Professor Peta Ashworth OAM is the Director, of the Curtin Institute for Energy Transition. Prior to joining Curtin University, Professor Ashworth was the Director of the Andrew N. Liveris Academy for Innovation and Leadership, and Chair in Sustainable Energy Futures at The University of Queensland (UQ). Professor Ashworth brings over thirty years’ experience working in a range of senior management, consulting and research roles. Prior to joining Curtin and the University of Queensland, Peta worked as a consultant to industry, as Research Group Leader at CSIRO, and in senior executive roles for the Body Shop.

Professor Ashworth is a globally-recognised expert in the fields of energy, communication, stakeholder engagement, and technology assessment. For almost two decades, Peta has been researching public attitudes toward climate and energy technologies, including wind, carbon capture and storage (CCS), solar photovoltaic, storage, geothermal and hydrogen. An accomplished speaker and facilitator, Professor Ashworth is actively involved in building energy literacy more broadly both within Australia and globally, and regularly provides input to policy briefings, think tanks, as well as educational events for the benefit of the broader community.