SWINBURNE.EDU.AU proud milestone DESIGN space discovery

DESIGN DOWN UNDER

A BRIDGE BETWEEN CULTURES

PROFESSOR

BRONWYN FOX MANUFACTURINGA BRAVE NEW WORLD

PROFESSOR

TINO FUSSA NEW SPINON BOWLING

OSCAR WINNER

ADAM ELLIOTINSPIRES ANIMATIONSTUDENTS

University marks proud milestone

Stellar new space discovery

Dinosaur dig yields sauropod secrets

SCIENCE | TECHNOLOGY | INNOVATION

I S S U E T WO 2 0 1 7

| S W I N B U R N E . E D U . A U

Venture Mag FullPage_5mmbleed_FA_8/11.indd 1 8/11/17 9:40 am

17 PROFESSOR FRANZ KONSTANTIN FUSS

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ContentsISSUE TWO 2017

ISSUE TWO 2017 The magazine of Swinburne University of Technology

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SWINBURNE | VENTURE | ISSUE TWO 2017 |

ANESU KANYONGO and PATRICK STANTON

In 2017, Swinburne celebrates 25 years as a university. Meet some of the people who have helped to shape this dynamic, forward-looking institution and learn about others who are working to enhance and embrace its future.

SPECIAL FEATURE

13SWINBURNE 25

08BANESU KANYONGO and PATRICK STANTON

18 DR SAMANTHA

EDWARDS-VANDENHOEK

11 DR STEPHEN POROPAT

20 LACHLAN MEADOWS and HUGH McKAY

04 UPFRONTThe latest news and innovations.

08 BRAVE NEW WORLDSwinburne embraces Industry 4.0 technology and confronts the future of manufacturing.

11 SAUROPOD SECRETS A Swinburne palaeontologist helps uncover one of Australia’s most important dinosaur skeletons.

12 COSMIC EVENTOzGrav researchers announce the world-leading discovery of gravitational waves from the death of two neutron stars.

17 IN A SPINScience and sport collide with the invention of a smart cricket ball that’s changing spin bowling.

20 WHEEL WORKDesign engineering students invent a multi-purpose wheelbarrow that could save lives in the developing world.

22 ANIMATION ACE The creator of screen success Harvie Krumpet is inspiring the next generation of animators.

DR JEANNE PRATT AC

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students use art as a bridge between cultures. by NICOLE BITTAR

COVER STORY

18DESIGNED FOR DOWN UNDER

http://www.swinburne.edu.au/magazine

http://www.hardiegrant.com.au

04

Welcome Upfront

This year we have marked an important milestone in our history: Swinburne’s 25th anniversary as a university. We have celebrated with staff, alumni and friends

at events across our campuses in Melbourne and Sarawak.

You are receiving this issue of Venture magazine, our second for the year, because of your connection with Swinburne, and I hope you also take pride in our 25-year celebrations.

We have recognised the achievements of our visionaries, trailblazers, connectors and challengers – people who have helped shape this institution over the past 25 years – with a commemorative book, special events and a fundraising campaign. Meet some of our remarkable people and learn more about our history in our special feature on pages 13–16.

In other exciting news this year, Swinburne received a record industrial software grant from manufacturing giant Siemens that will transform our Factory of the Future and create Australia’s first fully immersed Industry 4.0 facility. Through this grant, Swinburne will be at the forefront of the fourth industrial revolution; the next stage in modern manufacturing, where cyber-systems merge with physical systems. (Learn more in our article on page 8.)

In October, the international community heard of the unparalleled astrophysical discovery of gravitational waves from the death of two neutron stars. Learn how our brilliant researchers contributed to this discovery through the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery – hosted at

Swinburne and led by our own Professor Matthew Bailes. (See our story on page 12.)

While we are leading the way in science and technology, we are also making an impact in design, art and Indigenous culture. On page 18 you’ll discover how a program established by Dr Samantha Edwards-Vandenhoek is assisting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to connect with their heritage and forge careers in art and design.

In this issue, as we reflect on our history and our remarkable achievements, it is clear that Swinburne University of Technology has become a world-class institution that could never have been imagined by its founders, George and Ethel Swinburne. We continue to rise in international university rankings (see our latest results in the panel on this page), yet as we have extended and expanded our educational offerings, research programs and community engagement, we have remained true to our founders’ values.

Our future will always be linked to and inspired by our people, past and present. I thank you for being part of our journey.

Professor Linda Kristjanson AOVice-Chancellor and President Swinburne University of Technology

“We continue to rise in international university rankings … we have remained true to our founders’

values.”

Swinburne continues to gain international recognition.

350 in the world in the 2017 Academic Ranking of World Universities

60 in the Times Higher Education Asia-Pacific University Rankings

61 in the world

UNDER 50 YEARS OLD in the 2017 Times Higher Education Young University Rankings

250 for

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY in the 2018 Times Higher Education World University Rankings by Subject

60 in the world

UNDER 50 YEARS OLD in the 2018 QS World University Rankings top universities under the age of 50

SWINBURNE 2017 RANKINGS

RAN

KED

RAN

KED

TOP

TOP

TOP

Milestone moments

05 SWINBURNE | VENTURE | ISSUE TWO 2017 |

New era for AGSEIndustry influence and digital innovation will be a strong focus as Swinburne’s Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship (AGSE) embarks on a new era.

Director of the AGSE, Alexander Kaiser (pictured below), says the changes will build a closer partnership with industry and lead to a greater number of market-relevant degrees.

“All industry partners are involved in the unit design, deliver guest lectures, provide case studies and mentor projects,” Mr Kaiser says. The revamped AGSE now has eight postgraduate degrees, all of which feature real-world industry group projects. Mobility between the degrees is strongly encouraged for tailor-made study solutions.

Mr Kaiser describes the new approach as a win-win: enterprises benefit from the knowledge base of the university, while students gain access to the contacts and experience of industry professionals.

“We believe that combining cohorts of experienced professionals and talented students, all with different disciplines, international, ethnic, and demographic backgrounds, adds significant value to a group,” Mr Kaiser says.

The AGSE has a 40-year history as Australia’s first school dedicated to budding entrepreneurs and innovators.

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE RECOGNITIONDimity Hawkins (pictured above), a Swinburne PhD candidate, has worked for decades to abolish nuclear weapons. Her efforts were acknowledged in October when the organisation she helped found – the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons – won the Nobel Peace Prize for its role in achieving the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

AO FOR SWINBURNE VICE-CHANCELLORVice-Chancellor and President, Professor Linda Kristjanson, was acknowledged in the Queen’s Birthday 2017 Honours List as an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO). Professor Kristjanson received the honour for service to the community through health management roles, the law, corporate governance and higher education. It recognises her contributions to cancer research, palliative care and the advancement of women.

GRAND FINAL SUCCESS Swinburne congratulates its partner, Richmond Football Club, on the 2017 Toyota AFL Premiership Season. In 2016 Swinburne teamed up with Richmond to establish the Richmond Institute of Sport Leadership and offer a Diploma of Sports Development/Diploma of Leadership and Management. In 2017 Swinburne and Richmond strengthened the relationship with a four-year partnership agreement.

Swinburne is the first university in the country to attain “elevate” status for its second

Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) 2017-2019, the highest level of endorsement granted by Reconciliation Australia. Only three per cent of organisations across Australia have had their RAP upgraded to this level. Executive Director of Reconciliation Strategy and Leadership, Professor Andrew Gunstone, says 2017 has been a landmark year for Swinburne’s ongoing engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. “We are embedding reconciliation into our culture and decision-making processes,” he says. Elevate status, gained in August, “acknowledges the work we have done on our previous RAP (2014-16), as well as our current targets to increase the number of Indigenous staff and students, and address other key areas of research, culture, teaching and learning, engagement and governance”. Professor Gunstone says one of the RAP targets for 2018 is to create Indigenous gardens on Swinburne’s Melbourne campuses. In June, Swinburne sent its first team to compete in the Indigenous University Games held at Deakin University, an initiative of the Indigenous student support team.

PRAISE FOR RECONCILIATION EFFORTS

06

Upfront

S winburne is discussing projects including a bio-fabrication research pilot plant and a hydrogen

energy storage pilot plant in Sarawak. The talks follow the signing of a historic Memorandum of Understanding with the State Government of Sarawak. Swinburne will provide research support and advice, as part of the strategic research partnership with the Malaysian state, as Sarawak transitions to the digital economy.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Development) Professor Aleksandar Subic says cementing the alliance was an exciting milestone for Swinburne and its engagement in the region.

“One project is producing medical products from indigenous plants on an industrial scale. Another involves establishing an innovation and commercial precinct so that it drives the digital economy,” he says.

Swinburne’s Sarawak campus opened in 2000.

“The deepening of the strategic relationship between Swinburne and the Government of Sarawak will attract higher research income from public and private sectors and more PhD students and research fellows, achieving scale and impact in the Sarawak economy,” Professor Subic says.

“In this way Swinburne is gaining an international reputation for its high-impact research, leading to significant social and economic benefits in the region.”

WITH SARAWAK GOVERNMENT

Crime research collaboration wins goldA Swinburne research team led by Dr Troy McEwan (pictured below) has received recognition for its innovative approach to improving police responses to family violence. The researchers, from Swinburne’s Centre for Behavioural Science, shared a gold medal with Victoria Police and Forensicare at the 2017 Australian Crime and Violence Prevention Awards. The Enhancing Police Responses to Family Violence Project developed tools and systems to improve family violence risk assessment and management.

Swinburne graduate’s national design awardCommunication design graduate Sahra Martin has won the Design Institute of Australia’s Graduate of the Year Award. Her winning entry comprised projects that translated the night John Lennon died into a 3D typographical experience, a program to raise climate-change awareness and an exploration of censorship in literature. Sahra is Swinburne’s first winner of the top honour and says it was “a great way to cap off four years of hard work”.

“Swinburne is gaining an international reputation for its

high-impact research, leading to significant social and economic

benefits in the region.”PROFESSOR ALEKSANDAR SUBIC


BRINGING AUSTRALIAN PHILANTHROPY TO LIFE Swinburne’s experiential Strategic Philanthropy and Grant-making study unit has received a $100,000 funding boost from its student-led and initiated alumni group, Swinburne Philanthropy Alumni (SPA).

SPA is transitioning from an independent incorporated association into an alumni chapter and has directed annual distributions to the study unit.

“This will ensure that around $4000 will be released per annum for the life of the program,” a course director at the Centre for Social Impact, Dr Michael Moran, says.

“It will also foster engagement between alumni – many of whom are senior executives and sector leaders – and students, as SPA members will be active in learning and teaching.”

In the unit, students engage in practical, real-life grant-making,

building up philanthropic leadership skills and the capacity to contribute to the sector.

SPA president Katie Hunt says theory became practice. “It means people like me can go into the industry a lot wiser about how to give and spend money.”

Last year Ms Hunt and her fellow students gave $10,000 to Launch Housing, to help homeless women and children, using grant funding from the Truby and Florence Williams Charitable Trust.

Dr Moran says the Centre for Social Impact will oversee the unit as part of its Master of Social Impact course, while the Swinburne Advancement Office will provide ongoing support – ensuring long-term security for Swinburne’s alumni links to philanthropy.

Swinburne professors Elena Ivanova and Saulius Juodkazis (pictured below) have won the Eureka Prize for Scientific Research for their discovery of bacteria-killing nanomaterials that fight the global threat of antibiotic resistance.

Russian-born Professor Ivanova, a microbiologist who joined Swinburne in 2001 and has spent the past 15 years researching marine bacteria, says credit is also due to a team of researchers (listed above right) from different institutions and disciplines who published material on bacteria-killing surfaces in 2013.

She said the technology was being commercialised, in situations such as antibacterial nanocoatings for joint implants and antibiotic-free medical treatments.

RESEARCH TEAM: Jafar Hasan, Hayden K. Webb, Gediminas Gervinskas, Vi Khanh Truong, Alex H.F. Wu, Robert N. Lamb, Vladimir A. Baulin, Gregory S. Watson, Jolanta A. Watson, David E. Mainwaring, Russell J. Crawford.

WIN FOR BACTERIA BUSTERS

A$135 million industrial grant, awarded to Swinburne by engineering giant Siemens, has placed the university at the forefront of changing technologies in

manufacturing. The grant is the largest industrial fund

of its kind awarded in Australia and will allow Swinburne to build on its expertise in fields such as industrial automation, the Internet of Things, new-generation technologies and materials such as graphene and carbon-fibre composites.

Swinburne’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Development), Professor Aleksander Subic, says the nature of industry is changing – and not a moment too soon.

“Western economies can’t continue to compete on labour costs with other parts of the world. That’s why entire automotive assembly manufacturers are moving out of the country,” Professor Subic says. “We’re moving to the creative economy now, the economy of ideas, innovation and high-value-add outcomes.”

In his role as the Chair of Industry 4.0 Testlabs Workstream within the Prime

08

We want to enable education that is capability-driven and industry embedded, rather than being classroom and textbook-based.”PROFESSOR ALEKSANDER SUBICDEPUTY VICE-CHANCELLOR (RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT)

A brave new

MANUFACTURING WORLDSwinburne is leading the charge on products, technology and ideas for the futureby NARRELLE HARRIS

Industry 4.0

Minister’s Industry 4.0 Taskforce, Professor Subic has spent the past two years developing a national Industry 4.0 framework and translating it into learning and innovation.

Building the future Industry 4.0 is the latest industrial revolution, building on the change that began in the 19th century with the advent of machine-powered factories and mass production. Early 20th century automotive production lines came next, followed by the blending of automation, robotics and computer-controlled systems in the latter half of the 20th century.

Enter Industry 4.0, made possible by the Internet of Things – the embedded connectivity of processes and objects through the internet, based on common standards. Wholesale digitalisation is altering everything in manufacturing, from the development and making of products to post-manufacturing activities such as services and logistics. Big data, analytics and virtual reality models all form vital parts of this holistic digital transformation.

Industry 4.0 also brings radical change to the human element of work. “This level of industrialisation minimises the need for intensive intervention of human labour,” Professor Subic says.

“It allows people to take on the creative

side, imagining new products and services and creating new value.”

Swinburne’s Factory of the Future, located in its $100 million Advanced Manufacturing and Design Centre, is a test lab that facilitates and supports education, training and research into advanced manufacturing, in collaboration with industry. There, students and researchers can use design and visualisation tools to develop ideas, produce prototypes and test pilot plants.

“At the moment, our Factory of the Future is a wonderful facility with advanced manufacturing technologies and advanced visualisation, including 3D virtual reality,” Professor Subic says.

Through the grant, Siemens’ Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and MindSphere platform will assist the factory to be completely digitalised. “Everything will connect in a coherent, seamless digital production system,” Professor Subic says.

“No one does that in this part of the world, using an Industry 4.0 platform of this scale. It will be a completely new paradigm for a completely new type of industry.”

What will this brave new world look like?

“In 12 months you could walk into the Swinburne Factory of the Future and see pilot plants emulating a full Industry 4.0 manufacturing process, end to end

– fully automated, fully digitalised, making things seemingly without human intervention.

“You’ll see industry partners and experts working alongside our staff and students. You’ll see new and emerging technologies being tested and showcased. You’ll see students at various levels of education and research, collaborating in multi-disciplinary teams.”

Career pioneers Industry partnerships are already well under way. Siemens is also partnering with Swinburne in a Diploma of Applied Technologies to prepare students for careers in Industry 4.0 domains. The first diploma students enrolled this year.

Student Simon Eves wasn’t after a standard, classroom-based university course to further his career. “In our work placements, we’re applying what we learn at uni to what we’re doing throughout the year and developing our skills,” he says.

Fellow student and former IT consultant, Patrick Stanton says: “They’re using our feedback to adapt the curriculum to be more accurate about what’s needed in the workplace.”

Students are also using cutting-edge technology at Siemens and on campus.

09

PICTURED (below, left to right) Siemens Chief Executive Officer Jeff Connolly and Swinburne’s Professor Aleksander Subic look forward to collaborating; students Anesu Kanyongo and Patrick Stanton in Swinburne’s Factory of the Future.

(Opposite)The industrial grant will allow Swinburne to build on its expertise in new-generation technologies.

They’re using our feedback to adapt the curriculum to be more accurate about

what’s needed in the workplace.”PATRICK STANTON

DIPLOMA OF APPLIED TECHNOLOGIES STUDENT


Anesu Kanyongo comes to the course with a decade’s experience as a mechanical engineer. “This is a good opportunity to get my mind working again, challenge myself and remain relevant in the industry,” she says.

The work placement aspect of the course is a bonus. “It makes a huge difference in terms of how you apply yourself and see the relevance of what you’re doing. And while you’re doing it, the people around you can see your capabilities and mentor you in the process, instead of waiting for exposure till you graduate.”

Industry partnersSwinburne is working with companies including Asahi, Ford, Multimatic, Siemens, Boeing and Sandvik on projects related to new industry processes, products and materials.

“Together with Siemens, the Australian Industry Group, and industry partners in general, we’re piloting a new model of public-private sector partnerships both in education and research,” Professor Subic says.

Swinburne is also pioneering education in the field and new ways for education and industry to collaborate.

“We have a strategy for Industry 4.0 across the entire life cycle of education, from vocational training all the way to PhD research,” Professor Subic says.

“We want to enable education that is capability driven and industry embedded, rather than being classroom and textbook based.”

10

In 12 months you could walk into the Swinburne Factory of the Future and see pilot plants emulating a full Industry 4.0 manufacturing process…” PROFESSOR ALEKSANDER SUBICDEPUTY VICE-CHANCELLOR (RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT)

Industry 4.0

THE FUTURE OF MANUFACTURING STARTS NOWProfessor Bronwyn Fox, Director of Swinburne’s Manufacturing Futures Research Institute, is upbeat. “We’re at the cutting edge of technology to help Australian companies integrate into global supply chains,” she says. “We can bring in expertise from across the university, including design, engineering and science, to conduct research in partnership with industry. Working with industry is in Swinburne’s DNA.”

In its first year, the institute has undertaken key research to help Australian companies become more agile and productive and introduce Industry 4.0 strategies, and has established working links with the University of Stuttgart’s Arena 2036 project.

Beverage maker Asahi is just one project partner in Australia.

“One of the major global trends is predictive maintenance of not just parts but processes. We’re working on developing smart, self-correcting manufacturing processes that are flexible, agile and able to create bespoke products,” Professor Fox says.

Another major project, with Imagine Intelligent Materials, is the study of graphene-based materials. Graphene – an incredibly strong and conductive

material made from layers of carbon only an atom thick – has a huge number of potential applications, including bio devices, supercapacitors, optics, industrial processes and even environmental cleansing.

“Imagine, in partnership with Geofabrics, has launched a smart textile used to line waste material ponds and detect any leeching of hazardous material into the environment,” Professor Fox says.

In order to produce enough graphene for the task, Imagine and Victorian company Austeng built a pilot plant capable of producing 10 tonnes of graphene annually.

Ongoing graphene research, in partnership with HRL, Duromer and Agilent, aims to understand the material better, make it perform more consistently, and so reduce the risk along the supply chain.

All this in just a year since the institute was formed in November 2016. Imagine what it can do in the years to come.

One of the major global trends is predictive maintenance of not just parts but processes.”

PROFESSOR BRONWYN FOX DIRECTOR OF SWINBURNE’S MANUFACTURING

FUTURES RESEARCH INSTITUTE

11

T hings can move slowly in the field of dinosaur discovery, but Swinburne palaeontologist Dr Stephen Poropat has had a busy year.

In June, Dr Poropat joined a team led by Australian Age of

Dinosaurs museum founders David and Judy Elliott, in Winton in Queensland. The focus was a site that had been discovered by David and Judy’s son, Bob, in 2015.

The team dug at the site for two weeks and returned for another week in August, unearthing a long-necked sauropod. “We don’t know what species it is yet (maybe Savannasaurus elliottorum or Diamantinasaurus matildae). It is nicknamed ‘Judy’ (after Judy Elliott),” Dr Poropat says.

“Judy is one of the, if not the, most complete sauropod dinosaur skeletons ever found in Australia. The specimen includes teeth, a section of neck almost four metres long, back bones, both shoulders, parts of the pelvis, bones from both front and back legs and — perhaps most exciting of all — possible gut contents.”

The discovery comes after Dr Poropat and fellow researchers published their findings (in July) from a 102-million-year-old Queensland fossil site that was once feared lost.

Austrosaurus mckillopi (believed to have lived five to 10 million years before Judy) was first discovered in the 1930s on a sheep station near Richmond in Queensland.

“In 1933 palaeontologist Heber Longman confirmed it as a long-necked sauropod dinosaur, which was unusual because it was preserved in a marine mudstone, along with (sea creatures including) bivalves and ammonites,” Dr Poropat says.

“But after the discovery and naming of the specimen, the property was sold and the site was effectively lost.”


PICTURED (above) The dig site in Winton in Queensland slowly reveals its treasures, including neck, shoulder, pelvis and back bones of a sauropod researchers have nicknamed Judy. (left) Swinburne’s Dr Stephen Poropat says possible gut contents are an exciting part of the find.

(This) is one of the, if not the, most complete sauropod dinosaur skeletons ever found in Australia.”DR STEPHEN POROPAT, PALAEONTOLOGIST

The site had been marked with a sign on two posts but when palaeontologists tried to find it in the 1970s they failed.

“In 2014 Richmond mayor, John Wharton, who grew up on the property and knew the posts set out to find them with Dr Tim Holland, then curator at (another private dinosaur museum) Kronosaurus Korner in Richmond.

“After a fruitless ground search, John jumped in his helicopter, spotted the posts from the air, landed and found bits of dinosaur bone right next to the post. It was absolutely brilliant,” Dr Poropat says.

“The research we’re doing definitely has relevance to research being done by other palaeontologists overseas.”

It potentially reveals how dinosaurs evolved when Australia and South America were both connected to Antarctica “allowing dinosaurs to basically globetrot”.

Dr Poropat’s work on sauropod dinosaurs such as Austrosaurus is ongoing, and he looks forward to revealing more at the Society of Vertebrate Palaeontology 2019 meeting in Brisbane.

Palaeontology

DINOSAUR DISCOVERIESTwo Queensland dig sites have revealed some exciting sauropod secrets. by GRAEME KEMLO

1212

Australian scientists have detected gravitational waves from the death spiral of two neutron stars

A team of Australian astrophysicists, including Swinburne researchers, announced an “unparalleled” international discovery in October: the detection of

gravitational waves from the death of two neutron stars.

It was the first time a cosmic event had been observed and measured in both light and gravitational waves. It followed an announcement just a few weeks earlier that three US professors had been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for the 2015 discovery of gravitational waves.

Swinburne Associate Professor, Jeffrey Cooke, a Chief Investigator with OzGrav, says the 2017 event will go down in history as the dawn of a new era of gravitational-wave multi-messenger astronomy.

Swinburne hosts the $31.3 million Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav). It was established in 2016 to capitalise on the 2015 discovery of gravitational waves.

Director of OzGrav, Swinburne’s Professor Matthew Bailes, says the latest discovery has enabled scientists to pinpoint the origin of gravitational

waves and actually see “the colossal event” that accompanied the gravitational waves.“This was the first time that any cosmic

event was observed through both the light it emitted and the gravitational ripples it caused in the fabric of space and time,” Professor Bailes says.“The subsequent avalanche of science

was virtually unparalleled in modern astrophysics.”

OzGrav is a collaboration between six universities in Australia – Swinburne University of Technology, Australian National University, the University of Western Australia, Monash University, the University of Melbourne and the University of Adelaide.

Professor Cooke says that before the event “it was like we were sitting in an IMAX theatre with blindfolds on”.“The gravitational wave detectors

let us ‘hear’ the movies of black hole collisions but we couldn’t see anything.“This event lifted the blindfolds

and, wow, what an amazing show.”

OzGrav chief investigator, Professor Ju Li from the University of Western Australia says: “It is extraordinary that with one faint sound, the faintest sound ever detected, we have created one giant leap in our understanding of the universe.”

Astrophysics

SEEING STARS

by KATHERINE TOWERS

The subsequent avalanche of science was virtually unparalleled in modern astrophysics.” PROFESSOR MATTHEW BAILESOZGRAV DIRECTOR

PICTURED An artist’s impression of two merging neutron stars. National Science Foundation/LIGO/Sonoma State University/A. Simmonet

S W I N B U R N E 2 5

CELEBRATING OUR HISTORYAN EDUCATION MILESTONEIn 2017, Swinburne marks the 25th anniversary of its establishment as a university. This is an important milestone in a story of achievement that began more than 100 years ago.

13

(above)DR IAIN WALLACE was an integral part of Swinburne’s transformation as a university. He was the principal director at Swinburne from 1986-1992 and its Foundation Vice-Chancellor from 1992-2003.

It was very evident that the institutes of

technology in Australia were going to either

become universities, or be subsumed by

universities.” IAIN WALLACE

FOUNDATION VICE-CHANCELLOR

T o commemorate the occasion, Swinburne invited alumni, staff and others who have been

part of Swinburne’s journey to share their stories and reflections.

These are people with vision, who are leading the way, forging

industry connections and challenging the status quo.

The 25 stories have been shared through a commemorative publication, online and at events.

This special feature introduces you to Swinburne’s history and people. f

14

1DR KATHLEEN WATSON AM joined the new council in 1992 and later founded the Kath Watson Scholarship for Women.

2DR JEANNE PRATT AC The late Richard Pratt AC became Foundation Chancellor in 1992. Through his wife, Jeanne, the Pratt family remains associated with Swinburne.

3SHARON RICE joined Swinburne in 1999 to raise the profile of vocational education. She is now Executive Director of Major Projects, Pathways and Vocational Education.

4DR PHILIP TING AM graduated with a Bachelor of Business. He helped found the Sarawak campus and is now Australia’s Honorary Consul in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia.

5PROFESSOR MATTHEW BAILES founded the Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing in 1998. He is now an Australian Laureate Fellow and Director of OzGrav.

6From student to staff member, DR ANDREW PETERS has helped to embed Indigenous culture and history in the university.

7PROFESSOR MICHAEL GILDING arrived in the early 1990s as a sociology lecturer. He is now Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the Faculty of Business and Law.

OUR PEOPLE

MEET SOME OF THE REMARKABLE PEOPLE WHO HAVE HELPED SHAPE SWINBURNE.

I really wanted to help women who struggle against the odds to get a tertiary education.”

DR KATHLEEN WATSON AM

3

2

1

I think that as Swinburne was a ‘new’ university… it was also less set in its ways

and willing to try new things…”

DR JEANNE PRATT AC

4

I was making education accessible

to the community, particularly the most

disadvantaged.”SHARON RICE

15

7 7

I saw this as a way of utilising my connections with Wurundjeri land and community and bringing them into the

classroom.”DR ANDREW

PETERS

Our early historyFounded in 1908 by engineer, businessman, philanthropist and politician George Swinburne, as the Eastern Suburbs Technical College in Hawthorn, Swinburne’s roots run deep in a philosophy of self-improvement and the social and economic value of education.

George recognised the contribution that technical education could make to a flourishing nation and, with his wife Ethel, contributed £2000 in start-up funding.

S W I N B U R N E 2 5

6

5

The college’s first classes were offered in 1909 in areas including carpentry, plumbing and blacksmithing. By 1911 classes were available in domestic economy and housewifery. Two years later the college adopted the name of its founders, becoming Swinburne Technical College.

During World War II the college became a source of advice on tool-making, machinery and motor mechanics. Science streams were added to the curriculum in 1945 and the Swinburne Chemistry School opened in 1949.

Swinburne began to establish the diversity that would become one of its most notable attributes and attracted international students who undertook engineering and applied chemistry courses.

In 1963 Swinburne led the way with one of the first industry-based learning programs in the country.

Swinburne remained modern and forward thinking. In 1966 it offered the country’s first Diploma of Art (Television and Film) and, in the decades to follow, the Swinburne Film and Television School became instrumental in the growth of the Australian film industry.

In 1968, determined to embrace emerging technology, Swinburne purchased its first computer.

From the early 1970s Swinburne offered degrees in mechanical, civil and production engineering, an applied science degree in chemistry, a business degree in accounting, and arts degrees in graphic design and humanities.

Reforms to Australia’s higher education sector in the mid-1980s continued to bring change. Iain Wallace arrived as the college’s principal director in 1986 with a vision to transform Swinburne into a university.

Gaining university statusOn 1 July 1992, by an Act of the Victorian Parliament, Swinburne University of Technology became Victoria’s sixth university. Iain Wallace became its Foundation Vice-Chancellor.

A year later, businessman and philanthropist, the late Richard Pratt was approached by then premier Jeff Kennett to take on the role of Swinburne’s Foundation Chancellor.

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Developing centres of excellence was high on the agenda. The Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship moved into a new building on the Hawthorn campus and the National Institute of Circus Arts opened at Prahran. New research centres, including the Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, and the Centre for Micro-Photonics were also established.

Swinburne built on government and business relationships in Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia and opened a campus in Kuching in the Malaysian state of Sarawak in 2000.

In 2010, fittingly as it reached adulthood and its 18th year, Swinburne was named one of the world’s top 500 universities by the Academic Ranking of World Universities. The following year, the $140 million Advanced Technologies Centre opened at the Hawthorn campus.

Swinburne Online, operating for its first full year in 2012, created educational opportunities for students unable to study on campus. In its first year, more than 2000 students accessed degrees.

The $100 million Advanced Manufacturing and Design Centre at the Hawthorn campus opened in 2014. With a renewed focus on building links across the higher education, research and manufacturing sectors, the centre maintains a keen focus on international competitiveness.

The Swinburne Law School was launched in 2015 and Swinburne was named in the world’s top 100 universities under 50 years old by the Times Higher Education rankings.

In 2016 the university launched its Swinburne Innovation Precinct, beginning a $7 million redevelopment of the former fire station on its Hawthorn campus.

And in 2017, as it celebrates its 25th anniversary, the university cemented its global position in astrophysics and supercomputing when operations began at the new $31.3 million Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav).

Today, 58,000 students study at Swinburne’s four campuses – three in Melbourne and one in Malaysia – as well as online, supported by 2800 staff and with a legacy of 180,000 alumni.

To read the stories of 25 of our high achievers: swinburne.edu.au/25years

8MATTHEW LEVY OAM studied a Bachelor of Business through Swinburne Online – in between training for the London and Rio paralympics.

9Astrophysicist DR EMILY PETROFF arrived to undertake her PhD and during her studies discovered fast radio bursts in real time.

ZOË WARNE graduated with a Bachelor of Multimedia and co-founded digital agency, August.

MORE OF OUR PEOPLE

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Our thanks to the following people for also sharing their stories:Professor Iain Wallace, Jeffrey Smart, Dr Bill Scales AO, Dr Leonie Walsh, Professor Enzo Palombo, Professor Baohua Jia, Professor Susan Rossell, Associate Professor Bruce McDonald, Michael Yap, Terence Yap, Daniel Eastwood-Whitaker, Professor Murray Gillin AM, Dr Judith Kinnear, Associate Professor Anita Kocsis.

The Australian astronomy community has some very strong

voices on gender issues and some of the strongest

are researchers at Swinburne.”DR EMILY PETROFF

I wanted to just start working on larger projects and gain more experience

straight away… It was something Swinburne instilled in me

from the get-go – a can-do attitude, the idea that

anything is possible.”ZOË WARNE

Innovation

Professor Fuss and his team, which includes PhD student Batdelger Doljin, are working towards the smart ball’s commercial viability, but they need a cricket ball manufacturer to come on board.

“We need the and electronics to be embedded into the cork and then inserted in the ball; and we can’t produce the leather hemispheres,” he says.

The team has received assistance from Dr Rene Ferdinands, a former first-class cricketer and current coach to Australian bowler Clive Rose.

“Together with Dr Ferdinands, we were able to identify 19 different spin-bowling deliveries.

For spin bowlers, the more deliveries they are able to execute, and the more quickly they can change from one delivery to the other – and thereby confuse the batsmen – the better,” Professor Fuss says.

“The more different deliveries you are able to bowl, the easier it might be to achieve a wicket.”

Cricket’s spin bowlers have long been seen as masters of art and science, but the science element may soon revolutionise the game.

A team of Swinburne researchers, led by Professor Franz Konstantin (Tino) Fuss, has developed a smart cricket ball that could radically alter spin-bowling training. The smart ball uses first-of-its-kind technology as a tool for understanding the mechanics of spin bowling.

Professor Fuss, a medical doctor who moved into sports engineering, specialises in putting sensors into different types of sports equipment for performance analysis. While working at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore he developed a “smart” ten-pin-bowling ball and smart climbing walls for performance analysis.

“When I came to Australia in 2008 I’d been working on cricket balls (and looking at) how hard or soft the different balls were from different companies,” he says. “It was a logical consequence to look into a smart cricket ball.”

Professor Fuss began his research project in 2011. His team initially disassembled a regular cricket ball, took the cork nucleus out and inserted electronics, protected by foam and a polymer shell. This led to miniaturised technology – three digital gyroscopes – being implanted into a cricket ball to provide data to improve spin bowlers’ techniques and identify talent.

“We can recognise how well the release of the ball is executed and we can correct the technique,” Professor Fuss says. “It’s a smart coaching system.”

Until now the only tool coaches had to analyse spin bowler’s performance was a video-based motion system.


Smart ball technology may put a different spin on the game of cricket.

by PETER WILMOTH

“We can recognise how well the release of the ball is executed and we can correct the technique. It’s a smart coaching system.”

PROFESSOR TINO FUSSHEALTH AND SPORTS TECHNOLOGIES

The Marngo Designing Futures program is named after the Woiwurrung word meaning “over there, in the future”. It’s a fitting moniker for a program that aims to attract Aboriginal and Torres

Strait Islander students who identify with cultural heritage and traditions as a means of establishing careers in art, design and media.

The program was initiated in 2014 by Dr Samantha Edwards-Vandenhoek, senior lecturer and academic director (external engagement) in Swinburne’s School of Design, to address and better understand the reasons for low tertiary enrolments in design courses among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

Marngo aims to develop relationships with Indigenous designers, educators, filmmakers and artists, and to deepen connections between Elders, Indigenous bodies, like-minded organisations and school communities.

The program receives support from Swinburne’s Student Equity and AccessAbility Services and Moondani Toombadool (the university’s Indigenous Engagement Team) and delivers on-campus workshops, in-school programs and design camps in Victoria and remote communities in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

Powerful messages Dr Edwards-Vandenhoek says the program has shown the power of place-based design education. “I think enabling young people to see how they can contribute to the development of their own communities can be an empowering process and mainstream education can lose sight of that.” A week-long school workshop was held at Ramingining in Arnhem Land in September. Twenty-eight secondary school students joined a digital photography program that culminated in a vibrant street festival and photography exhibition at the Bula’bula Art Centre.

Other workshops held at Swinburne have been attended by students from the Melbourne Indigenous Transition School, Upper Yarra Secondary College, Gisborne Secondary College and more.

“(Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students) are enriching what we (universities) do by bringing their perspectives and knowledge.”

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A BRIDGE BETWEEN TWO CULTURES Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students are connecting with their heritage to forge careers in art and design.

Design

by NICOLE BITTAR

In a name The word “Marngo” was given to

the Marngo Designing Futures program by Swinburne honoree professor and

Wurundjeri elder, Aunty Joy Murphy AO.

The program has tripled in size since 2015, when Marngo was awarded additional Higher Education Participation and Partnerships funding to expand to Victorian regional areas. It went national a year

later, bringing student numbers to 120.

Marngo is contributing to Swinburne’s 2017-2019 Reconciliation Action Plan

by strengthening relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait

Islander agencies and communities.

And it’s quite specific.

“In Arnhem Land, English is often the third or fourth language in the Yolngu communities I work with. These young people have strong cultural connections and know who they are, so it’s quite amazing and powerful,” Dr Edwards-Vandenhoek says.

“But, in Victoria, some kids have only recently found out they have Indigenous heritage. They don’t know what that means and it makes them nervous. By introducing culture in a creative context, it is safe, fun and playful. Then design and art can be used to explore culture.”

The Marngo effect

Schools that take part in the Marngo program report a connection between participation

and school attendance.Ngalangangpum

High School at Warmun in Western

Australia has integrated a design and technology curriculum,

based on the “Marngo effect”. Its former principal, Leanne Hodge, says the students’ visual literacy, communication and teamwork skills showed improvement.

“While working on the intensive Marngo program, students expressed feelings of pride, satisfaction and accomplishment,” Ms Hodge says.


Making an impact Marngo is deepening cultural connections and building leadership capacity in young people, Dr Edwards-Vandenhoek says. Three students at Victorian schools who have completed elements of the Marngo program have received state-government-funded year 12 Marrung Education Scholarships.

Plans are afoot to connect Marngo with online and face-to-face certificate-level courses in media and tourism at Swinburne. Dr Edwards-Vandenhoek is working with Swinburne in East Arnhem Land to provide opportunities for school students in ongoing design and media training through the region’s VET program.

“There has been success in how students feel about themselves. It has had a big impact on their cultural confidence, their pride and ability to talk about what culture means to them and test those waters.”

The word is already spreading like wildfire. For more information visit marngodesignfutures.com.au

In Victoria, some kids have only recently found out they have Indigenous heritage … By introducing culture in a creative context, it is safe, fun and playful.”DR SAMANTHA EDWARDS-VANDENHOEKSWINBURNE SCHOOL OF DESIGN

Documentary Screening rights for a short documentary that captures the Marngo journey – directed by Zakpage Storytelling and produced by Alison Page and Dr Edwards-Vandenhoek – have been acquired by SBS/NITV. The film documents the inaugural week-long camp at Mungo National Park in 2015, when students, staff and design mentors connected over storytelling and culture passed down by Elders, National Parks and Wildlife Services and the traditional owners.

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PICTURED (clockwise from top left) A discovery rangers tour at Mungo

National Park; Dr Samantha Edwards-Vandenhoek; drone view of art at

Mungo National Park; designs added to possum-skin pelts; Melbourne Indigenous Transition School students at a Swinburne workshop; students weaving and building

gunyah-style (bush hut) shelters.

S urely the traditional wheelbarrow defies reinvention? Yet two Swinburne students have done just that — and made the top-20 finalists in

the prestigious James Dyson Award.The Utility Barrow, created by product design

engineering students Lachlan Meadows and Hugh McKay, is designed to be used as a traditional wheelbarrow – or a boat, or even as a market stall.

It was designed to ease the effects of annual flooding suffered in many cities globally and can carry up to 300 kilograms through floodwaters.

The international competition is named after British inventor Sir James Dyson, the inventor of the Dyson vacuum cleaner. Sir James’ office sent compliments via email about the wheelbarrow design well before it had made the finals.

An invention to aid third-world traders has reinvented the wheelbarrow.

PICTURED (above, left to right) Product design engineering team Dr Charles Ranscombe with students Lachlan Meadows and Hugh McKay considered the difficulties faced by traders in the developing world when designing their multi-purpose wheelbarrow.

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WHEEL GOOD DESIGN

Invention

by MARIA TRIACA

“People from the demographic we were designing for often sell things at the local market, but can’t get the goods through the floodwaters, so we added a few guide holes to readily adapt the barrow into a shelter for the markets, using found materials.”

The Utility Barrow was created by the students as part of their work in Swinburne’s Global Design unit.

“Making the final was great kudos for the university and the course because it shows that this is absolutely what can be achieved,” unit co-ordinator Dr Charles Ranscombe says.

The international design award celebrates, encourages and inspires the next generation of design engineers.

“The initial excitement was due to the similarities between the Utility Barrow and one of Sir James Dyson’s first designs – the Ballbarrow,” Lachlan says.

“To have someone of the calibre of Sir James Dyson commenting on our work was just amazing.”

For their case study, Mr Meadows and Mr McKay tested their wheelbarrow concept in the context of a low socio-economic community along a river subject to flooding in Indonesia.

“The idea is that during a shallow-water evacuation, the barrow is guided through the water to safety, keeping family members and belongings safe and dry,” Lachlan says. “During deeper floods, it can be used as a personal watercraft.”

The design includes a heavy wheel at the front to balance the person sitting on the seat at the rear. Rings on the side of the Utility Barrow hold poles in place to turn it into a market stall.

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Choose your adventure


To have someone of the calibre of Sir James Dyson commenting on

our work was just amazing.”

LACHLAN MEADOWSPRODUCT DESIGN ENGINEERING STUDENT AND CO-INVENTOR OF

THE UTILITY BARROW

THE FLEXIBILITY OF THE UTILITY BARROW

VENDOR CART+ Support rings for additional structures+ Level edge for mounting table

WHEELBARROW+ Capacity of 120 litres+ Extended, ergonomic handles for easy lifting

EVACUATION+ Highly stable on water+ Buoyant load capacity of 300 kilograms

CRICOS 00111D


funding bodies, where money is coming from. I’ve realised there’s a lot more in my head than I thought I had.”

Mr Elliot has told the students – who are doing a mix of computer animated, 2D and his specialty “stop motion” short films – that being an animation director is a lot of hard work, but that the rewards are there. He is impressed with the mentoring program at Swinburne.

“The strength is the diversity of animation they’re teaching,” he says. “Animation is so broad now. This school tries to pack in as much as they can in those three years so they have a broad experience.”

Mr Elliot says he has sounded notes of caution about job opportunities in Australia. “The industry is changing so rapidly that a lot of positive things are happening but funding is being reduced for short films. That’s a harsh reality.”

The good news though is that there are options in Australia in fields away from film. “Animation is so broad,” Mr Elliot says. “It could include jobs in areas such as advertising and TV series. There are also opportunities in areas such as special effects, visual effects, virtual reality and gaming.”

There are also good opportunities overseas. “They could head off and work for Pixar, Animal Logic, those sorts of companies. The good thing is they’ll have a skill set that can take them anywhere in the world. The world is their oyster.”

Oscar-winning animator Adam Elliot has spent 2017 inspiring a new generation of animators. “What I’ve really enjoyed is seeing them become more and more

passionate about the art form and seeing them develop in just one year,” he says.

Mr Elliot is Swinburne’s Charles Herschell Fellow in Residence, sharing his knowledge of the global film and animation industries with final-year Bachelor of Animation students.

“What’s really nice is seeing all their hard work over the year coming together,” he says. “I feel like the proud grandfather.”

Mr Elliot, whose “clayography” Harvie Krumpet won an Academy Award in 2004 for Best Animated Short Film, is working as a guide and mentor. “I’m not teaching nuts and bolts. What I’m really focusing on is story and script.”

He has found it rewarding to share his insights. “Swinburne is keen on getting more practitioners in the industry to bring authentic skills to the students, so they are more prepared when they graduate. We can feed them some harsh realities, tell them about the state of the

PICTURED Adam Elliot, the creator of Oscar-winning clay animation Harvie Krumpet, is mentoring Bachelor of Animation students at Swinburne.

Students are talented putty in the hands of a Swinburne global film industry mentor.

LIGHTS CAMERAS ANIMATION

I’m not teaching nuts and bolts. What I’m really focusing on is story and script.”ADAM ELLIOTOSCAR AWARD WINNING ANIMATOR

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Arts

by PETER WILMOTH

CRICOS 00111D



Documents

SWINBURNE.EDU.AU proud milestone DESIGN space discovery