Calum Drummond

Distinguished Professor Drummond is RMIT Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Innovation and a Vice President. He is also an active research professor and has published over 300 articles and patents in the area of advanced materials. He has a PhD and DSc from The University of Melbourne.  

Distinguished Professor Drummond is an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for his distinguished contributions to chemistry and materials science research, commercialisation initiatives, and mentoring.

Distinguished Professor Calum Drummond joined RMIT University in 2014 from CSIRO (the Australian national science agency) where he was Group Executive for Manufacturing, Materials and Minerals (1300 R&D staff). Earlier, he was Chief of CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering (850 R&D staff). Professor Drummond was the inaugural Vice President Research for CAP-XX, initially an Intel Portfolio company. The World Economic Forum designated CAP-XX as a global technology pioneer for producing the world’s most advanced commercial supercapacitors for consumer electronic products. He was a member of the CAP-XX executive team that built two manufacturing facilities: one in Sydney, Australia and one in Kulim, Malaysia. CAP-XX is listed on the London stock exchange (AIM).  

A professional career spanning more than 35 years, Professor Drummond has served as a connection between industry and researchers. He has experience, skills and capability, developed in the government, private and university sectors, bringing a dynamic cross-sectoral perspective to industry-research collaboration. Professor Drummond has a history of developing and overseeing the implementation of impactful progressive agendas that foster research excellence and through planned translation activities deliver significant value to Australia. As a senior executive, he has led large-scale engagement with the CRC program, Boeing, General Electric, Orica, and global mining houses, and overseen initiatives to support 1000s of Australian small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs).