Professor Phil Batterham is the Secretary of the International Genetics Federation and a member of the Executive of the Genetics Society of AustralAsia.  His lab at the University of Melbourne studies the impact of insecticides on insects and the ways which they adapt to exposure.  Phil has won national awards for his research and for research student supervision.  Phil is passionate about conference organization and the public communication of science.  He has previously led the organization of three international conferences - the International Congress of Genetics (2003), Evolution – the Experience (2009) and a UN Conference on Global Health (2010) and served on the organizing committees for several others.  Phil has been a finalist for the Eureka Prize for the Public Communication of Science on five occasions, reflecting his passion for curating creative public engagement programs linked with the conferences he has led.