121: An expert engineer cooling us down as the planet heats up by Western-Australian-of-the-Year James Trevelyan

Today, we continue the conversation with a man who was awarded the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for Engineering. Professor James Trevelyan from Perth is well known for his pioneering research on Sheep Shearing Robots from 1975-1993 at the U of Western Australia – where he was awarded many international engineering and robotic awards.

He then moved into the research of Landmine Clearing Methods where he made a big impact in countries like Afghanistan, Cambodia, the Balkans, and many Africa countries.

He then took on local schools in Islamabad, where together with his father-in-law, they architected toilet access for young kids.

And now, as Western Australian of the Year, at the ripe age of 65, he founded “Close Comfort”, where he and his students engineered a personal air conditioning unit which has been made affordable for countries such as Pakistan - which aligns w his belief that safe respite from dangerous heat conditions should be a basic human right.

In 2013, his TedTalk titled “Ending Poverty: what engineers can do”, was a real reflection of his commitment to contributing engineering services on behalf of the rights that all humans possess. 

The Goods on James:

Prof. James has always been passionate about creating a positive impact on other people’s lives. He has led quite a journey from being a researcher, an academician, an educator, a world-recognised engineer, an author and so on. At 65 years old, he believed his contribution to solving some of humanity's greatest challenges wasn't over; he started Close Comfort to provide safe access to affordable cooling solutions to billions of people at risk of exposure to increasingly dangerous heat conditions without warming the planet! 

On the way, he was awarded the prestigious Engineers Australia medal and was recognised as 2018 Western Australian of the Year in the Professions category. 

Close Comfort is just another example of James's belief that his role as an engineer and as a human is to give back to communities.

·       In the past, he has developed sheep shearing robots that would cover the eyes and shield sheep from the shears cutting the wool while helping them fall asleep. The innovation was awarded the engineers equivalent of the Nobel prize and put him in a position "to devote the rest of my career to researching problems that truly mattered, that would help solve some of the tough challenges facing humanit

The Podcast's 7th Season
Welcome to In the Game, a podcast where we aim to touch, move and inspire you to what's possible in life. My name is Sarah Maxwell and I am a self-proclaimed relationship engineer. Ever since I was a little girl, I was curious about how people work and how they interact with one another. With a degree in biopsychology representing my country of Canada in beach volleyball. With a degree in biopsychology representing my country of Canada in beach volleyball, retiring from sport into mindset and purpose coaching, I now spend my days running Chatta-box Media, where we aim to story-tell for brands through the medium of podcasting, all while raising an eight-year-old daughter with my partner of 24 years. We are now in season seven of this podcast, featuring a special series on women called who Knew that Was Work aimed at young women who want to broaden their horizon when it comes to career choosing.

Go deeper into the pod and discover incredible stories of changemakers who manifest their dream lives. Gain tangible tools to apply to your own life by scrolling back to that initial season where we were more workbook focused. Have a laugh when we initially were coined the Nat and Sarah show, when my five-time Olympian partner, natalie Cook, and I bantered and had loads of fun interviewing and discovering our common passion individuals who rise to the occasion in life. Okay, now it's time to dive on in to this episode.

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