Catherine Ball
Dr Catherine Ball is a businesswoman with a focus on environmental science and technology. Ball is currently operating a number of start-up companies and is an advisor to many start-ups. She is an Associate Professor at The Australian National University (in the Practice of Engineering within the new Research School of Aerospace, Mechanical, and Environmental Engineering) and Honorary Associate Professor at the 3AI Institute [1].
![](../I/m/Dr_Catherine_Ball.jpg)
Ball was named the 2015 Telstra Queensland Business Woman of the Year award for this line of innovative work in a corporate paradigm[2].Ball is a board director for Aviation Australia; and is on the international advisory board for the Ocean Impact Organisation, a not-for-profit ecosystem for businesses working towards a healthier ocean.
Ball has worked with drone technology, and her team operated a drone that could fly hundreds of kilometres. They flew it off the west coast of Australia to study and track turtle habitats. During this 'voyage' they found endangered animals that had not been seen for years.[3]
Working globally across a wide range of projects from creating documentaries and world leading conferences and events, to advising on the use of novel approaches (e.g. drones) across environmental and humanitarian projects, Ball is a proponent of community engagement with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), and likes to demystify emerging tech. Ball identifies as a representative of women in STEM. She is the 2020 Patron for the Tech Girls Movement aka 'Tech Girls are Superheroes', a #SheFlies ambassador for Girl Geek Academy, and a mentor and advisor to the CEO of New York based Women Who Drone, as well as a mentor to the #SuperstarsofSTEM project by Science and Technology Australia.
Personal Life
Ball was born in Coventry, England, however considers herself an Aussie-at-heart, due to the 'amount of work' she has done in Australia.[4]
Ball is married and has two sons.
Education
Ball attended Higham Lane School and King Edward VI College, Nuneaton. [5]
Ball holds a BSc Honours (Environmental Protection) and a PhD (Spatial Ecology, Descriptive and Predictive Statistics) (2008) from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in the United Kingdom.
Awards
Ball was recognised with the 2015 Telstra Queensland Business Woman of the Year award.[6] Other awards, honours, and recognition include:
2018 – Drone World UAV Congress 2018: Global UAV Award [7]
2017 – AFR’s BOSS Magazine True Leaders Game Changers [8]
2017 – Women in Leadership Awards – Finalist Innovation Category [9]
2016 – Financial Review & Westpac 100 Woman of Influence [10]
2016 – Top 25 Women in Robotics List - Silicon Valley Robotics [11]
2016 – Courier Mail QBM Magazine: 25 Influential Movers and Shakers of Queensland [12]
2015 – AFR’s BOSS Magazine Young Executives of the Year Winner [13][14]
2015 – National Telstra Business Woman of the Year, Corporate and Private Award [15]
2015 – Queensland Telstra Business Women’s Awards Winner [6]
2015 – Queensland Telstra Business Woman of the Year, Queensland Corporate and Private Awards Winner [6]
2015 – Innovator of Influence at Innovation Week
2015 – Courier Mail Q Magazine: Queensland 50 Best and Brightest [15]
Publications
- Gumption trigger : real stories of grit, resilience, and determination from award winning Australian business women [Book] [16]
- Long-endurance remotely piloted aircraft systems (LE-RPAS) support for humanitarian logistic operations: The current position and the proposed way ahead [Article] [17]
- Using long endurance remotely piloted aircraft systems to support humanitarian logistic operations: A case study of Cyclone Winston [Article] [18]
References
- "Researchers". Australian National University. May 2020.
- "Celebrating Australia's leading business women". Telstra Business Women’s Award. May 2020.
- http://www.smh.com.au/business/telstra-queensland-business-woman-of-year-catherine-ball-wins-for-drone-work-20150929-gjxoai.html
- "Position Q&A with Dr Catherine Ball". Spatial Source. 2016-03-09. Retrieved 2017-02-03.
- "Higham". Archived from the original on 2017-02-04. Retrieved 2017-02-03.
- Branco, Jorge (2015-09-29). "Telstra Queensland Business Woman of Year: Catherine Ball wins for drone work". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
- "Home | World of Drones & Robotics Congress 2020". WoDaRC 2019. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
- "True Leaders Game Changers 2017: SheFlies' Catherine Ball uses drones to make science sexy". Australian Financial Review. 2017-10-12. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
- Agenda, Women's (2017-09-19). "Meet the finalists of the 2017 Women's Agenda Leadership Awards". Women's Agenda. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
- "AFR Women of Influence 2019". AFR Women of Influence. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
- "25 women in robotics you need to know about – 2016 | Robohub". Retrieved 2020-05-24.
- "Catherine Ball". Science and Technology Australia. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
- Schmidt, Lucinda (10 July 2015). "Boss Young Executives 2015: the power of risk-taking". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
- Chapman, Theo (19 April 2016). "BOSS Young Executives alumna Catherine Ball on her high-flying career". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
- "Let's Celebrate: 2015 Telstra Business Women's Awards Gala Dinner". Telstra Exchange. 2015-11-18. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
- "Gumption trigger : real stories of grit, resilience, and determination from award winning Australian business women (book) | State Library Of Queensland". www.slq.qld.gov.au. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
- Tatham, Peter; Ball, Catherine; Wu, Yong; Diplas, Peter (2017-01-01). "Long-endurance remotely piloted aircraft systems (LE-RPAS) support for humanitarian logistic operations: The current position and the proposed way ahead". Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management. 7 (1): 2–25. doi:10.1108/JHLSCM-05-2016-0018. ISSN 2042-6747.
- Tatham, P.; Ball, C. M.; Wu, Y.; Diplas, P. (2017), "Using Long Endurance Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems to Support Humanitarian Logistic Operations: A Case Study of Cyclone Winston", Smart Technologies for Emergency Response and Disaster Management, IGI Global, pp. 264–277, ISBN 978-1-5225-2575-2, retrieved 2020-05-24