ACADEMIA AND RESEARCH LED INNOVATION: CAN YOU DO BOTH?
Academic research drives transformative breakthroughs but can you have an academic career and be deeply involved in both the R (research) and D (development) of your research-led innovation?
Join us in conversation with our panellists Anita D’Aprano, Darren Kelly, Antoinette Tordesillas, Ray Dagastine and David Simpson whose careers have spanned academic research and roles as clinicians, founders and industry collaborators in diverse fields across science, engineering and medicine. Individually, their research has resulted in innovations as impactful as the first culturally adapted developmental screening tool for First Nations children, novel therapeutic treatments for serious inflammatory diseases, forecasting systems which are helping to predict landslides, technology which enables measurement of the tiniest objects at nanoscale and quantum sensing technology to improve the diagnosis, treatment and management of neurological and iron-related disorders.
Hear how they have successfully combined an academic career with innovation practice and ask questions of our panellists to guide your own journey.
Stay on after the discussion for networking with peers from across the University's innovation ecosystem and connect with University support for aspiring innovators from our research communities.
Presented by the University’s Commercialisation for Impact Network, and co-hosted by the Faculties of Engineering and Information Technology, Science and Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences.
DATE
04/09/24
3.00PM - 5.00PM
TIME
THE STUDIO, MELBOURNE CONNECT
WHERE
MEET THE PANEL
Professor Darren Kelly is the Director of Biomedical Research in the Department of Medicine, St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, where his research expertise lies in progressing pre-clinical novel interventions and developing experimental models of cardiovascular disease. Darren is Founder and CEO of Certa Therapeutics, Executive Chair and Founder of OccuRx, Venture partner (Entrepreneur in Residence) with Brandon Capital, and a Board Director at the Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA), bringing over 25 years of management and research expertise in the life sciences and biotech sector. He has published over 200 manuscripts in the field of translational research and novel interventions many of which have had a direct impact on human disease.
Dr Antoinette Tordesillas is a Professor of Mathematics and Statistics in the Faculty of Science. Dr Tordesillas has over 200 articles authored and co-authored on research encompassing characterisation and modelling of materials and systems across diverse scales and contexts. She has led various projects on modeling granular media failure and resilience in complex networked systems from big spatiotemporal data. She is also working to translate knowledge from these basic research efforts to climate extremes and geohazards early warning practice and resilience building. She currently leads programs to develop early warning tools both under Australian Aid to support climate and disaster resilience in Nepal, and with industry partners to enhance slope and structural health monitoring.
Ray Dagastine is a Professor of Chemical Engineering at The University of Melbourne and leads a research group studying the interfacial phenomena between drops bubbles and particles to solve problems in areas such as particle technology and sustainable product formulations. He has a passion for translating both fundamental outcomes and novel nanoscale measurement methods into practice through industrial collaborations, often through long lasting partnerships. Prof. Dagastine is also the CEO and co-founder of Tiny Bright Things, a start-up company that uses a unique imaging technology in products that can characterise unknown samples, understand morphology and determine complex structure on micron to sub-micron scales in wet or dry sample environments with minimal sample preparation.
Dr David Simpson is a Haimson Associate Professor in physical biosciences within the School of Physics at The University of Melbourne. He obtained his PhD in applied physics from Victoria University and has spent the past decade researching and commercialising quantum-based technology. His current research is focused on diamond-based quantum sensors for biomedical and precision magnetometry applications. He has pioneered the development of high-resolution imaging techniques to visualise the electrical and magnetic properties of biological systems. These advances have led to the creation of two start-up companies which A/Prof Simpson has co-founded Chromos Laboratories and FeBI Technologies. These commercial activities seek to apply quantum sensing technology to improve the diagnosis, treatment, and management of neurological and iron-related disorders.
Associate Professor Anita D’Aprano is a Developmental Paediatrician at the Royal Children’s Hospital and Principal Research Fellow in the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Melbourne where she leads the STRONG kids, STRONG future program. The STRONG kids, STRONG future team works in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, communities and organisations to research, develop and implement culturally responsive tools that promote developmental outcomes for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. One of these tools is the ASQ-TRAK developmental screening tool, the first and only culturally adapted tool for this context.
