Former INWES Vice President Dr Marlene Kanga AO, was recently awarded with the Engineers Australia Peter Nicol Rusell Memorial Medal, the highest individual award of the institution. Previous award winners are the most prominent engineers in Australia including Dr John Bradfield (Sydney Harbour Bridge) and Sir John Monash (Monash University).
Dr Kanga has recently received several honours and awards, including election to the Australian Academy of Science (22 May 2025) and an Honorary Doctor of Engineering degree by the University of NSW (24 March 2025). She is an International Fellow of both the Royal Academy of Engineering (UK) and the ASEAN Academy of Engineering and Technology.
Dr Marlene Kanga, a chemical engineer, has held key leadership positions, including National President of Engineers Australia (2013) and President of the World Federation of Engineering Organisations (2017-2019). She has been a non-executive director and board member of large organisations in utilities transport and innovation. Among her numerous prestigious honours, is the International Network for Women Engineers and Scientists Distinguished Service Award, 2021. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2022 for her “distinguished service to engineering, particularly as a global leader and role model to women.”
Marlene’s contributions to engineering are extensive and impactful.
She was co-Chair of ICWES15, held in Adelaide in July 2011 and hosted the inaugural APNN meeting on 11 July 2011. Leading women engineers from across Asia were invited to attend. The meeting led to the formation of eight new women in engineering networks and the thriving APNN which mentors and supports hundreds of women engineers and scientists across the Asian region.
As President of the World Federation of Engineering Organisations, she led the proposal for UNESCO to declare March 4th as World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development, raising global awareness of the critical role engineering plays in addressing sustainable development challenges, which reached over 70 million people globally in 2024. Her pioneering work in safety and risk management has led to improved engineering standards, enhancing public safety and industry reliability. She has been involved in the process safety engineering industry in Australia and New Zealand for over 30 years, contributing to the development of Land Use Safety Criteria for hazardous industries, adopted in regulations across both countries.
Marlene has been instrumental in revising the engineering education benchmarks to include the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, ensuring that future engineers are equipped to meet global challenges ethically and sustainably. She has published extensively on improving organisational culture, diversity, and inclusion in engineering. She is Co-Chair of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) Elevate Program, to increase the participation of women in STEM in Australia.
Marlene is recognised among the 100 engineers making a contribution to Australia in the last 100 years and one of the Top 10 women engineers in Australia.
Congratulations！
