Prof Will Rickard is a materials scientist with an applied physics education. He completed his PhD in 2011 at Curtin University and worked as a postdoc in the Centre for Materials Research and later the John de Later Centre (JdLC). He has spent time working at the German Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing as well as the Korean Institute for Geoscience and Mineral Resources. He has extensive experience in materials characterisation and microanalysis as well as an advanced understanding of the fundamental principles behind electron, x-ray and ion beam microscopes and mass spectrometers. He has expertise and facility management and experience in numerous microscopy and related techniques (SEM, FIB-SEM, ToF-SIMS, APT, TEM, EDS, EBSD, TKD, FIB- & e-tomography, XRD, XRF).

He is the Director of the John de Laeter Centre where he manages a suite of core research facilities and co-ordinates a number of projects in Defence, materials science and geoscience disciplines. He collaborates widely with researchers and industry as the subject matter expert for advanced materials characterisation. His own research has been concentrated on studying the microstructure, isotopic composition, phase and physical properties of novel ceramics/binders and geological materials at the nanoscale. He is also currently President of the Australian Microbeam Analysis Society and leads ongoing multidisciplinary projects in the fields of nuclear forensics, energy materials, Defence and critical minerals.