Michael Brear

Professor Michael Brear FTSE FCI FIEAust is a mechanical engineer at the University of Melbourne. His work focuses on:

• the technical, economic and environmental analysis of transport, energy and industrial systems;
• the combustion of conventional and alternative fuels; and
• stationary and mobile powerplant featuring engines, turbines, energy storage and renewables.

Michael has worked extensively with industry and government. His work with the private sector has included projects with world leading manufacturers and others across energy, transport and heavy industry. His work with government has included advisory on hydrogen, network regulation and energy market design. Michael is also currently the Director of the Net Zero Australia Project, which is a partnership between the University of Queensland (UQ), Princeton University and the University of Melbourne.

Michael is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences & Engineering, the Combustion Institute and Engineers Australia. He previously established and coordinated the University’s multi-disciplinary degree, the Master of Energy Systems, from 2012 to 2016 and then served as Director of the Melbourne Energy Institute from 2016 to 2025. Prior to commencing at the University of Melbourne, Michael worked for ICI Australia (now Orica), and then undertook graduate studies at Cambridge University and post-doctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.