Past President of IEEE SSIT and current SSIT Vice President of Technical Activities Greg Adamson was presented with the 2026 Brian M. O’Connell SSIT Distinguished Service Award on November 5, 2026, at a ceremony at the IEEE Conference on Engineering Informatics 2026 (ICEI), at the Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia.
Ruth Lewis, SSIT Vice President for Standards, and Harivardhagini Subhadra, SSIT Board of Governors elected Member-at-Large and Chapters Chair, were on hand to present the award on SSIT President Murty Polavarapu’s behalf and personally honor Greg for his service to the SSIT community.
The plaque they presented to Adamson reads: “For extensive contributions to SSIT over decades as Society President, Vice President of Technical Activities, and in the areas of ethics and volunteer recruitment.”
From left, Ruth Lewis, Greg Adamson, and Harivardhagini Subhadra.
“Greg has been a driving force for our society, and I couldn’t be more honored that this well-deserved recognition is taking place during my term as SSIT President,” expressed SSIT President Murty Polavarapu in a statement read as part of the award presentation.
The Brian M. O’Connell SSIT Distinguished Service Award recognizes distinguished service to the IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology (SSIT). The award may be given annually to an SSIT member who has served the Society with distinction as a board member, contributor to publications, conference organizer, or any combination of these or other activities. Criteria for judging are length, breadth, and impact of service to SSIT.
In his professional work, Adamson is currently Chief Information Security Officer, Department of Transport and Planning, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Board Member for Internet Australia; Principal of Digital Risk Innovation, Melbourne, Australia; and Honorary Principal Fellow, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, Faculty of Medicine Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
For IEEE SSIT, Adamson’s current work includes his role as VP of Technical Activities, and he serves in leadership positions for the broader IEEE organization as well, Chairing both the IEEE Ethics and Member Conduct Committee (EMCC) and the IEEE Standards Association program Dignity, Inclusion, Identity, Trust and Agency (DIITA). He was President of IEEE SSIT in 2015-2016, and he has served as Conference Series Chair for the IEEE Conference on Norbert Wiener in the 21st Century (21CW), which has run in 2014, 2016, 2021, and 2023, and as Chair of the IEEE International Conference on Engineering Informatics (ICEI) in 2024, 2025, and 2026.
In materials submitted for the award, one nominator commended Greg’s “ability to not simply recognize potential candidates who might be well-suited for SSIT volunteer positions but also actively foster and enable individuals to find pathways to leadership,” noting that this strength “has allowed SSIT to grow as an organization with a uniquely (and extremely valuable) interdisciplinary and geographically diverse community, and as an organization whose contributions to not just IEEE but also society at large are meaningful, long lasting, and wide reaching.”
The nomination package also highlighted that, in addition to his society-level contributions (which include “play[ing] a key role in establishing SSIT’s status as a leader in the socio-technical standards space” and numerous “contributions to the SSIT publications portfolio” in the areas of “cybersecurity and privacy, autonomous systems, technologists’ ethical responsibility, and more”), his service has championed SSIT values across the IEEE organization: “[h]is recognition as a champion for ethical thinking and social responsibility in the engineering field are evident in the responsibilities he has been assigned by senior IEEE leaders[.] … He is willing to ask hard questions, call out senior individuals when the situation warrants it, and push conversations and initiatives in ways that ensure they have addressed important—but not always popular—issues of ethics and equity.”
In closing, we quote the following statement from the nomination package, which synthesizes the rich and valuable contributions that this award recognizes: “Greg Adamson has demonstrated exemplary service to SSIT through a combination of visionary leadership, practical action, and unwavering commitment to the Society’s values. His contributions have extended across governance, conferences, technical activities, publications, membership engagement, and the cultivation of a vibrant international community dedicated to understanding the complex interactions between technology and society… He has worked tirelessly to expand participation in SSIT activities, encouraging new voices and perspectives while maintaining a welcoming and inclusive environment…. Throughout his service, Greg has exemplified the spirit embodied by the Brian O’Connell Distinguished Service Award … [demonstrating] that meaningful service is grounded in dedication to community, commitment to excellence, and a deep belief in the importance of addressing the social implications of technology.”
SSIT extends its highest congratulations and appreciation to Greg.
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