Professor Haymet is an emeritus distinguished professor of oceanography. He has researched and taught for many years in Australia and in the United States, including as Established Chair of Theoretical Chemistry at the University of Sydney. He has worked in hydrophobicity, crystal-liquid interfaces, fish antifreeze proteins in Antarctica, and the spherical football molecule C60.

From 2002 to 2006, Prof Haymet was chief of CSIRO Marine Research, then CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, based in Hobart, Tasmania, where he led 5 CSIRO laboratories around Australia, and managed 2 research vessels. 

From 2006 to 2012, he was Vice-Chancellor, Director and Distinguished Professor of Oceanography, at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. The Scripps Institution is one of the world’s foremost centres for global earth, ocean and atmosphere research. 

In 2010, Prof Haymet and a colleague at the Scripps Institution established MRV Systems LLC, a company that manufactures ocean robots. MRV’s fleet of underwater autonomous drones is equipped with a variety of sensors to take chemical and physical measurements across the world’s oceans, and data is shared through the Scripps Institution. 

Prof Haymet joined the board of the Antarctic Science Foundation, based in Hobart, in 2020 and become its Chair in 2021. He was also on the board of Worldfish, based in Penang (2017-2020). He was also Chair of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) Climate Change Working Group. He has resigned all board and working group roles to take up the position of Australia’s Chief Scientist. Professor Haymet has also held a position with the Minderoo Foundation in Perth, where he established a philanthropic ocean research program. For five years, he served on the Oceans Council of the World Economic Forum (WEF) including the final year as Chair. 

Professor Haymet’s undergraduate honours degree in Chemistry was from the University of Sydney. His PhD in chemical physics from the University of Chicago and focused on the crystal-liquid interfaces.

He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) and the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI). As Australia’s Chief Scientist, he is a member of the Climate Change Authority Board and the National Data Advisory Council. 

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