[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.14.7″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.14.7″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.14.7″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_blurb title=”Reminiscing with Dr Geoff Garrett” image=”https:\/\/alumni.csir.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/thumbnail_image012.jpg” _builder_version=”4.14.7″ _module_preset=”default” header_font=”|700|||||||” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” image_icon_width=”59%” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
What an honour it was to touch base with Dr Geoff Garrett as we compiled our inaugural Alumni<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n Newsletter. As a former President and CEO of the CSIR, he joined the organisation in 1995,<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n following five years as Executive Vice President: Operations. Dr Garrett was wonderful enough to share<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n beautiful and personal snippets of his life since moving on to his next chapter post-CSIR.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s now more than 20 years since I left the CSIR after the privilege of 15 years working with so many talented and enthusiastic people. Thereafter, moving down under (Australia), I led our \u2018sister\u2019 organisation, the CSIRO, for eight tumultuous years – and with their 55 sites spread across the country, I discovered Australia as I got to know the organisation.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Then, after an exciting \u2018gap year\u2019 – during which I had fun writing a successful little book on research leadership, entitled \u2018Herding Cats\u2019(!), with my wonderful, long-time mentor and friend, Professor Sir Graeme Davies – we \u2018emigrated\u2019 up to Queensland. There I greatly enjoyed six very happy years as the State\u2019s Chief Scientist, involved with studies as diverse as the science of floods, uranium mining, bat-derived horse viruses, underground coal gasification and water quality improvement in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR).<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Now back in Canberra, I have stayed involved with GBR research, as well as encouraging students to venture into science as Deputy Chair of the National Youth Science Forum. Life as a grandfather is a delight. I\u2019ve recently had two new knees but happily back to my first sporting love, table tennis, and to regular rowing. With not a musical bone in my body, I am learning to play the ukulele and have progressed from totally useless to useless! We visit South Africa as often as we can, with two of our four boys and their families living here. We always have a great time and I remain an avid Springbok and Proteas supporter.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n On another note, I must say that I thought the recently published \u2018CSIR – A story of our time\u2019, celebrating 75 years of achievement, is an outstanding piece of work and beautifully produced\u2026do dip in if you haven\u2019t yet had the chance.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_blurb][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What an honour it was to touch base with Dr Geoff Garrett as we compiled our inaugural Alumni Newsletter. As a former President and CEO of the CSIR, he joined the organisation in 1995, following five years as Executive Vice President: Operations. Dr Garrett was wonderful enough to share beautiful and personal snippets of his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":926,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.csir.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.csir.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.csir.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.csir.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/926"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.csir.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1681"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.csir.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1681\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1714,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.csir.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1681\/revisions\/1714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.csir.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.csir.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.csir.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}