Dr Victoria Coleman became Australia’s Chief Metrologist on 20 October 2025.
The role of Chief Metrologist is established under the National Measurement Act 1960. Our department’s Secretary appoints this role.
Key functions of the role:
- maintain Australia’s primary and secondary standards of measurement and Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)
- make decisions and issue guidelines and determinations under the regulatory framework (for example, for deriving legal units of measurement) or to verify a standard of measurement)
- strategic leadership in maintaining and evolving Australia’s measurement capabilities.
Victoria joined the National Measurement Institute (NMI) in 2008 as a founding member of the Nanometrology Section. She has led the team since 2016.
She represents Australia in several international leadership forums:
- Member of the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM)—the peak international measurement body under the Metre Convention of 1875. She was the fifth Australian to be elected to this committee and the second youngest member elected.
- President of the CIPM Consultative Committee for Length, which oversees the definition and global realisation of the SI unit metre, as well as practical length and angle measurements.
- Member of the steering committee of the Versailles Project on Advanced Materials and Standards, a collaborative project to develop and promote standards for the characterisation of advanced materials.
She has a Doctor of Philosophy in materials science and semiconductor physics from the Australian National University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Uppsala University in Sweden. She also a Bachelor of Science (Honours) majoring in chemical physics from Flinders University.