Chief Executive Officer Professor Ute Roessner AM FAA is Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Research Council, having joined the organisation in March 2025. She is an internationally recognised leader in metabolomics and lipidomics, with a distinguished career in plant science research. Ute’s pioneering work established frontier technologies for parallel analyses of hundreds of metabolites, enabling comprehensive investigation into how plants function under adverse environments. Her research uncovered mechanisms that describe how plants respond to a variety of abiotic stresses, providing avenues for the development of more stress-resilient crops. She also investigated communication and interaction mechanisms between roots and beneficial microbes to improve nutrient and water uptake to enhance plant performance. She previously held the position of Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research Initiatives and Infrastructure) at the Australian National University, has been appointed as Member of the Order of Australia and is an elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. Professor Roessner’s appointment is for 5 years.