WEBINAR SERIES PRESENTED BY ATSE VICTORIAN DIVISION
Thursday 7 October
6.30-7.30pm AEDT
Join us at this exciting webinar as we hear from ATSE Award winners Dr Gang Kevin Li, Dr Kate Nguyen and Associate Professor Matthew Hill. They have all been recognised for their demonstrated excellence, innovation and impact in navigating the divide between research and industry. What lies behind their substantial ability to foster research-industry collaboration and knowledge transfer for the benefit of Australia? Hear how they navigate collaboration and work seamlessly between research, academia and industry. How did they overcome barriers? build bridges? What are their pathways to success? These issues and more will be explored in an interactive panel discussion.
The webinar will run for approximately 60 minutes. Each speaker will present to our online audience and will be followed by a Q&A session. Professor Sandra Kentish FTSE will be the moderator.
The event is free.
Moderator
Professor Sandra Kentish FTSE
Speakers
Dr Gang Kevin Li — Winner of the 2020 David and Valerie Solomon Prize
Dr Kate Nguyen — Winner of the 2020 Batterham Medal
Associate Professor Matthew Hill — Winner of the 2019 David and Valerie Solomon Prize
SPEAKERS
Dr Gang Kevin Li
Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Melbourne
Awarded the ATSE 2020 David and Valerie Solomon Prize. He has invented a new technique to capture the greenhouse gas methane and reduce emissions from coal mines and natural gas production. His ionic liquid zeolites – or porous absorbent minerals – have advanced gas separation technologies. Dr Li has earned three patent applications and a $1 million Global Innovation Linkage Grant, and he’s worked with industry partners to establish a new company to commercialise this research, in collaboration with industry partners. His company, Gas Capture Technologies Pty Ltd has scaled up the technology from grams to tonnes, placing Australia as a global leader in gas processing technology.
Dr Kate Nguyen
Leader, Innovative Fire and Facade Engineering Group, Senior Lecturer, School of Engineering RMIT University
Dr Nguyen is the 2021 winner of ATSE’s Batterham Medal, recognising her ground-breaking work in making buildings safer and construction more sustainable. In the aftermath of the 2017 Grenfell Tower blaze disaster in London, and in collaboration with industry, Dr Nguyen developed a light-weight, cost-effective alternative cladding material using ceramic particles that will not combust during a structural fire. She has also developed various nano-based construction products that were analysed in commercial buildings, such as the City Hall in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Partnering with industry, Dr Nguyen has provided a solution for the safe removal and transformation of combustible construction waste into high value, fire-retardant pre-fabricated building materials. Dr Nguyen is collaborating closely with some of the major construction partners who are end-users of her innovative research.
Associate Professor Matthew Hill
GAICD, Department of Chemical Engineering, Monash University Principal Scientist, CSIRO
Matthew Hill was the Inaugural winner of the ATSE 2019 David and Valerie Solomon Award for developing ‘magic crystals’ with dozens of applications from cleaning gases and liquids to mining and drug production. Matt’s team has pioneered the reduction to practise of metal organic frameworks (MOFs) – the world’s most porous materials, made almost entirely of identically-sized holes. Like a sponge, MOFs can store and release molecules such as hydrogen on demand; or like a sieve, MOFs can separate molecules such as CO2 from the air. Originally only made in test tubes, Matt has invented a new chemical processing technology to produce MOFs at 10 kg per hour, enabling commercial usage.
MODERATOR
Professor Sandra Kentish FTSE
Head, School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, The University of Melbourne
She is a distinguished and highly cited research leader undertaking needs-driven strategic research which has resulted in novel patented membrane technologies that assist Australian companies to improve their operational efficiency and reduce their environmental impact.
Her teams have developed new membranes for water treatment and desalination, the recovery of protein from dairy waste, the capture of carbon dioxide from gas streams and the selection of sperm for artificial human reproduction. Professor Kentish is also a gifted teacher and an accomplished university leader.