Initiative driving Australia’s industry-ready STEM workforce expands
The Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering’s REDI Connect program, designed to foster an industry-ready workforce, is growing from strength to strength.
REDI CONNECT 2021
The Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering’s REDI Connect program, designed to foster an industry-ready workforce, is growing from strength to strength.
ATSE’s industry engagement initiative, the Industry Mentoring Network in STEM (IMNIS) has partnered with MTPConnect to provide industry experiences and skills development for early and mid-career researchers, clinicians and innovators.
This year the program, funded through the Researcher Exchange and Development in Industry (REDI) initiative, has grown to 10 mentees who are doing research in STEM fields with high job-growth potential.
These areas include digital health, regenerative medicine, bioengineering, data science and artificial intelligence.
“The 2021-22 REDI mentees are outstanding PhD students who have the potential to be future leaders in their fields,” said IMNIS Executive Director Dr Marguerite Evans-Galea.
“Developing their professional skills and business acumen is critical for growing our health and economy.
“Through IMNIS, they will be offered industry-led professional development and networking opportunities designed to accelerate their career trajectory.”
The ten REDI mentees selected to be part of the 2021-22 program are:
Dion Turner
Dion is a PhD candidate at The University of Adelaide. His research uses patented photoswitchable technology to develop a small-molecule drug with an inherent ability to target tissues under oxidative stress.
Silvia Cometta
Silvia is a PhD candidate at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane, Australia, working on the development of antibacterial coatings for 3D printed biomaterial implants for breast reconstruction.
Elizabeth Footner
Elizabeth is a PhD candidate with RMIT University where she is exploring ways to biofabricate human skin in a laboratory dish.
Fiza Mighal
Fiza Mighal is a PhD candidate at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) under the Faculty of Engineering and IT. She is investigating the use of mobile apps, machine learning and smart devices – particularly fitness trackers, to evaluate user mental health.
Rebecca Hermon
Rebecca is a PhD Candidate at Flinders University using health informatics and big data to investigate information-flow within healthcare.
Kallyanahis Paul
Kallyanahis is a PhD candidate at Monash University in the Women’s Health project where he is looking to develop a novel technology for treating Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP) to replace banned transvaginal mesh.
Bill Harley
Bill is a 2nd year Ph.D. candidate in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Melbourne focusing on advanced biofabrication strategies of 3D bioprinting, microfluidics and ultrasonic cellular patterning for use in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.
Yuqing Mu
Yuqing Mu is a third year PhD student at the Centre for Biomedical Technologies (CBT), Queensland University of Technology (QUT). Her research focuses on bone regeneration.
Pia Campagna
Pia is a PhD candidate within the Department of Neuroscience at Monash University’s Central Clinical School. Her research aims to develop novel biomarkers to improve personalised disease management and outcomes for people with multiple sclerosis.
Jack Chan
Jack is a PhD candidate at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and the University of Melbourne. His work focuses on improving chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy by enhancing T cell stemness and persistence.
