MMFI ENews June 2019

Welcome to the Materials and Manufacturing Futures Institute first E-news.  Since the kick-off meeting two months ago, in terms of set up, we are progressing gradually but in terms of outcomes, we have achieved substantial results.  The two major achievements of MMFI over the past two months are the recruitment of SHARP candidates and securing industry research funding.  In this e-news, you will see how the UNSW Materials and Manufacturing Futures Institute (MMFI) will benefit our members and how it will impact the community.

SHARP Recruitment:

SHARP recruitment is one of the priorities for the Institute, and we are currently in the last stage of appointing a double-highly cited scientist who has visited UNSW several times. The MMFI technical team and PVC (Infrastructure) office have visited the candidate’s labs to kick off lab design and renovations and we expect that the candidate, and his team, will join MMFI before October of this year.

Success Stories:

We have secured $2.1 m from the Chint Group for the Hydrogenation for Silicon Solar Technology project, which is led by Professor CheeMun Chong.  The contract for this research project was executed on 8^th May 2019 and the signing ceremony held in Shanghai on 5^th June 2019.  Congratulation to CheeMun. 

This is the first research project initiated by MMFI who conducted market analysis and development.  It was then closed by Knowledge Exchange and has created a new and highly effective model to secure industry funding on the Futures Institute platform.  I believe we will attract more and more research projects based on this business model and, since the launch of MMFI on 24^th October 2018, our members have secured contracts for a number of research projects from industry.  Some of the projects have values of $1 m and above. 

Industry Engagement:

Last week, correspondence was received from the Indonesia Coast Guide (ICG) and consequently, a delegation is being organised to meet with the Admiral of the Indonesian Navy and the Chief Officer of the R&D team for the discussion of collaboration in R&D as well as the training of higher degree students.  In the Phase I collaboration projects, ICG would like to focus on radar deployment, officer training, ship materials and design, with an indication that they are also interested in other projects that would add value to the performance of the ICG operation.  The possibility of securing research funding from ICG is very high, with a planned visit to Jakarta during the week of 17th July, and if you are interested or have a project that would attract funding from ICG, please advise.  All projects will need to go through defence control sanction, which MMFI will coordinate the process.

Staff Recruitment:

We are currently recruiting an Industry Engagement Manager, an EA/Project Officer and a Level B academic, specialising in Artificial Intelligence in Materials Study and the position descriptions have been submitted to HR for compliance advice.  The Lectureship of Artificial Intelligence in Materials Study will be a joint position between the School of Materials Science and Engineering and the School of Computer Science and Engineering.   Our expectations are that these positions will be filled by the end of July.

Other Business

• Finalising the preparation of PhD scholarship allocation form, which has been held by the GRS legal team for two months.
• The framework for the Institute website has been finalised and Central are working with web developer and MMFI for final approval of design and content.
• MMFI Logos have been designed

Have you had a recent success?  Do you have something you want to share with the MMFI team?  We want to hear from you!  Please contact us directly with any feedback or news items at the below email address: mmfutures@unsw.edu.au