Dr. David Matthew Smith is a prominent and respected scientist in the field of computational chemistry, currently acting as the Director General of the Ruđer Bošković Institute (RBI) in Zagreb, Croatia, in his second mandate.

Australian-born and a naturalised Croatian citizen, he studied chemistry and economics at the Australian National University, where he completed Honours and a PhD, awarded the Dean’s Award for Best Thesis. He joined RBI as a postdoctoral fellow, later becoming Senior Scientist, head of the Group for Quantum Organic Chemistry, and of the Division of Physical Chemistry.

His work has earned multiple awards, including the 2008 “Lavoslav Ružička” award, and he has led numerous national and international projects.