific excellence and influential leadership have been recognised with numerous awards and fellowships, including election to the Australian Academy of Science in 2020, and her appointment in 2020 as an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for service to research science and to the advancement of women in physics. She received the Australian Institute of Physics Medal for Outstanding Service to Physics in 2016. She is a Fellow of Australian Academy of Technological Science and Engineering (2008) and an honorary Fellow of the Australian Institute of Physics (2019).

In early 2025, Dr Foley was 2025 National Award Winner in Australian Awards for Excellence in Women's Leadership. Handed down by Women & Leadership Australia, the award recognises Foley's inspirational contributions to science and advocacy for women in STEM.

Dr Foley's previous roles include: member Prime Minister's Science, Engineering and Innovation Council, President of the Australian Institute of Physics, President of Science and Technology Australia, Council member for Questacon.

"Dr Foley is a worthy inductee into the Pearcey Hall of Fame. She is committed to supporting the development of the Australian quantum industry and helping Australia realise the transformative potential of emerging technologies and meet the climate challenge. She is an inspiration to women in STEM and focused strongly on equity and diversity in the science sector," said Mr Fitzsimmons.

The Pearcey Hall of Fame was established in 2004 and details of its inductees are available at https://www.pearcey.org.au/awards/national/pearcey-hall-of-fame. 

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About the Pearcey Foundation
The Pearcey Foundation Inc. is a non-profit organisation established in 1998 to raise the profile of the Australian Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry and profession. It was created in the memory of one of the greatest pioneers of the Australian ICT industry, Dr Trevor Pearcey. By celebrating the heroes in our industry, past present and future, the Foundation is looking to attract and encourage young Australians into this most exciting of global high technology sectors of our nation.

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