2023 achievements and awards
Celebrating our award-winning community.
December 2023
The International Science Council (ISC) has appointed Swinburne’s Associate Professor Andreea Molnar as one of the 100 new ISC Fellows, in recognition of outstanding contributions to promoting science as a global public good.
The fellowship is the highest honour that can be conferred on an individual by the ISC, and highlights Associate Professor Molnar’s dedication to “computing for good” across health, education and government services.
Associate Professor Molnar says she is looking forward to the opportunities and possibilities that lie ahead.
“I am deeply honoured and humbled to be appointed as an ISC Fellow in recognition of outstanding contributions to promoting science as a public good. I am excited to see how I can continue to contribute towards advancing science within the Council.”
Swinburne Climate Team awarded for Transformative Action and Innovation in approaching Climate Change
December 2023
Australian Business Deans Council (ABCD) network award.
Dr. Chamila Perera and Associate Professor Chandana Hewege of Swinburne University’s School of Business, Law and Entrepreneurship have been awarded the Australian Business Dean’s Council (ABCD) Award for Transformative Action and Innovative Approaches to Climate Change.
Chamila's team were recognised for demonstrating the impact of Carbon Literacy Training (CLT) in emission reduction by effectively delivering climate literacy training to business school students and staff.
The team has made significant contributions to Swinburne’s agenda to reach Net Zero by 2025.
Six rollouts of the Carbon Literacy Training have produced 100 carbon literates whose pledges claim to have saved more than 100 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
Swinburne mathematician awarded Australian Society of Rheology (ASR) Medallion
December 2023
Swinburne’s Professor Billy Todd (left) and joint recipient Professor Peter Daivis (right) receive the 2023 ASR Medallion.
Swinburne mathematician Professor Billy Todd has been awarded the 2023 Australian Society of Rheology (ASR) Medallion. He was jointly awarded with Professor Peter Daivis, in recognition of exceptional and collaborative contributions to rheology, as well as for distinguished service to the Society and to Australia’s rheology community.
Together, the Professors have spearheaded the development of non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations (NEMD) and are pioneers in the rigorous application of NEMD to the fluid dynamics, rheology and tribology of simple and complex fluids. Their work has led to the efficient computation of pressure tensors, heat flux vectors and transport coefficients for periodic systems and highly confined nanofluids.
Professor Todd was the inaugural Department Chair of Swinburne’s Department of Mathematics. He was President of the ASR from 2008-2010, and has also served on the ASR council and the editorial board of the Korea-Australia Rheology Journal.
The ASR Medallion is awarded to Society members whose contributions to rheology have been internationally recognised as outstanding and meritorious. The ASR has awarded only seven Medallions since its inception in 1983.
French Ministry of Research’s open science prize for Free Software in research
December 2023
Image credit: Fink (D. Longieras, IJCLab.)
The French Ministry of Research has awarded the Fink team the Open Science Prize for Free Software in Research 2023.
Fink is a collaborative project led by Swinburne ARC DECRA Fellow Dr Anais Möller. The project involves engineers and researchers from a variety of scientific backgrounds and is focused on changing astronomical objects.
“The goal of Fink is to single out the most exciting exploding stars out of the millions detected each night at the world’s largest optical telescope at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. For this, Fink is built on big data technology,” said Dr Möller.
The French Ministry of Research highlights the exceptional achievements across three categories: science and technics, documentation, and community. Fink was awarded the Special Prize (Coup de Coeur), which recognises a project combining several of these categories.
Fink promotes the values of free software as a solution to the technical challenges encountered in astronomy, as a necessary means for open science, and as a strong vector for scientific success.
Swinburne PhD students Lufan Zhang (left in left image) and Pa Pa Khin (left in right image) accepting their awards at this year’s ARC Training Centre for Information Resilience (CIRES) PhD School.
Swinburne PhD students Lufan Zhang and Pa Pa Khin have received awards at this year’s ARC Training Centre for Information Resilience (CIRES) PhD School.
Lufan Zhang was the people’s choice winner for her research focusing on employing a qualitative approach to investigate explainable AI in enterprise information management. Detailing her research in the poster display session, Lufan was also interested in what her peers had made.
“Preparing and presenting my research in the poster display session was an enjoyable experience at the 2023 PhD event.
“It was even more enjoyable to browse my peers’ poster despite the fact that they came from quite different disciplines than mine. I could always learn and engage with their research solely by observing the visual representation on their posters.”
Pa Pa Khin was winner of the data literacy competition at the PhD school through her work in creating an accessible data literacy learning resource on the RiPPLE platform. This was assessed by peers and judges on the correctness, engagingness, cohesiveness and clarity of the resource.
Her work was recognised for effectively fostering data literacy while simultaneously championing diversity. It was inclusive through incorporating design elements that cater to visually impaired individuals when developing visualisation charts.
“This experience is not only motivated by continuous learning in data literacy, but also inspired me to contribute to community support initiatives, addressing critical knowledge gaps in data literacy,” said Pa Pa.
Dr Nisa Salim and Vishnu Pillai showcased their project at Prototypes for Humanity and attended COP28.
Swinburne School of Engineering’s Dr Nisa Salim and PhD student Vishnu Pillai have showcased their GraphIT project at Prototypes for Humanity in Dubai. Selected from 3,000 applications in over 100 countries and being invited to attend COP28, they are presenting their research on creating graphene sensors for real-time structural health monitoring.
GraphIT addresses challenges in detecting damage, especially in hard-to-reach locations like wind turbines, and utilises graphene’s remarkable properties to be cost effective and efficient to maintain.
These graphene sensors will be able to help avert catastrophic failures, such as bridge collapses, safeguarding both property and lives. The technology has potential applications spanning aerospace, defence and automotive industries.
Swinburne’s Dr Nishar Hameed and Dr Premika Govindaraj were also involved in this innovative project, pioneering a new era in infrastructure safety and sustainability.
The project’s display at Prototypes for Humanity follows the team’s presentation of their cutting-edge research on composites at the Indo-Pacific 2023 International Maritime Exposition, and Vishnu Pillai’s attendance at the 2023 UN Water Conference earlier this year.
Pictured: Distinguished Professor Qing-Long Han named Honorary Fellow of Engineers Australia
Swinburne’s Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research Quality), Distinguished Professor Qing-Long Han, has been appointed as an Honorary Fellow of Engineers Australia for his exceptional contributions to the engineering profession and the Australian community.
This honour recognises innovative and resourceful engineers who demonstrate notable contributions in engineering or an allied science, and at the highest level of technical, professional and community service standards of engineering. Its conferral elevates Distinguished Professor Han to the highest credential level available to Engineers Australia members.
With over 30 years’ experience in research across academia and industry, Distinguished Professor Han has made exceptional and innovative technologies contributions to networked control and multi-agent systems, notably impacting smart grid technologies. His academic influence is evident in his 627 high-quality papers, over 46,350 citations, and an h-index of 118, alongside notable industry contributions.
He has also received numerous accolades, including the 2021 Norbert Wiener Award and the 2021 M. A. Sargent Medal from Engineers Australia, and has made substantial contributions to engineering education and the profession’s promotion.
As the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research Quality) at Swinburne University of Technology, Distinguished Professor Han exemplifies leadership in strategic development and research excellence.
“I’m proud to have been named an Honorary Fellow of Engineers Australia. Given that Engineers Australia has over 100,000 individual members, and only 200 can hold this lifetime Fellowship, I’m very pleased to receive this prestigious award,” Distinguished Professor Han said.
With over a century’s history, Engineers Australia’s excellence awards program promotes the prestige of engineering practice and recognises the outstanding achievements of individual engineering professionals.
Swinburne PhD candidate receives Best Paper Award by The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society
November 2023
Swinburne PhD candidate Aulia Qisthi Mairizal has been awarded the 2024 The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society’s (TMS) Light Metals and Extraction & Processing Divisions — Best Paper Award for her research paper, Carbon Footprint assessment of Waste PCB Recycling Process through Black Copper Smelting Route in Australia.
The award recognises research papers that exemplify the practical application of science and technology in solving problems, and which present new and significant information on the topic of energy.
The paper assesses the current state of managing printed circuit board (PCB) electronic waste (e-waste) in Australia, as well as the potential for carbon emission reduction from renewable energy sources during the recycling process.
The paper reflects multidisciplinary research and industry collaboration, with co-authors including Dr Agung Yoga Sembada from Swinburne’s School of Business, Professor M Akbar Rhamdani and Dr Kwong Ming Tse from Swinburne’s School of Engineering, and Nawshad Haque, CSIRO Energy Principal Research Scientist.
The award will be presented in the TMS 2024 Annual Meeting and Exhibition in Orlando, Florida USA in March 2024. The TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition brings together more than 4,000 engineers, scientists, business leaders and other professionals in the minerals, metals and materials fields for a comprehensive, cross-disciplinary exchange of technical knowledge.
The Embedded Youth Outreach Program (EYOP), undertaken by Victoria Police in conjunction with Swinburne University of Technology, has been awarded the Gold Crime and Violence Prevention Award by the Australian Government’s Australian Institute of Criminology).
The Swinburne team includes Associate Professor Rachael Fullam, Deputy Director & Consultation and Evaluation Lead, Dr Janet Ruffles, Dr Ariel Stone, Dr Benjamin Spivak, Dr Anne Sophie Pichler, Dr Stefan Luebbers and Professor James Ogloff.
For the last four years, the EYOP team has been following up police interactions with young people to provide additional support, assessment and services to young people and their families. The program aims to provide early intervention and the results have been promising in curbing the influx of young people entering the justice system.
Swinburne University’s Distinguished Professor David Moss has been named as Australia’s leading researcher in optics and photonics. Image credit: The Australian Research Magazine 2024
Distinguished Professor David Moss and Adjunct Professor John Dixon have been named as top researchers in their respective fields of research nationally in The Australian’s Research Magazine 2024.
Distinguished Professor David Moss is a field leader in Optics and Photonics and has worked at Swinburne since 2016. This has included as Director of Swinburne’s Optical Sciences Centre since its formation in 2020 and, before that, Swinburne’s Centre for Microphotonics. He has more than 800 publications, and conference papers with over 41,000 citations, and leads extensive international research networks in nanophononics and other areas.
Adjunct Professor John Dixon is a field leader in Obesity and is known internationally for his research and education programs covering problems and diseases related to severe obesity. His research at Swinburne’s Iverson Health Innovation Research Institute bridges the gap in communication between advances in surgery for weight loss, metabolic research, clinical practice and evidence-based medicine.
October 2023
Swinburne Sarawak’s Head of the School of Information and Communication Technologies, Professor Patrick Then, has been elected as a Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC)
This prestigious honour is in recognition of Professor Then’s significant contribution to the field of cardiovascular diseases. He is widely published in top international journals and conferences and has also developed several digital health interventions that have been implemented in clinical practice. His innovative works in managing COVID-19 earned him recognitions by the Sarawak State Government as well as the Sarawak Health Department.
In addition to his research, he is a passionate advocate for digital health education and capacity building.
“I want to ensure that the next generation of researchers, technologists and educators are adequately trained and equipped to bring digital health to new heights,” he says.
The European Society of Cardiology is a cardiology knowledge hub that houses practice-changing science and education resources from global experts.
Prestigious award for young Swinburne astrophysicist
October 2023
Astrophysicist Dr Grace Lawrence has been awarded the prestigious Royal Society of Victoria’s Young Scientist Research Prize for the Physical Sciences.
Grace’s PhD thesis focused on dark matter, a mysterious invisible material that makes up over 80 per cent of our Universe and whose true nature remains one of the greatest scientific mysteries.
One way to determine the nature of dark matter is through direct detection experiments which search for a modulating energetic signal produced when dark matter collides with crystal detectors on Earth.
“My thesis studied how direct detection predictions change when supercomputer simulations are used instead of simplified mathematical models,” Grace says. “The findings inform a global range of detectors including the SABRE experiment, housed at the bottom of the Stawell gold mine in Victoria.
Grace was honoured to receive the Royal Society of Victoria award, which was presented at a special event on 28 September 2023.
“The award was a fantastic opportunity to share and discuss my PhD research with an engaged audience and hone my communication skills. Listening to the other finalists across science fields left me inspired and confident that the future is in safe hands."
Swinburne lecturer awarded Victorian Professional Engineer of the Year
October 2023Swinburne Architectural Engineering lecturer Daniel Prohasky has been named Victorian Professional Engineer of the Year at the Engineers Australia Excellence Awards and will go on to represent the state for the Australian title on 29 November.
Mr Prohasky was nominated for his contribution to innovative engineering practice through translating his visionary concepts into sustainable, inclusive, and ethical local manufacturing projects Curvecrete and Milkdrop. This extensive involvement allows him to touch various community aspects, underscoring the vibrancy and innovative potential in engineering.
With a passion for mentoring architectural engineering students around the country, Mr Prohasky is also the founding lecturer in Architectural Engineering at Swinburne and was the 2019 Design Faculty Innovation Fellow.
“The architectural engineering approach is one that can be used for multiple engineering challenges, and I’m thrilled it’s getting recognition”, says Mr Prohasky.
“I’m really excited to use this platform given to me by Engineers Australia to reinvigorate conversations about using architectural engineers to solve sustainability challenges at both a city infrastructure scale and a product design scale.”
September 2023
Swinburne teams win at iAwards 2023
September 2023Professor Prem Prakash Jayaraman has led a Swinburne University of Technology team to win at the national iAwards 2023.
Swinburne won the Government and Public Sector Solution award for a project delivering Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and 5G connectivity to waste collection trucks. The 5G garbage trucks solution was supported by $1.18 million in funding from the Federal Government’s Australian 5G Innovation Initiative and worked with Optus and Brimbank City Council. The solution’s Swinburne team included Professor Dimitrios Georgakopoulos, Associate Professor Hadi Ghaderi, Associate Professor Chris McCarthy, Dr Abdur Rahim Mohammad Forkan, Dr Yong-Bin Kang, Dr Felip Martí, Shane Joachim, Rohit Kaul, Anas Dawod and Dr Abhik Banerjee.
The win follows the team's success in the Victorian iAwards round in August 2023, where Swinburne was also a merit recipient for the Technology Platform Solution category led by industry partner VidVersity. VidVersity, an education learning platform company, delivered an innovative Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered video assessment tool called VidVersity DL, jointly developed with Swinburne. The platform uses advanced Natural Language Processing (NLP), AI to innovate video-based learning through automatic question generation and answer assessment. The Swinburne team included Dr Yong-Bin Kang and Dr Abdur Forkan.
The iAwards program is an initiative of the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) and is Australia’s longest running innovation recognition program.
July 2023
Swinburne Professor elected to the International Design Society’s Advisory Board
July 2023Swinburne Professor of Product Design Engineering, Boris Eisenbart, elected to the Advisory Board of the International Design Society
With over 800 members, the international Design Society is the largest society globally for the promotion of design research and hosts a series of conferences, seminars, workshop and special interest groups dedicated to advancing scientific discourse about design. Through networks and events, the society promotes an interdisciplinary community of academics and industry experts aiming to develop effective means of designing solutions that an increasingly complex and globalised society needs to thrive.
At the head of the society, the board of management relies on the Advisory Board Members to advise, guide and support the directors in developing and furthering the aims and objectives of society and the research community more widely. Advisory Board Members are elected from within the community and serve a term of 6 years, with the potential to be re-elected for a second term. Boris has been serving in special interest groups of the society for a number of years and has helped organise the International Conference on Engineering Design, the largest conference of its kind and the flagship conference of the society, in 2019 and 2023.
“It is a great honour for me to have been elected into the Advisory Board. There was strong competition with several other, well-known candidates from the community, and it is certainly a recognition by the community of the work I have been doing,” Professor Eisenbart said.
Swinburne Director’s International Practitioner Fellowship is helping solve Australia’s cybersecurity shortage
July 2023Pictured: Paul Goudie
Congratulations to Swinburne University of Technology’s Director of Business, Design, Media and Information Technology (VET), Paul Goudie, who has been awarded an International Practitioner Fellowship, funded by the Victorian Skills Authority, to research cybersecurity capability in the workforce worldwide.
Australia aims to become the most cyber-secure nation in the world by 2030. However, the country needs over 30,000 qualified cybersecurity professionals in the next four years.
To address this skills gap, Mr Goudie’s research will explore how Victorian training providers can scaffold learning to teach the emerging technical skills employers require to fast-track students’ cybersecurity careers. Additionally, he will investigate digital apprenticeships as a solution to close the gap between traditional education and the ever-evolving cybersecurity industry.
Later this year, Mr Goudie will travel to the United Kingdom and the United States to meet with government agencies, including the US Departments of Defence and Homeland Security, and leading technology companies like Salesforce and Microsoft, known for their deep cybersecurity expertise.
The Victorian Skills Authority partners with the International Specialised Skills Institute by funding the VSA International Skills Fellowship and focuses on developing opportunities for building quality and excellence in Victoria’s vocational education and training workforce.
Swinburne structural engineer joins women in STEM leadership program
July 2023Senior Lecturer in Swinburne’s Department of Civil and Construction Engineering, Dr Jessey Lee, has been accepted into the veski women in STEM sidebyside mid-career leaders program in 2023. Launched in 2018, the program offers workshops and networking opportunities to empower women in STEM to achieve their career goals.
A structural engineer with over a decade’s industry experience, Dr Lee’s research focuses on fastenings to concrete, timber, steel and modular constructions. She’s also helping decarbonise the construction industry through a CRC-P grant in collaboration with Swinburne industry partner ROBOVOID, using Swinburne-jointly developed recycled plastic to make lighter, more sustainable concrete panels. The product is already having an impact globally, with concrete panels used in buildings from Geelong, Victoria, to Mumbai in India.
Through the veski women in STEM program, Dr Lee hopes to build new collaborations and partnerships across academia, industry and government, while paving the way for future generations of women in engineering.
“I look forward to meeting other fabulous women in STEM and being inspired to do even greater things. As a strong advocate for girls in STEM, I hope to encourage future generations of young women to pursue STEM careers, because you can’t be what you can’t see,” Dr Lee says.
Swinburne lecturer recognised with Entrepreneurship Educator of the Year Award
July 2023Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Swinburne Dr Eryadi Masli has won second place in the 2023 Entrepreneurship Educator of the Year Asia Pacific Award category from the Accreditation Council for Entrepreneurial and Engaged Universities (ACEEU).
Dr Masli received the award at the Triple E Awards, a global recognition of efforts towards the quest for entrepreneurship and engagement in higher education.
The category recognises an individual who has demonstrated an outstanding performance in the design and delivery of an entrepreneurship course.
Dr Masli convenes the Venture in Action unit at Swinburne, which is a capstone in the Master of Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
This unit develops students’ understanding of their own ability to lead, manage and launch an enterprise as it moves through the stages of growth to market and beyond. Through Dr Masli’s innovative approach, students work together with Swinburne scientists that have developed cutting-edge inventions to help take their work from the lab to the marketplace.
Throughout the unit, Swinburne students receive authentic experiences of what it takes to develop and build a startup, while Swinburne scientists gain access to the knowledge of entrepreneurs experienced in market-ready business models and products to translate their inventions into commercial opportunities.
Past students have collaborated with some of Swinburne’s most prominent and innovative scientists to launch their startups, such as mDetect, NovaSense BioMedical and SensFit Technologies.
Prestigious STEM Ambassador roles for Swinburne experts
July 2023Swinburne experts Professor Virginia Kilborn and Professor Geoffrey Brooks will forge stronger ties between science, technology and public policymakers as two of Science & Technology Australia’s new intake of STEM Ambassadors.
Professor Kilborn, Swinburne’s Chief Scientist, will be the STEM Ambassador to the Member for Calwell, Maria Vamvakinou, and Professor Brooks, a metallurgical processing expert, will be the STEM Ambassador to the Member for Casey, Aaron Violi.
They will meet regularly with their Parliamentarians to deepen ties between Parliament and the STEM sector and help politicians access expert advice on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
A growing number of Parliamentarians seeking regular expert advice on complex science and technology issues saw Science & Technology Australia appoint a record-breaking 26 STEM Ambassadors in 2023.
The STEM Ambassadors are drawn from Science & Technology Australia’s member organisations and come from a diverse range of academic backgrounds and interests.
The prestigious program – which began in 2019 – creates opportunities for science experts to share their expertise to assist evidence-based policymaking.
Swinburne astronomers recognised by Astronomical Society of Australia
July 2023Congratulations to Swinburne astronomers Associate Professor Michelle Cluver and Dr Manodeep Sinha for receiving national recognition in the 2023 Astronomical Society of Australia (ASA) awards.
The two researchers, both from Swinburne’s Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, are among six astronomers honoured by the ASA this year.
Associate Professor Michelle Cluver’s expertise in the evolution of galaxies within groups was recognised by the ASA’s Anne Green Prize. The prize is awarded annually for a significant advance or accomplishment by a mid-career scientist.
Associate Professor Cluver currently co-leads an international team of 70 people on a mission to study 6 million galaxies in 5 years. Her large survey research will generate high-quality data on the galaxies’ composition and distance from Earth, providing valuable datasets for the global astronomical community.
Post-doctoral researcher Dr Manodeep Sinha won the ASA’s inaugural Emerging Leaders in Astronomy Software Development Prize. The prize recognises an outstanding contribution to the development of open-source astronomical software by an early-career researcher.
Dr Sinha received the award for his ground-breaking Corrfunc software. His software is an open-source, multiplatform package developed to swiftly compute correlation functions—a vital measure for quantifying galaxies’ spatial distribution.
June 2023
Swinburne PhD received honourable mention for his thesis at International Astronomical Union PhD Prize
June 2023Swinburne Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing PhD student Hao Ding has received an honourable mention at the International Astronomical Union (IAU) PhD Prize for his thesis ‘Enhancing the use of galactic neutron stars as physical laboratories with precise astrometry’.
The existence of neutron stars was discovered in the late 1960s and since then, these highly compact and magnetised objects have been observed across the electromagnetic spectrum and studied abundantly. However, many of these studies require precise determination of their distances and motions on the sky.
Hao’s PhD focused on high-precision astrometry (the measurements of motions, positions and distances of stars) of neutron stars with data from the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) and Gaia space telescopes using advanced and innovative calibration techniques. His thesis involves a variety of neutron stars such as neutron star X-ray binaries and extremely magnetised magnetars and encompasses the largest astrometric survey of millisecond pulsars. This could facilitate the detection of an ultra-low-frequency gravitational wave background, which in turn, could open up a new window to our understanding of the universe.
Professor Rachael McDonald inducted as Fellow into Occupational Therapy Australia Research Academy
June 2023Swinburne’s Medical Technology Victoria (MedTechVic) Director Professor Rachael McDonald has been inducted as a Fellow into the Occupational Therapy Australia Research Academy.
Professor McDonald is well-recognised for her research into enabling technology, which supports Australians living with a disability to achieve the goals and life-participation they wish. She demonstrates an unwavering dedication to making an enduring impact to the occupational therapy field.
As MedTechVic Director, she has overseen the multidisciplinary research team which creates innovative enabling technology, products and services to enhance lives for Australians living with complex issues such as people with disability or chronic disease, their families and the people who support them. The hub brings together individuals and organisations across the assistive and medical devices sector in Victoria to ensure rapid clinical and technical prototyping leading to improving sovereign design, development and future manufacturing of devices through a co-design and co-production process with individuals to ensure their voices are heard during the process.
May 2023
Swinburne’s Industry Engagement team recognised for strategic partnership framework
May 2023Pictured above, Swinburne's Industry Engagement team, Blair Warren-Smith, Daria Cecchini, Dominique Goodwin, Daniel Ritlewski (and absent: Jacqueline Embry) developed an account management framework for Swinburne's strategic partners.
Swinburne’s Industry Engagement team has been named winner of the Strategic Partnerships award at the University Industry Innovation Network (UIIN) Excellence Awards, recently held in Budapest, Hungary. This award is in recognition of the team’s development of an account management framework of Swinburne’s strategic partners.
The UIIN Excellence Awards recognise outstanding contributions within the higher education sector. This year, UIIN recognised and promoted the outstanding contributions of the community's top performers across seven categories in the areas of university-industry interaction, entrepreneurial and engaged universities, and the future of higher education.
The Strategic Partnerships Award recognises novel and outstanding work in the approach, development, and management of strategic partnerships between universities and external stakeholders.
Swinburne’s Industry Engagement team created a methodology to track and evaluate the university’s partnerships according to a set of criteria that measure the impact, breadth, and depth of our industry engagement activities. The account management framework is articulated around Swinburne’s four moon shots, ensuring alignment to our Horizon 2025 vision. The abstract for the framework was developed by Associate Director, Industry Engagement, Daria Cecchini and former Director, Industry Research Engagement and Business Development, Ros Hore.
The introduction of the framework has provided transparency and a common approach for the university’s key partners; empowering Swinburne to build, strengthen and consistently manage partnerships.
March 2023
Professor Matthew Bailes awarded The Shaw Prize in Astronomy for 2023
May 2023Pioneering astrophysicist Professor Matthew Bailes has won the prestigious Shaw Prize in Astronomy, known as the ‘Nobel of the East’. He shares the USD$1.2 million award with Professor Duncan Lorimer and Professor Maura McLaughlin.
Professor Matthew Bailes is an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow and the Director of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav). He founded the Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing at Swinburne in 1998, and is a world leader in the study of pulsars, fast radio bursts and gravitation.
In particular, he has played a pivotal role in the development of a new branch of astrophysics, fast radio bursts, developing pioneering instrumentation and software that led to Australia’s early dominance of the field.
The Shaw Prize is an international award, honouring individuals who have made outstanding contributions in academic and scientific research. Established in 2002, it is awarded annually in three categories – Astronomy, Life Science and Medicine, and Mathematical Sciences.
Read more about Professor Bailes and his work at Swinburne.
Swinburne researcher recognised at International Conference on Building Materials
March 2023Swinburne PhD researcher Janitha Madhavie Migunthanna won the Best Student Paper Award at the 8th International Conference on Building Materials and Construction in Kyoto, Japan, for her paper “Waste clay brick binders for low-carbon concrete pavement construction”. The research will soon be available in Springer book series Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering. Janitha was sponsored by Swinburne University of Technology during her research for her travel to Japan.
Swinburne cognitive neuropsychologist joins internationally renowned scientific journal board
March 2023Cognitive neuropsychologist Professor Susan Rossell has joined the Editorial Board for international scientific journal Neuropsychopharmacology (NPP). NPP is a Springer Nature journal focusing on understanding the advancement of brain and behaviour and is the official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP).
Professor Rossell is a cognitive neuropsychologist and Professorial Research Fellow at Swinburne’s Centre for Mental Health. She also holds adjunct positions at Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre and at St Vincent's Health. Professor Rossell has published extensively and received both the International and European award for Young Investigator into Schizophrenia Research.
January 2023
Swinburne researcher recognised as Top Retail Influencer
January 2023Dr Jason Pallant, senior lecturer and co-director of Swinburne’s Customer Experience and Insight (CXI) Research Group, has been recognised as one of the Top Retail Influencers 2023 by Rethink Retail.
Dr Pallant is the only Australian academic to be recognised on the list and one of only 23 people world-wide recognised in the Academia category.
The list of retail experts, consultants, analysts, academics, journalists, and thought leaders was chosen for their influence on the online retail community, including social presence, articles published, speaking engagements and awards.
Sustainable Future award for Swinburne researcher
January 2023Professor Mark Adams has been recognised for his outstanding contribution to an innovative planet, winning the Excellence in Research Impacting a Sustainable Future category in the Australia & New Zealand Scopus Researcher Awards 2022.
Professor Adams' research contribution centres on the management of bushfires in a changing climate, water use, soil carbon, carbon sequestration and the sustainability of forests.
Professor Adams demonstrated a strong presence in international publication, citation data, and presented an inspiring story, as well as reflecting the values of equality, diversity and inclusion in his work.
Find out more about Professor Adams recent work on acacia woodlands, which has major implications for climate modelling.
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