Last week’s 2023 Transport Summit provided an opportunity for RA to formally present the 2022 Ray Fisher Award for Technical Excellence to Geoff Ayton, who was travelling in the UK at the time he was selected as the winner last year.
The Ray Fisher Award for Technical Excellence recognises an individual for outstanding achievement in a technical or scientific area relevant to transport in Australia.
Geoff Ayton’s work has driven transformational change in the field of road design, construction, and sustainability in pavements, particularly highways and similar classification roads in Australia.
His work has mainly focused on non-erodible subbases, concrete compaction, jointing systems including roundabouts, construction drawings and specifications and related skills training at all levels from paving crews to project managers.
Geoff’s technical contributions have been recognised with prestigious awards in Australia and internationally. This includes the Institute of Engineers Australia Babcock Scholarship, which he used to undertake a study tour of concrete paving authorities in America and Europe. Geoff then used this knowledge to drive significant revisions and updating of Australian rigid pavement practice.
In 2015, Geoff was was made an Honorary Member of the US-based International Society for Concrete Pavements – and he remains the only Australian ever to be presented with this honour.
In presenting the award, RA CEO Michael Kilgariff acknowledged Geoff’s decades-long contribution to highway construction in Australia, as well as his ongoing commitment to sharing his expertise with the next generation of engineers though his participation in technical forums, education courses and mentoring.