Left to right:  Melissa Ryan – Director, Incubation and Entrepreneurship; Dr Kathryn Sunn, Director, Commercialisation; Katrina Avery, Director, Partnerships

The Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research, Innovation and Enterprise) leads the University’s efforts to foster and grow strategic partnerships and alliances with industry and government, aligning to Macquarie’s strategic research, education and health objectives. Its three key functions are commercialisation, partnerships, and entrepreneurship and engagement.

Commercialisation

The Commercialisation team creates impact through the commercialisation of Macquarie intellectual property (IP). The team assists creators to identify the value of the IP, confirm the chain of title or ownership, determine appropriate protection and commercialisation strategies, and negotiate agreements with partners. They also promote and encourage innovation and entrepreneurial culture at Macquarie through educational workshops, as well as by providing IP and commercialisation advice for University staff and students.

Commercialisation vehicles include (but are not limited to) licensing, collaborations and joint ventures, assignment and/or sale of IP, and startup company creation.

Meet the team:

• Dr Kathryn Sunn – Director, Commercialisation 
• Dr Gorjana Mitic and Dr Fiona Nelms – Commercialisation and Innovation Managers 
• Bel Coppock – Intellectual Property Portfolio Manager 
• Gabi Teli – Intellectual Property Portfolio Officer

Macquarie Partnerships  

The Macquarie Partnerships team offers a central and professional ‘front door’ for industry and government to connect, engage and partner with Macquarie across research and innovation, education and employability, and corporate avenues.

The Macquarie Partnerships team is led by Director Katrina Avery, and supported by administration officer Leanne Price. There are two core teams within Macquarie Partnerships – the Corporate Engagement team and the Research Partnerships team – which work together closely.

Corporate Engagement

The Corporate Engagement team fosters and develops Macquarie’s whole–of–university relationships with Connect Macquarie Park Innovation District (CMPID), industry organisations and partners in the MPID, and external industry and government organisations. They also help identify, shape and enable education and employability partnership opportunities with industry partners and deliver the Manawari Cultural Safety program.

The team works closely with leaders and academics in each of the four faculties, with a particular focus on education and employability and the objectives of Walanga Muru, as well as with central support teams who service and enable education and employability and whole–of–university partnerships.

Meet the team:

• Stirling Wright – MPID Partnerships and Engagement Manager 
• Geoffrey Bilney – Indigenous Corporate Engagement Manager 
• Anna Barletta – Education and Employability Partnerships Manager, Faculty of Arts and Macquarie Business School 
• Jessica Hutchinson – Education and Employability Partnerships Manager, Faculty of Science and Engineering and Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences 
• Hadeer Khan – MPID Partnerships and Engagement Assistant

Corporate Engagement team members can be contacted directly or via ce@mq.edu.au

Research Partnerships  

The Research Partnerships team works closely with the Executive Group, faculties and researchers in all aspects of partner–funded research. The team actively fosters connections and partnerships between the University and industry and government, and identifies, enables, negotiates and secures research partnership projects and opportunities in discrete fields and across thematic areas of external priority.

The activities and services of the Research Partnerships team include:

• relationship management and partnership development between Macquarie’s faculties and academics, and industry and government 
• business development, industry assessment and analysis 
• capability profiling through industry events, partner visits and capability statements 
• identification and promotion of industry and government funding and partnership opportunities, informed by industry developments and University and faculty strategic priorities  
• proposal and tender development and submission 
• project pricing 
• intellectual property protection and commercialisation pipeline management 
• contract preparation and negotiation 
• contract finalisation, approvals and execution.

The team manages research partnership projects (including consultancy projects, contract research projects and collaborative research projects) and bids for major collaborative research initiatives such as CRCs, CoEs, ITRHs and ITTCs. The team also manages NSW Research Network relationships and facilitates by-request workshops spanning all aspects of research partnership development and maintenance.

Meet the team:

• Jo Tuck – Strategic Research Bid and Partnerships Manager, working across all faculties 
• Associate Professor Mark Reed – Strategic Research Bid Manager, working across all faculties 
• Dr Matt van Breugel – Business Development Manager (Defence and Space), working across all faculties 
• Dr John Golding – Research Partnerships Manager, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences 
• Helena Hurley – Research Partnerships Manager, Macquarie Business School 
• Matthew Bevin – Research Partnerships Manager, Faculty of Science and Engineering 
• Sylvia Brohl – Research Partnerships Coordinator, Faculty of Science and Engineering 
• Yasmeen Elkhodr – Research Partnerships Coordinator, Faculty of Science and Engineering 
• Chloe Williams –Research Partnerships Officer, working across all faculties

A Research Partnerships Manager is currently being recruited, to be aligned with the Faculty of Arts.

Research Partnerships team members can be contacted directly or via research.partnerships@mq.edu.au

Incubation and Entrepreneurship

The Macquarie University Incubator, launched in 2017, has created an open ecosystem for students, researchers, startups, scaleups and industry ‘intrapreneurs’. It provides support via bespoke education programs, mentor and advisor networks, and access to space to explore, develop and scale ideas for real-world impact.

The team at the Incubator delivers educational programs and events catering to the startup and innovation community, focusing on topics across the business commercialisation process. The Incubator is industry, stage and technology agnostic, meaning the team supports startups and scaleups regardless of their industry or their technology focus. The Incubator is currently supporting businesses from a diverse array of fields, including medtech, biotech, proptech, edutech and more.

Meet the team:

• Melissa Ryan – Director, Incubation and Entrepreneurship 
• James Linton – Incubator Manager
• Erika Masubuchi – Program Lead 
• James Benson – Administration and Operations Assistant 
• Emma Kettle – Laboratory Lead 
• Alara Gencer – Project Officer 
• Willemijn Osselaer – Project Coordinator

Contact the Incubator team members directly, or via incubator@mq.edu.au.