DEAKIN University’s Bernard Rolfe has been appointed to a newly formed academic advisory board for the British-based International Federation of Automotive Engineering Societies (FISITA).

Representing more than 210,000 engineers in 37 countries, FISITA is a major international network for automotive engineers.

The organisation, which late last month held the first meeting of the newly formed board, said in a statement that it had specifically brought together senior members of five leading universities “to support and develop strategic relations between the automotive industry and academia on an international basis”.

Widely acknowledged as an automotive guru at Deakin, Dr Rolfe is an associate professor of mechanical engineering and associate head of research at the university’s School of Engineering.

He joins academics from universities in the UK, Germany, China and the US on the board, which, according to FISITA, will regularly engage with the organisation and its members “to collaborate and share their expertise and develop mutually beneficial development plans”.

Dr Rolfe said it was an honour to be chosen to represent Deakin and Australia on the new board.

“Deakin is an innovator with regard to teaching and industry engagement and I hope to contribute our knowledge to the board’s progress,” he said in an article posted on Deakin’s website.

“There are many challenges facing the Australian automotive sector, which are different to those faced in the US, Europe or China. The future of Australian automotive engineering is changing quickly, with the loss of automotive manufacturing and only Ford retaining a large design and engineering group in Australia.

“In light of this, one of the critical questions for the sector is how to integrate Australian automotive SMEs (small and medium enterprises) into global supply chains.

“Globally, we are seeing a shift from automotive having a mechanical engineering focus to more of an information technology focus, with the future of automotive development being in the areas of communication, interaction and vehicle intelligence.

“I therefore hope to add a distinctive Australian voice to a global board,” he said.

Dr Rolfe’s current research focus is the forming of lightweight structures, including the development of better material models for metal forming.

In 2008, he led Deakin’s ‘T2’ (T-squared) project team for the Ford-sponsored ‘Creating the Model T for the 21st Century – a Global University Challenge’ and is currently the theme leader for the Automotive Technology Co-operative Research Centre’s ‘lightweighting’ program, responsible for reviewing $15 million in projects and PhD students’ progress.

Last year, Dr Rolfe received Deakin University’s Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Industry Engagement in Research.

In announcing the creation of the new board, FISITA chief executive and academic advisory board co-chair Chris Mason said: “The automotive industry is embarking upon its most significant transformation to date as it reshapes into the mobility sector of the future.

“We are increasingly aware of our members’ need to for a co-ordinated and close working relationship with a network of universities around the world, in order to ensure the technical expertise required to meet with future mobility demands is met,” he said.

Other members of the board include Prof Chris Brace from Bath University in England (where he is professor of automotive propulsion and deputy director of the Powertrain Vehicle Research Centre), Prof Lutz Eckstein from RWTH Aachen University in Germany (director of the Institute of Automotive Engineering), Prof Ouyang Minggao from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China (deputy director of the university’s academic committee), and Prof Volker Sick from University of Michigan in the US (associate vice-president for research, natural sciences and engineering and professor of mechanical engineering).

As well as Mr Mason (who has 25 years’ industry experience, including 14 years with the UK Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders), senior FISITA personnel on the board include president Paul Mascarenas (a former vice-president and chief technical officer at Ford Motor Company), technical vice-president Karl Siebertz (head of external alliances for Ford Research & Advanced Engineering – Europe) and education vice-president Daniela Hein (general secretary of the Association of German Engineers/VDI – product and process design division).

By Terry Martin