Pictured (L–R): Louis Di Paolo, Acting Graduate Research Liaison Coordinator; Isabelle De Coen, Academic Diplomacy, Ghent University; Elisabeth Velle, Global Partnerships and Academic Diplomacy, Ghent University; Vice-Chancellor Professor S Bruce Downton,; An Desmet, Policy Advisor for Internationalisation, Ghent University; Dr Luana Monteiro, Postdoctoral researcher, Ghent University; Dr Louise Dwyer, Graduate Research Operations Director; Professor Simon Handley, Pro-Vice Chancellor Graduate Research.
Macquarie University hosts Ghent University Delegation
Macquarie University was delighted to welcome a delegation from Ghent University last week. The delegation met with Vice-Chancellor Professor S Bruce Dowton and members of Macquarie’s DVCR Portfolio to discuss cross-institutional support for this partnership. The visit culminated in the signing of a joint PhD framework agreement in the presence of Her Royal Highness Princess Astrid of Belgium as part of the Belgian Economic Mission to Australia. A strategic partnership agreement was also signed by the Vice-Chancellor and Ghent University Rector Professor Rik Van de Walle, which will provide a roadmap for future research collaboration.
Doctor of Medicine alumni back for first reunion
Alumni Relations and the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences hosted the first reunion for Doctor of Medicine (MD) alumni recently, supported by the Medical Indemnity Protection Society. Around 50 alumni attended the event, as well as clinicians from MQ Health and Northern Beaches Hospital who taught and supervised the new doctors throughout their studies. Dean of Medicine, Professor Clement Loy, acknowledged the influence of these clinicians in inspiring the future clinical workforce. The Macquarie MD began in 2018, and so far, 106 students have graduated in two cohorts.
2023 Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science
Dr Gabrielle Oslington, from the School of Education, received a Highly Commended recognition for Excellence in Science Teaching in Primary Schools at the 2023 Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science. The award was presented in the Shine Dome (Australian Academy of Science) at the Australian National University on 17 October 2023. Dr Oslington joined Macquarie as a PhD student in 2016 looking to further explore and understand the mathematical development of young primary school students. Under the guidance of her supervisor, Honorary Professor Joanne Mulligan, Dr Oslington has conducted several research projects exploring new ways of assessing mathematical ability at Arden Anglican School, where she currently teaches. Dr Oslington and Honorary Professor Mulligan are currently working on an ARC Discovery Project focused on spatial reasoning.
Moyal Medal Prize and Lecture
Honouring former Macquarie University Professor of Mathematics José Enrique Moyal, the annual Moyal Medal Prize and Lecture was held on Thursday 26 October.
The Moyal Medal recognises significant contributions in mathematics, physics or statistics. This year Professor Kate Smith-Miles, Laureate Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Melbourne, became the 23rd Moyal Medallist, in recognition of her research on neural networks and combinatorial optimisation.
Professor Smith-Miles delivered the 2023 Moyal Lecture, titled ‘Optimisation in the Darkness of Uncertainty: When you don’t know what you don’t know, and what you do know isn’t much!’
Her lecture considered the challenge of finding the optimal solution for a constrained multi-objective optimisation problem, with no analytical expression for the objective functions and very limited function evaluations within the huge search space due to the expense of measuring the objective functions.
Born in Jerusalem in 1910, Professor Moyal studied engineering in France, mathematics at Cambridge in the UK then statistics and physics in Paris, where he worked with the Allied Forces during World War II on aeronautical engineering. A true polymath and the originator of the ‘Moyal bracket’ in quantum mechanics, Professor Moyal was Professor of Mathematics at Macquarie University from 1973 to 1977.
Industry forum at the City Campus
Last week, the Future Communications Research Centre hosted an industry forum at Macquarie University’s City Campus and welcomed around 100 researchers and industry representatives to a series of panel discussions, research summaries, poster presentations and networking opportunities.
Professor Dali Kaafar, from Macquarie’s School of Computing, introduced the sessions, which saw New South Wales Chief Scientist Hugh Durrant-Whyte join a lineup of speakers and panellists to provide important insights into the convergence of new and emerging technologies in physical devices applied within software and data-driven networks to shape the future of communication.
Topics ranged across universal secure connectivity, satellites and wireless communications, quantum and cybersecurity, smart sensing technologies and the ‘internet of things’.
“The event gave us the opportunity to hear from the industry experts about their real-life challenges,” says Professor Kaafar.
“Consilience centres allow us to build multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research programs that connect across all sectors, so we can address the challenges, concentrate potential avenues for deployment and have a real impact on creating the next generation of communication, in a way that connects to what the industry and ultimately the future users, envision.”
Professor Judith Dawes from the School of Mathematics and Physical Sciences presented a series of awards at the event. Dr Ian Wood from Macquarie’s School of Computing won the Forum Research Pitch competition with his presentation of the scam-baiting Apate platform, while cybersecurity PhD candidate Michal Kepkowski won the Research Poster Competition, for his display on using the FIDO system (which stores private keys locally) to improve security and privacy with password free authentication.
Organisations represented across industry, government and academia included CSIRO, Defence Science Technology Group, nbn Australia, IBM, Fujitsu, Telstra, Rakuten, SmartSat CRC and Ernst and Young.
Pictured L-R: Professor Vladimir Strezov, Co-Director of the Transforming Energy Markets Research Centre; Alex Trajkov, H2U – The Hydrogen Utility; Professor Brent Kaiser, University of Sydney; Dr Madeline Taylor, Transforming Energy Markets Co-Director and Deputy Director of CENRIT; Dr Cameron Kelly, Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA); Professor Tina Soliman-Hunter, Transforming Energy Markets Co-Director and Director of CENRIT; Dr Ruven Fleming, University of Groningen; and Professor Stefan Trueck, Transforming Energy Markets Director. Photo Credit: Pushkar Anand
TEM and CENRIT seminar with Dr Ruven Fleming
On 25 October, the Transforming Energy Markets (TEM) Research Centre and the Centre for Energy and Natural Resources Innovation and Transformation (CENRIT) jointly hosted Dr Ruven Fleming from the University of Groningen, to share his work on EU Hydrogen Regulation.
Dr Madeline Taylor opened the session at the Macquarie University City Campus, followed by Dr Fleming’s seminar. Attendees were then led into a panel discussion, chaired by Transforming Energy Markets Director Professor Stefan Trueck, with panellists from the University of Sydney, Macquarie University, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and green hydrogen infrastructure developer H2U. Professor Tina Soliman Hunter closed the event and thanked all the contributors for their invigorating discussions on hydrogen regulation.
Financial Risk Day 2023
The uptake of solar panels and batteries by households, lessons in electricity market design and distributional impacts of the energy transition were all discussed at this year’s Financial Risk Day on 20 October.
The event, co-hosted by the Transforming Energy Markets Research Centre and Macquarie Business School’s Centre for Risk Analytics, provided a platform for experts from industry, regulatory authorities and academia to discuss risks, opportunities and solutions for the transformation of energy markets, as well as ideas on how to facilitate a smooth transition. It featured keynote speakers from various energy agencies and industry, and featured presentations by Dr Rohan Best, Professor Tina Soliman-Hunter, Dr Madeline Taylor and Professor Stefan Trueck.
“The day showed that the transformation of the energy sector still has a long way to go and will pose many challenges for market participants and policymakers,” says Professor Trueck, Director of the Macquarie University Transforming Energy Markets Research Centre and one of the organisers of the event. “However, we also saw that many excellent initiatives, innovative technologies, regulatory changes and new economic models are being developed and applied to facilitate Australia’s transition to a low carbon economy.”
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